MU Soapbox

Ganymede

@Rinel said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

This so very much. I am terrified about taking mental health breaks from work--even when I really do need them.

I'm terrified of what might happen if you don't take them, knowing your profession and occupation.

Ganymede

@Derp said in The Work Thread:

The bonus of this job is that law school is literally right across the street, so. I can just walk over when I'm done.

If you can get that paid for by the government? Great.

Otherwise, you may want to look into becoming a lawyer in another jurisdiction. I suggest North Dakota or Alaska.

Washington D.C. and other large cities is where lawyers go to die. Then you either become a King in Hell, or one of the enslaved.

Ganymede

@Rinel said in The Work Thread:

What do you use paralegals for, then? Doc review?

I am but a wee babby lawyer, but it seems effective to have a paralegal researching with you. Even when you take into account the time you spend reviewing their research, you're saving time.

First, I handle insurance defense cases. In such cases, the insurance company is loathe to have attorneys (who bill at a higher rate) working on discovery. Our firm uses paralegals to draft, send out, and follow-up on discovery in civil litigation. This includes preparing and sending medical, financial, and employment authorization forms to plaintiffs, and then sending those out to respective third-parties for documents. Our paralegals also scan, sort, catalog, and summarize what is obtained. This is valuable, arguably-not-legal work. Plus, when you have cases with 10K pages of documents, you can't spend days sorting through what's come through. You could, of course, but the client will squawk.

Second, I work in esoteric areas of the law, like real property. When it comes to the fine points of the economic loss rule in a construction dispute or the doctrine of lis pendens as it may apply to a legal malpractice case, the paralegals may be able to dig up the research, but the lawyer is ultimately responsible for pulling it together in a cogent argument. At a hearing or oral argument, I simply must know all of the facts of a case in order to argue as to how it applies, so I essentially must read through all of the cited cases anyway. To me, having a paralegal do that work, only for me to do it myself, is duplicative.

Finally, I think of oral argument as improv. I feel as if having a paralegal handling the research and writing is like having someone else draft my responses in an improv game. That seems silly to me.

Ganymede

@Derp said in The Work Thread:

I have two college degrees, a professional certificate, my CP/CLA (Certified Paralegal/Certified Legal Assistant) and ACP (Advanced Certified Paralegal) credentials in Discovery and Trial Practice, and I make half of the average salary of someone in an entry level position in my field, probably without those last two (which are fairly important) and tend to command an even higher salary.

Where do you work? It sounds like a shitty place to work.

Don't mind me, I have more degrees than you, of course, but I always find it strangely amusing when people start talking to me about "the odds of you winning the case" while I'm staring at actuarial tables and the graduate degree I have in a statistics-based field.

But you? You are working in a shitty place, it sounds, but for the following:

And I do the lion's share of the actual casework, too. The research, the briefs, the filings. The attorneys largely just take what I wrote and go talk about it in court.

I never ask my paralegals to do any of the following:

Research my briefs;
Write my briefs; or
File my briefs.

Because, frankly, if I'm being paid to argue them, I might as well have the professional integrity to make them myself, rather than pass off someone else's work as my own. The assholes who do the above are the same that will flog their paralegals for "getting it wrong," whilst they are the ones carrying the malpractice insurance and license to practice.

Hint: It's always the lawyer's responsibility to make sure work is done right, and don't let them forget that.

Ganymede

@Auspice

I won’t.

Because everyone bothers me.

And I dislike it when people start requests with: “I don’t mean to disturb you ...”

You don’t? Then don’t.

This is probably more of a peeve.

Ganymede

@Rinel said in Good TV:

He reprised his role as the Trickster for the Arrowverse Flash as well. There are all sorts of shoutouts to the 1990s show.

Proof that the DC Animated Universe remains superior to its live-action shit.

You gotta appreciate how well he plays with himself.

Ganymede

Wanted to chime in here, and say that I too have been a whale of a time.

At the moment, I'm looking for folks to join in some gung-ho military non-suit mission-play. You don't have to be part of the ECOAS commando team to join in; there are plenty of anime tropes of intrepid civilians getting wrapped up in military affairs. Pluck and pith will take you everywhere.

Other notes:

The game runs on FS3, and takes advantage of its combat engine. It is also integrated well into Ares.
Play there for a while and you'll have your own, customized mobile suit to use in play. There's rules for this up on the Wiki.
The Gundam background is pretty easy to pick up on, and staff is small and focused.

Ganymede

@Thenomain

You are such a nerd.

Ganymede

@Auspice

I just wanted to pick up Springer. I have all of the other TF Movie characters from the poster that I wanted in one version or another (which, by the way, kind of sucks as they are all of different sizes). But I bought Arcee for my daughter, and she loves her.

This way she can have a set of Transformers to play with Rainbow Dash and the other MLP figures. She was trying to put Arcee on Twilight Sparkle, but, God love her, that damn pony wasn't built to have an Autobot warrior on her back.

Edited to add: Just found a nice, affordable Novastar / Firestar! Now, to wait until Lancer gets released in the fall ...

Ganymede

The collectible female Autobots for my little Transformers loving daughter.

I just ordered Elita-1, Chromia, Moonracer, and Greenlight because Arcee is getting lonely.

Ganymede

Why oh why did they pull Exosquad from Hulu?

I know it was a while ago, but I still miss it.

Ganymede

@Derp said in Echoes in the Mists - CoD 2e MU:

Also can confirm lawbot is not staff. Which is probably lucky for you all, or the streets would run red(der).

Staff? Pff. I was doing bad things all on my own, thank you very much.

Ganymede

@Auspice said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

Here I'd have pegged you as a pro at swallowing.

Ganymede

@Ghost said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

Yeah, I 100% do not partake in company charity events, save for the occasional "company talent show" where ticket sales go to charity or "popcorn and watch movie at work".

Our charity is a combination of Office Cat and local animal shelters.

I always give, of course, but I wuv all da kitties.

Ganymede

@Auspice said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

I'm already on thyroid meds. Have been since I was 18. $:\$

Have them check those levels again, or get someone else to. My partner trusted her endocrinologist a little too much, and a short stomach virus put her in the hospital for four days.

Ganymede

@Auspice said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

I should probably just start taking a potassium supplement. Every ER visit, surgery, hospital stay....has involved them fussing over how low my potassium is.

Might want to have a doctor look at your thyroid.