Miles's blog

If only the writers for Law and Order could do what I did today they would never run out of material. I went to my final team meeting today. Team meetings are my favorite part of the job. Team meetings are where the chief deputy district attorneys meet with the lawyers they supervise and the team’s support staff. Most of the teams have eight attorneys, two secretaries, two victim/witness specialists, and three investigators. Not everyone attends every meeting but most do.

Some of each meeting is consumed with office announcements, coverage issues, and sundry other details. But the best part is case staffings-discussion by the group of pending cases. Lawyers staff a case to get input from other members of the team about the best way to handle the case. Sometimes it is a discretion check on a plea offer which has been made, often because “I told the defense counsel I would run it by my team.” Sometimes it is to solicit advice on trial preparation, or to seek input on legal issues. Basically, the attorney runs down the facts of the case. This is the interesting part; and why, although my presence is completely unnecessary to the function and purpose of the team meetings, that I have been going for four years.

I used to pass it off that I was the “intake representative,” and pretend this was part of my official duties, as if my supervisor had dictated my presence. Really that was never the case. I just like them. There is a reason why Law and Order and its derivatives have been on television for a decade and a half. Criminal cases are interesting. Staffing cases is like being in the writers room for a tv show, but everything is real.

Team meetings bring out the most fascinating stories of robberies, burglaries, assaults, sexual assaults, drug dealing, identity theft, etc. Listening to experienced (and some not so experienced) prosecutors dissect a case is the best part of the job. Smart people discussing important issues in a free-flowing discussion has always been the best part of being a lawyer.

I felt the same about meetings when I was in the appellate section of the Attorney General’s office. Those conversations analyzed the legal issues, instead of the factual emphasis of DA staffing, but the intellectual challenge and stimulation is the same. When D.A.s staff cases we talk about strength of the case, witness credibility, jury appeal, quality of investigation, judicial impact, sentencing, and anything else pertinent to prosecution, disposition, and conviction. Humor is a major part of every staffing. After all everyone in the room (except for me) is a trial lawyer. Trial lawyers are generally not shy. They like the spotlight, and are quick thinkers. Truly, case staffing are fun.

I always resolve going into the meeting to keep my mouth shut. After all, as is occasionally pointed out to me, I am not in the courtroom. But somewhere between the facts and the disposition, I lose my reticence and out comes my less-than-tactful opinions. Something like, “that argument is ridiculous,” or “seriously?” I say that last a lot. Too much. Seriously.

I am sure my input is regarded as something similar to the idle blather of a doddering old man or the unwanted input of a nosy aunt. Still, the lawyers in my office indulge me. I am going to miss those meetings; and the people who attend them.

# posted by Miles Madorin : 9:19 PM