Week Four:
Christensen & Ehret, LLP

June 17, 2015

My fourth week was probably my most diverse week as far as what I have been exposed to. My Monday started off with continuing my research for my boss. This has been a much more extensive and detailed project than I initially thought it would be, mostly because a lot of the documents that I need are sealed. Nonetheless, I have been able to track down some people that I will be able to interview, which will hopefully help me make some strides in my research.

On Tuesday, I accompanied one of our attorneys to a deposition. These have easily become my favorite thing to attend, especially when our attorneys get to question the deponent. It always interests me to see how an attorney questions a deponent and then builds upon their answers. No matter what the deponent says, it seems that there is a specific goal as to what you want them to say, and you must let your intuitive skills shine through.

On Wednesday, my own intuitive skills were put to the test, as my boss gave me a task that came before all others. He told me to halt my other assignments and gave me a spreadsheet of insurance directors that I must send letters out to. After drafting each letter with the Christensen/Ehret headline, I began entering the names of each director with a corresponding address. This seemed like an easy task, but it is imperative that you are precise with spelling, as you want the letter to make it to its intended party, and it’s important that their name isn’t spelled incorrectly.

Thursday was pretty jam-packed with running around. I went to court with one of our attorneys, who ended up having about three cases she needed to cover. Court is extremely interesting. You always believe that court is this glamorous and luxurious place to go to, and that was certainly not the case. The first thing that I think I noticed was how people were dressed. A lot of the women looked as if they were ready to go to the club, while the men truly were not worried about their appearance, as their suits were atrociously wrinkled. On top of this, within each court room was chaos. People were talking loudly, cell phones were going off left and right, and the judge seemed not bothered. I for sure thought that this would be a big no-no, but apparently it’s something that occurs daily at the Daley Center. Some of the positives that I gained from this experience: firstly, I know for a fact that if I can stay out of a court room in the future I will do so. General court is boring and slow, and honestly seemed like a waste of time. You waited for nearly 20 minutes to present/ask the judge for something that they usually simply responded with a “yes”, “no”, or “that’s not my job, see my clerk.” It is honestly some sort of law DMV. The next thing that I gained is I found the farmer’s market right outside of the court house, so I will no longer have to spend a ridiculous amount of money on vegetables from Target.

After a long week, it was awesome to spend some time with my roommates and friends. On Saturday, I stopped by the Blues Festival at Millennium Park and got to see Jarekus Singleton, who I knew about because of my father’s love of Mississippi Blues musicians. It was a lot of fun to get out and get into the sun, as the weeks here in Chicago have been filled with 50-degree weather and lots of rain. We also stopped by the Blackhawks shop to get some gear before the game. To watch the game, I also got to see a lot of my Cornell friends, like Millie Alvear ’15, Lushana Peterson ’15, Reggie Greenwood ’14, Joey Guth ’14, Katie O’Connor ’14, Liz Maier ’14, and Jeremy Kaden ’15. It’s always a lot of fun to get a big group of old friends and introduce them to new friends. We’re hoping that we will be able to get together possibly for the Fourth of July or for my birthday!