What Wakes You Up In The Middle Of The Night?

I don't know what wakes up you Loyal Readers in the middle of the night and leaves you tossing and turning, unable to fall back asleep again. For me, a jury trial gone horribly out of control is one such thing.

Maybe one day I'll be able to explain the absolute horror show that this trial has become. Suffice to say that thinking about it still gets me very upset at our bench officer for allowing things to reach the point that they have, and I have some real concerns that need to be resolved in as discreet a fashion as I can get them resolved. I'm not mad at my adversary for doing his job or asking questions that have answers uncomfortable to my side of the case -- that's his job, after all, and I don't ever get mad at an attorney for doing his job. But it is awkward indeed with him being inexperienced and the bench officer's attitude about the proceedings. So, while I know that leaves you all wanting more details, I'm going to leave things at that because my concern is about the bench and not the bar.

Anyway, three days of jury trial is enough to get anyone on edge, especially when the trial should have taken about thirty minutes. And we're going into our fourth day on Monday. We've finished evidence but haven't got jury instructions read or final arguments submitted.

I feel terrible for my client, who is going to wind up spending five figures on something that ought to have been handled for less than a thousand dollars. That's something I'm moderately upset at my adversary about -- he could easily and efficiently have raised his client's arguments and evidence in a bench trial and quickly obtained a decision. Trying a case like this before a jury is a gigantic waste of everyone's time and effort, particularly the jury's.

That's part of why I woke up at one in the morning Friday night and couldn't fall back asleep again until four. After trying to get back asleep for half an hour, I realized it was no use, and came downstairs to write my closing argument, which took me until four, by which time I had both vented out my emotions, the arguments and issues running through my head, and reached the limit of what adrenaline and outrage will do to keep one awake while the sun is on the other side of the world.

The Wife had an event that she was speaking at Saturday morning. I wanted to go and support her but this kind of got in the way. She won her contest, and I regret not going; I like to support her and let her know that I'm proud of her achievements. But after the events of Friday I'm not surprised to have had the stress finally get to me, and I'm glad that it at least happened on the weekend when I could sleep it off the next morning and not have to be at court in the morning, well-rested and alert. Monday I'll be fine again and I'll be able to present my closing argument like a reasonable lawyer again, and hopefully consider the larger problem of what's going on up on the bench in a more rational way.