“Um, Judge, I am not entirely sure what you’re—”

“That case. Nelton or whatever it’s called,” she clenched her fists. “We lost. Stevens went along with that-that-Adams! We have a dissent to write!” I’d been wondering what the panel had decided about the fate of Dell Nelson. It had been two weeks and not a peep from the judge.

“Oh no! What happened? And how—”

“Didn’t I just tell you what happened! I told you that we lost.” She motioned me to follow her into the torture chamber. “And that we’re dissenting. Adams is writing for the majority. It’s death penalty—Nelson’s lawyer will definitely appeal to rehear it ahn-bunk. And we’ll win this thing then.” I nodded compulsively, pretending to understand everything she said. “So, take your bench memo from the case and turn it into an opinion. First, get me Druttel. I’m rilly rilly counting on you, Sheba.” Any more nodding and I’d need treatment for Parkinson’s disease. “Now get out and get to work.” She clapped.

Druttel? Ahn-bunk? Matthew beckoned me to his cubicle as I entered the clerks’ cave. “What was she screaming about? Is everything OK?”

“Not really OK,” I whispered, kneeling. “I have to write a dissent in that death penalty case. Adams and Stevens decided to screw the guy over. Do you know what an ahn-bunk is?”

“Yeah, an en banc is when the entire court of appeals comes together to hear a case if enough judges on the court think that a panel’s majority opinion is suspect and the subject matter of the case is exceptionally important,” Matthew explained, leaning in.

“Martha! Marka! Matthew!” The judge blitzkrieged the room. “I do not have time for my law clerks to dillydally all day. I seem to recall that you are supposed to be writing an opinion, Sheila. Didn’t I just tell you to write an opinion?”

“Um, ah,” I said, standing, “yes, Judge, you did but—”

“Oh damn it. Damn it. Anyway, that’s why I came here. To tell Matthew that I wanted him to work on the dissent with you. We need to move fast. The minute we file our opinions, Nelson will argue for an en banc. I’ve got to be ready to convince my colleagues to vote to rehear it, which shouldn’t be too hard—especially in light of the Drexel opinion.” Aha! Drexel was an opinion from the ninth circuit in California that I’d cited in my original bench memo. “So, I think it makes sense to have two law clerks on the case. Matthew, stop working on whatever it is you’re working on and get up to speed on Nelson. Sheila, give him the briefs, your bench memo, and I want a draft of the dissent ASAP. Now, get to work.”

I inched toward my cubicle.