Halloween Party

This week end I will be hosting my first ever Halloween party for my nieces and nephews. I recently moved into my new house which is sitting on over an acre in rural Buckeye. I have always wanted a large house on more property so I can host parties such as this. My brothers and sisters have always been the ones to have parties and I felt it was time that I did my share. I am looking forward to having the kids dress up in their costumes, bob for apples, carve pumpkins and roast hot dogs and marshmallows on a campfire. I am very excited and cannot wait for it to all come together.

I will keep you posted on how the party came out.

Records Staging Training

This week I sat through 48 hours of Records Management Staging and Archiving Storage Training. The government requires all agencies to keep records for a certain period of time based on subject matter. Some records are only kept a few months, whereas other records are kept up to 56 years. After sitting through this training I have to wonder where in the world are all these records going too? Just in our office alone I see hundreds of thousands of documents created for many court cases. Times that number by the number of offices throughout the country and it is extremely mind boggling. I envision large buildings spread out throughout the country filled from first floor to top floor with boxes. One of the reasons for such an organized staging activity is so that if an organization needs to recall the item from storage it can be done quickly and efficiently. In my prior job with the government, I sent a request to recall a file from staging and it took six months to get it back.

Theresa

Outreach Programs

I have been heavily involved lately in the outreach programs offered at my internship. We make ourselves available to travel to businesses to give training on the prevention of discrimination. This training covers age, race, sex, gender and also national origin training. Most businesses and employees do not understand what is or is not discrimination.I am still amazed at the number of people who think discrimination does not exist in the workplace. There are many companies who turn the other cheek when claims of discrimination are made. Fortunately, we are here to curb those businesses. It can cost a business millions of dollars if they are found guilty of disrcimination.

Theresa

Slow Week at Work

Well it has been a long week here at my internship, but not because of too much work; it is because of having to catch up with the smaller projects because a lack of real work. This week was focused on learning how to send closed cases to the National Record Center for archiving. We had to go through hundreds of folders, paper by paper to make sure we were not staging duplicates and other documents that do not require archiving. What a pain in the butt. Tedious and time consuming. We also had a chance to clean up the database before the new fiscal year gets into full swing. However, one thing that was not worked on was the budget. We are working off of a continuing resolution and money is super tight. Everything from computers to paper clips needs to be examined for need before it can be purchased. Soon a real budget could be passed and the purse strings may get a little looser.

Having a great time learning legal work and how the process flows. Keep posted as I will have more riveting information later as time progresses. Until then, be safe.

Theresa

A New Dawning

Ah.......the rise of a new Fiscal Year. More budgetary headaches, less money, the need for more stuff...the fun has just begun. As I start out a new fiscal year with my organization, we are tasked to do more with less money. As usual fashion over the past decade, we are starting out with a temporary continuing resolution to carry us through until Congress can decide how much allowance they should give us. Reminds me of the days of dad opening his wallet and deciding how much green I could have. Unfortunately, not enough green at this job means that cuts have to be made. Paper is less and less so copying is decreased. Electronic filing is now the way to go.

Even though we are short on funds, other companies that we deal with are not. They still slay us with mounds and mounds of paperwork. This year starts out looking like I will become a reviewer of documents for a short while. A good chance to really learn what the case is about. I look forward to the future here (with or without funding.)

Theresa

End of a Fiscal Year

Well....the end of the fiscal year has come and what an end it was. My organizatoin was tasked with filing as many cases as possible with the District Court. So much work goes into this process. It actually started months ago with what began in an investigative stage. Now, we are at the litigation stage and that is where my office takes over. Now that they are filed, the pretrial litigiation period starts. So much more to do before we can even reach a court date. Deadlines are set, motions are drafted, court decisions are made by the assigned judge. What a roller coaster ride of emotions. Busy times, slow times, confused times are all ahead of me. I will keep you all posted on my progress. Should be a very interesting time for the office. Hope to learn as much as a I can during my internship about the civil court process. This will be a real eye opener to say the least.

Best of luck to me,

Theresa

End of the week and time for a refreshment

Well, it has been a full week here and the work never let up. The end of the fiscal year is fast upon us and yet there is still much left to do. Timelines are approaching and sometimes it feels as though we will not make it. However, with hard work and perseverance it will all get done. Today I spent most of the day copying and mailing files to other attorneys offices. I have also spend a lot of time on the phone arranging for depositions and court reporters. It seems that when you get one step done, 2 more steps appear that need to be handled. How someone does this job on a permanent basis is way beyond me. However, given a chance to work full time here would be a plus. I have learned much in the short time that I have been here and look forward to learning much more in the weeks to come.

Theresa