FIRST DAY AS AN INTERN - by Temitayo Victoria Likinyo

My first day in court as an intern was yesterday, September 15th✨I went to a customary court with my principal and my fellow interns.So principal is the name given to the lawyer under whom a person is interning. When we got there, we met other lawyers, interning students and the people with cases.After settling down, and it was time for my Principal's case. The clerk notified us of the Judge's entrance, so we all stood, took a bow and sit.The first thing that caught me was that the judge came in with an elderly woman and an elderly man, and they all sat together to hear the case.I immediately brought out my phone to ask why, then I discovered that it's a customary court sitting and then I remembered what my lecturer taught me in school that in customary cases, the judge will sit along side elders that are vast with these customs, so that there can be a fair judgement since not all judges knows this said customs.That was my first “oh” moment.Then everything started to click, I felt like a scholar 😂😌 Then the cases started.The first was a land dispute between one Mr kehinde and Mrs Moromoke The man claimed to have been managing a farm which belonged to his uncle, cocoa farm precisely, for over 17 years, only to find someone else claiming it, six years ago.They’ve been going back and forth since, there was examination in chief, cross examination and re examination for the defendants witness. After all that, the case was adjourned to 26th October. The second was a marriage issue.A couple, not divorced but already living apart, are now fighting over who gets custody of their four children.At that point, it stopped feeling like “cases” I read in textbooks, these were actual situations.Though the woman had no counsel to represent her in court, so she was allowed to open her case and recount her story.After the whole back and forth, the case was adjourned till 6th of October for the judgement. So we had a short break before the next case was called.Then another land issue.This particular one took a longer time and my butt was beginning to hurt 😭😂We had been sitting for hours, I was already tired, what I remembered there was that, they were arguing over illegal felling of tree on someone's land.At that point, I just felt like everyone should just try as much as possible to stay out of trouble, cos the cross examination felt like hell, the lawyer was just putting words in his mouth and I could tell the man(defendant) was tired.😂The the case was adjourned to next month, on my birthday 😌 The last case before we left was between a pastor and a said 'wooli' I can't even remember what happened in this, honestly cos I was already tired, all I remembered was that someone was unlawfully detained.I tried naw, chai 😭😂After the case, we left for my Principal's office, and that was all for the day. And as I'm writing, today 16th September, I am sitting in the high court already cos we have another case today, stay tuned 😌😂 I think the biggest thing I learnt was that,Not every part of what you’re chasing will be exciting.But it’s still part of the journey.And this is mine ❤️

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