The Work Thread

mietze

Came into work today with an inbox full of nice notes and well wishes since word has apparently gotten out beyond my branch that tomorrow is my last day. Not regretting leaving at all, and new job will start on Monday, but it is nice to know that peolle enjoyed working with me.

Macha

I can't get over this - it has been two days, and it still rankles.

I've had three deaths, in the last three months. I'm in call with a supervisor about an issue in a case I'm working on.

"Oh hey, why weren't you at the team meeting yesterday?"
Me : I had calling hours and services for my grandmother.
"Geez, I can't believe you've had three people die of Covid. It's like, insane. It's just a lot, huh?"

None of them died of Covid. And her tone... just jesus fuck, talk about insensitive.

Goblin

@Macha Upvoted not cause I like that this happened to you, but in sympathy. Sorry.

silverfox

I took a leave from work last week to try to get a handle on my depression. I don't know if I made much progress, but we have a plan. Since being gone one of my students has been sent home for 4 weeks (because we can just to e-learning. Never mind that mom had to quit her job... it is stupid.)

I want to go back but now I'm stuck trying to get official doctor permission to come back. Everyone is so packed that I'm haven't to do all of it via email.

Not helping the depression much.

thesuntsar

@silverfox Please, please, please take care of yourself first. I know that you want to go back to fix what's happening but in the long run you need to be healthy too, physically and emotionally.

Ganymede

I popped in an application for a position nearby. It looks to be exciting. I'm staying mum on my other channels due to the gossipy nature of the practice of law.

But if I get it, man, I'm gonna have a lot of fun.

Here's to luck!

cat fistbump

Derp

@Ganymede said in The Work Thread:

I popped in an application for a position nearby. It looks to be exciting. I'm staying mum on my other channels due to the gossipy nature of the practice of law.

But if I get it, man, I'm gonna have a lot of fun.

Here's to luck!

Aren't you a partner at your own place? O_o Why would you want a new boss?

Ganymede

@Derp said in The Work Thread:

Aren't you a partner at your own place? O_o Why would you want a new boss?

I have reasons. If I get the job, I'll explain.

silverfox

Colorado just added a requirement for teachers to have 45 hours of reading instruction to K-8. My anxiety spiked until I was told my reading specialist endorsement qualifies me to skip this.

I have never been more grateful for my master's degree.

Ganymede

Lawyer problems: I hate when I draft a nice appellate brief with lots of citations, and then it takes 2+ hours just to fill out the Table of Authorities.

TNP

@Ganymede Isn't that what paralegals are for?

Ganymede

@TNP

A good lawyer does her own cites.

Derp

@TNP said in The Work Thread:

@Ganymede Isn't that what paralegals are for?

Yes, but also what word processors are for. Word can track your citations and drop them into a template you create. And that is what paralegals are for.

eyes @Ganymede

silverfox

Excuse me as I sit here and call Bullshit on district announcements. You say thank-you, but we're stressed as fuck, and you aren't doing anything about it.

Aria

@silverfox said in The Work Thread:

Excuse me as I sit here and call Bullshit on district announcements. You say thank-you, but we're stressed as fuck, and you aren't doing anything about it.

When elementary school teachers have run out of patience and start openly swearing at you, y'all know you fucked up.

Ganymede

@Derp said in The Work Thread:

Yes, but also what word processors are for. Word can track your citations and drop them into a template you create. And that is what paralegals are for.

Word can only track your citations if they are consistent and accurate.

Doing my own table of authorities helps me catch citation errors too.

Plus, I bill for it.

Don't hate me because I figured out that it's actually better and more efficient to do your own work.

Derp

@Ganymede

I mean, I've personally found that the Bluebook has a lot of stuff that I never use, never see used, etc. Westlaw doesn't tend to make many mistakes when it comes to citations, so I typically start there and just review them later. At some point, you lose efficiency by not leveraging technology to your advantage in the chase of perfectionism that probably nobody is actually really checking unless you're publishing, and even then it's rarely consistent as many law reviews have their own house styles that may or may not comply with what the Bluebook says.

I'm personally in Posner's camp when it comes to citations. the BB is overly complicated and doesn't really give you a lot of necessary detail when you can look up cases by case number now and don't have to go directly to the reports and flip through pages.

I think that everyone can choose their own styles and whatnot, but there's just something about strict adherence to a system of citation invented to make dead-tree book research more efficient that grates on me, especially when even most judges are just throwing in the West citation and calling it a day now.

But I suppose there is some personal pride in knowing the system well enough to ensure technical perfection. Me, I focus on making sure that the arguments are sufficient and that someone can find what I am citing to if they throw it in West, which is exactly what they're going to do anyway.

ETA: I missed the part where you bill for it though, which makes sense. I do government work, so we don't track billables. We just try and get shit done.

Auspice

Finally -- fiiiiiiinally -- had an interview yesterday after almost two months of radio silence on the dozen+ apps I send out each week. And it went really well. I vibed well with the interviewer, he really liked my answers to the questions (btw never been asked if I'm afraid of heights during an interview before but I am here for it).

And he must've felt the same because this morning, less than 24 hours later, the recruiter let me know they want to move on to the 2nd interview. That happens Monday morning and I'm already nervcited.

Ganymede

@Derp said in The Work Thread:

I'm personally in Posner's camp when it comes to citations. the BB is overly complicated and doesn't really give you a lot of necessary detail when you can look up cases by case number now and don't have to go directly to the reports and flip through pages.

Over here in Ohio, we have our own book on how to cite things. Here's why I feel lawyers should be doing this:

Citing to the Ohio Supreme Court after March 1, 2002:

Ohio Bur. of Workers' Comp. v. McKinley, 130 Ohio St. 3d 156, 2011-Ohio-4432, 956 N.E.2d 814, ¶ 12.

Citing to the Ohio Supreme Court before March 1, 2002:

Hambleton v. R.G. Barry Corp., 12 Ohio St. 3d 179, 183, 465 N.E.2d 1298 (1984).

Citing to an Ohio Appellate Decision after March 1, 2002:

Zeller v. Farmers Grp., Inc., 2d Dist. No. 28013, 2019-Ohio-3297, ¶ 21,

But if there's a citation to the Northeast Reporter:

Ajibola v. Ohio Medical Career College, Ltd., 2018-Ohio-4449, 122 N.E.3d 660, ¶ 11 (2d Dist.).

Unless there's also a citation to the Ohio Appellate Reporter:

Jackson v. Internatl. Fiber, 169 Ohio App. 3d 395, 2006-Ohio-5799, 863 N.E.2d 189, ¶ 17 (2d Dist.).

Oh, and the Second District is weird in how they number things because other appellate districts be like:

Cuspide Properties v. Earl Mechanical Servs., 2015-Ohio-5019, 53 N.E.3d 818, ¶ 60 (6th Dist.)

...

And so on. There's a lot of rules and formats to consider. And these are just the state published cases. I'm not even going to start on unpublished ones.

Derp

@Ganymede

Ewwwwwwwwwww.

Yeah, that's all you.