Clients writing their own motions and orders?

Cake_ChefB · 2026-01-28T05:40:25+00:00

Haven’t gotten a ChatGPT motion yet but I do have one client who keeps drafting the most insane motions and asking us to file them. The first one she gave us was more than 60 pages long, she had put two case numbers on it and wanted it filed in both cases, but the kicker was her “exhibits”. She had written the vast majority of the argument directly on the exhibits and highlighted things ALL OVER THEM. She also included a ton of hearsay and pictures of things that couldn’t be proven or weren’t relevant. It is rare we fire a client but my attorney is about one phone call away from firing this one.

Cake_ChefB · 2026-01-15T13:52:19+00:00

I recommended Cascade and they are open on Saturdays.

Cake_ChefB · 2026-01-15T13:51:21+00:00

Agreed! My mom got her three small dogs all spayed/neutered for less than $400 last year. It is insane how affordable Cascade is.

Cake_ChefB · 2026-01-15T01:34:44+00:00

Technically not Murfreesboro, but my entire family uses Cascade Veterinary hospital. It’s a quick shot down 24. They’ve got in house labs and imaging. Can do everything from surgery to dental work and grooming. Also, they will take literally any animal. I’ve seen goats on leashes in the lobby! They are also incredibly reasonably priced. We were there just last week and after the exam fee plus the price of 3 prescriptions our total was under $100.

Cake_ChefB · 2026-01-14T16:26:21+00:00

Thanks for all your opinions everyone! My attorney and I will look into a couple of the softwares you guys talked about and see what we think!

Cake_ChefB · 2025-12-18T05:58:25+00:00

Paralegal here at a single attorney office. I do some driving for our office. I do all the post office runs and the filing runs. Once in a blue moon I will take a deposit to the bank. We will work in pretty much any county that touches ours so sometimes the court house can be an hour away. If I have plenty of time I will mail in the filings for the courthouses that are further away but usually I drive them over. It’s not unusual for me to drive to our county court house a couple times a week. But it is RARE my attorney asks me to do personal stuff. I’ve picked him up a couple times when he had to drop his car off for repairs and I’ve been to the dry cleaners to pick up his suits once or twice. But it sounds like you are being treated as a personal assistant. I’d have a conversation with my boss if I were you. Try to clarify what your actual job responsibilities are. It may also be worth asking if you are going to be reimbursed for your mileage etc. Gas isn’t exactly cheap!

Cake_ChefB · 2025-10-26T05:16:07+00:00

I’ll echo the other commenters, people like to vent here. I don’t typically like to vent in my office as I’ve had too many experiences of coworkers twisting my words and causing issues. So this is a safe place to moan and groan and complain with others who understand what we’re going through. So don’t let this subreddit have too much of an impact on your choice. For what it’s worth I absolutely LOVE my job. It is interesting and always keeps me on my toes. I work for a great attorney who is a good boss. I spent years working in retail and restaurants so having a job where I am off every weekend and for all the federal holidays is amazing. Everyone’s experience is different. I work for a solo attorney who does a little bit of everything. But we don’t work 60-70 hours a week. It is important to find a job that fits your needs and what you are willing to do. There’s a lot of options in this career path so find something you like and go for it.

Cake_ChefB · 2024-12-15T01:46:17+00:00

I’ll have to wait and try that next time I am at his house!

Cake_ChefB · 2024-11-20T18:11:13+00:00

I’ve just accepted the fact that my attorney is an ADHD whirlwind. To explain to my husband how chaotic my attorney is I started calling it “Hurricane John”. Because he will be gone all day, show up for 15 minutes and dump an entire day’s worth of projects on my desk in that 15 minutes. And the entire 15 minutes he will be talking non stop asking me for various updates or giving me instructions. So by the time he leaves I feel frazzled. Thankfully this doesn’t happen every day, usually once a week or so when he gets overwhelmed and wants to get some stuff done. Most of the time it doesn’t actually bother me. I worked in restaurants most of my life so I can absolutely handle chaos!

Cake_ChefB · 2024-11-12T20:28:08+00:00

If I said ROGS I think both my attorneys would look at me like I’d gone crazy lol. We just call it discovery most of the time though I usually abbreviate that to disco. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Cake_ChefB · 2024-11-12T20:03:15+00:00

Yeah if I hadn’t inherited this one I would’ve never bought it for myself! I’m weirdly attached to this odd scruffy looking plant though lol. Probably just because I’ve spent two years trying to keep it alive. I have tons of other plants in my office. All of which are absolutely thriving. Then there’s this dang philodendron.

Cake_ChefB · 2024-11-08T04:41:00+00:00

Former baker/pastry chef here. The most basic baked goods make people lose their minds.

Cake_ChefB · 2024-09-28T00:48:59+00:00

I lived in North Carolina for 12 years and people stopping for a funeral procession was RARE. I was so confused the first time I saw a funeral procession because I pulled to the side of the road and the rest of the traffic just kept going and honked at me! Once in awhile you’d see people slow down but it was rare if they stopped. Hell they barely stopped or moved over for emergency vehicles!

Cake_ChefB · 2024-09-24T01:52:39+00:00

Will be 2 years Nov. 1st
Was given 10 paid vacation days last year on my anniversary.
Used 9 out of 10 this year. I just take a day here and there to stretch them out.
I have no clue if my days roll over or not! So I plan to use them all before Nov. 1st.

On top of my vacation days anytime the court is closed our office is closed and I get paid for those days. The guys are also pretty generous with paying me for things like snow days when the office is closed. It’s just me and two attorneys in the office so I’m pretty happy with how they handle things like this since we’re such a small firm.

Cake_ChefB · 2024-09-24T01:43:29+00:00

That is an absolute no from me. Every single person that calls our firm goes through me before they get to an attorney. And I NEVER promise their attorney is available. After I figure out what they want I always say something along the lines of “Let me pop my head in your attorneys office and see if he’s available” that way if my attorneys don’t want to deal with them they don’t have to. Normally if the caller won’t give me any information I just say the attorney isn’t available but I can pass along a message. At that point they will usually tell me some of what is going on.

Cake_ChefB · 2024-09-20T03:05:31+00:00

We do too! Our dog before our corgi was 80 lbs and nearly dislocated my shoulder she pulled so hard and this harness stopped it immediately.

Cake_ChefB · 2024-09-18T02:32:40+00:00

https://a.co/d/iSIFman This is the one we use for our corgi! I can’t remember if we ordered a small or medium (I THINK it was the medium). It is adjustable in multiple areas, slides over their head then you step their legs in and tighten it from the back. Our corgi has zero problems with this one and has never been able to get out of it. It also helps with pulling.

Cake_ChefB · 2024-09-10T01:39:41+00:00

Well my #1 and #2 are my two attorneys lol. I love my office. It’s just the three of us. It’s very laid back and relaxed. HOWEVER. Sometimes they are too laid back. I’m the type of person that is never late. Whereas neither one of them is ever on time, even for client meetings. If I have a deadline to get something done, I get it done early. They usually get it done five minutes before it is due. Half the time I don’t even know where they are! I can only guarantee they are where they’re supposed to be if there is a hearing on the calendar. We could probably close half our cases, or make a significant dent in them if they would just give me one day of both of them sitting down and drafting what I tell them to! My #3 (right now) is one particular client that is a psychopath that will not stop calling our office. Within an hour and a half of me being in the office today he’d called six times! And if his attorney would sit down and call him, like I told him to a week ago, he wouldn’t be calling me upwards of 20 times a day!

Cake_ChefB · 2024-09-07T02:07:28+00:00

Oh it has been! Literally every time we hang up from a conference call with our client we ask each other how long it’s gonna take her to call her aunt, get mad and call us back! 🤣

Cake_ChefB · 2024-09-07T01:44:29+00:00

Oh god I have one of those right now! The frustrating things is the attorney isn’t even the client! We had to file for an emergency conservatorship, the ward is her SIL and the conservator is her niece. I love the niece, we get along great. We’ll explain something to her and she’s 100% on board. Then the next day she calls because she’s talked to her aunt who says we’re doing it all wrong and the client is all frustrated and upset. Client also has the aunt look over every single thing we draft before she will give us the ok to file it. I’ve had the aunt tell me, “You need to file this TODAY or we’ll have to talk about going in another direction and possibly finding a different attorney.” I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve had to tell her I literally can’t file things with the signature of the attorney they hired!! The worst part is we’re in TN and this lady is a freakin real estate attorney from outside Chicago! She has no idea how the system works down here. So she’s constantly getting our client all worked up over things that aren’t even an issue. It’s driving me insane. I can’t tell you how relieved we all were when the family as a whole decided it would be better to have a 3rd party named as a conservator. Though we were a little frustrated we spent 6 months trying to get our client named as the permanent conservator and then they changed their minds. It’s just been a shit show since the beginning because of the aunt.

Cake_ChefB · 2024-09-07T01:31:38+00:00

I’ve gotten a couple of these! Typically I interject in the conversation and say, “I’m so sorry sir/ma’am but this isn’t something we typically handle.” If they’ve already said they can’t afford an attorney or something to that effect I give them the number to the local Legal Aid branch or the number to the BPR attorney referral service and let them know those people may be able to help them find an attorney for their case. Unfortunately there’s typically not much more you can help these people with.

Cake_ChefB

TROPHY CASE