Law Office Story: Faith v. Technology

The practice of law, like so many professions, has become reliant upon computer technology; but the profession leaves plenty of room for personal relentless endeavor, personal expression, and, it seems, even for faith. Regarding faith, the case in point is that of Charlotte S.

     Charlotte S. came to me because she was the victim of employment discrimination. She was a lively, vivacious young woman, the wife of a carpenter, the mother of pre-schoolers, a devout Catholic, and I liked her at once. (She also had an interesting personal history:  She was an  heiress of the Mexican family that once held a sole supplier contract to provide nickel to the U. S. mint.) She worked as a bartender, and when the job opened, she wanted the closing shift because that provided the best tips. We went to trial because we were not able to resolve her claim, even though she and several witnesses said that the owner turned her down, because, as he said, he wanted a man for the job.

     Opposing counsel was a woman of my generation, who, like I, had been forced to learn new computer technology as we went along. We had started our careers by having our secretaries prepare our legal documents on IBM typewriters that created punch cards to make copies.  We had grown through the copy machine and the fax, and now we were using personal computers, email, and power point presentations. But we still sweated red hot bullets from stress when we had to use a power point, and relied on our young staff to make sure everything worked right.

     The trial proceeded well. After the presentation of evidence, we were ready for closing argument. As plaintiff’s counsel, I went first, and made my speech using no props. 

     My opponent then took her place at the rostrum in the middle of the courtroom, and set up equipment to make a power point presentation. A few minutes into her speech, her  equipment faltered. She started again. Again, the equipment failed. Her planned speech was tied to her pictures, and she couldn’t seem to go on.  She grabbed a power cord and started jamming it in and out, and I started to laugh, because even I knew that you can’t reboot a computer by jamming the power on and off.  Her assistant rushed forward, messed with switches, and eventually she was able to restart her program and finish her speech.

     The jury decided in our favor.  On a hunch, I asked Charlotte, “Were you praying for her equipment to fail?”

     “Yes,” she said, “But I realized it was a naughty prayer, so I quit.”