I had a long day today. Reviewed 5,000 pages of deposition transcripts given by all sorts of doctors -- pathologists, radiologists, oncologists, nephrologists, pulmonologists ... Not a single word was useful! Imagine the fun.
So here is a response to 寫寫's question -- No, as civil defense attorneys we don't get the morally challenging cases at all, those that make one's job less boring.
However, it does not mean that we would never be torn between duty and conscience. In fact, I had one of those moments not too long ago. The plaintiff was an 85 year-old gentleman who had just been diagnosed with colon cancer. Right after his diagnosis, his counsel filed a motion asking for an expedited trial ... and I had the guts to oppose it!
There were five defendants in that case. I was the only one who did not agree that this poor old man deserved a speedy trial. You can imagine how evil I looked in Plaintiff's reply papers sent to everyone. "All the other defendants managed to show some sympathy to a terribly sick elder plaintiff," Plaintiff said. We had defense meetings every other week. "All the other defendants" could have reminded me to be sympathetic too! It might be easier to jump out the windows than finish reading the reply.
Then there came the oral argument. I was too embarrased to argue the motion myself. I sent a junior assoiate instead: "It would be good for you to experience what it is like being a defense attorney, how it feels to be attacked by your adversary AND slammed by the court."
Underneath my faked concern for his professional growth was my real fear of having to read my mean brief in front of the judge. If I could, I would have taken my name off the signature page altogether.
So there it was, a moment of poor professional judgment. And to give you confidence in our judicial system, my opposition was denied.
10 hours of transcript review on a sunny spring day, what a fun life! ---
我根本就沒看出來 ：）除了專業英文，我在其他方麵對英文的詞匯和表達方式並不是太敏感。這也是我需要努力的地方。我發現寫作對於掌握詞匯和句式非常有幫助，比單純的閱讀更加有效。所以有時候我也試著寫一些英文短文。我覺得你的英文很不錯！ 英文對我們都是第二語言，隻要一段時間不用立刻就會生疏。我們都一樣 ：）
不過我真不覺得你用“character" 有什麽不對。我覺得比Capability 更合適。無論是the guts to say no (the guts to say no no matter what :), the confrontation spirit, 還是the assertiveness under pressure, 更多都是性格裏麵的。Character 這個詞在用在這裏很生動 ：）
很高興在這裏見到你～～ 看到你喜歡《巨流河》和我的讀後感，我特別開心！關於《巨流河》我還有很多很多話要說，但是一直也沒有足夠的時間把我的想法都整理出來，弄成一篇像樣的跟貼放在如藍的文章下麵。這本書給我的感動和啟發都太多了！每次重讀全書或是任何一個篇章，都仍然讓我心潮澎湃。每次看到關於這本書的討論，我都有很多新的感受想要分享。我相信《巨流河》的價值會越來越得到承認。很多年以後，這本書一定會以傲然的姿態，站立在中華民族文學殿堂的頂端。
寫寫好～一天５０００頁，如果我真讀的話我也讀不完 ：） 隻能是大略看看，挑有關的部分重點閱讀而已。大量的 record review 是訴訟律師必須做的苦力，常常讀到想吐。
還要謝謝你給了我靈感。我也很想多寫一些工作上的事情，即鍛煉了文筆，更重要的是也整理了自己的工作思路，當然記下一些有趣的事情也是很值得的。但是常常下班回家腦子都是木的，什麽也想不起來。要不是你提醒，這件事我也就忘光了 ：）
當原告要求 expedited trial 的時候，一般都會對被告造成影響 （prejudice),因為開庭提前了，準備工作就要壓縮，比如，discovery will be closed earlier. 所以被告Oppose an expedited trial 是很常見的。但是對於年紀在７５歲以上的原告，如果再有身體狀況，法庭也會很照顧，傾向於提前開庭。我是個 by the book 的律師，一步都不肯馬虎。我當時覺得我有責任Oppose,隻是沒想到我是唯一的一個，其他的被告都讓了 ：） 當時真是有點尷尬的 ：）
謝謝如藍 ～～ 我看你們的工作也覺得很不可思議 ：）
我的新Profile Photo 就是原來那張照片的油畫像啊，能看出來嗎？我們認識的一位阿姨照著小Maya那張標準像給畫的，上周末才送來給我們做禮物。我們看到以後都驚呆了，畫的多好啊！小眼神簡直神似！
You job is completely out of my imagination. The reading load, the guts to say no, the confrontation spirit, the assertiveness under pressure, I could find none of these in my character.
You are my hero...BTW, Maya's new look is so fresh. She is mature, feminine and more stylish now.