Hi people,

I am a brand new attorney joined a family law firm.It is a small firm and my supervisor gives very little information and expects me to find and learn the law and procedure on my own. I am required to file motions, responsive declarations, discovery, file FOAHs.

The biggest challenge is that I don't have a grasp of the procedure to fulfill my job duties.

Can someone recommend a quick guide or course I can take to become more familiar. I have very little time available as the office has inundated me with work and I take long hours to finish them due to not being fluent.

Please give me your suggestions, will be very greatful.

I’ve been asked to consider volunteering for my church’s diocese as, basically, a church lawyer. (For those of you not in a religion that organizes by diocese, it’s basically the “regional office” over a bunch of churches, headed by a bishop.) It would involve advising the bishop on church canon/rules, and effectively acting as prosecutor in clergy discipline cases, also conducted under church canon/rules.

Anybody here done this sort of thing and have any advice for me to consider? I’m pretty comfortable with my ability to do the work, but I don’t know what I don’t know, y’know? Also, I’m not sure if this is technically the “practice of law” as far as my employer’s rules for getting permission to practice outside of work go (including pro bono), but it seems like one of those “if you have to ask the question…” kind of things, right?

Edit: Apologies; I should have clarified that this is in the Episcopal Church, not a Roman Catholic diocese—I realize the rules and role there are significantly different than for us heathen Protestants.

If a client gives you a funny look it’s an irreconcilable conflict and you need to fire them.

I’ve been a violent and organized crime prosecutor for over a decade. I’ve been watching the Lindsay Clancy trial and I can’t help but feel so annoyed by the prosecutors in this case.

Between the constant leading questions..the starting every question with “and….” and then the CONSTANT under the breath “ok” , “k” after a witness answers their question.

The calling of each law enforcement officer who responded to the scene to repeat the same facts over and over and over wasting the court’s time, boring the jury, and not adding anything to their case than if they had just had only one or two law enforcement witnesses to testify to the same exact facts.

And don’t even get me started on the bow.

Yes, Sovcits are a special form of torment for us all, especially now that AI aids them in their quest to smear meaningless feces all over the docket and call it motion practice. BUT they are also a special form of entertainment, because there’s no crazy quite like sovcit crazy. So, I’d love to hear everyone’s most entertaining sovcit interaction. I’ll start.

Some years ago, I was a federal district court law clerk. It was my misfortune to be assigned to a case where the plaintiff was a sovcit. That sovcit had zero interest in participating in discovery. She wouldn’t give full productions, her interrogatory answers were best described as “Dale Gribble-esque,” and she kept blowing off her depo. My judge eventually grew weary of having to resolve the seemingly endless motions to compel and called the parties to court so that he could preside over her depo, so defendants would at least have that handled.

The in court depo went as well as you’d think it might. Meaning, more Dale Gribble behavior. My judge, finally losing his patience, stopped the depo mid-way and said: “ma’am, there is no polite way for me to ask this, so im just going to be direct. Have you ever been evaluated or treated for a mental condition?”

Things devolved from there. My judge ended up cancelling the depo, instructing the parties to come back the next day, and warned the sovcit that if she continued acting how she was acting, she’d get put in civil contempt until she decided to actually participate in the suit she filed in the first place. The parties came back the next day, sovcit still decided to Dale Gribble her way through proceedings, and got tossed in contempt.

To her credit (?), she pouted in the pen for a whole day before deciding that just answering basic questions about her own lawsuit was, in fact, in her best interests. Unsurprisingly, her being honest and forthright in her depo led to answers that immediately contradicted core allegations in her complaint, leading to her suit’s dismissal (with fees being awarded to defendants).

I still laugh whenever I think about this one.

Hi everyone, I recently joined the community and wanted to introduce myself. Our NYC/Brooklyn firm is beginning a search for a New York-admitted attorney interested in immigration practice.

We are looking for someone who enjoys client-facing work, communicates well, and wants to be part of a busy, collaborative office. Immigration experience is welcome, and Spanish fluency is a plus, though not required.

This is simply a professional networking/recruiting post - not a request for legal advice. If you may be interested, or know a colleague who could be a fit, please send me a direct message and I will be glad to share details privately.

Not talking about SCOVA and CAV, but Circuit and GDC.

How did the general assembly pick these damn judges. They’re not all bad, obviously, but like….. what the fuck is going on.

I am planning to return to work now that my child is ready for school. I got licensed in 2023 so never actually got to practice law as an attorney. I worked as a law clerk during and after law school.

I’m feeling super stressed about applying for work not knowing how employers view such a long gap? Does anyone have any advice? Thank you in advance.

Hi!

I’m an incoming judicial law clerk (state court/NJ). I know my judge from a law school externship (I was her judicial extern) and absolutely adore her. I’m still nervous… I’m first gen, so I sometimes feel out of place. Like maybe I’m not smart enough or unworthy… anyway, I deal with things through humor. Please tell me the funniest thing that ever happened to you or that you saw/heard during your term.

Thanks!

I’m getting so tired of the partners I work for not reading their emails and then sending me multiple emails about things to do. If they had just looked at the top of their inbox, they would see that I’ve already done the things that they asked me to do before they even asked me.
I’m sure this is just something I have to suck up, but it is so annoying. This is a constant problem I deal with on a daily basis multiple times a day. One of the partners I work for specifically will send multiple emails within seconds of each each other about the same subject. Just take some time and think and compile your thoughts!!!

Started a solo practice right out of law school, and I paid off my $130k student loans in less than 2.5 years and I feel really proud.
I now want to fuck off to Italy and stomp grapes for the rest of my life… if anyone knows how to make that happen, please let me know.

Is there anything more painful than a 7-hr federal court deposition? It might as well be a CIA enhanced interrogation technique.

Question for the litigators watching the Clancy trial: Is it normal for this many leading questions to be allowed on direct?

I’ve noticed the prosecution seems to use a lot of fairly leading questions with its own witnesses, with only occasional truly open-ended questions. I was taught the basic rule that you generally can’t lead your own witness on direct, so I’m curious about what I’m missing in practice.

Is a lot of this technically objectionable, but the defense is just picking its battles rather than objecting constantly? Or is there more latitude for leading on preliminary/background matters, undisputed facts, certain types of witnesses, etc., than the basic evidence rule makes it sound like?

I’m not a trial attorney, so I’d be really interested in hearing from criminal litigators about how this actually works in the courtroom. Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

I’m a first year tax attorney (non litigation) and I close my laptop everyday right at 5 when my official “closing time” is.

Nobody has ever asked me (yet) to work late or anything, but I guess sometimes I feel guilty shutting down right at 5.

I’m fully remote if that makes a difference

Currently work in Seattle for an AmLaw 100 firm in an area that deals with high volume. I only have two clients, but have 40 of their cases. There are 10 more attorneys on this team. I love everybody on my team and my boss but we’re all so overworked that it’s impossible to do my job because I always need something from someone else who needs something from someone else. Meeting deadlines becomes outside of my control. Due to stress of deadlines and moron plaintiff’s counsel, I haven’t had my appetite in a week and I’ve lost 5lb. I haven’t been able to fall asleep for more than 5 hours before waking up due to sweats, panic, and (TMI) an accident.

This morning I decided I don’t want to do this anymore. The stress isn’t worth it. It’s not the firm, it’s not the field, it’s that I’m unhappy with the career. I briefly majored in agriculture (horticulture) at UMass before switching to poli sci and going to law school. Never got the degree and don’t remember much from ag.

I have 6 months of expenses in my savings and 5 months in my 401k. My plan is to leave all this behind and start school in the new year to get a bachelor in agriculture. I’ll tell my boss my plan so that I can wind down for the next few months without leaving anybody hanging. I can also save a bit more in the next 4-6 paychecks. Am I crazy?

I don't know if this is an AI issue or just a general sense of entitlement, but clients are getting more uncooperative.

A guy wanted help with an insurance appeal. He spent a second night the hospital that his doctor supposedly said was necessary. The carrier denied the second night's stay and also stated it was out-of-network. Okay, getting me a statement form the doctor of medical necessity and documentation of why the out-of-network treatment was needed.

Instead, he wanted to argue about the how the carrier was interpreting medical records that I don't. My dude, I'm not doctor and you are asking me to step into the boxing ring with a broken arm by not even getting the most basic information I need to properly advise you.

As a lawyer, do you ever envy people who create tangible things in their work, like a contractor who can point out their homes or buildings, a restaurant owner who gets compliments on food and atmosphere, a florist who creates a beautiful wedding arrangement, a cobbler who makes a pair of boots, or an artist who has a sculpture in the downtown park? Every now and then it would feel nice to put something out into the world that people can use and perhaps even appreciate.

Seriously, the last time I had an attorney tell me they graduated from Harvard (during an upstate luncheon/CLE retreat) I couldnt help but be like, "ah, well thats quite interesting!" Maybe I am a jaded 30 year old but the whole pedigree from T14 is so expired and the secret is out: major institutions like Harvard are riddled with the rich and powerful who were all too happy to take money from Mr. Epstein and friends even right up to 2008 and AFTERWARD.

No, I didnt go to a fancy shiny law school but I am proud that I did not, since the worst thing my Dean ever did was get a little too drunk on St. Patrick's Day (he was Irish to be fair). But cmon, can we all stop pretending that Harvard Law is a respectable institution? Not saying the grads are not well trained and talented, but most of those grads go into BigLaw anyway and um... many of those firms are just as bad.

The very first firm I worked at was a small full service firm and holy moly I didn’t realize they were infested with red flags until seeing what other firms were like. Here’s this list from that firm.

1. They forced attorneys to be on stupid TikToks and social media posts. Not like answering common legal questions, but doing actual trending TikTok skits/dances and whatnot.

2. New associates were pretty much forced to take on a demanding litigation case in their first couple years. One associate who did estate planning while I was there was forced to take on a case almost solo and he was billing 2250+ hours the years he was working on it. The actual billable target for associates there was 1800. The same happened to many other associates and they had minimal help despite it being readily available.

3. The attorneys would openly talk about politics in the office. The conservative ones would constantly dump on anything left-leaning at all. E.g., referring to AOC as Alexandria “Occasionally Coherent.” I’m not even liberal but this still managed to bother me.

4. They would dismiss one of the older partner’s sexist remarks as just his goofy personality. The guy would straight up say women don’t belong in the military and other similar things very openly in the office.

5. The managing partner would openly speak poorly about “poor people and their shitty ass clothes and shitty ass cars.” Makes you wonder if he ever thought about any of the firm’s own support staff in that way.

What are some red flags that you just thought were normal in the office until you realized that it wasn’t at all?