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Category Archives: Humor

Judge’s Benchslap Provides Unique Resolution to Deposition Dispute.

01 Tuesday Jan 2019

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Benchslap, Depositions, Discovery, Humor, Judges

≈ Comments Off on Judge’s Benchslap Provides Unique Resolution to Deposition Dispute.

Tags

Benchslap, Discovery Disputes, Judge Nowlin, Kevin Underhill, Lowering the Bar

Parties Ordered to Conduct Deposition at State Line, Lowering the Bar, by Kevin Underhill

https://loweringthebar.net/2008/06/parties-ordered.html

Because we Oklahomans are totally fine with losing the Big 12 Championship to some other team whose name I can’t recall, this discovery dispute seemed understandable. [Sarcasm intended.] Everyone knows that, when it comes to discovery disputes, nothing is too outrageous, even if the Court adds football bragging rights to its Order.

Despite what I’m sure were sincere good faith efforts by both sides, neither could agree on the location for the corporate representative’s deposition – San Antonio, Texas, or Bentonville, Arkansas. Both refused to budge and had dug in their respective heels. The Court, when faced with an Opposed Motion for Protective Order by the Arkansas corporation, chose a unique resolution to make both parties happy. – CCE

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Court Reporters And Some Of The The Funniest Things Recorded In Court.

27 Thursday Dec 2018

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Humor

≈ Comments Off on Court Reporters And Some Of The The Funniest Things Recorded In Court.

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Court Reporters, Humor

62 Of The Most Hilarious Things That Court Reporters Have Ever Recorded To Be Said In Court, by Gierdrė, boredpanda

https://bit.ly/2GIgXO1

On Thanksgiving weekend, I had a “water mitigation event” at my house. Since that time, I have been sleeping in the living room in a blowup bed, which is actually not that bad. The holidays became even more interesting when, on Christmas Eve, a motor in the furnace suddenly went out. It was even more suddenly fixed before the coming cold spell.

Under the current circumstances, I feel the need for a hefty dose of humor. While this may not be the most scholarly post I have offered at this website, it is one of the funniest. – CCE

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The Capitol Steps – Today!

04 Wednesday Jul 2018

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Humor

≈ Comments Off on The Capitol Steps – Today!

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Bar & Grill Singers, The Capitol Steps

The Capitol Steps

http://www.capsteps.com/

Every year, The Capitol Steps perform a 4th of July show. If you are not familiar with The Capitol Steps, it’s political musical satire. This tradition is shared by similar groups around the country in law schools and bar associations, such as the Bar & Grill Singers in Austin: https://www.singers.com/group/Bar-Grill-Singers/ (my personal favorite, “Appointed Forever“).  It’s well written, well performed, and hilarious.

Regardless of your political persuasion, you’ll enjoy it! Happy Fourth of July! -CCE

 

 

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Six Judges Let The Benchslaps Fly.

19 Tuesday Jun 2018

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Acronyms, Appellate Law, Benchslap, Humor, Intellectual Property, Judges, Legal Ethics, Legal Writing, Oral Argument, Patent Law, Proofreading

≈ Comments Off on Six Judges Let The Benchslaps Fly.

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Benchslap, Lawyerist.com©, Lisa Needham

Six Benchslaps to Brighten Your Day, by Lisa Needham, Lawyerist.com

https://lawyerist.com/six-benchslaps-will-brighten-day/

As Ms. Needham describes it, “[f]or the unfamiliar, benchslap originally referred to one judge snarking at another, but now refers to any time a member of the bench crushes an attorney with wit, rage, or both.” It is also an excellent example of what not to do. -CCE

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You Have The Right To Remain Silent, But Can You?

02 Friday Feb 2018

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Criminal Law, Humor

≈ Comments Off on You Have The Right To Remain Silent, But Can You?

Tags

Kevin Underhill, Lowering the Bar Blog, Miranda Warning

Suspect Who Asks About His “Other Murder Case” Is Charged With That One, Too, by Kevin Underhill, Lowering the Bar Blog

http://bit.ly/2FEdpXI

A good friend has a saying that ranks as some of the best advice I’ve ever heard: “You can think anything you want. You just don’t have to say it.”

I have found that it works well in most work and life situations. In this particular instance, it would have been ideal. -CCE

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The Capitol Steps’ Annual Fourth of July Performance!

03 Monday Jul 2017

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Humor

≈ Comments Off on The Capitol Steps’ Annual Fourth of July Performance!

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Bar and Grill Singers, Bar None, Capitol Steps, Dallas Bar Association

The Capitol Steps On the Air

http://www.capsteps.com/radio/

Every year, the Capitol Steps perform on the 4th of July. Perhaps your law school or bar association has a similar group, such as Bar None, sponsored by the Dallas Bar Association and Dallas Bar Foundation (http://www.barnoneshow.com/) and the Bar and Grill Singers from the Austin Young Lawyers Association with the Austin Bar Association (http://www.austinbar.org/young-lawyers/projects/bar-grill/). The Capitol Steps annual Fourth of July broadcast times and radio stations are listed, or you can download their performance using iTunes. -CCE

 

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It’s New Years’ Eve. Time Again for The Capitol Steps!

28 Wednesday Dec 2016

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Humor

≈ Comments Off on It’s New Years’ Eve. Time Again for The Capitol Steps!

Tags

Humor, The Capitol Steps

It is that time again. The Capitol Steps New Year’s Eve broadcast is coming to a radio station near you. Find the time and radio station at their website: http://www.capsteps.com/radio/.

The Capitol Steps do two free broadcasts each year: New Year’s Eve and the Fourth of July. If you are not familiar with this group, check it out: http://www.capsteps.com/about/. Enjoy! -CCE

 

 

 

 

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Unique Contract Complaint – Disney Won’t Help Me Build An X-Wing.

29 Wednesday Jul 2015

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Breach, Contract Law, Humor

≈ Comments Off on Unique Contract Complaint – Disney Won’t Help Me Build An X-Wing.

Tags

Contract Law, Disney, Kevin Underhill, Lowering the Bar Blog, Motion to Dismiss, X-Wing

Plaintiff: Disney Promised to Help Me Build an X-Wing. Court: No It Didn’t, by Kevin Underhill, Lowering the Bar Blog

http://www.loweringthebar.net/2015/04/flying-car.html

There are no words. This is absolutely unique. -CCE

Many remarkable legal documents land in my inbox, and I try to mention as many as I can. Of that group, only a select few are remarkable enough to make it into the Hall(s) of Fame. I don’t think any other case has yielded both a Hall of Fame pleading and a Hall of Fame court order, but this is probably such a case. . . .

Continue reading →

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We Are Going To Miss Jon Stewart.

27 Saturday Jun 2015

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Humor

≈ Comments Off on We Are Going To Miss Jon Stewart.

Tags

Douglas Keene, Jon Stewart, The Daily Show, The Jury Room Blog

When Jon Stewart Didn’t Do His Job—He Really Made Us Think, by Douglas Keene, The Jury Room

http://keenetrial.com/blog/2015/06/26/when-jon-stewart-didnt-do-his-job-he-really-made-us-think/

 

Like Mr. Keene, I am really going to miss Jon Stewart. -CCE

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The Capitol Steps on July 4th!

27 Saturday Jun 2015

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Humor

≈ Comments Off on The Capitol Steps on July 4th!

Tags

Bar and Grill Singers, Fourth of July, Humor, The Capitol Steps

The Capitol Steps On The Air

http://www.capsteps.com/radio/

Every 4th of July and New Year’s Eve, The Capitol Steps give a free performance on the radio. If you are not familiar with The Capitol Steps, think Monty Python satire but in song about American politics and politicians. It is hilarious. No 4th of July would be complete without tuning in on the radio to hear their program. The free performance can be found on selected radio stations – see times and dates at the link.

As I’ve mentioned before, if this kind of thing is up your alley, check out Austin lawyers who call themselves the Bar and Grill Singers at http://www.barandgrillsingers.com/.

This Independence Day, enjoy the Capitol Steps one-hour long special, ‘Politics Takes a Holiday!’

It’s the most wonderful time of the year when Presidential candidates emerge from their political slumbers and proclaim themselves fit to rule this Nation. The singing political comedians the Capitol Steps will take on Jeb Bush, Hillary Clinton, Ted Cruz, Bernie Sanders and all the other ‘76 Unknowns’ who have thrown their hat (and your money) into the ring. It’s time to ‘Mock the Vote’ in 2015! . . .

Continue reading →

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A Classic — “The Becky Klemt Letter.”

25 Wednesday Feb 2015

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Humor

≈ Comments Off on A Classic — “The Becky Klemt Letter.”

Tags

Becky Klemt Letter, Law and Disorder, Legal Assistants Division State Bar of Texas, Legal Humor, Wall Street Journal

The Becky Klemt Letter, published in Law And Disorder, Legal Assistants Division State Bar of Texas ©1999

http://www.txpd.org/TPJ/18/law_disorder.htm

The link above no longer exists. You will find the Becky Klemt Letter here: https://www.penceandmac.com/index.php/then-and-now-becky-klemt-macmillan/

If you have been around long enough, my bet is that you will recognize this right away. If not, then enjoy. It’s a classic.  -CCE

Becky Klemt is a lawyer in Laramie, WY (with the five-person firm of Pence & MacMillan). On Aug. 17, 1988, she wrote a letter. It was only one letter—’just one funny letter’ as Becky describes it. But these are the ‘reviews’ of The Becky Klemt Letter, by various lawyers, judges and clients, as quoted in an article in The Wall Street Journal (Sept. 6, 1990) ‘A Lady Lawyer in Laramie Writes A Landmark Letter’:

‘Hilarious’. . . ‘a masterpiece’. . .’ a jewel’. . . ‘brutal’. . . ‘skewers the pretentiousness of big-city lawyering with incomparable wit’. . . ‘the pot-shot heard round the world’. . . the ‘most photocopied letter in legal history’. . . ‘the best writing (ever done) on legal stationery.’

Tom Scott of Midland (Bullock, Scott, etc.) got copies of the letters from Becky after reading The Wall Street Journal article and—since The Letter was not printed in that article—suggested that it be published in full in this column. So here it is, together with two other letters which set the scene for The Becky Klemt Letter. . . .

Continue reading →

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Time For Some Levity. Here’s The Case Law Hall of Fame.

31 Saturday Jan 2015

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Court Orders, Courts, Humor, Judges, Legal Writing

≈ Comments Off on Time For Some Levity. Here’s The Case Law Hall of Fame.

Tags

Case Law Hall of Fame, Legal Humor, Lowering the Bar Blog

Case Law Hall of Fame, Lowering the Bar Blog

http://kevinunderhill.typepad.com/lowering_the_bar/case-law-hall-of-fame.html

Cold wet day here. (Hey, not complaining – we need the rain!) Others digging out from monster snow banks. Time for a giggle or two provided by Lowering The Bar. Each of these is worth a snicker, and some might evoke a full belly laugh. It is hard to find one favorite. Which one is yours? -CCE

Bradshaw v. Unity Marine Corp. (S.D. Tex. 2001) (‘Both attorneys have obviously entered into a secret pact . . . to draft their pleadings entirely in crayon on the back sides of gravy-stained paper place mats, in the hope that the Court would be so charmed by their child-like efforts that their utter dearth of legal authorities in their briefing would go unnoticed.’).

Brown v. Swindell (La. Ct. App. 1967) (holding plaintiff could not recover damages for emotional distress allegedly due to embarrassment of owning a three-legged dog).

Bruni v. Bruni (Ontario Super. Ct. 2010) (‘Here, a husband and wife have been marinating in a mutual hatred so intense as to surely amount to a personality disorder requiring treatment . . . . I am prepared to certify a class action for the return of all wedding gifts.’)

Collins v. Henman (S.D. Ill. 1987) (dismissing case because, even accepting petitioner’s claim that he was the Prophet Muhammed, he was still required to exhaust remedies in state court before filing federal habeas action).

Denny v. Radar Industries (Mich. Ct. App. 1971)(‘Appellant [tried to distinguish his case.] He didn’t. We couldn’t. Affirmed.’)

Fisher v. Lowe (Mich. Ct. App. 1983) (‘We thought that we would never see/A suit to compensate a tree’). Bonus points: Westlaw did the summary and headnotes in verse, too.

Lodi v. Lodi (Cal. Ct. App. 1985) (‘This case started when plaintiff Oreste Lodi sued himself in the Shasta County Superior Court.’).

Miles v. City Council (S.D. Ga. 1982) (relating the story of Blackie the Talking Cat).

Moore v. Moore (Mo. Ct. App. 1960) (recognizing husband’s right to fish without female interference, but ruling that minor infringements on it are not grounds for divorce; also finding that the term ‘hillbilly’ is not an insult, at least when used in Southern Missouri).

Nance v. United States (D.C. Cir. 1962) (‘How do you know it was me, when I had a handkerchief over my face?’)

Noble v. Bradford Marine Inc. (S.D. Fla. 1992) (ruling, not long after ‘Wayne’s World’ was released, that ‘very excellent’ authorities showed that removal to federal court was ‘most bogus and way improvident’; ordering defendants to ‘party on in state court.’).

Norman v. Reagan (D. Or. 1982) (dismissing case against former President Reagan for allegedly causing plaintiff’s ‘civil death’ and also certain unspecified claims regarding a suspicious mailbox).

Pardue v. Turnage (La. Ct. App. 1980) (‘An exhaustive reading of the entire record convinces this court that Kenneth Turnage did give his stuffed bear to the Lessards.  For the trial court to find otherwise was manifest error.’).

People v. Foranyic (Cal. Ct. App. 1998) (ruling that there was probable cause for police to detain someone they see riding a bike at 3 a.m., carrying an axe)

R. v. Duncan (Ontario Ct. Justice 2013) (‘There is an ancient proverb to the effect that ‘those whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.’‘)

Stambovsky v. Ackley (N.Y. 1991) (holding that a homebuyer could seek recission of sale contract based on his claim that he did not know house was allegedly haunted by poltergeists; based on estoppel, court ruled that ‘as a matter of law, the house is haunted’).

United States ex rel. Mayo v. Satan and His Staff (W.D. Pa. 1971) (dismissing case against Satan and unidentified staff members for lack of jurisdiction and uncertainty as to whether case could properly be maintained as a class action).

Washington v. Alaimo (S.D. Ga. 1996) (ordering plaintiff to show cause why he should not be sanctioned for ‘filing a motion for improper purposes,’ such as those hinted at in the title of the pleading, ‘Motion to Kiss My Ass.’)

In re Marriage of Gustin (Mo. Ct. App. 1993) (holding that wife’s chopping through door of marital residence with a hatchet was not ‘marital misconduct’ sufficient to affect distribution of property).

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The Capitol Steps’ New Year’s Eve Performance – Don’t Miss It!

30 Tuesday Dec 2014

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Humor

≈ Comments Off on The Capitol Steps’ New Year’s Eve Performance – Don’t Miss It!

Tags

Humor, Satire, The Bar and Grill Singers, The Capitol Steps, The Capitol Steps Radio Network

The Capitol Steps On the Air, posted by The Capitol Steps Radio Network

http://www.capsteps.com/radio/

If you are not familiar with The Capitol Steps, give yourself a treat. Twice a year they give a free performance on selected radio stations – see times and dates at the link.

If this kind of satire is up your alley, take a look and listen at http://www.cdbaby.com — The Bar and Grill Singers from Austin.  My personal favorite is “Appointed Forever.” It’s a classic! -CCE

Help say good-bye and good riddance to 2014 with the Capitol Steps and our annual year-end review. It’s all in our hour-long radio special of “Politics Takes a Holiday!” This year will feature all-new awards, such as:

  • “Is that guy jumping the White House fence, or is he just really into Michelle’s ‘Get Moving’ campaign?”
  • “You say ISIS, I say ISIL. Let’s call the whole thing off.”
  • And of course, “I scream, you scream, we all scream EBOLA!”

Go ahead and announce it on your social media pages, but don’t post it on the Cloud because we have some pictures we really don’t think the world is ready to see.

So let’s send 2014 out like a character from Fifty Shades of Grey…with a bright red bottom.

Let’s have some fun, shall we?

Broadcast times and stations are listed below, so tune in that old-time radio for the two yearly editions of the Capitol Steps’ “Politics Takes a Holiday” broadcast on July Fourth and New Year’s Eve.

We post broadcast times as we receive them, usually a week or two before the air date. If there is no time listed, your station may still be carrying the show. A lot of stations are too busy worrying about Rush Limbaugh’s latest slur to let us know, so call them and tell them to contact us with their broadcast details. . . .

 

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