Virtual Office

Thank you to whomever commented! I do adore knowing that people read my blog. I do not have a stat counter because I know that I would be obsessively checking it, seeing who was reading it, seeing who wasn't reading it, and I just think my sanity is better off without one. But comments let me know (1) that people are in fact reading it, and (2) that someone actually cares! So thank you, whomever you are.

I have considered a virtual office. I'm still waiting (and praying) on an offer from this firm. So everyone out there, please send me positive vibes! I'd really like to work there, in addition to, you know, having a guaranteed steady income. It would ease my mind, my bills, and even allow me to either pay down my law school debt or get a place of my own.

So, I made an arrangement with a friend to have my mail sent to his office for a month in exchange for an appearance. It'll work for me. But that company with whom I had leased space has been nothing but hassles. Every single month there was issues. And when I went in today to clean out my office, I had an invoice for next month's rent asking if I was going to renew...even though I gave them notice three months ago that I wasn't going to renew, and again three weeks ago when she called to ask me. They've been unprofessional, have nickle and dimed me to death, and overcharged for everything. And when I asked them about a virtual office for the next month? They told me it would be $269. Yeah, right. To collect my mail? I told them I don't even want them to answer my phone! And he wanted me to sign a lease for 3 months. Thanks, but no thanks.

I'm just tired and have a lot of work to do. And I have a cold or touch of the flu or something and I can't think of a worse time to have it. Anyway, I'm going to rest a bit then get back to work. But thanks again for reading and for your comment!

Office Mess

I didn't renew my office lease, as I am never there, it's outrageously expensive for what it is, and I am praying to get picked up by a local firm in the next month anyway. In the interim, I still need a place for my mail to be delivered that is official and not a PO box - it makes clients nervous and opposing counsel think I'm a punk. In exchange for an appearance on Monday, a friend is letting me use his office address as a mail drop for the next month. Yay! However, I now have to go down to the post office to change my address. Ugh. I tried to do it online, but my credit card address does not match my former office address. So now I have to actually go down there. Great! Just what I wanted to do when I'm sick and trying to finish my reply brief...

Opp Done

So the opposition to MSJ (third one for those counting) is finally done and filed. Yay me! I finished filing it around 10 last night. I was also pleased to see that defendant's motions in limine were struck yesterday because they were improperly filed. However, even though the filing deadline was Friday or Saturday (depending on who you talk to), she decided to alter them and re-file them yesterday anyway even though the judge didn't give leave to re-file. I am really interested to see how the Court handles it. If they aren't struck again (which I hope they are), I am not sure if we will file an opposition and motion to strike or how we'll handle it. Regardless, they're outrageously improper. It takes guts to thumb your nose at the Court's order like that. Ah well. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. That is very in keeping with who she is after all. Either way, my opposition is done and I am really really pleased with the fact that it's done. And it's not so bad if I do say so myself! It should defeat summary judgment, and that's really all that matters.

Oh, Co-Counsel...

I'm tired, I'm hungry, I'm grouchy, and my head hurts. A lesson we all need to learn is when to let enough be enough. Just PDF the damn documents and send them to me so I can e-file them with the court so I can go home already. Did I mention tired, hungry, grouchy, and headache?

The Good Fight?

I got some disheartening news in one of my cases. It stung. Bad. No, I didn't lose on one of my MSJ's, but thanks for asking.

We had to tell the client, and it hurt him too. Bad. The simple fact is that it was an unjust outcome. It was wrong. Does that make me or the client feel any better? Nope.

I know the defendant has that same twisted smirk on his face today that he had throughout the whole proceeding. He's smug and arrogant and it kills me. The thing is? I kept telling myself that I have been doing this, all of this, because I'm fighting the good fight. I'm fighting on behalf of those who would otherwise have no voice. I'm on the noble side. But what has it gotten me? Almost nothing.

The process is disturbing, the outcomes are pathetic, and I ask myself what am I killing myself for? What am I working 7 days a week for if I can't even obtain a just outcome? Why am I missing my niece's dance competitions and not going on dates if I can't even move an anthill, let alone a mountain? Is there even such a thing as "the good fight"?

Msj's Still Suck

Opposing counsel has egg on her face. She filed her motion a week early, then in keeping with her tenor on this whole case faxed a letter saying she didn't get ours in a timely fashion. Well, um, it's not due until it's due under the Local Rules (where they are readily available on the Court's website for the whole world to see). So we faxed her a letter back saying that she would get ours when it was due under the Local Rules. Funny, we haven't heard anything else on the topic. Perhaps her fingers were too sticky to type on the keyboard from all that egg. Just a theory. But I would still rather be doing 1000 other things than opposing her motion right now. I'd rather be getting a dental cleaning, cleaning out my car, doing yard work, listening to Fox News...you know, other less painful (yet still relatively painful) things. Ugh. I hate motions for summary judgment...

MSJ's SUCK!!!

I'm working on my third motion for summary judgment in as many weeks time. It's nauseating. It's absurd. I HATE them.

I keep telling my two token defense attorney friends that if they would convince their cohorts to stop filing these damn useless things, I would stop being grouchy over having to oppose them. They laugh and say "it's a good way to get rid of cases." You know what else is a good way to get rid of cases? Settling them for their real value. I know, I know. You wouldn't get to bill to high heaven without making these useless motions. But still? What if you just didn't? Maybe if I didn't have to oppose a useless MSJ, which I know I'm going to beat anyway, I would be willing to talk my client down a little bit because she would be able to get her money faster. A little civility back in the practice? A touch of sensibility? Just my two cents...

When Did We Get Old?

It's 10:00 at night and I'm going to wrap up my work for the evening. I'm tired. I've been up since about 5:15 this morning, which makes for a really long day. But seriously? I feel like I'm 100 years old right now.

I miss the days when I could just take off and go to Vegas for a couple days. Miss when I could stroll through the mall with my niece and split some variety of frozen treat. Then again, I don't miss the things that went along with my youth, making crap for money, bad decisions about dating, and hair dye from the grocery store. I don't miss any of that. But I do miss having more free time, more time to myself, more energy, fewer headaches, and no student loans.

About a Month Now?

I guess Bar results come out in about a month now. I know I was really looking forward to passing when I was awaiting results. One might have even called it "desperation" to pass. No judgment. But I reflect on what I'm doing now, how tired I am, how desperate I am for just a few moments to myself, how I'm lucky if I get home by 8 and only work a 10 hour day, and knowing that I haven't had a whole day off in over a month...(sigh)...And I wonder if I could go back say 20 years in time and talk to my almost 9 year old self and tell her to change a whole lot of things. I certainly think my life would be a LOT different if I could go back in time and talk to my 10 year old self. Then again, I wonder if I would have been hit by a truck or ended up murdered like my friend from high school. (They just arrested him a week ago, and I hope that son of a bitch gets the needle. No plea deals, no mercy, no nothing. He kidnapped her, raped her, and dumped her body in the mountains in a snow bank. Then he tried to conceal the crime and he's been free since February. I hope he rots in jail, then hell.) So, a month from now, some of you will be overjoyed, some of you will be crushed. A year from now, I have to wonder who will be better off...

Conflicted

I want to take Saturday off. My version of that, at least lately, means only working a half day.

I'm going to take my niece to see a movie on Saturday evening and I have an appointment for some fun maintenance on Saturday at noon. I'm way excited about it. The crazy thing? I'm still going to work. I still don't get a whole day off.

And it irritates me when others let me down, when I have such precious little time and it's blown because they just feel like their time is more important. It hurts my feelings. I guess that's a more accurate description. It hurts that they blow me off.

Whatever, I guess.

Defend Me!

Client control is quite a difficult thing, as anyone who has had client contact knows. There seems to be an inverse ratio - the clients who have smaller dollar value cases want a ton of personal attention and demand to know every teeny tiny thing that goes on (i.e. phone calls, emails, letters, etc.), while clients who have millions on the line don't seem to pay attention. I suppose it makes sense though. The large dollar value client generally has far bigger fish to fry, while the smaller dollar value client has nothing else going on. However, I really don't want to justify every minute of every day, especially when I'm not being paid by the hour. Maybe I'm off base here, but if someone from their office calls me and wants to verify my mailing address, I don't feel the need to then make a phone call to the client to "keep them in the loop," especially since the call to the client will surely take longer than the 30 second phone call wherein the opposing counsel called to verify the address!

Anyway...

So, today, I get to defend a deposition today. The biggest problem I/we anticipate is controlling what the client says. Here's the thing - your deposition is NOT the time to tell your story. You'll get a chance, but this is not it. Your chance will be either in trial where I (as your lawyer, where I can guide what you say and control the pace, flow of facts, and cut you off if you're saying something I don't want you to say!) can be with you while you tell your story, or, God willing, after we settle and you get a lot of cash, you will tell your therapist all about it.

This is my second deposition to defend, ever, and I'm still excited regardless of the potential problems. The lawyer who I'm filling in for reminded me of one very important fact - how I perform in this deposition will have no impact on the outcome of the case. My role is simply gatekeeper, not proactive guard. And maybe this is a very different approach than many (read: all that I've ever encountered) defense attorneys. They seem to have an undying need to interject EVERY objection they ever learned in evidence class, whether or not it actually applies.

So, have a fabulous day! I'll be hopping in the shower and heading out to the depo! Yay! I'm finally feeling like this whole "lawyer" thing is becoming more natural to me.

Rest

I had been thinking lately that I could use some rest, then I cavalierly thought to myself "I'll sleep when I'm dead!" You know, that smug attitude we have in our [late] 20's. But I keep trying to remind myself that this is the big time, this is my shot. This is actually what I've worked so f-ing hard for for all these 20-something years. Yeah, it would be a luxury to have some time off right now, but I've lived for 20-something years without luxury so I can continue to do it now. And to take time off now would mean to throw away what I've worked so hard for. No rest for the weary, I say!

Then it hit me. Like a truck. Like a meteor from the sky. My uncle died yesterday. He had just turned 58. I knew he had been sick for several months, and his passing was not a surprise. In fact, we were all actually hoping it would come sooner than later because he was in such unbelievable suffering and agony in the end. But he was my Dad's baby brother, the youngest of the family (5 boys in 6 years, so they were all relatively close growing up, not so much in adulthood).

So I was at the office drafting a separate statement for an opposition to a motion for summary judgment, and I couldn't seem to stop crying. For the life of me, couldn't stop crying. My uncle and I weren't close, and I'm relieved that he's finally at peace. His spirit is finally at rest.

Then, when I finally got my mind wrapped up in work again, I got an email from my former legal assistant from the firm I worked at as a law clerk during law school. It was one of those forwarded emails with cutsie pictures about not taking life too seriously, but there was one at the bottom with Jim Carrey dancing in a tutu with wacky hair and a bunch of old people behind him dancing. And I LOST IT. It kind of even looked like my uncle. I like to think that's how he is in heaven now - living it up, feeling strong and fun.

So I was trying to reconcile my intense drive to want to work and want to be such a great lawyer with my need for rest and balance. If one more person says "work/life balance," by the way, I might just scream. I just don't know how to make it all work, fit it all in.

I finally got a good night's sleep last night, and I think that will help immensely. I also think that's one of the reasons I was crying at the drop of a hat. I mean, seriously? Who cries when they see Jim Carrey?

I'm not sure what the moral of this story is. Maybe it's just my insane ramblings. Maybe I didn't get as much sleep as I thought. Either way, I'm glad that my uncle is finally resting, finally at peace. May God bless him and our family right now.