Juice Kicks Ass and Takes Names

If I do say so myself--I kicked some butt in court today. It was an order for protection case, and things went really, really well. We got the OFP and reached an agreement with the opposing counsel, but then argued about child support in front of the judge because the respondent wouldn't agree to give our client all the money she was asking for. Both parties are indigent and the judge looked like he didn't want to award the money, but we argued for the statutory amount of child support and daycare costs even though they weren't in the petition. The opposing counsel said her client couldn't pay it, and offered to pay half of the child support. That was our starting point, and after we argued, we ended up getting everything we asked for PLUS got the support backdated two weeks, PLUS got her money for some extra expenses. It was a great result for our client, and she gave me a kiss and hug and invited me over to dinner for some homemade Russian food.

My favorite moment was when the judge was writing the order and he said he would be writing down $550 for child support. I said, "No, your honor. The agreement was to pay $552.93, the statutory amount." He stared at me for a few moments as if to ask if I was serious. I just raised my eyebrows and held my ground. "Very well," he said. "We will award her $553.00 per month." Out of the corner of my eye, I could see my supervising attorney cracking up. I knew I would catch some hell for arguing about $2.93, but I thought it was important not to allow them to stretch the statutory guidelines in any way, particularly after fighting so hard to get even the minimum statutory amount for the client. I thought a little leniency here might open the door to screwing my client over in other areas of the agreement.

Oh, also, my client complimented me on my suit today (a 1940-style brown & cream skirt suit). Does she know how much I obsess over the outfits I wear to court? Hilarious. Anyhoo--Fun times. Now have to try to keep my eyes open for my night class. Better run & get some coffee lest I get stuck with goon juice. TTFN!