Nope, Annika, you are wrong.

The difference is that in Sacramento, the bar is managably small enough for the jerks to be recognized and dealt with.

In Los Anglees, the bar is so vast that those folks get cloaked in anonymity, and thus get away with it more.

I wrote several pieces on professional courtesy and collegiality when I was President of the LA County Bar. Next year I will be a VP of the State Bar and possibly chair of the RAD committee that deals with discipline, on which I now sit. You'd be surprised to see how many complaints we get about this stuff, but unfortunately, rudeness is not grounds for discipline.

In my firm (pretty big, almost 500 now) we keep tabs on those folks and an email, circulated internally can hurt a rude offender, and we have many repeat cases with the same plaintiff's lawyers. But those folks know not to mess with us; you, on the other hand, probably seemed like an easy mark to put down. Clearly, he did not evaluate his oppoonent correctly.

I take it that your attorney will let him know his displeasure. I do not abide ill treatment to anyone who works for or with me, so I certainly would memorialize the discussion and let him know, in writing how I feel, along with a copy to the bar, for what it is worth, it might go into his file. The attorney whould write the letter, not you.

My direct advice is that you no longer talk to this person. Send a letter asking himn to put everything he has to say in writing and get on with your life. The opposite of love is not hate, it is apathy.

Hang in there kid, it gets worse. I had a lawyer who was seeking a TRO this week tell me in the hall that "they would fight us all the way to the Supreme Court" (he had a really weak case) and I told him "That is your reputation, at least until your client runs out of money".

He then threatened to put that before the Judge. I told him to go ahead, since I know that everyone else in the system knows this guy, and what I said was true. The particular Judge is someone I kow casually, and know him to be bright as a pin.

The guy backed down and didn't mention it, and the Judge refused to issue the TRO, predictably. I had forgotten it until you mentioned this, and it was Monday!

So, you are bigger than some jerk. Deal with him appropriately, and let it go.

I'm sorry to hear about that, Annika. I, too, have found most attorneys to be less than kind or generous or sympathetic.

It's some comfort to know that atleast we know we don't share such qualities.

What's a TRO?

something about lying with dogs and getting fleas comes to mind.............

I have derived a funny benefit from blogging/commenting on the internet - and I'll bet most everyone else has derived the same benefit: thicker skin.

Not that I was especially thin-skinned before. Nonetheless, when I first blogged and commented, I couldn't resist really, really wanting anonymous readers to approve of my writings.

Of course, I was inevitably bashed by the anonymous mob. I watched other people's perfectly reasonable opinions be similarly bashed, and I began to realize that the illogical thinking of my fellow human beings was far more pervasive than I had previously estimated. I began to realize that the schoolyard desire to revel in the pain or discomfort of others was far more pervasive than I had previously estimated. These are valuable realizations.

Over time, I came to trust myself more, and to care less about various idiot opinions which were foisted upon me. This is an extremely valuable thing. It doesn't track exactly onto Annie's little incident(she encountered a jerk who was abusing his momentary power over her), but her incident did remind of this unexpected blogosphere benefit. I went into the blogosphere seeking fun, and maybe interesting conversation, and interesting people, and I found this unexpected benefit. Life is funny that way.

TRO = Temporary Restraining Order.

Gcotharn: very thoughtful post. I've had a couple similar experiences. While I'd still consider myself thinskinned, I also learned that I'm more courageous than most when it comes to defending what I believe.

Annika...yeah, yeah, yeah...lawyers vile...blah, blah, blah...We don't care.

What we do care about though, are the results to this post on your Economic Survey. Well...?

you are right roberto. i had planned to do that post last night, but i was so busy channel surfing and being generally lazy that i forgot.

The world is full of egotists, particularly the professional world. Most of us express this sort of thing by trying to bang bangable little blonds like you. Occasionally you'll run into the homo who wants to beat you up. In good time you'll have an entire quiver full of tricks for puncturing windbags.

When and if I ever need a lawyer, sister, I'm calling you.

I find that a point-blank shotgun blast to the nuts is an excellent reminder of the importance of civil conduct and discourse.

Kevin