I had a first in ten years of practicing law today—a docket call.

A docket call is when the Judge sends out a notice to attorneys with old (one year plus) cases on their docket.

Only today in the Minnehaha County Courthouse in the Second Judicial Circuit, it was all the judges who sent out notices.  There were probably over fifty cases on the list and 75 attorneys in attendance.

Let’s put it this way.  There were as many lawyers in Courtroom 4B that the the spectator pews could hold—and then some.  It was like the monthly gathering of the Second Circuit Bar’s luncheon meetings.

 The call had a little bit of a feel of being sent to the principal’s office when you were a kid in elementary school.  You didn’t know what to expect.  At least Judge Srtska didn’t make us do push-ups like Principal Mendel did at Yankton’s Stewart Elementary.

Actually, it was an intriguing event.  Most of the lawyers there, like me, had never been to a docket call.  But as Judge Srtska explained, Back In The Day, it was a common tool used 2-3 times a year to weed the judicial garden.  He noted it was a tradition—and sort of implied one that might be continued.

He also had the clerk read a very formal “Hear ye, hear ye” statement at the beginning of court, like something you might hear in an English court.  The clerk then pounded the largest gavel I’ve ever seen to commence the call.  I thought it was actually pretty cool, a throwback to a different time but still echoing of modern courtroom procedure.

Then, as we kind of expected, Judge Srtska’s mission was to “dispose,” i.e., dismiss, as many cases as possible to get them off the docket.  The ones he couldn’t dispose of that were pending got set for a status conference—the very next day.

What was fun was to see Judge Srtska, who controls his courtroom anyway, not take any guff or excuses from the lawyers, even the “big time” lawyers who kind of like to run the courtroom as trial lawyers.  The right answers today were “This matter can be dismissed” or “This matter should be set for trial.”  Anything else wasn’t part of the call.

Some of the lawyers complained about getting pulled out of their practices and having to spend an hour or so before Judge Srtska.  When I got the order that said “you are hereby ordered to appear,” I didn’t figure there was much to argue about.  You just show up if you’re not able to get the case dismissed prior to the call.

It was also nice to be cheek by jowl with my colleagues and to see every one of us treated the same—like 4th graders who hadn’t turned in their homework on time—big firm, little firm, solo practitioner, hotshot attorney, recent grad—were were all in the same boat, or at least dock(et).

Every day I am a lawyer.  But it is days like this that make me feel like a lawyer—something a little different, maybe even a little special, part of an old, respected, and fraternal group that built the common law—lawyers.

Oh, and I got my case dismissed and didn’t have to do push-ups. 

(Cross-posted to the KELOLAND Edition of South Dakota Watch.)