I started the week out by attending a deposition with Tyler Derr on Monday morning. It was a construction case that had more defendants than I have seen in any case thus far. Luckily, Tyler provided me with background information and filled me in on what the focus would be in the deposition, so I was able to follow along through all of the complexities and terminology that was foreign to me. There were nine attorneys in attendance, five of which asked the deponent questions. It was great to have the opportunity to observe various lines of questioning and each attorney’s style. It was also more informal than I had anticipated. Afterwards, I was able to de-brief with Tyler and hear his thoughts on the deponent’s answers and what questions he would have asked since a lot of the responses seemed unhelpful or simply were “I don’t know.” That afternoon, I finished and submitted the three assignments Meredith Fee had given me last week pertaining to the Wrongful Death Act. 

On Tuesday, we were able to leave the office a little early and head over to Shuffle Tampa to continue the celebration of paralegal’s week. I had only played table shuffleboard before, so this was all new to me. One of the workers there was very nice giving us a quick overview of the rules and proper terms of the equipment (tangs are the long sticks, biscuits are the discs you slide and the kitchen is the area where you shoot the biscuits from). He told us there was an in-house rule that whoever gets to 75 first wins, but he followed that by stating he’d never seen anyone get to 75—that didn’t change after the handful of games we played. Rebecca Arends was my partner and we will admit, shuffleboard is a lot harder than it looks! You have to hit the biscuit much softer than you think is needed, but too soft and it’s stuck in the “dead zone” in the middle. One strategy people used, was to just hit the other team’s biscuits off the board instead of trying to delicately land your own biscuit in the triangle. It was great to be able to spend time with everyone outside of the office and hear some of the funny stories everyone has. I’m grateful to get to be a part of such a friendly, out-going and welcoming office. The night winded down at The Hall with Rob Blank, Carie Hall, Meredith and Joleen East, a place with six restaurants inside that provided an array of options and delicious food. A wonderful, eventful day. 

On Wednesday, I began research on an issue Tyler had assigned to me the day before regarding substitution of counsel. A rather straightforward procedural question that presented with a series of obstacles given the facts of the case, and definitely one of the more intricate research assignments I’ve received. I also reviewed the case file for an assignment I’d submitted a few weeks ago in order to begin drafting a cross-claim for indemnification against a defendant. Additionally, Wednesday morning, we received the results and scoresheets of the writing competition paper—congrats, Phoenix! I was able to review the judges’ comments and provide feedback for next year’s writing competition. 

I spent majority of the day on Thursday researching the substitution of counsel assignment I received from Tyler. I started to go down a rabbit holes at one point, so I had to talk with Tyler at various times to ensure I was on the right track and getting closer to the answer neither of us was sure even existed. Later that day, I received a brief research assignment from Tyler regarding pleading factual inconsistencies. By Friday morning, I had found the answer and conclusions to both assignments and was able to submit them first thing! 

Friday was the day I’d been waiting for all week (and all summer) because the much anticipated mock trial packet was distributed. The packet and rules were emailed out in the early afternoon and, once it hit my inbox, I immediately printed it out and began reading through it—an interesting case that is even a little spicy in places. Patrick Delaney held the meeting Friday afternoon regarding the rules of the competition and answered any questions anyone may already have. Afterwards