I13DT - A Lawyer's Den

[Allison Rogers]

The pile of broken down boxes outside of the office was slowly growing. The walls of the office were lined with bookcases loaded with large, boring-looking books. The woman unpacking them didn't look like she belonged to the books. She was wearing worn jeans and a dark tank-top. There was a black leather jacket hanging on the back of the office chair. The nameplate on the door read:

Allison Rogers
Social Studies
Legal Counsel

((Open))

[Samantha McManus]

"I'll confess," comes the headmistress' voice from the hallway, "I'd laid even odds on whether you'd move in first, or seek out the local motorcycle club."

"I suppose the Dengie One-Hundred are a bit tame, though."

[Allison Rogers]

"My bike's still held up with the damn customs people. I have to go back to London to put the fear of God into them again once I get my paperwork together," she said, turning. "The moment the word 'lawyer' escaped my lips, they got stubborn." She dropped the book in her hand on the desk and moved to shake Sam's hand.

[Samantha McManus]

"Vehicles are always hard," she says, shaking Allison's hand. "I've gone through that before."

[Allison Rogers]

"If worse comes to absolute worse, I'll buy another one while I work things out. It won't be the same as my baby, but it beats driving a car." She moved back and fished through a briefcase, pulling out a folder and offered it to Sam. "Here you go, documentation of my acceptance by the Law Society as a solicitor advocate. I love their terms. They make it sound so dignified."

[Samantha McManus]

"I hadn't anticipated any snags, given what we went over in the interview."

"Besides, you haven't even had to deal with court dress, yet."

[Allison Rogers]

"I'm so looking forward to that," she said with a laugh. "I swear, it doesn't matter which side of the ocean you're on, as refined and sophisticated as they try to make it, the legal process has more in common with a good bar fight than most lawyers want to admit."

[Samantha McManus]

"Spoken like someone who seems to enjoy a good bar fight."

[Allison Rogers]

"If you don't enjoy it, you're doing it wrong," she grinned.

[Samantha McManus]

"No comment," she smirked.

"Settling in alright? Anything we can help with?"

[Allison Rogers]

"Settling in is going okay. Anything I need to be aware of that's about to blow up on us? I got access to some of the ongoing files, but a plane wasn't a really good place to do an in-depth review of them."

[Samantha McManus]

"Likely the most odd legal situation would have to be Mister Stanton, who is currently beset by a records-eating nanovirus, and as a result has had to be classified by the patent office instead."

"And if you don't even blink at that, I'll know your tenure at X-Corporation was eventful."

[Allison Rogers]

"So review English patent and property law. Got it. I wouldn't say my tenure was 'eventful', but they didn't put me on the simple stuff either."

[Samantha McManus]

"We've just got the grand prize of these sorts of things, being as we regularly take in stateless individuals, sentient darkforce liquids, and emergent AI."

[Allison Rogers]

"I have some experience dealing with stateless individuals. And I once sat on the same side of the table as Jennifer Walters, so I think I've got the stones to handle the rest. The defendants in that particular case settled so fast, we almost didn't have time to draw up the initial complaint paperwork." She gave a toothy grin.

[Samantha McManus]

She snorts.

"If you've hung out with Walters, I can see where you'd get a taste for bar brawls."

[Allison Rogers]

"Took her to a biker bar I didn't like after the case. Fun times."

[Samantha McManus]

"I've found that after her third appletini, it's best to just smile and nod."

[Allison Rogers]

"Of course. Even I didn't argue with her. I feel sorry for the drunk idiot who slapped her butt. He wasn't conscious for the rest of the fight." She made a face at the rest of the boxes, "So can a newly arrived Yank treat the headmistress to a round at the pub?"

[Samantha McManus]

"I might want to round up some of the usual suspects for that, aye?"

[Allison Rogers]

"Sounds good to me. If it's any enticement, I'll buy the first round."

[Samantha McManus]

"I'll sound the faculty out. This may become costly for you," she chuckles.

[Allison Rogers]

"These are the risks one takes," she shrugged.

[Samantha McManus]

"Simply wanted to give fair warning."

[Allison Rogers]

"Noted. Either way, it'll be good to meet some of the faculty in an informal situation. Makes it easier when there's serious business to attend to."

[Samantha McManus]

"Aye, be it lawsuit or giant robot."

[Allison Rogers]

"I'd lean towards law suits over giant robots, but we'll deal with whatever heads our way."

[Samantha McManus]

"I'll keep that in mind," she chuckles as she starts away.