At 8:30 a.m. on a Monday morning, I entered the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in Downtown Los Angeles for my first court visit. After passing through the metal screen detectors and making my way up to Department 87, I opened the courtroom doors plated “Judge Holly J. Fujie” and nervously checked in with the bailiff and the court clerk. Unlike many others who entered her courtroom, I arrived without counsel or a stack of paperwork to plead my case. I sat nervously, awaiting my turn to address the judge. Though the idea of standing before a judge was daunting, my first court experience wa…