17 March 2010

Spent the morning in the Jasper County Courthouse with Judge Hulse and opposing counsel. A trial was scheduled for purposes of modifying visitation. Opposing counsel, I, and the judge talked it out and took it to the clients. One accepted, one did not. Prior to actually hearing the case, the judge made it clear how he would rule given the facts as he understood them. Consequently, the parties stipulated and that stipulation was read into the record. The entire proceeding took about two hours. I think we could have actually tried the case in an hour. The opposing party was not happy with the result and let it be known to the attorney and my client after the matter was finally resolved. It is difficult to control some clients and to make them understand that if they can not agree with the other side, the judge will decide and neither party may be very happy. In this case the one party was quite literally forced to agree and stipulate or anticipate the judge would do worse, which he certainly threatened to do. I do not feel victorious in this battle, but it helps to have a party that is reasonable, willing to compromise, with an attorney who can do the same.