Judge expects attorneys to write well if they want top dollar

Law.com has this article by Shannon P. Duffy from The Legal Intelligencer: “Judge Slashes Lawyer’s Rate for Typos, Careless Writing”

Finding that a Philadelphia attorney’s courtroom work was “smooth” and “artful” in winning a $430,000 verdict in a civil rights suit, but his written work was “careless” and full of typos, a federal magistrate judge ruled his court-awarded fees should be paid at two rates — $300 an hour for courtroom work, but only $150 an hour for written work on the pleadings.

The judge said his “complete lack of care in his written product shows disrespect for the court. His errors, not just typographical, caused the court a considerable amount of work.” He said he recognized the case was complicated, but some of the writing in the amended complaint was “nearly unintelligible.”

“When defense lawyers complained that the typographical errors . . . were ‘epidemic,’ the attorney’s response included several more typos”:

“As for there being typos, yes there have been typos, but these errors have not detracted from the arguments or results, and the rule in this case was a victory for [the plaintiff]. Further, had the Defendants not tired [sic] to paper Plaintiff’s counsel to death, some type [sic] would not have occurred. Furthermore, there have been omissions by the Defendants, thus they should not case [sic] stones” [sic inserted by the judge]

In his most recent letter to the court, [the judge] noted, [the attorney] misspelled the judge’s name . . . .

But [the judge] said he was impressed by [the attorney's] work in the courtroom.

“As for the time [he] spent in court, considering the quality of his written work, the court was impressed with the transformation. [He] was well prepared, his witnesses were prepped, and his case proceeded quite artfully and smoothly.”

Moral [not morale] of the story?

Too many lawyers have the trial skills and the ambition to be courtroom heroes, but lack the ability or desire to perfect their writing, or the willingness to spend the time on such “grunt work’ as doing research and writing briefs. It gets delegated down to less experienced lawyers, who may or may not get the job done well and efficiently.

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