Laws of Love

He Loves Ken, Not Me

KENDALL

It wasn't hard - intimidating people. Knowing how to instill fear, particularly in witnesses, has become a finely honed expertise of mine. It's the very essence of what makes me such a great attorney. I go to great lengths to get the best outcomes for my clients. And if I'm being honest, I don't care about who is at the expense of me proving my client innocent.

"That's quite the sob story, Mrs. Smith," I tell the witness whom I am cross-examining.

"It's not a sob story," she shouts at me. I don't flinch at her raised voice as I got the reaction I wanted from her. Mrs. Smith's lawyer gets her to calm down before she continues. "I'm trying to tell you what he did to me," she points at my client, "he made it hell to work for him, constantly asking me to put up with unfair hours and demands. You can't even begin to imagine how demeaning it is to spend hours of your morning roasting coffee beans to make a single cup of coffee for a man that you know will never even think to say a simple thank you?"

"I can't I tell her," I say, agreeing with her, "but it's a task apart of the job you agreed to when signing your contract with the company, and there's no legal mandate that my client thank you for simply doing your job."

I look over at my client, Shaw Harlow, who's at risk of losing his billion-dollar net worth if opposing counsel wins this case. Not to mention I stand to lose a contingency fee nearing five million if I don't manage to keep the settlement under ten million dollars.

"And let's not forget the evidence we have proving Mr. Harlow used a stapler to strike one of my clients," the lawyer presents an image of the wound that his client may or may not have suffered as a result of my client flinging an office size stapler at them.

"That person is a liar, the stapler hardly landed near their feet." Mr. Harlow whispers in my ear.

I silently scoff at him acknowledging throwing the stapler. The man needs a therapist, not a lawyer.

"That's a nasty bruise but it doesn't quite match the story your client gave us,"I quickly start thinking of a way to challenge the validity of the evidence. "It would've taken around 24 hours for a bruise like that to fully develop and be noticeable on the skin . . . maybe around 4 weeks to heal completely. Yet the timestamp on this image is 5 months after this supposed stapler incident? How does your client explain having a wound that didn't heal even a bit after five to six months ?"

The lawyer turns to the judge, "Your Honor, I object. Counsel is presenting on facts that go beyond general knowledge and into the realm of medicine diagnosis, for which they are not qualified."

"Objection sustained," the judge rules "Counsel, please leave the medical diagnosis to an expert witness."

"Your Honor, I was merely speaking from the written report prepared by our medical expert. But if that's not enough to prove that this lawsuit hinges on complete falsehoods." I begin, gesturing to the stack of documents before me."I submit evidence of text message exchanges between the plaintiff, Ms. Singh, and her confidante. These messages reveal Ms. Singh's admission that she accepted the position as my client's assistant solely due to his physical appearance, with no genuine intention of fulfilling her job responsibilities." I pause to observe the reactions of opposing counsel and the judge."Furthermore, the plaintiff, Mr. Garcia, misrepresented his qualifications to secure employment. These revelations call into question the credibility of their claims and the validity of this lawsuit as a whole." I deliver the final nail in the coffin for their class action.

I raise a smirk at the gaping attorney in front of me, knowing full well that I had just discredited the class action he had spent months working on.