i get really annoyed when casualfan.jpegs (laymen) bash public defenders for somehow being dumb or incompetent. i always try to stress to people that public defenders are REALLY smart people. they just have such a huge caseload and no help with their work.

Yeah I emphasize that to my people too. What Karak said, but also I think they think they can sign up with the PD 10 days before trial and the public defender is supposed to get them out of whatever they did when they're caught on camera stealing for the 4th time.

Hey Congrats on getting in the Manhattan DA's office. It is a great place to work. I go in a lot and in fact will be there next month for a couple of cases. If you PM me I would love to meet and grab lunch with you or a drink after work. We have at least one other NYC ADA here. Maybe we start a lil Crimlaw weekly game?

acshark smells blood in the water

I have a case with $500 paid/incurred meds (it's 2,000 - health insurance writeoffs, (should've not had health insurance and gone to that shady chiropractor who'd send you to the shady MD, who'd order a $4k MRI that would come back negative..DAMN....THANKS TEXAS....a better example is a case I have where a guy had a ruptured bicep, had a 25k surgery, and we get to shot a grand total of $4,000 to the jury). On a $500 case, one of the hardest parts of it for me is trying to figure out just how much time to spend on it. My deposition yesterday was 14 minutes. (If I went for an hour, the depo would've cost ~$200 as opposed to probably $90 now.)

The frustrating part of this whole deal is early in the case, I couldn't find the defendant because he was an apartment dweller and had a very common name here in Tejas. The claims adjuster DID have his address, and wouldn't spill the beans. They base this on maintaining the PRIVACY of their insureds....when really they just hope we serve the guy by publication so he doesn't answer and they can deny coverage because their guy never sent them a copy of the lawsuit. So I subpoenaed the claims file. The big insurance company hired outside counsel, who filed a 14 page motion to quash, and set it for hearing. This probably cost them $3,000?

I would take $2,500 to settle the case. They are offering $1,300 and Not a Penny More. When I win at trial (it's a rear end collision), I might only get a $1,000 verdict. Once court costs and interest are added on, it will likely be ~$3,000+. The insurance company "will not under any circumstances" consider court costs (including the $150-$500 for the pointless mediation) and interest prior to settling a case.

I like my job about as much as I think I'd like any job.

Have you ever thought about leaving Texas if you plan to continue to do Plaintiff's work? It may be out of the question for whatever reason but it sure sounds more profitable. There's no way I could work in that state.

Pretty much. Riverman, lawyers are divas. They all love to whine about having to get up early to go to work, sometimes work on a weekend, etc. That **** is not unique to the field of law. Everybody hates their jobs, lawyers are just self-centered enough to think other people will give a ****.

It is typical in a lot of the contracts I write (including insurance contracts) for there to be provisions forbidding disclosure of personal information, except by court order, etc. Even where disclosure is ordered, there is often a provision requiring sufficient notice to seek a remedy preventing disclosure. Insurance companies already know everyone hates them - aggravating policyholders and the regulators by breaching confidentiality provisions typically isn't something they are keen on doing.

Well, your address is not personal information and is the first thing you have to reveal in any lawsuit in Texas. (request for disclosure). Your insurance company failing to notify you that you've been sued or aiding you in avoiding service is a whole lot worse for them than their "confidentiality". The waste of time response I wrote talks a lot about how if the insurance company can just "not give us the address", we can just serve their ass by publication, they will never get "actual notice" they've been sued. Then they will get a default judgment on their ass. And the insurance company will deny coverage because they failed their "duty to cooperate".

I understand the perceived logic by maintaining the "privacy" of their insureds. I really do. But it's just the least practical thing ever.

Haha, it doesn't sound like Mr. Shark gets his feet wet with the kind of stuff I'll be dealing with for at least the next couple years.

Kinda interested to see the dynamic between prosecution/defense types, how they get along and what not. Just moved in with my friend who's been at Legal Aid in the BX for a year, perhaps we'll hate each other after a month.

Sure, that sounds great! I have training for the first month and a half and am told it isn't incredibly time consuming so timing sounds good. I'll shoot you a PM after I get started and figure out what my schedule is like. Would be cool to meet the legend.

LOL The shark is not looking to take money from guys in the DA's office. Rather I just want them to experience collegiality from the get. Besides I will likely lose at the table, it is in the courtroom I want to win.

Please do. I look forward to meeting.

I would say that basically Texas is home and I'm not leaving. My firm (used to have 3 offices, many lawyers, and a ton of support staff) used to be one of the biggest worker's comp firms in the entire state and the stories I hear is that on Monday morning they went straight to the courthouse, did comp trials all day, came back to the office at 5:30, started drinking at 6:30 and repeated for 5 straight days, making tons of money. Now we don't even do worker's comp because it's so bad here. You just adapt. The other guy at my firm not my boss says that the movie The Firm freaked him out because it was too similar to real life. I remember a chartered plane to Vegas at 2AM.....sounds interesting!

Random Q: I have a friend who is a 1L and he asked me if there are any good online services that will put together a resume for him. He said it doesn't really matter what it costs. He was looking at using "ESQ Resume" but I told him I'd ask here to see if anyone knows of anything better. Thanks.