December 2010
14 posts
ancillary docket
In Harris County, each of the two dozen civil district judges take a two and a half week ancillary docket assignment wherein they listen to all the emergency hearings and temporary restraining orders (TRO) for that period. If one is granted, it is then sent to the appropriate designated court for the temporary injunction (TI) hearing in 14 days.
Did you know about this docket? They...
law; football
I don’t know if attorneys have been overdosing on holiday turkey tryptophan or what, but I’ve been seeing some really terrible filings lately. I’m talking simple defaults missing every necessary affidavit, or today’s favorite: a MSJ on an issue that wasn’t even pleaded by opposing counsel.
Sloppy.
I’ve always held the highest regard for attorneys, but my...
petitions from prison
We get a fair share of imprisoned pro se litigants at Court 81*, and I enjoy reading the motions with gleeful masochistic pleasure.
A small percentage of these court documents actually display a passable understanding of the law and raise meritorious claims, but these, of course, don’t make for interesting stories.
A much larger allotment of these litigants misinterpret the purpose of...
thought provoking text messages
When friends share casual anecdotes of so-and-so from law school snagging his/her first career job, I get fits of jealousy and rage. Not because I had applied for that job and was passed over, no, and not even because it was a job I would even want had I known about it.
I’m green eyed because this so-and-so went through the application and interview process and someone along the way...
birthday potato
I don’t know why it is, but you just can’t tell people you don’t eat dessert. They look at you like you just spat on a blind gramma and kicked over her seeing eye dog. I simply prefer another plate of food over sweets!
At weddings, or even worse - work birthdays, I get a moment of social anxiety when I’m supposed to find a way to graciously decline cake or mysteriously...
football; law
Before I attended USC, I watched all of ONE football game. I’d consider myself a recent convert (though it’s already been SEVEN years since my first USC football season), but I only care for college football, and even then, I’m most interested in the PAC10 teams.
I miss the Coliseum
...
wax v tweeze
In high school I was guilty of severely overtweezing my eyebrows. It was just a habit - I couldn’t stand in front of the bathroom mirror without removing hair. Before I knew it, I had brow-rexia. I was convinced my brows were hairy caterpillars when realistically, they were more akin to a pencil line.
Yeah, that bad.
Since then, unless an errant hair is literally growing out the tip of my...
a questionable line of questioning
A: What do you know about horses? B: Uh. Not much. I know they eat a lot? A: Have you ever ridden a horse? B: Yes, once. A: So you’re familiar with such terms as bridle and saddle? B: Yes. A: I’m going to read you a sentence. Tell me what you think it means. “Before a mare feeds a newborn foal, it must be sure the food is not too hot.” B: Well, a mare is a female horse. A...
kevin bacon
John O’Quinn is like my personal Kevin Bacon. I’m never more than a stone’s throw away from someone who worked with him at his firm.
Mr. K came in for a hearing, who was a former partner of O’Quinn’s firm at the time Judge 81* was clerking there. Upon this revelation, they shared O’Quinn war stories for quite some time.
The star torts attorney was undeniably a...
vore dyer (that's voir dire to everyone outside...
Before this position with Judge 81*, I’d only seen half a voir dire. Now I can claim exposure to two more.
[for my non legal-minded friends, voir dire is the process of jury selection to find those who could be impartial to the parties, facts, and issues of the case so that neither party begins with an unfair advantage/disadvantage… although it appears that crafty wording during voir...
