Starting to Practice

Dear Son,

Today I got my Rule 9 Card, which means I have enough credits as a law student to, in a limited way, actually practice law. I have to be supervised (and I couldn't have better supervisors), but that doesn't mean there isn't some things I can't do alone.

Today was also my first day of full time work, which was fun. I pretty much just observed at Juvenile Court, which I've done before, but it was a little different knowing I'll actually have responsibility in a few weeks at the most.

Your mom actually worked there when she was in law school, and I'm looking forward to experiencing for myself the stories she used to tell me.

Juvie's a sad place in a lot of ways. It's a very nice facility, and I don't know that I've met anyone there yet who didn't want to help kids succeed. It's bizarrely chaotic - you always think of a courtroom as so formal, solemn, staid, deliberate, and ponderous. But it's a whirlwind of activity, with a hearing going one at the same time as 10 side conversations, shuffled paperwork, and orders being signed. Most people who work there have developed thick skin and darkly cynical (but hilarious) senses of humor. The kids and their parents are liars, manipulators, victims, and abusers. Some of them are stupid, but a surprising number of them are actually quite smart and even charming. Of course, those are always the ones who are in for the worst transgressions - I think the dumb ones get caught before they can do real damage. But intelligence, boredom, and lack of direction breed supervillians!

It will be a fantastic training ground to learn my profession. If I can keep up there, I can keep up anywhere.

Juvie sucks, though, and most of the kids there are simply doomed. They've already made the decision to fail in life, and no amount of social work and lawyering and judicial admonishment can save them from their Ultimately, it comes down to crappy parents and a culture which treats them too much as victims and in some ways isn't hard enough on the offenders. But considering where the kids come from, I think there is real hope there, too. Hopefully I can help some of them this summer. And hopefully I'll be a better parent for what I learn there.

Love, Dad.