First Client Meeting

It's Friday morning and you're in the Rockham District Court, located in Massachusetts. You are today's duty attorney, meaning you will be picking up new cases as they come in for arraignments and bail arguments. The clerk has given you a folder containing the following documents, a complaint, incident report, and CORI. They also let you know that the prosecutor is looking to hold your client. Your client is downstairs in lockup. According to the documents, your client is being charged with disorderly conduct and has no prior record. No one was hurt, and there was no property damage. You head downstairs to meet them.

Remember, you're goal is to avoid talking too much about the facts of the case. There will be time for that later in a more private location. You need to learn about your client and his community ties, anything that will help you make a bail argument.

You enter lockup and ask to speak with your client. The guard directs you to a holding cell shared by a couple of individuals and calls your client's name. Your client steps forward and speaks to you through the window...