Richard Borzouye is an Incompetent Lawyer
June 13, 2011
I woke up to check my private messages, when I saw one reading, "If you're not on this list of people sued by Joseph Rakofsky, you're doing something wrong." Rakofsky didn't mean anything to me, but I clicked the link. What I saw surprised me.
Who would sue the Washington Post, American Bar Association, and dozens of trial lawyers? Most of you are lawyers, so I don't need to go into case selection. Those who aren't lawyers, know this: Even when you have a case founded in law and fact, you agonize over suing someone who is richer or smarter than you. Law is a grind, and someone with money or brainpower will grind you into the ground.
When you have a marginal - or in Rakofsky's case, frivolous - lawsuit, you don't file. Cases like Rakofsky's are called "dogs," and you only bring a "dog" case when you have some advantage over the defendants.
Thus, the lawsuit simply made no sense to me. Many of the Rakofsky defendants have been practicing law longer than Rakofsky has even lived. Who would think these guys would "panic" or "blink" because some kid filed a frivolous lawsuit? What was Rakofsky thinking?
I assumed Rakofsky filed the lawsuit pro se, since no competent lawyer would have represented him. Nope, Rakofsky did find a lawyer, although I'm still right: No competent lawyer would have represented him.
Why was Richard Richard Borzouye, a 2001 Law Grad, an Employee of the Rakofsky Law Firm? Couldn't Borzouye Find Someone Other Than a 2009 Law Grad to Hire Him?
Richard Borzouye is Rakofsky's lawyer. Although Rakofsky graduated law school in 2009, and Borzouye in 2004, it seems Borzouye worked as Rakofsky's associate. It's not entirely clear. We only know that in a Rakofsky Firm website, Borzouye is listed in the "ABOUT RAKOFSKY LAW FIRM" section. Also, Borzouye's name appears almost at the very the bottom of the page. One can thus infer that Rakofsky was the top man on the totem pole, and Borzouye one of the bottom.
What competent lawyer would work as an associate in a 2009 law grad's firm? None that I can think of. How about you?
Putting aside the face that Borzouye worked as Rakofsky's associate (or was he a junior partner in the Rakofsky Firm?), also consider how Borzouye has managed Rakofsky's lawsuit.
Why Did Richard Borzouye Deny a Request that Any Sensible Lawyer Would Have Agreed to, and that the Trial Court Will Almost Certainly Order?
There are over 80 defendants. Thirty-something of have formed a joint defense, and our lawyers asked Borzouye for a "favor" that any plaintiffs lawyer would begged for. Namely, allow all 80 defendants to have a unified appearance date. Why would a competent plaintiffs lawyer want us to allow all of the defendants to appear on the same date?
Consider this: Some of us have been served. Those of us who have been served were served on different dates.
Case management is difficult, and 80 separate defendants - most of whom are lawyers and trial lawyers - would be a case management nightmare for even a well-funded plaintiff's firm. Judges also prefer consolidated appearances, as a judge doesn't want to have to deal with 80+ separate people appearing on different dates for the same underlying case.
Imagine a deadline is 30 days from date of service. How do you think the trial court is going to view having appearances on several consecutive days?
Yet Richard Borzouye expects each of the 80 defendants to file separate appearance dates. Our lawyers have already moved for a unified appearance date. It's a motion that's almost certainly going to be granted.
Consider, however, if we wanted to be jerks. We could file all appear on different days, flooding Borzouye's office with motions filed over several consecutive days. We could then refuse to grant him any extensions of time. He'd thus be forced to answer motions just about every day of his life.
Yet that would simply outrage the court, who'd probably consolidate the dates sua sponte. Why anger a judge when there is no tactical advantage? Perhaps Borzouye - who advertises on Craigslist - thinks he's a hard ass. He is soon going to learn the difference between a dumb ass and a hard ass.
You can claim my attack is biased, and I encourage you to disagree with me. Go ask any plaintiffs lawyer who regularly earns large verdicts: Would you have denied our request?
Unlike The Borzouye Firm, my friends run law firms where they try cases to seven figure verdicts, and have several dozen employees managing cases. They all think Borzouye is an idiot, and I already have several offer to sue Borzouye and Rakofsky for abuse of process.
As I've written before, when this frivolous lawsuit against me has been dismissed, the case will only have just begun.