"Why?"

"Still finding my feet after decontamination, lots of things to learn, it might turn out my calling is actually traffic regulation." Smile.

"Ah. Well, this is the right building to get a feel for the courts, usually when we've got young people afoot I have them hear cases and write their own decisions and then if they're any good at it they can take the caseload off some overstretched circuit somewhere - the capital's not particularly overstretched, everyone wants to live here. Lakla's probably better. You can read and so on -"

"Yes."

"Have a court in mind?"

"Yellow criminal was suggested and I think it makes sense."

Considering hmmph. "I'll see if Alash wants a tagalong - he's out for the week, I'll get back to you end-of. Have you hired people?"

"I've put out a call for a secretary and am meanwhile prevailing upon the receptionist."

"Do you know how to manage people?"

"In a general sense, yes."

"The difference between a good yellow career and a disappointing one is whether - not on the scale of a day but certainly on the scale of a week, a month - they get new skills, they learn a new tool or see someone really good doing their job and get a chance to learn from them, if they write things they get better at writing them, you notice what they're good at and give them more of it and you notice what they're bad at and help them fix it. If you get someone who is spectacularly good at their job they have had a good manager, probably for years, and they know what that looks like, and you want to pick it up because you want people to know they will grow in your jobs. In court you have a lot of direct reports, unless you delegate them very neatly, and then you still have a lot of people to be responsible for."

Shasali takes notes and nods along.

"I am sure this has not escaped you but you had better be very good at your job."

"I'm aware. I - think I make the best available test case."

"Do you need anything?"

"Advice generally, introductions to people it's useful to know."

"Criminal law is a year of study, but you should make sure you have the aptitude first and if you're determined you can do it in a few seasons. - most of what you see only requires knowing ten percent of the law, but a good judge knows the rest anyway, don't be tempted to skip it. Alash leads yellow criminal here but it's a sizable department, you'll have twelve colleagues and you'll want to get along with them. I'll email you names. I don't know how everyone feels about the adequacy of the decontamination procedures - greens get so idealistic sometimes -"

"I'll keep up with the hair dye; no one will have to think about it if they'd rather not."

"I presume you wanted yellow law because pollution violations don't come up much."

"Yes."

"You can quietly put things on someone else's docket if they look unwise to touch.

I can't imagine reds as a group are full of respect for the courts."

"Reds as a group don't encounter courts per se very often. But I have no reason to believe courts are systematically underserving yellows."

"I think we do all right." She gestures at the bookshelf on one wall. "Blue volume on the end there -"

Shasali tips it off the shelf.

"Tax law. You'll run into a lot of it. Yellow criminal sees the most technical cases. Don't try to read it like a book, that doesn't work, just read each rule and imagine what kind of case would involve a dispute over that rule and take good notes for yourself. There's a law site, I'll email you it, which has case law by statute, but make progress on the book first. Take good care of it, I'm fond of paper and it's all out of print these days."