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As I write this, it is 1 p.m. on a Saturday, and I am finally home after a very long couple of weeks. Last week I was in NYC attending DRI’s annual Corporate Counsel Roundtable. It was very well attended this year, including over 30 in-house counsel from various corporations across the country. The program consisted of topics in the areas of employment law, legal outsourcing, litigation support, and the recession. Most attendees found the presentations to be highly informative with dynamic and entertaining speakers. I would like to thank Al Parnell and the steering committee for a great job on this year’s Roundtable.
After the Roundtable, I traveled home briefly for a change of clothes. As President, DRI obligations can easily see me traveling multiple times a month. If you add to that the obligations I have to our firm’s clients, I am probably on the road more often than I am in the office. The difficulty becomes how to schedule everything, especially since depositions and court dates often occur with much less notice than DRI events. This week alone I traveled across the country to handle three different cases in three different states. Monday and Tuesday I was in California for depositions. I flew through Chicago, spending the night at the airport Hilton and eventually arrived in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Wednesday. I assumed that I would catch up on some sleep on Wednesday night, but unfortunately there was a punk rock concert going on below my room that reverberated through my walls and lasted until the wee hours of the morning. After attending another deposition in Cedar Rapids at Mike Weston’s office (thank you, Mike), I flew to Aberdeen, South Dakota, arriving at midnight on Thursday. Friday morning was a balmy -16 degrees in Aberdeen, where I attended a product inspection in a building with no electricity or heat. I never thought that getting frostbite was going to be a work-related risk. After my chilly inspection on Friday, I tried unsuccessfully to get a flight home. Oklahoma City was hit by another ice/snow storm while I was away. So I flew into Dallas landing sometime after 10 p.m., drove through the night, and got home before sunrise at 4:15 a.m. As you can see, the joys of being a jet-setting lawyer are obviously too many to name.
Traveling this often means I’ve acquired certain opinions, especially about the need for common courtesy. Common courtesy appears to be all but lost in the area of airline travel, especially when we are on our cell phones. I spend most of my time surrounded by people, be it in the lounge at the airport or in a meeting or at a deposition. Therefore, I have come to value any personal time I am afforded. Personal time for me includes the few hours when I’m up in the air (have not seen the movie yet). It is those few hours on a plane when I am completely unconnected—no email, no phone calls, no text messages. I get to spend my time doing what I want to do, how I want to do it—be it reviewing transcripts in preparation for a deposition, reviewing materials for upcoming meetings or hearings, or sleeping. This is my time, and I am not interested in sharing it.
But put a cell phone in someone’s hand at the airport, and my personal space is suddenly invaded. A person with a cell phone walks with conviction, pushing by other passengers without saying “excuse me.” They are talking from the moment their ticket is scanned. They continue their conversations while attempting to squeeze their oversized carry-ons in the overhead bin, and even after they’ve taken their seat. They speak loudly. They speak incessantly. And they appear to have no boundaries in what they are willing to speak about. All I want to say is, “Please turn it off.”
As a lawyer, our clients expect that our conversations with them will be in confidence. Yet time and time again, I stand in line or sit on the plane and overhear the conversations of fellow travelers. And even more concerning, I know that they are lawyers talking to their clients or about their clients, and I can’t help but think about how unhappy my clients would be if they thought that our conversations were being similarly overheard. Due to this, I recommend that you talk about whatever you need to talk about before you present your ticket for boarding. In fact, talk about it before you get in line. Otherwise, it can wait. And lucky for me, eventually the friendly voice over the intercom on the plane reminds them it will have to wait, when they signal my favorite moment by saying, “Please turn off all electronic devices and cell phones….”
So please remember to be courteous to your fellow travelers on your next trip, if not for my sake for the sake of your clients. As for me, I’m preparing for yet another flight: I’m off to a mediation in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, on a brain injury products case set for trial in Camden, New Jersey, in March.
Until next time, safe travels and have a great day!
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