Chapter 3: Lose? How Could There Possibly Be a Loss?
On the information interface, a five figure transfer was displayed.
As expected, fifty thousand yuan in cash had been transferred into the account through lawful means.
'Very well, system, that was an impressive advance prediction.'
Su Bai accepted the fifty thousand yuan and exchanged a few polite remarks with this client.
He then prepared the materials to go to the court to copy the case files.
At that moment, a young and innocent looking girl with her hair tied in a bun and a lively gait entered the law firm, and she appeared to be quite young.
More precisely, she was a female student.
Why was this so certain? Because he saw in her eyes a kind of ingenuous clarity that suggested inexperience.
Had someone come for divorce consultation? She did not appear to be such a person.
Before Su Bai could speak, she immediately bowed at an angle of seventy degrees and said, "Hello Lawyer Su, I have come to report for duty."
Su Bai made an effort to recall, and finally found information about this girl in the memory of the original body.
The female university student before him was a student at Nandu University of Law, and her name was Li Xuezhen.
She was an intern lawyer previously recruited by the original body, one without any internship salary, and today was her reporting day, but Su Bai had forgotten about this matter.
"You have arrived. Very good, make a simple arrangement and accompany me to the court."
Li Xuezhen had originally been one of the top fourth year students in the Department of Law at Nandu University of Law, and she studied under a leading authority in the legal profession, and her senior fellow students were distributed throughout major elite Red Circle law firms, courts, and top corporate legal advisory positions. [Red circle law firm is a term referring to top-tier elite Chinese law firms, comparable to the 'Magic Circle' firms in the UK, known for handling high-profile corporate and financial legal work.]
As a student of such a leading authority in the legal profession, and particularly as a personally favored disciple of her teacher and senior fellow students, her internship placement could easily have been arranged by them.
Whether a court or a Red Circle law firm, as long as she wished to go, it would only have required a single sentence.
However, Li Xuezhen had her own ideas, and she did not wish to rely on the network of her teacher and senior fellow students, but instead wished to establish herself firmly within the legal profession through her own ability.
Because she feared that if she went to a large law firm she might encounter her senior fellow students and be taken back by them, she submitted her application to a small law firm and even worked without pay, intending first to temper her own abilities.
Upon hearing that she would go to the court immediately after arriving, and that the opportunity to demonstrate herself had arrived, Li Xuezhen's eyes shone with excitement. "All right, Lawyer Su."
On the way to the Nandu Intermediate People's Court.
"Lawyer Su, what case are we handling this time? Are we going to the court for coordination?"
Since this was Li Xuezhen's first formal participation in handling a case, she felt a strong sense of anticipation regarding the entire process and could not help asking.
Su Bai showed a certain degree of patience toward this suddenly appearing unpaid intern lawyer.
After all, many errands in the future would have to be entrusted to Li Xuezhen, especially since she was unpaid, which also gave him a certain sense of guilt associated with acting like a capitalist employer.
"It is a criminal case that has just been accepted and has reached the stage of final adjudication, we are going to the court to retrieve the case files in order to examine how the first instance and second instance judgments were rendered."
A criminal case?
Encountering a criminal case for the first time caused Li Xuezhen, who had always aspired to become a criminal lawyer, to feel greatly excited.
Although her emotions stirred within her, she steadied herself and did not continue to ask further questions, and she silently followed Su Bai to the court.
Su Bai was very familiar with court procedures, and after arriving at the relevant location he deliberately approached a female staff member.
"Hello, I would like to retrieve the case files."
"Ah, very well, please present your materials."
Originally the female staff member had shown an impatient expression, but after seeing such a handsome lawyer arrive, her enthusiasm for service increased considerably.
After Su Bai submitted the relevant certification materials, it took only half an hour to copy the case files from the first instance and second instance.
There was no alternative, even legal work sometimes depended upon appearance, which could reduce many inconveniences.
After obtaining the case files, Su Bai casually handed them to Li Xuezhen. "Put them away carefully and do not lose them, we will review them after returning to the firm."
"All right, Lawyer Su."
Li Xuezhen carefully received the case files and placed them in her bag.
After returning to the firm, Su Bai took out the case files from the first instance and handed the case files from the second instance to Li Xuezhen.
"You should summarize the litigation issues raised by the public prosecution in the second instance, I will need to review them shortly."
"All right, Lawyer Su, however the defense opinions and litigation issues raised by our own side's lawyer are also very important, is it unnecessary to summarize those?"
Li Xuezhen raised this question with a clear and ingenuous expression in her eyes.
What was there to review in the statements of that so called golden mouthed lawyer?
Su Bai shook his head. "First review the case files."
Li Xuezhen nodded and did not continue to inquire further, but lowered her head and began to read through the case files.
When she read the first page of the case files, she understood why Su Bai had not asked her to summarize the defense opinions of their own lawyer.
Ordinarily the litigation issues raised by their own lawyer were also very important, but Li Xuezhen had seen this case before.
This was because the presiding judge in the second instance of this case had been one of her senior fellow students who had already graduated for several years.
At that time her senior fellow student, as the presiding judge of the second instance, had also believed that the sentence in the first instance had been somewhat severe.
She had originally hoped that if the defense counsel of the defendant, namely the lawyer representing Wang Zizhong's side, could present any effective defense arguments, the sentence might be appropriately modified and reduced.
However, that lawyer, when confronted with questions from the prosecuting lawyer and the presiding judge, could only nod and utter a single acknowledgment, and throughout the entire hearing he spoke only three sentences.
Was this not simply a lawyer who deceived clients for money?
In the end, the original judgment was upheld.
Li Xuezhen felt somewhat concerned that the identical judgments of the first instance and second instance would affect the application for the final adjudication.
At the same time, identical judgments in the first instance and second instance also had a significant influence on the final adjudication, unless there existed crucial and overturning new evidence and arguments.
Otherwise, it was highly probable that the original judgment of the first instance would again be upheld.
Could it be that the first case she encountered as an intern lawyer would end in failure in this way?
A sense of unease arose within Li Xuezhen's heart, and she had deliberately paid attention to the public prosecutor in this case, who was said to be extremely formidable.
The internal legal department of the bank had also stated that if the opposing party again sought further proceedings, they would treat the matter with great seriousness.
She had even specifically consulted a senior fellow student who specialized in handling criminal cases, and the answer she received was that the bank's legal department had exerted great effort, and without overturning evidence and argument it would be impossible to prevail, and not only might they lose the case, but the sentence might even be imposed more severely.
The first case she encountered had already reached such a predicament.
A sense of despair spread within Li Xuezhen's heart.
Su Bai closed the case files, and he already had a clear understanding in his mind, because after reviewing the case files, the likely outcome of the case in his judgment was already almost entirely determined.
"Let us go."
Li Xuezhen had just been immersed in despair regarding the inability to prevail in the case, but was suddenly interrupted by Su Bai and became confused.
"Go? Where are we going?"
"This case has essentially already been characterized, we will go to meet Wang Zizhong's son and the group of criminal suspects and hear what they have to say."
"Are we going to lose? We have not yet begun the litigation, this case is indeed rather difficult, Lawyer Su, you must remain strong."
Su Bai.
Was she joking? In his dictionary there was no such word as loss.
"Lose? Wang Zizhong's son did not commit robbery, how could there possibly be a loss?"
"Ah? He did not commit robbery? Lawyer Su, what do you mean by that?"
"You will understand when the hearing begins, for the moment it is confidential."
A slight smile appeared at the corner of Su Bai's mouth, and with full confidence he strode forward.
Although Li Xuezhen was very curious about Su Bai's words, she did not continue to ask further questions and hurriedly ran after him.