I really love going to the movie theater. These days, I can hardly even remember or have the time to update my Netflix queue. I saw this list of the 50 best movies of the decade via Twitter and was reminded of how much I miss that experience — the smell of the popcorn, the anticipating during the previews, the awesome sound quality.  No joke – I haven’t been to the theater since my oldest was born over 5 years ago.

My husband and I are both full-time lawyers trying to manage the work/life balance thing and the experience of going to the movies has simply dropped down to the bottom of the priority list.  Don’t you and your husband have date nights, you might ask.  Yes (although they are too infrequent!).  But by the time we get through a leisurely dinner (which in itself is a tremendous treat for us), it’s usually close to our 10 pm bedtime, which we try and maintain — weekday or weekend.  Keeping that bedtime is one of the ways that we make the balancing act work — it enables us to wake up early to workout or work, whichever is the day’s priority.

Candidly, though, most of the time, those leisurely dinners also drop down on the priority list below whole-family dinners, which, because we both work at firms, we don’t get to do very often during the week.  I suppose that’s a topic for another blog post — “Avoiding Mommy Guilt”. Until I find the time to write that one, check this website out.

So, readers, what priorities of yours have dropped to the bottom of your list now that you are trying to manage kids, works, marriages, etc. . . And do you ever sit down and reevaluate your priority list?  I proffer that if you don’t sit down and do that, your priorities will stay exactly where they appear to be right now.  And consider this — if you do reevaluate, in 10 years, you too can count on one hand the number of movies you’ve seen on that list.

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Nothing is worse than an after-hours blackberry message from a partner, a client, or an opposing counsel.  As much as I wish I could turn the electronic leash that connects me from my home in Cockeysville to my office in Towson when I finally arrive home after a day of work, it always is “on” and communicating with our server.

The flashing green light turns red and I check the message.  Usually the message ends up being spam or some advertisement for deposition services, but every so often, the message is “urgent.”  I put “urgent” in quotes, because with the creation of email, blackberries, remote login access, voicemail, and whatever the next great piece of technology that will make me work harder, faster and more efficiently, there is nothing too small that cannot wait until the morning.

When I started practicing, email was all the rage.  Blackberries, however, did not exist.  Low and behold, I still handled my cases with precision and skill.  Deadlines were met.  Cases won.  Appeals filed.  But in the world of instant gratification, the blackberry is an attorney’s best friend and worst enemy.

Don’t get me wrong, I have a co-dependent relationship with my blackberry.  She is always close to me.  I check her often – whether for email, the latest sports score, or the latest legal news on the Maryland Daily Record’s website.  She permits me to respond to clients in emergencies or to answer questions on a case from a partner.

Sometimes slung on my hip, in my briefcase, or resting in the front pocket of my suit pants, I always know where my blackberry is. When I get back to my office after a day out, I won’t have 100 emails waiting to be read.  I can send messages to my paralegal for tasks that need to be completed or request research from my law clerk when an issue comes up in court.

I love my blackberry as much as you can love an electronic device that wirelessly delivers your email to you.  But there are days, however, when dinner has been finished, my two year old has been put to bed, and the last couple of hours at home will not be spent relaxing, but will be spent responding to a message that could not wait until morning.

Powered by Bookmarkify™

The Ravens got the job done this weekend, defeating the previously undefeated Denver Broncos 30-7 before a reported 71,000+ fans at PSINet M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday.  Having listened to the comments of some of the players and having read the initial recaps of the game, though, this season’s ongoing frustration with the refereeing continues.  The Sun’s Ravens columnists described a few of the game’s apparent officiating blunders:

When Mason’s jersey was pulled from M&T Bank Stadium to Dundalk and there was no call in the first quarter, you thought the refs were going to let the guys play. Then from clear across the field a back judge throws a flag on Domonique Foxworth when it looked like the receiver was actually pulling his arm down. Plus, there was no way to see it from behind. The NFL really needs to look at the competancy [sic] of its officials.

Regardless of a sporting event’s outcome, the participants whose performance is almost always criticized is the officials, sometimes viciously.  When municipal pride prevents fans from seeing flaws in their given team’s performance, the anonymity of the internet allows them an outlet to attack and disparage the game officials.  After making a particularly bad call last season and directly affecting the outcome of a game, NFL official Ed Hochuli reported receiving hundreds of pieces of “hate” email, and he did not even address the vitriol directed at him on message boards and in the blogosphere.

The frequent criticisms of sports officials–inconsistency, poor judgment, bias, pressure from the players–sound much like the criticisms frequently directed at judges by lawyers and litigants who appear before them.  Because judges operate in a system in which there are always winners and losers, like in sports, the ire of those on the losing side is often directed at the arbiter.  Not to be outdone by their sports fan counterparts, the internet has also given forums to the judicially aggrieved to publish their own anonymous critiques.  Websites like TheRobingRoom.com and CourthouseForum.com allow lawyers and litigants to anonymously grade and criticize the judiciary.  Other sites, like Avvo.com, assign grades to lawyers and allow “clients” to leave comments about the legal services their lawyer provided.

When it comes to sports, officials have little recourse against their armchair critics and have no choice but to take the criticism in stride.  When judges and lawyers get involved, though, litigation invariably ensues.  Though it may just be our generation’s version of “word of mouth,” these sites raise a number of interesting questions about the legal profession, the internet, anonymity, defamation, and even safety.  If nothing else, they are a reminder that in the age of the internet, danger may be lurking around every URL.

As for poor official Ed Hochuli, if his NFL officiating career does not pan out, he can always fall back on his day job as…a lawyer.  After all, Avvo gives him a 7.5 out of 10.

Powered by Bookmarkify™