Daddy's Girl

Thank you both for coming." McCo

The dean is gone?

As you may know, he's on vacation. He left last week."

I knew that.

Angus said, "There's not much to handle, Jim. I take complete responsibility for what happened at the prison, and I've already suspended the externship program there, pending an investigation. I'm very sorry for the injury to Nat, as well as any adverse publicity to the school."

McCo

"Sure," Angus said, and Nat maintained her professionalism as he recounted a brief version of the attack, the riot, and the aftermath. At the end of the account, McCo

"This is a very serious situation."

"It was, but it's over." Angus gestured to Nat. "She had it the hardest of all, and she'll need time to recover, physically and emotionally. You should give her a week off."

Nat interjected, "I don't need it, thanks." I need a month.

McCo

"No." Nat managed a smile that telegraphed the Professional-Grade Toughness required of Chevy trucks and tenured professors.

"I must say I love the works of Shakespeare, and you were quite correct to emphasize the elements of law and justice." McCo

My baby! "But I developed it myself, and I teach it in addition to my other courses." Read, for free.

"I understand that. But the school has other needs, if you have extra time." McCo

I'd rather date Kyle Buford. "I'd love to, in addition to the seminar."

"That's not what I had in mind, but we can discuss that later." McCo

"We're up to six. We have externs in the civil practice clinic, entrepreneurial, mediation, child advocacy, transactional, and public interest."

"Civil practice is the most subscribed, is it not?"

Angus nodded proudly. "Yes, our students counsel the indigent in housing, social security and disability, health law, education, child custody and support, and consumer law."

"Chester County Correctional Institution is the only externship program in which something like this has occurred, is that correct?"

"Yes, of course."

"I see." McCo

"Exposure?" Angus repeated, but Nat knew what McCo

Time for even the lawyers to lawyer up.

McCo

Angus looked as if he'd been slapped, his mouth partway open.

"I've suspended the program. I'm not canceling it.”

“The parents are demanding as much.”

“The parents don't run my clinic."

"If you send a student out there and he gets hurt, you expose the school to an array of negligence actions."

"I've already taken the appropriate measures to protect those students, and I care about them, too." Angus shifted forward in his seat, his face flushing red even under his bruise. "The program is suspended."

"I'm afraid that's not your decision."

"Nor is it yours," Angus shot back. "I'll take it up with Sam."

"He can't be reached."

"I have his cell."

"Good luck trying it. He's in Kenya with Carolyn and the kids, on a safari. In his absence, I make the decisions."

"Jim, this is absurd!" Angus shouted, and Nat worried he'd pop a stitch. "There has never been an incident before at Chester County, and our best students have served in the externship program there, counseling inmates for over eight years."

"That benefits the prison, not us."

"Wrong. The students have learned more about criminal defense than they can ever get in a classroom. They represent real inmates on real cases. They draft all the pleadings, find all the experts. That's invaluable experience."

"They can learn it within these walls, Angus." McCo

"You're firing me?" Angus exploded, jumping to his boots.

"What?" Nat blurted out, astonished.

"Don't be so emotional, Angus." McCo

Nat interjected, "Vice Dean McCo

Angus nodded. "Jim, you don't even know what the programs are. How can you begin to run them? This isn't about programs, this is about people. Real students who work ongoing lawsuits for real people."

"I know how to run a tight ship, no matter what it is. If you ask me, this happened because it's been loosey-goosey for far too long under you."

Angus looked stricken for a moment, as he realized he had lost. Nat felt terrible for him. His long hair, cowboy boots, and his image were coming back to haunt him, and she saw him in a different light. He'd been right when he said he was in his own little world. The students may have loved him, but McCo

"I'll take it up with Sam, when he gets back," Angus said, struggling to rein in his anger. "He knows how important those programs are to the school. He's the one who raised the funds for them and for our renovation."

"Thank you," McCo

Nat watched him go, and her heart went out to him. He'd developed and grown those externship programs himself. The clinic was his passion, and he'd been very good at it. She turned back to McCo

Thank you for your time, Nat," the vice dean said, dismissing her with a wave before he picked up the receiver.

Nat got up stiffly and left the office, shaking her head. Only she had been naive enough to think that academia would be politics-free, It was all the books they had lying around that fooled her.