the imbroglio

If you’re a public defender you probably end up getting some number of phone calls from your clients in jail. For me, that’s about 50-75% of the calls I get each day. All those calls come from payphones, and nearly every single call brings me some new task to complete, conundrum to solve, problem to get angry about, or challenge to surmount. So again I ask: What did the payphone bring you today?

Today for me brought a string of calls from clients who were well-behaved and quiet over the holidays, but are now getting restless to hear updates on their cases. Very busy day.

I’ve also spent a bit of time yesterday and today working on cleaning off the desk, tying up as many loose ends from 2007 as possible. I can see places on my desk that I haven’t seen in months! Next: The piles on the floor! Isn’t there a feng shui lesson in there? Piles keep you mired in the past? It’s time to move forward, so the days for those piles are few.

Finally, I’ve been working on improving my systems for attack and defense. By that I mean, I’m trying to figure out a way to keep focused far enough in the future in terms of court dates and other deadlines that I can aggressively represent my clients — that’s the attack. At the same time I’m trying to devise a low-overhead system for documenting what I do so I can remember it all and so I can cover my ass if any of those pesky IAC/ODC claims come up. It’s sort of the Kick Your Ass While I Cover Mine system. Our case management system is Justware Defender and it is so hopelessly slow and inadequate that it is of no help whatsoever in these areas. Instead (and I really hate to say this), I’m learning to use Outlook and Word to keep myself on task and keep good records of what I’m doing. So far, the experiment is in its infancy, but I’ve had two pretty productive days in a row w/it, so hope springs eternal.