You can climb down a manhole ladder wearing high heels

Physics, Swimming Pools, Manholes, Contracts, Cats and Pink Cupcakes

My Personal Labor Journal   © 2011 Julie Shubin

Department of Justice:  How I found myself climbing down a manhole in a coverall and black high heel shoes.

My work at WTKH gave me the “trial bug.”  I really wanted to do more independent litigation, so I applied for a trial attorney position at the United States Department of Justice, Commercial Litigation Branch (CLB). The CLB represents government entities in government contracts cases in the United States Court of Federal Claims and United State Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Federal Circuit).  The CLB also represents US agencies in appeals from the Merit System Protection Board and from the Department of Veterans’ affairs to the Federal Circuit. 

My first case involved the United States Army Corps of Engineers and the effect of a steam pipe explosion on a construction renovation contract at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks Alaska.  In addition to understanding the legal issues in the case, I had to understand the physics of the steam pipe explosion.  Why does physics keep on coming up in my life?   

During our visit to the site, my expert witness and I had to see the area where the steam pipe exploded.  I was a little concerned when the military engineers brought me a pair of coveralls to wear over my suit.  My concern greatly increased when we left the building, stopped in front of a manhole cover, and the engineer pried off the top of the manhole cover revealing a metal ladder we would all have to climb down.  I learned two things – first, that you can climb down a ladder in high heels, and second, that you can learn more from a site visit than you could ever learn from going through boxes of documents and drawings.

Working at the Department of Justice taught me that you have to work with the facts and issues that you are given.  As the attorney defending the government, you don’t get to choose your cases or even to make the choice to file a lawsuit in court.  The cases were already in litigation and we had to do our best to defend the government’s position, regardless of their strength or weakness.    

After months of hard work on a legal brief about the meaning of the words “as the result,” during the week of Veterans’ Day, I found myself appearing before a panel of judges of the Federal Circuit.  I was in the unfortunate position of defending the government’s denial of the veteran’s leg brace due to the regulatory interpretation of these words by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.  Even with the best argument I could write and the best argument I could make, we lost the case.  I hated to lose, but I was convinced that justice was done.   

To my displeasure, my superiors required me to file for a full court review, (an en banc review of the case by all the judges of the court of appeals). After we lost that motion, I had to write a petition for certiorari, which asks the United States Supreme Court to hear the case.   If the case made it to the Supreme Court, the Solicitor General’s office would take over.  The good news was that I would not have to appear before the Supreme Court and make these same arguments denying the veteran his benefits.  The bad news was that I would not be arguing a case before the Supreme Court!  An opportunity most lawyers dream about.

 I’ve used this case in my classes not only to teach the concept of agency law, but also to show students that as a lawyer, you don’t always get to represent the side you personally want to support.  Also, to explain to students that making your best argument for your client can be challenging.