Interview with Gregory C. Cattermole
Prepared by Julian Thomas
Our interview with Gregory C. Cattermole took place on Sunday, May 8th, 2010. We went to his office in Redwood City where Mr. Cattermole is part of a larger firm. The interviewee was very informative about our issue and helped us to understand a lot about the legal system. He has been working in law since he received his degree and is a very experienced lawyer. Mr. Cattermole’s experiences in the court room proved very useful for him and for us because he was able to provide us with the type of answers which we needed. His first hand experience with the issue helped him to answer our questions and his clarity and explanations helped us to understand and to comprehend much of the information.
When we arrived at the office Mr. Cattermole was waiting for us in the main hall and ushered us into his office where we conducted the interview. He treated us very professional and kindly, but at no point did he lose his professionalism in exchange for being friendly with us. Mr. Cattermole knew that simple yes and no answers would not sufficiently answer all our questions and he took the time to go into great depth and detail when answering our questions.
Prior to the interview I had hoped to get a better understanding of the legal system as a hole so that I could better understand the problems. I wanted to try and learn why all these injustices are occurring, and understanding the problem is the first step to fixing it. We learned that many of the problems can occur because of any reason, small or large. We also learned much about how the economy of the area and its geography can affect the legal system.
Most of what we learned from Mr. Cattermole was to be expected however there was one thing that surprised us. Mr. Cattermole told us that when dealing with the court and legal system many people have more options than they think. The court will not make every option available to the defendant; instead he or she must claim that right or action in court. Just because there is a clause in the law that may free a defendant doesn’t mean it will be enforced, in essence the defendant must call upon that law for him reap its benefits. This surprised me because that is essentially tricking the public which does not know better into being sentenced when they could be freed.
The interview, for all of the information we received, last only ten to fifteen minutes. Mr. Cattermole was very courteous and in no way attempted to cut the interview short. The interview was very informative and professional, nothing out of the ordinary happened. Mr. Cattermole made a very good professional impression on us and overall the interview went very well.
