Kendra's Job

Finally, a post about what Kendra's job really entails. First, a little background on the courts here in general. Most places in the US (i.e. the states) have both federal courts and state courts. [For instance, Arizona has three levels of state courts - Superior Court (trial court), Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court (highest level of appeals). Federal cases that arise in Arizona start in the District Court of Arizona (trial court), and appeals go to the 9th Circuit (Federal Court of Appeals) and then they can end up in the US Supreme Court.] In the USVI, there is the same federal system. I work at the District Court of the V.I. (federal trial court) (pictured on the right - my office is on the top story near the lamp post). There are two federal judges in the District of the V.I. (aka DVI), one on St Thomas and one on St Croix. I'm with the division on St Thomas, but sometimes we go to St Croix to hear cases there (like if the judge there is good friends with a party involved, or for some other reason shouldn't or can't hear the case). Appeals from our decisions go to the 3rd Circuit and they, too, can get to the US Supreme Court in DC.

Locally, however, there is only one level of courts for the territory - the Superior Court (trial court). Appeals from the Superior Court actually end up in the DVI, but for those cases we call it the DVI Appellate Division. We have an appellate panel that is made from both judges in the DVI plus one Superior Court judge. When appeals are from cases on St Thomas, we hear them on St Thomas with a local judge from St Croix. Panels happen almost every month, alternating islands each time. The local judges rotate, so they each get to hear appeals only about once a year. This is a long way of explaining that my judge is a judge for federal trial court and also for the territory's appellate court. (Appeals from the DVI App. Div. go to the 3rd circuit, which acts as the territory's supreme court.) So, I really have two roles - one as an appellate clerk and one as a trial clerk.

I'll start with the appeals since I've just explained it a bit. When a case is appealed from the territory's superior court, our job is to review the trial court's record and see if something went wrong there. As law clerks, we review the record and do lots of research. Each of us is assigned different cases, so I might have three appeals per panel. Then, I write "bench memoranda", aka bench memos, to the judges to explain what happened in the trial and what the legal issue is that is being appealed. I explain what the law is to the panel in these memos, either through statutes or prior case law, and I explain what I think the outcome should be. The three judges review the appellate briefs from the parties as well as our bench memos. Then we all get together and talk about it. The three judges discuss what they think of the memo, while we law clerks are sitting there, and they may ask me questions about the case or the law that I found. If I'm lucky, they'll all agree with my analysis and tell me to turn it into an opinion. If I'm not lucky, then I may have to do more research or develop the analysis more or come up with the opposite result and give them a new draft. They circulate the draft and make sure they all agree with it before it is issued.

Most of my time, however, is spent working on federal trial cases. I'm assigned to 40% of the trial cases and 20% of the appeals. My two co-clerks get 30% of the trial load and 40% of the appellate load. (picture of the three of us here is from an office field trip to St John) That makes it seem like I have less work than them, but it really balances out since appeals are only every other month at the most. (We only work on appeals that come from St Thomas; the clerks on St Croix deal with the St Croix appeals.)

For trials, the work I do varies a lot. My first week of work, I had 2 hearings and a trial. That was a unusually busy week. I have only been in court one day since then. Trials often get postponed or even cancelled at the last minute if parties settle. For a scheduled trial, one of my main jobs is preparing jury instructions. Clearly, these are really important because it summarizes the legal issues for the jurors and explains under which circumstances they should rule which way. During the trial itself, I sit in front of the judge at a computer. He'll often pass me notes and ask me to look up issues very quickly as they come up in trial.

Before a case even gets to a trial though, there are lots of other issues. Parties file motions a lot and they have to be ruled on before trial. For instance, a defendant might file a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction. Then, just like for the appeals, I read both sides' documents, do some legal research, and write a bench memo to the judge. There are lots of different types of motions, like to exclude evidence or for a preliminary injunction, etc. Sometimes we hear oral argument on the motions, and sometimes we'll make a decision based on the documents that were filed by the parties. When the judge makes a decision, then I turn the bench memo into an opinion. Sometimes those get published (without any mention of my hard work of course).

I'm also technically the senior law clerk as I started work a week before my co-clerks. This means I get the biggest office, but also I have a few administrative duties as well. Mostly I just help the judge's awesome secretary make sure things get done. Before an appellate panel, the judge has to issue an order officially placing the cases we're going to hear on the calendar. So I write that up and make sure it gets out on time. Things like that. So there you have it. Now you know what I do all day. Or at least, what I try to get done, while other random things come up. Of course, I also look out my window at the view of the harbor, as you can see here.