On Monday, I met Judge Rader. Judge Rader is the head judge for the Wake County District Court. He was the one that allowed me to do an internship with the judges, but he had been on vacation in Italy for all of last week. Because Judge Rader was back, Judge Davidian could finally return to the criminal side of the courts and escape family law. His regular room was room 202, which he described as the “garden variety” of cases. They mostly involved Class 3 Misdemeanors, which often would only result in a fine depending on how many other crimes that person had committed. If they had committed more than three previous misdemeanors, they could be sent to jail, but only for a maximum of 120 days. Therefore, Judge Davidian is provided with a printout that shows how many other misdemeanors people have committed. I was surprised; the numbers ranged from forty-five, to thirty-eight, to no priors at all. It amazed me that some people had been to court almost fifty times.
In 202, there is a lot of paper pushing mostly due to the sheer number of cases. I’m constantly impressed by the number of people that manage to get arrested in Wake County. I also learned that because of the 5th amendment, you are not allowed to talk to a prosecutor without an attorney present so you don’t accidentally say something you’ll regret. However, lots of the lawyers have many cases at once, so they have to rotate rooms and often show up later. This causes some backlog, but the schedule ran smoothly regardless. In the event that some people show up late to court, Judge Davidian makes them wait until the end of the day for their trial because he hates doing the paperwork that he has to file when people don’t show up. I see it as a win-win: Less paper for the judges and also less frustration by the people.
In 202, I saw Mr. McCoppin, who I will be interning for this summer. It was interesting to see a preview of what I would be doing and also to know that I will be coming back to court and get to see all of the Judges again.
For lunch, Judge Rader took me to the Women’s Club, where a Wake County Bar lunch was being held. The Wake County Bar was an optional bar with member fees, but it gave perks like free lunch and also managed awards for lawyers. At this meeting, they gave out some awards to outstanding attorneys and also made all the guests stand up and be introduced. When I was introduced, I recognized someone that had come in as an Alumni from Cary Academy on Career Connections day. She recognized me as well, and I thought that was very cool. Also, at my table, one of the men told me that his daughter was in 8th grade at CA. I got to see just how far the alumni network reaches and also meet some very successful lawyers.
