After that first debacle, I forced myself to confront my demons. In every single class after that, I read ahead and raised my hand, determined to say something on point. Little by little, with every attempt, my heart quit pounding quite so hard, and my voice quit quavering so much. Still, it was a decidedly uphill climb. When the rest of my classmates showed up conservatively dressed in suits for our first mini “oral arguments” in a legal writing class, I showed up in jeans and a Mother’s Day t-shirt that read “Best Mom in the Whole World.” I wore it to remind me that if I fell flat on my face in school, I still had a life. If I had to do that day over, I’d still wear the same thing.
Three and a half years after I started, I finally graduated from law school with an honors degree and a commitment to finding a job in criminal prosecution. I was lucky enough to soon land a part-time position with the District Attorney’s office in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. The post was newly created, and both my boss and I were open to suggestions on how to make the best use of my time.
As a former journalist, I naturally gravitated to writing projects—briefs, motions, research, appeals. And then one fine day one of the other attorneys in the office turned up at my desk with several pounds of paper for me to review. He had won a TPR (“Termination of Parental Rights”) case at trial before a jury, but the judge had subsequently refused to terminate the parent’s rights based on a technicality. What did I think?
I had been a prosecuting attorney for less than a year. I had never looked at the Children’s Code before this. But I rolled up my sleeves, read the statutes and the judge’s decision, and came to the conclusion that the judge had gotten it wrong. My boss gave me the green light to file an appeal.
A few months later, the written decision came down from the Court of Appeals. The appellate judge ruled in favor of the trial court judge. Once again, several pounds of paper landed with a thump on my desk. What did I think? We had now lost the case twice in a row…but when I looked at the law and the appellate court’s reasoning, I came to the conclusion that this one was wrong too. I got another green light, this time to go knocking on the door of the state supreme court. The petition was granted. And I was absolutely terrified.
