FIRST MONDAY IN JANUARY

 If you are a long-time reader of The Blog, then you know our number one hard and fast rule is 

NEVER SET A CASE FOR TRIAL IN THE FIRST WEEK OF JANUARY. 

The corollary of the rule is to avoid trials in January, especially the first two weeks of January. 

The reason is simple. Judges and Prosecutors have spent their time off in December fulminating about the prior year, angry about the increase in their audits/caseloads, and after as much introspection as they are capable of between the holiday soirees with free shrimp and booze, they come to the conclusion that they were too lenient in the prior year!  Crafty defense attorneys took advantage of their generosity and by gawd that is going to end!  The way to solve their problem is not to work harder. That thought never enters their mind clouded by shrimp rolls and anger.  No, the way to solve the problem is to rocket a few defendants in the first few weeks of January so that the word goes out- "Better plea that case with Judge so and so. Did you see what they did last week?"

This year it might be easier to avoid those early January trials. Omnicon has put a damper on the desire for trials. But consider this- the only jurors who will show up are those who do not care about masks and vaccinations because they think the whole pandemic thing is a Bill Gates/Dr. Fauci conspiracy. And while your client who is charged with storming a government agency might catch a break, the average REGJB client on an armed robbery rap will probably will not fare as well unless s/he was wearing a MAGA hat when s/he committed the crime. 

There is another reason why the first Monday in January sucks. All those clients and lawyers who have taken time off in December return, and our text and whats app and email inbox is flooded with "Hey- what's going on with my case?"

Beyond dealing with prosecutors and judges and their New Year's resolutions, opposing counsel and clients also have their own resolutions, many of which involve more texting and emails and general harassment of us. 

Which is why, being the experienced lawyer we are, that even when we are not away the first week of January, our email inbox has an auto "I'm on vacation until January 10, 2022"  response. 

Therefore, while we will carefully select our responses, for the most part, if you're looking for Rumpole you will have to wait a week. 

FANTASY FOOTBALL UPDATE: 

We won our semifinal match, sending the 13-2 mighty Born Tua Be Wild team to an ignominious defeat, mostly on our last-minute brilliant pickup of Seattle RB Rashad Penny who gave us a blow-out the doors 35.50 points (rather than the measly 11 that Giants RB Barkley -our awful first-round pick- got). Our pickup was the difference as we beat Tua 131-119 and we still have a RB in tonight's game. Without Penny we would be at 111 points and still looking good with our second RB playing tonight. But now we do not need to worry. 

In the other matchup, number 4 seed De La Fins is about to upset number 2 Norwood's Revenge. De la Fins has a commanding 155.20-111.18 lead heading into MNF. Norwood has RB Chubb, but even if he puts up Rashad Penny-like numbers, it will not be enough. 

Which means that next week, your scrappy underdog blogger will be playing the mighty De La Fins for championship bragging rights!