Federal judge fed up with 'fiddle-faddle' requires lawyers to meet for lunch; how did it go?
Lawyers who met for lunch upon the orders of a federal judge have submitted their report as directed. (Photo from Shutterstock)
Lawyers who met for lunch upon the orders of a federal judge have submitted their report as directed.
According to the the Dec. 19 report, the lawyers chatted about personal matters, and then they had a “healthy dialogue regarding professional norms.” The wait person received a hefty tip.
Law.com, Above the Law (here and here) and AL.com have coverage.
Chief U.S. District Judge R. David Proctor of the Northern District of Alabama ordered the lunch after he criticized lawyers from Wheeles & Garmon, who represented former Koch Foods employee Pamela McCullers in a sexual harassment and gender bias lawsuit against Koch Foods.
McCullers’ lawyers had opposed a request by opposing counsel Littler Mendelson to extend a responsive pleading deadline—unless, the plaintiff’s lawyers said, Koch Foods agreed that it would not file a motion to dismiss in response to the suit.
In his Nov. 26 lunch order, Proctor called the gambit by the plaintiff’s counsel “wholly inappropriate, particularly in light of the looming Thanksgiving holiday. Such nonsense wastes time, damages professional relationships, and makes the lawyer withholding consent (or conditioning it) appear petty and uncooperative.”
“Conditioning or denying consent to an extension in this way is fiddle-faddle for an additional reason: It rarely provides any legitimate strategic advantage,” Proctor continued. “Refusing such a reasonable extension request stinks of petty gamesmanship. Professionalism demands that lawyers pick their battles wisely, and minor extension requests simply are not the place for unnecessary posturing.”
Proctor granted the request for an extension, ordered lawyers to go to lunch, and required the plaintiff’s counsel to pay the bill and the company’s counsel to pay the tip.
Proctor is an appointee of former President George W. Bush.
The lunch meeting was at Saw’s BBQ in Hoover, Alabama, on Dec. 16, according to the lawyers’ joint report.
“The discussion covered the practice of law, families, some big-ticket items for the 2024 holiday season, everyone’s small-town bona fides, and the plan for communication going forward in this matter,” the lawyers wrote. “A healthy dialogue regarding professional norms ensued.”
The report noted that the plaintiff’s lawyers paid the $74 bill, and the defendants’ counsel left a $74 tip.
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