Housekeeping and the Trenches

I have a confession to make.  I am not the world's best housekeeper.  I don't mean my house isn't clean (it is).  I simply hate cleaning it.  So, what do I do?  What any normal person does -- I put it off.  Sure, I know that if I cleaned bathrooms on Monday, dusted on Tuesday....., cleaning my house would take me less than a half an hour a day.  I don't do that, however.  I save it all up for Saturday and Sunday.  Would I enjoy my weekends more if I cleaned my house over the course of the work week?  Maybe, but I doubt it.  All that would happen is that I would dread the week nights after working hard all week, and I would do an incomplete job because I would resent it, and my house would end up a mess (I've tried; I know that's the result).  After all, it only takes me a few hours on Saturday to do it correctly and completely.  That's me, however.  I approach all my tasks that way.  I start work and I don't stop until I'm done.  Not everyone is like me, however.  Some people do their housework a little bit at a time.  The important thing is to recognize how you are and work with it, not against it.  Here in the Trenches, discovery is like housework.  It has to be done, it has to get done by a time certain, and it has to be done comprehensively and completely, or get done again until it's right.   Yes, it's that important to resolving a case. Attorneys need to have all the available information to assess their clients' cases and advise them properly in order to resolve their case.  We need our clients to be thorough in their discovery responses so we have the information we need to settle their case.  Each of our clients approaches discovery differently.  Some people do a few questions a night; others have to do it all at once.  When clients try to work against their nature, discovery doesn't get done, the responses aren't complete and documents are missing.  Here in the Trenches, we don't much care how it gets done, just that it's finished, thoroughly and completely.  If a client can give us the more complete responses by doing a few a night, great.  If they have to devote an entire weekend to getting it done, that's fine too.  Whatever works to get the job done is what we want.  Work with your nature and you won't have to redo it (which will take you even more time), and your attorney will have the information necessary to resolve your case.  Here in the Trenches.