The Client Drop In

My clients were in the Courtroom.

There they were, sitting in the back row of the Courtroom.

And I had no idea that they were going to be there.

I made this discovery as Plaintiff’s counsel and I were turning away from the bench after our brief status hearing. I did the only thing that made sense: made eye contact with the CEO and CFO, smile at them both and then promptly drop everything I had brought to the bench with me.

The problem was not that the clients showed up, the problem was going to be the time I was going to have to spend time talking with them. I don’t like spending time with them.

Because they make my brain itch.

These clients do not feel the inspiration to follow our instructions, requests nor do they respond kindly when we get down on our knees to beg These clients also believe that they know more than their attorneys, the judge and anyone ever born in the history of the universe. These are the clients that we have to lie to them about court deadlines focus the truth so we can scare the fear of God into them to get them to comply with discovery deadlines in an orderly manner.

A simple five minute case conference turned into an impromptu meeting in the courthouse coffeeshop where the clients waxed rhapsodic about the injustices of the justice system, the wicked Plaintiff’s attorney, the ungodly amount that my firm charges them and anything else that they could find awful about life.

That five minute case conference turned into two billable hours of my life that I will never get back.