fandomhigh | Lawyering Up: Week 1, Wed, Period 2 (1/9)

"Good morning everyone," said the man at the front of the room who was wearing a very nice suit, was from New York, and yet amazingly was not Barney. "For those who don't know me, my name's Nathan Petrelli. I'll be your teacher for Lawyering Up this semester. You can call me Mr. Petrelli. Some of you may know me from being friends with my brother Peter. You can also call me Mr. Petrelli. But I can be flexible about 'Nathan' when we're out of class."

Nathan then passed out a syllabus, a sheet of rules, and a copy of the roster. "On these you can find out what the class is going to do, what's expected of you, and if you're supposed to be here in the first place. Bear in mind the first two are subject to change without notice. That's what we in the business call the fine print."

Done with that, Nathan then passed out a sign-in sheet. "I know that many of your classes so far have been about introducing yourselves and going home. We're actually going to be doing work. But I would like to get to know you so when you put sign in also tell me why you're taking the class. That's just for my benefit, so don't worry about being right or wrong.

"Like the rules say," Nathan continued, "I want you here on time, I want you to behave, and I want to see that you're trying to use your mind. You'll be graded on effort as much as results. This includes your weekly extra-credit challenge. Anybody who wants to get an edge in their grades can do so by bringing in as many lawyer jokes as they can find. You'll get bonus points if I haven't heard them before."

Nathan paused to make sure everyone seemed to be following along. "This class isn't going to make you a lawyer. But it will give you an idea of different aspects of the American legal system. If nothing else it'll give you the ability to be a smart shopper when you need a lawyer to help you down the line. And make no mistake: you will at some point need a lawyer. Even if you don't get in trouble with the law. You might get married, buy a home, need to sue someone, want to patent something - you name it.

"But we'll start with the basics," Nathan said. He leaned against the front of his desk. "Using the law to save yourself. Normally they say anyone who represents themselves in a court of law has a fool for a client, but today we're going to ignore that. I want you to get a taste for how the law works by using it to get yourself out of trouble. The situation is this: You've been given a traffic citation. Maybe for speeding, maybe for something else. It's up to you. Now you have to deal with me, the judge.

"Argue your case. Are you guilty or not guilty? If you're guilty should I fine you? Jail you? Send you to traffic school?" Nathan held up his hand to forestall any interruptions. "Before anyone starts to panic, I'm not asking you to come up with a case that even the Supreme Court would approve of. Don't worry about formalities of the legal system. Just worry about this."

Nathan handed out another sheet. "Precedent. Simply put it means we'll let you get away with something if you can prove that somebody else either got away with the same thing, or something really close. Those of you with younger siblings may recognize this as the 'But Maaaaaaa, how come he gets to stay up late?' approach." Nathan grinned.

"To help you out you have these." Nathan handed out a few more materials to use. "You don't have to read all of this right now. Just pick a violation that you were cited for, find something to help your case, and use it to mount your defense. Tell me why you should get away with it because somebody else did. Or tell me why you're innocent because somebody else was.

"I'm looking for creativity and anything that shows me you were even vaguely paying attention," Nathan added, with another grin. "And if you think the lecture was bad, imagine being stuck in court all day.

"Take a little time to prepare yourself, and I'll be here when you're ready."

[ooc: ~~wait for~~ OCD is up! Go nuts! I'll pick up pings in the morning]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Your Honour," Ronan began, leaning slightly forward on the desk, his hands spread in front of him to open himself up -- passion and openness, "as you can see, I have been ticketed for driving without a valid licence. This is, in its strictest sense, accurate; the state laws of Virginia designate only sixty days for a grace period before new residents of the state who are lawfully licensed in their home country must obtain a Virginia-issued licence. However, I believe there are extenuating circumstances such that I should not be fined for this offence."

"Okay," Nathan said. "What are the circumstances?"

It went without saying that Nathan really hoped said circumstances, even hypothetically, did not involve having sex with Nathan's brother.

... No, they definitely did not involve having sex with Nathan's brother. Nathan was, perhaps, the last person with whom Ronan wished to have that discussion.

"As supported by these travel documents and this lease," Ronan said, handing over sheets of paper on which he'd written, in block letters, 'TRAVEL DOCUMENTS' and 'LEASE', "the ticket was in fact issued in the sixty-second day of my residency in Virginia, a mere two days outside of the regular grace period. While this alone would not be enough, even in my own opinion, to offer an exception to the grace period, it is also true that I was in fact on my way to complete the licensing process at the time that I was stopped. This current, valid Virginia licence," and here there was another piece of paper, labeled 'LICENCE', "as you can see, was issued the same day as the ticket. Given these circumstances, I believe that an exception should be made in this particular case, as one was made in the case of the State of Virginia vs. Lawrence MacDonald in 1997, a Canadian who moved to Virginia and was ticketed under similar circumanstances within five days of the end of the grace period, at which time he was also on his way to complete the process for a Virginia licence."

Take that.

"Nicely done," Nathan said, with a chuckle. "What would you have done if you couldn't find a case that was so similar?"

A complement from Nathan? Maybe this class wouldn't be so bad after all.

"Without the precedent," Ronan said, "I'd have tried to argue on the merits of the rest of the case I made. I do feel that, under those circumstances, a sympathetic judge would have agreed with me, and perhaps even an ambivalent one."

Nathan nodded. "You could also look for things that were close enough. Anything that suggests that somebody, somewhere, was able to get the charges dropped because they were close enough. Things like registration, building permits, whatever."

Ronan nodded in return, smiling as he jotted down a couple of quick notes in his notebook. "Close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, and government work, right?" he said, his mouth quirking a little. "Thank you, this was rather a fun assignment."

"Thanks," Nathan said. "I appreciate the feedback."

Lawyering Up: Week 1, Wed, Period 2 (1/9)

Re: Defend Yourself! (1/9/08)

Re: Defend Yourself! (1/9/08)

Re: Defend Yourself! (1/9/08)

Re: Defend Yourself! (1/9/08)

Re: Defend Yourself! (1/9/08)

Re: Defend Yourself! (1/9/08)

Re: Defend Yourself! (1/9/08)

Re: Defend Yourself! (1/9/08)