Monday 4 March 2013

A Look Back...


After reading my fellow articling students’ posts, I was really looking forward to sharing my own experiences with all of you.  Each and every one of my weeks at MB has been filled with interesting and exciting experiences, so I was sure that I would have no problem writing a blog post. And then this week happened… no court appearances, no discoveries and/or mediations to attend – just a week of playing catch up on missed calls and emails, etc. 

While it was great to catch up on these rather mundane tasks, writing about my filing … well that‘s not very exciting for you, the readers… Therefore, I decided to take you back to my last week, and tell you what happened... (trust me, it’s good).

The week started off with me arguing my first contested motion!  While I was nervous, I had a sense of confidence because several months before, I appeared before the court for another contested matter - MY first small claims court trial!  It was a professional negligence matter and I had never been more nervous!  I could not believe that I was getting the opportunity to meet with the clients, prep them for their examination in chief, and write my own opening and closing.  With the support of the other students and lawyers in the office, I managed to pull off a WIN; so I figured if I could handle a trial on my own – I could handle this motion…

The motion related to a costs order and both parties had the opportunity to present their arguments to the Court.  It was a great opportunity to practice my oral advocacy and to speak on my feet (believe it or not, it gets easier the more times you do it)….It was also a nice bonus to have the Judge rule in our favour…

Next up on my week was assisting one of the lawyers in writing a factum.  It was a complicated employment law issue and I was definitely feeling out of my depth.  But here is the great thing about McCague—you can always ask for help!  I was able to show several lawyers drafts of my writing and received lots of helpful advice.  Thirty pages later, I had drafted one of my first factums.  A couple days later, I then had the opportunity to attend with that lawyer and watch him argue the factum that I had helped draft.  It was a pretty cool experience.

I could tell you even more stories about last week….but I am enjoying my “slow” week…and I have more filing and catching up to do. Until next time…
NG