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The Value of Legal Counsel: Why You Should Not Go It Alone

October 1, 2024
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.

Going to court for the first time–scratch that, anytime–can be extremely nerve wracking. Just walking into the building is intimidating. You’re immediately met with metal detectors and security personnel–there’s more safety measures at the entrance of a courthouse than there are at most police stations. That’s not to mention trying to figure out which courtroom you’re supposed to go to, whether you should walk right in or wait to be called, where you should sit… it feels like you missed college orientation and just showed up on the first day of classes.


I can vividly imagine this being my first-time experience, but I was lucky enough to have Chris as an orientation advisor. He had warned me about the metal detectors, and although he had told me which courtroom to go to, he was waiting for me just after the front door to bring me there. As we walked up the winding staircase, Chris smiled and waved to the attorneys and clerks that passed us, sometimes stopping to chat and introduce me. He seemed relaxed and comfortable. Even when we witnessed a screaming match break out on the floor just below, he was relatively unfazed.

“Just another day in court,” he said, shrugging.


The Woman in the Leopard Print


A few minutes later, I took a seat in the back of Dorchester District Court’s first courtroom with Chris. This morning session hears cases ranging from traffic violations to restraining orders. I had expected to watch a few attorneys, dressed in suits with loud confident voices like Chris’, come before the judge and argue for their clients. Instead, I looked on, surprised, as one by one, regular people like me walked to the witness stand alone.


Now, this may not seem like such a big deal in this kind of court session. Many of these hearings were not particularly exciting. Each case was decided in a matter of 10 minutes and half were dismissed on the grounds that the plaintiff never showed up. But court– any court–is a stressful place to be, let alone to be by yourself and testifying on your own behalf. 


One woman stood out to me before she even got up to testify. She had been sitting just a row to my right wearing a skintight, leopard-print bodysuit and 3-inch black stiletto heels–completely alone. Her hair was short and crimped, and she had the right half of it pulled into a low ponytail, while the left half hung in front of her face. She had clearly put effort into her appearance that morning, the issue was she looked rather out of place among the black suits and white blouses to her left and right. She looked out of place. Even though I was just observing, I was grateful Chris had advised me to suit up.

As soon as the judge asked this woman why she was there, I was shocked to see her break down in tears. She attempted to calm herself down, and realizing she could not, began choking out her testimony through sobs. The rest of the courtroom, previously filled with hushed whispers and constant shuffling, was still. I couldn’t make out much of what she said, in the end, though I did hear something about a daughter who she feared would attempt suicide under her ex-husband’s roof. 


The judge was kind to her, though he seemed to be struggling about as much as I was to understand exactly what it was she was explaining. I couldn’t quite discern whether she accomplished what she sought out to, but when I left a short while later, I saw her still crying outside of the courthouse, frantically making calls. I can only assume she did not.


I felt for this woman, and I couldn’t help but wonder whether the outcome of her case might have been different had she had a lawyer with her. 

The Young Man with a Traffic Violation


The following day, I met Chris at the Dedham District Courthouse. He was there for a magistrate hearing on behalf of a young man who was pulled over for allegedly texting and driving. A magistrate is a type of judicial officer that handles preliminary matters or less serious offenses like this one. Before his client arrived, Chris stopped by the magistrate’s courtroom to ask if I could be permitted to observe. The magistrate graciously consented and introduced herself to me. Apparently, the two of them had gotten into their fair share of legal battles in her prosecuting days. 


Chris argued his client’s case (who did not deny that he had been using his phone), while his client sat nervously beside him. Chris didn’t seem nervous at all, though. If he was, he didn’t show it. It seemed to me that he was almost enjoying himself–there’s a reason he went into law, so perhaps I shouldn’t have been so surprised.


The judge proceeded to warn the young man about the dangers of texting while driving but dismissed the ticket.


The three of us left the courtroom and walked outside, where Chris and his client shook hands enthusiastically. The young man then proceeded to ask Chris a couple of questions about what the dismissal truly meant, before walking off with a new spring in his step. 


A Reflection on the Two


As I watched Chris’ client walk off, I couldn’t help but think back to the woman in the leopard print the day before. I wondered whether she couldn’t afford representation, or if she had the means, but thought it wouldn’t be necessary. 

I reflect on these two cases often, mostly because it’s entirely possible that both of them would have gone the other way had the woman had an attorney or the young man not. 


The woman in the leopard print was too close to her case. She couldn’t explain the facts without her understandably strong emotions getting in the way. Had she had an attorney with her, who was only so invested in the outcome, the line of communication with the judge would have been clear, and who knows what might have gone differently. 


The young man’s case was obviously less severe, but the traffic violation would have cost him much more than the fine itself–it would have meant an increase in his insurance fees for the next seven years. Having an attorney with him, who had researched the case law surrounding texting and driving, who knew what questions to ask the trooper to support his case, and who had a history of mutual respect with the magistrate, skyrocketed those odds. 

Regular people are not meant to be able to do what attorneys spend years and years studying for. I learned a valuable lesson over the course of these two days: if obtaining representation is an option for you, don’t take the risk of going without. 

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