Here's a pet peeve of mine: Clients who answer "It's been a minute" when asked when some event occurred. What the hell does that mean? Where did this usage come from? I think I've only heard this in the last year or two. Is this usage national?
Unfortunately, lawyers usually need to know when things happened! We get annoyed when given answers like this. My instinct as a lawyer is that if my client seems evasive when answering a question, I've just hit upon a key problem. Of course, "It's been a minute" isn't necessarily evasive but it sounds that way even when it isn't.
11 comments:
It's a fairly new expression. https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=its%20been%20a%20minute
It's been around for a while, which is what "it's been a minute" translates to. I'm not particularly peeved about those types of responses unless that's how every question about time is answered. It starts to sound evasive when details aren't offered for any of my questions.
I've had African American clients in SC use that phrase to mean it's been a while. So I ask a follow up question to get a more specific answer
I also have heard the "its been a minute" answer. One of our jobs as attorneys is to teach our clients how to communicate. From the first time I talk to a client I discuss being clear and not vague. I get evasive answers also.
I probably talk to a client 3 times from beginning of representation to a hearing. Thirty days before a hearing we schedule an appointment, usually a telephone conference with me to prepare for the hearing. I tell the clients what works and what does not. What works is to give numerical amounts not a little bit or for short amounts of time. What works better is to make positive statements, i.e., what can you do, not what you cannot do. Such as I can only sit for 30 minutes as opposed to I cannot sit for long periods of time.
One thing I have seen a lot more then ever (I have handled SSD cases for 41 years) is very young attorneys sitting in the lobbies of OHO discussing the case and testimony with the clients usually loud enough for everyone to hear. Of course we are not currently going to OHO and meeting clients in the lobby now. Before March 16th I saw it everyday, however. I guess most of those attorneys missed the Professional Responsibility class on confidentiality. In many of those cases it appears obvious that the attorney is talking to the client for the first time. I just don't get it. It appears like they don't think the hearing is very important.
This week I took two new cases for appeal to the Appeals Council. In both cases the clients were represented by a "firm" that in one case had an ad on television and the other one was found 2,000 miles away on the internet. The clients said that the cases were farmed out to a local attorney who did not have access to the electronic file and whose only contact before the hearing was to tell them to meet them at the hearing office 30 minutes before.
None of this sounds very professional to me. I am happy that I am at the twilight of my career and not at the beginning of it. Some Attorneys in our field are not getting cases based on what they actually have done but what they say they will do.
I've heard it for many years from African-American clients. I agree that it is equivalent to "for a while." It doesn't make me suspicious but in initial interviews and hearing preparation I need to coach clients to be more specific. It is the same issue as asking a client how far they can walk and they say "not far."
Yes, its a pretty common phrase. I also get annoyed when I ask a client "when did you last see a doctor?" (or something similar) and they answer along the lines of "oh, when I got married" or "when I moved from cleveland". I dont know when that was!
My worst answer - and this was in front of an ALJ for a client that had skipped his prehearing conferences - what when i asked the client how much they could carry, and he said "Oh about a mattress" and I asked how much he thinks that weighs. His answer: "About the same as a dead person"
Been a minute frequently means you have to start over. The expressions you have to work with are not far and not much.
This must be a Southern thing. I have never heard that.
Until I lived in Virginia, I had never heard that someone passed meant they died. Sure, I get it now, but sometimes you just have to learn the dialect and be able to translate for Judges from somewhere else.
it's a common phrase in Detroit...has been for at least the last 15 years (or more), especially among AA population. It generally means any length of time more than a week.
Now picture how much fun it is to hear this every time we ask a timeline question during a claim!
I'm from Georgia. It's fair to say that the saying has been around for a minute.
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