The Value of Legal Counsel: Why You Should Not Go It Alone

By Josie Mastandrea

“Just another day in court,” he said, shrugging.

The Woman in the Leopard Print

A few minutes later, I took a seat in the back of Dorchester District Court’s first courtroom with Chris. This morning session hears cases ranging from traffic violations to restraining orders. I had expected to watch a few attorneys, dressed in suits with loud confident voices like Chris’, come before the judge and argue for their clients. Instead, I looked on, surprised, as one by one, regular people like me walked to the witness stand alone.

Now, this may not seem like such a big deal in this kind of court session. Many of these hearings were not particularly exciting. Each case was decided in a matter of 10 minutes and half were dismissed on the grounds that the plaintiff never showed up. But court– any court–is a stressful place to be, let alone to be by yourself and testifying on your own behalf. 

One woman stood out to me before she even got up to testify. She had been sitting just a row to my right wearing a skintight, leopard-print bodysuit and 3-inch black stiletto heels–completely alone. Her hair was short and crimped, and she had the right half of it pulled into a low ponytail, while the left half hung in front of her face. She had clearly put effort into her appearance that morning, the issue was she looked rather out of place among the black suits and white blouses to her left and right. She looked out of place. Even though I was just observing, I was grateful Chris had advised me to suit up.

The Young Man with a Traffic Violation

The following day, I met Chris at the Dedham District Courthouse. He was there for a magistrate hearing on behalf of a young man who was pulled over for allegedly texting and driving. A magistrate is a type of judicial officer that handles preliminary matters or less serious offenses like this one. Before his client arrived, Chris stopped by the magistrate’s courtroom to ask if I could be permitted to observe. The magistrate graciously consented and introduced herself to me. Apparently, the two of them had gotten into their fair share of legal battles in her prosecuting days. 

Chris argued his client’s case (who did not deny that he had been using his phone), while his client sat nervously beside him. Chris didn’t seem nervous at all, though. If he was, he didn’t show it. It seemed to me that he was almost enjoying himself–there’s a reason he went into law, so perhaps I shouldn’t have been so surprised.

The judge proceeded to warn the young man about the dangers of texting while driving but dismissed the ticket.

The three of us left the courtroom and walked outside, where Chris and his client shook hands enthusiastically. The young man then proceeded to ask Chris a couple of questions about what the dismissal truly meant, before walking off with a new spring in his step. 

A Reflection on the Two

As I watched Chris’ client walk off, I couldn’t help but think back to the woman in the leopard print the day before. I wondered whether she couldn’t afford representation, or if she had the means, but thought it wouldn’t be necessary. 

Regular people are not meant to be able to do what attorneys spend years and years studying for. I learned a valuable lesson over the course of these two days: if obtaining representation is an option for you, don’t take the risk of going without.