Steve Sather posted a snippet from a recent opinion handed down by the Texas Bankruptcy Court, O’Brien v. Harnett, Adv. No. 11-5010 (Bankr. W.D. Tex. 1/19/12). It is a remarkable opinion because the judge had the temerity to acknowledge that a lawyer just screwed up and that’s okay. The technical legal term for this is “excusable neglect”, but it might as well be “fool’s errand”. Unlike the judge in this case, most judges lose sight of the fact that the excusable neglect rule exists precisely because attorneys are human and occasionally make mistakes. Kudos to Judge Leif M. Clark.

Full copy of the order available here.