Courtoons and Comments

Those who read my blog on the regular know that I like to use cartoons to "illustrate" my point (and in case there was any confusion there... those are necessary quotation marks because I intended to use both meanings of the word illustrate).  A huge thank you to Kevin for passing along Courtoons.

I hesitate to publish a couple of my favorites, only because... well, it might be too soon.  Since the first of the year, I have been so busy it's hard to see straight.  That doesn't mean we're out of the woods yet.  Two and a half months does not an economic boom make.  Still... this "courtoon" is pretty hysterical.

 It's particularly funny to me for a couple of reasons.  First, despite a great deal of advice to the contrary, I started the habit of writing down my time on a chart that looks very similar to the pictured chart, rather than relying on technology to keep track of my 6-minute billable increments.  Turns out that, like with everything else, computers are always better.  Especially at math.  And this lawyer apparently lacks reliable addition skills.  I was literally losing hours of my day, and I couldn't figure out where that time was going.  At this point, I have to assume that it went to the same place that socks go when you know you put them in the washer, but somehow they don't come out of the dryer.  Somewhere out there are a lot of socks and tenths of hours... just floating around.

Second, in my first few days as a "newly-minted lawyer," my supervising attorney made a face and rolled his eyes when I asked about keeping track of my non-billable "admin" time.  He tried to tell me that no cared what I did if it wasn't billable.  I refused to believe that was the case.  "But what if I'm working on something for the firm?  Like reviewing one of the firm vendor contracts or something??"  I asked in disbelief.  Doesn't matter.  No one cares. Was his response.  "But, but... what if I write an article that the firm asked me to write?!?"  Doesn't matter.  No one cares.  "Ok, well what if I attend a mandatory firm meeting that lasts 2 hours of my afternoon?!?!?"  Doesn't matter.  No one cares.

Those who know me, know how stubborn I can be (ok, how stubborn I am), so, again, despite explicit advice to the contrary, I kept track all of my personal/admin time during my first year of practice.  I entered all of the time I spent that wasn't billable, but that I felt like I deserved some kind of credit or recognition for.  No really... ALL of my time.  Like the nights I played on the firm's kickball team: "2.5 hours: Commute to/from and participation in Firm kickball game." (...like if I capitalized the "f" of Firm, it made it more legit... [there are additional jokes here that I'm just not going to make].).  Or the Firm potluck barbeque on a Saturday afternoon in August: "Preparation for and attendance at Firm BBQ.  Argument with boyfriend regarding the same."

This will not come as a surprise to anyone who has been practicing for more than a year... but guess what?  It didn't matter.  No one cared. 

... More Courtoons and Comments to come.