“The Velvet Hammer” Blog

Marymoor Yippee

Marymoor Yippee

I’m happy today. Actually I’m just about always happy. I like being in this little cozy compartment with this dirty brown fuzzy pad in it. It smells nice. The music today is groovy. Yep. This is the life. Can’t wait to do whatever is going to happen next.

Wait. What’s that smell. Do I smell something different. Doesn’t smell just like car fumes and pavement. Sniff. Sniff. Oh my. Do I dare to dream. Yippee. Yes it is. It is! Oops. Sorry about that. I know she doesn’t like it when I bark in the car. But I know where we are. Oooh. Yay! I’m so happy.

Karen KoehlerFebruary 21, 2011funny, nala the brittany spaniel

No time outs

I'm breathing through the mouth. Because the nose is stuffed.

In the middle of four days of depositions in Vancouver WA. Get sick the night before I leave Seattle. For the first day pretend I'm just fine. This works only in my own mind.

We are in a large windowless court reporter's room in a converted machinery shop. Three tables are fashioned together. At one end sits the witness, the court reporter, me and the main defense lawyer Nic. Next to me is my wonderful co-counsel Gordon who has flown in from Wisconsin. Everyone else piles around down at the other end as far from the germ blower as they can be. There are anywhere from seven attorneys on up in that room, plus insurance folk, risk managers, the guardian.

Karen KoehlerFebruary 16, 2011deposition

The glamorous life

The glamorous life

The wind is whipping everything around. Including the rain banging against the windows. My Miami tan is covered in JBrand jeans, knee high flat boots, an H&M t shirt and a Donna Karan jacket I've had since the 90s that will never go out of style. All black of course.

Karen KoehlerFebruary 14, 2011lawyer life, lawyer schedule, lawyer office

The Help

The Help

The first book I read on my new Kindle (thanks Laurie and Greg), is The Help by Kathryn Stockett.

Set in the 60s in racist Jackson Mississippi, it weaves the tale of a White woman writer named Skeeter. Skeeter is a member of the White social clique, but begins to splinter off and away from her friends. She gravitates towards the Black maids, in part because she does not know what happened to her own (her mother plays a hand in this).

Karen KoehlerFebruary 13, 2011book review

Aqua blue

Aqua blue

Right through the side door, left at the street and another quick left on the outside of the hotel property line. That way I don't have to run through the pool sunbathers. Turn right and run along the boardwalk hugging the side that is sometimes covered in shade. There's not much of a wind and it is mid afternoon.

Karen KoehlerFebruary 8, 2011aaj, lawyer convention, traveling lawyer

The beach

The beach

I have an hour between meetings. Rush up to 11th floor. Toss on red bikini and gold flip flops (hey it’s Miami). Throw on shorts and black flowy t-shirt thing. Ipod. Kindle. AAJ logo beach bag with computer. Hat. Sunglasses. Rush back down. Walk under gorgeous canopy of palm trees leading to the pool. Grab towel. Traverse crowd on loungers surrounding pool. Keep walking out through little gate. Skim across promenade. Ahhh. Toes hit fine white warm sand.

Karen KoehlerFebruary 6, 2011aaj, lawyer convention, traveling lawyer, women

Time to play hooky with Edouard Duval-Carrie

Time to play hooky with Edouard Duval-Carrie

We really should be going to a political luncheon. One of the high points of AAJ conventions are the big wigs who come to speak. Sometimes they are phenomenal. A couple years ago we had Hilary Clinton, Barak Obama, Joe Biden and Bill Richardson one after the other. But today, we walk out into the sunshine, grab a cab and head towards the Haiti district. It is a bit out of the way and our cabbie offers to come back to get us.

Karen KoehlerFebruary 6, 2011aaj, inspiration, lawyer convention, lawyers have fun

Convention day 2 - the seminar

Convention day 2 - the seminar

Start off with a seminar. I want to be inspired, energized, taught something. The speaker is an excellent speaker. But his presentation is too basic. It is also too rigorously detail oriented in a way that would never work for me. Fortunately I have my laptop.

The great thing about having a laptop in a seminar is it doesn’t look disrespectful to the speaker. They only see the back of a computer. And can assume that we are listening intently and taking notes.

Karen KoehlerFebruary 6, 2011aaj, lawyer convention, lawyer seminar, traveling lawyer

Getting past the SLGCC so we can have an AAJ SCILG

Getting past the SLGCC so we can have an AAJ SCILG

I leave the balcony and sit in the hall outside of the Periwinkle room. My mission – convince AAJ SLGCC (don’t ask me what it stands for) to approve a spinal cord injury litigation group. They are late to call me. I’ve been waiting about 25 minutes. I get 5 minutes to talk. And I’m splitting it with my friend Warren Collins.

Karen KoehlerFebruary 5, 2011aaj, lawyer convention, spinal cord injury

AAJ Midwinter convention day 1

AAJ Midwinter convention day 1

I’m sitting on the 3rd floor balcony of Loews Hotel on South Beach. Aviator sunglasses, white rolled up jeans, black flat gladiator sandals, a black tied around the neck blousy shirt with little rosettes. My hair which can behave so badly in Seattle, is soft and poofy and blowing in the strong warm breeze. You’d probably think I was on vacation except I have a computer on my lap.

Karen KoehlerFebruary 5, 2011aaj, lawyer convention, traveling lawyer

The Knitter

The Knitter

Thelma (our receptionist) gives me a manilla envelope. She says - after much sleuthing I figured this out. I don't understand. My name is not on the envelope. Black marker simply says "Jo-Hanna Read."

Jo-Hanna is the only person I've ever known whose name is Jo-Hanna. I'm careful to spell it correctly because it is a very special name. Jo-Hanna is a dear friend of mine. A trial lawyer who champions the rights of those who are abused - usually sexually.

Karen KoehlerFebruary 3, 2011inspiration, great people, friends

How to work Oprah into a closing argument

By now you know, I love Oprah. I'm actually in somewhat of a tizzy as we count down her final season. Who will keep me company those late nights on the treadmill. Oh Oprah - I will miss you so.

Here is an excerpt from my trial diary on closing earlier this month. I am also posting the first ten minutes of the argument. I taped this with my flip. It is very funny as my head is completely cut off. You can watch my torso give closing argument.

Karen KoehlerFebruary 2, 2011closing argument

Excerpt from my trial diary - Closing

Every day after trial, I diary the day's events. These are sent privately to members of my attorney listserve groups and friends. There is a trial diary section of the website where the diaries are excerpted. Here's a segment from a trial whose verdict came in today.

Karen KoehlerJanuary 27, 2011closing argument, trial diaries

Turning off the blog during trial

Turning off the blog during trial

For the past two and a half weeks, I was in trial. Just in case a juror might have found this website, for the most part I stopped blogging. Instead, I wrote daily trial diaries. Those were sent to my family, friends and colleagues. They were not posted publicly on the internet.

I think that's the safest way for a trial lawyer to deal with their blog.

Now that trial is over (and yes we did well), I thought you might like to see a few pictures. This was Steve Hay's case. He graciously invited me to try it with him. We had a great time. It is always a pleasure to try a case with a good lawyer. Plus see all those papers. He took care of all that.

Karen KoehlerJanuary 23, 2011bar association, trial diaries

My Dragon Lady Mother

My Dragon Lady Mother

We used to call my mom “The Dragon Lady.” I haven’t yet read Amy Chau’s “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom.” But hearing the buzz, I can tell there are many mommy similarities.

My mom was a chemical engineer who went to law school after my younger sister Debbie was born. She gave birth to my siblings Susan and Jennifer the first two years and was seven months pregnant with Gregory when she graduated the third year. To this day, her classmates recall that she seemed to always be “sick” and lying down in the black of class.

Karen KoehlerJanuary 21, 2011family

Despicable predatory personal injury loan lenders

Many 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.

Karen KoehlerJanuary 17, 2011legal profession, personal injury

Direct exam of a medical expert

I'm on the treadmill watching Oprah. She is interviewing Dr. Oz. Their theme "5 lifesaving numbers." He gives vivid easy to understand verbal answers. He uses a video recreation. He has a demonstrative aid. I like it when he punches the plaque out of the artery. It is really super. Oprah is a phenomenal interviewer. She channels the audience. She “is” the audience in the moment. Her goal is to educate and impress upon the audience, the importance of understanding and following Dr. Oz’s medical advice.

Karen KoehlerJanuary 14, 2011defense medical examiners, direct exam, experts

Quick List of Objections

“Objection your Honor – counsel is badgering the witness!” The days of speaking objections during jury trials may well be numbered. Most judges now specifically instruct counsel only to object “as to form." Some judges permit a brief statement of the basis of the objection such as “leading.” Sidebars outside the presence of the jury are used to address the details. The problem with sidebars is that they occur off the record. At the next available recess, make sure to restate the details of the objection on the record.

Karen KoehlerJanuary 9, 2011objections

Rob McKenna's nasty crusade

Rob McKenna's nasty crusade

Like 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…

Karen KoehlerJanuary 6, 2011lawyer life, legal profession

Dear Bar Association. My number one goal isn't to be civil.

Dear Bar Association. My number one goal isn't to be civil.

The 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.

Karen KoehlerJanuary 3, 2011bar association, legal profession