Posted on October 10, 2009 by John Steele
Maybe not, but I promise you won’t win the argument!
I just read about an attorney (who shall remain anonymous) who was suspended for one month for his behavior in court. Suffice it to say that despite the increasingly lax atmosphere of Cook County courtrooms, judges still do not like being disrespected. And, as an attorney who focuses on family law, I have had the opportunity to get to see the divorce judges in action enough to know which ones will put up with some attitude and which ones will hold you in contempt quicker than you can apologize.
I recently fired a client who refused to listen to my advice regarding his behavior in court. Why would I do that if that client was paying his bills promptly? Two reasons:
1. Reputation is everything in the legal system. And attorneys and judges know which divorce lawyers will sell their services to the anti-Christ if he paid a retainer. I don’t. When an attorney gets up and says “Judge, what happened is X”, the judge will be more critical if that same attorney was in the same courtroom the week before claiming some nonsense at the behest of an unreasonable client,
2. Clients who are jerks to the judge will be jerks to their attorney. Its a simple truth borne out from first hand experience (and will be the subject of a future post). And clients who are jerks tend to do other bad behavior, that will cause me as the attorney to have to defend or explain.
Last thought: When I go into the hospital, I know I am out of my element, don’t really know what is going on, and I tend to follow directions from the ‘experts’ (the doctors). Courtrooms for non-attorneys are like hospitals for me. Posted on October 10, 2009 by John Steele
Maybe not, but I promise you won't win the argument!
I just read about an attorney (who shall remain anonymous) who was suspended for one month for his behavior in court. Suffice it to say that despite the increasingly lax atmosphere of Cook County courtrooms, judges still do not like being disrespected. And, as an attorney who focuses on family law, I have had the opportunity to get to see the divorce judges in action enough to know which ones will put up with some attitude and which ones will hold you in contempt quicker than you can apologize.
I recently fired a client who refused to listen to my advice regarding his behavior in court. Why would I do that if that client was paying his bills promptly? Two reasons:
1. Reputation is everything in the legal system. And attorneys and judges know which divorce lawyers will sell their services to the anti-Christ if he paid a retainer. I don’t. When an attorney gets up and says “Judge, what happened is X”, the judge will be more critical if that same attorney was in the same courtroom the week before claiming some nonsense at the behest of an unreasonable client,
2. Clients who are jerks to the judge will be jerks to their attorney. Its a simple truth borne out from first hand experience (and will be the subject of a future post). And clients who are jerks tend to do other bad behavior, that will cause me as the attorney to have to defend or explain.
Last thought: When I go into the hospital, I know I am out of my element, don’t really know what is going on, and I tend to follow directions from the ‘experts’ (the doctors). Courtrooms for non-attorneys are like hospitals for me.
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