TelephoneDealing with two law firms means twice the opportunity to be frustrated.

On my drive to work on the morning of December 12, 2013 — 486 days after the death of my mother — I called both Marla Rawnsley and Frank Ashton.

I called Marla because on November 25th she told me she’d get back to me, “in twenty-four to forty-eight hours, one way or the other,” regarding her review of the two tremendous packages of documentation I spent $180.00 to photocopy and FedEx to her two weeks before that. (I had specifically wanted to talk to her because Thanksgiving was approaching.) I was told that she was on a conference call and unavailable, but I could leave her a voice mail. I said that I had left her a voice mail last night and asked Jan, the woman who had answered the phone, if she thought Marla would reply to that or if I should leave another voice mail. Jan suggested I leave another voice mail, so I did. Once again I left my name and number — repeated thrice — and asked Marla to return my call.

Then I called Frank to ask him for an update. He had told me that it would take at least a month or two for his researchers to review the documentation I’d sent him, and it had been at least a month. The receptionist at his office said he was unavailable and suggested I leave him a voice mail, so I did.