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November 30, 2007
How do you teach great habits at work?
"Hey, kid. This document, that contract, your proposed cross-examination--it isn't good. Not even close. It isn't good work, and it was never good in any known universe or context. Your standard is low. And unless someone tells you this NOW using roughly these words and this tone, you'll be hatin' your work and your life by the time you're forty."
What the poets and philosophers say about Man (and Woman) is true: we are all miracles capable of miraculous things. But how do we get there? Well, someone much smarter than me said that excellence at work and in life comes from great habits. In life, examples would be eating fruit instead of glazed donuts or Egg McMuffins in the morning, running two miles 5 times a week, or each day without fail saying thank-you and praying for guidance to God, Allah, Yahweh, the Kibo Demon or The Big-Ass Oak Tree in your yard.
Great work habits? Examples: outlining an argument or contract before starting out; proofreading a document like your life (or job) depended on it; structuring and monitoring with discipline the course of a strategy for a case, deal or marketing campaign; making that marketing phone call or writing that thank you note two days before the big meeting in Europe or the trial in the Southern District of New York; and "following" your good habits even on a bad day, or when you are tired.
Get it down and get it down early.
There are scads of books out there on bringing the best out of our employees based on notions of somehow cultivating their best instincts and igniting the joy of doing great work with a "team". These are noble works. And they almost always miss or omit one ugly truth.
Only about 1% of employees--if that--have a "passion for excellence" 24/7. The rest have their moments. These other employees, even if brilliant and energetic, constitute, say, about 90% of the work force. Like anyone else, Coif and Law Review people can quickly lapse into complacency, smugness and the work ethic of your no-good Uncle Seamus who went out for a pack of Luckies one day and never came back. And if they are young employees (under 35), you may have a problem on your hands.
With the "life habits" above, at first, we are more likely to do out of fear for our health or questionable salvation or whatever bad consequences are out there if we don't take care of our bodies and souls. Same goes for work. Every once in a while I meet a young person in the 1% who is driven to do things "right" at work--even to the point of perfectionism.* Most employees I see at my shop and others have that inspiration--but only fleetingly. As un-PC or brutal as it sounds, these wonderful folks need not only inspiration but fear, a kick in the self-esteem, a challenge, or a blow to their pride to get them back on track and moving. Sorry. They don't have that engine that drives them to excellence, and probably never will. But they are still well worth it.
Your feed-back to them--especially at first--needs to be both constant (i.e., in "real-time") and honest. It's training. And it's damn hard work for you.
Much has been written about Generations X and Y. This is the self-esteem generation that my "driven" generation (Boomers) somehow created. They are the beneficiaries of "life" grade-inflation, pretty nice circumstances economically growing up, and being told that everything they did was "just great". Everyone apparently made the soccer team; no one saw their name on a cut list. I see them every day, especially at other firms--at my firm they either change or leave--and someone at their law or accounting firm or Fortune 500 company of the screw-up variety is still telling them that they are "just great".
And, well, gulp, they just aren't.
"Hey, kid. This is not personal. But this document, that contract, the deposition you're taking--they all suck. They aren't good, they were never good in any universe or context. Your standard is low. And unless someone tells you that NOW using roughly those words and exactly that tone, you'll be hatin' life and your work by the time you're forty."
My point: To develop good habits, you cannot rely 100% on appealing to his or her "passion for excellence". That's partly a great notion and partly a ruse. Using the fear of losing his or her job is fair game, and you should even back it up. You have a job to do and a business to run. If someone gets in the way of that, feel free to take them to the woodshed, warn them, fire them. You need to be honest. And your business needs to survive and prosper by having people in it who "get" what you want--not what they want.
Practicing law and most kinds of problem-solving work is hard, and should be hard, especially at first. Use positive reinforcement when it's due and deserved. But don't shortchange the development of your employees by telling them "you're great, keep up the good work" when you don't mean it, and it's not true. Even if it means you're not being "nice". Your clients will suffer, you will suffer, and you'll be hatin' life. If the work sucks, say it sucks--and explain why.
*Perfectionism is bad, folks, but I can work with it.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:57 PM | Comments (0)
November 29, 2007
Why superior work alone doesn't matter.
Steve Jobs: "We have better stuff!"
Bill Gates: "You don't get it. That doesn't matter."
--1984 conversation, after an angry Jobs realized that Microsoft's Windows software borrowed some of Apple's concepts, according to 1999 movie The Pirates of Silicon Valley, likely apocryphal, and 100% instructive.
It just doesn't matter. We have a hokey saying at our firm, Hull McGuire. A good client needs to "Be Safe, Feel Safe". If a client does not feel safe, it won't fully embrace and appreciate you or your firm. Without the comfort of feeling safe, it won't impress the in-house counsel of your client that the last memo you sent it by you and your ex-U.S. Supreme Court clerk was dead-on, groundbreaking, brilliant, or that your firm is expertly implementing the suggested strategy. The client won't care--and it shouldn't care. (It is paying for that.) To feel safe, and to stay as a client with your firm, it must believe that you and that associate genuinely care about and look out for that client like a parent would for a child 24/7. It's personal--based on a trust that transcends legal and ethical concepts.
Obviously, the quality of our actual services and products--advice, opinion letters, transactions, litigation results, settlement terms, etc.--needs to be first-rate. That's the "Be Safe" part. And it's wonderful if you can be the best at anything. But you won't keep even the most sophisticated, no-nonsense, button-down, linear-thinking, Western-logic-loving business client, CFO or GC who uses outside legal talent every day unless the client both appreciates your work and is comfortable both with the work and you. This is especially true for clients that select professional help on the basis of true quality and expertise, and not price. It's true whether your firm has 3 or 3,000 lawyers, stockbrokers, accountants, sales clerks, service employees, relationship managers or anyone else at the point of contact for a customer or client.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Perks in the war for talent that make sense.
Boston's Paul Clifford is a fine business lawyer and consultant who I and other members of Hull McGuire have known for about a decade. We meet with Paul a couple of times a year at various venues all over the globe: Salzburg, Cardiff, Madrid, Buenos Aires, Rome, Lisbon, San Francisco, Mexico City. He flagged this article for us in the NYT by Lynnley Browning: "For Lawyers, Perks to Fit a Lifestyle". What especially interested WAC? was the discussion of Seattle-based Perkins Coie which, lawyer perk-wise, seems to have distinguished itself from other larger firms by also competing on (1) fun, (2) surprise and (3) attitude.
Posted by JD Hull at 09:11 PM | Comments (0)
November 28, 2007
The 7 Habits of Highly Useless Corporate Lawyers.
This is one of WAC?'s most clicked-on posts. But the investigative and archeological credit belongs to a vigilant D.C. securities lawyer known to some as Ernie from Glen Burnie.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 08:59 PM | Comments (0)
November 26, 2007
Blawg Review #136
Peter Black at Freedom to Differ (an Australian blawg) hosts Blawg Review #136.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 10:40 AM | Comments (0)
Shields: The holy gritty surprise of systems that set you free.
Ah, devil details: the discipline of getting organized, staying that way, and making things happen on schedule at work. At WAC? we've written about making structure a habit--see In Praise of Structure--but not nearly as much as we should. A few key office "systems, processes and checklists" are short, simple, written, intuitive, simple to remember, monitor and enforce, and both pro-client and pro-employee. Sound too abstract? See "Need to Get Control of Your Practice? Systems May Be The Key" at Allison Shields' Legal Ease Blog.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)
November 25, 2007
Helmut Schmidt: Russia less dangerous than the US.
Helmut Schmidt, the former German chancellor (1974-82) and U.S. arms ally against the former Soviet Union in Cold War days, raised eyebrows with this one. Many Germans and Europeans still listen to and respect the 78-year-old statesman turned newspaper executive. See "How Dangerous Is America?" by Gabor Steingart, a DC-based reporter for Der Spiegel, the influential German weekly magazine.
Posted by JD Hull at 10:50 PM | Comments (0)
November 24, 2007
Patriotism, conflicts and high-profile trial blunders.
Midwest-raised WAC? is quite patriotic--as American as apple pie, baseball, moral pretension and land grabs. And even though patriotism has limitations as a system of thought, since early 2003 (U.S. making noises about invading Iraq, and finally does that) I have "defended America" at dinner parties, meetings, hotel lobbies and restaurants in London, Aldeburgh, Paris, Kandel, Mainz, Frankfurt, Heidelberg, Dusseldorf, Berlin and Barcelona. Until late 2003, my rule for ground travel was this: rented cars in UK, Germany and Austria; trains everywhere else. That had always made sense. But trains, no matter where I went in 2003, became a problem. In April 2003, a half dozen chain-smoking French boarding school students once cross-examined me on a train from Paris to London, causing me to start smoking again. In the late summer of 2003, an inebriated
Hungarian guy twice my size in the bar car as we were nearing Budapest (he claimed I was an American "bombardier") tried to pick a fist-fight with me--but apparently settled for putting a hex on me and mine. A week later, a Prague massage lady swore at me in a decent-looking non-goofy Marriott near the Charles Bridge, but at least it wasn't on a train.
So I love my country--and have taken to renting cars in Europe in countries other than the UK and Germany. However, and as we've noticed since 2005, the Canadian Bar Association's CBA PracticeLink has a client service and real lawyering-oriented website which puts counterpart sites by bar associations here in the U.S., well, to shame. For examples, see "Developing a Conflict Checking System for Your Law Firm" by Janice Mucalov, and "Top Five High-Profile Trial Blunders and How to Avoid Them in Your Own Practice" by Ted Brooks. Don't worry that it's Canadian material--you can still use it.
Posted by JD Hull at 03:00 AM | Comments (0)
November 21, 2007
Does America lack capacity for entanglements abroad?
That question keeps coming up. The young Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville thought 170 years ago that the answer is yes. He wrote that America by nature was an isolationist creature. For a more recent take, see today's post by Joerg Wolf, a German Fulbright alumni, in the Atlantic Review. Wolf comments on a recent WSJ op-ed piece by DC lawyer David Rivkin, "Diplomacy in the Post-9/11 Era". Both are excellent. If your firm works abroad--or will be--read them.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Anne Frank tree gets a second reprieve.
AP: The famous chestnut tree, over 150 years old, wins another stay from Judge Bade. Amsterdam city officials must present more detailed alternatives to the tree's proposed destruction.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:51 PM | Comments (0)
Climate change: The new overture in US policy.
The price of admission has changed. "No Net New Greenhouse Gases" should begin today. --John Reaves
See in last week's San Diego Union-Tribune "Global Warming and San Diego", an op-ed piece by environmental lawyer John Reaves. It's irrelevant how you interpret the science, or precisely where it leads you. Even in San Diego, America's answer to paradise on earth, the topic of climate change is here to stay. It's the new fixture in the national conversation.
Posted by JD Hull at 06:06 PM | Comments (0)
November 20, 2007
George Will on the The Plaintiff's Bar
No matter what you think of columnist George F. Will--someone once called George America's best 19th-century mind--he's a smart guy, and an interesting writer, and we very much like the bow-tie thing. Besides, WAC? reads everything. Will's piece below is consistent with our belief that no one will ever write a book entitled The American Class Actions Bar: A Passion for Client Service Excellence (whether or not the author is a "specially-compensated" Rule 23 plaintiff). Anyway, in The Washington Post, see Will's Sunday piece "Edwards, Lerach and the Little People". While we are on the topic, please be reminded that, to us, it's always about the lawyering. For clients--the ones who get it, the ones you value, the ones you want to keep.
We don't care what your politics are.
Two years ago we launched What About Clients? because we were certain that putting clients and clients' interests first is a rarity. How even the best corporate clients on the globe are still served up a third-rate legal services-client service mix mystifies us; we are inclined to conclude that they put up with it because so many GCs don't know anything better. So we still think the "client service" rubric on most law firm websites is a ruse. We suspect that individuals--actual humans with their transactions, family matters, estates and claims--don't fare any better than corporations.
Finally, WAC? likes presidential candidate John Edwards, and even briefly but seriously considered working with his campaign four years ago. We just have a tough time with the "I represented the little people" overture.
If you're a lawyer, you know what we mean.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 06:25 PM | Comments (0)
November 19, 2007
Pakistan's lawyers, Musharraf and emergency rule.
How can you walk into a courtroom and address a judge as 'My lord' if he has taken an oath to a dictator? --Asad Abbasi, Islamabad lawyer
The Washington Post's Pam Constable writes about how lawyers in Pakistan wage a campaign against President Pervez Musharraf by boycotting courts.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Redux: You're smart when you're angry.
Anger is that powerful internal force that blows out the light of reason.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Maybe, maybe not. WAC? could never be sure. Last week, writing about the Las Vegas Dem debate, we were just kidding, mainly. We did like HRC's pluck. But being in an ADR-non-warrior-let's-explore mode lately (keep that on the down-low), we noticed that Stephanie West Allen had this great piece back in June at her "other blog", Brains on Purpose: "Good Brain, Bad Brain? Bring It All to the Negotiation Table".
Posted by JD Hull at 05:23 PM | Comments (0)
Blawg Review # 135
Today is Equal Opportunity Day in the U.S., and Part 1 of Blawg Review #135 is hosted by Transgender Workplace Diversity. Part 2 will appear tomorrow, Transgender Day of Remembrance, at the Rainbow Law Center Blog.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 08:40 AM | Comments (0)
ADR, Mediation--and a few words about Dinosaurs.
How do scientists--and dinosaurs--resolve their disputes, anyway? Hear an interview with Kevin Padian, curator of University of California—Berkeley’s Museum of Paleontology. It's from "International Dispute Negotiation", a podcast interview series of The International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR). The interviews are conducted by General Electric in-house lawyer Michael McIlwrath, based in Florence, Italy. The Padian interview is here. Vigilant Diane Levin pointed out IDN to us last week.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)
November 18, 2007
Clinton, Edwards and Kucinich do LA environmental forum.
This happened Saturday afternoon. WAC? even sent its secret resident stringer to this limited-seating event at the Wadsworth Theater in West Los Angeles. But never mind--the NYT was there anyway, along with the feisty Huffington Post. The forum was held by the League of Conservation Voters Education Fund and other environmental groups. All Dem and GOP candidates were invited--but only Clinton, Edwards
and Kucinich accepted the invitation. Climate change and energy security were the main topics. No tough panel questions, and no real differences in positions. WAC? and many others think charming, articulate and nothing-to-lose-now faux populist John Edwards was the forum's real star. Hillary seemed tired, more stiff than usual, and overly-careful. Dennis was, well, genuinely liberal and spectacularly un-Presidential. But we have liked the Ohio Boy Wonder since 1978.
Posted by JD Hull at 10:13 PM | Comments (0)
Can you overdo courtroom technology?
You sure can. And some good trial lawyers we know are making that mistake right now. Remember the idea is to tell your story, simplify the arcane, and drive main points home to a jury which is doing its best to understand your client's case. Tech should help you and your client with jurors--not frustrate them. Don't hold your client back. Evan Schaeffer explains in "Are You Using Too Much Courtroom Tech?".
Posted by JD Hull at 12:37 AM | Comments (0)
November 17, 2007
Our Wunderkind in Berlin
Being a Very-Minor-Almost-Imperceptible-Celebrity, I sometimes get to hang out with Very-Major-Totally-Obvious-Celebrities...
Chris Abraham, in a post at Because the Medium is the Message
Learn a lot, grow a lot, get famous and make money. You have our permission. As long as you "serve somebody", like the man from Hibbing said, it's your world. To keep level, read T.S. Eliot, some Flaubert and maybe The Upanishads. But watch a little, too.
Watch this guy: WAC?'s talented DC friend and IT mentor Chris Abraham of internet experts Abraham & Harrison kept his old life in America and just started a new one in Berlin, Germany. Chris is a rising star in public relations blogging, new marketing, and search engine optimization (SEO). He amazes me. Chris, well under 40, is no geek,
and someone should run him for office the minute he turns too rich. The last time I saw Chris, a couple of months ago in Monterey, California, he introduced me to another way-talented fellow from NYC we should all watch named Jonathan Swerdloff. And then Chris just happened to invite me to dinner along with a former Fortune 100 company GC-turned-CEO an entire generation older (okay, my age) who I had been wanting to get together with for four (4) years.* Chris is creative, smart, marketing oriented--and charming. You can follow Chris in Berlin at this blog or his other blog. Watch him.
*This annoyed me. WAC? has uber-thick skin. But Chris is better at my job than I am--and he doesn't even have my job.
Posted by JD Hull at 05:09 PM | Comments (0)
November 16, 2007
You're smart when you're angry.
Give her credit when it's due. In last night's Gang War in Las Vegas, HRC does well fending attack from Dem candidates. AP: "In Feisty Debate, Clinton Fires Back". And see Salon coverage. Watch for some conservatives to start commenting favorably on her toughness, preparation and work ethic. Is she a CEO or what?
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Congress passes water bill over the President's veto
Last week's override of the President's veto marks the 107th time in U.S. history that Congress has taken such action--but the first for this President. See coverage from Tennessean.com and Reuters. The $23 billion appropriations bill clears the way for a number of projects, including the repair of the Wolf Creek Dam in Kentucky, funding for coastal restoration in Hurricane Katrina ravaged Louisiana and improving flood control and navigation on waterways. The appropriations bill, which was originally passed by the House in August and the Senate in September, was vetoed by President Bush on November 2. On November 6, the House voted to override the President's veto, and on November 8, the Senate did the same.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 02:46 PM | Comments (0)
Special holiday season marketing tip: do it early.
Don't mean to put pressure on y'all. But if you traditionally send holiday cards or throw a party, consider sending Thanksgiving cards (seriously) rather than Christmas cards and, better yet, doing a Thanksgiving or Fall party--like one WAC? just attended which was near perfect in its details, genuine thoughtfulness and client and marketing smarts. And if customarily you send cards and gifts and throw parties to celebrate holidays in December, do these things by the end of the First Week of December--or maybe just not do them at all, and save your money for next year. The reason for all of the above: by about mid-December,
you and your firm are just another gesture in the flood of well-wishing, it's not special, and nobody really notices your good cheer, sincerest holiday good will and "thank yous" through the barrage of increased mail and deliveries and making the rounds. At worst, doing it later gives the impression of going through the motions. The lesson: be at once thoughtful and noticed.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:17 AM | Comments (0)
November 15, 2007
Checking in with Charon QC
The urbane and refreshing Londoner Charon QC is in top form. See "Europhile Top Shelf…and Downing Street Matters" and his Saturday review of last week's news and UK blog posts. On January 7, CQC hosts Blawg Review, which will never be the same. Some lawyers are international lawyers. Charon is that, and much more: he's a lawyer and an international kind of guy. He would rather choke to death than just talk or write about The Law. We Yank working stiffs stand in awe.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
"Warren, you old hippie, that's easy for you to say."
Warren Buffett backs the estate tax in testimony before U.S. Senate Finance Committee. See coverage of yesterday's hearings at WSJ and TaxProf Blog. Unlike many others, Buffett would reform rather than repeal the estate tax. None of this was a surprise, as Buffett has been a supporter of the estate tax generally to check momentum "toward plutocracy". However, Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway's chairman, and with a net worth of approximately $52 billion, did say he would give all
you American mini-millionaires out there a break. He opposes reinstatement of the scheme in place before 2001 which gave decedents' estates a $1 million exemption from the tax and then taxed at a maximum rate of 55%. Instead, Buffett wants an exemption of around $4 million--twice the current $2 million--with lower but gradually increasing rates. The exemption would be adjusted for inflation. Under current law, the estate tax exemption will be gradually increased, and the maximum tax rate gradually decreased, until 2010, when the estate tax is repealed. However, unless Congress changes the law, in 2011 the estate tax will automatically return with a $1 million exemption and maximum tax rate of 55%.
Posted by JD Hull at 06:00 PM | Comments (0)
November 14, 2007
Hassett: "Do you want to learn how to close faster?"
And here is Jim Hassett's answer:
Me too. But we can’t. Teaching people how to close deals faster is a little like teaching gardeners how to pick tomatoes. Picking them isn’t the hard part. The hard part is growing them. [more]
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
India LPO
Or Legal Process Outsourcing. An article we missed in last month's ABA Journal about India's Pangea3: "Manhattan Work at Mumbai Prices".
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Paris, Marrakesh, and Not-Law
No matter how hard we try, we can't stay away from Paris Parfait, where an American writer in Paris muses about art, antiques, poetry and politics. Or from My Marrakesh, where a "Moroccan blog girl-next-door" and her bemused American family build a guest house.
Posted by JD Hull at 05:19 PM | Comments (0)
Anne Frank's chestnut tree
We've followed this one over the last few months. According to the AP, the 150-year-old ailing chestnut tree in Amsterdam that Anne Frank saw daily outside her attic window during the two years she hid from the Nazis will be cut down. The Anne Frank Museum has taken grafts from the tree in hopes that a sapling can replace it.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:38 AM | Comments (0)
November 13, 2007
New American era: The Exotic First Partner
Kurtz--he got off the boat. He split from the whole goddamn program.
Captain Willard, in Apocalypse Now (1979)
We're barely even talking here about WAC?'s bud Wild Bill, who faces some serious competition in the "off-the-boat" (i.e., campaign bus) category. In today's Salon, see by Rebecca Traister America's Next Top Spouse. It's a guide to "the brassy, opinionated, loud, difficult and plum-crazy partners on the arms of their president-running partners".
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Lowland Libertarian lawyer.
"As a lowland Scot, I am as alien to Gaelic culture as I am to the ways of the inuit." Thus speaks the anonymous writer of Musings of a Reactionary Snob. He's a lawyer and Libertarian who lives in Edinburgh. He doesn't want his taxes funding Gaelic broadcasting--through the Gaelic Media Service--yet he personally supports the culture and language of Gaelic. He's got a point. See his post "Gaelic". Colorful and good writing.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 07:17 PM | Comments (0)
November 12, 2007
Norman Mailer (1923-2007)
I don't think life is absurd. I think we are all here for a huge purpose. I think we shrink from the immensity of the purpose we are here for.
Irish guys always liked Norman Mailer. About twenty five years ago Legs McNeil wrote, after doing an interview with Mailer, "nobody talks better than Norm". Mailer reveled in words, and the man could talk. And punch. But our best-ever American literary talker-brawler won two Pulitzers, and was famous for writing alone by the age of 25. He died at age 84 on Friday after nearly 60 years on a pedestal he built and maintained himself. He could be a blow-hard, but he knew something important. Strong opinions put strongly--about writing, men, women, politics, modern life--isn't about getting press. It's a way to have the Conversation in the midst of conformity and complacency. Enemies?
Natural provocateur Mailer knew also that, if you don't have a few, you simply aren't in the game. Like Mailer himself, the news coverage is spirited, opinionated, immense. L.A. Times: Mailer: An Ego with an Insecure Streak; The Irish Times: U.S. Literary Giant, Norman Mailer Dies Aged 84; NYT: Towering Writer with a Matching Ego, Dies at 84; The Guardian: Death of an Icon; The Huffington Post: Norman Mailer: Death and Remembrance. But Norm would have liked this next one the best. Via Pajamas Media, see at Chesler Chronicles: "Norman Mailer, one Tough Jew, is dead." And how many Jewish guys can drink like that? Gaelic retired toper WAC? is way impressed. Keep up the Conversation, Norm. We're bored down here already.
Posted by JD Hull at 07:36 AM | Comments (0)
Blawg Review #134...
...is a real marathon, and it's up at the New York Personal Injury Law Blog.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 05:44 AM | Comments (0)
58,000 gallons
SAN FRANCISCO (AP)—Federal investigators were considering Monday whether to file criminal charges against the crew members of a container ship that struck the Bay Bridge and ripped a gash in its fuel tank, creating the San Francisco Bay's worst oil spill in nearly two decades. [more]
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)
Thank-you notes, gratitude, real life.
A good thank-you--a real thank-you--means something. It is notable, memorable, important.
--TS, April 2007
Last April Esquire Magazine's Tom Chiarella wrote a piece on thank-you notes; as part of his unlikely experiment in doing them, he wrote 91 handwritten ones in one week. It's called "A Little Gratitude: How to Change the Way the World Sees You, One Thank-You Note at a Time". We liked it 7 months ago when it came out, and we like it now. For the same issue, Chiarella also wrote "How to Write a Thank-You Note".
Posted by JD Hull at 12:09 AM | Comments (0)
November 10, 2007
A little CPR on the Spanish Steps: new program on cross-border disputes.
Thanks to Diane Levin for pointing out to us "International Dispute Negotiation"--a new podcast program presented by the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR). Not boring. Lively, with a short jazz violin opening and then intro by a woman with an interesting voice, the IDN program presents examples of the ways companies and professionals from different countries and cultures approach dispute resolution. It is hosted by General Electric's Michael McIlwrath, Senior Counsel, Litigation for GE Infrastructure--Oil & Gas, in Florence, Italy. The introductory interview, from the Spanish Steps at the Piazza di Spagna in Rome, is with CPR Senior Vice President F. Peter Phillips. And hear the more recent McIlwrath IDN interview with Brazilian lawyer Antonio Tavares on dispute resolution in Brazil.
Posted by Tom Welshonce at 11:39 AM | Comments (0)
November 09, 2007
"Mukasey Wins Vote in Senate, Despite Democrats’ Doubts"
WAC? was wrong about this one. From The New York Times:
WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 — The Senate confirmed Michael B. Mukasey as attorney general Thursday night, approving him despite Democratic criticism that he had failed to take an unequivocal stance against the torture of terrorism detainees. [read more]
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 05:22 AM | Comments (0)
November 08, 2007
Hillary Clinton keeps surprising us.
Hillary Clinton--who WAC? predicts will start picking up increasing support from moderate Republican women (and some men) in two key states--is doing well these days. NBC/WSJ poll: "Clinton Holds 20-Point Lead Over Rival Dems". Still very, very early. Like a friend once said: "This is America--no one wins the nomination without a couple of near-death experiences."
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Newport Beach, California: Great duty if you can get it.
"Newport Beach is like a French Impressionistic painting." This is Orange County's version of Westport, in Fairfield County, Connecticut. Interestingly, Newport Beach is even more conservative than Westport, but better-looking and with a lot more art. Snotty WAC? loves both towns.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Photo parfait by Bradford
Tara Bradford is an American "living la vie Parisienne while writing a book". Behold "Books Galore" at Tara's wonderful Paris Parfait, see from her collection a 1924 photo of an Egyptian bookseller, and take the rest of the day off. Hit a few bookstores, maybe--but only if you've done your 7.5 billable hours first. Half-day today. Live a little.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:44 PM | Comments (0)
Getting it right: UK firms with double digit revenue growth
Do "UK law firms have a more sophisticated approach to strategy than North American firms"? See this post at The Adventure of Strategy, a consistently fine site by business strategist Rob Millard, a partner at Edge International.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:21 PM | Comments (0)
Kane: Bad Clients
Try this mantra: "Life's short, practicing law done correctly is hard, and no client is better than a bad one." We love it when Tom Kane writes about bad clients. It gets our juices going. For WAC?, bad clients tend to be any non-corporate client--sorry, but even individuals with education and big money are generally horrible and annoying clients--and the vast majority of small and medium-sized businesses. Hey, that's just about everyone. In any event, only "hire" clients who understand your work, appreciate it, and pay you. It sounds flippant--but it's a basic truth to survive much less prosper. Good clients "get" great lawyering and great service. Bad clients do not. So see Tom's piece "Are Bad Clients Keeping You Up At Night?" Then repeat the mantra.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:55 AM | Comments (0)
November 07, 2007
"Uh, there's no pot here, Beavis--just monkeys."
Two Stolen Monkeys Are Returned To Owner
EIGHTY FOUR, Pa. (AP) - Two exotic monkeys were returned yesterday to a private wildlife compound in Western Pennsylvania, where they apparently had been stolen from a greenhouse in which teenagers believed marijuana was being grown. [read more]
See also "Pot-Smokin' Monkeys On The Lam" (Lehigh Valley News).
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:55 AM | Comments (0)
Legal Talk Network: The SoCal fires
There's an interesting interview of three San Diego lawyers on the recent southern California fires right here at the October 31 edition of the LegalTalkNetwork's "Lawyer2Lawyer" radio show. It's hosted by Law.com bloggers J. Craig Williams in Los Angeles and Bob Ambrogi in Boston. WAC?'s Dan Hull is one of the lawyers interviewed.
Posted by Brooke Powell at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)
November 06, 2007
Merrill Lynch's bad week.
Make that a tough month for Merrill Lynch, the U.S. brokerage founded in 1914. First, record losses and stock plunge, and CEO replacement. Now the SEC investigation on off-balance-sheet deals to obscure risky mortage debt (AP), the forced exit of the chief of ML's consulting services arm (Jacksonville Business Journal), and the exit of a municipal pension fund from the ML portfolio (Global Pensions).
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Citigroup: Rescue by Rubin
Business Week: Former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin is tasked with finding a new Citigroup CEO.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
The Environment: The Universal Waste Rule
You can expect to hear more from industry and government in the next few years on the issues of responses to global warming, nuclear energy, energy security, non-fossil alternative fuels, waste disposal, and the environment generally. We'll see more federal environmental law enforcement, which waned under both Ds and Rs in the past fifteen years. Remember Jimmy Carter? Remember the "cradle-to-grave" waste management scheme of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 ("RCRA")? Okay, well then, how about the
Universal Waste Rule (original) issued in 1995? Under federal UWR, which is being amended further still, certain hazardous wastes generated by a wide variety of businesses--companies which generally generated no other hazardous wastes--were given a uniform but relaxed treatment: light bulbs (e.g., fluorescent, mercury vapor, sodium vapor, neon); batteries such as nickel cadmium, silver oxide, and lithium; mercury-containing devices (thermostats, barometers, thermometers, switches); and expired, collected or recalled pesticides. For a good primer on the Universal Waste Rule, see in the recent issue of Environmental Protection magazine "Universal Waste: Bulbs, Batteries, Bugs and Barometers" by Mike King of Excal Visual LLP.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 02:52 PM | Comments (0)
CNN's Nancy Grace gives birth.
A Truly Blessed Event. Twins--a boy and a girl, according to AP. Forty-nine year old mother and babies are doing fine, CNN rep says. Which is of course good. But this is very, very suspicious to WAC? How could this happen? Who saw it? Why weren't we briefed about this earlier? Who drove to the hospital? Who was at the scene first? Did someone secure the area? Sounds like the old run-around to us.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:46 AM | Comments (0)
November 05, 2007
Dites-le en anglais, s'il vous plait?
Two blogs on France in English: French-Law.net, "French Law in English", by Nicolas Jondet, currently in Edinburgh; and French Politics by Arthur Goldhammer, at Harvard's Center for European Studies.
More out there?
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Melbourne muscle boutique launches new IP blog.
The talented but "unstuffy" Melbourne-based commercial law firm of Nicholas Weston just launched Australian Trade Marks Law Blog. This is a promising new site. See "Madrid Update", which is both a status report and primer on the longstanding Madrid system of international trade mark registration, administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). WIPO is based in Geneva, Switzerland.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Canadian ClientWork
One of the best sites out there on client service--you can use it or get an idea from it today--is still at "Clients" under the CBAPracticeLink section of the Canadian Bar Association's multi-faceted website. Always outstanding. No, client service is not an American thing.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Blawg Review #133
See here for Blawg Review #133 at Chicago IP Litigation Blog, by David Donoghue.
Posted by Tom Welshonce at 11:46 AM | Comments (0)
November 03, 2007
Saturday's Charon: Lawyers dull? Say what?
Well, WAC? thinks lawyers are exciting. If you've never "partied" with American corporate tax lawyers drunk on Jesuit educations and a few Blue Nun spritzers, you don't know the meaning of bohemian and decadent. But for really edgy excitement, see re: "reality TV lawyering" Charon QC's post "Lawyers simply too dull to be on TV shock!…". Apparently, an executive producer of Legal TV in England canceled the show Lawyers Save the World because "the lawyers were not able
to rise to the occasion and save London [from floods]…some of them were listless and not bothered that London was drowning." Click here to find the clip from the ill-fated show and watch and hear a pretty young half-asleep English female solicitor born circa 1980 say the words: "Remember the Dunkirk spirit..."
Posted by JD Hull at 11:04 PM | Comments (0)
Foonberg: "All you guys are wrong, wrong, wrong."
Chuck Newton and WAC? are Jay Foonberg fans. If you don't know who Foonberg is--whether the number of lawyers in your firm is 1 or 3000--you are missing something. You may run the risk of starving or, almost as bad, being the personal $275,000-plus-a-year slave of the man or woman down the hall who has portable clients. See Chuck's post and attached Foonberg video at "What Kind Of Law Do You Practice?"
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 10:23 AM | Comments (0)
Getting clients: bird-dogs and matchmakers.
See "The Fine Art of Bird-Dogging" up at Jim Hassett's Legal Business Development. It's from his column last month at Law Firm, Inc.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:58 AM | Comments (0)
November 02, 2007
Solar Baby
Tomorrow on I'm There For You Baby, Neil Senturia and Barbara Bry will discuss solar energy--and why investors are taking off their shades and looking towards the sun. You can hear this week's episode on San Diego's CA$H 1700 AM Saturday from 1-2 PM, Pacific Time, or listen live via simulcast on the CA$H web site.
And before you listen to Saturday's show, read Wednesday's front page article in the San Diego Daily Transcript: "Networking Essential Characteristic of Entrepreneurs, According to Bry", about a talk Baby co-host Barbara Bry recently gave to business students at California State University.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
November 01, 2007
Perils of Waterboarding
AP: Bush Backs Mukasey on Waterboarding "Stance" [quotation marks ours]. The U.S. attorney general nominee Mukasey is a fine lawyer and jurist. But WAC? thinks he's toast. Next up?
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Handbook for those affected by the 2007 SoCal fires
Morrison & Foerster's San Diego office has put together just such a manual, and you can easily download its 72 pages here. It's called "Helping Handbook - For Individuals and Small Businesses Affected By The 2007 Southern California Wildfires", a genuinely useful tool for southern Californians as they deal with and gauge the damage and fallout from last week's devastating fires. The chief architects of the project are MoFo litigation associate Katherine Parker and managing partner Mark Zebrowski. Thanks to Orange County's Craig Williams for pointing out this great resource in his post yesterday.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 01:05 PM | Comments (0)