Chapter 49: A Lesson in Law
"Hello?"
"Hello this is Emma Carson, you called?"
"Yes ma 'me, we noticed that you signed up for classes that are strictly for male students and we wanted to know why?"
"Because I need those courses, you see I am currently the owner and manager the Carson Law Firm. Now this role was given to me due to my father's recent passing, but you should know that finishing school I attended does not provide the appropriate courses that are required for running such a prestigious company. So when I saw your advertisements claiming that you shouldn't be caught without a job, I decided to abide by your words and sign up for the courses I need."
"Ma' me with all due respect, don't you think that you should let someone else run the company?"
Emma takes in a deep breath before answering, trying to keep her temper from flaring. "My father willed that company to me and as you know going against someone's last will and testament is practically a crime."
"But you're a law firm, if you can't find a way around it, you must not be a very good firm."
"My father was a brilliant lawyer!" she practically snaps. "And AS a lawyer, he could draw up wills with his eyes shut! He could make a clause so airtight that not even a bullet could break it! His will clearly states that only his daughters, his living female heirs, would ever inherit his life's work and run it to its full success. You try breaking something that specific."
"Ma' me," the man on the other end says. "This has nothing to do with being classes that are strictly reserved for men."
"I believe that in order to fulfill my father's dying wishes, I need to be provided with the education that will allow me to run his company to its full success and you are in fact standing in the way of this."
"Ma' me we do not mean any disrespect to your father, but…"
"But nothing!" Emma says. "Either you make an exception and I will pay the necessary fees for it or we will take you to court. You should know that any judge, even in the Supreme Court will consider a last will and testament hard to get around. And I'm sure you'd rather spend your time and money teaching people instead of having your name in the papers and a large chunk of money spent on hiring lawyers. I also think the Women's Rights Organization will find this very interesting as well."
There is a long pause on the other end of the phone, but Emma knows that she's gotten her point across. She waits. She hears voices discuss the issue and several murmurs and a few sighs in defeat.
There is a sigh on the other end.
"$150 for the three law classes you signed up for and $100 for the business course, this includes the cost of textbooks. Classes will commence on the 15th of June and end with examinations on the 1st of September. The classes will take place on the College Campus in Uptown New York. Cheques should be deposited in the mail effectively and immediately by mail and registration commences on the day of classes. Any further questions, please contact the complaint branch."
"Thank you very much for your time and we'll see you in June," Emma says. She hangs up the phone.
When Emma turns around she notices the room is very quiet. Rose has been watching Emma this entire time from the living room reading a book, very impressed. She'd have made Molly Brown very proud. Jack too was watching as he sketched the family car parked in the driveway, also very impressed.
"What?" Emma asks in confusion, wondering why everyone was staring at her.
Jack smirks. "You sure you need those classes, Emma? You're pretty good at being slimy and making those clauses so tight no one can get out of them."
Emma sighs. She did basically back the school into a corner, but they left her no choice. She had a right to be educated, no matter what her gender, but she still did feel bad. She had been slimy to get what she wanted, but she didn't feel good about it. Her father had told her that sometimes in order to catch prey, you can't leave any chance of escape. Her father had admitted to her and her mother on multiple occasions that he sometimes hated being a lawyer, he sometimes had to get his hands dirty to win cases, but it doesn't mean he felt good about it. Emma knew that lawyers did get a bad reputation from time to time, but no one ever took the time to learn about how the lawyers felt. Often times, lawyers had to harden themselves in court so their opposing council didn't sense weakness and pounce on it. Any argument that didn't hold water or any councilman who put too much emotion into their work would cost time, money and their own sanity.
Emma had always admired her father for being able to balance his work and home life. He was never hardened or emotionless at home, he was kind, caring and overall a gentleman. But when he had to go to court or business meetings, some of which Emma had attended before. She would sometimes go down to her father's office or to the courthouse with her mother on shopping trips and watch him in court. It amazed her how he was able to go to a hard and stern man addressing a jury to a loving father at the drop of a hat.
As she got older, Emma did get a little frightened at one point, seeing how forceful and almost cruel her father could be in the court of law. He had spent an entire afternoon practically screaming at a witness who was most likely fabricating evidence to convict a person. He made the witness cry on a few occasions.
She shared her fears one night by the fire as her father was reading a case file and he noticed how distant she was being.
"What's wrong Emmy?" he asked, taking a sip of whiskey.
Emma looks at her feet and then told her father how scared she was of him. She felt it was silly to think such thoughts, her father would never bring his aggression home with him, but she wasn't so sure now.
Her father didn't laugh at her, he didn't scold her either for having such foolish fears, instead, he put the case file down, took off his reading glasses, put his whiskey aside and opened his arms for her to climb into. He hugged her for a long time before speaking.
"Emma, the world in which I work is a tough one, you know that. I want you to know that I also care about my work. Deeply and passionately. I've worked my whole life to get where I am, but it was mostly on pure determination, sweat, and blood. And the one thing I can't stand is letting someone use the law for their own personal gain or purely for hate. The law is not perfect, never will be, but one of the reasons I wanted to become a lawyer was that I could try and make the world a better place. Fix the law even when I could." He shut his eyes for a moment and then pinched the bridge of his nose, as he often did when he was thinking very hard. "Sometimes I'm faced with a difficult case which requires me to become vicious, hostile even, but I only do it because I know that there is injustice in the world and I'm fighting to end it. You know those fights your mom and I have once in awhile about removing the trash or finishing off the milk?"
Emma had nodded. Her parents rarely fought but when they did, they were tame compared to what she had seen in court.
"Most of those are silly things and there is no point in being angry about it. I save my temper for when there are real problems in the world and only a burning passion can keep the fires of justice lit and the wheels turning. It's why your mother and I try to teach you to control your temper because you should only ever be truly angry when something truly horrible is going on, anything else is tiny in comparison to what I see happen in the world. Discriminations towards our fellow man, starvation of children, slaying of helpless women, unjust accusations towards the innocent; I could go on all night, but I promise you one thing Emma, I will never ever bring that anger home with me and take it out on you or your mother. This is why I often have a glass a whiskey in the evenings, I wash my frustrations away, out of my mind and they no longer matter. Do you understand?"
"Yes Papa," Emma had said. She kissed her father on the cheek and then lay in his lap so he could read the evening paper to her.
This memory made Emma a little sad, thinking about how wonderful her father had been, but he had also taught her many life lessons, some that she would use to run his company.
"Maybe so," she says in response to Jack's statement. "But sometimes justice is just as sticky and you need a way to slide along."
…
A couple of weeks later, Peter drives Emma up to the college as the sun begins to set. The classes are occurring at night to avoid interference with the average work day. She kisses Peter as she heads for the door.
"Got everything you need?" Peter asks.
"Yes," Emma says.
"Books and pencils?"
"Yes."
"Have the cheques?"
"Yes."
"A snack?"
"Yes,"
"What about…"
"I sense that you are trying to keep me here, am I right council?" Emma interrupts.
"Guilty as charged," Peter smiles.
"I know you're nervous, but you know I need these in order to run the company properly."
"I know, but you alone with all those men…"
"I'll be fine, I survived a flooding hallway on a sinking ship, a gunshot to the shoulder, freezing cold temperatures and a weekend on a farm with your mother, I think I can do this."
Peter smiles and then kisses Emma before she heads into the College. As she climbs the stone steps, she begins to feel nervous, she will be the only female in her classes, but she fought and had a right to be here. She never really wanted to take legal action, but she wanted the respect that came with knowing how to run a law firm.
She goes to the registration office, handing over the cheques and gets the room numbers. Each class will last an hour, every day, except for the weekend and until September. After this, Emma will be more knowledgeable than ever before and have earned the right to own her father's business.
Emma finds her first room. She sits in the lecture hall, her pencils and books all prepared. She tries to ignore the other eyes staring at her, but she can tell some are looking at her perversely, others in confusion. She feels self-conscious and a little bit anxious, but she reminds herself that she needs this.
If you survived the Titanic, you can survive anything.
A wiry man with thick horn-rimmed glasses and a checked suit and tie comes in with all his supplies. He cracks his knuckles and takes in his new class. He does stop and stare at Emma briefly before moving onwards to the other faces. His glasses glint under the electric lights.
He clears his throat.
"Good evening everyone, I'm Dr. Dailey and I will be your professor for this semester. Now before we begin I must warn you that this course is extremely hard and requires undivided attention. The research and definitions will be hard and the examinations will as such so anyone who is incapable should leave this class immediately."
When he says this, he looks directly at Emma.
Her heart pounds and she can feel tears come up. She then remembers her father's lesson about using anger where there is an injustice. She knew immediately that this anger would go into her work and she would prove not just to her professor, but also to everyone around her that she was more than capable and would teach these men a lesson in law.