Interesting personal account (I redacted the names for sharing via social networks) on how law practice has changed over the years in Pima County, Arizona: Dear Judge, You suggested you might want to interview me about the difference between practicing in 1954 (I got admitted in March), and the way it is today. I thought about it. . . . WHAT WE DID NOT HAVE Cell phones E-Mails Bar Numbers Copiers Dictaphone Answering Machine or Voice Mail Fax Machine Computers Security Paralegals Mediations Arbitrations Motions in Limine Videotaped Depositions Court Reporter Machines (they were all pen writers) Courts of Appeals Neither Federal nor County Public Defenders Offices Specialized Courts (Judge Tullar did Probate and Judge Johnson did Juvenile) Judges Schools Sentencing Guidelines Judges Pro Tem Court Commissioners U.S. Magistrates Bankruptcy Judge based in Tucson Robes on Judges Juvenile Jail Juvenile Courthouse In the courtroom the plaintiffs table was up front and the defense table was behind it [FYI - This had not changed the last time I did a trial in Bisbee, Arizona], not side-by-side as they are now. In State Court we tried cases in golf shirts and regular shirts. No coats or ties. You could wear a coat and tie if you wanted to. I didnt want to. In Federal Court, except July and August, you needed a coat and tie. In July and August you only needed a white shirt and a tie. WHAT WE DID HAVE Telephones Manual Typewriters Carbon Paper Court Reports were all pen writers. Mail Delivery 2 times a day You dictated head-on to your secretary who took shorthand Three Superior Court Judges One J.P. One City Court Judge, who was also the prosecutor. One Federal Judge The Court was open until noon on Saturday. Jurors served for three months. Civil juries were 12 people and it took 9 to get a verdict. The Legal Secretaries Christmas Party The Block Christmas Party of Mike Grayson and Paul Scartazena We never confirmed anything Everyone had his name, address and phone number in the phone book, including the judges. If you needed something in the Clerks Office they let you go in and find it in their files. Everyone had the Clerk of the Courts home address so pleadings could be served on her after 5:00 p.m. because the Court closed at 5:00. All County offices, including the jail, were in the old domed court. All the courtrooms had ashtrays and the lawyers and the judge could smoke during the trial or at motions. When a jury went out, the Court and the lawyers went to the nearest bar and drank. Two things I learned early on: 1. “Pick up the phone, not the Dictaphone.” It’s good advice, and in this day and age it probably means, don’t text or e-mail anybody. 2. Originally, phones were hung on the wall, usually in the kitchen. When you got done with the call you “hung up.” In this day and age, based on where the phone is located, you “hang down.”
Posted on: Mon, 03 Nov 2014 16:55:02 +0000
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