![\"law](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/abovethelaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/law-firm-lawyer-lunch-food-GettyImages-184905506-300x200.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1\" "\\"\\"")
Chief Judge R. David Proctor of the Northern District of Alabama, go ahead and take your victory lap. Frustrated by counsel\u2019s level of pettiness, the judge ordered the lawyers to have lunch together<\/a> to talk about how they were going to behave better going forward. Plaintiff counsel would cover the check, defense counsel would kick in the tip, and they would jointly report back to the court.<\/p>\nAnd it seems as though it worked out<\/a>:<\/p>\n On December 16, 2024, undersigned counsel met for lunch at Saw\u2019s BBQ in Hoover, Alabama, for over an hour. The discussion covered the practice of law, families, some big-ticket items for the 2024 holiday season, everyone\u2019s small town bona fides, and the plan for communication going forward in this matter. A healthy dialogue regarding professional norms ensued.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Honestly, the family and holiday talk feels more encouraging than the professional norms conversation. It\u2019s a lot harder to file a motion to strike over one side filing 15 minutes late \u2014 the precipitating issue in this case \u2014 when you care about what they\u2019re getting Johnny for Christmas. Which, to the judge\u2019s credit, is probably why they were ordered to have lunch as opposed to a meet and confer to discuss norms in a conference room.<\/p>\n As for the risk of shenanigans when the bill came due\u2026<\/p>\n Plaintiff\u2019s counsel paid the $74.00 bill, and Defendants\u2019 counsel left a $74.00 tip.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n So they made it a very happy holiday for their server too.<\/p>\n (Report on the next page\u2026)<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Earlier<\/strong>: Judge Orders Lawyers To Have Lunch To Think About What They Did<\/a><\/p>\n 1<\/strong> 2<\/a>Next \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" No problem is so big that a little BBQ can’t fix it. The post Ordering Feuding Lawyers To Have Lunch Together\u2026 Totally Worked? appeared first on Above the Law. Chief Judge R. David Proctor of the Northern District of Alabama, go ahead and take your victory lap. Frustrated by counsel\u2019s level of pettiness, the judge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":100173,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law","category-legal_matters"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/law-firm-lawyer-lunch-food-GettyImages-184905506-yYFeEH.jpeg?fit=2121%2C1414&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n