I started in the County Court Division of the Public Defender's Office here in Miami about a week and a half ago. Last Wednesday was a real eye opener. Like a skilled sushi chef, Law school packages concepts, subjects, theories, and law into neat little segements for adequate student consumption. Like a rich southern bbq, court is messy for all involved, bib required.
Picture this a small court room with four rows of bench seating. Such seating is vastly inadequate for accommodating the accused, witnesses, other parties, etc. Thus, waves of individuals overflow into the already overcrowed hallway outside the door. A baliff, who seems to have never taken elementary geometry insists that everyone must be seated.
Running perpendicular to the abysmal mass of seated (and not so seated) clients is a row of attorneys. The courtroom is also inadequate to accommodate the attorneys that are waiting to announce mostly whether their clients want to take a plea offered by the State or exercise their right to trial. I cannot help myself in being amused by the fact that these attorneys must wait so long to utter a few sentences before the judge. But, anyway, the row of attorneys spill into and out of the vast amount of individuals entering and exiting the courtroom.
In the midst of all of this, I realize I really love this mess. It is a chaotic orchestral symphony of past actions coming together with present pressures, legal concepts reaching into reality, competition mixed with cooperation, emotion with control. I have not experienced any environment quite like this, and I am grateful for the opportunity to do so.
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