Editorial
Front Page - Friday, September 3, 2010
A windfall is the best kind of reward
Spencer Farris
I had some free time this week; I’ll tell you why in a moment. I used the time and the quiet of the Levison Towers library to catch up on my reading. No one uses the library anymore. The young lawyers do their research on computers and smart phones. The old lawyers call the young lawyers or practice from memory. Since the law is slow to change, it is easier than one would think to know the law once you know the law. Still, calls to the young lawyers are frequent.
The partners continue to lower the library budget. No one wants to close the room completely. Freeing up the library space for other uses would mean finding a new home for old books and things. Wigmore on Evidence sits alone on a dusty shelf. On days like this I appreciate the solitude and don’t mind the dust.
Not content to just read, I decided to write a letter to the editor of the local bar journal. My complaint- no one writes letters anymore except to complain- was with the overt bias and insults of a pseudo scholarly article printed there. I insisted that scholarly articles should be unbiased.
The editor, not the least bit contrite, wrote back that “unbiased” means different things to different people. I wondered aloud when words like “unbiased” lost their meaning. (Actually, I wondered how someone who doesn’t know the meaning of the word “unbiased” is qualified to edit anything other than a comic book. But I digress.) In the end, the bar bureaucrat will have his point of view, and so will I. He only gets the last word because he prints the magazine.
Lawyers have two kinds of free time. “Loafing” is the refusal to work. Unplanned free time where work was previously scheduled is called “windfall time.”
My windfall this week came from an unexpected trial continuance. Continuance is legal parlance for rescheduling. Legal timing conflicts are resolved with a continuance. Basic physics dictate that a person can only be in one place at a time, and when two events are scheduled simultaneously, lawyers continue one of them. (Why are two items scheduled simultaneously? Because events cancel all the time. It is irresponsible not to have a back up scheduled, but if both events hurdle toward the same date undaunted, one will have to be continued, and so the merry-go-round goes.)
Unpleasantries are the primary reason for continuances. If we can avoid something long enough, it will finally go away. This strategy is not foolproof however, and jury trials are the conclusion to events that cannot be continued any further.
Judges don’t like continuances. One or two might begrudgingly be allowed, but beyond that requires considerable finesse, or a death in the family. I have a friend to whom we refer as “the King of Continuance.” Judges are always glad to see him in their courtroom, yet he can avoid even the most hotly contested scheduling issue with a continuance request. I would need two weeks notice of my own death to escape an appearance in the same courtrooms.
The law seems to have an attraction for control freaks. Perfectionists who have their lives planned to the last detail are the same kinds of people who are least capable of dealing with scheduling problems. Tell such a control freak that the event which has been on their calendar for weeks is now off their calendar and watch heads spin. Nature is indeed perverse to toss control freaks into a world where time is beyond their control.
Early in my career, a wise lawyer told me that the worst part of the practice of a trial lawyer is logistical, as coordinating schedules is more taxing than any amount of legal work. Lawyers are slaves to a calendar they don’t control. We set trials and other events out months in advance, and hope that life cooperates when that fateful day arrives.
Some lawyers use vacations to relax and recharge their batteries, but I prefer windfall time. Like free drinks or found money, windfall time is a true “something for nothing.”
Taking a vacation leaves me worried about all the calls that must be returned while I am gone, all the tasks that will be waiting for me on my return. Windfall time has been cleared from my calendar. Clients don’t expect me to be around as they have been prepared for my absence, and other lawyers were planning to ignore me this week anyway.
My wife asked me why I couldn’t catch up on other work when a trial is continued. Some things in the law are just beyond the understanding of lay people. Of course, I will try to explain it to her again after my nap.
©2010 under analysis llc. under analysis is a nationally syndicated column of the Levison Group. Spencer Farris is the founding partner of The S.E. Farris Law Firm in St Louis, Missouri. Comments or criticisms about this column may be sent c/o this newspaper or directly to the Levison Group via email at comments@levisongroup.com. Although he knows the meaning of unbiased, don’t expect a response till windfall time is through.
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