Week 6:
Making Sure the Job Gets Done

     Given the Independence Day holiday weekend, this work week has been short. About two weeks ag, o my boss let me know that I would be able to work from home on Wednesday and gave me Thursday through Friday off to enjoy the holiday with family. Although, this meant I had to work extra diligently Monday and Tuesday to ensure the jobs I was assigned for the week were finished. One thing my boss has made clear to me and the other intern this summer is that they are very flexible with the times we’re in the office, but they expect that the tasks we are given track their assigned deadlines — and for this week, that meant I had to stay extra late Monday and Tuesday. Now, this is not to say that it is unusual for us to all end up staying late, but this week it was extra important.

The most important task I was assigned this week was preparing a trial binder for one of our client’s contested divorce. As you may have picked up on from my post last week, my role working on the administrative side of the law office requires me to attend to a variety of tasks — preparing a trial binder is no exception. Now, the idea of a trial binder may seem trivial, but in reality, it is what ensures a smooth day in court. For this particular case, I had to create a PowerPoint presentation — thanks to my dad for a few pointers on the court’s expectations — and organize all the evidence we were going to be asking the court to consider.

To start this task, Ray, my boss, handed me a book all about contested divorce cases. In one chapter of this book, the authors laid out the ideal trial binder. In my best attempt, I set off trying to mimic what I had read in the book. Ultimately, I managed to finish the binder by Tuesday evening and just had to be available for any work that may have needed to be done on Wednesday.  Going into this task I knew how important it was to have a well organized trial binder.  Not that it is exactly the same, but in mock trial not having a well kept trial binder can make all the difference.

Beyond the work cycle, the long holiday weekend was filled with fun activities exploring Madison. Of course, I continued to run with my friend Theo and even managed to jump in the lake a few times. On the Fourth of July, I went down to the lake and watched the city of Madison fireworks. My group of four got about as close as they would let us because one of my friends is a picture buff and needed to get some good shots. Next week, the same four of us are going to a local baseball game. Go Mallards?