We picked up one excellent word — a word worth travelling to New Orleans to get; a nice limber, expressive, handy word — "lagniappe." They pronounce it lanny-yap. It is Spanish — so they said. We discovered it at the head of a column of odds and ends in the Picayune, the first day; heard twenty people use it the second; inquired what it meant the third; adopted it and got facility in swinging it the fourth. It has a restricted meaning, but I think the people spread it out a little when they choose. It is the equivalent of the thirteenth roll in a "baker's dozen." It is something thrown in, gratis, for good measure.

In Southern Louisiana, one often hears the term "lagniappe" used to describe the small things that make life a little sweeter. This word often comes to my mind when I'm doing a little extra for my clients - this is one of my favorite parts of my job. The opportunity to put personal touches on my law practice at my firm is one for which I am grateful.

Last Friday, for example, I got the news that one of our client's felonies was dismissed. I emailed my client to let him know. I told him that I'd pick up a copy of the dismissal on Monday morning when I was at court and fax it to him. He was thrilled and indicated to me that he couldn't wait to have the dismissal in hand. Normally, our runner would be down there in no time to pick up the dismissal for us, but he was out of town visiting his new niece. As I was wrapping things up for the weekend, I decided to run down to the courthouse myself so that my client could have his dismissal over the weekend.

Everybody takes some satisfaction in being someone that people turn to, and that's a rewarding part of my job. I got a call earlier this week that really upset me - one of my former clients called to tell me that his pit bull had been shot by law enforcement. While I couldn't help him legally, I was able to make a couple of calls to people I know in the community and help him with both legal and veterinary options. My fellow dog lovers out there will be happy to know that the dog is doing much better, and hopefully we'll be getting good news about the legal outcome as well.

Labels: dismissal, dogs, lagniappe

posted by Kristi Couvillon   permalink   0 Comments