The little things

I was surprised about how annoyed I got at something silly today. As a criminal defense attorney, you generally get used to all the frustrating things that come with working with and against the government. While it is true that my relationship is adversarial with government, we still have a job to do and that is to get cases resolved as efficiently as possible. I deal with many cases that I consider minor and resolving them depends on clear communication with the other side. Some District Attorney office's are examples of outstanding professionalism, they return phone calls, and they are reasonable and polite. Sadly professionalism is often the exception to the rule.

Here is the little thing that bothered me today. (Keep in my mind, I am totally overreacting to this because I feel like ranting a bit). I have a client who was given a traffic ticket for an equipment violation that simply did not exist with her vehicle. There is a VTL section that deals with license plates that are obstructed, or too dirty to read. My client's car has the always added dealer frame surrounding her plates. I have one on my car. My car's frame says "Saratoga Nissan" and has a little horse on it, your's probably displays the name of your dealer.

There is no question that my client is innocent of the charged offense. I read the statute (NY VTL 402(1) and there is no violation. Furthermore, if the plate frame was in violation of the law than most NY State drivers are currently violating the law.

So I sent a very polite letter to the DA's office which happens to be in a county a couple hours from my office. I included pictures of the client's car and asked the DA to dismiss. Today I get a response which consisted of the the letter and pictures with a post-it note attached. The post-it note contained the following message: "This would be a matter for trial-not for a reduction here. If your client wishes to go to trial, that's fine. Without sworn testimony, and the officer's story, we won't dismiss."

First of all, I am relieved the Assistant District Attorney who penned this note thinks it is "fine" for my client to go to trial if she wishes. Second, a post it note? No letterhead, no contact info, no "truly yours"?

My first reaction was that it was my fault for not including a sworn affidavit from my client. My second reaction was that the ADA who took the time to scrawl out a message on the post-it note has zero respect for me, and that is rude.

As a lawyer, it is important to be professional. That means being courteous. That means understanding that other lawyers' time is precious and valuable and should not be wasted on trivial matters. Am I going to drive four hours round trip to try a case where the fine is probable less than $50? Actually, I will if I have to because the principle is more important to me than the waste of time and gas.

I put a call in to the post-it note lawyer to discuss this matter. Today is Thursday, if I get a call back by Tuesday I will be shocked. I'll update this story later.