Law.com (The Legal Intelligencer, by Shannon P. Duffy) reports:
bq. Finding that attorney Brian Puricelli’s courtroom work was “smooth” and “artful” in securing a $430,000 verdict in a civil rights suit, but that his written work was “careless” and laden with typographical errors, a federal magistrate judge has ruled that his court-awarded fees should be paid at two rates — $300 per hour for the courtroom work, but $150 per hour for work on the pleadings.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Jacob P. Hart wrote a 12-page opinion on fees.
bq. Hart said he recognized that the case was a complicated one, but said he found some of Puricelli’s writing in the amended complaint to be “nearly unintelligible.”
bq. When defense lawyers complained that the typographical errors in Puricelli’s work were “epidemic,” Puricelli’s response included several more typos, Hart said. The judge quoted a paragraph from Puricelli’s response, adding “[sic]” after each typo.
bq. Puricelli wrote: “As for there being typos, yes there have been typos, but these errors have not detracted from the arguments or results, and the rule in this case was a victory for Mr. Devore. Further, had the Defendants not tired [sic] to paper Plaintiff’s counsel to death, some type [sic] would not have occurred. Furthermore, there have been omissions by the Defendants, thus they should not case [sic] stones.”
I haven’t read the whole of this long article, which is not all about typos.
One of the big problems of translators is errors in the original, of course.
Via The Legal Reader.
“Epidemic” – brilliant!
Margaret Marks has a post entitled “Judge cuts lawyer’s fees for typos / Anwaltsgebühr vom Richter wegen Tippfehler gekürzt”. The post is about a lawyer who is incompetent at writing legal papers. Her post highlights an article at law.com. An…