Jamie Jensen was the
junior lawyer to Jon Wurst at McGrumm Shaft, the law firm I engaged
to represent me. Although I had been advised to resit having a
junior lawyer do the work, Jon stated that because Nelly Wince, who
represented Spring, was a woman, that it would be better if Jamie did
the court work. This seemed odd to me but Jon assured me that it was
for the best and that he would still direct the case. In hindsight I
think this was done just to garner more billable hours.
In many ways I liked
Jamie. She seemed like a decent person in a bad environment. The
culture of McGrumm Shaft was to simply up-sell to the limit the
client could pay. This up-selling ranged from have unnecessarily
long conversations and not directly answering question to advising
that I could not be adequately defended if I did not get a testimony
coach. One they recommended of course. They recommended a mediator
and parental consultant similarly.
As I began to
realize what was happening, I optimistically assumed that Jamie
worked they way she did because that was norm of the firm and she did
not reflect on those norms too much. This happens a lot and
unfortunately is one of the ways corruption perpetuates in society.
Junior people assume the senior people are operating they way they
should. It takes a very strong person to see the injustice of their
actions when they are making a large income. And divorce lawyers have
very good incomes. Rationalization is just too easy.
As I write this in
the Middle East three Israeli teenagers were recently murdered by
radical Palestinians who thought their actions justified because of
the occupation of Palestine and a few days later a Palestinian youth
was burned alive by Israeli radicals in retaliation. I have not doubt
that the murderers on both sides felt fully justified in their
actions and were assured it was by those they associated with.
With Jamie I really
wanted to believe that she was a moral person at heart and thought
quite naively and possibly egotistically that my case would cause her
to self-reflect and became a better person. I really wanted to
believe that she was at heart a moral person. I even advised her to
leave the firm as it just was not an environment that was good for
her. Sadly she ignored my advise and as far as I know learned nothing from my case. Last I looked she was still employed by McGrumm Shaft.
This is sad not only for the legal system but for her.
No comments:
Post a Comment