A Grinchly Contest for the Title of Uncivilest
Dahlia Litwick at Slate seeks stories about attorneys’ most evil “pre-holiday shenanigans” — a contest to determine the meanest thing done to an opponent right before the holidays. Here’s her explanation:
So, here’s a class they don’t teach in law school: screwing overyour opponent just in time for the holidays. They probably should. Foranyone with even a lick of evil in their soul and a filament ofcreativity in their brain, the law offers a whole host of opportunitiesfor wrecking the lives of others.
Consider the perfectly timedrestraining order, or the spontaneous motion for an order to showcause—or in fact anything that could bury the other side in researchand paperwork the day before Christmas. Think about the possibilitiesfor 11th-hour changes in the visitation schedule for thechildren—requiring canceled plane tickets and Christmas Eve courtappearances. Or the last-minute effort to have a local crèche or treedeemed unconstitutional.
Sure, we’d all like to pretend thisstuff doesn’t happen. Until they get a few drinks in us and we start tobrag about all the vile and devious tricks we’ve pulled to wreck theother side’s holidays. And for any lawyer reading this column who isshocked, shocked to learn that some attorneys deliberatelyfile motions and pleadings in order to trash the Christmas season forothers, well, just go back to saving the Mediterranean Monk Seal orwhatever it is you do.
So, send in your submissions before it is too late: grinchesq@hotmail.com.
[Meredith R. Miller]