Cabot and Associates, Wednesday

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

Today, Alex was doing legal research, for the case she had mentioned to Jack (and that she needed to update Momoko and Roy about, should they be interested). And, of course, working on her class for this evening. And possibly worrying about some of her students who were in far-off places.

Cabot and Associates was open.

(OCD-free. Please note when you're stopping in? Alex is going to find out about Katniss's reaping this afternoon, so after that, she's going to be in a much worse mood.)

Comments

[heromaniac]

Momoko was completing tasks today! Just like a real grown-up!

And on her list was to stop in to see Ms Cabot, so here she was, knocking on the door: "Hi? I hope I'm not interrupting?"




[OOC: Before Alex is moody please OMG I've seen the show :)]

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

"Not at all," Alex said, setting aside her laptop with a quick smile. "Actually, I was hoping to talk to you. Come in."

(HEEE. We are not talking 'guilt' levels of moody THANK GOODNESS ;) )

[heromaniac]

"Ooh?" Momoko smiled and stepped inside. "Is it a good thing or a bad thing? I hope I haven't messed anything up?"

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

"Not at all," Alex said with a smile. "I was just going to update you on one of the larger projects that's coming in for the summer. Have a seat?"

[heromaniac]

"Eh! Does it mean I can do something other than filing?" She sat, leading forward eagerly. "Although that's fun and totally interesting too. It's why I came, to ask if it was okay if I read some of them. On break, of course. Reading through the procedures and the evidence and stuff is totally awesome..."

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

"I don't mind you reading them," Alex said, laughing a little at the barrage of words. "I should warn you, legal research isn't all that interesting, to people who aren't into the law. At least, it makes most people want to tear their hair out. I enjoy it, however."

Lawyers weren't sane. At all.

"What I'll need you to do is to look into case precedents. We'll be digging through files of a particular judge's cases, from his two decades on the bench, to look for patterns and aberrations. We need to see his handling of cases that involve mothers -- both suburban moms as well as atypical family unit mothers. This is especially important in cases of suspected abuse."

[heromaniac]

An actual assignment! Yay!

"Twenty years of cases?!" Momoko was a bit astounded; that was going to be a lot of reading! Hopefully they were all as interesting as the one she'd found the other day. "Wow. Okay. What kind of patterns? Or am I not supposed to know before I start?"

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

Alex had to give that some consideration before answering. An unbiased mind might spot some interesting results ... but on the other hand, the pattern was subtle in places, and she might waste time needing Momoko to re-read cases once she knew what to look for.

"The allegation is that the judge ... favors less severe sentences for family units he approves of, and more so for ones he disapproves of. A low-income mother accused of beating her child would receive a harsher sentence than a suburban mother accused of the exact same crime."

She didn't want to go into the specifics, of how badly the judge had (allegedly) tipped the judicial system sideways.

"Really, any case involving domestic issues would be relevant," she said. "Look for patterns, but I also need cases that don't fit the pattern, or don't seem to. We don't know yet whether the allegation has merit. It's a serious charge to be making, and one that landed the accuser in some serious hot water."

[heromaniac]

Now it was Momoko's turn to be quiet for a moment.

"A judge is really doing that?!"

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

"As far as we can tell," Alex said softly. "Which is why it's imperative that we either disprove the allegations, and put our minds at ease, or find hard evidence, and get him off the bench, ASAP."

[heromaniac]

"Oh! So we're looking for proof either way? We don't know for sure that he's doing it?" Momoko felt better with that still a possibility. She didn't like the idea of corrupt authority.

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

Alex hesitated, feeling a bit unnerved by the girl's brightened mood.

"The person who accused him had good reason," she said, carefully. "We don't know for sure, but there have been a lot of questionable calls. I need to see the full picture, even if it ends up being unfavorable to someone in a position of authority. Is that going to be ... difficult?"

[heromaniac]

"Oh no!" Momoko shook her head almost immediately. "If someone is breaking the law, it has to be stopped!"

"... It is against the law in your world, right?" Different worlds, different rules. Maybe judges in Ms Cabot's world were allowed to make decisions based on how they felt, or maybe bribery was legal? Did people have to live by different rules based on where they lived, perhaps?

"Or is there more we have to do to help?"

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

"It's against the law," Alex said. "It's going to be difficult to prove. Judges have a lot of leeway in sentencing, so if he can argue that there's just a normal variation going on, and we can't prove otherwise, then he gets away with it. We need as much evidence as possible if we're going to bring him down."

[heromaniac]

"I'll work hard! People have to be able to trust authority; it's not right that he's abusing that. It could totally make it harder for other judges, too! And if he's not, then we totally need to clear it up so that people can trust him again and not worry."