Benchslaps, Fabulosity, Technology

Judge Shames Lawyers Over Midnight Filings In Awesomely Sarcastic Order

Sometimes putting pleadings off until the last minute will come back to bite you in the ass.

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Thanks to the advent of electronic filing, lawyers get to work nearly 24 hours a day. You’re not expected to work that much, of course, but your firms certainly wouldn’t mind it if you did. Got a motion due at midnight? No problem! You’re overworked and you’ve got a million other things on your plate, so putting one filing on the backburner can’t hurt. After all, you can just furiously write it the night it’s due, and click a few buttons to get it filed by 11:59 p.m. But for some procrastinating lawyers, meeting a hard midnight deadline is tough. Sometimes putting pleadings off until the last minute will come back to bite you in the ass.

Case in point: earlier this week, lawyers from Florida firm Kenny Nachwalter who were working on a massive multidistrict class-action lawsuit filed a motion at 12:02 a.m., just after a midnight deadline, in the hopes of getting an extension to file an opposition. The lawyers involved claimed that they ran into “technical issues” that delayed their filing. This wasn’t just any extension — they wanted 15 more minutes, and they were unable to get in touch with their adversaries because, well. it was the middle of the night. They later filed their opposition at 12:18 a.m., three minutes past their requested extension.

When Judge Jack Zouhary of the Northern District of Ohio saw the motion the next day, he was having none of it. Tech issues be damned, because this judge wants answers. Here’s an excerpt from Judge Zouhary’s order (available on the next page):

The first question this Court has is: “Why are we waiting until the eleventh hour?” The filing deadline was set some time ago. What message is being sent to this Court when a filing, especially a filing of this length, is being rushed in at the last minute?

Ouch, sick burn, Judge. Lawyers, we get it, technology is great, but just because you can wait to file things until right before they’re due doesn’t mean you should. One of our tipsters noted that “all new attorneys should read this as a teachable moment.” But what else is being taught here, aside from the fact that midnight filings are all too common?

We’ll tell you: there’s a lesson to be learned here on associate abuse, and Judge Zouhary is so fed up with the way technology has allowed law firms to take advantage of their associates that he’s willing to go to the mattresses to protest this growing trend:

In the old days, law firms employed “runners” who would dash off to the courthouse just before the 5 PM closing to timely file a pleading. With electronic filing, the daily deadline has been extended from “regular business hours” to evening hours. Lawyers are now literally “burning the midnight oil” (ironically, a phrase developed in pre-electricity days when nighttime light was provided by oil lamps), and hit the send button with a sigh of relief. This is a sad commentary on the life of today’s law firm associates who would undoubtedly prefer to be elsewhere, even if dinner and a ride home are comped.

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We couldn’t agree more with Judge Zouhary. This is a sad commentary on associates’ lives (or the lack thereof). We’d say that law firms ought to consider limiting the hours when associates can churn those bills, baby, but if they can’t even get time off from responding to emails in the middle of the night, we doubt such a thing will ever happen.

In case you’re wondering, Judge Zouhary denied the motion for a 15-minute extension but granted the lawyers a 20-minute extension so that their 12:18 a.m. opposition would be timely filed.

(Flip to the next page to see Judge Jack Zouhary’s order in full.)

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