Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

proposing creative alternatives is also something else lawyer's ought to be capable of

So are we employing a whole bunch of people who purposefully put blinders on before rendering advice?

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

seriously, what principal would need to be told this? this isn't some esoteric legal point.

by the time the lawyer heard about it I bet basketball season was over.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

Apparently this one needed to be told just that or he'd have done something very different from what he did.

You're probably right that basketball season was already over by the time she sued the school district. But there still should have been a better solution than spending piles of $$ on litigation.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

Joshua Green of the Atlantic watched Fox News' coverage of last night's Republican Debate.

http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt...wlenty-Gay.jpg

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

her family was clearly on a mission- how do you know there was any "solution?" I have a case that should settle. it won't unless the other side changes its mind and stops fighting to make a point. The school can't resolve a case if her family doesn't want to resolve the case.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

There was room for another bullet point: Nice guy but boring :P

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

Wow -- Atticus is John Yoo.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

No, he's talking about advising the client fully. For example, if the school supe says "I don't want to seek fees even though this is a frivolous case," do you just say "okay, that's legal" or do you suggest that he consider deterrent effect on future frivolous suits, fiduciary duty to the school, etc.?

Maybe government lawyers never do the latter. But if so, that points to how little the judgment of government lawyers is valued, how little you are treated as a trusted advisor rather than a legal tool. For you to call doing the latter "malpractice" is ridiculous.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

I think you can figure out that I agree with you on what the role of a lawyer should be. They call us "counselor" for a reason.

On the specific situation that started this discussion, my concerns were really aimed towards the court for finding this "frivolous." Obviously I haven't read the briefs etc., but it still seems too harsh. (And it's the Fifth Circuit, so I give the zero benefit of the doubt.)

I would hesitate to criticize the lawyer for not advising on the things you mention, for a few reasons. First, I don't know that he didn't. Second, there are other considerations -- like, the school was worried about facing these sorts of lawsuits in the future, it wanted to deter them with a sanctions award, and even "we don't have to collect on the award, we can use it as a scare tactic towards others and maybe even leverage an apology out of her." Or even that getting a sanctions award could deter a particular lawyer from future suits. Or, quite possibly, the lawyer did give this advice and the super said "thanks, but this is what we are doing." etc., etc., etc.

As a lawyer, I have done plenty of things for clients that an outsider could point to and say "Sidd gave bad legal advice," and the outsider would be wrong. Sometimes, I gave opposite advice -- i.e., "don't pursue this claim, you are wasting your money." Sometimes, there are considerations that may not be obvious -- a client willing to spend $3x, even $10x, to fight over $x, because they know there are many others out there with similar claims for $x and they need to make their opposition clear (or need to establish a point of law). Etc., etc.

Quite honestly, if I were to criticize any lawyer here, it would be the cheerleader's. Where I've had clients reject my advice not to pursue claims, I've pursued those claims (after writing a "mother of all CYA letters") -- but ONLY if I could do so without violating Rule 11. That's a separate obligation to the court, that goes beyond any duty to the client.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

I just threw up in my own mouth a little


Translation: I agree with Hank.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

I just want to note that I think we've moved on from criticizing that lawyer; we're all too aware of how often people choose to ignore our good advice, though he or she is still an idiot for hanging out with these bozos.

Now we're on to criticizing the way Atticus practices, since he doesn't seem to have any of the hypothetical excuses of the imaginary lawyer helping his clients beat up on the rape victim.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

Yeh, why won't they just accept the sexual assault and suck it up?

I hate it when rape victims make a scene.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

I want to know how they established that "definitely not gay" bit. Come on, Fox, let's hear about that investigative journalism!

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

Lighten up, Francis. You are proving Hank's point.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

Is that actually real?
Holyshit.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

It has popped up in a number of places around the Interwebs, including some respectable places like the Atlantic, but I kinda doubt it. Fox is dumb, but they're not that dumb.

Bekause I'm klassie!
 

I was really just going for the sexual assault double entendre.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

I'm quite certain that is as real as anything else Fox reports on.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

They're dumb enough to "misspell" Obama as Osama, and peg *every* elected R with sex-related "issues" as a D, so that wouldn't shock me, completely.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

this is another example of when GGG plays the dick. why don't you call him out on it like you do me? sidd? Ty?

is it because when I play the asshole I'll? like I"m osama and GGG is the shoe bomber?

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

sorry stp. he's a dick but a limp one. don't worry. plus he has trouble understanding legal issues, so you have to give him some slack.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

So John Yoo is bummed we didn't get to torture bin Laden.

Forget the football, there are better things to spike!

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

I heard somewhere that John Yoo is actually a Qaeda mole. Is that enough to have him rendered to Albania or Syria?

We are at war, you know, and people should be careful about what they say, as it may provide aid and comfort to the enemy--an act for which the Prez has unfettered power to indefinitely detain, without charges, an American citizen, under whatever conditions he may so prescribe.

Who really needs a paramilitary organization to take a walk in the woods?
 

Boo, Girl Scouts.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

Slate, anticipating pro-cat backlash, has assembled its slide show on Cats of War.

http://img.slate.com/media/1/123125/...araKittens.jpg


http://img.slate.com/media/1/123125/...uationRoom.jpg

time to celebrate
 

Re: Who really needs a paramilitary organization to take a walk in the woods?
 

"members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil"

Can't I have just a little bit of peril?

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

You keep changing the subject to stick to your pint and avoid the question.

Again, this is a strategy question. Will seeking fees achieve the desired policy? I really don't believe that you don't know how to yell him that maybe it won't without getting recycled when he does. And I definitely don't see how it's unethical to yell him that.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

Who yesterday was saying bin laden should have been captures alive.

Anyone doubt he would say the opposite if he had been?

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

I would probably beat that horse.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

Penske now editor of The Jewish Week.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

Nah, he would have inserted Elian. Or added horns.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

Busy News Day in Iran:

Ahmadinejad charges Khameni supporters with engaging in Sorcery
Iranian Intelligence Minister says Osama bin Laden Died of Disease Years Ago
Iran to reengage in Nuclear Talks

I note the intelligence minister is a former Bush administration official.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Nzez5nQBx-...+and+elian.jpg

Oh, and Horns are redundant.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

But you could sympathize with the Hassidim who found her presence in the photograph highly sexualizing, right?

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

I read the third line to be "renege" in Nuclear Talks. Same difference, though.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.