“Chanlee Sutoyo for the government”

Saturday, February 24, 2007

I made it through my first week in court. It went better than I thought it would. I’d been afraid I wouldn’t be able to formulate complete sentences. I hadn’t been before a judge in over a year, so I was nervous. But it went fine, with a few glitches here and there, because my mentor helped me prepare.

The attorneys assigned to watch me from the second chair are all very experienced. One was funny, too. Before lunch he asked how the afternoon calendar looked. I replied that I hadn’t looked at the files yet. He said, “You’re adjusting quite well to our office!” So true.

It’s been an exciting week and I’m looking forward to doing more cases. I had a couple merit hearings (the closest thing to a trial that goes on in immigration court), and got to practice cross examination. It’s a tough skill to master but I’m learning that it’s much more than memorizing a series of questions and asking them like an automaton. It’s about knowing the law and realizing what you and, ultimately, the judge need to make the right determination.

I had my first Perry Mason moment with a woman from Mexico who was here illegally. She crossed the border with her husband and baby many years ago. When I asked her the age of her child, she gave an answer which was impossible given the birth date of the child and purported date of entry. I then confronted her with the birth date, and asked again how old the child was when she came to the US, and she changed her answer. Because of that and a few other inconsistencies, the case was denied, and an order of deportation entered.

Interesting stuff.

Oh yeah, I was called “a child” again. The other time was on my birthday. I went out to lunch with several attorneys, all of whom were older and/or had young children. I asked them when they thought was a good time to have kids, and they asked me my age. I said, “27,” and one of them said, “Oh, you’re still a child.” Well, they do say that 60 is the new 50.

2 Comments  | Tags: young bureaucrat