From Mrs. Angrybell to the Hon. Sofie Allsopp

At the request of Mrs. Angrybell, a plea is being made to Sofie Allsopp. Sofie, please, please, go back to your old style. The new one makes you look like some demented Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. Did some focus group tell you that this look (seen below)



is not a good one? Mrs. Angrybell begs you to give up on the Dorothy-esque hairstyle and go back to your previous one. It looked so much better. And also that red that you've started to use for your lipstick makes you look like a mortician got to you. It does not fit your coloring. Your old style, with the pink color and gloss, made your lips look lovely.

As Mrs. Angrybell says "Stay Consistent In Your Lie"

Apparently, there are some particularly stupid lawyers in the world. Alas, today there is one less among that crowd.

The California Supreme Court recently voted to disbar an attorney. His sin? While serving on a jury in a medical malpractice case, Francis Fahy, a solo practitioner, changed his vote. Now, jurors are allowed to do that when they do it based on the evidence.

Mr. Fahy, apparently, did not. He did it so he could get back to his practice after a month long trial and ten days of deliberation.

That's bad.

Then when the judge in the case polled him about why he had changed his verdict, he lied to the judge, saying that he had changed his vote based on the evidence, not because he wanted to get back to his practice.

Even worse.

But then, after he had already dug himself halfway to China, apparently Mr. Fahy developed what I would have to guess is a bit of remorse for what he had done. So what did he do? He signed a sworn declaration as to why he changed his vote to support the losing party's motion for a new trial.

From even worse to stupidity.

Here's the opinion that came from the lower State Bar proceedings that lead to the California Supreme's voting 6-0 for disbarment.

As Mrs. Angrybell said, "Stay consistent in your lies at least!"

So what has Mr. Fahy done about this? He filed a civil rights lawsuit against the State Bar and California Supreme Court for violating his civil rights. Of course, with his history, including being previously suspended for missapropriating client funds, I'm not sure he's going to get much traction with it.

We have very few requirements in this country. We don't have the draft anymore. So when you get called for jury duty, just do it and be thankful we have juries. Don't screw someone over because it inconveniences your schedule.

Yes, I was there ....

First time in more than 30 years. Perhaps the most unlikely time for it to happen. Something I swear I thought I would never see a Giants' pitcher: throw a no-hitter.

And that's exactly what Jonothan Sanchez did last night. The fact that it was not a perfect game was not his fault. After weeks of mounting criticism, and being pulled out of the rotation, he went out and threw a beautiful game. It was amazing.

And I got to see it with Mrs. Angrybell. I'm still buzzing about it.

Wow!

More Thoughts on The Volga Front

So as I mentioned in my last post, I'm stuck in Stalingrad-type case. Mrs. Angrybell, while she was feeding AngryBabybell was looking at one of the motions they filed for attorneys fees. This was her comment:

For the amount of money their spending on this case, they could have just put a hit out on your client and saved some money. The economy the way it is, I'm sure they could have found someone to do it for less.

In other news, we had another hearing in this case today. The other side lost this rather minor hearing. But on the up side... it made them cry. Really. The opposing counsel was waiting for the elevator trying to hide the fact she was crying.

Yes, I know it makes me sound like I'm awful, but I loved seeing my opposing counsel with tears leaking out of her eyes as she stomped off. Mrs Angrybell, however, was just disgusted by it all. Not by me, but at the female opposing counsel for making women attorneys look bad.

So The Project Is Complete

Meet Angrybabybelle. She is too cute, even if she looks a little out of sorts in that picture. Posting will resume as soon as some sleep is had.

Quote of the Day

Today's quote of the day comes from Mrs. Angrybell's year-end review at her work. There were two reviewers. Reviewer #1 went on and on about how good she did and how valuable an employee she was.

Reviewer #2: Next year, maybe you could shoot for walking on water.

For almost walking on water, the raise was only 3%.

My take on that: Cheap B@st@rds!

Fourth of July in San Francisco

Heard at Chrissy Field during the fireworks:

"Great, we're freezing and we can now say we saw the fog turn pink."

I Hope She Sues

Over at Above the Law, there is an email from an associate who was recently terminated by Paul Hastings.

Now, I have never experienced a miscarriage (mostly because I am male). However, having worked for a smaller, pettier firm, I know what its like to be told that the work is good and then to be blindsided by performance review which bears no relation to reality. The performance review that says the attorney has failed in numerous areas, but there is no empirical evidence to back up the assertions.

Carolyn Elefant, over at thinks this was the wrong response (she also suggest that she blogged about it, even though I can not find that this associate did). I disagree. Now, I am not an employment specialist, but I don't think this is going to hurt her case. Of course, Paul Hastings is not going to rescind their termination of her employment (law firms never admit to errors against their own employees).

I have to say, I wish I could have written this email when I was leaving my former firm. However, unlike this unnamed associate, I did not have enough in the bank to do that.

Mrs. AngryBell has this to say, "I want to be on that jury. They do this to women all the time in big firms. As a man, you can be mediocre and make partner. As a woman, one little misstep and you are gone. Every time Paul Hastings opens their mouth, I would just add another zero to that judgment."

Is This Discrimination?

Supervisor constantly asks a work-related stupid question to the wrong the females on a team at work. Supervisor apparently asks work-related stupid questions to the appropriate males on the same team.

Discrimination? Discuss.

Confessions

Ok. So I am putting this up so that Mrs. Angrybell does not take it upon herself to start blogging herself. I just don't think that I could handle it. I can see it now, all the stupid things I say... plus all the really geek-tastic things I like...

But enough about that...

So today a special strike force hit the Law Offices of the AngryBell. At around noon today, the office resembled:



In more than four hours of fierce windexing, pledging, and a lil old fashion paper tossing, the state of paper in the office has been brought under control. Over the next few days, the bulk of the closed files should be moved to their lovely new off-site storage facility.

Now, the confession part of all this is what my wife discovered. I have, to put it nicely, forgotten to cash some checks for work I have done. Some of the time its because I do not realize that I have gotten paid. Other times its because my office organization is ... well... unique in a fun and exciting way.

Then again, her rationale for why I am so bad with money is that I am more concerned with the intellectual challenge of being a lawyer rather than being a good businessman. Seeing as how I would like to buy a house someday, I think I need to get this business thing down a lil better.

A Pearl Of Wisdom From My Wife

In talking about my clients, she stated "It must really suck to represent someone as crazy as your clients".

Sometimes. Only sometimes.

My Wife Puts Up With A Lot

Really she does.

For example, today I started working on this appellate brief (not the one previously mentioned, I am still waiting on the opening brief). I took this job from another solo who needed help and he has liked my work so far. So now I get to opening brief on a case dealing with res judicata and cross-complaints, but to me its the Bug Man Case.

As I am working on the Bug Man Case brief, I get a message that someone needs representation at trial on Monday from the local pro bono group. And this case is really quirky and interesting. Plus, it has the added benefit that the other side is saying that there are to be no deals. Either he is out by trial date or they will go to verdict on it.

I sooooo want to take this case. It looks like fun. But I have to finish the brief. And my wife gets to watch me do this, laughing because I probably look like I did when I was back in elementary school and I had to do my homework instead of something more fun... like playing D&D or something.