Page 87 of Booked on a Feeling

“You’re going to be sharing an office with one of our associates. You have to earn your own office.” He got to his feet and headed for the door. Lizzy assumed she was meant to follow.

“Trisha, this is your new office mate,” he said, walking into a smaller office across from his. “Hand over the Stewart case to her.”

“Hi, I’m Lizzy,” she said to her new office mate.

“Hi. Let me get that file together for you,” Trisha said with a hint of frustration. “I’m trying to get a motion to compel out the door right now, so bear with me.”

“You can spare five minutes to hand over the file to her,” Robert barked. “She’s not here to sit around. She needs to start billing.”

He stalked back to his office without waiting for Trisha’s reply. Her office mate offered her a half-apologetic smile. “He always gets touchy when he’s preparing for trial. He’s normally more tolerable.”

“That’s okay,” Lizzy replied automatically.

Robert’s reference to billing five minutes into her first day made her stomach clench with nerves. One of the reasons she wanted to work part-time was to reduce her billable hours requirement. She didn’t want to be a slave to her job and had expected a smaller firm to be somewhat more relaxed than her old firm had been.

“Here’s the Stewart file. It’s a standard breach of contract case, and we represent Defendant, Stewart Corporation.” Trisha handed her a thick accordion folder. “The complaint is pretty self-explanatory. The written discovery and Plaintiff’s deposition are done. Robert will probably want you to draft a motion for summary judgment.”

“Are the undisputed facts that clear-cut?” Lizzy arched an eyebrow in surprise. “Enough to get the case dismissed without a jury trial?”

Trisha gave her a wary look. “When we’re representing a defendant and billing by the hour, Robert always pushes for a motion for summary judgment.”

Lizzy bit back her protest and sat at her desk, facing the side wall. It seemed all law firms, big and small, couldn’t resist the chunk of change brought in by bringing a motion for summary judgment. A familiar tremor started deep inside her and spread into her limbs. Her hands shook as she pulled out the complaint. Tension gripped her neck and shoulders, and a headache flared behind her eyes. She tried to breathe through her anxiety and review the allegations in the complaint. She distracted herself from her panicked thoughts by analyzing the evidence in the written discovery and deposition transcript. Focusing on her logic helped slow her pulse to normal, and some of her tension left her body.

She had a decent grasp of the case within three hours. As she’d feared, she saw no basis for a summary judgment motion. Most of the key facts were disputed by the parties, so Plaintiff’s claims were entitled to a jury trial.

“How’s the motion to compel going?” Lizzy asked, coming up for air. It was past noon, and Trisha hadn’t moved from her desk either.

“I’m done. I just need to read through it once before it goes out the door,” her office mate said. “Then we can go to lunch to celebrate your first day, and I’ll introduce you to the other associate.”

“That’s fine. Take your time.”

Lunch was a simple affair at a nearby diner. Phil, the other associate, was friendly enough, but the entire lunch conversation consisted of him and Trisha venting about their workload and the terrible opposing counsels they were dealing with. Lizzy fought off another bout of anxiety by working through a mountain of french fries and listened to her coworkers’ tirade with only half an ear.

They returned to their desks in less than an hour, and Lizzydecided there was no point in putting off the inevitable. She knocked on Robert’s door, holding the Stewart complaint and a yellow notepad in her hand.

“Robert, do you have a minute?” she said when he didn’t look up from his desk.

“Come in. What is it?” he asked impatiently.

“Trisha mentioned that I should prepare a summary judgment motion for the Stewart case.”

“Yes. She’s been with me for a couple of years. She knows how I like to do things.”

“But this case isn’t a good candidate for a motion for summary judgment.” Lizzy got straight to her point. If he was busy, then it was best she didn’t waste any of his time. “Plaintiff could raise a number of material issues of fact to bar the motion from being granted.”

Robert narrowed his eyes at her. “A summary judgment motion is not only filed when you’re certain of its success. It could also be used to pressure Plaintiff into a reasonable settlement.”

“That only works when we have a strong enough motion to cause Plaintiff concern that they might lose their chance for a jury trial,” she said, her frustration rising. “Filing a summary judgment motion in this case is almost frivolous.”

“What are you? The ethics committee?” he snarled. “We are litigators, and this is what we do.”

Why was she making such a big deal out of this? How many motions for summary judgment had she written knowing that she was going to lose? Too many to count. But she thought that was part of the big-firm culture. She thought things would be different in a smaller firm. She now realized that she had absolutely no grounds for believing that other than wishful thinking.

She couldn’t escape it. The conflict, the antagonism, the constant reminders of the bottom line. Like Robert said, thatwas what litigators did. They fought for a living, day in and day out. The bigger the fight, the better it was for the bottom line. That was how they earned their keep. Well, shecouldescape it. All she had to do was stop being a litigator.

“Well, it isn’t whatIdo.” Lizzy stood from her seat.

“Sit down.” Robert’s eyes bugged out. “We aren’t finished.”

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