It was after my first year of law school. I was clerking in a teeny tiny firm. I drafted research memos for the most part that summer.
But one day, I was asked to go to the courthouse!
I had to file something in the clerk’s office. That’s it. I wasn’t appearing in front of a judge, I wasn’t going with a client. Just had to walk into the clerk’s office, time-stamp the papers, and leave.
But I thought it was absolutely necessary that I look like a lawyer. So here’s me looking like a lawyer for my first visit to the courthouse.
Yes. That’s me in my fancy lawyer suit with a briefcase and non-descript file folder. (I even wear dark-rimmed glasses when I wear glasses!)
The car I was driving that summer did not have air-conditioning. And only 1 window would roll down. And it overheated if I was idle for too long. And I had to open the trunk to get the gas tank to open. Blue Betty was special. So, by the time I drove the 30 or so minutes to the courthouse in the sweltering heat, I looked like this in my fancy lawyer suit (Except that I’m a woman, but when you do a google search trying to find pictures of women sweating in suits you find only attractive women in Juicy couture track suits.) :
Gross!
I marched into the court house and tried to locate the clerk’s office. This is me locating the clerk’s office:
(Again, a perfect replica of me with my dark-rimmed glasses). I was a little confused, as the clerk’s office has different entry points for different types of cases. What kind of case did I have? How could I tell? A real lawyer would know these things!
I made a decision. Marched in the door and was thankfully in the right spot. I stamped my papers. No one looked impressed with me at all. This is people not impressed with me:
And then I left.
But you know what I realized that day, my first day at the courthouse?
That everyone else looks like this when they go to the courthouse:
(Less the fact that all these pictures are of famous people).
RJ 