Out of Office Reply

What a week!

So for those of you who are not in the legal field (either luckily or unluckily, kind of depends on if you are a glass half full/half empty kind a person) some background…

Most law firms have a calendar. Now its not the typical calendar that you think of. It is basically a way to organize appearances, statutes and reply dates.
We usually do not schedule anything for a Monday, because if we need our clients to be there, and we notify them on Friday, come Monday they forget.

So we usually organize the calendar on Monday for the week.

This past Monday, we were organizing the next days calendar.
It was a crazy day, but I like those.
I had two appearances in Brooklyn and Two in Rockland County. Not a problem. Yeah, they were at the same time!
Usually we have someone cover in this situation. I was to go to Brooklyn. But no one was going to cover R.C. Why? Well I cancelled one of them (my fault, I didn’t notify the client, long story.. but not a big deal and worked to our advantage) So we were left with one.

An infant compromise hearing. Which is basically a settlement meeting when the client is under 18. Why was not one covering this?
Well because last time it was on, they never called us and didn’t show up.
Then it was on again, and they didn’t call, but they showed up. So the Court moved it again. Now this time we sent them letters and tried to call but got nothing. So we didn’t know if they were going to show up. So we had no one covering it.

Now over in the BK, I am in a conference and then off to a deposition.
First of all this is the shortest conference ever. I am in at 9:30 and out by 9:40, Which is great because then I can prepare for the EBT. Which is at 11.

I go across the street to the court reporters office to meet my client at like 10:40 and prep him for the deposition.
It goes ok. He speaks and understands English which is always a plus. We waited and waited for the other attorney to show up. She wasn’t late, we were just early.
She comes in and tells me she is waiting on a call from her office on this case. So we wait. Meanwhile I call my office to update him.
Lo and behold our clients show up in Rockland. But they are going to wait and I am to get there by 2:30 for the hearing. Ya, fun.

So the attorney comes back and tells me she cant do this EBT because it’s a double insured and there is a conflict and it has to go to outside counsel. Yada yada yada.
So we wait like 20 minutes for a reporter just to bust the EBT.

I jet back to Rockville Centre and then hop in the car to head upstate.

The only upside? I got home early…

Now Wed I had to go to Brooklyn on the EBT from the day before for a conference. I had a strong suspicion no one was going to show, but I had to go anyway. In an effort to be on time I decided to take the 8:16 train from Rockville Centre instead of the 8:33 or 8:59. Now was I usually do is take the train to Jamaica and Transfer to the Flatbush Ave line and get out at Atlantic Ave and then 2/3 subway to Borough Hall. Sounds annoying but its not the bad.
So I got on the 8:16 figuring instead of getting to court at 9:45 like I usually do on the 8:33 I would get there on time.
Get on the train, lo and behold it’s a direct to Penn Station. I didn’t even know it did that. I assumed (yes yes…) that they all stopped at Jamaica. So I thought I would be late.
But I just jumped on the 2/3 from Penn and got the court at like 9:15. Perfect! So my mess up ended up great.
I still had to wait around for the call at 10:45 (another legal term, sorry) but it wasn’t bad. I like spending my mornings in court. And I like Brooklyn better than Queens for some reason.

So that is why I have been out of blog land for a while…