Sleeping comfortably on the souls of exploited children

So the family has gathered at my brother's place in North Carolina for Thanksgiving. It's a lovely condo in scenic (smack between the Interstate and the airport) Greensboro. I'm also told there is a Navy test field somewhere nearby.

So as I was settling in to sleep last night on the futon in my brother's room (mom and dad having already occupied the spare room and the couch being ever so slightly too short), I comment on how very very comfortable the pillows were, and asked him where he got them. By way of reply, he simply told me that his company (for those of you who are unaware, my brother works here) gave him a $25 gift card for thanksgiving.

I was suddenly overcome with a horrible suspicion, and demanded to know where the pillows had come from.

"Wal-Mart" he said mischievously, knowing my aversion to that particular den of evil.

I would have thought the screams of countless exploited children would have kept me up, but turns out they are remarkably soothing.

New favorite word

dil·a·to·ry  (ˈdi-lə-ˌtȯr-ē)

adj.

1. Intended to delay.

2. Tending to postpone or delay: dilatory in his work habits.

This is why I love being a lawyer, we have a word for everything.  

Oh right

Yeah, and I totally kicked the crap out of the Maryland Bar exam.

You may now refer to me as Erik Snyder, Esq.

Fear me.

Things you never want the Court to say to opposing counsel

So as some of you no doubt know, I'm working on this case against a certain reporter who printed some totally untrue things about our client that subsequently ruined his career.  The reporter most likely did so (knowingly or not) at the behest of one or more highly-placed government agent(s) who, lacking any legal means of retaliating against our client, decided to smear him in the press and then escape liability by hiding behind their "confidential source" status.

Anyway, we've been litigating this for a while and, after more than a year's worth of delaying tactics, the now very annoyed judge made the following comment in an order denying the reporter's most recent attempt to avoid giving up his source:

"The court is aware of other factors which might later be considered if the court were presented with a motion for sanctions or contempt. Specifically... [list of things the reporter did wrong].  If these apparent circumstances were to be later borne out as fact, and perhaps joined by others of a similar vein in a battle over fees and costs, they could be interpreted as a strategy of dissembling and “sandbagging” which, as such, would not bode well for Respondent and/or his attorney."

Word to the wise.  When you've annoyed a judge so much that he actually invites the opposing party to file a motion for contempt and sanctions, and then actually lists specific things that he "might consider" in such a motion... yeah, you've screwed up big time.

YES WE DID!

I'm still exhausted from yesterday.  The day started at 1:00am with a trip down to southeastern VA to do poll watching, then standing in the rain for 13 hours watching said poll, then driving back TO THE BIGGEST SPONTANEOUS PARTY I'VE EVER SEEN.  There were gobs of people all over town singing and cheering and dancing and celebrating in the streets.  Completely amazing.  I'll post more later, but for now I'll leave you with this: