Do parades and other big events interrupt your work?

March 17, 2011
Back to TopCommentsE-mailPrint

Reporter Rebecca Berfanger contributed this blog.

In 2006, when I was working for another publication in downtown Indianapolis, I remember hearing a number of parades go by the offices on weekdays.

While that might sound like fun, usually it served as a cruel reminder that while I was busy working, thousands of other people were reveling just outside. This was particularly true on St. Patrick’s Day.

While our staff could, on our somewhat extended lunch break, catch some of the parade while eating corned beef sandwiches, we weren’t exactly allowed to join the festivities of others who were standing outside one of the many pubs along the parade route.

And while it was fun while it lasted, we eventually had to go back to the office for the rest of the afternoon.

I recall another St. Patrick’s Day since I began working at IL. I hadn’t thought much of the parade that day, but on my way back to the office from a meeting a few miles north of downtown, I remember that the closer to the parade route I got, I noticed more adults and children who had even their pets and strollers decked out in green.

I tried not to stress out while I waited much, much longer than usual in traffic, even though I was traveling on my super secret side streets that I take as a shortcut to avoid traffic.

So with today being St. Patrick’s Day, and the parade just wrapping up as I write this, it made me wonder if this parade or any others that take place during a weekday – Veterans’ Day also comes to mind – have any effect on business, particularly law firms, that are on or near a parade route.

Is it as simple as telling clients to be aware of detours caused by the parade route and where to find parking? If your firm is on or near a parade route, do you plan meetings around it? If you have a meeting with an attorney near a parade route, do you try to schedule accordingly? Has a parade ever caused you to be late? Do you or your firm have similar issues regarding parking and logistics when there are other big events downtown, such as the recent Big Ten tournament or one of many conferences? Are you concerned at all about next year’s Super Bowl festivities?

Or did your office more or less give in to the celebratory spirit of the day and shut down for employees to see the St. Patrick’s Day parade and maybe enjoy a few green drinks or a Guinness chocolate cupcake?

ADVERTISEMENT
  • Parades help keep us grounded
    PatrickMarch 18, 2011 7:23 AM
    I think parades help us to stay grounded and remember that life is just a "game." You're here for a very short while (comparatively speaking). Go enjoy yourself once in a while, and remember to have a good time. Go Irish!
    Reply to CommentFlag Comment
  • News Headlines
    News HeadlinesSeptember 30, 2011 5:35 AM
    Good article.
    Reply to CommentFlag Comment

Post a comment to this story

COMMENTS POLICY
We reserve the right to remove any post that we feel is obscene, profane, vulgar, racist, sexually explicit, abusive, or hateful.
 
You are legally responsible for what you post and your anonymity is not guaranteed.
 
Posts that insult, defame, threaten, harass or abuse other readers or people mentioned in Indiana Lawyer editorial content are also subject to removal. Please respect the privacy of individuals and refrain from posting personal information.
 
No solicitations, spamming or advertisements are allowed. Readers may post links to other informational websites that are relevant to the topic at hand, but please do not link to objectionable material.
 
We may remove messages that are unrelated to the topic, encourage illegal activity, use all capital letters or are unreadable.
 

Messages that are flagged by readers as objectionable will be reviewed and may or may not be removed. Please do not flag a post simply because you disagree with it.

ADVANCED SEARCH
Sponsored by
ADVERTISEMENT

  1. G. Michael Witte letter states he's suspended for three years. The case that got him suspended is identical to my estate case, including havin the Late Judge Deiter recuse himself because Newman had a conflict of interest with the judge. His Modus Operandi is nearly identical.

  2. SIGNED BY G. MICHAEL WITTE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY INDIANA SUPREME COURT DISCIPLINARY COMMISSION DATED MAY 17, 2012.

    Your 6th complaint against Lawrence T. Newman filed on 4/12/2012. On 1/31/12, the Indiana Supreme Court entered an order suspending Lawrence T. Newman’s law license for a period of three years. More important, even after three years, Lawrence Todd Newman will not get his license back unless and until he goes through a separate proceeding to prove that he is fit to practice law. This is not an easy process, and the burden is upon Lawrence T. Newman to prove by clear and convincing evidence that he is fit to return to practice.
    Because of the length of Lawrence T. Newman’s license suspension and the fact he may never succeed in getting his law license reinstated, we are not opening an investigation file at this time.
    Should Lawrence T. Newman seek reinstatement in the future, we will open your file and ask Lawrence T. Newman to address your grievance as part of his burden of proving fitness. We have attempted to notify Lawrence T. Newman that this will be required of him.
    It may disappoint you to hear that we will be doing nothing on your grievance at this time. However, the most our office can ever accomplish is to take away a lawyer’s license to practice law. We have already done that, albeit as a result of misconduct in cases other than your own. It makes better sense for our office to focus its limited resources on cases where the lawyers are still actively practicing law.

  3. Is there any justice in the Marion County Superior Court Civil Division? I am the unfortunate victim of a retaliatory lawsuit brought by Lawrence Todd Newman, the attorney from an estate case on which I worked as a unsupervised personal representative in 2006. The contract agreement for that case stated that the estate would be responsible for all attorney fees, but Newman refused to close the nearly insolvent estate when my duties were complete and his fees were paid. Instead, he tried to extort additional attorney fees from me by keeping the case open to address a wrongful death claim, despite the estate’s heir’s lack of interest in pursuing it and an expert doctor’s opinion that it would not be worth doing so. He also knowingly deceived me into believing that a “closing statement” was needed to close the estate, even though this requirement had actually been waived by the estate’s heir. The heir’s attorney filed a motion to have Newman removed from the case. After the court closed the probate case with prejudice (barred from further litigation) Newman illegally re-opened the case in another courtroom.
    As a result of complaints filed against him for these and similar actions, Newman has been suspended from practicing law for 18 months by the Indiana Disciplinary Commission. In retaliation, he has filed suit against me demanding additional attorney fees for the 2006 estate case, despite the fact that I made no agreement stating that I would pay any fees from my own assets on behalf of the estate. This lawsuit violates the rules of ethics, due process of law, and equal protection of law. Newman has been allowed to file ridiculous pleadings at an alarming rate and has been supported by a biased court system. Judge Carroll refuses to recuse himself from the case despite the fact that, by his own admission, he intends to grant Newman sanctions regardless of the evidence. When my former counsel discovered that the previous judge on the case, Judge Sosin, was a long-time close friend of Newman’s family, Judge Carroll commented for the record during a hearing that Judge Sosin in so many words “he finds the door “was weak for recusing himself from the case as a result of this obvious conflict of interest.
    This case is a public policy issue. Statutes put in place to protect unsupervised personal representatives in probate matters are being ignored. This case will affect thousands of individuals involved in probating and the personal representation of estates. Justice cannot possibly be served as long as a biased judge is allowed to defend a “vexatious litigant,” as Newman has been described by Judge Logan in Bradenton, Florida court. If there is any justice in the Marion County Superior Court Civil Division, this case against me will be dismissed with prejudice.

  4. Every affront to decency and every style adopted by criminals is not per se a constituttional violation. Only fools believe or espouse that.

  5. This was an unnecessary change in law, a needless fiddling with a tax that impacted very very few hoosiers, but one that erodes a tax base benefitting very many hoosiers. Just because some people wanted to chalk up a "tax cut" on their legislative brag-list, and didnt give a fig about replacing the revenue any other way. Really stupid. I am a republican my whole life and this just shames me like hell. I have to use a fake name over this because I know my fellow republicans are all brain washed over tax cutting too.

ADVERTISEMENT