Seems so long ago, that I actually thought it worth mentioning to some pontificating attorney that the fact that I was the only person in the room wearing a black robe and sitting behind a big old bench suggested I might get to have SOME input into the conduct of the hearing.
Now, I generally just remain silent and let them natter on as I start writing up my decision unfavorable to that attorney and their client.
Kind of hard on the client, isn’t it?
Well, most of the cases I hear are close calls - could go either way. I’ve long said, that if BOTH the client AND their attorney are not complete bullshitters, it greatly enhances their chance of a favorable benefit. It is unfortunate how infrequent that is the case.
If the evidence supports a finding for the claimant, I’ll issue that no matter how worthless the attorney. But if it is a close case, and the client chose to hire an atty who is a lazy asshole, that rarely redounds to the claimant’s favor.
Writing safety section of oven instructions.
That ought to be clear enough. Nope.
OK, that should get it. Nope.
The client likely would not have had the luxury of shopping around for the best attorney. S/he’s probably stuck with the first one found, for better or worse. And how would the client even know how bad the atty is until they appear before you?
I took Dindale’s statement not as punishing the side with the lazy attorney, but rather on cases that are so close, if the attorney had actually done their job they would have made the difference in tipping the scales in their client’s favor.
Does the client have enough experience with hiring attorneys, and enough money to hire attorneys with, to have any way of avoiding hiring a lazy asshole?
Or for that matter enough experience with court procedure to be able to tell that the attorney isn’t following it properly?
When I was a commercial production manager in radio, I had to teach one of our salespeople what co-op advertising was* and why it might be beneficial to his clients if he discussed it with them. Either both the general manager and sales manager had failed to mention this to him or he was too dumb to understand. I suspect the latter, as he was fired after about a month.
* A co-op ad is one in which a local business agrees to feature a brand or product in an ad. In exchange the manufacturer picks up a portion of the ad’s cost.) We lowly radio plebes know about it because every manufacturers has a set of rules we have to follow, and submit the scripts as proof.
I had to explain to an electrician that you can’t daisy-chain surge protectors. Same dude also argued with the fire marshal during an inspection.
Aieeee! That’s terrifying
I thought that sounded weird. My electrician husband thought the guy was an idiot, since a circuit breaker HAS to be in series to do its job. I had thought that myself, but asked DH to confirm.
“Circuit breaker” is just another word for capacitor, right? RIGHT!?
Moron. Crafter_Man’s erstwhile employee, not you.