If you get into serious trouble, one of the best things that you can do is to listen to your lawyer. They see your interests as their priority, and they (probably) know the legal system far better than you do. So, following their advice is (usually) the best course of action.
However, some folks have such big egos that they won’t listen to common sense or genuinely good expert advice. Inspired by user u/Sunieta25, the lawyers of Reddit spilled some hot tea about the dumbest things their clients did to ruin their cases, and it was jaw-dropping. We’ve collected some of the spiciest stories to share with you. Scroll down to check them out!
We reached out to the person who sparked the entire intriguing online discussion, redditor u/Sunieta25, and they were kind enough to share their perspective on lawyer-client interactions. Check out what they told Bored Panda below.
#1
I was defending a client who was accused of trademark infringement. Thought he knew better than the IP Attorney assigned to his case (me) and so went on his company's website to "defend" himself by basically confessing to what he did and claiming it wasn't against the law and the trademark owner was a "woke baby" who needed to either "learn the law" or "get back in the kitchen and make her husband a sandwich" ( i wish i could say i was joking). I was one email away from negotiating a settlement that would have allowed the continued use of the complainants mark with limited restrictions and a very nominal fee. Little to say, she saw his website, told us to go f**k ourselves, and dragged it before a judge. My client lost...big. His lack of self-control cost him thousands of dollars.
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316points
Bored Panda was curious to find out what had inspired the OP to spark the discussion on Reddit in the first place. They were happy to share the story behind it.
"I thought of the question after watching the video of the guy that joined Zoom court while driving and his case was about driving while his license was suspended," u/Sunieta25 opened up to us.
"I saw his lawyer's face trying to keep her composure from sheer stupidity and was thinking, 'I wonder how lawyers even handle stupidity from their clients?'"
#2
Not a lawyer, but I am a former police officer and spent a lot of time in courtrooms.
One guy was on trial for a DUI, and he wanted the judge to know that the cop who arrested him was "just some punk kid". He insisted that he'd only had two bottles of wine and his lawyer keeps trying to get him to stop his stream of verbal diarrhea and he just keeps going
Eventually the judge says "I think you should take a moment to confer with your attorney" and the guy says "Don't interrupt me, I'm not a child!"
Judge smiled and leaned back and said "by all means, please continue". dudes attorney just looked like he was deflating.
260points
#3
I was on a jury where the defendant showed up in court day 1 wearing the same exact outfit as the “unknown suspect” in the video of the crime. It took only a few seconds before the judge immediately called a stoppage. All lawyers went into the back with the judge and they came out like 7 minutes later as announced the defendant had taken the plea deal. Wild.
258points
According to the author, they were completely taken by surprise by how much their thread blew up all over Reddit. They had a fantastic time reading through the stories that the lawyers shared.
"I read almost every story in the thread and had a bunch of good laughs while I ate my cereal," u/Sunieta25 told Bored Panda.
In their opinion, it's vital that clients actually listen to their legal representatives.
"I haven't been in any position where I needed a lawyer, but I'd advise clients to listen to their lawyer because they went to school to study law," they said.
"They know how the judge will respond to testimonies. Take their advice and cooperate the best you can and maybe you can get out of trouble."
#4
Around 1990 there was a guy on trial for armed robbery. He pled not guilty. A witness on the stand identified the defendant. The defendant jumped to his feet and roared, “I should have blown your head off when I had the chance…..” pause, thinks, adds, “if I had been the one who robbed you…”.
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240points
#5
With the utmost certainty in his voice, he yelled at the arresting officer that “It’s not domestic violence; I’m on public property!”
You could tell from his face he really thought he had the cop over a barrel on this one but….
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237points
#6
IANAL, but I used to review disability claims so I often worked with clients who had lawyers.
A man whose attorney had instructed him to not speak with us directly (a very smart, very basic recommendation) called me up to rant, angrily, that his lawyer was wrong. He COULD shop for groceries and mow the lawn and do all sorts of house work JUST FINE, thank you.
Now I had seen this man’s medical records. There’s no way he was doing all of this without difficulty. So I probed a little further. He could shop for groceries… as long as he used a mobility scooter and had his wife carry things in the house. He could mow the lawn… if he used a riding mower and took a lengthy break every 10 minutes or so. He could do house work… which was limited to wiping down counters and folding (but not carrying) laundry. I called his attorney and gave them a quick update as soon as he and I hung up.
I approved his claim, but that man is so damn lucky he got someone who was willing to take an extra 15 minutes with him.
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211points
Chapman Steffler LLP points out that lawyers can actually reject clients. For example, they might do so if there’s a conflict of interest or a massive difference in personalities. Meanwhile, the legal representative might also be swamped with work or their client might not have the financial resources to buy their services. At the end of the day, what an attorney does will depend on their ethical code.
Clients should avoid lying to their lawyers. It sounds obvious, sure, but it bodes well to keep this in mind. If you lie, you’re only going to make your representative’s work much, much harder. Not only that, but this will damage any sense of trust that you’ve already built between the two of you. They might even decide to drop you as a client to avoid any issues in the future.
#7
Not an attorney, worked in a firm. Workers compensation claim, guy falls down at work and claims he injured many different body parts(Shoulder, Knees, Back). We tell him to stay off social media. No problem, he doesnt use social media. At trial, he tells the Judge he used to be a Spin Class Instructor, but since the accident, he cannot teach classes anymore. Welp..turns out, he continued to teach these classes after his injury. This was proved by the HOURS of surveillance the Insurance company did, showing him teaching and vigourously riding in Spin class. How did the Insurance company know he was still an active instructor? The guy posted his Full Teaching Schedule on his FB page. His potentially very lucrative claim, was quickly changed to a fraud claim against him.
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204points
#8
Not my client but the petitioner attorney’s client. The man claimed Workers’ Compensation and threw the kitchen sink at us, meaning, he basically listed just over half of his body parts on the claim petition stating that he injured each one. He was full of s**t and my firm knew it. Anyways, we were going to trial and the day before we ran one more social media search. This absolute f*****g moron posted a video of him winning a break dance competition that was only a few months after the alleged work incident. Never saw a quicker dismissal in my life.
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201points
#9
My mother was in court as a witness, in a case of criminal harassment between two of our neighbours. We basically knew that the case was ridiculous and a sham - the accused neighbour was totally innocent and was being falsely accused by the local trouble makers, who kept on provoking him and who then wanted to be able to sue him for easy money.
Anyway, by pure coincidence, the defendant was secular Jewish, just like my parents. It's literally just a coincidence.
The two trouble maker neighbours, who were also there, were very angry to see my mother in the court. One of them then stood up in the middle of everything and yelled some c**p about how my mother is a Jew and only there because the defendant is a Jew and Jews apparently always stick to help eachother.
The judge immediately ripped him to shreds and threw the case out.
201points
Whether or not to trust your lawyer is a serious consideration. It’s best to do some thorough research on them before you commit to them. Lawyer Monthly suggests checking out any potential legal representatives’ or their firms' websites. One way that you can tell that the organization is legitimate is that the site has a security certificate. This means that they care about your online security and privacy.
In the meantime, look up some online reviews about the firm or lawyer to see what folks have to say about them. Skilled and trustworthy experts generally mean good reviews and glowing testimonials. Meanwhile, you can look up your (potential) representative’s credentials on your country or state’s bar association website to see if they have the right to practice law in the first place.
#10
Client in the interview with police:
Police officer: “I don’t care how angry you are- you can’t go around threatening to kill a 5 year old!”
Client: “I didn’t threaten to kill her!!! I threatened her mother!!!”
Client: “I didn’t threaten to kill her!!! I threatened her mother!!!”
He thought there was some sort of distinction there. We took a plea deal.
192points
#11
NAL, but my uncle used to be a prison manager at the local prison in the area of NZ where I grew up. They had 'court' hearings when the prisoners had done something against the rules etc, they'd go before a couple of the prison workers and explain, kinda like an internal hearing I guess. Uncle was the 'judge' for a lot of these.
One dude had been found with a cellphone. Denied up and down that it was his, didn't know where it came from, blah blah blah. Uncle asked him several times if he wanted to own up, guy absolutely INSISTED it wasn't his.
Uncle "well, someone's wasted a hundred bucks on a phone then"
Prisoner "F**k off, I paid $600 for that!"
Uncle "............."
hahahahhaa miss his work stories.
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186points
#12
Not a lawyer but I know a cop who went to a report of a guy being mugged.
"What did he steal?"
"£275 in cash and about thirty £10 deals of crack and Heroin"
"Really?"
"Yeah. It was _______ that did it, known him years and he's a rival"
*Cop writes statement detailing what happened and what was stolen*
"Sign here if that's all absolutely correct and exactly what happened and was stolen"
*Guy signs*
"Cheers. You're under arrest for being concerned in the supply of Class A d***s"
The cop prosecuted the caller for possession with intent to supply AND the guy that robbed him for robbery and possession with intent to supply 😂🤦🏻😂.
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178points
Being silent and doing nothing are two great pieces of advice. If you’re in hot water, the last thing you want to do is cause even more trouble for yourself. If your lawyer is even halfway decent, you have to trust them with your case and that they’ll represent you to the best of their abilities.
Take their tips to heart. You stay calm, quiet, and polite when you’re told to do so. The legal system is so intricate that even doing something you think is ‘harmless’ can come back to bite you on your behind later on. Interacting with the other clients, attorneys, or judges beyond what’s allowed can lead to some really nasty results later on.
#13
Client was being sued and didn’t like the opposing counsel or the judge so he left the court a bunch of voicemails so profane that he was subject to a criminal contempt of court hearing.
176points
#14
I was called for jury duty and was sitting in the courtroom watching the other potential jurors get questioned by the attorneys, just waiting for my possible turn to be questioned. One of the charges was aggravated assault.
The defense asked one juror (who was a professional videographer) if her career made her more or less likely to put stock in video footage. To me, this was a hint (but not admission) that video footage would be a big part of the case.
Before the juror could even answer, the defendant yelled from his table "I had a mask on! You can't even see my face!"
The entire room went silent for about five seconds before the defense attorney regained his composure and asked the judge to dismiss the jury pool. The judge dismissed us back to the holding room. Five minutes later, one of the clerks of the court came in and told us (even the already selected jurors) that the trial was being rescheduled and we were all dismissed.
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170points
#15
Not me, but a colleague. A wealthy client's son got picked up for d**g dealing at a local music festival. The client bailed him out, and then had his whole fancy law firm defend his son.
The son shambled into the courtroom stoned off his a*s, and loudly attempted to buy d***s off the bailiff.
There wasn't a lot the lawyers could do after that.
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165points
Do we have any Pandas with a background in law here today? What’s the very worst client you’ve ever had to deal with? How can you tell if a client is someone you might not want to work with?
If you’re feeling up to it, share your thoughts and stories in the comments section at the bottom of this post.
#16
Not a lawyer, heard this story from a guy I used to work with. His brother in law got injured at work and was suing for a hefty sum. Case was pretty much open and shut, all the evidence was in the BIL's favor... Until the BIL started talking. They ask him to tell them about the day of the accident. BIL started out fine until he gets to the where he approached the piece of equipment that injured him. He tell everyone that there was a note on it stating that it was out of order. BIL then says that he discarded the note and started up the piece of malfunctioning equipment as he had a job to get done...
That easy win was discarded faster than that out of order sign.
156points
#17
Friend of mine used to be a latent print analyst. Going to get prints of a suspect arrested for breaking into a home to rob it. While she’s getting the ink and paper set up, suspect shouts, “whaddya need the prints for? She looked right at me when I kicked in the door!”.
149points
#18
Not a lawyer, but I was in a courtroom watching injunctions (restraining orders) play out.
One case the woman was there, but the man was in prison so he was calling in. After deciding on an agreement, the guy asked if he could make a statement. At the end of his statement, he said "and tell {the woman} to go f**k herself."
He got an additional 6 months of prison. The guy asked to make another statement after getting a tongue lashing from the judge.
And he did it again - telling her to go f**k herself. And got another 6 months.
Imagine losing a year of your life because you couldn't shut up for 5 minutes.
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148points
#19
I was a 3L student in school's family law clinic. We had one of those custody cases that just would not die. The husband remarried, and step-mom did not want bio-mom to exist in their happy family and dragged this mom to court for the smallest things to try and get full custody instead of 50/50 of her "spirit son." We were in court every other month just for this case. The court never budged on custody. Eventually, step-mom decided us meddling kids were the only thing keeping her from her "spirit son." Step-mom called the law school and made a complaint against my team accusing us of doing really horrible stuff to the child and threatening them. They then demanded we be expelled or the university would be sued. We filed an emergency hearing and told the judge everything and asked for sanctions and argued harassment. Judge found the couple in contempt for threatening us to sway the case. The judge then said he questioned their ability to effectively co-parent and act in the child's best interests. Mom was given primary custody, and they got every other weekend and some holidays. The judge also decided that given the couple's history, they were harassing the mom using the court and banned them from further custody filings. Later we found out the couple also filed a bar complaint against our professor too. That was investigated and found without merit.
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143points
#20
Im not a lawyer, this isnt my story. But, the lawyer who handled my business stuff and a legal dispute is a federal judge. Before he became a judge, he was a lawyer for divorces and civil stuff.
A wealthy male client filed for divorce. Theres a prenup. Its pretty iron clad. It discuses the distribution of wealth, the alimony (if any) is laid out at x amount, increasing yearly based on inflation. Theres 1 major “exception” and that is “if you are caught cheating, cheating here is defined by any sexual contact with a person before the divorce is final, you automatically get the worst terms of the prenup.” In the womans case, (if she cheats) she gets zero alimony, and a 1 time payment of 100k. In the mans case, (if he cheats) he loses the main family home, all cars that are not his daily driver, and 1/4 of his business. (A buy out option is available, but doesn’t matter to this story)
Lawyer gets to court and meets with his client in a conference room. And client is beaming. He shakes the lawyers hand. And says “hey! Mike!! I want you to meet jasmine. I met her 2 months ago. Shes amazing. We got engaged over the weekend in france!”
And mike shook her hand and slumped in the chair and said “so, we got a major problem. You are cheating on ur wife with her. And legally, this is discovery im required to hand over to the other side” hes all “how the f**k am i cheating? We’re separated?!?!” Mike is all “cheating is any sexual contact before divorce is final. Its in ur prenup. That you wrote on ur own.”
The guy flipped his s**t. Ended up being so mad, he ditched court. Which gave him a default judgement. Meaning she gets everything she asked for. + because of the cheating + not showing up, the judge ordered that the transfer of money happen with in 30 days. As part of the initial agreement between both parties. Hes not there to contest it. So, blam.
The guy ended up trying to sneak the company to the new woman via a trust. But, its an illegal move. He also tried to hide the money with her by giving her 1.1 million dollars in cash (a bank transfer) but, the judge stopped that once ge found out and required the woman to repay the money since she was given notice also.
He fought for years. And ended up losing money, time, energy, his business, house, 6-7 cars, and his new wife. Now, (cuz i know his daughter from work) hes a retired angry man living in rural new mexico. He cant afford to golf more than once a month. And he posts about how women are scum.
Next morning edit: i certainly didnt expect this to blow up. Ty for the positive dm’s and replies. Ill try to reply if i see any questions in the thread to clarify stuff.
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136points