"The Beard Grows, But The Head Does Not Grow Wiser."
"Lawyers work hard and, like us, they're human, many of them."-Dick Cavett
“A judge is a law student who marks his own examination papers.” - H. L. Mencken
"I tell you, I'll consult my lawyer. And if he advises me to do it, I'll get a new lawyer."-Groucho Marx 
"We are all here for a spell, get all the good laughs you can."
No, the above image is not a screen grab from Panel 2 of Wayne County Case Evaluation of Friday, May 7, 2021. Though, with a panel consisting of Sheldon Miller, Abe Barlaskar and yours truly, one could well think so.
May 7 was a bit of a throwback to the old days of in person case evaluation hearings. Shel told us his story of challenging the constitutionality of original No-Fault Act in front of Judge Horace Gilmore in the Wayne County Circuit Court. His co-counsel was Harry Philo.
In addition, I was able to catch up with some local gossip, including the story, later confirmed, of a local Circuit Court judge leaving the bench, well before his/her term was to end.
It wasn't like sitting along with 3 other panels, with lunch across the street at the Detroit Club. But, a nice reminder of former days when case evaluators were required to wear shoes.
Coincidentally, the picture above was the only image that came to my mind when someone said "Zoom", prior to March of 2020.
This reminded me of the time I sat with Shelly over two years ago. And as a "Senior Lawyer", it was great to talk about the good old days. He wrote an interesting article recently in the Detroit Bar Newsletter. I'm sure many lawyers are unaware of how instrumental he was in the creating mediation process. It sure was a boon to me as a young lawyer trying to juggle a huge case load at the city law department. It required me to review and really evaluate my cases and their worth.
It is great to see the diversity that now exists in the panels too. There weren't many women or people of color as I recall when it first started.
Posted by: paula Cole | 05/26/2021 at 07:59 AM