Insights

By Josie Mastandrea Josie Mastandrea, a rising junior at the University of Richmond, spent the summer of 2024 shadowing Attorney Chris Fiorentino to develop a better understanding of what the life of a criminal defense lawyer looks like. The following article is one of a series documenting the insights she derived from the experience.

By Josie Mastandrea Josie Mastandrea, a rising junior at the University of Richmond, spent the summer of 2024 shadowing Attorney Chris Fiorentino to develop a better understanding of what the life of a criminal defense lawyer looks like. The following article is one of a series documenting the insights she derived from the experience.

By Josie Mastandrea Josie Mastandrea, a rising junior at the University of Richmond, spent the summer of 2024 shadowing Attorney Chris Fiorentino to develop a better understanding of what the life of a criminal defense lawyer looks like. The following article is one of a series documenting the insights she derived from the experience.

By Josie Mastandrea Josie Mastandrea, a rising junior at the University of Richmond, spent the summer of 2024 shadowing Attorney Chris Fiorentino to develop a better understanding of what the life of a criminal defense lawyer looks like. The following article is one of a series documenting the insights she derived from the experience.

By Josie Mastandrea Josie Mastandrea, a rising junior at the University of Richmond, spent the summer of 2024 shadowing Attorney Chris Fiorentino to develop a better understanding of what the life of a criminal defense lawyer looks like. The following article is one of a series documenting the insights she derived from the experience.

By Josie Mastandrea Josie Mastandrea, a rising junior at the University of Richmond, spent the summer of 2024 shadowing Attorney Chris Fiorentino to develop a better understanding of what the life of a criminal defense lawyer looks like. The following article is one of a series documenting the insights she derived from the experience.

By Josie Mastandrea Josie Mastandrea, a rising junior at the University of Richmond, spent the summer of 2024 shadowing Attorney Chris Fiorentino to develop a better understanding of what the life of a criminal defense lawyer looks like. The following article is one of a series documenting the insights she derived from the experience.

By Josie Mastandrea Josie Mastandrea, a rising junior at the University of Richmond, spent the summer of 2024 shadowing Attorney Chris Fiorentino to develop a better understanding of what the life of a criminal defense lawyer looks like. The following article is one of a series documenting the insights she derived from the experience.

I walked through the glass doors into a smaller room than I had envisioned. I had been to two other courthouses that were much more decorated, and the sight before me was quite mundane compared to them. The small room with off-white walls and an old brick tile floor, had only one of the four doors at the entrance working. Walking through security felt odd, as if I had actually done something wrong. After getting through and putting my belt back on, I waited on a bench in the side of the room until Mr. Fiorentino walked in. As soon as he walked in, we went over to the clerk’s office where Mr. Fiorentino got his courtroom number. As we walked up the stairs, he set my expectations of what the morning would be like, and then we entered the courtroom. I had never been to a pretrial conference, but what I saw was completely unexpected. Usually what I knew as the area for viewers to sit was completely filled with defendants, and there were more standing next to me on the wall. The jury box was filled with lawyers, and the table that was usually reserved for lawyers on both sides was taken up by two prosecutors who filled the table with documents. I watched Mr. Fiorentino walk past all the defendants, past the bar to begin talking with the prosecutors as well as the other lawyers in the jury box. After a couple of minutes, he gestured for me to come up and meet another lawyer. This man was a lot older and had a lot more experience. He told me how cases and courtrooms used to look. It sounded a lot calmer than what I was experiencing at the moment. Then we decided to walk to the back of the courtroom again to wait for the judge. While there, I watched as many defendants, lawyers, probation officers, and bailiffs all continuously flowed in and out of the courtroom. When the judge entered, the bailiff called “All Rise”, and everybody stood up and sat back down. Then all the pretrial conferences began. Mr. Fiorentino was one of the first lawyers to be called up. He stated to the judge that he and the prosecution had exchanged discovery and the judge scheduled his next pretrial conference. After this, Mr. Fiorentino, his client, and I all left the courtroom. Outside in the waiting room, he debriefed his client and me on what happened and what was going to happen next. Afterwards, he walked his client downstairs to the entrance and said goodbye. Then, Mr. Fiorentino took me on a tour of the rest of the courtrooms, starting with a courtroom near the entrance. There I met Ritchie, a clerk magistrate. Meeting Ritchie was an experience in itself. He had been at Quincy District Court for decades and gave me many pieces of advice and stories about the courtroom and his journey. He really opened my eyes on how different the dynamic in the courtroom is. I learned that clerks have a lot of power and responsibility. They make decisions that I previously thought only judges could do, such as handling arraignments and determining probable cause in criminal complaint applications. After we left the large courtroom, we walked back upstairs into a small claims court. This court case was between two people over thousands of dollars involving real estate and contractors. The person presiding over this case, much to my surprise, was a clerk. I had no idea that clerks had the power to decide small cases. This was probably the biggest shock of the day for me. It was really interesting to be able to hear other people’s stories and see the back and forth in a courtroom. Unfortunately, the clerk did not release their decision at that time but it was still worth it. Watching the preparation that had taken place be used to win was almost kind of exciting. This was the highlight of my experience that day. After that case ended, we walked into another courtroom with a case that would completely turn my feelings on their head. In this courtroom we watched as a judge extended a restraining order by six months. The terrible part about this situation was that a mother had filed a restraining order against her 18-year-old daughter because she alleged that her daughter was uncontrollable and abusive towards her and her siblings. The mother further supported her argument by stating that her other children did not want their sister in the house. At this point in the case, we decided to leave. We walked back downstairs and talked to the head of security for the courthouse. He was extremely nice and invited me back and gave me advice on which days to come back to see the court when it was busiest. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get a tour of the holding cells and we left after that. We then walked over to a nearby cafe to debrief what had happened that morning. Mr. Fiorentino was extremely patient with me, answering all of my questions and giving me more advice on what I should be thinking about in my life and in my possible career in the law. I have a few main takeaways from that morning. 1. Clerks have a lot more power than I first thought. 2. Courthouses and courtrooms are extremely busy and chaotic. Finally, 3. All of the lawyers, clerks, bailiffs, and probation officers knew each other. There was a sense of community in the courthouse between all of them. I thank Mr. Fiorentino for taking me through the courthouse with him, and for opening my eyes to how real courts operate. Ethan Xie is a local high school student interested in pursuing a career as an attorney. He contacted our office several weeks ago and asked if we had any availabilities for internships. I was sorry I couldn’t offer him a position, but it was genuine pleasure to show him around Quincy District Court. During our conversation, it became clear that this young man has a bright future ahead of him.