Exhibit Laws - JB

Chapter 3 - Lunch offers

"Yeah, that's the number one thing you can be prepared for as a lawyer," He chuckled with some sort of sarcasm that I tried my best to ignore, "It's the way it goes. You read things, you write things and you show up to court and talk about what you've read and written."

"I know, I went to a law school."

"Yet, you're googling how to be a lawyer?" Alex's eyes squinted but he had a smirk on his face, letting me know that he was messing with me. I wanted to tell him to stop but in a strange odd way, I found it amusing to hear his sucky jokes, "Start by reading what the woman has noted in her file. What she's been through and how the situation happened, then you look in the lawbook and try and find the harshest law that has been broken. That's going to be your main argument in court-"

"I know this stuff," I cut him off, an annoyance suddenly appeared in my voice and I think he got my hint. Instead of continuing to explain to me what I was going to do, he asked me what I needed help with. Which I appreciated much more, "I don't know how to write the document."

"If I were you, I'd use the printer to print out all documents first. It'll be easier to organise it later on."

"That's so smart!" I cheered, feeling the day actually starting to go quite productive. It was already lunch time soon and I had yet to do the smallest thing in my case, maybe this was going to get me started and I could finish up the case rather quickly. I was looking forward to the courtroom, knowing that was my most precious time. I was a quick thinker and I had a lot of arguments, it was hard to say no to me as I filled the silence with harsh arguments and reason to why he is guilty to these crimes that had been committed. No one could rarely win against me whilst we were practising in court back in law school.

If there was anything I was good at, it was the convincing part. I never took no for an answer whenever I entered the courtroom. I became a real businesswoman that was hungry for revenge.

I printed out the few documents I had received from one of the assistants, named Claire (which I had never met but I assumed she was one of the hardworking headset girls), and instantly began to mark over the important phrases and words that would help me build my case against this disgusting human being.

Reading the rapports over and over had me feeling way more nausea than I ever thought I would. I had been through these types of cases before in law school but most of them were only practice cases and our teacher always assured us that they weren't real case scenarios. This case I was working on currently and practically all cases that I had received within my first day of working here, had my feeling sick. This was real life for these women and they all needed me.

"Here, check this out," Alex said in a suspicious voice and I knew that he had found something useful for us. I was wondering whether or not he had a case currently that he put on hold, only to help me. That must be the case because the people in this building rarely skipped cases or took a break. It was hectic, all over again.

He leaned over my desk, putting his elbows on the table and put the paper next to me. He then marked a sentence that was written with bold letters from Claire: the client is seeing a counsellor or health professional.

I gave him an odd face, "So? I would too if I had been sexually assaulted."

"Ask for the report, stupid," He chuckled, making me feel momentarily dumb for not thinking of that. I knew I had to speak to my client first, ask for the agreement to do so but I don't think that was going to be any trouble, "There, you'll find information about what happened further and you can use her medical needs to win the case. It's an argument to what she's really been through."

I nodded excitedly, feeling like I was really beginning to get started now. It was only my second day but I already felt like I had been working here for years.