The Dom Attorney

No, not "damn" attorney. Dom Attorney.

I like the attorney who is opposing counsel on this case I had this morning in family law court. I wish every case I was on had him as opposing counsel.

I have been on a couple of cases with him. He is like a father image, except that he's not old enough to be my father. He's probably 5 or 10 years older than me, but he's been practicing for a long time in family law and has a lot of experience.

And he's not exactly a "Good Guy" in the sense of being a lay down. He's one of those kinds of attorneys who acts like a good guy, but he's tough. He knows how to be nice while at the same time laughing at your "demands." He's smug, condescending, and sort of dom-like.

How could I like being on a case against him? He knows what he's doing, and it's fun playing his game. Or maybe I should say trying to play his game. He's been doing it for so long, and he's so sure of what he's doing, that he doesn't have to pay heavy attention to all the details. He's like a Master playing with his student. And you're never quite sure he's not messing with you.

So from now on his name is Dom Attorney.

I almost cried in front of him today. Sigh. I can't believe I'm 49-years old.

We were arguing about the case, but in the fun way he has of making fun of my positions while I am all seriousness and earnestness, explaining why I am thinking the way I am.

And then I accidentally said something like, "Your client is a whiny asshole." I didn't just bop out with it. I was making a point and at the end of my point, which might have been a better point and better taken if I hadn't added that comment at the end, I said something like, "I can't help it if your client is a whiny asshole."

Dom Attorney froze and said, in a most serious tone, "That was uncalled for. I haven't maligned your client. You want me to give you something for your client, right? Why would I want to give your client anything after you say something like that?"

He was right of course. I was mainly teasing but, even still, it was inappropriate. I apologized profusely, told him yes, it was inappropriate, apologized again, and shut up.

We discussed things a little further and then I said, "I'll go ahead and finalize our discussion in a letter and fax it to your office."

He stopped and said, "Why? You have somewhere to go right now?" He had an amused look on his face.

I said I couldn't tell if I had pissed him off or not, and I figured that we weren't going to get anywhere today and I might as well leave. He said to hang out and he would talk to his client about my client's demands.

And that is where I almost broke down and cried, because he was so nice to me after he had seemed so angry when I said his client was a whiny asshole.

I was in court from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.. The good part is everything worked out, and Dom Attorney even had status taken so that our clients could be divorced. Case is almost over except for a few details.