From: M
Sent: Friday, April 30, 2021 11:23 AM
Hi Joe, Karen, and Ray:
Despite our failed mediation, I am still confident we can get this resolved. After mediation, I ran several different settlement numbers through the L&I formula to show S’s carrier how much each settlement number would yield to J. As much as you want to get paid, I’m sure your focus is getting a reasonable amount in J’s pocket.
Am trying to show empathy to our new associate who has been working long hours. Encourage him to make sure to take a day off. During firm meeting raise the issue of not working too much . Then Stritmatter crashes the party.
Strit: I’m going to derail this conversation. My father and I worked 7 days a week. That’s how I was raised. Work comes first. If you want to be a great lawyer you have to work a lot.
Read More(a) A lawyer who is participating or has participated in the investigation or litigation of a matter shall not make an extrajudicial statement that the lawyer knows or reasonably should know will be disseminated by means of public communication and will have a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing an adjudicative proceeding in the matter. (b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a), a lawyer may state:
Read MoreIn 2007, when I was President of WSTLA, I wrote an article called the Value of Dissent.
The focus at that time was AAJ and my perception of its systemic problems in advancing diversity. I was not liked by AAJ leadership for being aggressively outspoken on the issue.
Read MoreBased upon a true story:
Last week, my wife of 35 years was driving to the store and was hit by another car. The police came to my house to take me to the hospital to see her. She's been there ever since. We don't think she will make it.
Each day I drive or am driven to the hospital by our children. I stay there as long as I can. I just had surgery myself. So I need to come home to try to rest in between rushing back to be with her.
Read MoreThere are a lot of lawyers in America.
Lots and lots.
With the demise of the telphone book, most lawyers now have websites. Growing numbers use social media. A few pay for TV and radio ads. And thankfully only a few (grossly) advertise on buses, cabs and billboards.
Read MoreToday a ghost writer offered to secretly write my blog.
Before deleting her spam, I took a peek at the links to the firms she writes for. Bet they'll be happy to know they've been outed.
It is slimy to hire someone to do legal blogging without disclosing that the writer is: a) not a member of the firm and b) not a lawyer. Plus maintaining a blog simply for the sake of having a blog, is kinda lame.
Read MoreThis showed up in my email today. At first I hoped it was a bad joke. It wasn't. This wins my award for Most Tacky & Gross Lawyer Advertising Scheme 2012.
Read MoreLawyers love rules. Lawyers also tend to be OCD. Rules + OCD = an intricate, layered, never ending monstrous pile of rules that becomes increasingly difficult to navigate. The legal profession calls this - job security.
We are equal opportunity OCD rule creators. We even create rules to govern ourselves. Some of them are breathtakenly overbroad and impossible to humanly adhere to.
Read MoreThere are some aggravating people in this profession. That suits me just fine. Being nice has its place. But it is fun to wrestle with opponents.
Today am spammed with a brochure. Touts a two day seminar on civility in the profession. Sorry to say this pretty much brings up gag reflex. Here's what it says:
In this intensive 2-day program we will strive to create a retreat-like seminar* to engage in a dialogue about civility. After we explore characteristics of civility, we will discuss the costs of incivility, the benefits of civility, the foundations of civility, and strategies to foster civility within our personal and professional lives. In addition to traditional lectures and presentations, this immersion seminar will include interactive and creative exercises. *To facilitate a relaxed atmosphere please wear casual clothing and unplug from laptops, emails and phones.
Read MoreIf you or a loved one are injured (or worse). This is what won't happen. My law firm will not come knocking uninvited on your door.
On May 13, an injured person filed a lawsuit against three law firms and their "runners" for trying to get him to sign up as their client.
Here's what happened.
Read MoreDear Karen,
It doesn’t matter to me what a lawyer is wearing, I just think we ought to show more respect to one another.
I did answer your question, just not as you phrased it because: (1) as phrased it didn’t make sense to me; and (2) it posed a false choice. Is your point that, on the rarest of occasions—indeed one I have never seen—where the lawyer is faced with a choice between pursuing the client’s best interest on the one hand, and acting civilly on the other, the lawyer should act uncivilly? If so, I suppose I would agree. I just don’t think that happens very often, if ever. I do, however, think that lawyers use that claim as an excuse for uncivilized conduct all the time; I just don’t buy it.
Read MoreDear Karen,
Sarcasm is a good example. Your email is laced with it, but it does not advance your cause. It does, though, increase the friction of the dialogue, unnecessarily so. That is part of my point. As soon as we inject sarcasm, condescension or the like, the discussion gets heated when it really doesn’t need to. If I didn’t know you were just trying to prove a point, I may respond emotionally and attack you on a personal level, and so the downward spiral would begin.
Read MoreDear Sims:
What right does the WSBA have to tell us we need to smile when dealing with opponents. If we aren’t violating the rules for professional conduct by doing something dastardly – like lying – why can’t we be stern. Or down right grumpy. Since when has society wanted attorneys to be nice and friendly as we go off to fight for our clients’ rights. As you can tell, I don’t think much of the WSBA’s new “civility” initiative. I’m a trial attorney. That means I’m a warrior. As long as I behave professionally, it shouldn’t matter if I’m being sweet or not.
Read MoreMany of our clients are in great financial distress. They cannot work due to their injuries. Or they don't have enough money to pay for their medical bills (even if they have insurance, it rarely covers extraordinary medical expenses). They become financially desperate and overwhelmed. That is when "legal finance lenders" come sniffing around.
Read MoreLike the Sheriff of Nottingham Forest, our Attorney General is on quite a crusade. According to him, our poor government is in a big gigantic financial mess and guess who’s to blame – why the trial attorneys of course! They file “abusive lawsuits.” Prey against “vulnerable” taxpayers. Take money from the injured and apparently give it to the democrats.
McKenna hopes that citizens will rise to his Shakespearean cry of “kill all the lawyers.” Ummm. Excuse me. But isn’t McKenna the King of all Washington lawyers…
Read MoreThe front cover of our bar association journal announces a new series: “Raising the Bar: The promise of Civility in Our Profession.”
My skin is crawling and not because I’m a total beast.
I am all in favor of being civil whenever possible. But sometimes it isn’t. At least not for trial lawyers. Our duty is to help our clients get a fair shake. Rules require that we behave. But since when did I need to focus on being kind and gracious to the other side. Especially when they are trying to do bad things.
Read MoreThis article was published in WSTLA Trial News in 2000.
Trial Lawyers are often perceived by the public as arrogant and phony. This is because the art of braggadocio is so prevalent and even sometimes necessary in our profession. Behind the show lie those memories that need to be periodically replayed so we don’t buy into the myth of our professional persona.
Read MoreWe are at a convention banquet and it is my last official appearance as President of my state trial lawyer association. Gerhard – the Executive Director – is going to say a few words. I’m sitting up on the podium along with other officers looking at the audience of smiling faces. This is a tradition. Time to pass the gavel. And Gerhard starts off: “I have to admit, I was kind of dreading having Karen as President.” The audience gasps. Not sure. Is that a joke?
Read MoreI'm driving home from work, trying to bypass the Mercer Street mess (if you live in Seattle, you know what that is). I go south over the viaduct go through the stadium district up Edgar Martinez Way (if you are a Mariners fan you know who he is) come to a stop light. I'm waiting to get onto I-90. Settling into a zen-like state as part of traffic aggravation-avoidance strategies, when I almost swallow my gum. Ok, understand gum chewing is probably not a good thing do to when in search of Ooooohm. But I like popping bubbles.
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