Phoenix, Arizona
Two Days Later
Sitting alone at the defense counsel’s table, John Davis was taking notes of his observation of another associate at the firm, Robin Blake. Even though she’d been an attorney for over seven years, Robin wanted experience in the courtroom. She didn’t have any trial experience at the national law firm she worked at before joining the Mendoza law firm. Daniel assigned her a one-day bench trial to ease her into the experience. John volunteered to oversee her since he was a more senior associate at the firm.
For the past few days, he worked with Robin planning the litigation strategy for the bench trial, questions to ask witnesses, and the opening statement and closing argument. Despite being a one-day trial before the judge with no jury involved, John not
