P.R.F. Prosebox 09/04/2019 in Book Six: Trying to Hold On 2019

Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening; you’re joining us here at P.R.F. Prosebox this entry being put forth on Wednesday, September Fourth, Two Thousand Nineteen.

Oh. Em. Gee. Yesterday at work was busy as hell kid! Seriously. Busy. As. Hell. But… through that busy I got a lot done. I went from 4 trials down to 1. That one trial may not even go now but… part of being busy is allowing for things I otherwise may not have. I despise the “Last Minute Plea Deal” bullshit. And this is how I phrase it, often. You’ll get my best plea deal 2 weeks before trial. If you reject that offer, I start going full-bore into trial prep. Consider “trial prep” to be like a steam engine that keeps moving forward while adding cars. The closer that train gets to the end of it’s track, the more cars it has. So, the closer we get to trial… the harder it is to stop that train. WHICH IS WHY, except for very unique circumstances, I never offer plea deals the week OF trial. And if I do… they’re not often going to be better deals than what was initially rejected. That being said… the judge yesterday suggested that doing a One for One would be in the best interest of all parties. Reluctantly agreeing, I made an offer. Which puts me in the unenviable position of not actually knowing if I have a trial set for tomorrow or not until the end of business today.

SO… how do I go forward today knowing that tomorrow could either be (1) A Jury Trial or (2) Magistrate Hearings… but not both?

Two different schedules with overlapping and contradictory things scheduled. Do all the overlapping things first. When the day “as it would go either way” is taken care of; prioritize. JURY TRIAL stuff is more important. SO, look at Magistrate Hearings list… is there anything there that can’t be delayed or deferred? If so, get it done. Otherwise, delay and defer. THEN return to the items of priority and throw yourself into them with abandon. IF you don’t have JURY TRIAL tomorrow… oh well. You can go back to the Magistrate Hearing schedule at any point and get right back into the grove. BUT if you DO have jury trial tomorrow… at least you’ll be prepared.

This is… one of the other crazy-making things about being a lawyer. Not only do we deal with everyone on their worst day (arguably) and not only do we deal with the law (as disorganized and poorly written as it sometimes is) but there is a lot of Hurry Up and Wait and a lot of Get Your Stress Levels Super High and Prepare for a Big Trial But Acknowledge That It Might Not Happen But It Still Might Happen But You Don’t Actually Know Until the Day Of!

I suppose one way of describing it from my acting days would be as follows:

Every three months, you have to prepare two plays from casting call to finished production. You need two casts, two sets, two scripts. You need the sets to look their best, the scripts memorized, and the cast prepared to put on a professional grade stage production. The night before the First Play is to begin, the theater calls and says “We didn’t sell enough tickets for the first play. That one is cancelled. The second play needs to go on tomorrow night.” But sometimes the night before the First Play is to begin, the theater calls and says, “First show sold out instantly. Cancel the second show and put all your attention on the first show.” But sometimes the night before the First Play is to begin, the theater calls and says, “Neither show sold any tickets, both are cancelled.” And you go through this every three months consistently.

That metaphor isn’t perfect… but it is close. And that’s where I am right now. I have everything set up to put on “Oliver”… I’ve already gotten the Theater to tentatively cancel “Othello”… but now I’m just waiting to see what that phone call is going to be.

If the phone call cancels “Oliver”… I may return and write another entry. If “Oliver” is going ahead… it may be a crazy and trial-focused night.