DICTA. October 2021

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LEGAL MYTHBREAKERS By: Brad Fraser

Leitner Williams Dooley Napolitan PLLC

BOTH SIDES NOW

IT’S ALL ABOUT PERSPECTIVE This is usually the space where David Long or I present a “Legal Mythbreakers” article. I wanted to take a break from that theme and just write an article about my perspective of being a lawyer. Like many of my contemporaries, I did not go straight from undergraduate study to law school. I spent about 10 years working in different positions with a degree in psychology and social work. While it gave me some helpful perspectives, the most helpful perspective I gained from that period of time had nothing to do with my various jobs during those years. It came from my perspective of the other side of the attorney/client relationship: a client. The alliterative lyrics (“the dizzy dancing way you feel”) of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” is a beautiful foray about experiencing clouds, love and life from different perspectives. Like the lyrics, oftentimes as attorneys we “shake our heads” at the way our respective clients fail to understand what seems so clear and simple to us. What we often fail to recall is how the law looked to us before we became lawyers. Whether it is “love’s illusions” or “life’s illusions” we recall, surely, we can remember how baffling and counterintuitive the law must have seemed to us before we took the bar. My first experience with a lawyer happened as a result of a car wreck in 1986. A Ford Econoline van pulled directly out in front of me and my family in my Datsun B210. Needless to say, we got the worst of the encounter. After an overnight visit at the ER, we were contacted by the insurance company and requested to come in to give a statement. I was so impressed with how accommodating they were and was looking forward to a quick and fair resolution. After giving my recorded statement, I was ushered out and advised I would get an offer for my car and our injuries. They offered me $400 for a car for which I had just paid $600. I also put in a new clutch, pressure plate and throw out bearing. None of that impacted the “Blue Book Value,” so I was out a vehicle and offered nothing for the injuries. I went in search of a lawyer. Fortunately, we were connected to a young attorney named Nancy Harr. She resolved both the vehicle and injury claims quickly and fairly. You may have heard of Ms. Harr, as she served a stint in the U.S. Attorneys office for the Eastern District of Tennessee.

The second experience was a hotly disputed custody battle. I will spare the details, but fortunately I hired Dan Street in Kingsport to represent me. Dan was a combination warrior and counsel for me during the most tumultuous period of my life. You may know him now as the Sullivan County Attorney, a position he has ably handled for several years. Both of these experiences were invaluable to me as an attorney now. It is tempting to just treat it as a show: But now it’s just another show And you leave ‘em laughing when you go And if you care, don’t let them know Don’t give yourself away I always try to keep in mind that I have a client to whom the litigation is a very personal matter. Whether it is a car wreck, a custody dispute, a fraud claim, or a boundary dispute, these are real issues involving real people. I guess the purpose of this article is to challenge all of us to look at the attorney-client relationship from both sides. If you were ever a client of an attorney, try to remember what it was like to be in that position. Remember how much you relied upon that attorney to guide you through the process. Hopefully, it was a positive experience. If so, try to emulate that for your clients. If not, try to make it so. If you have never had to hire an attorney, imagine what it looks like from the other side. Look closely at your letter to the client and see if it would make sense to normal person with a typical education. Look closely at your bill and ask yourself “would I pay for this?” “Did that .4 phone call really last 20 minutes?” We will pick back up with Legal Mythbreakers in the future. In the meantime: Well something’s lost, but something’s gained In living every day.

B O A T B U I L D E R S , continued ‘His Memory will live on forever,’ USA Today (Aug. 27, 2021), available at https:// www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/08/27/kareem-nikoui-identifiedamong-dead-calif-city-officials/5622660001/. 14 Fleming, supra n. 12. 15 Erika I. Ritchie, Marine Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui of Norco among those Killed in Kabul Airport Bombing, Daily Bulletin (Aug. 27, 2021), available at https://www. dailybulletin.com/2021/08/27/norco-marine-among-those-killed-in-kabul-airportbombing/. 16 Jenny Dial Creech, Haley Carter Faces Challenges with Afghanistan Women’s Soccer Team (June 1, 2019), available at https://www.houstonchronicle.com/ sports/columnists/dialcreech/article/Haley-Carter-faces-challenges-withAfghanistan-13914993.php. 17 Haley Carter, Association Football Player, https://allfamousbirthday.com/haley-

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carter/, last visited Sept. 9, 2021. Common Goal, From Friendswood to Kabul--Getting to Know Haley Carter (2018), https://www.common-goal.org/Stories/From-Friendswood-to-Kabul--Getting-toKnow-Haley-Carter2018-09-20, last visited Sept. 9, 2021. Drew Hinshaw & Joe Parkinson, A Daring Escape Plan, Wall Street Journal, A1, A11 (Sep. 4-5, 2021). Id. Id. Id.

October 2021


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