today marks the first day of the law firm of samuel m. meatballs. I finally pulled the band-aid off and went for it.
i answered my own phones for a year. definitely stinks but it is what it is. when i started out i approached a lot of firms about 50-50 fee splits with cases they referred and ended up getting a bunch of lit cases that way.
So my paralegal of 2.5 years told me today she was going elsewhere. This lawyer that lives in like Oregon but does all plaintiff insurance denial claims has now sniped 2 of our paralegals. He's offered them $55k base salary and remote work. So they work from home and get paid much more than the average paralegal salary. I'd say $45k is a good paralegal salary. My paralegal was paid base of $39k but has already made $8k in bonuses and her comp would've ended up being damn near $50k by the end of the year which as far as I know would put her in the top 10% of paralegal pay in this market. He hired away one of our paralegals and she told my paralegal about how great it is workign for him and now she's leaving to go to him as well. I feel like I just got broken up with by a gf. Now I have a fledgling legal assistant of 2 months that I'm still training and I have 3 weeks to find a new good paralegal. Fuckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
Anyone on here dealt with a Zoom virtual trial lately? I’m headed to CA next week to work one and wanted to know how it went, etc.
An Oregon lawyer stealing paralegals from a firm in the Mississippi Gulf Coast is not the post I was expecting.
The first paralegal that left was leaving anyways because her husband retired from the military and found a job in a different state. I'm not sure how she got hooked up with this dude from Oregon. But then she actively recruited my paralegal to work for this fucker too.
Yeah this will be jury. They won’t use Zoom, but I’ll let everyone know how we do it. I’m interested to see how we will handle a sidebar.
Please do. I just imagine doing a zoom jury trial being a logistical nightmare, not to mention sidebars/effective voir dire/etc.
They’re using the conference center attached to the Texans stadium here to do jury trials via zoom. Sounds like a complete clusterfuck
Striking a jury at the end of the month. Small courthouse. We are striking in the gymnasium of a local elementary school.
Yep. It's going to be brutal. 3rd time to strike on this case. First time around had to continue as we didn't have enough jurors to strike from once grand jury was removed, and then it mistried during closing arguments when Plaintiff's counsel started telling the jury about the damages cap on municipalities.
They walked right into it. During opening they kept saying, this isn't a million dollar case, not a million dollar case. Then we pulled out their verified claim against the city where they demanded one million (even though cap was $200,000.00). So they were embarrassed and trying to justify it, but whoops. EH was NOT happy to do that after 3 days.
I’ve got a CLE next weekend in Gulf Shores. Thinking that’s probably not going to happen after seeing these pictures/videos.
I just got done with a Zoom arbitration this past week. At one point, defense counsel was taking his client's direct testimony in their case in chief and the arbitrator got up and walked off camera. He was gone for like 20 seconds before defense counsel realized it and said, "Uhhh, Mr. Arbitrator, are you there???" He came back about 10 seconds later. All in all it was fine.
I don't do many arbitrations at all. Co-counsel with me on a Plaintiff's case is a long-time insurance defense lawyer in Tuscaloosa. He just got finished with one that took six weeks. Just blew my mind. I don't even want to know what the arbitrator fee was.
I am in a Zoom mediation where Pltf was rear-ended by our truck driver, after Pltf admitted to brake checking him and cutting him off. $12K in medicals. Our driver counter-claimed for $15K in property damage and lost business. Small exposure case, shared liability. Our driver is Russian, so we have an interpreter, driver, me, adjuster and mediator in one room. Plaintiff is Iranian, and also has the same set-up, with her Plaintiff's Counsel, her adjuster for the crossclaim, and Pltf and Defense attorney, and interpreter. What a clusterfuck. Fudd Winslow this is what you have to look forward to
Can I just say that I am sick and fucking tired of always doing things the right way, being the good guy, acting ethical and responsible and whatever, being honest and forthcoming with my clients, and it always ends up fucking biting me in the ass. I just had a great brain injury case stolen out from under me by some assclown with runners at the hospital. I had spent 3 fucking hours on Saturday away from my family and/or watching college football just to talk to this family and make them feel better and talk through how everything works and what they can expect. Then this morning I wake up to a termination from this bag of dicks. God damnit, man. I hate the practice of law right now. I feel like everybody is their absolute worst fucking self and feels entitled to it right now because the rest of the fucking planet is on fire so who gives a shit anyway.
Sorry. I know how you feel, albeit from the other side. My suggestion to you is to either embrace doing things in a manner that allows you to sleep at night, regardless of the perceived financial cost, or find a new practice area.
not sure i could possibly care less about this treating doc depo at 5 for a case that wont be tried for another year +
I've had a few nursing home cases that wound up in arbitration but they settled, so this was my first arbitration trial. I think the arbitrator and AAA have made ~$50k total between both parties and there's going to be more due to him having to write a reasoned opinion. And it was only a three day trial. A six week arbitration must cost $500,000+ and that would be before expert costs. That's obscene. I need to be an arbitrator.
I have no idea. I only vaguely know anything about it. I just know Defense counsel said his clients were land rich and cash poor and he wondered if he'd ever get paid his fee. (I'm sure he had a retainer long used).
I bet he regrets compelling arbitration if it was initially filed in court. Blended fees are the way to go in business arbitration cases from the plaintiff's side.
He's an extremely well seasoned and experienced defense lawyer and about as good of a trial lawyer as you get in West Alabama. I imagine he didn't have much other choice.
dealing with a GEHA subro claim for the first time ever. From what I can tell they have an actual lien. I was going to tell them to F off and give their money to the client and have the client hold me harmless. But after doing a little research I think I better make sure they get paid. Sucks.
If I’m still practicing law/working in 30 years, I wonder what kind of technology I’ll be unable to adapt to. Working with an older partner who keeps up with changes/new things in tax/securities law, but technology is his nemesis. Pretty sure the firm had to find him a laptop when WFH started because his only access to a computer was a desktop in his office. Also, can’t wait to be old and technologically inept and have associates fix my techno fuckups. This guy loves to replace all instances of a word with another. In this case, he replaced all instances of the word “fund” with “company” despite “fund” being pervasive since it’s in the entity’s name (shorthand and long hand). In the nearly-final version about to be sent to the client.
Idk why, but that was supposed to say they will use Zoom. Heading there Friday and we get assigned out next Monday.