Thursday evening, my significant other, who is also an attorney, was discussing a disability case involving a woman whose health problems included obesity. I asked him “Did she say anything about having a singing engagement for Monday morning?”

My sympathy to my fellow disappointees. Too bad the Supreme Court doesn’t have a Comfort Room like the National Spelling Bee. I guess that would be geographically impracticable — hey, wait a minute, doesn’t Akin Gump have an office in practically every city? Tom?

I am aware that Justice Jackson addressed the issue of defeat in his classic lecture on advocacy before the Court but his focus was on losing after briefing and argument. It may be found at:

http://www.roberthjackson.org/documents/082351/

The tavern of which he speaks would not have enough space for all of us.

I am fortunate in that I have a resilient and appreciative client, a potential legislative channel for my frustrations, and a persuasive backstory for that channel. If I can accomplish something in the way of reform, it will reduce my chances of getting a bad case of Ancient Mariner Syndrome. I’ve got this mental picture of my future bedraggled and elderly self (add 20 years) buttonholing strangers in and about the courthouse and telling them “I did not rely solely on the Allison Park decision . . .”

But I digress.

Over the summer, I monitored requests for responses in paid cases. I have decided, on an experimental basis, to put a page on my web site tracking such requests. Here’s the link:

http://www.genericlawyer.com/responserequested.html

Best to all.