Shit... Every Week in Book Four: Ichi-no-Tani 2017

Well… shit. It seems every week (lately) works the exact same way.

I work intense hours Monday, Tuesday… like… 11 to 12 hour days with 6 to 8 billable hours.
Then Wednesday is more… moderate.... in some ways. I’m still putting in an 8 to 12 hour day.... but the billable hours consistently stay between 4 and 6. Then Thursday comes and… no matter how long I am in an office… I’m lucky to get 4 billable hours. Then Friday and… maybe 3? Maybe?

So…
OPTION 1: as the Wife thinks… I’ve created a mini-burnout loop so that I can keep going here. I crash hard on the weekends with sleep, re-setting myself. I go balls out Monday and Tuesday… I start to slump on Wednesday… and then I’m burnt out at some point on Thursday or Friday. Only to start it all back up again.

OPTION 2: The firm ebbs based on the week’s progression. I typically have more appearances on Mondays and Tuesdays no matter the county.

OPTION 3: This is all just a feature of how the firm is but just for RIGHT NOW. Evidence: Monday, when I was in the office, Bosses were in Iowa City. Tuesday, when Bosses were in the office, I was in Boone doing Jury Trial all day. Wednesday, when I was in the office at 7:30 a.m. for an 8:00 hearing; Chinese Boss didn’t get in until after 10:00 a.m. Today, when I am in the office, White Boss has hearings most of the day and Chinese boss is in Iowa City. So… yeah… my remaining “projects”?
(1) Phone a client who wants to hire us; determine if we should set a face-to-face meeting
(2) Decide whether (through me) the Firm wants to begin branching out into EB5 Business Plan formation and management
(3) This one I’m guessing. Chinese Boss sent me a photo of a piece of paper. That paper had a hastily scrawled note saying “I’m being evicted wrongfully. Call me.” That is what the e-mail was. A picture of that note. No offense and I know I’m a lawyer but… in my experience, most phone calls that start with that kind of “prayer” are with an individual who is less… calm? Less… mentally stable? And… the boss didn’t tell me to call this woman. That would be an assumption on my part. But if I need to set up a face-to-face with this lady… what? I’m going to drive to Iowa City for free? I’m really super mondo against that.
(4) Meet with one of my clients this afternoon to discuss strategy
(5) Decide whether we are going to sue a Multinational Education Company that is based in Pennsylvania. This one is weird and frustrating… because the website and information is all in Chinese. The company’s English Version of the site? Is all in Chinese with a “page summary” in English. Here’s the legal issue:
An international student was being removed from school. This would result in an immigration issue. This student heard of an Education Company that helps in these matters. He phoned the company and they said that they would help (for a starter fee of $6,000). He never met with an attorney. He never signed an Attorney Authorization Form. And when they “finished” with his immigration forms, they made him do all of the filing. Obviously, his forms were rejected. So… he spent 6 grand on a company from way out of State to type information (that he already possessed) into forms (that he could have gathered from USCIS.gov for free) and send them BACK TO HIM to file.

Obviously, there is significant legal issue here. On the face of it, that sounds downright criminal. But in order to investigate and properly collect the information I need to present… I need to gather information… from something that is primarily Chinese.

And my billable hours for today are… really terrible.

MONDAY: 8.1
TUESDAY: 7.4
WEDNESDAY: 6.9
THURSDAY (SO FAR… at 1:00 p.m): 2.2................................................dude.... that’s.... an embarrassing decline!