CCE Day 1: Orientation

Completely ignorant of what traffic conditions and other obstacles I might face on my way to the courthouse, I left 90 minutes early for the first day. I got there an hour early. We interns were ushered into a holding tank with donuts, orange juice and coffee, and the introductions began. Almost all of us are from Houston law schools: two from UH, two from Thurgood Marshall and one from South Texas. The one guy who wasn't from Houston showed up in a white seersucker suit (no flat-topped straw hat, though!) They took us on a tour of the floor and showed us our offices. I wish I could show you a picture, but they won't let me bring in a camera. I'm in a 30x36' room with two desks, a couch, a TV, a reference library, and windows overlooking the bay. All I need now is a cigar, some scotch, and a seersucker suit and I'll be set!

They treated us to lunch at an Italian place near the courthouse (Gaitan's, or something like that). One of the menu items was a make-your-own-pasta dish where you tell them what you want (type of pasta, meats, etc). Hamming up as a pasta connoisseur, I asked for bowtie pasta with Alfredo sauce, chicken, smoked prosciutto, crushed red pepper and capers. (In other words, everything I could remember being in the Pasta Milano at Romano's Macaroni Grill!). The food was good.

After lunch we were pretty much left on our own to read over our first writing assignments. The workload is challenging but not "killer" and the people are friendly. I'm looking forward to this six weeks.