by Evie Adams
He looked back at me, arched his eyebrows, amused. His wandering, mischievous eyes, fell down my dress, going from my top to bottom. “She was better last night.”
“Oh, I want to hear all about it, is that why you're off today?”
“I'm never off, we can talk later.”
“Oh, sure, I forget you're at work there. So, what should I do Jake?”
He paused, it seemed like forever, and that cocksure smile appeared again. “You should do what's best for you and your family, Josh. This deal is good. It's everything we wanted when we started. But it's not front page material.”
“Will other companies change what they do?”
“Yes, probably.”
“Then that's good. I don't want to be on the front page anyways.”
But Jacob Hughes did, that was easy to tell, but he didn't let on to Josh. “Well, then I'll review the offer and have you sign it.”
“Great. Thanks Jake. By the way I don't think you're over-confident.”
He hung up the phone and wheeled around to face us. “What’s 33% of 50 million? That's what your consultant just cost us.”
“33% of a 5 year appeals process and bringing the amount down on appeal is priceless though.” I snapped.
“So is having cash flow to operate for 6 more months. And pay off the experts engineers, doctors, depositions, salaries, the million for this case and the two million we still owe the bank for Falver,” said Diane. “Laura please review all of his current files, and make similar reports, for prospective jurors and values.”
“You can't be serious?”
“Yes. Without this one, I was considering selling to Artie. With positive cash flow I can wait.”
“What was the offer at least?” “
“9.7 million. Her figures on pain and suffering matched theirs and their insurance companies' while yours were a lot lower.”
“No?”
“A similar case settled last week for 8, you must have missed that one.”
“I was busy conducting a trial.”
“Well that's what she's here for. To let you do just one job, and she can worry about all the things surrounding it.”
“Look over the offer and bring her to meet with Josh. I'll call the court to suspend the jury in anticipation of settlement.”
“Just don't try to shake his hand.” He told me, “Come meet me in my office in 20 or so, we'll get started.
(Back to Table of Contents)
CHAPTER 9 - Jake
In she comes, precisely 20 minutes after I walked out, just enough time for me to figure a way out, not to embarrass her, but just to show her the dynamics here.
“Jacob,” she said, like she was a teacher and I was in trouble. “I want to clear the air a little and apologize for last night.”
“Apologize for what?”
“The slap for one, and the rest. Emotions were high, it was a mistake that won't happen again.”
“A mistake? Maybe, but it'll happen again.”
“You got off easy. I had planned on being a huge bitch to you yesterday. When I saw you and we started talking, I decided I couldn't be a huge bitch to you, as much as I wanted to.”
“And thought better of it this morning?”
“No. That's different, at work I'm a professional. If feelings get hurt, then that's not my problem. The job is important. I won't go easy on you at work even if you are cute. And occasionally charming.”
Occasionally?
I bit my tongue because I wanted to bite her. I had to respect that. The no bullshit, no holds barred when it comes to work. That's how I looked at it too. “I can respect that. And that should mean you won't mind gaining my trust? Associates always start with a paper file, not real clients.” I pulled a file from my desk, a big file, the one I kept right near my feet, occasionally knocking into it, but it was there for a reason, as a reminder.
“I'm not an associate. I don't work for you, but with you. I work for the firm, not anyone in particular.”
“No, you work for all of us, if 'jury consultant' is what you are, then you work for me, to pick a jury. That's it.”
“And to let you know when you've lost them. And to shape a story that will work for each of them.”
“Fine, go over this file and let me know what you think about it. I'll grab you before we go to court and see Josh.”
“I'll look this over, I'm opposed to proving myself, but as a show of good faith, an olive branch to make peace, I will. Again, I'm sorry we got off on the wrong foot last night and this morning. Thanks.”
“No problem. Let's move forward.”
I watched her walk away, with that hitch in her hips and that sweet ass, and I was almost sorry when I left to go meet Josh at court without telling her. A dirty trick, but missing the meeting for an old file might put her on the bad side of Diane enough to get rid of her.
I love my job. I'm territorial about my clients and my cases, but for a reason. Too many cooks ruins the meal.
I'm not an ambulance chaser.
I do big cases.
Products liability, Class actions, medical malpractice. Always cases with 7 figure verdicts, though I'm still waiting on my first 8 figure one.
I have nothing against the ham and eggers, the ambulance chasers, we all have to start somewhere. Lucky for me, my mother and father started there and earned their first 7 figure verdict when I was 2 years old.
25 years ago, a million was a lot more than it is today, and she never forgets to remind me. She still has the canceled check in her office, framed in oak, displaying $333,333.33, her 1/3 share for winning a case everyone else in New York passed on thinking it was a sure loser. It cost them all they had at the time, their own money for expert witnesses, private investigators, medical experts, and all the rest, probably spent my diaper money too, and also about 2,000 hours of work, all for no pay until they got that verdict. But, she did have Jacob Sr., handling everything for her. She was the lead attorney, and he was 2nd chair when they partnered up, and they were the best team there was.
I'm not Erin Brockovich. I'm as far as you can get from a fucking idealist- I'm a lawyer and a good one, and the good ones are never idealists, we're sharks. Why don't sharks attack lawyers? Professional courtesy. I'm a shark and proud of it. But I do get to do good work sometimes.
Some people still think I'm a scavenger, a bottom feeder, making money on people's pain and suffering, and I can't really argue with that, but it's all about perspective. The government can't possibly regulate every company like MacArthur Machines, and make sure their products are safe for everyone and avoid what happened to Mr. Armstrong.
The free market answer is lawyers.
There are about a million lawyers in the US, maybe more, and we can make sure companies like MacArthur spend the extra money to make their products safer. We can put them out of business and when we win a big lawsuit and put a company out of business, the ten more that come along will think twice about spending a few extra dollars to avoid lawsuits.
I'm no politician, but dear god if they unleashed us on Wall Street after the meltdown, we would have seen results.
The government doesn't scare them, the politicians don't scare them, but me and an army of one million greedy lawyers would have had them shitting their pants. You better believe the rest of Wall Street would have changed their ways, not out of the goodness of their hearts, that never works, but because we would have cost them money. They'll never let us at them, but dare to dream, right?
Anyhow, this job is perfect for me. The pay is very good and I do just enough good to feel good about myself.
And I'm a superstar in the courtroom.
Those miracle moments, like the one with Mr. Armstrong, they keep happening to me. I'm a fairly lucky guy, but it ain't just luck that keeps those miracles happening. It's hard work, it's being prepared, it's being smart as hell and spending ungodly amounts of time reading case law and thinking about my client.
The story is the impo
rtant thing. There's nothing so powerful as a good story. And finding the story is the hardest part in any case. I'm angry at myself it took so long with Mr. Armstrong, that should have been first day stuff, how much life changes without arms, the little things the jury takes for granted.
Once you have the story, then you need a way to communicate that to the jury, have them feel it in their bones. That was F Stuart's problem, he bored the hell out of them, he had logic and charts and warnings, but nobody feels anything about logic and charts, they feel things about people.
The other part of my job that I love, is hooking the clients. They know my firm, someone recommended us or they heard of our big judgments or they saw an ad (yes we have those cheesy ads on billboards over the highway and on TV, but we have them because they work). But they don't place their trust in you just because of the ad, they place it in you when you talk to them.
When there is a face to face meeting and you impress the hell out of them. It's kind of like meeting a beautiful woman at the bar or grocery store and impressing the hell out of her until her panties are wet.
It's the same thing really.
The best part though is being on my own, I have a boss, technically, but she's my mom, so yes, I'm spoiled, I'm very lucky, all of that, it's true.
But I'm also very good at what I do. I may be a difficult employee, but I' m a great one too. If I had to work for someone else, I wouldn't be as good, I'd have to listen to what they say, kiss ass, all of that. Here, I don't. But I'm not really the type to go on my own either.
I just want to be a lawyer, I don't want to answer phones, or count pennies or any of that. With no one looking over my shoulder, I can do great things, and sometimes not so great things like Falver, but if I'm free there's always the chance for greatness.
This is what Laura Miller, was, an impediment, a speed bump, getting in my way, slowing me down, a restrictor plate that needed to be removed.
I would have to bring her down.
And hopefully that would include her going down on me.
(Back to Table of Contents)
CHAPTER 10 - Laura
Homework? He gave me homework?
He has no idea who I am, or he's underestimating me, but okay, I'll play his little game.
I start at the beginning.
Notes from the initial meeting.
He kept neat notes, I'll give him that much. I usually speak my notes and impressions into a voice recorder and have the secretary type them up, and throw away my doodles, but he keeps those too.
A lot of doodles in the margins, sideways 8, circles with X’s, loss of consortium.
$$$$$$Millions$$$$ circled and underlined.
I can feel his excitement. His boyish over eagerness is there in his scribbles.
Medical reports, diagrams, interviews.
I read until it hits me.
I know this case.
Everyone knows this case.
The butt of jokes for months, a major embarrassment.
Falver.
He gave me Falver? I had wanted to cut his balls off, and here they were, cut off, boxed up neatly, with notes, Falver.
What a dirty trick! He took away my trump card, he presented his neck to me to see if I would bite down.
This sucked.
Now I would actually have to do work and see where it went wrong, if I would have done anything differently.
Maybe he actually wanted to learn something? Could that be it?
I was flustered and confused reading over the case
I got up to go talk to him about it, and there it was.
He was gone, left for court without me.
The second time he blows me off.
The last time.
(Back to Table of Contents)
CHAPTER 11 - JAKE
F. Stuart's offer was good. I couldn't argue with that. Pretty much everything Josh and I wanted when we started, but it wasn't the 8 figure verdict I wanted and it wasn't going to be enough to tell Artie Johnson to get lost.
I shuddered at the thought of a “merger”. My father would be rolling around in his grave.
If she could afford to hire a jury consultant full time, then the money problems couldn't have been that bad.
As soon as I get rid of Laura, I could focus on breaking them up. Laura was the immediate threat here. She had to be dealt with first. Not being where you were supposed to be would be a good start.
I called F. Stuart and let him know we would agree to it and submit the agreement to the court and get their approval. A formality really, but an important one. The judge had to ask my client if he entered into the agreement willingly and freely and if he was satisfied with my representation.
F. Stuart said he'd be there to sign, with one of the managers. I got to the court and discussed the settlement with Josh.
No arms presents quite a few challenges, the contract had to be held up to his face for one, as I went through the important parts and asked if he understood. For him, signing it was impossible. We would have to have him tell someone to sign it for him, and on the record have the judge ask him if he wanted to enter it willingly, that he was not coerced, that it was read and explained to him, all the standard stuff, so after we talked, we let the judge know we were ready, and his wife was there to sign for him, as power of attorney and at his command. I gave the agreement to the clerk to make 5 copies for us all to sign and give one to the court.
As I went back to Josh, who should show up but Laura, with the most icy look I've ever seen on a woman.
And it was oh so sexy.
She barely looked at me and instead introduced herself to Josh and his wife, and sat in my seat.
I walked up behind her, and got the smell of gardenias in my nose, and a hard-on in my pants. She barely turned around enough to say, “Can I have a moment alone with them?”
“No, they're my clients.” I told her and considered grabbing her and moving her. But Josh and his wife smiled and said, “It's okay, give us a couple minutes”
I stood 10-15 feet away, angry, sulking, but tried to hide it. That pathetic move where you take out your phone and pretend you're really busy, and you don't mind, but I was seething.
If she was intent on making friends, this is not the way to do it.
Finally Josh called me over. I had no idea what she was telling them.
“So I'm finally allowed to talk to my clients?”
Josh leaned towards his wife, talking to her, but looking directly at me. “This was the woman on the phone this morning making Jake uncomfortable. Didn't I tell you she sounded pretty? I knew that's what was throwing Jake off.”
“It's more her showing up late and trying to take control from me that's getting me riled up. But, point taken Josh. Here I am, the clerk is making us copies and letting the judge know we're ready. If we're still ready after whatever she said to you.”
“We're ready, she wasn't talking about the case, you have that under control. She was giving us a few ideas for tomorrow.”
“Can I steal her away for a few moments?” I grabbed her by the arm as professionally and painfully as I could and walked to the corner I had just been sulking in.
“I don't appreciate you talking to my clients without me.”
“Same here, your mother sent us both to meet with them. And I don't appreciate that first day tactic of leaving without me. Twice now you’ve pulled that. You should be better than that.”
Of course I should be, but I'm not. She has no idea how low I'll go.
“What the hell did you have to speak to them about anyways?”
“Like Josh said, you're good in the court room, at winning, but what happens after winning? How do they get on with their lives? They've been focused on today for almost two years, and tomorrow scares the hell out of them because focusing on the trial let them forget about everything else, which was useful, but now that's over. Thanks to you, good job. Now they have a lot of work to do every day for the rest of their lives. This is
a benefit I give that will make them all the more likely to recommend our firm and come to us for other needs. That's something your firm has been lacking. I'm not a threat, even though that's the way you've been taking it. I'm here to help you, if not you your clients and the firm. Stop being a baby.”
I'm not a baby! was all I could think of to say, so I kept my mouth shut.
“You know that look on people's faces after you win a big trial? They're thankful and happy, they cry they hug you, all of that feels great doesn't it? Did you ever notice about 30 seconds after all of that happens the fear in their faces? For months they've talked to their lawyer, went to depositions, went to doctor after doctor, got used to life, and focused on the trial. When they realize that they don't have that to focus on anymore, that they don't have anything to focus on anymore it's terrifying. That's what made me want to do more than win trials. I'm a damn good lawyer and jury consultant, but that's why I get paid, why I work in law is to help that moment, that 30 seconds after winning. Don't try to screw me out of that.”
Her eyes were steely, threatening me, her hands were clenched into fists.
Admirable.
Tough.
Fierce.
Beautiful.
I wanted her. And it wasn’t just my dick talking.
F. Stuart came up to us, and let me know they and the court were ready for us, so I ushered everybody in and we took our seats. Laura sat in the gallery in back, thankfully not with us.
We rose for the judge and everything went easily, the judge had Josh say he understood it on the record, and have his wife sign for him, also on the record, so there would be no questions about it. We walked out and F Stuart assured me there would be a wire transfer into the firm account by the close of business, and then we would wire Josh's share to his account.
“Laura, let me buy you lunch and hear your thoughts on that case file I gave you this morning.” She raised her eyebrow to me, suspicious of another trick. “How about a fresh start? Clean slate, all of that. Pretend it's our first day together and I've just gone over your case file like you asked. We'll put the insults away and talk like colleagues. Is that okay with you?”