Palau Law Blog (say that 5 times fast)

I got an email the other day saying that it's all well and good that I'm having a great time swimming and running around islands, but what about work?! Excellent point. Although my first few posts focused mainly on the fact that Palau is a beautiful tropical paradise, the real reason I'm here for the year is my job as court counsel (clerk) for the Supreme Court of Palau.

(My office! Proof that I'm gainfully employed, and not just braiding hair on a beach somewhere.)

The legal system here has quite a few similarities to the United States, but there are enough differences to make a quick explanation worthwhile. To those of you who are reading this blog solely for oceanic photography, here's one of me in my office that might suffice.

Turning back to the law, there are three courts currently functioning in Palau: the Court of Common Pleas, the Land Court, and the Supreme Court. The Court of Common Pleas handles minor criminal infractions, small claims, and some civil suits where the amount at issue is less than $10,000.00 (Palau thankfully uses the dollar!). The Land Court--which is unique to Palau due to shifts in land ownership prior to Palau's independence (which deserves and will get it's own interesting blog post)--operates to settle land ownership disputes. Finally, the Supreme Court functions as both a trial court and an appellate court. The Trial Division handles all of the cases filed where the Supreme Court would have original jurisdiction. The Court has original jurisdiction over cases involving the national or state governments, ambassadors or diplomats, public ministers and consuls, ships, shipping or sea issues, and serious civil and criminal cases. Additionally, the Supreme Court has jurisdiction over appeals from the Trial Division and the Land Court. So Palau's appeal process differs than that U.S. Whereas in the U.S. we have a system of trial, appellate, and supreme courts in our state and federal systems, Palau's Supreme Court serves as both the trial and appellate courts.

The Supreme Court consists of four justices. The Appellate Division handles appeals from the Trial Division or Land Court through panels of three justices. And to avoid having the same justice handle an appeal that made the trial division decision, the justice that handles the trial court case cannot serve on the panel of that case's appeal. Because conflicts arise among the justices, often appeals are handled by judges from Guam.

The Court Counsels' main job is to help the justices prepare for appellate oral arguments and draft opinions resolving the appeals. We also help out the justices with their trials on an ad hoc basis, and have some administrative duties. Right now, I'm finishing up my first appeal, have two others waiting for reviewing and drafting, and am helping one of the justices out with trial prep.

After two weeks of working as court counsel, and a year of clerking for a federal district court, here are a few differences and similarities I've noticed so far.

1. Westlaw is amazing.

Westlaw is a legal search engine. Like the U.S., Palau law is based on its statutes, rules, regulations, and case law. This results in a huge body of law that is organized into code books, case law reporters, and secondary resources that analyze the laws. Westlaw organizes these legal sources into searchable online databases--for a cost.

And it's worth every penny. When I was clerking, I was told never to worry about Westlaw bills. The answer to a research question was literally a few search terms away. At the Supreme Court, because internet is prohibitively expensive, the court counsel are limited to 16 hours of dial-up internet a month, and are encouraged to use Westlaw only to make sure the case law is still accurate.

So whereas a few months ago I would have ran a search for "criminal /p 60," and finished my research project in about five minutes, this week I spent over 4 hours pouring over hard copies of digests and secondary sources to find the same result. Not that I'm complaining. There's something satisfying about finding the right answer only using the books. It's simply made me realize how much more efficient I am with electronic searching.

To the folks at Westlaw, I salute you. (And will continue advertising if you donate free searching to the Court!)

2. Air conditioning is overrated.

In Palau the air conditioning units are placed at ceiling level, and you have to use remote controls to turn them on and off. It's a fun little game so far...except that in my office my remote actually doesn't work and there's a pliers/knob situation that requires standing on a chair for me to get it working. I can barely avoid falling on solid ground on a daily basis, so my solution is to simply go without air conditioning. I'm in Palau, I should be able to deal with a little bit of heat, right? Despite a little bit of discomfort, I've actually found that I work much better this way. Apparently 85 degrees is my productive temperature. This shouldn't come as a surprise to my Sidley or Hammond co-workers, who have found me working wearing a blanket, fleece, and gloves and using a space heater.

3. Bluebook is a Universal Language.

For the non-lawyers out there, I apologize, this is incredibly nerdy. The Bluebook is a citation manual that law students and lawyers use to cite to legal authority in a uniform manner. And I love it. It's shameful, but in law school I was voted most likely to have my Bluebook on me at any time. For good reason. I was/am guilty of being one of those people who enjoy fielding questions like "Where should I put the semi-colon?" where I can answer with, "Well, it depends...." And a few weeks ago I actually helped a friend with Blue Book exercises voluntarily.

Here, the Bluebook is emphasized and loved just as much as it is in the states. My trusty Bluebook is propped neatly against my Palau government textbook, and this makes me feel very much at home. I apologize again for even mentioning this. It will be the first and last time I [publicly] gush about the Bluebook.

4. Palauan is not a Universal Language.

Here are a few terms that I've had to familiarize myself with so far:

Eldecheduch: A traditional gathering held by relatives of a deceased individual for hte purpose of determining elbechiil, techel otungel, and ududir-ar-ngalek, if any. This is somewhat similar to an estate hearing.

Elbechiil: Palauan money awarded to the wife's family during eldecheduch.

Techel Otungel: Palauan money awarded to surviving wife during an eldecheduch. Techel literally translates to meat, and otungel translates to a woman's purse.

Ududir-ar-ngalek: Children's money. Money awarded for the children of the deceased during an eldecheduch.

Ocheraol: Traditional gathering wherein relatives contribute money to pay for one's house.

Now, I'm learning some Palauan phrases and plan to learn more throughout the year here, but it's definitely a challenge to learn more than "good morning" (ungil tutau) and "thanks" (sulang). What's interesting and challenging about the Palauan phrases I'm learning is that they are representative of Palau's unique culture.

For instance, if an eldecheduch takes place, then it means that the family has gathered and made decisions about how the deceased property is to be distributed. And the decisions made during that meeting stand. So an issue in some cases becomes whether this meeting took place, and whether it involved the proper members of the family. To explain these nuances, the litigants often need to call an expert witness to testify as to Palauan custom. Because many of the appeals deal with Land Court issues that rely heavily on Palauan custom, I'm hoping my understanding of both the language and culture will improve dramatically.

5. Everybody knows your name here too!

Working at the federal courthouse in Hammond was, and will continue to be, a huge treat. After just a few weeks working there, I'd gotten to know the security guards and court personnel well, and people couldn't be friendlier. In chambers, I worked with an amazing group of people, where we got along so well that we had lunch together every day in the conference room. A few of us, my judge included, actually ran the Chicago Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon in August. Not many clerks come into such a warm environment.

(Hi chambers! I'm still full from the going away party.)

That said, I've been incredibly pleased to learn that working for the Supreme Court here is much the same. When I flew into Palau, my two co-clerks met me at the airport and took me out for a beer my very first night. Then on my first day of work, Tanja, one of the chief justice's administrative workers, took me around to all the administrative offices to make sure I got my social security card, car registration, electricity and phone, and work permit. I would have been completely lost having to do it all on my own (especially because the buildings here don't have addresses, only small signs!). I have a phone number for the marshals, who I can call at any time if I need help. And to top it all off, this past Friday we were in the newspaper, on the second page of the Palau Horizon!

6. Dress Code

As I mentioned, the Hammond courthouse was incredibly comfortable and friendly. And my judge was nice enough to let us wear jeans any time there wasn't a court proceeding. So I come from a wonderfully casual environment to start with. But working in Palau requires a completely different kind of work attire . . . one that lets you function without sweating profusely. So I wear simple cotton skirts and shirts every day, and sandals. Yup. No heels, no close toe, no hose, just plain sandals. It's fantastic. Also, I was told that I shouldn't even bring a suit. No suits, you say? But I'm a lawyer! How am I supposed to let people know how important I am?!? Nope, no suits required. I did bring one just in case, but now that I'm here, I realize the anti-suit lobbyists were right. It's just too darn hot to wear a suit every day.

7. Security

I'd never felt safer than I did working in Hammond. I was surrounded by security officers, metal detectors, and silent alarms. Plus the Hammond courthouse looks like a fortress. However, I had to carefully choose where I stopped in the city of Hammond itself because it's a high crime area. Here in Palau, the Supreme Court doesn't have a main entrance, and the hallways are outside. But we do have the comfort of the marshals and the fact that possessing or owning guns are illegal in Palau. So even though it doesn't feel like I work in a fortress, the Supreme Court is a safe place to be in Palau.

Those are just a few of the observations I've made so far. Obviously there are significant differences when practicing law in another country that I haven't touched on, so if anyone has questions, feel free to ask!

I hope everyone is doing well. I'll tell everyone about my scuba experiences next (cue Jaws theme song).

Happy Belated Birthday Jesse, Happy Halloween, Go Pack, and welcome to the world to my new nephew Landon Dale Mrotek!