In every industry, you will find people who work behind the scenes to ensure that the activities of each organization are carried out accurately and efficiently. The hallmark sound of the Prussian stamp thudding against a sheet paper has for centuries announced the clear presence of such individuals, and while the methodology of clerical work has largely changed with the advent of the computer age, that same sound still resounds in the offices of criminal law, where the might of traditional and ceremonial custom is brought face-to-face with the fast-paced, high-tech processes of the modern age. This clash between yesteryear and the current requires a unique skill-set to understand, paramount which will be the abilities to understand archaic terminology, modern mediums of communication, and most importantly, to produce an adaptive frame of mind.
You can find several words and phrases which, when used properly, serve to create criminal procedures all but incomprehensible to the layman. Phrases such as for example “Comes Now,” and “Counsel of Record,” could cause the typical reader to pause, while phrases like “In Pari Delicto,” or “Sua Sponte,” are confounding in the extreme - not the least as they are words extracted from a dead language. For a fruitful criminal law clerk, however, such phrases and words must at the very least be familiar, as courts often demand their usage in official documents for the sake of tradition and professionalism. Strafrechtskanzlei Stuttgart Even without an adept’s knowledge of Latin, a criminal law clerk must be prepared to place these terms throughout legal documents appropriately and, perhaps moreover, know when to omit these terms. Whereas the absence of these traditional terms might be tolerated with a judge, a bad placement of these terms might change this is of a complete document, and ensure it is inadmissible to court records. So far as efficiency is worried, there is nothing worse than having to accomplish the same work twice.
While archaic terminology is just a basic requirement necessary for all effective law clerks to understand, one surprisingly overlooked qualification is just a mastery of the modern modes of communication. Including methods such as for example email, faxing and even properly formatted postal envelopes. Of those three, properly formatted and professionally appearing envelopes are possibly the most crucial, as numerous courts require original documents and do not accept facsimile or electronic copies. To be familiar with proper mail-address formatting may appear a given - yet, this type of familiarity implies intimate familiarity with word-processing programs and printer capabilities, as handwritten envelopes are, to state the least, unprofessional. That said, familiarity with fax systems and the method of emailing can also be critical; as more and more courts begin to accept digital copies of documents, law clerks are expected to be familiar with professionally structured and properly formatted e-docs.
Given the variation between what types of documents courts will and won’t accept, the most crucial qualification of a criminal law clerk is that of adaptability. Understanding that each court and each judge has their very own demands - and to be able to meet those demands - is paramount to being a fruitful legal clerk. Being ready to take advantage of archaic terminology or modern terminology; being effective at filing documents early enough to generally meet the demands of courts who require original, physical copies, vs. those which only demand electronic, digital copies; understanding how every individual court schedules hearings; even being effective at meeting the demands of other criminal law clerks - every one of these and more require an ability to adapt to each unique case and each unique situation. Without this adaptability, not only will the work of resolving criminal cases be compounded exponentially, but the appeal of a law clerk as a worker is inherently reduced.