This is ridiculous. So, like many other states, State had dedicated motion days. Like many other firms, we often find ourselves, on motion days, with oral argument scheduled in several different counties all over State. Which is why you have a bunch of lawyers working together so that you can work it all out smoothly and if you have argument in Counties A and B at 9am, and another associate has argument in County B at 9am, he can cover you County B argument as well as his, leaving you free to get to your County A argument. It's a lovely system. Except when people are less then brilliant -- as, of course, I shall now demonstrate:
Tomorrow is such a motion day. While I, being only a lowly first-year associate, have no oral arguments of my own, a poll of the other attorneys turns up four that can't be adjourned, done by phone or otherwise made to not require personal appearance tomorrow: two in County A and two in County B. Two of these belong to SSP, one in each county, one in the morning and one in the early afternoon, and I wrote the briefs for both. Therefore, for those of you who missed the literary brilliance of my post (hey, if Faulkner could become revered for his stream-of-consciousness, I can too! really!), he for once said I could come along to the arguments - yay fun. (no, i really did mean that seriously.) I had resolved to leave the office at 4:30 and go home and get enough sleep to be conscious and talking and walking at 7am tomorrow.
But then. Another partner came in a little bit ago. This partner also has motions in Counties A and B, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. However. In the infinite wisdow of our-lack-of-a-better-central-management-system, they are somehow scheduled in direct opposition to SSP's motions in the same counties. (Well, actually, it's really in the infinite wisdom of the judge to whom the motion will be argued, but whatever. Don't get stuck in the details people.) And they concern an area of law I'm really not a huge fan of, don't like to deal with AND I"M SO TIRED RIGHT NOW I CAN"T EVEN THINK ABOUT PREPPING FOR TWO ORAL ARGUMENTS. I want to cry. No one else can cover them, because, of course, the inappositeness of the scheduling. I have never worked on these cases before. Arguing these motions will require complete knowledge of two huge files on which discovery has been totally completed.
On a scale of one to a million, how unprofessional is it to burst into tears at work?
(And, on a related note, why do I have a sneaking suspicion I've asked that before?)