Announcing myself

This is me, announcing myself to the justices of the Maryland Court of Appeals (the highest court in MD) in Annapolis on the motion to accept the group to be admitted to the bar.
I wonder if anyone has ever thought about objecting to that motion? Needless to say, none were voiced that particular day.

So we went straight to the speechifying. During our swearing-in ceremony, we heard a bit o' history from the chief judge -- that the MD courthouse is the oldest continuously functioning one in the United States; that the red robes and tab collars they wear are the traditional robes sans wigs; that each judge represents a different county -- with two women: one from Montgomery County, which is where I'm from (yay!) and one from Howard County (the one looking at me) and at least two African American men (one of whom is the chief judge); that a number of historical events such as treaty signings took place in the room (but again, sadly, I don't remember which they were); when people of color were first allowed to practice in MD; when women were admitted; etc., etc.

I was lucky because I was among the 15 newbie-attorneys who got to sit in the front row. Because of the height difference between the chairs and the bench, however, it was kinda like sitting in the front row of a movie theater, leaning back and squinting up. But we had a huge advantage, those of us in the front row. We had leg room. One drawback of historic rooms is the seats and spaces are definitely of historic proportions -- that is, less roomy. The chairs were set up seat to seat, touching. No space in between them. And even though the chair backs and seats were on the smaller side, not all of ours backsides were. The one woman on my left was quite thin, but the woman on my right could have filled two chairs on her own. And I was probably part of a butt cheek over my share too (or at least, filling it). Yes, the seats were that small. So we sat at angles.

Even less comfortable, however, were all the folks in the rows behind us. Whoever set up the room left no leg room between the rows either, and there were more than a few men (and women probably) whose knees just had nowhere to go. Completely squashed, side to side and front to back. Worse than a bad airline or old bus. Getting cosy with the neighbor! Good thing it was a short ceremony. But I bet the standing up to announce yourself part was tough -- no room to maneuver!

The other advantage I had was that we did everything in seat order, so being in the front meant I got to be in the front of the line to sign the book and get my fancy piece of paper. Yay. Mom, Dad and I were outta there before some folks even got out of the hallway. That was very nice. Because it was hot in there. In our suits and close proximity. I just got lucky there because the ceremonies (5 of them that day) are grouped by alpha order, 70 or so at a time. It just so happened that the cut-off worked in my favor...

So, I now have one week of being a lawyer to my credit... Wahoo!