A potential client called about a breach of contract action she wants to pursue. The caller does not live in California, and for reasons not important to the story, it is not feasible to sue the defendant where he resides. The caller was intending to move back to California, and wanted to know if the…
Putting the “Alternative” Back in Alternative Dispute Resolution
A recent settlement victory showed me once again that you can achieve amazing results at a mediation if you never lose sight of the fact that you are unrestrained by any “negotiating rules”, even if (or perhaps especially because) no one else in the room understands that to be the case. Most who attend a…
Best Client Call of the Week
Many attorneys find it to be a quaint concept, or pretend not to understand, but at Morris & Stone we will only represent a client if we are on the right side, which we define as the party who should win if justice is done. We learned long ago that the practice of law is…
Of course it’s a “self-serving declaration”! Why else would I file it?!
If you lose a motion and rail against the stupidity of the judge, that’s just viewed as sour grapes. But today I was in court for a hearing, and it was the case BEFORE mine that raised my hackles, so I can rant with impunity. (And yes I won my motion, so this isn’t indirect…
Judge resigns amid allegations she retaliated after rebuffed Facebook request, exhibited paranoia
A Florida judge has resigned before the resolution of ethics charges alleging she “repeatedly expressed paranoia” and exhibited “inexplicable” and “disruptive” behavior. Judge Linda Schoonover of the Seminole-Brevard circuit court plans to retire Aug. 31, Source: www.abajournal.com The fascinating part of this tragic story is the Facebook incident. The judge was presiding over a divorce…
Best Client Call of the Week
A gentleman called about a case, wherein the amount in controversy was about $1,500 – a clear candidate for small claims court. “Well, this isn’t a case I would be able to represent you on because it wouldn’t make economic sense to hire me for a $1,500 case, but I’m happy to give you my…
Using the Internet to Educate (and Intimidate) the Opposition
I will say up front that I have no empirical data to show you regarding this strategy, but it came up in a case I just handled, and I wanted to share it with you. As I will discuss in a moment, on a number of occasions opposing counsel has quoted my articles back to…
Flat Fee Arrangements Promote a Winning Practice
Flat fee arrangements are amazingly liberating. Most of my fellow litigators won’t take a case on a flat fee, either because they are concerned that they will grossly underestimate the time the case is going to take and end up with an effective hourly rate of $25, or simply because they think they’ll make more…
Lawyer App of the Month – Jotbox
It always seems to happen in the shower. I come up with a brilliant strategy for one of my cases or remember something that needs to be calendared. (I read once that there is actually some scientific basis for epiphanies in the shower, having to do with ions or something.) I need to get the…