lawyers suck

Okay not all of them. One of my oldest (in years, not in age) and close friend, Aimee is a wonderful lawyer. And I’ve met several others, who were “fine” so to speak. But this lawyer, their lawyer…. grrr! Harsh. So Law & Order! Gosh! I was hoping for an Ally McBeal set up, where lawyers are funny, and uber attractive.

Oh, I forgot. I’m in Manila, not some cool sitcom.

Following the meeting at the mediation office, therefore revealing a truth, our lawyer met up with me last Saturday to prepare me for trial that was to be held last Monday. He was to call me in as the first witness. We prepared exactly what he would ask, and how I would answer – word to word. We had a general idea what the counter attack would be, thus, we prepared how to answer those questions as well.

Come Monday, was at the Regional Trial Court as early as 8am for the 8:30 hearing. When we got to the RTC, I was impressed and pleased that it didn’t look like the crap Hall of Justice at all. It was newly built, clean, well airconditioned, seemed to be well planned-out space. The 12th Floor was divided to several rooms were the small trials were to be held.

There were 7 schedules along with us. And we were 6th in line. That means we’d have to listen to all 5 trials before being called. Which was fine, because our lawyer was able to show me how the process went, and basic do’s and dont’s.

Not fine though, because it was a total bore. :yawn:

By around 1030, it was our turn (after accomplishing writing notes, doodling, taking pictures from my mobile, going to the restroom about a dozen times, reading and studying my script) and I was called in the witness stand.

Please state your name, address, employer’s name and designation.

Please place your left hand on the bible, and raise your right hand. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I do.

Our lawyer then proceeded to ask me several questions, as per script, and *tried* to remember the correct way of answering, as per instructions – using Sirs and Ma’ams as necessary.

After which the judge asked their lawyer if he will cross examine. Which, to my obvious luck, he did.

I object, your honor. :bop:

Anyway, he proceeded to ask me yes and no questions and OBVIOUSLY leading towards “it’s OBVIOUS that you have no claim”. But since it wasn’t a black and white situation, where yes, is not just a yes, and no is not just a no, I tried to explain. And that prat of a lawyer, said “Just answer the question – Yes or No”. :biset:

Of course, I’d say yes. But there’s a BUT and he didn’t want to hear the BUT. 😦 I kinda knew it was like this. I mean, he’s not our lawyer. He would highlight the points that would go against us. But still, I guess I didn’t expect explosive and the making me feel *stupid* and harassed about it.

I still felt harassed about it, actually. Like I don’t have a right to claim. That even if we were taken for granted, used, abused and the feeling of linoko, it wasn’t because we weren’t doing the right thing, but because we didn’t document properly. In other words, he made me feel that I did a sloppy job.

He sure did a good job bringing down my morale. Making me feel as if I should just let go even if there was a breach in contract.

Our lawyer didn’t help much either. He read ONLY from the yellow notepad we prepared the weekend before. And even after the counter, he didn’t seem to give me a chance to explain. At least not in the way I wanted to, leaving me feeling in the wrong.

Lawyers suck. :weep: