Tales from the Script

Item 1. We were running through a script today, which meant basically that Y was posing scripted hypotheticals for Z to provide the scripted responses.

After a while, Z completely zoned out and started reading her responses without really paying attention to the questions.

We didn't realize that Z was on autopilot until maybe the 10th hypothetical situation -- when Y asked about some activities that are expressly and unequivocally forbidden under the rules and Z immediately and unequivocally replied: Yes, that is perfectly fine! Go for it!

It still took everyone a few minutes to figure out what, exactly, had gone wrong....

Item 2. Law Firm A (in London) and Law Firm B (in New York) are opposing each other in a New York litigation.

The associates of Law Firm B receive a call yesterday from someone who claims to be from Eliot Spitzer's office and accuses Firm B of practicing law without a license. The B associates are a little suspicious of this and demand the caller identify himself and what database he is using. The caller seems oddly baffled by these questions, which is not all that surprising ... since he is calling from a pub at 8 p.m. London time.

Must have seemed like a great practical joke after 4 or 5 pints of Guiness, but -alas!- you really need to be sober to pull this kind of thing off succesfully, and -double alas!- you really need to be drunk to think it's a good idea to try it at all. Talk about your basic Catch-22!

Come to think of it, what tipped the B associates off? Perhaps the British accents? The lack of formal written charges? The sound of muffled laughter and clinking glasses in the background?

* * * *After a few pints, the A associates may also have thought they were very clever to know that Eliott Spitzer is the New York State Attorney General. (Although I think the Financial Times mentions him fairly regularly. And perhaps Spitzer has been mentioned in the London papers in connection with his current gubernatorial campaign?)