Getting to the Fun Part

Trials are the fun, exhausting, challenging, and frustrating part about being a lawyer.  As a lawyer you only get to the "fun" part, i.e., trial, when you have a client courageous enough to put her freedom on the line and actually go to trial.  After all, in a criminal trial real freedom is on the line.

I had one such client Monday.  I am very proud of her.  She was charged with assault family violence - a false accusation.  It wasn't just a misdemeanor case to her.  It was everything.  It was her life.  It was her daughter's life.  It would determine her ability to see her daughter.  To be a real, present mom to her daughter. 

Minutes before the jury panel came in, the prosecutors offered her a 90 day deferred Class C misdemeanor ticket to the tune of $100 with no family violence finding.  Most people would have taken this.  A huge concession.  A guarantee.  Pay a $100 fine.  No probation.  Go home.  Stay out of trouble for 90 days.  No family violence finding. 

She turned it down without a second thought.  She couldn't live with herself if she took the guarantee, the government's compromise, their need to get just an ounce of her flesh.  By turning down the compromise she stood up for herself for the first time.  She stood for something.  She stood for truth. 

I was very proud of her in that moment.  I was very proud to be her lawyer.  And I know it must have showed.  After two full days we got a 25 minute "NOT GUILTY"

And in that moment my pride for her was reciprocated.  There's nothing like that feeling - pride in a client for having the courage to stand for herself, pride in a job well done, pride in a jury for seeing the truth and being strong enough to say so.  And there's nothing quite like another person's genuine pride in you for having changed their life in a way no other could...that is the fun part.