The day before trial....or not

The suspense is building.  All of our exhibits have been copied and are ready to go.  We have larger than life size poster boards of images.  Witness lists done.  Trial briefs done.  Motions done.  Jury Instructions done.  Briefs contesting the other side's arguments done.  Our witnesses have been called and are on standby.  We are so ready.

We've overcome all of the attacks on the case to get this far.  Feel like the Black Stallion.  Dancing, prancing, frothing a little bit, waiting for that door to open so can GO!

Aha.  An email from the bailiff pops up.  He is a delightful chap who has been wonderful to work with.  He tells us apologetically ...a criminal case has squeezed its way onto the court calendar.  Criminal cases get to go first.  This means, we are not going out to trial on Monday.  It will be a short delay of two days so we can begin Wednesday.

Dancing and prancing stops mid bounce.  Thump.

This is not the most awful as delays go.  Had one trial that was moved five times.  Have had trials where had to "be on call" for almost two weeks - waiting to be told to show up.  So not the most awful.

But still.

We need to call all the witnesses who have made plans and have them change them.  This will cause heart burn.  Particularly with the experts who are tightly scheduled to begin with. Trial will now overlap with another case scheduled for an arbitration hearing.   It took two months for that to be scheduled.  Now it has to be moved.  Not sure if airplane tickets for that client can be refunded.

There's no time to moan or mope.  This is part of a trial lawyer's life.