First week!

Just finished my first week at the internship!  Super-fantastic is all I can say.  The people are all really nice and helpful.  And I love being in an environment where no matter how high up in the ranks the person is at the office, they're talking to me like an equal.  The boss of the whole office comes in to the mini-library (where the other intern and I do our work) on a pretty regular basis to find out if we know about something that he's fuzzy on (today the question was if we'd taken a bankruptcy course) or just to chat about the crazy case he's hearing.  Okay, the case itself isn't so crazy, but one of the attorneys is.  I watched part of the hearing, and this guy is picking little fights with his opposing counsel, talking back to the Commissioner (who is basically the judge, and who you don't talk back to) throwing mini-hissy fits, and breaking all sorts of evidentiary rules.  He made a snide comment in response to a witness' answer to a question (which was stricken from the record and he was asked to discontinue his commentary) and he apparently had some issue with opposing counsel nodding while taking notes to which the Commissioner asked that he act in a professional manner, please.  His questions are so objectionable that I was ready to start objecting.  So basically, I got a little dose of "How NOT to try a case - 101."

Anyway, aside from watching the rather entertaining hearing with the crazy attorney, I also finished my first assignment this week.  I got to write out the opinion for a case that has already been decided.  Which means that once it's gone through all its editing stages it will be put in the Mass. Appellate Tax Board Reporter.  =)  The case was pretty cut and dry, this guy was trying to say his land had been overvalued so his taxes were too high, the assessors provided evidence of five comparable sales to show that there was no overvaluation, and he provided evidence of...nothing.  He went in and complained, and then apparently in the middle of his testimony he stopped, said he was just going to go to the Appeals Court, got up, and walked out of the hearing room.  So, needless to say, without any evidence and without even a complete testimony, the valuation from the assessors was upheld.

My current assignment is more research-based.  I'm kind of at a dull "look through cases and make sure I'm not missing anything" stage, but I think I'm almost at the stage where I can start writing up my findings.  But boy did all that research make my Friday drag on.  The highlight of the day was when my supervisor came in and said that I had done pretty well with my first draft of the opinion I wrote.  He only looked it over and will be doing a more thorough edit in the near future but in general it looks good.  So that's nice to hear.

Let's see...oh, one more thing that's cool.  I can arrange my hours for the week however I want!  I can go in really early and then leave really early, go in later and just stay later, work an extra couple hours earlier in the week if I need to leave really early at the end of the week, whatever!  Well, okay, not whatever, I don't think I can go in at midnight and work until 8 am, other people still have to be there or I can't ask questions!  But anyway, I think the best part is that there's no set time for me to arrive in the morning, so even though I aim for 9 so I can leave at 5, if I get delayed and I'm there at 9:15, no big deal.  This morning I actually decided to go in at 10 because I had been out with friends last night and felt the need to sleep an extra hour.  It's glorious.  I love it.

Well, I think that's all the cool stuff about my job so far.  I'll keep you all posted.  Time to relax.  The job may be awesome, but I'm still tired.  =P

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