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This is a humorous and sarcastic blog written by a paralegal in a mid-sized law firm in a mid-tier market. The goal is to share some of the pitfalls and foibles encountered in my own day-to-day experiences. Feel free to contact me at aparalegalslife@gmail.com with comments. Complaints, not so much :)

Friday, January 21, 2011

Thought of the Day - Giving Extra Time

During the recent Trial From Hell, there was a point when we were about to start cross-examination of a key witness, but it was close to the end of the day so the Court recessed instead.  The Judge was not available the following day, so Trial resumed a day after that.  This gave the attorneys a good 36 hours of extra time to prepare.

Can you see where this is going?  I thought so.

The attorneys decided to completely re-do the entire cross-examination, which led to me working until 2 AM pissing all over work I already did. 

A lawyer provided with any extra time will destroy all of yours.  Rule #947 of being a paralegal.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I love it when my attorney (who is always in court, "working" at home, or just screwing off, says to me "I'm going to be in the office all day tomorrow. We need to jump on these cases and get some money in here." I'm like, m-fer, I have BEEN jumping on these cases every single day of my life! And then the day he is supposed to be here, he doesn't show up until 11:15 a.m., screws up my lunch, takes an hour to tell me, again, what he needs me to do, then interupts me 75 times to "get so and so on the phone" then asks me every 10 minutes if I had gotten anything done yet. Sometimes I just want to drink myself into a stupor. Sorry for the long whining comment! I just had to vent.

Grumpy Humbug said...

Just be careful not to let it become a habit! The stupor drinking, I mean.

I hear you about the timing, though. It seems getting a law degree destroys your ability to tell time.