when chastised by the judge. It really doesn’t matter if your assistant made a mistake when calendaring the date or compiling the exhibits to the motion…it is you who missed the case management conference or is standing before the judge who can’t find the exhibit to your motion -  and therefor it is you who is accountable, and you just have to fall on your sword.

If the court insists on an explanation, you should remember that – unless the truth is that your father/mother/spouse had a heart attack and you came to the hearing directly from the emergency room -  the explanation rarely sounds quite as compelling in open court and when it is put on the record, as it did back at the office – it can even sound sort of like “my dog ate my homework” …