Spin
Footballguy
Have any recommendations of a general business lawyer like you've described in Nashville?
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The Lawyer Thread Where We Stop Ruining Other Threads (8 Viewers)
- Thread starter Henry Ford
- Start date
Todd Andrews
Footballguy
Ramsay Hunt Experience
Footballguy
Only Nashville firm I really know is Baker Donelson, but they're not really small. Spin, your issue is pretty much right in Bigbottom's practice area, so you might want to see if he has any ideas about a referral in Tennessee.
Henry Ford
Footballguy
Just found out a nearby lawyer I hate was sanctioned with a fine and 10 hours of professionalism CLE. It warms my heart.
Yankee23Fan
Fair Tax!
Funny.
Anyone go to war with a co-op? I am taking a case to do just that because I'm a sucker for women in need and hate holier than thou neighborhood association type groups that think they are the jackbooted thugs we got rid of the in the 40's.
Anyone go to war with a co-op? I am taking a case to do just that because I'm a sucker for women in need and hate holier than thou neighborhood association type groups that think they are the jackbooted thugs we got rid of the in the 40's.
HellToupee
Footballguy
Anyone have any experience in wrongful death , negligence suits in the medical field?
Yankee23Fan
Fair Tax!
I stay away from med mal. I've been on the outside looking in on several wrongful deaths but try to stay away from them too. They can be god awful I need 3 bottles of bourbon to sleep type cases.
HellToupee
Footballguy
Its been a long process , the depostions were a nightmare. five hours of wanting to go over thet ableWe are 4.5 years in with a court date next month . Our firm is asking for 2 days court prep. At least there is a light at the end of the tunnel
Todd Andrews
Footballguy
Had a lawyer who knows I represent the client call the client at home last night at 6 pm and try to convince my client to postpone/continue a hearing on Friday (3 days before the hearing, which was asked for by his client). When client said who is this and lawyer identified himself, client said "why the hell are you calling me instead of my lawyer Todd Andrews?!" Lawyer responds: "I wanted to call you first but I'll call him next, I cant find his number" (we have spoken on the phone dozens of times, and exchanged dozens of emails with all of my firm contact info and even my cell phone number). Client says give me your number and Ill email it to my lawyer right now and have him call you, so attorney does, and then persists in asking whether the client would postpone the hearing.....Client: "Absolutely not."
Tore the guy a gaping new one and my client wants to file a bar complaint very badly. Fun stuff.
Tore the guy a gaping new one and my client wants to file a bar complaint very badly. Fun stuff.
First words out of your mouth Friday: You're Honor, before we start I need to bring you up to speed on what has happened this week . . .
NCCommish
Footballguy
No legal advice to offer but I really dislike neighborhood associations so I'll be rooting for you.
Todd Andrews
Footballguy
I will, but I did much more--the dummy filed a motion to continue this morning, two days before the hearing his client asked for and my clients are traveling to attend. This afternoon I filed an opposition, most of which dealt with his call to my client, and I attached a letter from my client explaining how upset he was by the call (true) and citing the applicable rule of professional responsibility....
krista4
Footballguy
Wow. That's amazing. Glad that your client knew his stuff and did the right thing. I am ridiculously careful about this--often my business people don't understand and I have to explain to them all the time why I can't be on a "quick call" even just to listen, and in some situations I've been invited on a call and immediately drop off when I find out what's going on. There's just no excuse for this guy's behavior.
Yankee23Fan
Fair Tax!
Summary judgment day. 7 cases on calendar and everyone is sumjudg. Waiting for my turn. Hardest brief I ever wrote. Top 3 biggest case I've had as a solo. Need to win.
Fix bayonets at the ready......
Fix bayonets at the ready......
Zow
Footballguy
Good luck Yankee.
I have an all day trial over custody in front of a new family law judge against a pro per. Pro per basically ignored every discovery rule, even after I got a court order requiring her to comply. I filed a motion to dismiss as the sole sanction (along with attorney's fees).
I'm curious to see how this judge handles it sibce the rules require a pro per litigant be treated the same as an attorney. Judges in my jurisdiction vary greatly on that issue (from basically letting them do whatever to treating them even more strictly as a sort of lesson that a person should always have an attorney).
I have an all day trial over custody in front of a new family law judge against a pro per. Pro per basically ignored every discovery rule, even after I got a court order requiring her to comply. I filed a motion to dismiss as the sole sanction (along with attorney's fees).
I'm curious to see how this judge handles it sibce the rules require a pro per litigant be treated the same as an attorney. Judges in my jurisdiction vary greatly on that issue (from basically letting them do whatever to treating them even more strictly as a sort of lesson that a person should always have an attorney).
Sweet J
Footballguy
Yankee23Fan
Fair Tax!
Well crap. That didn't go well. Have to find my colored paper for the appeal.
Yankee23Fan
Fair Tax!
-fish-
Footballguy
Our local family law system is corrupt and broken. I've been helping a friend navigate through some issues for the last couple years. Most of this is caused by a single local lawyer who creates custody battles in every case in which he's involved; the incestuous family law community of bottom-feeding lawyers around here love it, because they make a ton of money in every case he's in. He has commissioners and guardian ad litems on his payroll. The actual judges hate him, but the way this system works he can get ridiculous orders written by commissioners and then it takes a judge to unwind them, but he creates momentum. Anyway, here's the summary:
Divorce was final 2 years ago. Custody 50/50, all community property divided--he keeps the house and everything in it, they divide up cars, retirement accounts, boat, rv, marital debt, etc. All done through mediation, reduced to a final decree. Before the divorce, my friend was on disability and had raised these kids basically himself...home every day, volunteered at the school, etc. She was a flight attendant and spent all of her time travelling and having affairs. She's literally the worst mother I've ever known. Once saw her not know that her kids needed lunch for school, so she put froot loops in a ziploc bag and called it good.
She is unhappy with the result of the divorce, so hires lawyer described above. He immediately creates a custody battle with accusations that my friend's daughter was molested by the son of a woman he was dating. Absolute lies (in fact, I was there at the time of the "incident", as was my daughter). Lawyer knew through previous divorce proceedings that this kid had emotional/developmental issues and was an easy target. They now claim that my friend should lose custody and that his home is unsafe.
They go through a full bench trial, where the judge finds there is absolutely no evidence to support the accusations, strikes the testimony of the counselor and GAL since both wrote reports without interviewing anyone except the ex-wife, and both were caught with false entries on their billing records. Judge admonishes ex-wife, tells her that if he had decided the divorce originally he would have awarded full custody to the father, and tells her he never wants to see her in his courtroom again.
Not satisfied, they then try to go after his house because he didn't pay her the share of equity she was awarded on time--he used the money to pay for lawyers in the custody trial. They try to evict him and force a sale; the judge again tells ex-wife she has no regard for the interests of the kids and he stays the eviction. He gets the money together, he pays her, house is now resolved.
Now, they say there is a dispute about community property and that she was supposed to get half. Bad attorney's commissioner buddy issues an order that it has to go to arbitration, despite the final decree. It's supposed to go to the original mediator, but they claim he won't take it, so it will be arbitrated by another guy on this attorney's payroll.
We contact the original mediator; he says he never said he wouldn't take it. They're now forced to arbitrate with him--he wrote the original settlement that became the decree. They try a bunch of different ways to get him out and substitute their hand-picked guy in, none work. Yesterday he wrote an order saying there was no controversy to be determined through arbitration since the final decree unequivocally stated that all property had been divided.
It took him 29 court hearings after his divorce was final to simply maintain 50/50 custody of his kids and keep the house and property he was awarded in the final decree. Cost him over $70,000 in attorney's fees, and his daughters had to go to counseling and one was subjected to a rape kit based on false accusations.
I don't know how any of you practice family law. It's disgusting.
tl; dr : family law sucks.
Divorce was final 2 years ago. Custody 50/50, all community property divided--he keeps the house and everything in it, they divide up cars, retirement accounts, boat, rv, marital debt, etc. All done through mediation, reduced to a final decree. Before the divorce, my friend was on disability and had raised these kids basically himself...home every day, volunteered at the school, etc. She was a flight attendant and spent all of her time travelling and having affairs. She's literally the worst mother I've ever known. Once saw her not know that her kids needed lunch for school, so she put froot loops in a ziploc bag and called it good.
She is unhappy with the result of the divorce, so hires lawyer described above. He immediately creates a custody battle with accusations that my friend's daughter was molested by the son of a woman he was dating. Absolute lies (in fact, I was there at the time of the "incident", as was my daughter). Lawyer knew through previous divorce proceedings that this kid had emotional/developmental issues and was an easy target. They now claim that my friend should lose custody and that his home is unsafe.
They go through a full bench trial, where the judge finds there is absolutely no evidence to support the accusations, strikes the testimony of the counselor and GAL since both wrote reports without interviewing anyone except the ex-wife, and both were caught with false entries on their billing records. Judge admonishes ex-wife, tells her that if he had decided the divorce originally he would have awarded full custody to the father, and tells her he never wants to see her in his courtroom again.
Not satisfied, they then try to go after his house because he didn't pay her the share of equity she was awarded on time--he used the money to pay for lawyers in the custody trial. They try to evict him and force a sale; the judge again tells ex-wife she has no regard for the interests of the kids and he stays the eviction. He gets the money together, he pays her, house is now resolved.
Now, they say there is a dispute about community property and that she was supposed to get half. Bad attorney's commissioner buddy issues an order that it has to go to arbitration, despite the final decree. It's supposed to go to the original mediator, but they claim he won't take it, so it will be arbitrated by another guy on this attorney's payroll.
We contact the original mediator; he says he never said he wouldn't take it. They're now forced to arbitrate with him--he wrote the original settlement that became the decree. They try a bunch of different ways to get him out and substitute their hand-picked guy in, none work. Yesterday he wrote an order saying there was no controversy to be determined through arbitration since the final decree unequivocally stated that all property had been divided.
It took him 29 court hearings after his divorce was final to simply maintain 50/50 custody of his kids and keep the house and property he was awarded in the final decree. Cost him over $70,000 in attorney's fees, and his daughters had to go to counseling and one was subjected to a rape kit based on false accusations.
I don't know how any of you practice family law. It's disgusting.
tl; dr : family law sucks.
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Zow
Footballguy
I'm going to do a brief write up of my morning but the brief synopsis is that family law is just infuriating.
Sorry for your friend, fish. We have a local lawyer who isn't quite on that scale, but basically is so litigious and unafraid to make crazy claims that she indirectly makes other reasonable attorneys either shy away from her cases or be forced to charge a higher retainer b/c they know how difficult she will make things. It sucks.
Sorry for your friend, fish. We have a local lawyer who isn't quite on that scale, but basically is so litigious and unafraid to make crazy claims that she indirectly makes other reasonable attorneys either shy away from her cases or be forced to charge a higher retainer b/c they know how difficult she will make things. It sucks.
-fish-
Footballguy
This guy was my ex-wife's first attorney...one of the reasons my divorce was so long and drawn out. He runs the same playbook in every case...false accusations, restraining orders, the works.
One of the problems here is that about 12-15 years ago a local police chief was abusing his wife...she kept trying to get help, but he was able to use his position to get her complaints ignored or thrown out...after this went on for a while, he ended up taking his family to a local supermarket parking lot where he killed his wife, kids, and himself.
Since then, you can get a restraining order here that gets you kicked out of your house with no contact with your kids for 30 days by filling out a form and checking some boxes...no evidence, no hearing. He does it in every case. With my friend, he wasn't hired at the beginning, so he had to modify his approach, but basically the same.
One of the problems here is that about 12-15 years ago a local police chief was abusing his wife...she kept trying to get help, but he was able to use his position to get her complaints ignored or thrown out...after this went on for a while, he ended up taking his family to a local supermarket parking lot where he killed his wife, kids, and himself.
Since then, you can get a restraining order here that gets you kicked out of your house with no contact with your kids for 30 days by filling out a form and checking some boxes...no evidence, no hearing. He does it in every case. With my friend, he wasn't hired at the beginning, so he had to modify his approach, but basically the same.
-fish-
Footballguy
He's never done a divorce that isn't contentious. The sad thing is before any of this ever happened, I told my friend to go consult with him and conflict him out. He said he didn't have the $350 for the consultation fee. I offered to loan him the money and I called and made him an appointment. He didn't go, because he was convinced that his wife would be reasonable.
-fish-
Footballguy
so many people consult with him just to conflict him out that he's raised his initial consultation fee to $900.
Zow
Footballguy
Zow
Footballguy
Family law story of the day:
Head into hearing against pro per, who was the one who filed the initial petition to modify, but who hasn't complied with any, and I mean any, discovery requirement. I had filed the appropriate pre-trial motions, including getting a court order requiring production then a motion for sanction with proof of non-compliance and a request for dismissal of the initial petition to modify and attorney's fees. The Court, who is new to family law (former 20 year prosecutor who had spent his first two years on the bench handling only a criminal docket), is initially reluctant to grant the relief but upon my additional oral argument and the opposing party's lack of any good reason for non-compliance grants the motion to dismiss and, after getting over a further initial reluctance, awards attorney's fees. Under statute the opposing party can't file for any sort of modification of the custody order for at least one year -- which keeps my client with sole custody and opposing party with some visitation (AZ terms these concepts a bit differently, but that's essentially how it shakes out). Huge win, right?
Well, here's the catch-22. Client and opposing party had went to mediation prior to litigation and reached an agreement where opposing party got a lot more unsupervised visitation/parenting time than before to the point of almost 50/50 parenting time. Leading up to trial we get and prepare evidence that opposing party is essentially homeless and may be exposing the child to drug activity. Leading up to trial I had filed a motion to get temp orders to get my client some relief whereby she can more limit visitation, which the Court, per annoying custom, just punted to the same date and time as the modification trial. So, when the judge granted us our requested relief and dismissed the petition, by statute our temp orders hearing goes away too. This means the current custody order is the original order from a few years ago but with the parenting plan from the mediated agreement and we have to file our own petition to modify and essentially start the case over again. As my client realizes this I get a tongue lashing on the record because we don't get to present our evidence or get supervised visitation. A neutral observer would have thought we lost the hearing and I leave with an angry client -- all despite the fact that, legally speaking, I killed it.
Head into hearing against pro per, who was the one who filed the initial petition to modify, but who hasn't complied with any, and I mean any, discovery requirement. I had filed the appropriate pre-trial motions, including getting a court order requiring production then a motion for sanction with proof of non-compliance and a request for dismissal of the initial petition to modify and attorney's fees. The Court, who is new to family law (former 20 year prosecutor who had spent his first two years on the bench handling only a criminal docket), is initially reluctant to grant the relief but upon my additional oral argument and the opposing party's lack of any good reason for non-compliance grants the motion to dismiss and, after getting over a further initial reluctance, awards attorney's fees. Under statute the opposing party can't file for any sort of modification of the custody order for at least one year -- which keeps my client with sole custody and opposing party with some visitation (AZ terms these concepts a bit differently, but that's essentially how it shakes out). Huge win, right?
Well, here's the catch-22. Client and opposing party had went to mediation prior to litigation and reached an agreement where opposing party got a lot more unsupervised visitation/parenting time than before to the point of almost 50/50 parenting time. Leading up to trial we get and prepare evidence that opposing party is essentially homeless and may be exposing the child to drug activity. Leading up to trial I had filed a motion to get temp orders to get my client some relief whereby she can more limit visitation, which the Court, per annoying custom, just punted to the same date and time as the modification trial. So, when the judge granted us our requested relief and dismissed the petition, by statute our temp orders hearing goes away too. This means the current custody order is the original order from a few years ago but with the parenting plan from the mediated agreement and we have to file our own petition to modify and essentially start the case over again. As my client realizes this I get a tongue lashing on the record because we don't get to present our evidence or get supervised visitation. A neutral observer would have thought we lost the hearing and I leave with an angry client -- all despite the fact that, legally speaking, I killed it.
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Zow
Footballguy
Zow
Footballguy
I reiterate my previous statement.
Also, I hate hearing about this stuff. While the system isn't perfect, I believe our system has merit and I always try to dispel or dissuade anybody who thinks the system is either corrupt or ripe for conspiracy. For example if a judge makes a bad decision or a decision not in my client's favor, I'd like to thing the reason for doing so was at least rooted in law and fact and were not made due to any undue influences or outside pressures. Stories like this don't help that sentiment.
Yankee23Fan
Fair Tax!
Good christ.
It is disgusting. I drink. And I do a crap ton of pro bono work to get some of the ick off of me. I just got my report from one agency for 2014 and I did 100 hours for them. And they aren't the only one Ido work for. I figure that when I have to answer to God and he sees that I'm a family lawyer I can whip out the pro bono cases and not get thrown into hell without at least a nice weekend looking through the pearly gates.
Todd Andrews
Footballguy
Oh yeah, and the lawyer was very late because he doublebooked court appearances. It was a great start for our side, to say the least, when he finally showed up...
Zow
Footballguy
Yankee23Fan
Fair Tax!
Anyone do education law? Had an interesting hypo come up in a family case and I'm trying to piece through it. Parents going through divorce and its nasty so in that there are always ancillary things that happen whether you like it or not, or even if the lawyers aren't scum as is not always the case.
One of the parents informs the kid's private school teacher that parent believes the kid is suicidal. Other parent doesn't dispute. There are no medical documents to support, no counseling notes to work with and the kids doesn't nor has ever had specialized services. Teacher informs school admin who calls parents. Parents say, collectively, yeah he could be but we don't have anything to back that up at all. Neither teacher nor admin have ever seen anything that would lead to them to believe this is true.
What does school admin do now?
One of the parents informs the kid's private school teacher that parent believes the kid is suicidal. Other parent doesn't dispute. There are no medical documents to support, no counseling notes to work with and the kids doesn't nor has ever had specialized services. Teacher informs school admin who calls parents. Parents say, collectively, yeah he could be but we don't have anything to back that up at all. Neither teacher nor admin have ever seen anything that would lead to them to believe this is true.
What does school admin do now?
njherdfan
Footballguy
To those who practice in DC, where are you barred, and do you have any recommendations for which bar I should take? I'll be practicing in DC, so I can take any bar I want. My practice area is almost entirely in DC, so there's no obvious secondary location where I'm likely to end up and no obvious choice of which exam to take. I'm leaning towards taking Maryland's exam now because it has a higher pass rate than Virginia's and I don't need to wear a suit to take it, but any and all recommendations are appreciated.
Maryland is a no brainer if you really aren't practicing outside DC because it's easier and there's no CLE requirement. In terms of broadening your reach if you are a litigator and do want to extend your practice, I'd take VA, because you can waive into the Maryland federal court bar really easily and the pro hac rules in Virginia suck.
Ramsay Hunt Experience
Footballguy
I'm took the Virginia bar and waived into DC. I'm considering taking the Maryland practitioner's exam too. Your plan sounds reasonable. I will say that I probably wouldn't make a decision based on how much the bar exam experience sucks. I don't know how much I passed the Virginia exam by, but I passed it while expending pretty minimal effort beyond showing up for the BarBri courses. My wife killed herself studying and we both passed.
If I knew I would be in DC with a big firm, I'd be tempted to just take DC if only because they have no CLE requirement.
Don Quixote
Footballguy
I took Virginia and waived into DC. I'm on associate status now in VA to avoid CLE.
ETA: For reasoning, I took VA because I figured if I ever worked outside DC, my next preference for location would be either Tysons or Richmond. So, I just decided to have that option.
ETA: For reasoning, I took VA because I figured if I ever worked outside DC, my next preference for location would be either Tysons or Richmond. So, I just decided to have that option.
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njherdfan
Footballguy
Ramsay Hunt Experience
Footballguy
Virginia exam day is fun just to see who pulls a full Matlock and breaks out the seersucker for the exam.
Tom Hagen
Footballguy
Todd Andrews
Footballguy
I did Maryland and then waived in to DC, but I knew I would never live in the theocracy of Virginia and I didnt want any required CLE.
njherdfan
Footballguy
I am so agnostic about what exam I take that the comedy potential of wearing a powdered wig and using a quill and inkwell might be enough to sway my decision.
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Footballguy
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Footballguy
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