Week 5 (March 16, 2015)

Hello! Last week was a busy week!

On Monday, I, yet again, arrived at the office only to be greeted by one of Mr. Levine's clients. Remember when I saw that deposition back in February? Let me refresh your memory:

"On Wednesday, I was greeted immediately by one of Mr. Levine's clients at the door. This client was there before me, as she needed to prepare for the deposition of her late daughter's ex-husband's new girlfriend. This deposition was regarding a grandparental visiting rights issue, as the father of her grandson had moved the both of them out of state, taking him away from her. Before they moved, the grandmother was able to see her daughter's son at least once a week. She would walk him to school and allowed him to seek counseling after his mother's death. The case involves the grandmother of the boy, the father of the boy, and the father's current girlfriend. As there were so many parties involved in this case, the conference room in which the deposition took place was overflowing with people. Along with Mr. Levine and his client (the grandmother), there was the girlfriend of the father and her lawyer (who brought an intern to observe), and there was the lawyer of the father (who didn't show up). In addition, the grandfather of the boy (our client's husband) and the videographer was present. With so many people and not enough room, I was placed in the doorway of Mr. Levine's office, able to watch and listen. I was more than happy to watch from the next room over, away from the cramped space of the conference room. The deposition lasted about three hours, during which there were three breaks taken to stretch legs and discuss questions. A deposition is basically a question-and-answer session in which the lawyer of a party in the case (in this case our client) asks another party some basic facts about the case and about their observations. This is then signed under oath and turned in as an addition to the facts of the case, as evidence. After the deposition, I worked on some of my research until it was time to leave. I am allowed to discuss cases (as I know it always seems so hush hush in the movies, and it is to some extent), as long as I do not mention any specific names. Anonymity is everything."

Anyway, I finally met the daughter's ex-husband! The conference room was not quite as crowded as last time, thankfully (which didn't really matter because I ended up sitting in the doorway again). Along with Mr. Levine and his client (and her husband), the court reporter, the videographer, the father, and his lawyer were all there, in that tiny little conference room. This time, the deposition lasted four hours and three minutes (not including breaks)! That's actually very impressive considering that Mr. Levine actually ran out of time (they allotted four hours for the deposition) before he was done asking all of his questions! It was not surprising that Mr. Levine ran out of time, as the father was evasive and hostile at times during the deposition. This behavior was pleasantly welcomed by Mr. Levine, as he was hoping to prove that the father has somewhat of an anger-management problem. The father's lawyer had to calm him down during the first break, as he was yelling for a good portion of the first hour. After this talk with his lawyer, however, his tone became simply passive-aggressive and condescending. Well, mission accomplished! Needless to say, after the deposition, I was starving! I stayed a bit late that day to eat my lunch before the drive to pick up my brother and sister from school.

On Tuesday, I finished going through the 900 cases that I found involving social media. Unfortunately, I did not find as much data as I had hoped; however I did find some good examples of social media evidence influencing the outcome of a case. I noticed a trend -- a great deal of the cases influenced by social media evidence involve children, whether it's a matter of child custody or child support. This ultimately makes sense, as posting on Facebook can reveal things such as secret business ventures or hostility toward a spouse. In some cases the Facebook evidence is more serious, such as a parent posting inappropriate images of their child, or pictures of a parent showing the deviation from medical advice in a manner that impacts their mental health, and therefore the safety of the child. More on that later.

On Wednesday, I sifted through several of Mr. Levine's old cases that he dug up for me. There is one in particular that peaked my interest, which involved a fake Myspace account and child custody issues. The fact that this case is from nine years ago highlights the fact that although social media evidence is becoming more and more prevalent in recent years, there were still cases that involved vital evidence from social media back in 2006. The evidence involves a mother planning to go to Europe for eight weeks with her internet "lover" (who was really the father's new wife pretending to be some guy who was interested in the mother). In the process of planning this trip with her "lover", who she barely knew, she claimed that it would be okay to leave her son at home with his father. This proved problematic for the mother because guess what? You've been planning to run away to Europe with your ex-husband's new wife, surprise! It sounds like something right out of a movie, I know, but it just shows how easy it is for someone to utilize social media for the purpose of gathering evidence for a legal case. Believe me, there's more to that story though, the trip to Europe is just the tip of the iceberg! More on that later. I need to save some good stuff for my presentation, right?

P.S. The paralegal at the law firm will be leaving on Wednesday, March 25th for about a week, so it will just be me, my on-site mentor, and Mr. Levine on Wednesday (March 25th) and Thursday (March 26th). I will be answering the phone a lot while she's gone, it may get hectic. Looking forward to it!

See you soon!
Megan