Even when I had some questions on the Jackson case, I was able to pick a few of my colleague’s brains and save myself from having to deal with Matt at all.
But this morning, he walks into my office at eight AM and hands me a folder. He tells me that I’m going to argue a Motion to Compel for him in court and that I have thirty minutes to get ready for it. He tells me this is in a calm voice… no menace and no anger, so I don’t think he is doing it to punish me. In fact, he assures me that this is a slam-dunk motion. He points me to the actual rule on civil procedure that will, in fact, win the motion for me, as long as I argue it properly, and tells me that he will be by my side if I run into any trouble.
Then he walks out of my office after telling me to be ready to go in half an hour.
I then commence to have a full-blown freak out. I think I even start hyperventilating. Handing in my resignation is the only way out of this, and that scenario is looking pretty damn good.
But then… after about five minutes of spazzing out, I remember that Matt said this was a slam-dunk motion, and he wouldn’t have given me something I couldn’t handle. So I log on to our legal library, pull the rule up, and read it. I print it and read it a second time. It looks pretty straightforward, but I still manage to memorize it in my allotted time frame.
Now, here we sit in front of the Honorable Jericho H. Stanback, a kindly looking judge with snowy white hair and wire-framed glasses, and my armpits are pouring sweat. I feel a little light-headed actually, and try to take a deep, calming breath.
It doesn’t work.
Matt leans over and whispers, “You got this, Mac. Piece of cake.”
I turn to look at him. He’s looking at me with such confidence that I feel a bit of it infuse inside of me. He continues to stare at me, conveying the same message.
You got this, Mac.
When the judge asks for my arguments, I stand on shaky legs. I will admit there is a moment where I think all my brain function has died. I go blank.
Then it comes flooding back to me, and I start talking. I give the judge a short background of the case and explain why we are before him today. I quote the Rules of Civil Procedure, even perfectly laying out the portion that applies to our case. I assure him that there is no law to the contrary, that the facts of the case fall squarely within this rule, and that I respectfully ask His Honor to grant our Motion to Compel.
When I’m done, I sit back down and listen carefully to the other attorney make his argument.
It’s kind of lame to be honest.
Then the judge is granting my motion... in essence, claiming me the victor. I want to stand up and do a football-touchdown dance, or do my “neener” move to the other attorney, both of which would assuredly land me in jail on contempt of court charges. So I just walk over to my opponent and shake his hand.
Matt gives me a short smile and congratulates me. He then tells me to head back to the office on my own as he has a few other matters to attend to at the courthouse.
I’m riding so high on my first real court appearance… and a victory to boot, that all my other worries just sort of melt away. This is what I’m supposed to be doing. McKayla Dawson is going to make a hell of a litigator.
When I get back to the office, I can’t help but relate the entire scenario to our receptionist, Bea, but I can tell when her eyes glaze over that she could care less. She listens to me with a painted smile and nods like she understands, but I’m betting inside she’s probably wondering what to eat for dinner that night.
With no other victory parade to attend to, I head back to my office and get back to work reviewing the slip and fall case Matt had given me. He’s right… the case is pretty craptastic. It was some bonehead walking through a grocery store that didn’t notice the dark red cranberry juice that had spilled in a huge puddle on the white flooring.
Hello, open and obvious danger.