Love, Law & HipHop

Chapter 1

-CASEY-

"THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?" I yelled as I laid my hand forcefully into the horn of my all white 2017 Jeep Wrangler at the asshole that cut me off on the interstate on my way to work. I was already running late as usual. Dialing my paralegal's direct line, I decided to let her know I would be later than my usual late.

"Jones & Associates, this is Tabitha how may I help you?"
"Hi Tabitha, this is Casey. I'll be there in about 30 mins."
"Okay. Ms. Jones, is there anything you want me to do while you're en route?
"No" I responded before getting off my exit. "Do I have any messages?"
"Yes, your cousin Kevin called. He said a friend called him looking for an attorney. He asked that you call him back when you get into the office."
"Okay see you soon." I pressed the end call button on the touchscreen of the carplay.

Tabitha was a nice young lady who I used to work with years before I went to law school. I loved her organizational skills and cleanliness so it was only right I moved her to Atlanta to be my paralegal. She keeps my practice well grounded. My day would not go as smooth without her.

When I first met Tabitha, I was studying for the LSAT (Law School Admission Test). She was so sweet and kind. She often handled part of my job since she knew I was studying. When I was accepted into my top choice for law school, she was genuinely excited for me. Law school flew by and next thing I knew I was moving Tabitha to Atlanta. She moved without hesitation.

She has been here for about eight years now. I graduated law school and started out in criminal defense. I then got involved in corporate and entertainment law. Soon thereafter, I was practicing all areas of law.

I stayed active in the legal community. Specifically, I was well involved in the black and women legal communities. I often sat on panel discussions for young black professionals and young black entrepreneurs.

After a few years of criminal defense work, I decided to branch out on my own which was a major step of faith. I opened up a small office at this location downtown that rented out small office spaces to sole practitioners and proprietors. I was there for about two years before expanding and hiring two associates and four additional paralegals. Lisa Chattem handled all of the criminal defense cases while Sandra Jenkins handled the transactional work. I primarily worked on entertainment law cases but I would occasionally handle some criminal cases that involved capital offenses.

I finally arrived at my office downtown and parked in my designated parking spot. As I walked in, I noticed Sherman sitting behind the security desk on his phone.

"Good morning Sherman."
"Hi Ms. Jones. Have a great one."

I smiled and waved as I headed towards the elevator and up to my office. As I exited the elevator on floor 12, Tabitha is the first person I see at the front desk. We have a total of five paralegals and they rotate every two hours at the front desk. The front desk sits in front of a glass wall that has Jones & Associates engraved in the glass. Around the wall is five cubicles for the paralegals and there's three offices along the back wall that overlooks downtown. My office is to the far left.

I grabbed the note from Tabitha that Kevin left and headed towards my office. After unlocking the door, I dropped my LV Never Full onto the couch to my right and sat at my desk before letting out a huge sigh. The day was just getting started and I was already tired. I sat there for a few minutes before I called my cousin Kev back.

"Hello?"
"Kev! What's up? It's Case."

Case was my childhood nickname. I don't know who gave it to me or how it came about but only those who knew me from way back called me Case. Kev was a local producer in my hometown that often created beats for underground artists. He usually called me when he had issues with the artists paying him his funds.

"Hold on. Let me step out of here." He said as I heard shuffling in the background.

"Case... so I have this good friend Marty. He's a manager for this artist that I worked with a few years back. He was jammed up over the weekend and has an appearance at 10am this morning. Can you handle this for me? I owe Marty one." As he spoke, I could tell he was stressed.
"You're kidding me right? That's in like forty minutes bro." I said letting out a deep sigh.
"I wish I was fam." He said sighing with me.
"Alright, let me see if Lisa is -" I replied before he cut me off
"Nah Case. I need YOU to handle this one for me."

I could tell from the sound of his voice that this was not good and he could tell I was not pleased. After hanging up from Kev, I grabbed my purse and headed towards the courthouse. Luckily, the office was not too far away from the courthouse. As I headed towards the elevator, I informed Tabitha that I was stepping out.

One thing I hated was being late to court although I was always late to the office. It's MY office, that's different. No one could ever say Casey Jones was not punctual. I was on time for every meeting, trial, deposition.

I also hated being unprepared. Just the thought of walking into this courtroom without knowing what was going on or even the charges made me angry. Fresh out of law school, I took appointments and taking cases without knowing anything about it was the norm back then. I should not be doing this now. However, Kev kept my clientele list long so I always had his back even if it meant on the spot court appearances.

Although I was angry, I kept a poker face. My aunt always told me to walk with my head held high, with a little twist in my walk and never let them see me sweat. I was very confident in myself. Standing at 5'7, I was slim with curves in the right places. My suits accentuated my curves well. I wasn't curvy like these Instagram models but I had enough weight in all the right places with a slim frame.

I waved at Sherman as I strutted towards the door and to the courthouse in a hurry checking my phone as Kev text me the information.

Kev: I'm not sure if Marty will be here.
Artist name is Gabe Miller. He's tall,
brown skin, fade, and tatted.
You'll know immediately when you
see him.
9:35 am.

"Gabe Miller" I thought to myself. I had never heard of this guy a day in my life and I called myself staying up to date with the music industry. Nevertheless, I strolled towards the courthouse to look for Mr. Miller.