Friday, September 17, 2010

Friday Open Thread

Happy Friday everyone!

Seems like we just got done with an open thread, doesn't it? Time flies when you're in a drunken stupor billing like crazy!

79 comments:

  1. Not really a topic, anyone know a firm or agency that is currently hiring?

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  2. AG has a couple of civil openings

    http://dop.nv.gov/unclassified.html

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  3. I'm doing a couple of traffic tickets for a friend. They are in both justice court and municipal court. Never done it before and don't plan on doing it alot, but could use a little help. When I go to the attorney sessions, what gets the fine reduced more? Pleading nolo or not guilty or is it the same result either way? Thanks!

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  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  5. Anyone have experience working at the AG's office? It seems there is a high turnover there. Is that due to working environment or pay? Benefits have to be good and 9 to 5 if that is what you are looking for.

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  6. Pleading nolo or guilty is the same result. I know that LV Muni and NLV Muni allow fax adjudication. It beats going down there to make an appearance. Where I see attys screw things up is not informing their clients of the resulting fines. Clients will come into court to complain that they were never told about the results.

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  7. attorney reprimanded last week... pretty funny, he was fined $500 by the NVSC and paid with a bad check.

    http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/sep/10/nevada-high-court-reprimands-las-vegas-attorney/

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  8. The AG's office is notorious for being 'work averse,' they will do whatever they can to avoid heavy lifting. The only problem is that they have to make other coworkers look bad to continue to maintain the proper level of indolence, so office morale is not the highest.

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  9. 9:25 AM - AG's office is staffed almost exclusively with lazy bums who are dumb. I have heard some say the gaming department has some decent folks in there, but I cannot confirm.

    I would never hire anyone with an AG stint on the resume.

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  10. 9:42 - Name one State office where moral is high right now . . .

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  11. Um, I mean "morale."

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  12. 10:14 and 10:15

    Methinks you had a Freudian slip and simply forgot to add the "s" to "moral" and correct the verb tense

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  13. @8:30,

    DA's office is hiring clerks, PD's office is also picking up new staff. Both deadlines have passed and if they haven't contacted you, they weren't interested.

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  14. Have worked at the AG.

    Like most government gigs, the workload is very doable even with the current budget constraints (i.e., fewer attorneys = more work for everyone). NO government attorney works as hard as someone in the private sector or an attorney who is running their own shop. At the AGs office, you will also get to do stuff as a newer attorney that no private firm would allow you to do with less than 10 years under your belt.

    The downside: the pay (obviously) and the politics. You WILL be told, at some point, to let something go b/c someone politically connected does not want the heat.

    The AGs office is not a bad gig - but go into it with your eyes open and avoid the politics to the extent you can. Also, if you get the job, do not EVER tell anyone how slammed you are. You WILL be lying and we WILL know it.

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  15. City of Las Vegas City Attorney's Office - Civil Litigation Division is quietly accepting applications for the litigation team. One spot only - great benefits.

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  16. Do not send any fax adjudication to the LVMC! Takes too long for a response and the client will call you constantly for an update. Call Scott Holper (241-0078) tell him your an attorney and you need some help and he will handle the ticket for you at no charge.

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  17. Recommending Scott Holper to another attorney is like telling a tourist it's cool to do a Freemont Street Hooker bareback.

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  18. And Holper will even send over cop-girl to pick up the docs..

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  19. Attorney Stan Walton has been in jail for the last three days after Judge Cadish held him in contempt.

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  20. Stan is such a nice guy...why did Cadish find him guilty of contempt? Did he insult her fro?

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  21. If you had to choose gov't work, where would you go and why?

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  22. Since we have alot of Grammer Nazi's here, will one of you please inform me why grammer check on Microsoft Word does not like neither "attorney's fees" nor "attorneys' fees"?

    When do you use "attorney's fees" and when is it proper to use "attorneys' fees"?

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  23. As you may notice, the Nevada Supreme Court references it to as "attorney fees" to avoid any confusion whatsoever.

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  24. @11:26,

    Because at the time of writing the code for Word, MS had just received their bill for defending against anti-trust actions.

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  25. What infuriates everyone the most about Odyssey? I hate how you can't search by last name only. How the hell am I supposed to remember my clients' first names?

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  26. Any word on the BK Hottie and the demise of H&K

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  27. There may be an innocent explanation for this, but on the surface it does not look good.

    http://www.lvrj.com/news/lawyer-s-contempt-jailing-related-to--4-million-dispute-103152889.html

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  28. @11:26:

    "attorney's fees" when you are speaking of fees from one attorney.

    "attorneys' fees" when you are speaking of fees from more than one attorney.

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  29. Demise of H&K???

    Come on, don't tease us like that...give us details and rumors and gossip!

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  30. Having worked in State, Federal and County government as well as the private sector, certainly a government attorney will not typically have to put in as many long days as at a civil firm, however, many AG's are working very long and very hard. Call hem stupid and lazy all you want if it makes you feel better....met plenty of those in private practice as well...they simply billed for BS so it looked good.

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  31. "attorneys fees" is a term of art. I never use 's or s' unless I am referring to a particular attorney's or attorneys' fees.

    But, I never finished high school, so what do I know?

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  32. Cute story: http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978526632

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  33. RE: Stan Walton. If an attorney deserves to be held in contempt, the judge should issue a FINE. Or at least issue a bench warrant that allows him to POST BAIL. Holding a defense lawyer in jail, without bail, is not only a dangerous and totalitarian move from a clearly mentally unbalanced judge, but is a tremendous FINANCIAL WASTE to the County. Rather than have our tax dollars go to house a man who is clearly no threat to anyone, this twit with a robe could have ADDED to the court's books by issuing a substantial fine.

    RECALL THIS JUDGE AND VOTE FOR APPOINTMENT.

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  34. While I don't disagree with your analysis, nor your conclusion, your premise appears to presuppose that Cadish was elected. However, she was appointed - then she beat Ben Childs in an election.

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  35. So what happened at the hearing?

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  36. I don't know what went on, but I can say that Judge Cadish is one of the better judges we have on the bench.

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  37. A judge who can't craft a remedy short of incarceration is one of Clark County's best and brightest?

    That Cadish is one of our "better" judges illustrates the point that the CLARK COUNTY JUDICIARY IS A JOKE. They are all completely controlled by their re-election prospects for a year of their term, and their egos for the other five. The U.S. Constitution was intelligent enough to recognize the danger of a popularly elected judiciary. Is that document not good enough for us?

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  38. Sorry--a fine????? If he has been ignoring orders of the Court since January 2009, then that seems pretty clearly to be jailable contempt.

    The "no bail" part of it seems perhaps draconian; however when you have an officer of the Court who according to the article has refused to appear and respond to Orders to Show Cause after 18 months of hearings--well lets just say thats usually where a contemnor goes to jail until the contempt is cured. His chance to cure the contempt was today-- lets hope that the issue was resolved.

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  39. @3:25 - Maybe you're being a tad broad with your brush strokes. Cadish is a good judge. In any pool. I don't think it's fair to "judge the judges" based upon idiots like Walsh.

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  40. I'm not suggesting a lawyer can't or shouldn't be punished for violating court orders (although WE ALL KNOW the prosecutors never are). Jail should be for people who are dangerous. CCDC is overcrowded enough as it Is without having to take the space that rightly belongs to a rapist or murderer and waste it on a lawyer. A stiff fine would have sent the same message AND helped, albeit minimally, the government's budget crisis instead of making it worse.

    You should judge the judges the same way they claim to judge cases: on the present facts, not based on your preconceived notions or biases either for or against the parties involved. Based on the PRESENT FACTS, it makes very little sense to incarcerate a lawyer -- even for repeated failures to appear -- in lieu of a substantial fine. If Cadish had fined Walton $50,000, it would have done the county far more good than the three days of jail time did ANYONE.

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  41. The AG's office is staffed with functionally brain dead attorneys, mostly because of just plain lack of skill and heavy prescription drug use.

    If you are a skilled attorney, you will not last. If you are a weasel whose only skill is avoiding work and concentrating on ridiculous things that do not matter, you will go far, as long as you can property kiss enough ass.

    The “lifer’s” are the best. They know nothing out of law school and hone their legal skills working on inmate litigation cases where the State’s possible exposure is a carton of smokes and a boom box. Thereafter, they are put in charge of multi-million dollar matters with huge exposure. It’s a wonder that we have such a budget crisis.

    One skilled attorney can do the work of three or four of these clowns.

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  42. I once had a very well respected attorney say at a depo that he will never understand why they let the AG's office represent the state.

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  43. Of course these are all opinions of mine.

    My Top 5 Favorite District Court Judges:

    1. Denton (Quiet competence. Leads by example. A great Nevadan)
    2. Earl (Senior) (A thinker)
    3. Gibbons (A great balanced District Judge before he joined the Supremes)
    4. Glass (Knows hot to settle a case as a settlement Judge)
    5. Miley (Practical)

    My top 5 Justice Court Judges:

    1. Lippis (Knows how to manage a courtroom)
    2. Oesterle (Her snappy side makes me nervous. I will miss her)
    3. Jansen (Old School)
    4. Abbatangelo (Has his issues but who doesn't)
    5. Bonaventure (Solid)

    My top 5 Federal Judges

    1. Judge Leavitt (Hard worker, reads everything)
    2. Judge Sandoval (Because he's gone)
    3. Judge Claiborne (An Original Tea Partier)
    4. Judge Leen (Just plain cool on and off the bench)
    5. Judge Pro (he is a Pro and he knows it. He should fill a conservative spot on the Supreme Court)

    OVERALL LEAST FAVORITE JUDGES:

    1. JUDGE CADISH (Snotty, condescending, unpleasant, mean, unorganized admin staff)
    2. JUDGE JOHNSTON (Ivory tower)
    3. JUDGE GONZALEZ (Inconsistent rulings on the same issues. Made this list despite the coolest guy ever - Dan Kutinac)
    4. JUDGE VEGA (Thank you for your oral argument. It means nothing as I have already made up my mind as demonstrated on this blue piece of paper that I am going to hold up and read into the record.)
    5. COMMISSIONER BULLA (Inefficiently runs her docket. Too focused on procedure, not enough attention to substance).

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  44. H&K just had an exodus of employees in the last month. Can't be good.

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  45. 5:16 PM

    What type of law do you practice? Glass was AWFUL as a civil judge and I don't think she even has a civil docket any more. Miley, as the majority of posters here have stated, is functionally retarded. Denton is okay, but extremely indecisive - takes too many motions under advisement and splits too many babies. Earl - fine. Why is Gibbons even on your list?

    As a commercial lit attorney, I respect both Gonzalez and Cadish - at least they practiced civil law somewhat successfully before taking the bench, unlike most of the former DA's, and usually their rulings have some basis in law. And Dan is a badass, Tim is nice and soft spoken. I like Johnson (I'm guessing Johnston = Johnson) mainly because she gives Ritchie shit for all his shenanigans. Vega sucks. Bulla is all over the map.

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  46. @5:16--I presume this is either the product of a Friday funday or a little too much toddy.

    Lets see:
    --your "Favorite District Court" judges includes an entry who is not a District Court Judge.
    --Your "Least Favorite District Court" Judges includes an entry who is not a District Court judge (sorry Commissioner).
    --Your "Top 5 Federal" includes a Judge who was impeached and has been dead for 6 years

    --Judge Denton is many things but a leader he is not.
    --Judge Earl rules on the same issues the same way in favor of Plaintiffs each and every time he bangs 3 times on his microphone to make sure that it is on. He is very intelligent but uses little of that in ruling in favor of Plaintiffs all of the time.
    --Judge Glass is 0 of 4 on settlement conferences with our firm and has ended each one pretty quickly by indicating that if the parties don't want to settle summarily then she does not want to waste her time.
    --Judge Miley is practically what? Useless?

    Look, everyone is entitled to an opinion--but yours is just silly enough to give my my Friday chuckle. Thank you for that.

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  47. Stan Walton has been sprung....

    http://www.lvrj.com/news/lawyer-s-contempt-jailing-related-to--4-million-dispute-103152889.html

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  48. Jail has many purposes and frankly too many attorney's in this town thumb their noses at the court. EVERY DAY. I bet the next one thinks twice before skipping here hearings again. Judicial economy? lets add up how much it has cost for attorneys to show to court for 18 months only to have to reset...all the court costs etc that are being spent because this buffoon thinks he does not have to adhere to his oath as an officer of the court. Good for Judge Cadish! She is head and shoulders above many judges. Her education and experience in the law speak for itself. Yeah, appointed and then land slide retained. Cram that in your briefs 2:33!

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  49. 7:18... Put aside your fifth grade Cadish crush and think about this rationally. If Walton's nonappearances cost $10,000, it makes more sense to fine him for the $10,000. If he goes to jail instead, now not only does NOBODY recoup the $10,000, but now the county is out another couple hundred dollars to house and feed a lawyer for NO GOOD REASON.

    Judge Cadish didn't throw this man in jail because it was the right thing to do, or even the logical thing to do. She did it because she COULD. If there's one thing the Nevada bar should be able to agree on, it's that judges shouldn't be locking us up unless it is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.

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  50. My two cents - 7:18 is absolutely correct. It's hard to explain to clients why they are billed twice for a motion hearing that was continued because opposing counsel didn't show.

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  51. Harry Claiborne would have never thrown him in jail. Justice Gibbons would have probably given him a call. Even unforgiving Lippis would have rolled her eyes and reset the thing. Judge Glass probably would have been more creative and sanctioned him. Bulla would have made him write the text of EDCR 2.35 on the white board a few times. Boo Cadish. Boo. I guess when a Judge has a light workload and a 9 to 5 ish job, she forgets what it's like for private lawyers. Now I am starting to wax nostalgia for the old school.

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  52. The power to throw someone in jail is no substitute for the restraint and temperament to not throw them in jail, or the respect to not HAVE to.

    Attorneys being sent to jail is not a sign of attorneys being out of control. It is a sign of a judge who is out of control.

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  53. @ 8:40.... Do the clients who got overbilled feel better when you tell them opposing counsel got incarcerated? Because I think they'd prefer to see opposing counsel pay part of their bill instead of spend three days in jail. That's just me. Who are you representing that they'd rather see people in jail than save money? Metro?

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  54. I was writing about the general apathy of the bench and bar. The general disregard of procedure. I agree that when opposing counsel fails to show for a hearing he/she should pay my fee. But you and I both know that doesn't happen.

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  55. 5:55 I don't disagree with you except your characterization of Judge Claiborne. He may have been impeached, but it wasn't for his failure as a judge. In fact, we could have a heated debate as to whether he should have even been impeached. The Senators presiding over his case, and specifically Senator Heflin (D-AL) had great reservations. If the Nevada judiciary still had Judge Claiborne and Judge Gunderson serving, we'd have two solid legal minds -- we're lucky to have two solid legal minds if you take everyone on our Supreme Court let alone out of ALL of the departments in 8th Jud.

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  56. It's not necessarily brains our judiciary is missing...it's COURAGE. These judges are scared to do anything that the majority might not like. That's why they bend over for the DAs and ignore the rights of criminal defendants, because it's popular to be tough on crime and felons can't vote. It's why there's such an obvious correlation between a judge's favored litigants and their campaign donor list. And when you have judges who depend on popularity to stay employed, you lose an integral check on the power of the majority.

    Judges should be appointed, not elected. You can't expect to select judges just like every other politician, and then expect them to act any different.

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  57. while 5:16 is off, Vega=tard. Too many roller derby hits I suppose.

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  58. I wholeheartedly agree with the comments from 11:00 a.m. Especially the comment that NO government attorney works as hard as someone in the private sector or an attorney who is running their own shop.

    No truer words - you know what you're talking about! Everyone I've hired from a government position said later that they "didn't want to work this hard!" They didn't last; not one of them - and I've hired three. If you are working for the government, don't come looking for a job from us! Get out on your own and make your own way. We are not going to hire you. I will, however, give you advice on how to get your practice going. The private practice of law is fun, but it requires constant attention to detail, from how the office is run, to accounts receivable, to actually performing the legal work; it is not for the lazy or the dishonest. If you have good ethics, you're honest and extremely hard working, you'll make it.

    Regarding Walsh being tossed in the CDC, I smell more than just a few missed dates and deadlines. Perhaps he has been bilking the estate of assets or money? The numbers don't appear to add up. I'll bet there is more to this story and it will come out soon. Judge Cadish did what she felt was needed to protect the integrity of the legal system in general, and to specifically make Walsh atone for lack of acceptance of responsibility and his failure to accept direction and follow the Orders from the Court. I call it "jail therapy." It can have a motivational effect! Good for you Judge Cadish!

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  59. Someone please elaborate on the H & K situation? Who left? What happened?

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  60. The ampersand left. Now it's just Haines Krieger. Fuck him. He wasn't bringing in any clients anyway!

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  61. Thanks. That made me laugh.

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  62. September 17 @ 11:26 . It's grammar, not grammer.

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  63. I heard that at H & K the staff and associates were being harassed because the chubby guy kept walking around saying "get in my belly" and was trying to eat them. That is the rumor anyways.

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  64. What's all this crap about government attorneys not working as hard as those in the private sector? No shit, Sherlock! Why should they work as hard for 1/2 the pay? Nobody WANTS to work in a sweatshop, they just do it for the money.

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  65. Wow I can remove my own post?

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  66. I love fat bastard.

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  67. AG's office is toxic. A touch of Detroit and Mexico right here in our fair state. Lazy incompetence and corruption. They'll all make fine judges.

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  68. Can someone provide a concrete example of incompetence at the AG's office? You win some and lose some and sometimes the state-agency clients fuck up. What can the AG's do about that? My inquiry is sincere.
    I think the office has a bad rep from leaders past.

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  69. 2:40. You are an ass. Your words ring untrue which kills your credibility.

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  70. Yeah 2:40 is pretty dumb. These comment sections are best when short and to the point. Pop psych 101 says he's like the folks that have all the bumper stickers on their cars. A loser who desperately wants people to care what they think.

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  71. So, you all have a hard on for the AG and Elissa Cadish today. Elissa Cadish comes from top schools and a top local firm and now because she is on the bench she is suddenly a lazy 9-5er? A person wants to be a judge means they are lazy from the git? Good reasoning from you 4th tier, non Boyd students who have envy for most anything you are not a part of. Clearly from the hearing this defense attorney should have been thrown in jail. I suspect he will have a lot worse to face than jail for his contempt by the time all of this is over. He missed...what 18 months of hearings and failed to respect any of the court orders? Judge decides it merits her use of jailing and instantly it is wrong for her to exercise this discretion?

    Tell Mr. Gilbert and his 11 felony conviction that the AG is lazy. bet he wishes they were.

    Some people want to be prosecutors. To do so they have to take less pay because there is no way to do it except to work for the government. What is lazy is simply accusing an entire segment of laziness because it is easier than any true analysis of the facts. As someone earlier said...not one concrete piece of evidence that the AG is full of lazy dumb people. Many private attorneys are over worked and never see their families before the divorce and I suspect they are just bitter that to own that car and that house and the new boobs for the wife they have to be a slave to the billing system.

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  72. @7:29 -- I think I love you!

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  73. judges who hale from Penn and Virginia are stupid and Boyd grads are stupid........so...where are all the smart people from?

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  74. Hello, dumbass, from New York, of course. Whatever the State puts in the water seems to work. You can ask any New Yorker to confirm they don't grow 'em as smart any where else.

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  75. @3:22- from the same place where people don't end sentences with prepositions.

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  76. Ending sentences with prepositions is something up with which no attorney should put.

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  77. ....and only a petty attorney would correct grammar in such a snarky way....petty petty....sometimes I am SO embarrassed of my profession...

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