Use a kennel; save your dog's life

Am reading the police report on a new case:

T told me he had a dog in the vehicle. I checked and located a brown lab type dog on the rear passenger floorboard. The dog was not breathing and I could not feel a heartbeat. I asked SFD E31 to check the dog too. there did not appear to be any signs of life in the dog.

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Karen Koehlercar accident
Endless love

Judy Chambers has passed away.  Eight months after Tom.

In September we received a picture postcard from their final scuba diving trip.  He later posted it to his blog.

After reading it (and recovering my equilibrium) I sent Tom an email.  The interchange is a reminder to all of us (even the busiest of us trial lawyers) - of the importance of love.

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Beginning the complaint with a bang - the case synopsis

We are changing the way we read.  Short has not just become better.  It has become essential in the quest to capture the attention of our audience.

Pedantic legal writing is no longer highly valued by judges.   With crushing case loads, our Honors need us to get right to the point.  They impose page limits on us.  And even then, will sometimes admit they haven't read our pleadings.

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The almost tantrum: a tale of typical trial lawyer self control

It's a drizzly Sunday.  Have popped into the office to work on a settlement letter.  Nala is chewing on her antler.  Am eating my favorite pastry from Macrina bakery - the orange pinwheel.  Superb as usual.

Am working on the letter.  But also engaging in typical bounce around behavior.  Read incoming email from co-counsel on a different case. Defense attorney wants a continuance on a summary judgment motion.  This is the fifth motion in a string of motions.  Maybe it's the fourth.  Or the sixth.  Have lost count.

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The non-visitor: a story about never saying you're sorry.

Walk up to door one.  Open and walk through.  Door two.  Push button.  It clicks.  Enter.  Write name and time on log at front desk.  Write name on tag and stick on shirt.  Cindy arrives and says hello.  Follow her down the linoleum covered hall.  Past the man in a wheelchair.  An open door reveals a woman in bed watching tv.  A hunched over man looks at me from another open door.   His leg is bandaged.   Walk towards the eating area where several others are congregated.  Mostly in wheelchairs.  Chatting.  Average age probably middle 70s.  Or older.

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Part 3: Depositions of treating providers in a medical negligence case resulting in bilateral leg amputations.

One of the hospital’s defenses was that it was a small community hospital.  It did not have all the fancy equipment of a major urban hospital.   The problem with this defense was that the hospital didn’t need an expensive machine to make the correct diagnosis.  All it needed, was for someone to: a) notice the red flags; and b) pull a hand held doppler unit out of a cupboard.

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Part 1: Depositions of treating providers in a bilateral leg amputation medical negligence case

Am at a hospital.  Sitting on one side of a long table in a cafeteria.    With me is my partner Paul Whelan and paralegal Cheryl Baldwin.  Paul  has been handling medical negligence cases since I was in grade school.  He is my Yoda.  Cheryl screened this case and knows everything that I need to know.   Between the two of them, I'm covered.

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Some defense lawyers can't be friends too...

Last week something unpleasant happened.

I lost a friend.  Not a great one.  But a friend nonetheless.

I met him when he was still a law student and was one of his mentors.  He clerked for our firm.   Then a bit later he worked with us for a year.  He stayed in our building after that, working for another lawyer who was renting an office from us.  We kept in touch.   His boss moved his office.  And we wished them well.  A bit later,  I heard  he had quit and decided to take a job with a defense firm.  No shame in that.  You gotta do what you gotta do.

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