A race to the courthouse...

Okay... all you adrenaline junkies out there, become lawyers.

Today we had to file an Answer/Counterclaim/opposition to motion and letter brief, along with the myriad of things that go to the court with these, by 4:30 p.m. in a borough about 45 minutes away that requires filing in person.

We were not as prepared as we had hoped due to a variety of reasons including loss of a paralegal for two weeks, and settlement attempts.

We began our day at 10 a.m. at our desks frantically editing the previous copies we had begun and adding the "legal stuff" to the work while our children played in the next room and occasionally interrupted. (As there was no school for any of us today, the office held three frantic lawyers and two little girls. One of the lawyers entertained and cared for the girls most of the time while we panicked.) Three hours went by in the blink of an eye, (I swear I only blinked once!!) and we began to panic, two hours to finish everything and leave in time to get to the courthouse without having to violate any traffic laws.

Crap... we forgot the certification of service, and we have to add all our changes to the other filings... ha ha HA!!!

Okay, one more hour, call the client, fax him the paperwork for signature, and create a "fax signature certification" for us to sign letting the court know this faxed signature is real.

Call client "We got the fax sent, please review it and sign it immediately and get it back to us!!!"

Client had to "step out" for a few minutes and isn't actually home.

Ha, ha.... HA!! At this point the adrenaline is really beginning to pump and we start chanting "We will never do this again!" (Yeah, like this will never happen again, like there will never again be a time when life conspires to make us race a deadline to it's very last minute.)

3:00.... Boss runs out to get checkbook for filing fee as she left it at home this morning and the court will not take cash.

3:30... Client faxes back papers, I (weeping gratefully) make copies, grab Monkey's toys, ask her to use the potty, get her shoes on.

3:45... we race to the car, Monkey trips and bloodies her ankle on the way, I cart screaming/sobbing child into car seat while Kim carts files and directions. I start car, hand Monkey a lollipop, and head into the traffic zone. We are 45 minutes away, and have to be there in 45 minutes... and have time to file.

Ha, Ha, HA HA!!!!!

We are unable to keep to our original "Not violating traffic codes" portion of the program. We speed. We get lost. AAHHH!! We turn around. We find the courthouse!!

We file the papers with 5 minutes to spare.

Pant pant pant....

Don't try this at home.