Lawyer Time vs. Real People Time
This entry was posted on 11/26/2007 8:37 AM and is filed under Philosophy,Advice.
Lawyer Time vs. Real People Time
Recently, I had an unfortunate falling out with a client over what was perceived as the slow progress of his case. Over four month little had happened aside from me serving discovery and setting a motion, mostly due to the inopportune absence of the pro se opposing party for a month long vacation that it was unclear when it was starting and ending therefore effectively being a three month vacation.
Setting motion and such while the opposing party is absent will tick off judges, and for less than five thousand I’m not ticking off a judge. There is a point where a time delay will allow me to proceed without the other party, but a month or two is nothing in lawyer world, much less judge world. It has taken over a year to get a trial on a divorce trial that should last under an hour. A new divorce really doesn’t require any concrete progress, just the passage of time.
Eventually you can ask for a trial date, if you’ve done discovery then the other side can’t argue for as long a time to conduct while they neglect their case. After about a year the judge may decide to arbitrarily set the case for trial. The other time that screws people’s sense up is signing things and executing agreements. I can’t make someone else agree to something or sign anything in any period of time, that’s why it’s called an agreement. I like to look things over, other lawyers are the same. It may take two weeks to get to something trivial. That adds up. I’m penciling in trials over a year out at this point.
Cases start out at an exciting pace with complaints, an initial consult, and then some settlement discussions. Then it slows down. Sometimes lawyers get in laziness wars with one another. That’s where we don’t do anything hoping the other will convince their client to settle thus avoiding any additional work. It’s a surprisingly effective strategy, the stress of an open case can cause people to make very attractive offers just to end it.
I usually get things done a week or more before deadline. That makes me very proactive in lawyer world. So I might tell you I’ll try to get something done next week, but I’m being literal about the “try” part. It’s on my vague mental list of things to do. I might bump it in favor of the gym, working out, or a date if the actual deadline is more than three weeks off or signing up a new client or a really hot date if the deadline is less than four days off. The key is the deadline. The system is designed for the judge's convenience, then the lawyers, then the clients, then witnesses. Its that way so we all stay sane and so lawyers can manage heavy caseloads which keeps rates down.
I really do like getting things done before deadline, but I’m self-employed. I like flexibility. Sometimes I get things done well before deadline. All of which seems incredibly slow to you, especially if you think your case should be my first priority which is nearly universal. Virtually all my clients are paying me what seems to them a princely fee for my services, which would be a king’s ransom if all I had were one client.
