May 22, 2009 Time Worked: 8-3 Time Written: 4:02 pm

Today was my last day at the office. Mr. Stanton had me file over 4 cases which took a very long time. The experience I got from working with Mr. Stanton was amazing. I got to see what it was actually like to work at a law office and in a city law office. The experience was awesome and I am very thankful i got to work and do the law office stuff with him. 

May 20, 2009 Time Worked: 8-3 Time Written : 6:14 pm

Today i helped on a deposition which is a sworn statement given under oath and questioning by an attorney. The deposition had a stenographer at one end of the table and the lawyer from the other side on one side.and Mr. Stanton on one side of a long table with the City employee next to him. The lawyer asked question about a vacant lot in the City and the City worker who was a department head had to answer the questions truthfully. What i noticed was that the City worker only answered the question asked and never elaborated on it. The lawyer told me that is important because if you try and do more than the question asked you usually say something you regret. The Deposition took about an hour and the lawyers were respectful to each other but during the deposition they often said things on the record to preserve their rights.I helped in preparing the witness, drove to the deposition and reviewed when we got back.

May 19, 2009 Time Worked: 8-4 Time Written: 5:11 pm

Today I worked on a case where a person slipped and fell while getting out of her car in a vacant lot that the City owns. the City';s position is that she should not have been trespassing on City land and they ares responsible. However, the woman claims that the area was plowed and that she thought it was a parking. The City does not plow the property because they don't use it. the city attorney suspects that someones plowed the lot ( restaurant owner in the area) and allowed his customers to Park there. In any event the City will not pay the claim even thought the woman broker her arm. i had to review pleadings and discovery that the parties had exchanged. 

May 18, 2009 Time Worked 8-5  Time Written 5:10 pm

Today was sort of an interesting day. There was a claim that came in from a woman who claimed her tire went flat as the result of hitting a staple that was in a area of the road that the city had just opened up to fix a pipe in the ground and then covered up. The claim is that a staple in the road must have washed into the area that the city put a gravel patch in and then punctured her tire. The City denied the claim because the crew that dud the hole, fixed the pipe, and then backfilled in never had any staples on them. The city also has to put a temporary patch in first and have the soil compacted first before they pave it over. If they pave it over first the blacktop will sink. So it looks like the City was not negligent and they did not pay the claim. The other thing I worked on was a letter to help the city collect on unpaid taxes. It was complicated but people that don't pay the taxes on their homes have the city file a notice that tells anyone that tries to buy the house that the city is owed money and the City's tax bill must be paid first. 

May 15, 2009 Hours Worked : 8-3 Time Written 9:49 am

Today was another filing day for me. I went into the office and Mr. Stanton had me filing the case were a man sued waltham because a city truck hit his fence and car. The man wanted way more money than he deserved so the case had to go to trial. It took about a year and I filed the whole case by months and dates. I had to set it up and then put it into a big filing cabinet with a bunch of other important cases that Mr. Stanton had to deal with. Filing is a lot of work, it takes a lot of time and there is just so much paper to file in a lawyers office on a case. 

May 14, 2009  Time Worked: 8- 3 Time Written: 11:45 pm

Today I had the opportunity to head to court. I went to the Probate court once again. I got to sit in on a trial that had been going on for about 4 months that had to do with a man who owed his wife about 10 months worth of child support. The man kept making excuses on why he could not pay the child support but the funny thing to the judge was that the man had a unbelievable income and didn't know what  and where the money was going. the Judge thought that was a bunch of crap and sentenced him to jail time until he could pay off the amount of money he owed. The man played it off like he didn't know where the money was going but I think he will finally pay it off after he serves a Little time in jail. 

May 13, 2009 Time Worked: 8- 4  Time Written : 9:22 pm

Today I worked in the office and filed a case that dealt with a fire truck being struck by a electricity poll. It was hit twice and faced a lot of damage and they tried to blame the city for the accident. The case went on for a good 3 years and I had to file the cases letters from lawyers and the damage records in chronological order from months and dates. It took all my time up and I had to finish it today.