Grossman & Cotter

Ben P. reviews the places others do not, like court reporters’ offices and document depositories. Like Grossman & Cotter.
30 quick seconds on Grossman & Cotter: their court reporters are polite, prompt, and good at what they do. Their document depository services are fast, reasonably-​priced, and almost always able to accommodate last-​minute demands. If you need such services while in this general vicinity, these are the people to use.
90 quick seconds on the life of a lawyer: it’s really cute when people lie to me. I spend a significant amount of my professional life being lied to. By opponents, opposing counsel, my secretary, even my own clients on rare occasions. If I was somehow unable to tell when people were lying to me, I would’ve washed out of this profession years ago. And yet, people still insist on doing it. And, really, it’s almost entertaining at this point. Because they always seem to think they’re being SO convincing. Like their lie is SO well crafted, and SO well thought-​out, that certainly someone as stupid as me would never be able to tell. And, one little secret for those of you out there interested enough to still be reading: everyone lies the same way. The lie you think is so clever, so reasonable, so believable, it’s the same lie I’ve been told a thousand times before.
Also, FYI, you’re insulting me by implying that I can’t tell it’s a lie. I’d be a lot more understanding if you just told the truth. This is so for at least 2 reasons: (1) I already know the truth — if I didn’t know the answer, I wouldn’t have asked the question, so telling the truth at least gives me the credit I’m due for knowing the answer; and (2) as I can tell you from experience, it’s hard to handle people who are actually brutally honest. It’s so rare to encounter people like that in everyday life that, even when they confess to shocking things, they often get away with whatever they’ve done, so long as they act penitent. Because they get credit for at least being honest.
Here endth the lesson.