It's going to be exciting, right?

The courthouse was a fairly expansive building and was centred around a large, circular atrium area that had big ramps ringing around it leading to the upper floors. Your group, led by Garrison, headed up to the second floor and down to a set of heavy oak doors with a brass plaque above them declaring ‘Court Six.’ The hallways were bustling, a Monday morning kicking in with lawyers and paralegals and court staff, not to mention the reporters and other public servants and the general public, all picking up where they left off the previous week.

Garrison gave you, Gemma, Sabrina and Eric one last look, somewhere between a glare and a warning, and then entered.

The inside of the courtroom wasn’t the majestic space that was often depicted in movies. There weren’t any windows to let in natural light, so the whole place was lit by harsh fluorescents, and the gallery was just ten rows of old, stackable chairs with negligible upholstery on them. There was a wooden partition, a little under waist-high, between the gallery and the court proper and the wood looked thin enough that you wondered if it was actually particle board. The other side of the partition was where the action happened, but even that side was somewhat poorly furnished. The tables for the two sides seemed sturdier than the partition, but the chairs were all the same rough, stackable ones except they had wooden armrests. There was a raised sitting area along one side of the court where a jury could sit, but there wasn’t going to be one for this trial, and the bench, the raised area where the judge would sit, looked like it was made of the same cheap wood.

Even the paint in the room looked washed out like it had maybe once been a light olive green but had faded to something like baby puke.

All in all, it was a dreary little shitbox of a court. You had already known that there would be plenty of ‘non-traditional’ courts in the building, but part of you had been hoping that you might end up in one of the big ones just for the pomp and circumstance that it added. The reality was that the US legal system was backed up like crazy so there wasn’t much pressure to disrupt court availability with renovations even if there was a budget for it.

The opposing counsel was already there, a trio of lawyers who were busily unpacking files from the heavy legal cases that almost every lawyer you’d seen in the halls travelled with. They were closer to luggage than a briefcase, with wheels and pull handles, and were stuffed with files. Both of the Associates that had come in with Garrison were wheeling their own.

You led the others in splitting off, filing into the centre of the court gallery and grabbing seats. The oldest person on the opposing counsel frowned when she looked up and noticed the four of you, and crossed over to shake hands with Garrison. They traded some words quietly, and Garrison waved her off, likely assuring her you were just interns there to observe.

There was a bailiff already in the courtroom, standing over by the big door on the opposite side of the room that likely led to the Judge’s chambers, or a hallway that would lead to them. He was a big guy, maybe in his mid-forties, and had the bushiest moustache you’d ever seen. The bailiff also did the most impressive statue imitation you’d ever seen. You weren’t even sure if he was breathing or not.

The wait, as the two sides got themselves together, dragged on. A couple more people filed into the courtroom, taking seats near the back. The four of you traded off guesses quietly of whether they were reporters, people from the companies here to observe what the lawyers were doing, or just people looking for a place to sit.

Finally, just as Eric was surreptitiously taking out his phone to start scrolling, the bailiff stiffened and took in a deep breath through his nose. “All Rise!”

The kickoff to the proceedings was fairly simple. The Judge was a man who looked like he was in his mid-Sixties, and was already as bored as he could possibly get. The court recorder wasn’t much younger, and was a woman with frazzled blonde hair. Garrison was representing the Vernic Company as the plaintiff, while the opposing counsel was representing Shout Management.

Ten minutes in, Eric had his phone back out and looked like he was scrolling Reddit. You’d known going in that this was a convoluted corporate case, and you’d been through enough mock trials in high school and college that you had the general procedure down in your mind already. What you hadn’t been prepared for was how… low-energy everyone seemed. Mock Trial competitions were always jazzed up, both sides full of adrenaline to perform well. Even the judges for those competitions gave off the same sort of energy. Everyone wanted to be there.

It felt like no one in the courtroom wanted to be there that morning.

Thirty minutes in, the Judge finally got things moving on to Opening Statements after everyone had been acknowledged and introduced and the Judge had confirmed there hadn’t been any movement on a settlement.

Garrison, as the plaintiff, had to go first as the burden of proof fell on him. You’d expected him to be fiery, or at least dramatic, but he started off calmly describing the nature of the business deal that had led to the litigation. Shout Management had approached Vernic Co. to see if Vernic was interested in acquiring them - Vernic had heard them out and initiated proceedings as they began doing their due diligence. As the acquisition loomed, it became clear that Shout was obfuscating their data and was outright lying about certain elements of their business. Vernic, with a large payment held in escrow with the deal still moving along the track, was bringing suit due to breach of contract and fraud.

By the time Garrison sat down the trial had already been going for an hour. You glanced at Sabrina, who was sitting on your left, and put a hand on her thigh as she was bouncing her leg. She stilled it and looked at you, rolling her lips in as she smiled with just a touch of embarrassment. You leaned to her and whispered, “This is going to be a long day.”

She smirked and nodded.

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