June 30, 2006
RUNNING AROUND LIKE A CHICKEN WITH ITS HEAD CUT OFF (AKA: HOW IN THE WORLD DID I EVER GET IN THIS LINE OF WORK?)
It continues to astonish me that I’ve been practicing law for what will soon be on into my 32nd year. And I’ll be the first to admit that the way I work is all-too-reminiscent of ‘re-inventing the wheel’ from time to time. And too, some days are diamonds and some days are dust...
But I have yet to be bored, I am still happily able to plow forward at flank speeds, I think about cases more broadly and creatively than ever before and I still have an enduring affection for my work and the pleasure it brings me.
I am a combative, persistent, well-armored advocate and stand-up guy for those who need help and often don’t have representation or resources. My mettle has been made, hardened and proven over more than 11,000!! days of hammering away at it. My heart is still in it and in a Very Big Way.
So, as I prepare to take a few days off and do some things with my wife and youngest child (the other older two being off in Montana and North Carolina working and playing away in good spirits and with fine effort), I thought I’d give you, dear reader, a peek at what a ‘normal’ (No, I am not kidding; this is pretty ‘normal’.) week in life of my work looks like.
This should be revealing to some, especially my parents whom I am convinced really do not have even now much of an idea as to what I really do, their entire predicate for such contemplations being built on the ebbing tides of Perry Mason, Republican-Sized dosages of Tort De-Form misinformation and the general squeamishness that always a cc ompanies the old rueful wish that they sorta, well, really sorta wish I’d become a corporate and tax guy! Not to mention the fact that fighting with the ‘other side’s suits’ is, it seems, rather, shall we say, “smarmy”?
The embodiment and core of my work is always twofold: I am either 1) Going to Court OR 2) Getting Ready to Go to Court. So all of my work as a trial lawyer, tort lawyer is geared to moving the case, its facts and its applicable law, forward, toward resolution, be it by trial, mediation, settlement or simply ‘Peace In The Valley’.
Here’s what the last few days looked like.
(And all of this Does Not include anywhere from 10 to 30 phone calls incoming a day, 10 to 30 phone calls outgoing a day, basic paperwork and deskwork, email reading (lots and lots of that), rooting through file boxes for this and that, hallway yackyack, curbside conferences, hastily called mini-meetings to address whatever has popped into my mind, personal and family business, trying to grab some exercise so I can sweat some of the inherent tension out, errands, work and reading hauled home almost each night for an early evening peek or an early morning lookover and the most overarching principal of all-Thinking About Your Case-which happens in the shower, the middle of the night, at breakfast, at the movies, driving-everywhere and all the time- that’s why I write on my hand constantly - my palm pilot for the stone age.)
Monday, 6/19
10 am Conference with co-counsel of upcoming mediation in Charlotte. Renee and Andrea sit in as voices of steady reason. Facts are difficult. We are fearful of end-result. Client has ‘other issues’.
11:30 am Client who has lost a limb in a horrible auto accident in for consult on employment benefits, social security disability, status of her case.
12:30 pm
New clients come in. Lost their husband and dad, age 63, when he was given improper medicine for ailment and then not properly or adequately supervised or managed by physician. Lovely people. Explained what trials and difficulties lay ahead.
1:30 pm
Legal Writer and Researcher comes for multi-case visit. We review three different cases, he is provided input and updates, we decide on courses to take and after an hour, he’s off to scriven.
5:00
Telephone Interview with clients from upper Midwest about grandparent/pedestrian who was tragically killed while visiting in Beaufort, attending her grandson’s graduation from Paris Island.
Tuesday 6/20
10 am Met with client to let him know that the facts of his case, his injuries claimed and his pre-existing medical history do not lend themselves to a future happy outcome, in my opinion. Not fun. And so it goes.
Noon
Unexpected visitor, old friend from North Carolina drops by, whom I haven’t seen in years. Unscheduled lunch which was really nice time. Of course, I have post-prandial heartburn.
4 pm
Telephone conference with expert witness surgeon from California about two medical malpractice death cases, one in Columbia and one in Georgetown. He gives me laundry lists of damning facts and information as to both. I listen intently and write furiously.
5:30 pm
Conference with family members who will be very important witnesses in medical malpractice/paralysis case which is pending in Myrtle Beach. After an hour, realize all involved must be called together next week for significant planning and work session (happens)
Wednesday 6/21
No appointments!
I work on taxes, office work, files, clutter, correspondence, this and that. I hate shuffling paper and it is the sine qua non of my professional life. Whoever years and years ago said computers were going to create a paperless world ought to get a good spanking!
Thursday, 6/22
Leave home at 7 am, drive from Mt. Pleasant to Hilton Head for quick family business, swing by lawyers office in Port Royal for a ‘stick my head in’ but no one there, and then meet with investigating police sergeant and witnesses in Beaufort in above-mentioned pedestrian death case. Good people, straightforward and honest, helpful. Case against defendants getting stronger, some but still cold comfort to sad family.
Then leave Beaufort, drive up I-95 to Chapel Hill in time for UNC Parents Council work Thursday night with Freshman Orientation activities.
(The driving ‘thing’ is often a life saver for me. I can talk on phone and get things done without the constant stop and go pace of the office.)
Friday, 6/23 All Day Meeting of Executive Council of University of North Carolina Parents Council. Much done.
Saturday, 6/24 Drive to Winnsboro for Andrea’s 25th High School Reunion. Stay at very nice bed and breakfast called Honeysuckle Acres. Have a really nice time with all of her high school friends and spouses.
Sunday, 6/25 Drive first thing back to Charlotte. Check into hotel early. Review entire file for wreck mediation next morning plus work in two other file bags I’ve brought. Meet with client and family at 5 pm at downtown hotel for preparation and review. Much done. Still worried, now just moreso.
Monday, 6/26 Mediation. Fears justified. Other side obdurate. Client will NOT try case despite my rather pointed offers to do so. Other issues loom large. Case settles weakly with client’s authorization.I am disappointed but no time to stew. Drive back to Charleston and start wheel turning again.While driving, I am reminded of the painfully funny story about the old, legendary lawyer from Charleston whose client was convicted of robbery and who cried out to his lawyer, “Mr. Jones, Mr. Jones, what are we gonna do?”Mr. Jones calmly replied, “We? You’re going to the penitentiary. I’m going back to office to get another file.”
This is what just about any week looks like. Substitute ‘deposition’ for ‘conference’, substitute ‘research at Medical University’ for ‘meeting’, substitute ‘motion hearing’ for whatever and there’s the flavor of its all.
So, I keep on getting after it, hewing to the great inspirations of Teddy Roosevelt and to some sort of internal engine that drives me on, “Always, Do what you can, with what you’ve got, where you are.”
Indeed! Happy Fourth of July all and Please Be Safe Out There!
EVFG
