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October 31, 2007
New York or London: Who's the man?
See at Bloomberg.com Matthew Lynn's piece London Hands Back Finance-Hub Status to New York. Lynn gives "four reasons why London has blown it".
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Blawg Review goes global.
Blawg Review is the popular and clever showcase of each week's best law blog posts. It's edited by a person known as "Ed.", who only a few lawyers have even seen in the flesh. It is just 30 months old. And in recent months, BR has become increasingly international, with blawger hosts from England, Ireland, Canada, Asia and Down Under, and featured posts from everywhere. The trend continues and accelerates in the next months. Due in part to Ed.'s superior technology skills, Blawg Review will procure what WAC? in its two years could never procure, a French blawg in English. We are not worthy.
January 7 - Charon QC (UK)
May 19 - Ruthie's Law (UK)
May 26 - Moral Dilemma (Australia)
Jun 2 - China Law Blog (China)
Jun 16 - cearta.ie (Ireland)
Jun 23 - French-Law.Net (France)
Jun 30 - GeekLawyer (UK)(X-rated)
Posted by JD Hull at 11:50 PM | Comments (0)
October 30, 2007
Merrill Lynch CEO O'Neal steps down.
The AP reports that Stan O'Neal will retire. Merrill Lynch has announced $2.2 billion in losses, due largely to the expansion of its portfolio in mortgaged-backed securities tied to the failing sub-prime market. ML's mortgage investments lost $7.9 billion in value during the third quarter. Earlier this year, investment banks that finance the mortgage industry pulled much of their money out.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Rancho Bernardo: The fire this time.
After fifteen days away, I returned to San Diego on Saturday. The whole town, starting inside of the airport terminal, smelled like a campfire, and parts of town still do. My car at the airport parking lot was sprinkled with a brownish ash. I then get home. Mainly, it's what I imagined: random ash deposits every few feet on sidewalks and patios, ashes even in places inside my house, bad visibility, bad brownish air (after a few hours you get a headache, and I still have one), the western and northern edges of Rancho Bernardo thoroughly and "expertly" scorched off some main roads right to the curb, destroyed or partly-destroyed homes, a few police barriers still up, an odd patch work of burned-out areas, and bald reddish mountain sides.
Some people are wearing masks. But most people were and are acting as if nothing happened. I did not expect to see evidence of the demon winds which fanned the fires here; there are unburned branches, pinecones and pine needles everywhere, and they need to be cleaned up. The rich and not so rich in this community of 45,000 lost over 350 homes--some of the "homeless" were picking up mail Saturday at the post office when I got my held mail. Rancho Bernardo will recover, and re-build, of course. But people here will never be the same. RB is populated by a strong, proud and orderly lot, many from conservative regions of Midwestern states, who don't like surprises, ever--from either humans or nature. It is, in an odd way, the End of the Perfection in a model community which over the past 25 years has enjoyed peace, quiet and nothing weird at all. The biggest problem at the moment is air quality. See from the AP "Poor Air From Wildfires A Health Threat".
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Blogs of War, Day 5: Michelle Malkin
We continue with our showcasing of a few of the better political blogs in honor of the 2008 election--alternating the right and the left persuasions. Next up, and on the right, is Michelle Malkin, hands down one of the most popular blogs in the world. Malkin is also a mother, wife, conservative syndicated columnist, author, and Fox News Channel contributor. My boss Dan Hull could care less about any of the foregoing and wants to have dinner with her immediately; Malkin's a total Betty. She lives in DC. Interestingly, she's a graduate of traditionally liberal, elite and way-PC Oberlin College in Ohio, of all places. Today she finds Hillary Clinton masks and costumes frightening but certainly appropriate for Halloween. See "The Frightful Specter of Hillary Clinton".
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
October 29, 2007
Argentina's first lady wins presidency.
Bravo. And does this mean WAC? can exchange the pesos we got stuck with in Buenos Aires in 2001? See at Reuters, Argentina's First Lady Wins Top Job:
BUENOS AIRES--First lady Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner will become Argentina's first elected woman leader after easily winning a presidential vote that was largely a referendum on her husband's economic successes.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
The Environment: Justice Burton's opinion, Al Gore's truths.
We think global warming is a real and actual thing--but did Big Al go a bit far with its real and actual effects on sea levels, hurricanes, polar bears and coral reefs in his world-changing movie documentary? As a follow up to our post UK judge lets Brit schools show Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth", see the October 29 issue of Time (at "Dashboard") and the piece "Examining Gore's Truths". Finally, let's be skeptical all around. What scientific qualifications does obviously talented UK High Court Justice Michael Burton have to give and write his researched and rapidly-issued (impressive, but characteristic of British judiciary) October 2 opinion (full text here), anyway?
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 01:52 PM | Comments (0)
Blawg Review #132
This week's edition of Blawg Review is brought to you by Grant Griffiths at Home Office Lawyer, and is a collection of posts related to solo practice.
Posted by Tom Welshonce at 09:32 AM | Comments (0)
October 26, 2007
"Helluva job, Holden."
George, Arnold--and WAC?--tour Rancho Bernardo. Here (San Diego Union-Tribune), here (NPR), and here (AP).
Yesterday, they let people back into my neighborhood of Bernardo Heights in "upscale" Rancho Bernardo. Our own mask-clad and normally patrician Holden Oliver was kind to get his hands dirty last night by helping to return my rescued animals (including my demented cat J.D.) to the house and by cleaning up some of the soot in the rooms where windows had been cracked. Holden's no man of the people. And, while athletic, he generally shuns menial labor and the outdoors. He once told Julie McGuire that his idea of camping is "when room service at the Hay-Adams is late". But he loves hanging around Republicans--and this
week RB has even more serious "R"s than usual, a lot of them wandering around outside in RB. Holden had been working up north when the fires became unruly. Even that work stopped for a while. So he goes to San Diego, which many people are still avoiding or trying to escape. Maybe he wants to change the Constitution, and then run Arnold for something different, and national, in 2012.
Holden can adopt an observer's role in all this and even blog about it--but I can't. I live there. Someone called earlier today and said that they were finding charred bodies and skeletons at some of the burned RB house sites, and that the electricity in RB just went out. I don't even know whether this stuff is true; I have been busy on the other end of America, and I haven't watched or read much news. I'll do my own tour and assessment tomorrow when I return to RB. Not really sure what to expect. I'm a Midwest-East Coast boy. I am relatively new to SoCal, to the fires, earthquakes, bobcats, coyotes and strange reptiles, to the inland mountain wilderness that surrounds my house, to secretaries and receptionists who forget to come in on their first day on the job, to UCLA Law grads who think that 8 to 6 is a "really heinously brutal day, partner-dude". When people here talk about "energy consultants", they may not be referring to experts in fossil fuels, coal, oil or natural gas.
On every front, California has always been the World Headquarters of Surprise--good, bad, useful and lame.
Updated at 12:15 EST.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
October 25, 2007
CMU study: WAC? is among the 100 most informative blogs.
That's the word from a recent study by researchers at the Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science. Details about the study are here. Excerpt:
Rankings are based on the following question: Which blogs should one read to be most up to date, i.e., to quickly know about important stories that propagate over the blogosphere?
The methodology of the researchers has algorithms, numbers and charts in it. So we don't get it 100%--if we did, we would have gone to medical school. Anyway, we're honored. The full list is here.
Posted by Tom Welshonce at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
October 24, 2007
California burning: "If your fax machine rings, your house is still there".
The good news: the young San Diego councilman I've known since his pup stage just released a sad and bone-chilling list of homes that have burned down in my evacuated neighborhood--and my house is not on it, they tell me. Bad news: I am not even in San Diego, and despite my normal thick-skinned "it's-just-real-life-happening" take on these kinds of events, not being there makes it even worse. Somehow, I feel guilty, and for no reason. The last thing I--or anyone else who lives in Southern California--needed was this.
This time the SoCal fires are worse than the ones in late 2003, when on a trip to London, I literally had to drive between rural mountain ridges on fire along Del Dios highway the night before my plane left just so I could stay in a hotel to get to the airport on time--usually a 20 minute drive. It was a bit like being in the escaping-burning-Atlanta scene of Gone With The Wind, except much longer burning and with lower but hotter flames.
When I am not traveling, I "live", as it were, in staid Rancho Bernardo, a quiet conservative suburb of San Diego. For years I was on the Planning Board there, and now I am somehow glad I'm not. I've been away from California--very far away--for the last 10 days, since the 13th. Was supposed to go back to SD this Saturday, the 27th, just in time for a presidential candidate fund-raising barbecue in La Jolla, of all things. I am sure it's been canceled. This past Monday morning, I learned, oddly, from a BBC report that my Bernardo Heights neighborhood was evacuated, which is a strange feeling. Later Monday, I learned no one could go downtown into work.
Anyway, all living things got out of my house via help from neighbors. No one except me and a bunch of animals, including my cat J.D., live at the house (my lawyer ex-wife "evacuated" years ago from my house on East Capitol Street in DC). With no one around in RB who really knows what has been going on, and before the officials released the list, how do I know what's going on? Answer: The same thing I did in 2003 when I was in London and Kent--every two hours I call my home fax machine (001-858-613-XXXX); if it makes the high-pitched fax noise, my house is still there. I love that sound now.
More later, if needed and I can--but I am going to an airport. Trying to work here. But my friend and blogfather, Chicago trial lawyer Patrick Lamb, urged me this morning to find the time to blog about it no matter how "busy" I am, even though I am far away from California. You're right, as usual, Pat.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
U.S. forest fires--and mercury?
Speaking of fires in WAC?'s San Diego neighborhood, forest fires in Alaska and the continental United States--California, Oregon, Louisiana and Florida--release nearly 44 metric tons of mercury into the atmosphere every year, according to a recent paper by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). The Southeastern U.S. emits most of this toxic metal. The mercury comes from both industrial and natural sources. See "Scientists Estimate Mercury Emissions from U.S. Fires" in Environmental Protection magazine or NCAR website.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:52 PM | Comments (0)
"No, officer, the book didn't exactly attack me--but I definitely felt menaced".
Fear and loathing in Bloomington. For a kind of Hoosier madness other than basketball, see at WSJ's Law Blog the piece "Indiana Law Student Shoots Real-Estate Finance Casebook". Casebook, shot twice in a parking lot, is reported to be in critical condition.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:22 AM | Comments (0)
October 23, 2007
Brussels: Microsoft won't appeal EU antitrust ruling.
But just the facts, please, ma'am. Apparently, not everyone "loves a winner"--and Microsoft is a case in point. In this EU antitrust development and important but possibly short-term setback for MS, it's amazing how many different slants and headlines there are in 50 or so news reports: everything from the gloating/kiss-off-and-die Financial Times via MSNBC: "Microsoft Concedes Defeat in EU Battle") to the mildly complimentary/obsequious (AP via Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: "Microsoft to Comply with Europe").
Most leads and headlines are anti-Microsoft. "Blinks", "bows", "suffered decisive defeat" and "bytes the dust" are popular in these. The British press (MS "finally admitted defeat in its nine-year battle with the European Commission...") is especially brutal. We expect soon to see from the Financial Times: "Despondent Microsoft Has Nervous Breakdown; Jumps Into Elliott Bay To Live With Alien Sea Creatures." So far the Wall Street Journal's version is the most factual and fair:
Microsoft Yields in EU Antitrust Battle
BRUSSELS -- Microsoft Corp.'s decision to drop its nine-year fight with European regulators could signal tougher regulation ahead for big, global technology companies operating in Europe.
The defeat also means Microsoft will need to tread carefully in Europe when it bundles products or features into its core operating system and will need to welcome competitors with fairly open arms if they come calling for ways to make their software work better with Microsoft's Windows operating system. [more]
Can't a world-changer and U.S. success story like MS get a break?
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:11 PM | Comments (0)
Business 2 Business: Blawg Review #131 and Carnival of the Capitalists #211
David Maister at Passion, People and Principles hosts Blawg Review this week, and focuses on the business of law. At the same time, the anonymous Editor at Blawg Review is the host of Carnival of the Capitalists, the longest running blog carnival.
Posted by Tom Welshonce at 05:00 PM | Comments (0)
IBA in Singapore: $7.50 Pepsis, "groupies", way too many dudes.
But otherwise, as always, a great event, and with the tone of a British-style Hell's Angels Labor Day picnic. Pulling no punches, Brendon Carr of Korea Law Blog, now back in "humdrum Seoul", gives his report of the week-long proceedings. WAC? is beginning to like this guy. A lot.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 09:17 AM | Comments (0)
October 22, 2007
Dumbing it all down: getting high-end clients.
Last night some people asked me "how do you land or 'get' new high-end clients?" In the question, "high-end clients" are sophisticated users of legal services, which tend to be larger and/or publicly-traded companies. Could I simplify the answer--or even dumb it down--on our blog? The dumb-downed answer I come up with is 6 things: Credibility, Relationship, Limit, Keep Up, Persist, Timing. It applies to any size firm:
1. Credibility. This is an easily verifiable and true portrait of the right people with the right specialties at your shop. If you don't have the portrait, get it. You may need to make changes in your lawyers and staff.
2. Relationship. Just bonding. It needs to be a personal relationship, but not necessarily a strong one, especially at first. See Malcolm Gladwell's discussion in The Tipping Point on the art of the "weak tie". And in my book, you need to "like" that GC, CFO or HR person. It will be very hard for you to keep up the conversation that "we want your business" if you personally think the client representative is difficult, arrogant or a stone creep. Or the "chemistry" is otherwise just bad. No matter how sexy the client, you should pass and wait until they are replaced, get fired or quit. Also, the personality or style of the client rep might tell you something about the client's culture--do you really want this client?
3. Limit. Sell two or three practice areas. Do not try to sell everything your firm does. No one believes any longer that your firm--whether 10 or over 1000--can do it all and do it well, even it if can. Too much talent out there. Also, this goes to Credibility, above.
4. Keep Up. Monitor the company. If it's publicly-traded or high-profile, that's easier to do. Know stock fluctuations and news. The politics and internal events of the client are key here. You can hit them at the wrong time: in the middle of in-house lawyer changes, a company-wide short-term crisis (sometimes knowable, so read the papers) or a merger or acquisition which hasn't hit the media (so not your fault if you don't know). See Timing below.
5. Persist. The hardest of the six things. Landing great clients requires discipline and organization. And the mental health of a slab of chrome-vanadium steel. Rejection, especially at first, is logical and natural--not personal. It's your job to obtain new business. Keep making the contact, but know when to back down in the short-term. GCs and people who hire lawyers are often busier than you. And on "like", it's a two-way street. They may not "like" you. Or they may think that they have the outside lawyers they need. "Weak" GCs (fewer and fewer these days, but you'll know one when you see/hear one) may even feel pressured to use the lawyers they have--whether or not they are happy with them.
And then there's the unruly "factor": Timing.
6. Timing. Which really means luck based on persistence. Right place, right time. But you are making luck happen. Because you persist, you are on the phone with a GC you are hunting, sitting in a some CFO's office, or just sent a happy "thought-you-might-be-interested-in this" e-mail--when something your firm can do for the client has recently come up. Congrats, my friend, Persistence and Luck just collided. And see Keep Up above. Stuff happens to companies--some of it bad, some of it good, some of it knowable. Don't call the GC on the day the NYT reports the insider-trading scandal. Let luck happen without interference from you.
Getting high-end clients. All dumbed down for you--and yet still very hard to do.
And then...you must deliver to keep the client. Even harder.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:50 PM | Comments (0)
Anti-semitism, prejudice, people and juries.
Here's something useful for both trial lawyers and actual humans.
Last week Anne Reed at Deliberations gave us a post which is important, gutsy and of the stuff that makes the blogosphere worth visiting. See "The Silent Stereotype". She begins:
A mock trial not long ago taught me a lesson about anti-Semitism. One of the presenting lawyers was Jewish, with both first and last names suggesting that heritage. The other lawyer had a name and a look suggesting Irish ancestry.
More here.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 05:00 PM | Comments (0)
Writing well: "Does it sing?"
See Pam MacLean's article, reprinted from The National Law Journal, "Longtime Rebel Alex Kozinski Prepares to Lead the 9th Circuit" at Law.com. In December, Kozinski will take the helm of the U.S. Ninth Circuit court of appeals. He respects and revels in sound and unpretentious legal writing.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 08:27 AM | Comments (0)
October 20, 2007
Cole Silver: For Lawyers Who Hate to Sell
Which is most lawyers at any law firm, and most professionals at any professional services firm. For them, as well for as "the few" of us who actually like trying our hand at branding, marketing and selling, there's a very fine collection of resources--both links and books--at New Jersey-based The Silver Group, Ltd, owned by Cole Silver.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Brit bloggers meeting, drinking, conspiring and possibly mating.
Charon QC reports that GeekLawyer and Ruthie each host parties for bloggers in London on Monday, October 22. Venues, respectively, are The Harp off Trafalgar Square and the posh Cafe Royal in Piccadilly. WAC? votes for GeekLawyer's The Harp: cheaper beer. Blogging by lawyers and non-lawyers alike all over the world is now thought to have benefits no one anticipated.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
9 New Irish Blogs
Many thanks to Daithí Mac Síthigh, recent Blawg Review host, and his Lex Ferenda for supplying WAC? and everyone with 9 new Irish blogs and blawgs to add to the Directory of Non-U.S. Blogs on your lower left.
Blurred Keys, Cian Ginty
Damien Mulley
Digiculture, Conn Ó Muíneacháin
Graham Ó Maonaigh
GUBU, Sarah Carey
Irish Election
Michele Neylon
Maman Poulet, Suzy Byrne
techno-culture, Karlin Lillington
Posted by Brooke Powell at 11:00 PM | Comments (0)
Pres. Sarkozy's Really Bad Week, Part II: Cecilia Sarkozy
Courtesy of the vigilant and hovering Editor of Blawg Review, who ever that guy is, see this NYT piece of yesterday: Cecilia Sarkozy Speaks Out on Marriage, the one she apparently has decided to end. On the bright side, many of us do some of our best work after wives and girlfriends evacuate. Lonely workaholic WAC? feels a powerful solidarity with President Sarkozy, wishes him the best, and reminds him that this is nothing that a little bourbon and soda won't fix.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:00 PM | Comments (0)
Life-life balance: Pres. Sarkozy v. French utility unions
This past week, France was hobbled by transport, electricity and gas worker strikes to protest French President Nicolas Sarkozy's proposals to end generous pensions for certain public-sector workers. Currently, some workers can retire on full pensions at 50. Sarkozy, president since May, had promised to end such "special regimes" during his election campaign. See at The Economist "Sarkozy's Bad Week".
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 AM | Comments (0)
October 19, 2007
Does your firm charge enough for its work?
See at Tom Collins' More Partner Income his article Surveys Show Most Law Firms Are Underpriced. Excerpt: "On the whole 'low prices' for the majority of law firms are more self-inflicted than due to pressure from clients."
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Renaissance Man
Despite his Harvard pedigree, David Giacalone, lawyer-writer-poet and gentle pundit, is always a class act. If you haven't visited his f/k/a... lately, please do so. We suggest starting with his recent "Gov. Spite-zer needs more EQ" for the house special: political commentary and law followed by wistful, seasoned haiku.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
10 best--and worst--job markets for female execs in U.S.
It's "girl-power" week at WAC? (okay, we're a little behind, not too PC). Do see the coverage from August by G. Scott Thomas on female job markets at Bizjournals, including this slide show of the best, i.e., opportunities and upward mobility. And note the worst markets. Certain towns in California, Utah and Ohio get the bad marks.
Posted by JD Hull at 03:43 PM | Comments (0)
October 18, 2007
Great news: clients are smarter, better served, or something--but lawsuits are down.
Well, at the moment, who cares about why? See Carolyn Elefant's piece at Legal Blog Watch, re: the new Fulbright & Jaworski survey on the downturn on most fronts in business litigation, and this related report in the Pittsburgh Business Times. Wonderful. Could it be that smart and well-served companies and clients are preventing or minimizing litigation? If the "non-litigation" part of your company or law firm is doing its job, cases should be down.
Litigators are like nuclear warheads; everyone has to have them, and keep them ready for deployment--but once you start using them, everything gets expensive and screwed up. Litigators know this better than anyone. Hull McGuire does commercial litigation, lots of it, and we love doing it. But even in the best of cases, no one ever "wins". Like war itself, commercial litigation is a last resort, and an inefficient way to resolve virtually any dispute.
Updated: 10/16/07 2:30 AM EST
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Got corporate tax lawyers?
Hull McGuire has four such creatures. If your firm does, tell them to visit Paul Caron's TaxProfBlog. Established, well-travelled and easy to read, TPB daily covers tax and related business news in a format even non-tax professionals like. WSJ calls it a "must-read blog". See yesterday's "Law Firm Files First $1 Billion Tax Whistleblower Submission with IRS".
Posted by JD Hull at 11:11 PM | Comments (0)
Aye, some serious booty there, matey.
Rueters: "Spain Seizes U.S. Treasure Ship at Gunpoint" over salvaged Spanish galleon treasure estimated at $500 million. By the way, did your law firm miss Talk Like a Pirate Day this year?
Posted by JD Hull at 06:35 PM | Comments (0)
October 16, 2007
Hillary Clinton's Big Week for Women
All week long. And a very fine week indeed for D.C. cads with a weakness for wonky women. See Real Clear Politics, The Atlantic and The Washington Times. Clinton strategist Mark Penn's rally-the-troops memo is here. More importantly, is the Capital Hilton on 16th and K a great place to meet girls this week, or what? Name's WAC?, sweetie, Vassar '85, and a friend of Hill's, could you dig a wine spritzer?
Posted by JD Hull at 11:45 PM | Comments (0)
October 15, 2007
From Middle Earth: Blawg Review #130 (X 2)
This week's Blawg Review is split in two in recognition of Blog Action Day (today) and Conflict Resolution Day (Thursday). The Northern Hemisphere is covered by Diane Levin's Online Guide to Mediation from Boston, Massachusetts, and the Southern Hemisphere by Geoff Sharp's mediator blah...blah... from Wellington, New Zealand. This is as fine a Blawg Review as you'll see.
Posted by Tom Welshonce at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Three Americans win Nobel prize in economics
(AP) STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Americans Leonid Hurwicz, Eric S. Maskin and Roger B. Myerson won the Nobel economics prize Monday for developing a theory that helps explain how sellers and buyers can maximize their gains from a transaction.
And Russian-born Hurwicz, of the University of Minnesota, is 90 years old.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
The District
Pompus, self-absorbed, driven and necessarily inefficient, the District of Columbia is not every American's favorite town. But it's my favorite, hands down. How many cities in the U.S. have this much energy, beauty, diversity, talent and so many people who affirmatively choose (i.e., they wanted it, are not there by default) to live and work here?
Posted by JD Hull at 11:43 AM | Comments (0)
October 14, 2007
International Bar Association annual meeting starts today in Singapore.
The IBA, based in London, celebrates its 60th anniversary this year. The 2007 annual meeting is in Singapore, starts today and ends on October 19. Although I am not going this year, I've attended IBA meetings in the past--and there is nothing quite like them. And I will not miss the 2008 meeting next year in cosmopolitan Buenos Aires, Argentina. To give you an idea, the Programme this year, over 100 pages, is here. Topics include cross-border environmental issues, international arbitration, the IT industry and IP globally, telecom, corruption, goods counterfeiting, maritime law, outer space law, international transactions, Islamic finance,
art, heritage and cultural institutions law, mineral rights, and legal systems in developing countries, to name some. In addition to the discussions, which are well-planned and often in panel or flexible talk-show formats, the IBA has nearly 50 sub-committees. The many dinners and parties given each evening are fascinating. In my view, the IBA caters primarily to firms which represent corporate interests, which is why we've stayed on as members. If you are a business lawyer who works internationally, and you like different kinds of humans, it's a must to go to an annual IBA meeting once every two or three years.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:13 PM | Comments (0)
October 13, 2007
Climate change, nuclear power and the NRC
Speaking of bright ex-American Vice-Presidents who win the Nobel Peace Prize, some people think--and this is ironic if you've studied the environmental movement in the U.S.--that climate change concerns may lead to the building of nuclear power plants, both in the U.S. and worldwide, on a relatively large scale. We believe that, too. By the way, the last commercial nuclear reactor to go online in the U.S. was the Watts Bar plant, a TVA facility in east Tennessee, in 1997. Remember the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission? See Environmental Protection magazine's "NRC Seeks Comment on Implementation of Reactor Oversight Process (ROP)" and the NRC's call for comments to improve the 7-year-old ROP process. Comments close on December 7.
Posted by JD Hull at 03:47 PM | Comments (0)
Brendon Carr's Korea Law Blog
American Brendon Carr, based in Seoul, publishes Korea Law Blog, clearly a "blog to watch." See "Popular Korean Concept of Corporate Governance Rules", and the discussion of Korean chaebols, or conglomerates. This week Brendon attends the annual IBA meeting, held in Singapore this year. He notes:
As a US lawyer working in Korea, I am a huge fan of the International Bar Association as a networking and social event. I enthusiastically recommend this event to any young lawyer, or in-house counsel, wanting to build a wide-ranging, international network of colleagues and friends. Truly a top-quality bunch of people attend this conference.
Updated: 10/14/07 4 PM EST
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:56 AM | Comments (0)
October 12, 2007
The Environment: Tennessee boy makes good.
Al Gore wins Nobel Peace Prize (MSNBC) for climate change work. Congrats. But, dude, don't run for president. You're not the type...WAC? thinks that, like George McGovern before him, Gore, who we admire greatly, has somehow become the "Willy Loman of the Left", to borrow a phrase from an old friend. Like Willy, Gore has a sense of entitlement, and he is liked--but not well-liked. Even the deluded Loman, created by playwright Arthur Miller, had fire in his belly. Prince Albert just doesn't.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
The Billable Hour: The Way of the Happy Rich Dinosaur?
Or, "No thanks, I'll just watch". Call me a Mastodon but my firm's not willing to give up the billable hour. Clients like it. So we like it. It works for our clients and our firm, especially in providing value, especially for longstanding clients, and for our model: high-end services for high-end clients who know and trust us in a "muscle boutique" setting. The hour gives us the power to be enormously flexible in adding value.
For all clients and all lawyers, the billable hour model is not perfect, I admit. There is a huge potential to abuse clients. But resorting to a value-billing/flat-fee model, in my view, would make matters much worse.
As an aside, my firm's clients apparently do not believe that hourly billing for us is supplying Hull McGuire with blank checks, or that we milk engagements. This has nothing to do with being good or morally superior. It's a business thing. Clients know we want repeat business. So we work hard at keeping the bills both fair and satisfying on a gut-level so they'll come back. The rest is done with trust--the most intangible, important and pivotal element is the relationship. I can't help you there--but you'll know it when you get it.
I'm sure there are many firms like ours in these respects. And so far
not one of our clients--i.e., GCs from large and often mega-large companies--have asked for any arrangement other than hourly billing. Some have had over 20 years to ask for value-pricing or something like it. They have not. When they do, we will listen.
However, I think that even in the long-term very few sophisticated and sane GCs will ask for complex litigation or regulatory disputes conducted on a straight value-pricing basis. It would alienate the best commercial trial and administrative law talent in America, as the course of the law's more contentious matters can be truly wild and unpredictable. It's hard to budget for a war.
For some transactional (which can be quite war-like) and some less contentious work, value-billing may make sense. But asking many of us to do it because it's fair and makes sense--and without market pressures and an existing value-price-based economic structure--is like asking us to "give peace a chance". If we agree, we'll feel both good about ourselves and smart--but we'll get run over. There's simply no business incentive for many to join in that good fight.
Moreover, let's assume for a moment that "value-billing"/flat fees went beyond its current status as an alternative client-lawyer arrangement and that it became the "norm"--don't worry, it won't--or to stretch this out a bit, it became, in effect, "required" across the board. It would: (1) compromise good clients who want outlandishly fine legal talent and niche specialities, which this country, by the way, has in abundance; (2) further dumb-down corporate legal products and services (additionally, dilution of the gene pool in recent years at some of the larger firms as they expand, nationally or abroad, is already a problem); (3) make client service even worse; (4) excuse if not exalt mediocrity in legal work in general; and (5) cause some fine lawyers to leave the profession. Welcome, folks, to McLaw. I hope that I am wrong, or that it never happens.
Further, and in a slight variation on the theme, until the market somehow changes, our firm is simply not interested in would-be clients of any size who want up-front "deals" on rates and services. We work too hard. We run from such companies when they find us; they don't get what we offer. We also understand that in-house counsel of a few fine American companies conduct "bidding"-type and RFP programs. Well, again, no thanks. For us, participating would degrade client and firm alike. Color us grandiose.
But if our clients and new clients we seek in the future change, we will change, too. So in the meantime, we listen. We watch. If we're not getting something important about the BH issue--which right now seems to us about as compelling and as relevant as the dreaded Y2K crisis--we'll come around. So we start with Carolyn Elefant's article in Legal Blog Watch, "Boston Firm Bans Hour", reporting on Jay Shepherd's firm and recent post at his fine Gruntled Employees.
Updated: 5:00 PM PT, 10/12/07
Posted by JD Hull at 10:56 PM | Comments (0)
October 11, 2007
Does NASCAR or North Carolina cause cooties?
Staffers from The Last Plantation get their shots, head to North Carolina, take in the races: MSNBC video.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)
October 10, 2007
Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe: and the winner is...Dylan Thomas.
It's held at Hippodrome de Longchamp, Paris. On Monday a horse named Dylan Thomas won. For fun, note how the persnickety British press writes about a 'Welsh' horse's victory on French soil:
Outdated draconian French racing rules almost cost the remarkably durable Dylan Thomas his victory in yesterday's Prix de L'Arc de Triomphe, as stewards spent an age examining all angles of a piece of interference involving the winner in the home straight on video before eventually letting the result stand.
All manner of Europe's gentry and royalty shows up for Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Quite a party and gathering of peacocks--a great place for WAC? to do a little client development, sort of. And at Tara Bradford's Paris Parfait, see hats and more hats. Makes you forget about Rule 37 and want to get on a plane.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Fred Dalton Thompson is now a 2008 GOP Player.
Like other public figures who won fame on television--Jerry Springer, Howard Cosell, Charlie Rose, Tim Russert and Geraldo Rivera, to name a few--actor-ex-US Senator Fred Thompson started out life as a lawyer.
Last night in the "R" presidential debates, he sounded like a pretty good one, holding his own and handling himself well enough to give candidates Rudy Giuliani and the spectacularly annoying Mitt Romney some future worries. Fred needs work but he's a player. But it still seems to us that Rudy will be the GOP candidate. MSNBC.
Posted by JD Hull at 07:36 PM | Comments (0)
When will China invade Taiwan?
Here at Transnational Law Blog, by Travis Hodgkins, just one of the TLB wunderkinds at UC Hastings law school.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)
October 09, 2007
The Blogs of War, Day 3: Right Wing Nuthouse
And back on the right, we have Rick Moran's Right Wing Nuthouse. He's from the northwest Chicago suburbs (way west of WAC?'s old neighborhood on the lake in Highland Park and his mother's childhood Evanston), conservative, of course, and he likes to write longer pieces but posts frequently. Not a hip-shooter. Thinks for himself. Looks "down" on all politicians, not just Ds. He loves the Cubs and Da' Bears in a way that is most poignant. He swears wonderfully when he's in the right mood. And he worries about America's space program in "The Enormous Damage Done to Our Space Program by 'the Space Race'".
Posted by JD Hull at 11:53 PM | Comments (0)
Sold Out: HRC women's summit next week in DC
Hillary Clinton's all-day women's summit (i.e., mega-fundraiser) next week on the 17th in DC is being billed as attended by women from all 50 states. It's sold out. Sensitive new-age guy WAC? and another Hull McGuire person will attend. Hey, it beats giving money to state judge candidates in the jurisdictions where HMPC is licensed to practice law. Besides, we need the party. And I need a quick trip home.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:33 PM | Comments (0)
October 08, 2007
Blawg Review #129: Columbus Day
No. 129 is by David Harlow at HealthBlawg. Columbus Day: it's an Italian thing, sort of. But WAC? must give some discovery credits to native Americans, the Vikings and the Beatles.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)
October 07, 2007
In Lisbon still? Meetings over? Dude, work much?
Welshonce Watch: Our Tom Welshonce has all the luck. I'm in San Luis Obispo again--and he's here in Portugal with the Salzburg-based IBLC. Last night I got a call from Hanjo of Bonn, Paul of Caridiff, Wales, and other solicitors from a prominent UK firm--all deadly serious lawyers,
usually--and Tom on my special "bat phone" I use abroad. I gave it to Tom three weeks ago when I was in Pennsylvania. It was 1:30 AM Sunday in Lisbon, and these gents were either attending late night services or conducting an experiment of some kind in the Alfama district's "cultural sector". The Welsh guys were speaking in tongues--Druid-sounding stuff, I think. Go Lisbon.
Posted by JD Hull at 08:57 PM | Comments (0)
October 06, 2007
London on Saturdays: GeekLawyer gets drunk, breaks bad; Charon QC has spot of lunch, takes in rugby. But both blog...
Apart from trading ideas and news, blogging affords lawyers a forum to vent and be creative. Certainly, there are lots of frustrated novelists, poets, playwrights and would-be statesmen and pundits among us lawyers. Lots of American lawyers have unfinished drafts of novels and epic poems, or "action" memos outlining our pipe-dream 1998 congressional races, in our desk drawers.
So it's damn hard to take a degree in English Literature, American Studies or Philosophy from, say, Brandeis, Haverford or Stanford--and then some 25 years later find yourself spending all day defending Mutual of Toledo's insureds for $185/hour in a caseload that presents about 10 total (tops) different car accident or dog bite patterns. And
then there's your wife and kids. Over the years Trixie's gotten pretty mean, and beefed up a bit--almost big enough to have her own zip code--and your eldest son has a resume that already reads like a police blotter. Your teenage daughter hates everything, and named her bong after you. The family dog smells real bad. More often than you should be, you're hatin' life.
Blawgging can help. Blawgs let off steam. Blawgs keep some of us from suddenly blowing a tube one grey Wednesday morning at 8:15 and running with a chain-saw from office to office on the 48th floor of the US Steel Building. Saturday in London: see what GeekLawyer and Charon QC, two driven, creative guys, do on weekends to unwind. On both sides of the Atlantic, we all react to the pressures of lawyering in different ways.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:13 PM | Comments (0)
China's environmental law policy: two standards of enforcement?
See at China Law Blog the Dan Harris post "China Warns Foreign Companies".
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 08:24 PM | Comments (0)
October 05, 2007
The State of UK Legal Blogging--and 125 UK blawgs.
Our thanks to Kevin O'Keefe at Real Lawyers Have Blogs for noticing this before anyone else: Nick Holmes at his well-regarded Binary Law has posted "UK Blawgs--Where Are We Now?". As part of his report, Nick mentions that he has identified over 125 UK blogs at his London-
based Infolaw, an on-line legal information service which he started in 1995, and for which he serves as Managing Editor. Note that most of these UK blogs did not exist two years ago. UK blawgs have increased at a rate of about one new site each week. We'll add many of these newer sites to our international directory on your left under the categories England and Wales and Scotland.
Posted by JD Hull at 05:54 AM | Comments (0)
Duke lacrosse players lawsuit #1
We checked PACER and it's true. This morning former Duke students and lacrosse players Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and Dave Evans sued prosecutor Mike Nifong, the city of Durham and police detectives
in a North Carolina federal court. The complaint calls the discredited and dismissed rape charges against them “one of the most chilling episodes of premeditated police, prosecutorial and scientific misconduct in modern American history.” AP report is here. Watch next for the players suit against Duke U. itself.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 03:59 AM | Comments (0)
October 04, 2007
Simply the best: WAC?'s picks for the top 10 blawgs
In response to the "meme" started by the mysterious Editor at Blawg Review, and our getting tagged by Craig Williams at May It Please the Court, below are the ten legal weblogs we consider to be "simply the best". Five were easy for us--the other five were harder. Tough task, which we took seriously. Several fist fights* and flying objects. But nothing "political", in any sense, about our list. While we were flattered to be included in the top 10 on Craig Williams's list, we would have selected MIPTC anyway:
Above the Law (David Lat, U.S.)
Blawg Review (U.S.)
Charon QC (U.K.)
China Law Blog (Dan Harris, U.S./China)
GeekLawyer (U.K.)
Law Blog (Peter Lattman/WSJ, U.S.)
May it Please the Court (Craig Williams, U.S.)
More Partner Income (Tom Collins, U.S.)
Overlawyered (Walter Olson, Ted Frank, David Nieporent, U.S.)
SCOTUS (Lyle Denniston et al., U.S.)
*Over some great U.S. blogs.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Idaho U.S. Sen. Craig not permitted to withdraw guilty plea.
In the wild wide world of wide stances, see WSJ Law Blog. Tough break for criminal defense lawyer Billy Martin, a WAC? favorite.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
California air quality arm gets even seriouser.
In Environmental Protection, see "California Air Resources Board (ARB) Approves Strategy to Drastically Cut Air Pollution". The ARB's new plan is statewide and comprehensive, with special focus on meeting federal standards and deadlines for the districts of the South Coast and San Joaquin Valley, a rural-urban mix in the center of the state.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
1st Amendment--Privacy--Extreme naked gardening in Happy Valley, Oregon. ("Dude, that ain't right.")
Essay Question No. 1
Steve Howatt, 56, gardens on his own property in the nude in Happy Valley, Oregon. He's a nice if slightly overweight guy. It's undisputed that he engages in no sexual displays or exhibitionism. The local city council is busy crafting ways to control him and so far has banned nudity (a) in public places and (b) which "can be seen" from public places. But some of the people complaining about Howatt, including Samantha Love, are nearby neighbors who can see Howatt from their own property. Love and others say "it's just not right". They want Howatt to stop. Howatt continues to assert a right to garden nude. In support of his argument, he claims that American statesman and inventor Ben Franklin was also a nudist. Newhouse News Service, KATU-TV (Portland) and esp. MSNBC video.
Discuss.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Tom Kane: Four marketing laws for lawyers
Tom Kane published the first of four short articles yesterday: "Four Laws for Successful Lawyer Marketing - Part I". Based on this, and Tom's usual fare, the series promises to be excellent. His first law is the Law of Perception--the one that for excellent lawyers is hard to grasp. WAC? thinks of it as the unfortunate but true "it-just-doesn't-matter-that-you're-better" principle.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:09 AM | Comments (0)
October 03, 2007
Update: Anne Frank's Chestnut Tree
The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam is a moving experience. We've posted before on news of the prognosis for the 150 year old chestnut tree outside the house that she could see every day through an attic window and wrote about in her famous diary. For some, the troubled tree is a symbol of freedom and others even a reminder that children need to go outside and play. Here is an update (AP): "Anne Frank’s Chestnut Tree is Granted a Reprieve". You can see the tree as it
looks today at www.annefrank.org and NYT. Frank died at age 15 died at the Bergen-Belsen camp in 1945. If she had lived, she would have turned 78 on June 12, 2007.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
UK judge lets Brit schools show Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth"
For a moment, forget about your politics, views on the environment or how enlightened, hip or correct you think you are. WAC? "likes" Al Gore. But you gotta like this feisty Brit. Stewart Dimmock, a lorry driver, father of two children (ages 11 and 14), and part-time school official in Dover, Kent, England, claimed that Gore's 2006 Oscar-winning film on climate change was scientifically inaccurate, biased and "sentimental
mush"--and shouldn't be shown in English schools. He said he wanted his children educated in an environment "free from bias and political spin". So Dimmock went to court--and just lost his challenge to the showing of the former U.S. vice-president's documentary in English secondary schools. But Dimmock still got his point across. Yesterday High Court Judge Michael Burton agreed that "An Inconvenient Truth" advanced "partisan political views", but didn't elaborate. Burton said the movie could be shown if the written guidance for teachers accompanying the program was changed so as not to endorse the film's (and Gore's) views. The UK government will re-write the guidance.
See AP, BBC, and the always-entertaining Daily Mail.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 08:43 PM | Comments (0)
Lisboa, Portugal: Alfama District
Welshonce Watch: Like New York, DC, Paris and Prague, Lisbon is a walking city. The medieval Alfama district is Lisbon's oldest, covering the slope between the Castelo de São Jorge and the Tejo River.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 03:59 AM | Comments (0)
October 02, 2007
Hillary's new $22 million
Contrary to what WAC? thought a year ago about her chances--we are wrong a lot ("best qualified but worst Dem candidate who can't and shouldn't get the nomination", we said)--HRC is kicking butt generally and now plays out pre-primary clock. AP: Clinton Tops Obama in 3rd Quarter Fund-Raising. Not over yet. But we are impressed. Dang.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
The Blogs of War, Day 2: The Brad Blog
The punishment of wise men who refuse to take part in the government is to live under the government of worse men. --Plato, The Republic, 360 B.C.
Over on the Left, today we have The Brad Blog, by journalist-broadcaster Brad Friedman. Last week a guest blogger posted "McCain Hurriedly Backtracks After Bigoted Anti-Muslim Comments". Hey, we told you these political bloggers (both Ds and Rs) were partisan and
serious--wait until you get a load of some of the other "Blogs of War" we'll show you. But we like The Brad Blog because there is way more writing-thinking and less yelling-knee-jerking than some of the other political sites. As Holden just mentioned to me on the phone: "Dude, just because you're off-the-charts partisan doesn't mean you're dumb or crazy." TBB has substance to match the moxie.
Posted by JD Hull at 07:38 PM | Comments (0)
October 01, 2007
Duke's apology: enough to stop a civil suit by players?
The Chronicle reports on the apology (given at the law school) over the weekend by Duke president Richard Brodhead to the 2005-2006 men's lacrosse team and their families.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
This week's Blawg Review is from Ireland.
Trinity College in Dublin, the School of Law, to be exact, where it's a beautiful day. Blawg Review #128 is hosted by WAC?'s Gaelic cousin Daithí Mac Síthigh at Lex Ferenda. Classy, thoughtful and first Irish-hosted BR. And very well-received. But can someone let London's GeekLawyer host soon--before he hurts someone?
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Collins: Are your rates too low on your "long-standings"?
See at Tom Collins's More Partner Income his September 27 post, "Long Time Law Firm Clients Are Priced Too Low", inspired by a 2002 HBR piece.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Is Bill Clinton a brand?
Yes, and an increasingly compelling one, according to treatments in both October's The Atlantic and this week's The Economist. With some help from talented Ira Magaziner, a former Clinton White House aide and wonk's wonk, WJC is changing philanthropy to change the world. This also explains why Bill Clinton has still not responded to our help-wanted ad we ran in 2006 to ensnare him as of counsel so he could market for Hull McGuire in the eastern U.S. and western Europe. The Bubba's been busy. But, Bill, our offer still stands.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)