A Day In The Life

Woke up, got out of bed…scratch that. I basically woke up when I managed to get in the shower, no earlier than that. Anyways. I got up at, oh, around 6:45, made it upstairs and joined ma for breakfast. Since one of the perks of living at home for a few weeks of work is that I get a ride to work every day I make it to the appeals court just before 8 and get a jump start on the day’s work.

Today is Wednesday which means that I have cases to present to a panel of judges tomorrow so I spend most of the day reviewing cases I’ve already written opinions for. I go through the reasoning, make sure I make some kind of sense, try as hard as I can to get all the paper work done correctly, copy up my decisions, make notations in the file etc.

Today’s crop is a varied bunch; I got one guy with a suspended driver’s license that I deny certiorari on, I got one HUGE case about Highland Cattle livestock and whether or not the applicant should be granted dispensation from having an indoor barn for the cows and I round the day off with a drug addict who wants to get treatment at this facility on an island east of Sweden while the authorities want him to stay put back home and get treatment on the spot. I feel magnanimous and gracious, I let him have it. I also go through the notes from a court hearing on a case with an alcoholic who was a trip, write the arguments out and make sense of the jumble for the judge who is assigned to writing the opinion in this case.

It’s a great job, it really is. Hands-on experience with the appeals process and a great internship to put on the resume. And since I did a similar thing last summer I’m a little faster out off the starting blocks than the other two summer clerks they got so I get great reviews. I’m certainly no slacker but I do manage to read most of NYTimes’ web edition most everyday….and politico….and msnbc.

It’s work that sometimes can be tedious – trying to figure out some of the paper work and the process – but it’s an incredible challenge and when you walk out of the chambers after having recommended a decision that the panel of judges accepted you feel like you could probably figure out that pesky Israel-Palestine business if someone just consulted you…

And the hours are flexible so when my bud Carl calls up and asks if I’m up for a round of golf with two of his co-workers I jump at the opportunity and duck out half an hour early. We’re having absolutely gorgeous weather and almost-Carolina style heat (but without the humidity) and the sun doesn’t set until like 11PM (that’s what being close to the arctic circle will do to you kids) so we make it a whole 18-hole round and don’t get in until quarter past ten.

We drive the fifteen minutes from the golf course with the windows down, blasting Explosions In The Sky as the sun sets over the Swedish countryside and I figure I’ll be able to take a few more weeks.