Oh did I tell y'all about the bizarre sh*t I had to deal with this morning?

Where I'd supposedly been retained on a murder case by people I never spoke with in a county where I don't practice?

So I've mentioned before that I've been *profoundly* fortunate when it comes to friends. I've got people in just another every judicial district in the state

It's both humbling and awesome af

One of them – a former trial team partner of mine – works in a county about 1.5hrs from here

And sent me this text while I was getting ready to hop on a Zoom meeting for the next Fireside Lawyers ep

My first reaction is " #LOLwut"

Then my friends like "no, seriously"

At which point my face is like ""

While I'm waiting to hear back, I log in to our calendar system to see what this guy is charged with

Thinking maybe he's tied in with some of my street pharmacists (for whom I occasionally travel)

And it... was not what I expected

Then sh*t just got downright weird

But I start freaking out anyway, because I handle my own data entry. So if I *do* represent someone in a county I don't go to, I'd have entered it somewhere

First thing I check is my bank account, because murder cases are $$$$$$

Then the client management system

Then the accounting software

Then the receptionist

Then my emails

Nada

So at this point I'm 99.99% sure I've never talked to this guy or his family

And the texts from my buddy down there were reassuring

But then...

I get a "3 messages" text, with this as the first one (and an exceptionally long pause before the rest)

On the one hand, that quote was way too low for a murder (my baseline for A-B felonies is $50K) and my typical payment terms were wrong (usually 1/2 up front and 1/2 in 30 days)

On the other hand, the person who referred him was a classmate of mine who sends a lot of folks to me

So I start freaking out again wondering if I've somehow talked to this guy and just somehow lost the paperwork... and the money... and the contact trail

(Utterly inconceivable btw, but our minds believe dumb sh*t on occasion)

Then the next 2 messages come in, and my lawyer friend is thinking the same thing as me with the name-dropping

But then I breathe a sigh of relief, because I don't have a secretary

I've got a receptionist, but we closed the office back in mid-March. And this guy wasn't arrested until May

So calls for it would go to voicemail, which would leave a trail either via email or in my app

At which point I just start scrolling all my old calls looking for anything anywhere near that part of the state

And get to today...

And find this at 10:23am...

Which you'll notice is the exact same time as my friend's first text https://twitter.com/greg_doucette/status/1265420921680035840