I am shocked by how awful so many lawyers are

31 Aug 23

r/Lawyertalk 28.08.23 post by reddituser jtuffs:

I am shocked by how awful so many lawyers are

Does anyone else feel this way? I see the work product of so many of my adversaries - usually solo practitioners who I am assuming were solo from day one and never had to please an experienced partner and never had a real mentor - and it literally astounds me. Sometimes it seems like they have no idea what the law is on the area we are briefing or arguing about. Sometimes they submit papers filled with typos, or with different font sizes in different paragraphs, or with half of it double spaced and half single.

I'm primarily a family lawyer so let me give you an example. In my state, divorce agreements that don't contain certain specific language about child support cannot be enforced as to those support provisions. Those provisions are invalid. So I've seen probably 20 agreements where this became an issue, because a parent didn't pay their child support and lo and behold, when the other parent files an arrears petition, they can't collect because the agreement is invalid.

I mean this is basic, and important, knowledge. I regularly see attorneys who don't realize you can't go outside of the record on appeals. I see attorneys bill their clients tens of thousands for frivolous applications that have no basis in law. Lawyers unfamiliar with basic things like subpoenas or interrogatories.

I know every profession has incompetents, but the frequency of this in law, coupled with the rates these attorneys charge, is frankly depressing. I feel bad for their clients, who clearly saw some ad somewhere and probably just wanted a free consult and got roped in ….

comment 28.08.23 by frolicndetour:

Yea I was really proud of myself for graduating law school and passing the bar exam until I was exposed to all of the idiots who managed to do the same thing.

comment 28.08.23 by LHutzEsq:

I have a case right now where the other side is asking the state Supreme Court to grant cert. The only issue in the case was made incredibly clear by a Supreme Court decision that came down while we were waiting for the appeals court to rule. The appeal court based its entire decision on this new Supreme Court case.

Would you like to guess how many times opposing counsel mentions the new Supreme Court case in his petition for cert? Hint: it’s less than one.

comment 28.08.23 by Law_Student:

I once received a letter from opposing counsel written on pink cloud print paper, oriented landscape, with the text in very large papyrus (!) font.

To this day I wonder WTF was going on there. Was the man high? Impossibly eccentric? Was his secretary at their wits end trying everything in their power to get fired without success? It's difficult to believe that anyone thought such a thing was acceptable legal correspondence, and yet it existed, before my very eyes.

I think very strange things must happen in law offices that people who value competence can't comprehend.

comment 28.08.23 by PLEASEHELPMEBROS: