Board of Veterans Appeals (Attorney Advisor)

[Anonymous]

So I hear there’s no more overtime at the Board? What about the bonus programs? Wasn’t management able to continue overtime under past continuing resolutions? Looks like Board attorneys are working themselves out of incentive programs. Anyone know what percentage of overtime cases make up total cases? I thought the Biden administration wanted overtime opportunities for federal workers. What a rug pull. It’s just another decision that hurts the attorneys and veterans, but I bet they’ll be money for bonuses at the EOY. Shame.

https://afgelocal17.org/crisis-at-the-board/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So I hear there’s no more overtime at the Board? What about the bonus programs? Wasn’t management able to continue overtime under past continuing resolutions? Looks like Board attorneys are working themselves out of incentive programs. Anyone know what percentage of overtime cases make up total cases? I thought the Biden administration wanted overtime opportunities for federal workers. What a rug pull. It’s just another decision that hurts the attorneys and veterans, but I bet they’ll be money for bonuses at the EOY. Shame.

https://afgelocal17.org/crisis-at-the-board/

Wow, that is taken WAY out of context. We don't have a budget for 2024-2025, yet. Admin (as bad as they are) cannot commit to offering money they don't know if they will have.

[Anonymous]

Whose bright idea was it to update the system on the day of the end of the fiscal year. I lost all my documents saved on my desktop. What happens to the people that still need to finish my the end of the day? But VA “sincerely apologizes”, so that makes it all better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whose bright idea was it to update the system on the day of the end of the fiscal year. I lost all my documents saved on my desktop. What happens to the people that still need to finish my the end of the day? But VA “sincerely apologizes”, so that makes it all better.

So sorry this happened to you. The update was definitely poorly timed.

Check in the C drive and see if some documents are there is anything under c/userfile/ text-backups. This worked for me when my documents updates disappeared

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whose bright idea was it to update the system on the day of the end of the fiscal year. I lost all my documents saved on my desktop. What happens to the people that still need to finish my the end of the day? But VA “sincerely apologizes”, so that makes it all better.

The fiscal year ends tonight at 11:59 p.m. Stop whining and get back to work. There is plenty of time remaining.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whose bright idea was it to update the system on the day of the end of the fiscal year. I lost all my documents saved on my desktop. What happens to the people that still need to finish my the end of the day? But VA “sincerely apologizes”, so that makes it all better.

The fiscal year ends tonight at 11:59 p.m. Stop whining and get back to work. There is plenty of time remaining.

why are you such an awful person? the poster got all of their documents essentially wiped. don't you think that would be at least mildly frustrating even if you didn't have a deadline?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whose bright idea was it to update the system on the day of the end of the fiscal year. I lost all my documents saved on my desktop. What happens to the people that still need to finish my the end of the day? But VA “sincerely apologizes”, so that makes it all better.

The fiscal year ends tonight at 11:59 p.m. Stop whining and get back to work. There is plenty of time remaining.

I finished my quota a long time ago but I can’t imagine trying to finish up tonight and have my documents wiped out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whose bright idea was it to update the system on the day of the end of the fiscal year. I lost all my documents saved on my desktop. What happens to the people that still need to finish my the end of the day? But VA “sincerely apologizes”, so that makes it all better.

The fiscal year ends tonight at 11:59 p.m. Stop whining and get back to work. There is plenty of time remaining.

why are you such an awful person? the poster got all of their documents essentially wiped. don't you think that would be at least mildly frustrating even if you didn't have a deadline?

I’m not an awful person. ICare, but there’s no use whining about it. If the poster needs those credits to meet the quota, that’s on him/her. Shouldn’t have waited until last minute to meet the quota. It’s PIP time, baby!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread has been ongoing for awhile now. I wonder if anyone has actually chosen not to join the Board because of this thread? Have people actually been encouraged by the thread? Or is it just current employees discussing workplace grievances at this point?

Good question. Personally, I take everything said here with high skepticism. Personally, I joined the Board despite the negative comments, and it was the best career decision I ever made. For obvious reasons (i.e., identification), I won't reveal too much info about myself. I will say I had substantial litigation experience before joining the Board. I hated litigation. I am NOT a people person. This position has allowed me to excel at what I do best, write. I considered being put with a bad VLJ, but I knew I write well and would have to adapt. So, I was confident with my skills. Luckily, I have a good VLJ. Even so, I have written for some stinkers of VLJs. Yet, I dealt with it and just pushed through. Each VLJ wants things a certain way, we cannot get around that.

What I will say is that getting "fully successful" v. "exceptional" on year-end evals seems to be causing controversy. Some VLJs will give your work a 3 and others will give the same work a 5. Admin needs to address that.

Unless you’ve been treated badly by a VLJ, you won’t understand how truly bad it can get at the Board. I’ve seen several BVA attorneys, who received excellent performance appraisals year after year for 10 or 20+ years, get pushed out the door after they were assigned to one of the toxic VLJs.

Things may be going great for you now, but things can deteriorate quickly if you’re reassigned to the wrong VLJ. The toxic ones don’t care how well you write. If they hate you for some reason, you better watch out.

You just described life in general. HAHA. It can be good one day and bad the next. As I said, it's all personal to each individual.

That attitude is so common at the Board. Get sexual harassed... that's life. Get screamed at...that's life. Get set up to fail... that's life and so on. That's why the toxic environment the Board at the Board has stayed the same, except for that brief period when Carol DiBattiste was in charge. Carol refused to adopt the "that's life" attitude and refused to normalize toxicity in the workplace. Most people at the Board aren't asking to be BFFs with BVA management... they just don't want to work in a toxic work environment.

Well, I have never experienced that at the Board, nor do I know anyone who has. I know from others it has occurred in the past, but to hold on to the "toxic" label is also toxic. Management is lackluster, but I don't see them as toxic. VLJs are independent. If there is a problem, the government provides avenues to report unethical acts. But just because someone may not "get along" with a VLJ because they want rewrites or you are not doing things the way they want, there is little that can be done. Whining certainly doesn't help.

The problem is that this attitude discounts the experiences of people who have been harassed at the Board. It is not just not "getting along." There were managers who were actively harassing employees, dragging them into personnel actions such as PIPs and/or removals, and even lying about the employees' work product. If this happened to you, it is hard to forget it. It's like telling a woman to forget about being beat up by her boyfriend because he never beat you up.

Of course people should try to move forward, but the people who are bitter are that way for a good reason.

I guess I am confused. Do you have a point? You don't like the Board because of past issues? That it?

The person claiming to care and at the same time telling you it's time for a PIP previously admitted that they don't understand anything!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread has been ongoing for awhile now. I wonder if anyone has actually chosen not to join the Board because of this thread? Have people actually been encouraged by the thread? Or is it just current employees discussing workplace grievances at this point?

Good question. Personally, I take everything said here with high skepticism. Personally, I joined the Board despite the negative comments, and it was the best career decision I ever made. For obvious reasons (i.e., identification), I won't reveal too much info about myself. I will say I had substantial litigation experience before joining the Board. I hated litigation. I am NOT a people person. This position has allowed me to excel at what I do best, write. I considered being put with a bad VLJ, but I knew I write well and would have to adapt. So, I was confident with my skills. Luckily, I have a good VLJ. Even so, I have written for some stinkers of VLJs. Yet, I dealt with it and just pushed through. Each VLJ wants things a certain way, we cannot get around that.

What I will say is that getting "fully successful" v. "exceptional" on year-end evals seems to be causing controversy. Some VLJs will give your work a 3 and others will give the same work a 5. Admin needs to address that.

Unless you’ve been treated badly by a VLJ, you won’t understand how truly bad it can get at the Board. I’ve seen several BVA attorneys, who received excellent performance appraisals year after year for 10 or 20+ years, get pushed out the door after they were assigned to one of the toxic VLJs.

Things may be going great for you now, but things can deteriorate quickly if you’re reassigned to the wrong VLJ. The toxic ones don’t care how well you write. If they hate you for some reason, you better watch out.

You just described life in general. HAHA. It can be good one day and bad the next. As I said, it's all personal to each individual.

That attitude is so common at the Board. Get sexual harassed... that's life. Get screamed at...that's life. Get set up to fail... that's life and so on. That's why the toxic environment the Board at the Board has stayed the same, except for that brief period when Carol DiBattiste was in charge. Carol refused to adopt the "that's life" attitude and refused to normalize toxicity in the workplace. Most people at the Board aren't asking to be BFFs with BVA management... they just don't want to work in a toxic work environment.

Well, I have never experienced that at the Board, nor do I know anyone who has. I know from others it has occurred in the past, but to hold on to the "toxic" label is also toxic. Management is lackluster, but I don't see them as toxic. VLJs are independent. If there is a problem, the government provides avenues to report unethical acts. But just because someone may not "get along" with a VLJ because they want rewrites or you are not doing things the way they want, there is little that can be done. Whining certainly doesn't help.

The problem is that this attitude discounts the experiences of people who have been harassed at the Board. It is not just not "getting along." There were managers who were actively harassing employees, dragging them into personnel actions such as PIPs and/or removals, and even lying about the employees' work product. If this happened to you, it is hard to forget it. It's like telling a woman to forget about being beat up by her boyfriend because he never beat you up.

Of course people should try to move forward, but the people who are bitter are that way for a good reason.

I guess I am confused. Do you have a point? You don't like the Board because of past issues? That it?

The person claiming to care and at the same time telling you it's time for a PIP previously admitted that they don't understand anything!

Don’t understand anything? To be fair, we’re talking about Board attorneys here. They’re not exactly the crème de la creme of the legal profession.

You are an extremely bitter person who probably could not handle the work at the Board and was fired. Otherwise, there would be no reason for you to talk the way you do. While we talk about aptitude, to whom are you comparing the Board attorneys? Alina Habba, Trump's attorney who never won a case in her life, but is being paid millions of dollars to keep losing? The Supreme Court Justices, half of whom are racist conservatives? How about disgraced attorney Rudy Giuliani who was just disbarred from a second jurisdiction? Or how about that Kentucky Judge that was shot by the sheriff for having an underage affair with his teenage daughter? Who is not the "creme de la creme?" Please check yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whose bright idea was it to update the system on the day of the end of the fiscal year. I lost all my documents saved on my desktop. What happens to the people that still need to finish my the end of the day? But VA “sincerely apologizes”, so that makes it all better.

The fiscal year ends tonight at 11:59 p.m. Stop whining and get back to work. There is plenty of time remaining.

why are you such an awful person? the poster got all of their documents essentially wiped. don't you think that would be at least mildly frustrating even if you didn't have a deadline?

I’m not an awful person. ICare, but there’s no use whining about it. If the poster needs those credits to meet the quota, that’s on him/her. Shouldn’t have waited until last minute to meet the quota. It’s PIP time, baby!

You are the same person who previously claimed not to understand anyone's problems. You lack empathy for others. I feel sorry for anyone who gets one of your decisions. You clearly only think about yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread has been ongoing for awhile now. I wonder if anyone has actually chosen not to join the Board because of this thread? Have people actually been encouraged by the thread? Or is it just current employees discussing workplace grievances at this point?

Good question. Personally, I take everything said here with high skepticism. Personally, I joined the Board despite the negative comments, and it was the best career decision I ever made. For obvious reasons (i.e., identification), I won't reveal too much info about myself. I will say I had substantial litigation experience before joining the Board. I hated litigation. I am NOT a people person. This position has allowed me to excel at what I do best, write. I considered being put with a bad VLJ, but I knew I write well and would have to adapt. So, I was confident with my skills. Luckily, I have a good VLJ. Even so, I have written for some stinkers of VLJs. Yet, I dealt with it and just pushed through. Each VLJ wants things a certain way, we cannot get around that.

What I will say is that getting "fully successful" v. "exceptional" on year-end evals seems to be causing controversy. Some VLJs will give your work a 3 and others will give the same work a 5. Admin needs to address that.

Unless you’ve been treated badly by a VLJ, you won’t understand how truly bad it can get at the Board. I’ve seen several BVA attorneys, who received excellent performance appraisals year after year for 10 or 20+ years, get pushed out the door after they were assigned to one of the toxic VLJs.

Things may be going great for you now, but things can deteriorate quickly if you’re reassigned to the wrong VLJ. The toxic ones don’t care how well you write. If they hate you for some reason, you better watch out.

You just described life in general. HAHA. It can be good one day and bad the next. As I said, it's all personal to each individual.

That attitude is so common at the Board. Get sexual harassed... that's life. Get screamed at...that's life. Get set up to fail... that's life and so on. That's why the toxic environment the Board at the Board has stayed the same, except for that brief period when Carol DiBattiste was in charge. Carol refused to adopt the "that's life" attitude and refused to normalize toxicity in the workplace. Most people at the Board aren't asking to be BFFs with BVA management... they just don't want to work in a toxic work environment.

Well, I have never experienced that at the Board, nor do I know anyone who has. I know from others it has occurred in the past, but to hold on to the "toxic" label is also toxic. Management is lackluster, but I don't see them as toxic. VLJs are independent. If there is a problem, the government provides avenues to report unethical acts. But just because someone may not "get along" with a VLJ because they want rewrites or you are not doing things the way they want, there is little that can be done. Whining certainly doesn't help.

The problem is that this attitude discounts the experiences of people who have been harassed at the Board. It is not just not "getting along." There were managers who were actively harassing employees, dragging them into personnel actions such as PIPs and/or removals, and even lying about the employees' work product. If this happened to you, it is hard to forget it. It's like telling a woman to forget about being beat up by her boyfriend because he never beat you up.

Of course people should try to move forward, but the people who are bitter are that way for a good reason.

I guess I am confused. Do you have a point? You don't like the Board because of past issues? That it?

The person claiming to care and at the same time telling you it's time for a PIP previously admitted that they don't understand anything!

Don’t understand anything? To be fair, we’re talking about Board attorneys here. They’re not exactly the crème de la creme of the legal profession.

You are an extremely bitter person who probably could not handle the work at the Board and was fired. Otherwise, there would be no reason for you to talk the way you do. While we talk about aptitude, to whom are you comparing the Board attorneys? Alina Habba, Trump's attorney who never won a case in her life, but is being paid millions of dollars to keep losing? The Supreme Court Justices, half of whom are racist conservatives? How about disgraced attorney Rudy Giuliani who was just disbarred from a second jurisdiction? Or how about that Kentucky Judge that was shot by the sheriff for having an underage affair with his teenage daughter? Who is not the "creme de la creme?" Please check yourself.

No need to get political. And, comparing yourself to Supreme Court justices just undermines your argument. Let’s be real, no one, including your own family, thinks you are Supreme Court material. You may be the crème de la crème at the Board, but there’s an entire legal profession outside of the Board. I hope you get to practice law in the real world. With any luck, you may get the privilege of working with Alina Habba.

Are you writing this from your office at the Supreme Court since you are such an expert?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread has been ongoing for awhile now. I wonder if anyone has actually chosen not to join the Board because of this thread? Have people actually been encouraged by the thread? Or is it just current employees discussing workplace grievances at this point?

Good question. Personally, I take everything said here with high skepticism. Personally, I joined the Board despite the negative comments, and it was the best career decision I ever made. For obvious reasons (i.e., identification), I won't reveal too much info about myself. I will say I had substantial litigation experience before joining the Board. I hated litigation. I am NOT a people person. This position has allowed me to excel at what I do best, write. I considered being put with a bad VLJ, but I knew I write well and would have to adapt. So, I was confident with my skills. Luckily, I have a good VLJ. Even so, I have written for some stinkers of VLJs. Yet, I dealt with it and just pushed through. Each VLJ wants things a certain way, we cannot get around that.

What I will say is that getting "fully successful" v. "exceptional" on year-end evals seems to be causing controversy. Some VLJs will give your work a 3 and others will give the same work a 5. Admin needs to address that.

Unless you’ve been treated badly by a VLJ, you won’t understand how truly bad it can get at the Board. I’ve seen several BVA attorneys, who received excellent performance appraisals year after year for 10 or 20+ years, get pushed out the door after they were assigned to one of the toxic VLJs.

Things may be going great for you now, but things can deteriorate quickly if you’re reassigned to the wrong VLJ. The toxic ones don’t care how well you write. If they hate you for some reason, you better watch out.

You just described life in general. HAHA. It can be good one day and bad the next. As I said, it's all personal to each individual.

That attitude is so common at the Board. Get sexual harassed... that's life. Get screamed at...that's life. Get set up to fail... that's life and so on. That's why the toxic environment the Board at the Board has stayed the same, except for that brief period when Carol DiBattiste was in charge. Carol refused to adopt the "that's life" attitude and refused to normalize toxicity in the workplace. Most people at the Board aren't asking to be BFFs with BVA management... they just don't want to work in a toxic work environment.

Well, I have never experienced that at the Board, nor do I know anyone who has. I know from others it has occurred in the past, but to hold on to the "toxic" label is also toxic. Management is lackluster, but I don't see them as toxic. VLJs are independent. If there is a problem, the government provides avenues to report unethical acts. But just because someone may not "get along" with a VLJ because they want rewrites or you are not doing things the way they want, there is little that can be done. Whining certainly doesn't help.

The problem is that this attitude discounts the experiences of people who have been harassed at the Board. It is not just not "getting along." There were managers who were actively harassing employees, dragging them into personnel actions such as PIPs and/or removals, and even lying about the employees' work product. If this happened to you, it is hard to forget it. It's like telling a woman to forget about being beat up by her boyfriend because he never beat you up.

Of course people should try to move forward, but the people who are bitter are that way for a good reason.

I guess I am confused. Do you have a point? You don't like the Board because of past issues? That it?

The person claiming to care and at the same time telling you it's time for a PIP previously admitted that they don't understand anything!

Don’t understand anything? To be fair, we’re talking about Board attorneys here. They’re not exactly the crème de la creme of the legal profession.

You are an extremely bitter person who probably could not handle the work at the Board and was fired. Otherwise, there would be no reason for you to talk the way you do. While we talk about aptitude, to whom are you comparing the Board attorneys? Alina Habba, Trump's attorney who never won a case in her life, but is being paid millions of dollars to keep losing? The Supreme Court Justices, half of whom are racist conservatives? How about disgraced attorney Rudy Giuliani who was just disbarred from a second jurisdiction? Or how about that Kentucky Judge that was shot by the sheriff for having an underage affair with his teenage daughter? Who is not the "creme de la creme?" Please check yourself.

No need to get political. And, comparing yourself to Supreme Court justices just undermines your argument. Let’s be real, no one, including your own family, thinks you are Supreme Court material. You may be the crème de la crème at the Board, but there’s an entire legal profession outside of the Board. I hope you get to practice law in the real world. With any luck, you may get the privilege of working with Alina Habba.

Child, for your information. I was a trial and appellate litigator for over 10 years prior to joining the Board. I left that world because the stress was ridiculous, and not worth my time or sanity. If you want to criticize, why don't you come walk a mile in my shoes, then we can talk, rather than doing it through anonymous trolling on a random chat board? Criticize all you want, but it just shows how ignorant you are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread has been ongoing for awhile now. I wonder if anyone has actually chosen not to join the Board because of this thread? Have people actually been encouraged by the thread? Or is it just current employees discussing workplace grievances at this point?

Good question. Personally, I take everything said here with high skepticism. Personally, I joined the Board despite the negative comments, and it was the best career decision I ever made. For obvious reasons (i.e., identification), I won't reveal too much info about myself. I will say I had substantial litigation experience before joining the Board. I hated litigation. I am NOT a people person. This position has allowed me to excel at what I do best, write. I considered being put with a bad VLJ, but I knew I write well and would have to adapt. So, I was confident with my skills. Luckily, I have a good VLJ. Even so, I have written for some stinkers of VLJs. Yet, I dealt with it and just pushed through. Each VLJ wants things a certain way, we cannot get around that.

What I will say is that getting "fully successful" v. "exceptional" on year-end evals seems to be causing controversy. Some VLJs will give your work a 3 and others will give the same work a 5. Admin needs to address that.

Unless you’ve been treated badly by a VLJ, you won’t understand how truly bad it can get at the Board. I’ve seen several BVA attorneys, who received excellent performance appraisals year after year for 10 or 20+ years, get pushed out the door after they were assigned to one of the toxic VLJs.

Things may be going great for you now, but things can deteriorate quickly if you’re reassigned to the wrong VLJ. The toxic ones don’t care how well you write. If they hate you for some reason, you better watch out.

You just described life in general. HAHA. It can be good one day and bad the next. As I said, it's all personal to each individual.

That attitude is so common at the Board. Get sexual harassed... that's life. Get screamed at...that's life. Get set up to fail... that's life and so on. That's why the toxic environment the Board at the Board has stayed the same, except for that brief period when Carol DiBattiste was in charge. Carol refused to adopt the "that's life" attitude and refused to normalize toxicity in the workplace. Most people at the Board aren't asking to be BFFs with BVA management... they just don't want to work in a toxic work environment.

Well, I have never experienced that at the Board, nor do I know anyone who has. I know from others it has occurred in the past, but to hold on to the "toxic" label is also toxic. Management is lackluster, but I don't see them as toxic. VLJs are independent. If there is a problem, the government provides avenues to report unethical acts. But just because someone may not "get along" with a VLJ because they want rewrites or you are not doing things the way they want, there is little that can be done. Whining certainly doesn't help.

The problem is that this attitude discounts the experiences of people who have been harassed at the Board. It is not just not "getting along." There were managers who were actively harassing employees, dragging them into personnel actions such as PIPs and/or removals, and even lying about the employees' work product. If this happened to you, it is hard to forget it. It's like telling a woman to forget about being beat up by her boyfriend because he never beat you up.

Of course people should try to move forward, but the people who are bitter are that way for a good reason.

I guess I am confused. Do you have a point? You don't like the Board because of past issues? That it?

The person claiming to care and at the same time telling you it's time for a PIP previously admitted that they don't understand anything!

Don’t understand anything? To be fair, we’re talking about Board attorneys here. They’re not exactly the crème de la creme of the legal profession.

You are an extremely bitter person who probably could not handle the work at the Board and was fired. Otherwise, there would be no reason for you to talk the way you do. While we talk about aptitude, to whom are you comparing the Board attorneys? Alina Habba, Trump's attorney who never won a case in her life, but is being paid millions of dollars to keep losing? The Supreme Court Justices, half of whom are racist conservatives? How about disgraced attorney Rudy Giuliani who was just disbarred from a second jurisdiction? Or how about that Kentucky Judge that was shot by the sheriff for having an underage affair with his teenage daughter? Who is not the "creme de la creme?" Please check yourself.

No need to get political. And, comparing yourself to Supreme Court justices just undermines your argument. Let’s be real, no one, including your own family, thinks you are Supreme Court material. You may be the crème de la crème at the Board, but there’s an entire legal profession outside of the Board. I hope you get to practice law in the real world. With any luck, you may get the privilege of working with Alina Habba.

HAHAHA, you thinking working with Alina - "I will cost you hundreds of millions of dollars" - Habba is a privilege?!?! HAHAHAH. Get out of here.

[Anonymous]

Child, for your information. I was a trial and appellate litigator for over 10 years prior to joining the Board. I left that world because the stress was ridiculous, and not worth my time or sanity. If you want to criticize, why don't you come walk a mile in my shoes, then we can talk, rather than doing it through anonymous trolling on a random chat board? Criticize all you want, but it just shows how ignorant you are.

Same. There are a good number of us who have 10 plus years of litigation experience who chose to do the job for a variety of reasons. I am lucky that I have a VLJ that respects and appreciates my prior legal experience, and I truly enjoy the work.