Notices by Alyson Decker (alysondecker@mstdn.social)

October has been a rollercoaster of a month and Halloween didn’t turn out exactly as planned (can you say disintegrating costume and mostly empty brewery) but last night I gave up on my hair- put on a witchy dress and nails- and we headed out to Playa Provisions for a yummy meal and a few last Halloween decorations.

Earlier this month was the firm retreat. Not only do I work remotely, but I work with attorneys and staff in offices across multiple states, so finally getting to connect in-person with the people I am emailing daily or in the trenches with on a case, is just such a fantastic opportunity.

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@skinnylatte my problem with crochet is when I’m in a class or watching someone do it I can do it- but on my own I can never get it to work.

How tired am I? Well I put on makeup for an afternoon Zoom only to realize when I tried to log on to the Zoom that it was a phone call...

Plans for this weekend:
1) Errands
2) Time entry.
3) Work
4) Celebrating my birthday.
5) Packing for Week 1 of 6 or so of trial.

Is 2025 the year we finally buy a home? Maybe. Just made our first offer ever.

@skinnylatte I have to admit that was something I was very surprised by- everything closing so early.

@skinnylatte soon to be horrified?

I had a checklist of what a firm needed to put on the table (other than expected compensation) for me to walk away from my own law firm. Three of those big boxes were: (1) continue working on high end litigation matters; (2) actually do trials; (3) work with other talented attorneys. In six months, Taylor|Anderson checked all three of those things off my list.

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#norestforthelitigator #lawandmotionninja #trialattorney #firstchair

Earlier this week, I wrapped up my first trial with my new firm, first chairing a 10 day/2.5 week bench trial up in Sacramento involving claims of fraudulent transfer and alter ego in a case potentially worth several million dollars. (Liability and damages won’t be decided until the jury trial, set to start in a few months.) As you can imagine, this was right up my alley and there is nothing like the adrenaline rush of getting tagged in for a trial just a month before it starts.

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Now, because this is a bench trial, and we will be submitting written closing briefs and rebuttals, we won’t get a “verdict” until sometime in late March/early April, but this was one of those trials where every day walking back to the hotel it felt like a day of “wins”. From prevailing on various evidentiary issues to getting so under the skin of opposing counsel that they felt compelled to complain on the record that the Judge liked me more than them.

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Not to mention, this was the first time I got to work with one of our firm’s talented associates– and Dylan Contreras did not disappoint. We made such a great trial team that everyone was asking how many times we had tried cases together before and then giving us shocked gasps when we explained we’d never even worked together prior to me joining the case a month ago.

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Airports: Let’s put the ride share pickup spot in a super inconvenient place that’s not well lit, safe, or useable if the weather is bad.

Like all the other LinkedIn-fluencers, I did my 2024 #LinkedInRewind and it was a little bittersweet.

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The Good:
> I try to have a pretty consistent presence on LinkedIn and I was psyched to see that I averaged one post a week, which was a goal of mine.
> I’ve somehow amassed over 7,100 followers! Thanks guys!
> I love my top quote, which is pulled from a presentation I did at the beginning of the year, and my superpower. I love the space law work I do- and it really is all about helping my aerospace clients turn their space dreams into business realities.

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The Bad:
> For the first seven months of 2024 I was still the owner of my own law firm. One of the areas I focused on was building up my space law practice and presence. But, I ended up closing my law firm and joined a national trial firm. And, don’t get me wrong, I love litigation, but I had to take a big step back from a lot of the space law thought leadership I was doing. And that stings a bit. But I am still working with amazing aerospace companies.

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Look- I can’t really deal with more than one major crisis of democracy a week. So, France, you have to wait, this is South Korea’s week.

Ugh. Schumer was absolutely unable to act as an effective Senate minority leader during the last Trump presidency. It was basically Pelosi running the show for him from the House.

Spring Street Courthouse for the morning!

A long and exciting Hamventure today! Took the cat on a 2+ mile hike- hiked on the wrong trail for at least 45 minutes. Then hit up a favorite brewery for lunch (not his favorite since it plays music and is close to a busy road) and the cat got water spilled all over him when I tried to hold him and put his water bowl down. But he survived like 3.5+ hours outside the house which is a new record for him!