Ah, productivity! I've felt frazzled and unfocused all week, then today it was as though someone flipped the switch to "on." After a great swim lesson in the early hours, I spent most of the morning participating in a moot court (that's "practice argument" to you non-lawyers) for a colleague who has her first-ever U.S. Supreme Court argument in December. I love our office moots. One of the best things about my wonderful job is that because we're not slaves to the God of the Billable Hour, we can get the entire appellate group in a room to bounce a case around for as long as it takes. I would have loved to have a videotape of today's argument, so I could study my co-workers' intensity and the interesting dynamics between us.
We spent almost three hours peppering the presenting lawyer with questions, trying to imagine what the Justices will want to explore with her and hashing out the finer points of her arguments and those of the government. I'm so fortunate to work with such smart, articulate, interesting people, and I love that everyone is willing to take so much time to help a colleague prepare for the most important argument of her career.
After the moot court, I spent a few hours playing around with the case that's been driving me crazy, and I think I've finally figured out how to handle it. I had a long talk with my client -- his new case manager is really nice, and arranged a phone call on just ten minutes notice. This client has had terrible relationships with his former attorneys, to the point that both he and his counsel have tried to terminate those relationships on several occasions (one of his past lawyers filed a motion with the caption "Take My Client Please"). But for whatever reason, he seems comfortable with me and receptive to my advice. He listens carefully to what I tell him and seems to understand that although I'm not necessarily handling the case the same way he tried to do it when he represented himself, I am acting in his best interests. It's very gratifying to have such a notoriously difficult client be so cooperative with me, and I'm hoping this "honeymoon period" will continue. Part of the reason we are working well together may be because I've been careful to validate my client's view of his case, and to let him know how impressed I am with his intelligence and with the way he put his case together as a pro se litigant.
Towards the end of the day, I reached a stopping point on that case and thought about turning to my next brief (which presents a fascinating, brain-twisting due process issue). But it was too late to shift mental gears, so instead I attacked the chaos that is my office. Now I have a few minutes to write before I head to yoga, and I'm surrounded by pristine space on a desk I'd forgotten was hiding under all that paper.
But I think I may actually work better when my office is a bit of a mess. Something about this blonde-wood expanse seems to make it harder for me to focus. Maybe it's the physical manifestation of my preference for background noise when working; I don't like things to be too quiet when I'm really trying to work hard, and find the hum of the radio or the low buzz of coffeeshop conversation far more conducive to productivity than the deafening silence of a library carrel. It's almost as though the white background noise occupies my right brain, so my left brain can devote itself to the task at hand.
For a long time I thought I should learn to work uninterrupted in a quiet space. But I've finally learned to acknowledge and accept the conditions in which I do my best work. Those habits have gotten me where I am today, which really is not a bad place!
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