Update

My interactions with a previously mentioned attorney are deterioting fast. This attorney is mischaracterizing telephone conversations that we have had in emails that (s)he sends not only to the senior attorneys at my firm but also to his/her clients and my clients as well. This attorney LOVES sending emails to "the entire working group" rather than just to the attorneys, which is the standard practice. However, (s)he seems to be unable to find the "reply all" button when I "reply to all" and ask questions trying to figure out what exactly (s)he wants since her emails are poorly written and confusing. We have been going in circles over the interpretation of a statute and it appears as though we are at an impasse.

Here's an excerpt of a phone call we had at the end of the business day on Friday (which was actually only mid-day for me since I billed 16 hours on Friday...).

My phone rings; I answer:

ET#2: [ET#2]

CA: [No hello, no how are you, no end of the work week banter] I've gone over this with you before. I will not allow you to have that language in the [document].

ET#2: Hello, CA. What language are you referring to?

CA: [quotes language she is upset about]

ET#2: CA, I deleted that language in the last redraft.

CA: [technical and boring legalese arguments that no one needs to read about here]

ET#2: [I explain my position and tell CA that she is misquoting the statute which I have in front of me and I start to read it]

CA: [cutting me off] I don't NEED YOU to read ME the statue. I TEACH THIS STUFF.... You haven't been in practice as LONG as I have...

ET#2: [I am this close to saying, It's not my fault that you graduated from law school the year I was born and that you are illiterate. Instead I say] CA, if you READ the plain language of the statute, it doesn't say what you are saying...

This sort of back and forth goes on for about 10 more minutes. This was the first time that I have ever raised my voice at another attorney. At one point CA said that in all of the transactions that (s)he had done, (s)he had never seen it done this way. I said that I see them all the time [not to toon my own horn, but it is common knowledge within the industry that my firm is THE firm to go to for these sorts of transactions].

CA then said [in a tone of voice that was dripping with sarcasm] "I guess your firm is "cutting edge" and sees these all the time and that's why you're there."

My reply, "Yes, and I think that we can agree that we are going around in circles on this and that we just disagree." CA then said that (s)he had to leave for Shabbos and that we'd pick this up on Monday and then proceeded to HANG UP ON ME. Never in my admittedly short career (technically I think I'm a 5th year) has another attorney been so rude to me. Actually, I don't think that I have ever interacted with anyone as unprofessional as CA (with the exception of one of my bosses back in college that sexually harrassed me, but that's another story). When is it ever acceptable to hang up on someone in a business setting, especially when you are supposed to be trying to make the deal HAPPEN?

I am at my wit's end. I see CA's number on my caller ID and I start to get angry before I even lift the receiver. But, I refuse to sink to her level. I don't want other people saying that "ET#2 is a deal killer". I'm a problem solver.