Grassroots lawyers also have their day

Chapter 71 The Gao Family Criminal Case Goes to Trial

A short while later, more than ten people were brought out of the courtroom by bailiffs. The last one to come out was the thin man, the plaintiff's lawyer mentioned by the male judge. He was carried by two bailiffs.

At this moment, he was barely clothed, his pants were torn in several places, his face was covered in bruises, and blood was still flowing from his nose.

His hair... uh... the hair on the top of his head has been shaved off completely? Completely bald!

Upon closer inspection, Wang Chuan saw that the thin lawyer was clutching a dark object tightly in his hand—a wig. Oh… so he was incredibly intelligent!

Wang Chuan was surprised that the thin male lawyer in front of him, who looked to be only in his thirties, had already lost so much hair! Or perhaps he had been beaten up so many times in his job of exposing fraud that his hair had been pulled out completely! Hmm, that's a possibility.

Wang Chuan thought to himself: A warrior! He's definitely a Saint! And a Gold Saint at that!

Back at the law firm, Wang Chuan handed the judgment to Zheng Yi, who glanced at it and smiled, saying, "Okay, keep it this way from now on! Organize the case files and bind them when you have time. I'll call the company and have them come pick up the judgment."

Wang Chuan had been an intern lawyer for so long, but he had never bound a case file before. Under Zheng Yi's guidance, he wrote a case summary, prepared the case file materials according to the firm's requirements, numbered the pages, and bound the case file using a special binding machine.

In fact, whether it is non-litigation or litigation business, binding non-litigation working papers or litigation case files is an essential task. Especially in listing business, i.e. IPO business, the working papers will be verified by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC). Therefore, both lawyers and accountants attach great importance to the working papers (of course, some teams may be careless in their work, but once they are verified by the CSRC, they will inevitably be punished).

In litigation, salaried lawyers are required to bind case files after completing each case, which is one of the performance evaluation requirements for salaried lawyers in law firms. Commission-based lawyers are rarely in the firm, and law firms manage them loosely. In reality, apart from processing paperwork and closing cases, it is difficult to manage commission-based lawyers.

Generally, law firms require commission-based lawyers to retain about 10% of their legal fees as a deposit for case filing. The filing deposit will only be released after the commission-based lawyer returns the case file to the firm and it passes the firm's inspection.

This also serves as a form of supervision and management for commission-based lawyers, to prevent them from failing to file cases in a timely manner after closing them, thus causing the loss of case files.

If the client is satisfied with the lawyer's work, there won't be any problems; everyone's happy! However, if a client complains, the Bar Association and the Bureau of Justice will require the law firm to provide the case files. If the case is still pending, that's fine, but if it's closed but there are no case files, then things get complicated, and the lawyer and law firm may be punished.

In addition, during the case file binding process, the lead attorney or assisting legal assistant must write a case summary attached, which inevitably involves reviewing and debriefing the case. This allows the attorney or intern to better understand the case and indirectly learn a lot of litigation skills and experience.

Even if they didn't participate in binding the case files, trainee lawyers or other lawyers can apply to the firm to borrow case files if they are interested in a certain type of case, so as to learn from the experience and lessons learned.

Case files are like books for a law firm, except these books are written by lawyers themselves, containing many pitfalls and lessons learned from failures. These experiences are a valuable resource for other lawyers, serving as reminders to avoid making the same mistakes.

Early Wednesday morning, Wang Chuan went to the Mentougou Court with Fatty Wan. The Gao family's criminal case was scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m.

This was Wang Chuan's first time participating in a criminal trial, and Fatty Wan told him to stay close and not say much. In a criminal trial, Fatty Wan would never let Wang Chuan take the lead; even if he wanted to slack off, the judge sitting above wouldn't allow it.

Today, because it is the public hearing for the case of Gao Yunxiu, the eldest daughter of the Gao family, who is accused of intentional injury, the court has prepared a large courtroom.

Wang Chuan sat in the defense attorney's seat and glanced at the audience below, which numbered more than twenty. His client, Ms. Gao, was among them, looking anxious, her eyes red and swollen, clearly having not slept well the previous night.

Beside Ms. Gao were three or four middle-aged people, men and women, gently comforting her. Many others sat nearby, some with angry expressions, some with anxious faces, and some with gloomy expressions, all waiting for the judge to strike the gavel.

Wang Chuan guessed that these people were all relatives of the Gao family, otherwise they wouldn't be surrounding Ms. Gao.

"You! Spit out your chewing gum. Keep your legs in place! Did you hear me! Spit it out!"

At the bailiff's shout, a fat man sitting in the front row reluctantly spat out his chewing gum under the bailiff's stern gaze, then put down his crossed legs and sat up straight.

Judging from his gloating expression, Wang Chuan knew this fat man must be a representative of the Wang family next door. Several other young men sat around him, each looking defiant and resentful. However, after the fat man was reprimanded by the bailiffs, their arrogance subsided considerably.

It must be said that criminal trials are much more solemn than civil trials. Four bailiffs stood around, patrolling the courtroom.

At that moment, Wang Chuan felt his heart pounding wildly, and a sense of tension welled up inside him.

"Don't be nervous, you'll be in the program soon. Just take good notes, don't worry about anything else, and don't say anything out of line, understand?" Fatty Wan whispered to Wang Chuan.

Wang Chuan nodded vigorously. In this situation, even if Fatty Wan hadn't reminded him, he wouldn't have dared to speak casually. If he said something wrong and the prosecutor caught him red-handed, the defendant's family would have torn him to pieces!

After the court proceedings, including the reading of the court rules, were completed, a middle-aged male judge with graying hair, a square face, and a serious expression struck the gavel.

Two prosecutors, one male and one female, were seated opposite the defense counsel's table.

The man had messy, unkempt hair, probably because he was too busy with work to take care of it. He wore glasses and looked somewhat old-fashioned.

The woman had short hair, was not tall, and was short and chubby. I don't know if she had been in the business for too long and had become numb, or if she thought the case was too simple and not interesting. She had an indifferent expression and seemed to have no interest in the case.

Because the case was relatively simple, the court adopted a simplified procedure to hear the case, which was presided over by a middle-aged male judge.

"Bring the defendant, Gao Yunxiu, to court," the middle-aged male judge announced loudly.

(End of this chapter)