Sherwood Hunt Law Office example essay topic

My Grade 11 co-op placement was Sherwood Hunt Law Office. There are two Lawyers there, an office manager, and two law clerks. I usually spent most of my time with the law clerks and began to learn a lot from them right from the beginning. Jim Hunt, the lawyer who was present the most at the law office was whom I had to time to have nice, insightful conversations with about Law, School, and life. I always thought of how hard it was going to be in university and law school. I got to talk to Jim to see just how hard he had to work in school to make him as successful as he is now.

He told me about when he was going for his MBA, he had twelve exams near Christmas, and if that wasn't hard enough, if he got lower than a B on any of them, he was out of the course. These were just a few of the challenges Mr. Hunt had to face. My usual day involved answering the phones, making some photo copies, and doing odd jobs, like opening or closing files, and writing or revising a letter or document of some sort. Being at this placement I learned many things. To begin with, I learned some of the challenges I'm going to have to face in school, and how hard I'm going to have to work. I was talking to Mr. Hunt about my current courses and I mentioned that I was worried that my strengths in Math and Physics would not be useful in the law workplace.

Fortunately, Mr. Hunt reassured me that they are plenty useful in the law environment, and in fact, Jim got a 99 in University Physics. I also learned specific skills at this work place. Things that will help me out as I become a lawyer, such as, how to write an affidavit, open and close files (although this may change at different law offices) and read a statement of claim or search through files to find one specific point. Also, I learned about serving a defendant / plaintiff in a law suit. This can be a very time consuming process, (or a very simple one) and there is usually someone that is paid to do this. In one case in the law office, they had to hire a Private Investigator to find a person to be "served".

This is when the person knows that they are being served, and since u have to serve the plaintiff / defendant in person, and then if they don't want to be found, it can be a very hard process, so you sort of have to sneak up on them, in some cases, to serve the individual. As I reflect on my learning experiences here at Sherwood Hunt Law office. I realize I have learned many things that will give me that extra advantage over other Lawyers in the workplace. I now know a filing system that works, and exactly how I can keep track of every single customer that I defend. Whether it is 500 customers, or even just 10 personal ones, I can keep the all in order and find them within 5 minutes. I've learned small lawyer tricks, such as using a P.I. to find and "serve" a person in a case.

In addition, I recognize the responsibility a lawyer has in a case and making sure everything is done on time, because there are no second chances, or rescheduling court days. If you are not ready, then you have to go in with what you have, and that won't work out well, and can result in losing business. Moreover, I realize how hard I am going to have to study and work in University and am trying to fix small bad study habits that I have now so that in University I can do as well as Mr. Hunt as done and become as successful as him.