I sat in one courtroom for an hour and a half and during that time I watched Judge Katherine Hammond continue 3 cases, and try 3 cases. It takes the cast of Law and Order only an hour to investigate and prosecute over the course of one story line. This was a striking difference to what I had viewed on Court TV. Take, for example, the case Nate Abraham, the Michigan boy charged with murder. At times both the prosecution and the defense would question a single witness for more than an hour. Sensational trials, or trials that outrage the public, tend to be long and full of questioning, arguments, motions, diagrams, witnesses. As For the cases I saw on my court visit, there was no drama to be had, most just plea-bargained and went away. Which meant that there was not much need for witnesses. The Commonwealths Attorney just entered the facts to the record and the judge imposed her sentence.

Well, for those of you that think justice is not swift, I encourage you to go to a criminal courtroom and sit there for a while just observing. I do realize that there is a backlog of cases, but it is not because the courts are slow, or lawyers are dragging their feet, it is because there are so many criminals out there, awaiting trial.

While in court I watched the attorneys, and found their interactions a little strange. Prior to the start of the cases I saw Commonwealth Attorneys joking with Defense Attorneys and in general getting along as professionals do. I thought that the attorneys who sat at opposite table were enemies. After all what my good friend, the television, told me was that these too are bitterly opposed rivals. But in actuality they are just playing on a different side of the law.

One thing that stuck in my head after the visit was my impression of the lawyers. Most were well dressed and articulate. None of the lawyers, I saw, were the swarthy and slick types belittled in jokes. To the lawyers that were in court that day, this was just a job. They did it well, and were dignified. And although they were dignified and competent some people still cringe at the very mention of the word lawyer.

I think that most people get angry when they hear about a lawyer getting some exorbitant amount of money for settling a case. This is only in civil cases not criminal. A criminal prosecutor or defense attorney is not making any large sums of money. They are, after all, employees of the government, and the government is notorious for under paying their personnel. Or others like Mr. Fieger takes sensational cases for free (Pro Bono). Other lawyers for various less aggrandizing reasons take some not so sensational cases pro bono. You may ask yourself why take a case for free. Well there are many reasons. Sensational cases get a lot of press and therefore your name and your face also get a lot of press. Now in criminal prosecution a lawyer still gets paid for representing the client. But the amount he/she gets paid is far less than what he/she could earn representing private parties.

What the general public fails to realize is that these lawyers are trained professional and are doing what is best for the clients, regardless of whether or not this is a criminal or civil case. A lot of lawyer's go into the field thinking I can change the world, and this focus is probably kept throughout their career. Although its role is downplayed as time goes on, money and politics do enter the picture. I think that despite the fact that lawyers are well paid, for the most part, they are doing what is best for their clients, not themselves. This reminds me of the role of a parent. They protect their children and try to point them in the right directions. Although sometimes their decisions are not the most popular ones, they do it for the welfare of the child.

My father never sat me down and said "Son, I want you to be a lawyer". He really didn’t know too much about what it takes to be a litigator. His only experience with a lawyer has been with his corporate attorney. My father is a contractor and owns a successful contracting business. He told me to pick a white collar, paper-pushing job in a much more covert way. In one of the many family counseling sessions, that I was forced to endure as my parents tried to save their marriage, my father looked at me and told me "I do not ever want you to do what I do for a living." I was crushed. This was my father. My hero. Regardless of what I wanted to become in life, he essentially said "I am a failure, do not end up like me." I have never thought of him as a failure. My father is financially successful, and is well respected by both clients and his colleagues. He does what he loves and for that I am actually a little jealous. In retrospect my father was not a failure in anything, but his own mind. He did every thing a father should do for a child. He coached my minor league baseball team, helped me with school projects, and always let me help him work, even if I did not know exactly what I was doing, he was right there to guide me. But my dad had ruined me. I was lost, and did not know what to do. I had never really thought much about what I wanted to do with my life.

The counselor said to my father "Tell him what you mean."

My Father responded " I will do what ever it takes to put you through school, because without a degree your will end up with nothing." Talk about pressure.

As time went by I realized my father wanted me to be a success, but more than that, he wanted me to be happy. What makes me happy is the law. Law is all about knowledge and communication. A lawyer has to like to research, and to immerse themselves in his/her cases if they want to be a success. This is, for the most part what a lawyer does, he reads and researches. I want to be immersed in the law. I love it. I have not, in my entire life, ever had such a strong passion for anything else.