An afternoon of legal fun

I am sitting waiting for two phone calls. One from Cindy. The other from a lady in Columbus with whom I am supposed to conduct a closing this evening. The lady is a teacher and I assume that school should be over at this point. Cindy is a teacher and I assume her school should be over at this point, as well. At any rate, Cindy wants me to take her to Spalding Square so she can shop at Big Lots. She also wants me to get us some Chinese food while she is shopping. She expects me to shop and then drive to Columbus and back. That's fine.

I have the closing package and depending upon the plans of this Columbus teacher, I should be leaving at any moment. It will take me about an hour and a half to get to Columbus. Heavens knows how long Cindy will want to shop before I leave there. It will be a long evening. I am tired already.

I had a gentleman come to see me off the street this afternoon. He has a criminal charge against him and needs an attorney. He wants me to accompany him to court tomorrow but I have an appointment tomorrow morning here in my office. He is going to attend arraignment by himself, tender a not-guilty plea and then announce that he will hire an attorney to represent him in court. He has five charges against him and has little ambition for beating the charges. However, based on his statement to me, it would seem that he should have a pretty good defense. We shall see. He is supposed to come see me tomorrow after court.

I like criminal court. Quite often the issues are very simple and straight-forward. The work is usually quick and requires one to act like Perry Mason or Atticus Finch or any other assorted fictional lawyer. You get to get all dressed up and act like you think a lawyer should act. Fun. The only real problem is quoting a fee which justifies the work to be done. Criminal work can be quite labor-intensive. There is also a lot of sitting around waiting for the case to be heard. Time management is very important.

I had another existing client call me from the road today. She gave me a check which bounced, twice. She told my secretary that the check should be good and to deposit it again. My secretary called the bank and was told that the check was still no good. Fun, again.