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Post by jagvet on Apr 8, 2020 12:11:25 GMT -5
DW here. So long as they actually do the leg work of representing the claimant instead of imitating a piece of office foliage in the hearing room, they can gulp water and fart in their chair to their heart's content, imo. Whatever you folks want. I've heard ALJs give diatribes on such subjects in hearing notes. I have never had to take those into consideration in the decision. I will not ever take them into decision. I wish that people who did this did not. If ALJ doesn't want someone to have water, he should politely say so and not do a diatribe. I don't mind if claimants or reps drink water during hearing. When phones ring, I don't say anything unless they don't try to turn it off. Since I was yelled at in my very first trial, I try very hard to avoid temper. I am more amused by reps drinking a lot of water than annoyed (how do they make it through the hearing?). Avoid embarrassing those local reps in front of their clients. Ignore offensive tattoos, offerings of blessing ("Have a blessed day, your honor"), even wearing of baseball caps (why make someone more uncomfortable than they already are by criticizing? It's not SCOTUS). Pretend you didn't hear the curse word. Just get the evidence and decide the case.
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Post by Ready-Now! on Apr 8, 2020 13:09:00 GMT -5
I don't really care what is directed at me, former prosecutor here, but there must be some decor/respect for the proceedings.
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Post by hamster on Apr 8, 2020 14:29:25 GMT -5
I am thinking of one of my occasional reps who comes in with a 2-liter bottle of water and gulps it constantly during the hearings. Very rude. I never touch food or drink in the hearing room. It goes way back in my litigation experience. A judge told me decades ago that even though cups and water were on counsel table, when an attorney stopped to take a sip, it always gave the appearance of stalling because he didn't know what to do next. I think there's some truth to that. I never had water, though, even before that. Here's why: 41 years ago I had my very first trial, a court-martial. A Trial Counsel (prosecutor) sets up the courtroom. I did, or so I thought. As I was making my opening statement, the military judge took a sip of H2O and promptly spat it out all over me. "Counsel, did you clean my water cup?" "No sir!" There was a bug in it. "The members [jury] will disregard counsel's negligence in failing to clean my cup! Proceed." DC: “Your Honor, at this time the accused withdraws the request for trial before members. We elect trial by military judge alone, Sir. And that was a heckuva big bug that the Trial Counsel left in your cup, Your Honor. Talk about willful dereliction of duty! But the accused is very confident of your impartiality,Sir, and that explains the change of forum. We are ready to proceed, and waive reading of the charges.”
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Post by hamster on Apr 8, 2020 14:33:24 GMT -5
I do tend to drink coffee and water during hearings. I'm doing less so now on with the Softphone. Beer then?
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Post by sealaw90 on Apr 9, 2020 23:00:55 GMT -5
I do tend to drink coffee and water during hearings. I'm doing less so now on with the Softphone. That's what the Mute button is for.
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Post by nappyloxs on Apr 10, 2020 20:30:42 GMT -5
Although lunch is 30 minutes according to all contracts and PPM, many offices have longer lunch periods, with some offices granting up to 1 hour. Unfortunately, my office is not one of them. The inconsistency falls on deaf ears.
First I have heard of lunch break issue. Lunch must end 2 hours before end of employee’s regular work day. Thus, if an employee starts at 6:30am, his/her lunch must end by 1:00pm. Mgmt should either 1) not schedule employee to monitor hearings after 11:30-45, 2) suspend flextime based on hearing schedule, 3) decide when lunch break is taken if hole in schedule, or 4) be flexible and let employee take lunch less than 2 hrs before end of day. Sounds to me mgmt is shifting problem to ALJ since they don’t want to tell employee when they can take lunch. Typical OHO mgmt style, shift blame somewhere else.
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Post by pumpkin on Apr 10, 2020 22:24:46 GMT -5
Presume ALJ Archie schedules hearings on Mon and Wed and ALJ Bettie schedules hearings Tues and Thurs. Seems like a reasonable management decision to designate the SCTs for Archie and Bettie as partners to cover a hearing for the other at lunch time.
I know there are a lot of variables in that Archie and Bettie may schedule their hearings to start at different times and the length and number of hearings may be different.
At least SCT Veronica would know that she is covering ALJ Archie’s 830, 9:15, 10, and 10:45 AM hearings, while SCT Jughead covers the 11:30 AM hearing, then SCT Veronica will be back on for the 12:15 and 1:00 PM hearings. Likewise, SCT Jughead knows he will serve as VHR for ALJ Bettie’s 9:30, 10:15, and 11:00 AM hearings, while SCT Veronica will cover the 11:45 AM hearing, and SCT Jughead is back on duty for the 12:30, 1:15, and 2:00pm hearings.
We need to provide good service for the claimants, but we also need to care for our own people.
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Post by charlsiekate on Apr 10, 2020 23:01:45 GMT -5
pumpkin THEY CANCELLED THE LOGIC GAMES SECTION ON THE LSAT. Oh, and the bar exam too apparently.
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Post by pumpkin on Apr 10, 2020 23:13:20 GMT -5
charlsiekate If all managers are lawyers, and all lawyers are logical thinkers, then all managers are logical thinkers. True or False?
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Post by mercury on Apr 11, 2020 11:58:07 GMT -5
charlsiekate If all managers are lawyers, and all lawyers are logical thinkers, then all managers are logical thinkers. True or False? To be fair, I think that’s closer to a logical reasoning questioning than a logic game. /pedant
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Post by Thomas fka Lance on Apr 11, 2020 12:12:24 GMT -5
If Bobby and Sue sit next to each other at a table for 6, and Bob's shirt is blue, what was the name of the waiters dog?
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Post by Pixie on Apr 11, 2020 12:25:31 GMT -5
If Bobby and Sue sit next to each other at a table for 6, and Bob's shirt is blue, what was the name of the waiters dog? This is a trick question because the waiter doesn't have a dog. I see we are back to abusing apostrophes, by not using them when needed.
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Post by Thomas fka Lance on Apr 11, 2020 13:10:00 GMT -5
If Bobby and Sue sit next to each other at a table for 6, and Bob's shirt is blue, what was the name of the waiters dog? This is a trick question because the waiter doesn't have a dog. I see we are back to abusing apostrophes, by not using them when needed. Gotta keep you distracted somehow.
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Post by marathon on Apr 12, 2020 9:21:06 GMT -5
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Post by christina on Apr 12, 2020 13:55:58 GMT -5
Well reasonable questions. What were u doing on hearing days?🙄
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Post by ba on Apr 12, 2020 15:28:32 GMT -5
Well reasonable questions. What were u doing on hearing days?🙄 Refer region to the hearing recordings. 😆
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Post by aljhopefully on Apr 12, 2020 20:07:17 GMT -5
I hope everyone is safe and healthy. This forum has been a wealth of knowledge to my (potential) pursuit to being an ALJ, and I thank you all for it.
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Post by tripper on Apr 13, 2020 15:18:00 GMT -5
I am having a hard time remembering to turn in those reports. I, too, get email reminders frequently. We also have to send emails on hearing days with the status of each hearing.
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Post by charlsiekate on Apr 13, 2020 18:54:48 GMT -5
charlsiekate If all managers are lawyers, and all lawyers are logical thinkers, then all managers are logical thinkers. True or False? This feels like a trick question...
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Post by rp on Apr 14, 2020 2:05:28 GMT -5
charlsiekate If all managers are lawyers, and all lawyers are logical thinkers, then all managers are logical thinkers. True or False? This feels like a trick question... It is, because it is a non-sequitur. 😂
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