NationStates Jolt Archive

So yesterday I was helping a collegue write a memorandum for a court case he's working on. I found a case standing for the proposition we were stating and cited it. Now the quote we took from the case struck me as very familiar, but I couldn't place how.

This was a relatively recent case and I knew I had never read it before but somehow this struck me as familiar. Let's call this case #3. So I checked out the case that the case I quoted was citing to.

Now this is very common, judges quote other judges all the time, and judges quote judges quoting judges etc etc. Particularly famous and important cases might get quoted, which is quoted, which is quoted etc etc.

Anyway, so I checked the case the judge I quoted was cited. Let's call this case #2. I hadn't read that either, but I noticed that the judge I had quoted had herself pretty much used the exact same wording as the case she cited to. The judge from THAT case, turned out himself to have taken the wording from ANOTHER case, let's call this case #1.

So a judge wrote the opinion in case #1. The wording is quoted in case #2. Judge for case #3 then quotes case #2, which was itself quoting case #1. So the wording that I quoted from case #3 came from #2, which itself took it from #1.

THAT case was cited, again, in case #3, and again the judge who wrote the opinion from case #3 quoted case #2 which quoted case #1. So the wording in case #3, having gone through two sources, was still the exact wording as it was when it was originally written in case #1.

Now many judges have interns and clerks. Part of the job of these clerks and interns is to write memos making recommendations. if a judge likes a clerk's/intern's reasoning, logic and wording, that judge may use the wording pretty much exactly and incorporate it into his/her opinion.

Now, the original judge who wrote the first, original opinion in case # was the same first circuit court of appeals judge I interned for in law school.

And then I remembered. When I intered for this judge, I drafted a memo for him stating my recommendations on that very case. He must have liked my argument, and incorporated my exact wording into his opinion, in case #1. That part of the opinion was cited later by another judge, in case #2, which was then quoted in case #3, which I quoted.

My words were used in an opinion, which was quoted, then that opinion was quoted in a third opinion, which I then quoted.

So I was placed in the rather surreal, and very round about way, of having quoted....myself, from something I wrote 6 years ago.

So to prevent this from being a pointless blog, my question comes to you. Ever have one of those "woah" moments, when something happens that just seems oddly strange?

I had to remind my mom to remind me that when I called her later she would need to remind me to send an email to my dad reminding him to do something. It wasn't so much surreal as it was confusing...

I think I just experienced one of those.... Although I didn't quote myself while reading your... analysis, and it wasn't surreal. More or less like one of those "If this is what they do in their spare time, what do they do for a living?" :confused:

He's a liar...err...lawyer. :D

Arthais: did you get the notification that the diplomacy game has been set up?

um, maybe? when'd you send it?

I think I just experienced one of those.... Although I didn't quote myself while reading your... analysis, and it wasn't surreal. More or less like one of those "If this is what they do in their spare time, what do they do for a living?" :confused:

He's a liar...err...lawyer. :D

Arthais: did you get the notification that the diplomacy game has been set up?

That is the most confusingly cool OP ever.

I'm not sure if I really have a 'surreal' work-related experience.

The closest I can think of, is when I still had my moving business. I had taken a sales call, and was on the phone with a customer for a good ten minutes, explaining the process, what our rates were, why we were the best option, etc. After this longer than usual sales call, he decided to go with an in-home estimate.


Turns out he was my next-door neighbour.

While moving him, the lady across the street saw us moving, found out that I was moving him, and more or less hired me on the spot. I kind of became the unnofficial mover of the neighbourhood.

While moving him, the lady across the street saw us moving, found out that I was moving her, and more or less hired me on the spot. I kind of became the unnofficial mover of the neighbourhood.

The question is, why is everyone in your neighborhood moving away from you?

Ever have one of those "woah" moments, when something happens that just seems oddly strange?

Yes... There was the time I found out that I was actually Keyser Söze.

The question is, why is everyone in your neighborhood moving away from you?

Ha! Very funny... very...


... ah shit... that's a good question...

*cries*

So to prevent this from being a pointless blog, my question comes to you. Ever have one of those "woah" moments, when something happens that just seems oddly strange?

Not personally, but one of my professors, with whom I'm working on immigration appeals right now, had a similar moment during class a few weeks ago.. apparently, an appeal he worked on while with the Third Circuit set precedent that he was unaware of, and which he somewhat randomly chose as an example while demonstrating how to use the Lexis database to new additions to the class.. kinda funny. There being 4-500 search results for the keywords entered, and picking one from around the middle, the odds that it would be one he had worked on were pretty low, I'm sure.. :p

The question is, why is everyone in your neighborhood moving away from you?His mere presence caused the land value of his neighbourhood to skyrocket, and most can no longer afford their homes.

For you, the story may be surreal because you essentially went all around the legal solar system only to meet yourself back at the beginning.

But for me the story is hilarious because it's about three judges quoting an intern and getting caught at it by the intern himself.

And I was able to pick that up from your story only because I've worked for enough lawyers to be able to follow it.

:D

His mere presence caused the land value of his neighbourhood to skyrocket, and most can no longer afford their homes.

Quite true. My presence has been known to increase property values by tens and tens of dollars. People in my neighbourhood just couldn't afford such a collossal increase. Or something.

So I was placed in the rather surreal, and very round about way, of having quoted....myself, from something I wrote 6 years ago.At least you still agreed with yourself. :)

So to prevent this from being a pointless blog, my question comes to you. Ever have one of those "woah" moments, when something happens that just seems oddly strange?I don't recall anything, really.

The only thing that came close today was when, out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glance at a conference registration form that a graphic designer designed, I proofread, my boss proofread, some Ministry in Saxonia proofread, a professional proofreader proofread, I proofread again, a printer proofread again and printed, and up to five of my co-workers have received and processed about 300 registrations on in the last month - and noticed that it reads:

________________________
First Name, Name

________________________
Institution

________________________
Name, First Name

________________________
Street

________________________
ZIP Code, City




Moral: Proofreading is made of fail.

So yesterday I was helping a collegue write a memorandum for a court case he's working on. I found a case standing for the proposition we were stating and cited it. Now the quote we took from the case struck me as very familiar, but I couldn't place how.

This was a relatively recent case and I knew I had never read it before but somehow this struck me as familiar. Let's call this case #3. So I checked out the case that the case I quoted was citing to.

Now this is very common, judges quote other judges all the time, and judges quote judges quoting judges etc etc. Particularly famous and important cases might get quoted, which is quoted, which is quoted etc etc.

Anyway, so I checked the case the judge I quoted was cited. Let's call this case #2. I hadn't read that either, but I noticed that the judge I had quoted had herself pretty much used the exact same wording as the case she cited to. The judge from THAT case, turned out himself to have taken the wording from ANOTHER case, let's call this case #1.

So a judge wrote the opinion in case #1. The wording is quoted in case #2. Judge for case #3 then quotes case #2, which was itself quoting case #1. So the wording that I quoted from case #3 came from #2, which itself took it from #1.

THAT case was cited, again, in case #3, and again the judge who wrote the opinion from case #3 quoted case #2 which quoted case #1. So the wording in case #3, having gone through two sources, was still the exact wording as it was when it was originally written in case #1.

Now many judges have interns and clerks. Part of the job of these clerks and interns is to write memos making recommendations. if a judge likes a clerk's/intern's reasoning, logic and wording, that judge may use the wording pretty much exactly and incorporate it into his/her opinion.

Now, the original judge who wrote the first, original opinion in case # was the same first circuit court of appeals judge I interned for in law school.

And then I remembered. When I intered for this judge, I drafted a memo for him stating my recommendations on that very case. He must have liked my argument, and incorporated my exact wording into his opinion, in case #1. That part of the opinion was cited later by another judge, in case #2, which was then quoted in case #3, which I quoted.

My words were used in an opinion, which was quoted, then that opinion was quoted in a third opinion, which I then quoted.

So I was placed in the rather surreal, and very round about way, of having quoted....myself, from something I wrote 6 years ago.

So to prevent this from being a pointless blog, my question comes to you. Ever have one of those "woah" moments, when something happens that just seems oddly strange?

ABUUH? :confused:

ABUUH? :confused:

You gotta kinda wait till the end, and not concentrate on the #1's, #2's and #3's. It's a shell game for sure.

So yesterday I was helping a collegue write a memorandum for a court case he's working on. I found a case standing for the proposition we were stating and cited it. Now the quote we took from the case struck me as very familiar, but I couldn't place how.

This was a relatively recent case and I knew I had never read it before but somehow this struck me as familiar. Let's call this case #3. So I checked out the case that the case I quoted was citing to.

Now this is very common, judges quote other judges all the time, and judges quote judges quoting judges etc etc. Particularly famous and important cases might get quoted, which is quoted, which is quoted etc etc.

Anyway, so I checked the case the judge I quoted was cited. Let's call this case #2. I hadn't read that either, but I noticed that the judge I had quoted had herself pretty much used the exact same wording as the case she cited to. The judge from THAT case, turned out himself to have taken the wording from ANOTHER case, let's call this case #1.

So a judge wrote the opinion in case #1. The wording is quoted in case #2. Judge for case #3 then quotes case #2, which was itself quoting case #1. So the wording that I quoted from case #3 came from #2, which itself took it from #1.

THAT case was cited, again, in case #3, and again the judge who wrote the opinion from case #3 quoted case #2 which quoted case #1. So the wording in case #3, having gone through two sources, was still the exact wording as it was when it was originally written in case #1.

Now many judges have interns and clerks. Part of the job of these clerks and interns is to write memos making recommendations. if a judge likes a clerk's/intern's reasoning, logic and wording, that judge may use the wording pretty much exactly and incorporate it into his/her opinion.

Now, the original judge who wrote the first, original opinion in case # was the same first circuit court of appeals judge I interned for in law school.

And then I remembered. When I intered for this judge, I drafted a memo for him stating my recommendations on that very case. He must have liked my argument, and incorporated my exact wording into his opinion, in case #1. That part of the opinion was cited later by another judge, in case #2, which was then quoted in case #3, which I quoted.

My words were used in an opinion, which was quoted, then that opinion was quoted in a third opinion, which I then quoted.

So I was placed in the rather surreal, and very round about way, of having quoted....myself, from something I wrote 6 years ago.

So to prevent this from being a pointless blog, my question comes to you. Ever have one of those "woah" moments, when something happens that just seems oddly strange?

Groundhog Day is surely not far behind.

Don't drive angry...don't drive angry!

You gotta kinda wait till the end, and not concentrate on the #1's, #2's and #3's. It's a shell game for sure.

I don't doubt that.

At least you still agreed with yourself. :)

I don't recall anything, really.

The only thing that came close today was when, out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glance at a conference registration form that a graphic designer designed, I proofread, my boss proofread, some Ministry in Saxonia proofread, a professional proofreader proofread, I proofread again, a printer proofread again and printed, and up to five of my co-workers have received and processed about 300 registrations on in the last month - and noticed that it reads:

________________________
First Name, Name

________________________
Institution

________________________
Name, First Name

________________________
Street

________________________
ZIP Code, City




Moral: Proofreading is made of fail.
Unless you work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
A perfect example of a bureaucratic form ;)