Nonetheless, being available in these situations is part of our commitment to our professional work. In some practices, emergencies are very rare, while in other areas( criminal, for example) it is more frequent so you must accept this as part of your professional responsibilities. It is important, however, to provide a means of contact outside of your hours‘ on the clock’ if needed and truly urgent.
5. Keep to Your Schedule. As I have noted, it is important to stay with the schedule you set, and not vary from it, except in a real emergency in which it is essential that there be intervention to preserve relationships and essentially the‘ status quo’. You need the time to get away from the challenges of an active law practice. Further, those with whom you are dealing need to respect a reasonable schedule. Once it is firm and communicated, they can plan around the times you are available to them. Making it clear as to these times should not impact your relationships but should strengthen them since they will know how and when you are available. Normally you can schedule ahead if you let them know that is the best way to make sure you are available and ready to meet regarding the subject matter. There are times when planning is not possible, and when these situations occur, be prepared to cooperate to find time to communicate. If your planning is sound, you should be prepared to find time to deal with more urgent matters in between scheduled events or to re-schedule less urgent planned matters to deal with more urgent ones that arise.
Good planning and calendar management are the keys. You should also be realistic about how long planned matters will take. Adding 20-30 % more time to any planned matter is key to allowing time for these events. If there is extra time between matters, so be it. I find I can always use this time to‘ catch up’ or follow up on a matter that deserves attention. This‘ extra time’ should not be wasted or idle. With planning, it should not be.
6. Stay Organized. The idea is to stay organized. This means having an organizational plan for managing your workload by regularly reviewing( for me) a 90-day, 30-day and one week calendar in advance and making sure enough time is devoted to the matters on the calendar. Allowing some extra time( as I have noted) is far better than scheduling so tight that there is not enough time for the matter at hand. It is not always easy to plan around depositions or other case-related matters in which others outside your office are involved. For depositions, I rarely schedule anything else on that day to allow enough time to finish or complete that day’ s session. Of course, when in court or in trial, nothing else should be scheduled during the time when you are occupied appearing or preparing.‘ Court days’ are protected days so there is nothing that can interfere with your representation of your client.
7. Plan Time Away from Your Practice. You should also schedule your time away in advance so that those you are dealing with are informed and can plan. A proper way is to serve and file a document with the court to formally flag specific dates when you cannot attend hearings, depositions, or other proceedings. Unlike a motion for continuance, it does not ask the judge to reschedule anything— it simply puts the court and opposing counsel on notice so scheduling conflicts can be avoided before they become problems. Filing one at the right time can prevent last-minute scrambles but a misunderstanding as to the effect of this notice( and what it does not do) is where problems can occur. Filing a notice of unavailability does not automatically stay proceedings, pause deadlines, or toll the clock on discovery responses. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure contain no provision granting any of these results to a notice of unavailability. If you need more time to respond to discovery or meet a filing deadline, you still need a separate motion or stipulation to extend that deadline
8. Maintain a Positive Approach. Working on and adhering to good calendar management skills allows you to meet deadlines in a timely way and allows sufficient time for preparation for case events, gives your coworkers and colleagues the opportunity to manage their time, and avoids time conflicts which hamper the adequate and full representation of clients. It should be obvious why case management is essential to maintaining an efficient and effective law practice, particularly in litigation. We normally receive plenty of notice from courts about proceedings scheduled so that is part of the process. Out of court proceedings such as depositions should also be efficient since notice is required. So normally these events we calendar allow us to plan. But other events may require more planning. The simple approach is to pay attention to calendar management and look ahead to ensure that you can manage your calendar and plan sufficient time for each event to fulfill our obligations to our clients. That is their expectation and it should be ours as well. So, let’ s adhere. A Notice of Unavailability of Counsel is an informal document California attorneys use to tell the court and opposing parties that they will be away during a specific period and cannot attend proceedings. Despite its widespread use, the document has no formal legal authority. In 2007, the Fourth District Court of Appeal ruled in Carl v. Superior Court that these notices are not fileable documents under the California Rules of Court and cannot bind the court’ s calendar. Even so, the practice persists because it creates a paper trail of good faith and can support sanctions against an opponent who deliberately schedules events after receiving such a notice. Check the local rules for any guidance on filing this notice and its effectiveness. to the highest level of time and calendar management to make sure we fulfill these obligations.
24 The Trial Lawyer