Another shoe dropped at work on Monday, and we now have 2 attorneys and 3 litigation assistants, down from 6 and 4, and attorneys actually peaked at 11. Does this mean our work is finished or getting any lighter? No. It is just a by-product of one curious aspect of corporate legal culture that I am rapidly learning--delay, delay, delay, and then ask for an extension. The irony is that our side would prefer to wrap the case up faster, but apparently if we don't play the game it will look as if we lack long-term resolve--or possibly we just can't get our act together. Or some combination of the two. The practical upshot is that we sent lawyers we wanted to keep home on what will allegedly be a two-week hiatus--but which could expand--and so if they find another gig in that time we will have lost accumulated knowledge and have to train new people from scratch when we enter the next phase.

None of this should affect me, I should add, as even with a break in the legal work there is still no end of administrative work to be done. So I guess I'd better go do some.