The holidays are approaching, and everyone is getting into the spirit of things. Decorations were up early, shopping was started early. Everyone is looking for something to brighten their day in these times. When I see my lit tree in my window pulling into the driveway, it puts a smile on my face. Why? Because I’m human and I have feelings.
As I was trying to come up with a blog to write, our firm received some sad news regarding a representative of a client. It really hit us hard and I thought that this was the perfect time to talk about how we are human.
Lawyers and law firms are known to ruthless and tough, and while that is definitely true for our firm, we are also human and we hurt just like everyone else. While we are passionate about our jobs, we are compassionate human beings. We care about our clients and we care how any legal matter can take a toll on personal lives.
It doesn’t stop for our clients, it also goes for counsel and the other side of a matter. Lawyers are not invincible, and life happens, and with life happening, there comes some unexpected situations which cannot be avoided.
In litigation, of course our main objective is to move the matter forward for our clients and get to a resolution as soon as we can so people can move on with their lives. That said, there may be times when we need to adjourn a hearing last minute because of something in life.
Don’t think that makes us soft. If it something that keeps happening time and time again, we start to question the reasons and ask for proof or doctor’s note. Does that make us less human? I think not, I think that just shows that we really do have the client’s best interest at heart.
This news we received was unexpected for everyone, and so we are taking it just a bit harder. We are, as I said, only human and really do care.
Christine Allan, Law Clerk