Wednesday, February 10, 2021

"I am not a cat." Just another practice pitfall we did not anticipate when this two-week shutdown started, 11 months ago

The video itself is presented below, but I can't imagine it will be available indefinitely. For that reason, I've included a still (both the video and the still were obtained from this post on Lowering the Bar, a site I link to on Page One).

When I saw this on the news last night my first thought was there but for the grace of God go I.

One of my sons texted me a different link to this story first thing this morning -- and it occured to me then that I am indeed fortunate not to have all the latest gizmos and whizbangs installed on my creaky old laptop. I could just imagine that this poor lawyer's kids or grandkids got hold of his machine and, in all innocence, left it on a setting the poor lawyer could not un-set. He refers to his "assistant" trying to help him de-cat his image, and I wondered if said assistant might be the kid who got him in this predicament in the first place. And then maybe couldn't remember---in the pressure of the moment---how to fix the problem.

I know your malpractice carrier and the good folks at ARDC will tell you that lawyers need to keep their work machines away from family members -- and this video presents a perfect illustration of why this advice is given -- but the kids or grandkids are not swiping the lawyer's machine to ascertain client confidences or business secrets. They probably would take it only as a last resort: Adobe Reader is no substitute for Fortnite. They would only swipe a lawyer's computer because all the other machines had been taken.

The Texas judge in question released this video for "educational purposes," adding, "It is crucial that this not be used to mock the lawyers."

You'll have no trouble with me, Your Honor. Not on this one. But my kids may be a different story....

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