A veteran defense attorney said he was surprised when his firm was called to handle a half-dozen auto wreck trials last month, when the summer doldrums normally leaves courthouses quiescent and dockets thin.

“A lot of attorneys lawyers are out of town, the judges go on vacation and don’t have active trial calendars; there’s just usually not a lot happening,” said Waldon Adelman Castilla Hiestand & Prout partner Jonathan Adelman.