First Day on the Job

**Yawgmoth** · Jul 3rd, 2009 07:39 PM

Now where should I hang these? That thought was likely the most important question of the day. In his new office, Dr. Thomas Steele stood with a box full of his various degrees looking at an empty wall. There was the doctorate diploma in political science from Duke, the Juris Doctorate diploma from Vanderbilt, and finally his bar admission diploma. The office was rather nice, way up in a lofty office building overlooking downtown Sacramento, mahogany desk, and even a secretary. All those years studying with his nose in a book in order to graduate really paid off -- and now here he was ready to start his life in the number one personal injury law firms in Sacramento, The Crow Law Firm.

http://www.crowlaw.com/

It didn't take too long to find some suitable places on the wall to display his achievements. Finally all settled in. Tom smiled as he took his seat in the high-back leather desk chair. This is where he was meant to be, where he worked to be all his life. It was easy sailing from here on.

"One last thing..." He reached down into his suitcase and procured a wooden name plate with a golden front emblazoned with "Dr. Thomas Steele esq." Now it was time to get to work...

**Lermanicus** · Jul 5th, 2009 04:29 PM

Ms. Suzzan Manrique knocks and enters your office rather uncerimoniously.

"Welcome aboard Dr Thomas" she smiles "you seem to be settling in just fine. This was my first office here too" she says looking about.

After some niceties she gives you a tour of the office and introduces you to the staff and other lawyers. She seems no different than she was in your series of interviews you had with her. Warm and professional but you get an under lying feeling that if you were not of use she would discard you like a used Kleenex.

She ends the tour informing you are welcome to take a day or two to arrange your personal affairs. "At the end of this week we will be meeting with a potential client. I think it will be a good opportunity for you to cut your teeth on."

**Yawgmoth** · Jul 5th, 2009 05:39 PM

Steele rather likes the layout of the office; it's not too cramped but still has that calm controlled feel of a workspace. Ms. Manrique was an alright lady in Thomas' opinion, perhaps a bit caught up in her job, but her heart seemed to be in the right place. Got to feed the kids somehow, right?

He tried to sound interested as possible. "What kind of client are we talking here?"

**Lermanicus** · Jul 5th, 2009 06:33 PM

"HMC Architects, they were being tight lipped about case. Viewing company history, most of their projects are 100 million plus. So odds are this is a client we want to land."

She speaks authoritatively, and seem very knowledgeable. It's obvious why she is a success in her field. You get the feeling from Suzzan this is going to be a be seen and not heard run for you.

**Yawgmoth** · Jul 6th, 2009 12:02 AM

"Very well then." Thomas nods to his superior. He gives a slight smile and turns to walk away, but he only takes a step before stopping and turning back around. "Is there anything I can do to prepare? Do we have a file for HMC yet that I could look through?"

**Lermanicus** · Jul 7th, 2009 07:55 AM

"Well yes there is. See if you can divine any potential litigation that may be brewing from their last two or three major projects." she says as she is walking away and looking down at her Blackberry.

You are left alone in the almost pristine and silent hallway. It strikes you the office space is either brand new or just impeccably kept.

**Yawgmoth** · Jul 7th, 2009 02:38 PM

Thomas nods to his superior and turns to walk back to his office. This building is pretty nice. He takes his time walking back to the office in order to simply look around at the building, taking in the atmosphere. The people seemed pretty nice, especially his secretary. He smiled and nodded to her as he walked into his office.

Inside the office, Thomas decided to take a moment to add another personal touch to his office before actually diving into his first research project. Looking around, he took a moment to make sure no one was looking inside before opening his briefcase by the side of his desk. Among papers and other miscellaneous office supplies there was a smaller metal case which Steele took out. Pulling forth a single key on his keychain, he unlocked the box and pulled a small gun out of it.

small gun

Lastly he procured a small roll of duct tape, which he used to secure the firearm under the top of his desk. Can't be too safe...

Feeling safe, now it was time to get to work. It took a moment to boot up the computer and log on to the Crow Law Firm legal database. Once he had the windows with the HMC Architects account open, he began to read -- looking to see what information he could gather.

((What's the roll you'd like for this?))

**Yawgmoth** · Jul 7th, 2009 05:37 PM

Computer Client Research

**Lermanicus** · Jul 11th, 2009 08:52 AM

Their website was a google search away.

http://www.hmcarchitects.com/

Steele spends just over an hour in what seems to be a massive digital link circle. All he comes up with is various yellow page, or directory ads for them. The few article either only mentioned already known projects, or were just fluff stories on the firm for PR.

They seem very reputable, and concentrate on large projects. The two most recent projects were:

North of Sacramento, the expansion of the Hern Recycling Corp.
The conversion of a derelict downtown office building into upscale lofts.

Staring at the computer Steele is not sure if he has just not gotten pasts the PR front layer, or if this is an exercise in futility.

The appointment with HMC was set up by a Ms. C. C. Innington. There was no mention of her on the HMC contact page.

**Yawgmoth** · Jul 11th, 2009 08:00 PM

Ms. Innington? I don't recall seeing her anywhere on their website...

It was getting dark out, and Tom noticed such when he saw the faint glare of the sun setting reflected in his computer monitor. He was new to Sacramento though, and that one bedroom apartment was still empty. "Might as well stay a bit later...it's better than watching reruns alone." He mused to himself.

Being an licensed attorney in a licensed, not to mention huge, law firm -- it was easy to assume that Crow Law would have had their access to the police/other record database somewhere on the computer. It didn't take too long to find the icon, and double clicking on it Tom began to idly search for more information on Ms. Innington. Maybe there's a legal reason she isn't on their page...

Police/Other Record Database Research