Mitigation Read Online Free PDF

without having to leave the sanctity
of my office and risking a run in with Matt.
    I’d like to
tell you every day away from Matt is easier, but it’s not. I
miss him, plain and simple. Yes, of course I miss the sex. Hello…
have you read what we’ve done so far? But it is more than that.
I miss his wit, his intellect, and his charm. When he’s
operating at a fifteen though, it’s guaranteed I won’t be
seeing that any time in the near future.
    When I get to my
office, I log on to my computer and check my email. My eyes go
immediately to the one that is flagged in red from Matt. It says,
“Jackson Case - Urgent - see me when you get in.”
    That’s it…
nothing else, no indication of what’s wrong. And now I have to
go into the bear’s den when he’s at a fifteen. This is
shaping up to be a spectacular day.
    Matt grunts out a
terse, “Come in,” when I knock on his door. For once,
he’s not on the phone but sitting behind his desk, reading a
file. When I sit down, he pushes the file aside, reaches across his
desk to grab a thick document, and then hands it across to me.
    At a glance, I can
see it is the rough draft of the Answers to Interrogatories I
prepared in the Jackson case for him to review. Seeing as how
it was the first set I had ever done, I needed him to review them for
legal accuracy. What stands out the most to me, is the red ink that
spreads across the top sheet. Flipping briefly through the pages, I
see more red ink… slashes and slashes of it, marking up my
words, and mauling my legalese. It looks like Lizzie Borden got ahold
of it… a freakin’ blood bath.
    When I look up at
Matt, his face is hard and his eyes icy. “I’m
disappointed in you, McKayla. The draft you handed in to me was
sub-standard at best. A first-year law student could have done
better.”
    My face flushes red,
embarrassment practically seeping out of my pores. I am a
perfectionist and to be told my work is bad tears me up inside. I
don’t understand it because I had done meticulous research and
studied several examples of other Interrogatory answers to use as a
go-by. When I handed it in to Matt, I thought I’d get it back
with an A+++ and a smiley face… maybe a gold star glued to the
front.
    Flipping through the
pages, I focus on his mark-ups to see exactly where I failed. As my
eyes move from red mark to red mark, my face goes crimson again, but
this time, it’s heating up with fury. Matt’s corrections
have nothing to do with the quality of my legal work. They’re
all picky issues over the semantics on how to word something. For
example, he crossed out the word “instantaneously” and
wrote above it “instantly”. And that was just one
example. Page after page I flip through, and I only spot one area
where he has a legitimate gripe… where I placed an objection
improperly.
    When I glance back
up at him, he’s watching me with interest, his eyebrows raised
slightly to see what my reaction will be. He’s ready for me to
erupt, and I think he’ll be disappointed if I don’t. He’s
expecting a fight, and he wants to uncork the tempest that must be
brewing inside of him.
    He’s a
fifteen , I remind myself. So I say with measured calm, “Matt…
some of these corrections are just semantics. I think it’s a
little unfair to call my work sub-standard when you are basically
disagreeing with word choices.”
    His voice is sharp
and laced with disdain when he says, “Word choices in a legal
document can make or break a case. You could sink an entire claim
with just one poorly chosen word. It’s a lesson you desperately
need, and I’m going to make sure you learn it. Furthermore, you
are not to ever question my opinions on your work again.”
    Okay, that does it…
Fifteen or not, I’m not going to let him walk all over me. Matt
Fucking Connover is going to get a piece of my mind.

Standing up from my
chair, I put my palms on his desk and lean in. “You are being
completely unfair. You’re taking your