Blog 21: Mentorship

Literal:

• Mentorship Log
• Mr. Ramiro Cisneros at the Los Angeles Pomona Public Defender's Office

Interpretive:

• One of the most important things I have gained is experience. It is very important for up and coming lawyers to have some sort of experience of what it is like in a court room if they wish to succeed. Another thing I have gained would be knowledge. I feel more  confident teaching a lesson now that I personally know what happens in court. Also, knowledge that if I or someone I know has to go to court, I am not "in the dark" on what is going on. 

Applied:

• This helped me answer my EQ because it was when observing my mentor at mentorship that I figured out what my best answer is. I learned for myself how often plea bargains are use. Also, whenever I went to his office, the amount of time all lawyers put into a case.

Breaking News!

Do you remember this case?

   At my mentor's office, he has a new boss. Since he has the most experience, my mentor was made second-in-command. Because of this, my mentor was "in charge" or babysitting the case People vs. Olivia Culbreath. The reason for this is due to the family not knowing wether or not they could afford a private attorney. It was today at 3:10 when the defendant completed her arraignment, the official announcement that she will be using a public defender. An attorney will be assigned to her case by the end of this week. The reason the arraignment took a long time is because she waived it the first time to see if they could afford a private attorney. A thing that she had to be careful with in choosing a private attorney (if she so wishes to substitute in) is that the attorney might do it for free since it is a high profile case. With any lawyer, you want to make sure that they actually know what to do and not want to be in the spot light. 

   Inside the courtroom, we found out that there are over 800 documents that they need to go over, so Culbreath's next appearance will be on the May 21st at 11am. 

My mentor giving a statement on the status of the case. 

Master Shredder

Not a lot has happened this month. Less cases (which is a good thing) and so I have mostly been helping out around the office. My latest job is my shredding some very old and random miscellaneous paperwork, memos, and other things for all the associates in the office. It took me a long while because every so often the shredding machine would over heat and/or get too full to continue. Woe is me. It me a few days but I did it.  

This shredder here has been my best friend for the last couple weeks.

Paperwork

Started helping a little more around the office, and was given an assignment to retype of paperwork. It's not that difficult. The only hard part is that I have 50 page papers that I need to type up, and more than 2 boxes full of those documents. This has only taught me that patience is required for this job, also fast typing skills if one ever wants to see an end to them. 

Packet #1 of what feels like fifty thousand.

This is a great representation of what it felt like when I was typing up all those motions.

Spring Cleaning

I don't know exactly why we cleaning the office, but we are and I was used as a pack mule. I don't mind, but it was fairly busy in the last few room. From what I remember, they are most likely expanding the office. This just goes to show how organized attorneys have to be or situations like these can ruin your system.

I am supposed to sort through all of this! 

Helped clean this area up.

Blog 11: Mentorship 10 hours check

1. I am doing my mentorship at the Los Angeles County Public Defender 's Office located near the South Pomona courthouse.
2. My contact is my mentor, Ramiro Cisneros.
3. The total amount of time I completed for mentorship would be 10 hours and 50 minutes.
4. Within those 10+ hours, I mostly helped him retype his all his files, organize the library, find documents, and take notes whenever we go to the court room.

Stress

I know being a lawyer would be stressful, but I wasn't prepared for how much stress it actually came with. I was given a few files on a couple of court cases a client had; said client wanted to expunge his crimes to apply for a nursing job. My assignment was to write notes on what happened in every court appearing he had. Doing this, I was helping my mentor type out a guide for the judge because it would make it easier the judge to understand what has happened in the past. The benefit to this is that it would make the judge a little more willing to expunge the crimes since he didn't have to read through stacks of papers. The stressful part was that The format I showed to my mentor was never good enough; also, that whenever I thought I was done, I received more documents.

No wonder people hate desk jobs!

Possible Answer

On October 22nd, I was helping out my mentor organize the office before I asked him a few more questions I had based from the assignments he gave me. As we talked, I explained what the first 10 minute presentation we had, he said that analytical skills were another skill that any lawyer should have. It is important because it helps the public defender find statements or facts that aren't consistant throughout the police report or any other documentation presented at court. He then proceeded to let me read the police reports on one of his recent cases. I was to take notes and talk about my thought process in how I would handle it. Both my mentor and I were proud of myself that I thought of the same things that my mentor has on how to handle the case!

So far, so good!

Topic Switch!

Can you believe it? Neither can I! I have changed my Senior Project topic from Accounting to Public Defender.

Anyways, I chose to change my topic for a few reasons: 

1. My original mentor was not able to help me over the school year, so it was in my best interest to switch mentors.
2. This leads to the next unfortunate event, that all other Accounting mentors I had in mind are all too far or also too busy to help me.
3. A family friend of mine was able to use her connections and find me a mentor at the Pomona court building, Ramiro Cisnero. 
4. Since Mr. Cisnero is not an accountant, I changed my senior topic to Public Defender. 

I do not mind changing my topic because I enjoy watching a lot of Law & Order, enhancing my interest in the topic of what being an attorney is like. Another reason is that even before the mock court case in Mrs. Edwards' class, I have reveled in arguing with others, and winning said arguments. I predict that this topic will be compelling to both research and present on. 

Summer Mentorship Component

Literal  
1. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0An1HF6zCA5s1dC0yTDlVbkQtM2VUQklaS295ZXV1WFE#gid=0

2. Personal Secret Spa        626) 939 - 4560

3.  ~ How do you know if it is worth it to hire an employee within a small business? 
    ~  How would we know if the mentor we are thinking of choosing is the best option?

Interpretive
4.  The most important thing I gained from this experience is organization. This is important because the person I mentored under ad a lot of missing  paperwork or random paperwork that she does not recall which file it belongs to. This is not a good thing because people are giving out sensitive information, and losing it, intentionally or not, can and will hurt the business and its reputation.

Applied
5. This helped me decide what I want to do as a topic because I want to choose something that can benefit me in the long run, such as business management. Thus, helping at a small business can help me decide during senior project if business management is something I wish to continue through college and my career.