Posted by alexandra_k on October 7, 2014, at 0:05:12
In reply to Re: books, posted by alexandra_k on October 6, 2014, at 23:50:22
i think i could have done a better job of defending than my lawyer... but not a better job of the defending of me. because i would have gone off on a tangent... gotten upset... i'm too personally involved in my own case to be appropriately objective. she represented me better than i could have represented myself and i am grateful to her.
but... it was an incoherant appeal on her behalf... i mean... she presented my case in a way that was... incoherant. she is really young. it wouldn't surprise me to learn that she's first year out of law school... that i'm her first case, even. i'm fairly sure she was given my case because my case is a no brainer for a judge... the judge (after going on for a while -- to educate my lawyer mostly, i think, but also to encourage me to think about how the f*ck i have a coherant story with allowing a diminished responsibility due to aspergers defence together with citing application to medical school (disclosure statements on disability / health that impacts and criminal convictions) BOTH as mitigating...
i didn't know she was going to appeal to diminished responsibility to be fair. i thought dx may be mitigating... but tension with that and fitness to practice. signing 'i do not have a health condition that is likely to adversely affect practice' IN GOOD CONSCIENCE. It is a tension i feel... I decided for Otago that my condition isn't likely to adversely affect... Because a condition is the wrong category of thing to affect... Individual responsibility must be decided on a case by case basis not on the basis of dx category the DSM tells us so... I really wasn't expecting my lawyer to appeal to dx so crudely... Especially given teh health letter from my nurse... Which was a lovely letter... To the effect that the dx affects different individuals differently and that she has never felt threatened by me and that I am intelligent and articulate but that... Sometimes I am not the best advocate for myself.
Which was wonderful, really. I mean... I couldn't have written a better letter myself...
I don't know what case load my lawyer has... Afterwards she was all like 'you are the most organised person I've had with getting me the relevant documents that I needed'. I think... She learned... She probably should have spent more time on my case... Since I was organised and motivated...
The case just before mine... A guy... A wonderful lawyer. A bit of a show pony... But she did her job f*ck*ng well. WEnt on and on and on... Very compelling. Trying to talk to the police before hand... To get them to not oppose her reccommendation... The reccommendation negotiated between them all... Then she presented the summary of everything to the judge... Then the judge cites everything back (demonstrating understanding - or not...Depending on how the case was presented to her) and then the verdict is made... Typically... Agreeing with teh consensus. Of course.
It was a 'higher court'. Perhaps not in any official sense... Or perhaps yes. I don't know if there is a hierarchy of courts / judges within the district court. Perhaps they take turns... The judges, I mean. At hearing cases near the start (where peple are being assigned duty lawyers) where people are entering pleas... Right at the end... LIke this was. With room for a jury trial....
I'm a little sad to get kicked out the other end. What now will I do on Thursdays?
I want to find the precedent case... I want to know what happened with that. I feel... Upset that my lawyer mostly focused on that.
The judge mostly focused on: I didn't hurt the victim - only her feelings / pride. That... Insensitivity to that is inconsistent with wanting a career in medicine. I don't have anything special for society.... I can do a bunch of stuff that other people can do to... But I want recognition / respect for some of that. So...
I need to learn to be the 'bigger person' in some sense. Most especially if I want society to give me the power you get as a doc.
Something that has come up a lot in law... Power... I always thought power was a responsibility not a ... Not something you wanted. It was a responsibility. MOre a burden. But then learning about the balance of power etc. Assumption being everyone is after their own interests. I think law is hard for me because it seems more about that... (though perhaps not for judges... i don't know)... but it certainly shouldn't be for docs.
The judges were wise. I think. I have... Greater respect for the courts.
poster:alexandra_k
thread:1058481
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20140828/msgs/1071960.html