A great day to be a lawyer

Despite my fury Thursday night, which had not dissipated much by Friday morning, the hearing on Friday went really well. From a law geek perspective, it was actually fun--and it's been a while since I've had fun while working.

My client was the key witness for a government agency in a civil suit involving many, many defendants represented by about 10 different law firms. Most of the lawyers were old white guys, several from very large and prestigious firms. A handful of them were there to meet with me why I arrived and convince me that I was wrong and that the judge would surely rule against me.

I let them know in no uncertain terms that I would fight any attempts to recall my client to the stand. The lawyer I had spoken with the night before (we'll call him lawyer A) was a total arrogant ass who probably wouldn't know the truth if it bit him in the ass. Lawyer A is not a biglaw lawyer, and I suspect his attempts to intimidate me were at least partially for show for the benefit his higher paid counterparts.

And then the government lawyer arrived and he was almost as furious as I was about Lawyer A's conduct and also let him know it.

When court finally started, the government lawyer introduced me to the court so that we could deal with the issue of my missing witness and whether she was still under subpoena. I told the court about the other attorney's conduct and explained that she was not there and that I did not believe that she was obligated to be there or to that she was still subject to the subpoena with which she had already complied, and that all parties had already had to opportunity to examine her.

Lawyer A attempted to favorably spin his conduct and then said that by telling my client not to comply with a subpoena, my conduct was equally inappropriate. The judge ignored Lawyer A's statement about me, and mildly admonished* Lawyer A for his conduct and ordered him to have no additional contact with my client. The court did not immediately rule on whether my client could or would be recalled to the stand, and wanted to hear from another witnesses first. (Which drew objection from Lawyer A, because he wanted my client to be at court just in case the court ruled in his favor.)

By the time the court took a break, Lawyer A decided that he didn't need my client after all and the court granted my request to formally release her from all outstanding subpoenas.

I have to admit that I am really proud of how I handled the whole situation. I got the desired result for my client, and stood up to bullies, and I presented a good, short argument to the court. Standing in that courtroom with a federal judge, a dozen or more lawyers, an above-average number of spectators (and probably press), I felt like LC versus the world. But I wasn't even nervous, because I knew that I was right.

I've come a long way since my first argument in court, where my knees were shaking so much I could barely stand up straight.

* Lawyer A's behavior was truly abhorrent for several reasons I have not mentioned.** I kept it short in front of the court, because my goal was to protect my client rather than implicate his professional conduct. I did not want the court to disregard my argument because I was just "throwing stones" at the other attorney.

**One of the things he told my client was that I had not been practicing for very long and probably wasn't used to practicing in federal court. How dare you implicate my professional capabilities to my client--especially when you're just making shit up. I'm admitted in every federal district in my state and I regularly practice in federal court. I'm the go-to girl in my firm for federal procedural issues, and I know the nuances in the local rules for the different districts.