Picking Attorneys is Like Picking Kickball Teams: Don't Pick Yourself

[MGibster]

SovCits are some of my favourite people. They're like the legal system's Slinkys; not good for much, but fun to watch metaphorically fall down the stairs.

American judges are better prepared to deal with SovCit defendants than they were in decades past. I saw a video recently where a defendant claimed the police arrested the wrong person and the judge was keen to hear what he had to say until he started spewing SovCit nonsense. The judge shut it down quickly by saying, "I don't care about admiralty law or any of that. I thought you were saying they arrested the wrong person and I was concerned that someone might spend some time in jail when they shouldn't be there. We're done."

I had a SovCit employee at work (I'm in HR). He sent us a letter saying he was a NATIVE BORN AMERICAN (the all caps was important) and taxes should no longer be deducted from his paycheck. My coworkers were confused. "Is he saying he's Native American?" I had to explain to them what a sovereign citizen was and we ended up telling him we were required by law to deduct from his check for tax purposes and he needed to take it up with the IRS. The weird thing is that this was a pretty good employee who was being considered for a management position before he quit for the another job.

 

[trappedslider]

“The man who represents himself has a fool for a client.” - Abraham Lincoln

 

[Ryujin]

American judges are better prepared to deal with SovCit defendants than they were in decades past. I saw a video recently where a defendant claimed the police arrested the wrong person and the judge was keen to hear what he had to say until he started spewing SovCit nonsense. The judge shut it down quickly by saying, "I don't care about admiralty law or any of that. I thought you were saying they arrested the wrong person and I was concerned that someone might spend some time in jail when they shouldn't be there. We're done."

I had a SovCit employee at work (I'm in HR). He sent us a letter saying he was a NATIVE BORN AMERICAN (the all caps was important) and taxes should no longer be deducted from his paycheck. My coworkers were confused. "Is he saying he's Native American?" I had to explain to them what a sovereign citizen was and we ended up telling him we were required by law to deduct from his check for tax purposes and he needed to take it up with the IRS. The weird thing is that this was a pretty good employee who was being considered for a management position before he quit for the another job.

When the "fictional person" argument comes up there's one judge, in Detroit, who generally responds, "Well if John Doe isn't here then I guess I'm going to issue a warrant for his arrest."

There was a SovCit on our local motorcycle forum. He went on about how he wasn't going to pay for his license, insurance, income tax, ad nauseam (not a legal term). He also happened to be a student at the uni, at which I'm employed. Didn't hear from him for months after i asked him when he'd be paying back his student grants/loans, and paying for the additional 50% of his tuition that's covered by The State.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Quick question for y'all.

Given the disparities in the "likes" between this post and the prior post (which is the only engagement metric I have*), I wanted to ask the following-

1. Are you enjoying the subject matter of these posts, and want me to continue on the topic?

2. Should I spread them out a little more time-wise?


*Collateral question- should I start every post with a picture of a woman who looks shocked and a giant red arrow?

 

[payn]

All I can say is don’t pick a lawyer as a spouse…or a redhead…there’s a lot of dimensions of soulless there…

 

[TwoSix]

Quick question for y'all.

Given the disparities in the "likes" between this post and the prior post (which is the only engagement metric I have*), I wanted to ask the following-

1. Are you enjoying the subject matter of these posts, and want me to continue on the topic?

2. Should I spread them out a little more time-wise?


*Collateral question- should I start every post with a picture of a woman who looks shocked and a giant red arrow?

It's an interesting topic I know little about, so I found it a worthwhile read.

I also think subsequent posts in a series of posts tend to get less likes simply because there's less of a novelty factor. If you had posted this opening post after a 3 month hiatus, it would have gotten way more likes.

 

[J.Quondam]

Quick question for y'all.

Given the disparities in the "likes" between this post and the prior post (which is the only engagement metric I have*), I wanted to ask the following-

1. Are you enjoying the subject matter of these posts, and want me to continue on the topic?

2. Should I spread them out a little more time-wise?


*Collateral question- should I start every post with a picture of a woman who looks shocked and a giant red arrow?

Personally, i appreciate them, at whatever rate you post them. They're enjoyable to read, and may even prove vaguely useful sometime down the line. It's not something I think much about, so on the off chance I ever actually have to think about lawyers under more, umm, stressful circumstances, i'll have already thought a little about it. If that makes any sense.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

@Snarf Zagyg

I’m an attorney from the research/drafting/analysis side of attorney-ing. I’m almost never in court- maybe 10-12 times since 1994?* So I find your threads a nice attempt to demystify the process & profession AND a nice reminder WHY I don’t go to court if I can avoid it.

One of the things I like about this particular thread is that you hammer the point home about procedure. Procedural gaffes are the legal analog of hard radiation: they’ll kill your case FAST and PERMANENTLY.



* and I have a knack for getting in cases with anomalous aspects.

 

[Kaodi]

Oh yeah. I have ... stories.

That whole "copyrighted name" thing is a trip. And whenever you see a legal document that references the Torah and/or the Real(tm) Constitution, grab yerself some popcorn.

I think we can all imagine what Sovereign Citizen wackos are like in court but what are these cases in checks notes America where people are referencing the Torah ?

 

[Kaodi]

“The man who represents himself has a fool for a client.” - Abraham Lincoln

I was going to say this if no one else had though I did not recall it being from Abe Lincoln.