The

Undeniable

Ruth

®

…and the Ruth shall set you free!

  • Day 36/90 – Sitting Second Chair

    ·

    Ruth Carter

    Day 36 of the 90 Days of Awesome is in the bank! What made today awesome? I got sit second chair for the first time in a courtroom!

    Sunset Scenes, Sedona, AZ 7-30-13zzm by inkknife_2000 from Flickr (Creative Commons License)
    Sunset Scenes, Sedona, AZ 7-30-13zzm by inkknife_2000 from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

    When I started Carter Law Firm right out of law school, I restricted my practice to transactional work: contracts, copyrights, and trademarks. I didn’t want to take a case that could go to litigation because I was afraid, as a new solo lawyer, that I would screw up the case. I never wanted to take that type of risk with my clients. Now that I’m with Venjuris, where I have colleagues who are experienced litigators, I am expanding the scope of my practice.

    Today, I made my first court appearance as a lawyer. It was a small hearing in Sedona regarding an injunction against harassment (a.k.a. a restraining order). I was there mainly to observe and learn, and it was a fantastic experience to see how the law plays out in real life. My colleague reminded me that you should never go into a court appearance thinking that anything is a for sure deal, because you always want to be on your toes and ready for anything.

    One thing I’ve learned this year since joining a firm that does litigation is that the law provides a framework to achieve resolutions to problems; however, it takes a certain level of creativity and finesse to practice law exceptionally well.

    In case you missed it: Day 35 of the 90 Days of Awesome – Being a Model for Bodyscaping Photography!

  • What’s the Better Rush: Skydiving or Litigation?

    ·

    Ruth Carter

    Last Friday, The Namby Pamby tweeted:

    Namby Tweet

    My response: “You know there’s this activity called skydiving – does the trick too with a lot more fun.”

    Namby claims he won’t “jump out of a perfectly good airplane,” but I think he’s denying a parachute its destiny.

    The closest things I’ve done to litigation is trial advocacy classes where the final was a mini fake trial, so I can’t say whether litigation prep or skydiving is a better adrenaline rush. But here’s the breakdown of the experiences from my perspective and based The Namby Pamby’s and The Mrs. Namby Pamby’s tweets.

    SKYDIVING LITIGATION
    It’s Saturday I’m doing whatever I want You’re working
    The View Amazing view from the plane and on the way down I hope your office has a window
    The Company Handpicking my group, including inviting the awesome Peter Shankman if he’s in town Dealing with potentially annoying coworkers, opposing counsel, and clients
    The Significant Other Can come too Has trouble remembering what you look like
    The Money Paying for the experience Getting paid – but how much do you really make per hour?
    The Risk I could die – but it will be fast You could be dying a slow death – due to stress, substance abuse, poor diet, etc.
    The Social Good Probably minimal Righting a wrong

    Created with the HTML Table Generator

    I asked my legal eagle friends whether skydiving or litigation had a better rush and they agree that skydiving is better than litigation.

    Mike: “Skydiving. I’ve done both, and there’s no comparison.”

    Chad: “I am going to say skydiving. After several years I began to dread litigation. I can’t imagine skydiving losing its appeal because the other skydivers are unprofessional poorly trained ass hats.”

    A criminal defense attorney recently told me that hearing the phrase “Not guilty” was better than orgasm and I get that given that that might be a live-or-death situation. However, I remain unconvinced that doing litigation prep all weekend has a better adrenaline rush than skydiving.

    What do you think?