NW Lawyer - September 2014

by Carol MacKinnon

Once upon a time . . . that is no longer a phrase I say almost daily. At first, I employed it only when reading aloud to my children. Then it crept into use in conversation with adults, particularly when someone asked about my employment status:

Once upon a time, I was a litigator; then I became a parent and found that, for me, litigation was incompatible with being the mom I wanted to be, so now I just do transactional work.

Time passed. More changed.

Once upon a time, I was a full-time attorney, but now I just practice law part-time. I’ve had to scale back because I underestimated how much time and attention my children would need from me as they grew older.

My clients were very supportive, granting me the freedom to juggle their work and
the demands of daughters seven years apart. I remained close to the litigation world
by providing ADR services in my subject matter fields. Mediation customers reported
increased confidence in my abilities to solve their disputes because I was a parent of
more than one child and therefore, constantly engaged in dispute resolution. With
feedback like that, I became very com-
fortable concentrating on being the best
mom I could be and continuing to serve
my handful of long-standing clients.
Somewhere along the way, I had become
seduced by the “mommy track” and was
content with the way things were. Once
upon a time rolled off my tongue as a
matter of second nature.

As more time passed, I saw things from new perspectives. Having distanced myself from working as a full-time litigator, I could better see litigation’s destructive aspects (as a process for resolving disputes, it is only slightly superior to a duel). Having become employed as a parent, I better appreciated that a prompt negotiated compromise yields greater client satisfaction than does a drawn-out battle. I developed an affinity for facilitative mediation because I enjoyed being engaged in a constructive process.

Fast forward to 2014: switching back to the litigation track. Of course, some things will be different (and some things won’t) from the way they were once upon a time. What do I most notice after a 20- year hiatus? In no particular order:

1. In the larger counties, local lawyers no longer know all the judges. As population grows, the number of judges required to serve it grows. Once upon a time, the local lawyers knew the judges, because there just weren’t so many of them. For example, King County has 52 judges ( 38 at Superior Court) plus 12 commissioners. The sheer size of the legal community does seem to have something to do with what lawyers describe as a “loss of collegiality.”

2. Litigators are now more likely to cross county lines (at least in counties with Puget Sound shorelines). Once upon a time, if you weren’t a member of the local bar, your motion got heard last unless you associated with local counsel. As court websites develop, judicial assistants and local forms are more readily accessible, making it easier to have a multi-county practice. Over the past few years, more than 50 percent of the attorneys appearing before me venture places I would never have thought to go without co-counsel to see that my working copies actually got to the judge in a timely fashion.