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January 31, 2008
Law Biz: "Downbeat" is the word.
Not a pretty mosaic--but you should see at Bill Gratsch's Blawg's Blog a collection of recent reports and articles on the new lay of the land in "Legal Industry Forecast Downbeat". Includes annual Hildebrandt report and posts by Rob Millard, Pat Lamb and Carolyn Elefant.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Newest Wall Street worry: Bond insurance.
AP: A "heavy loss" by bond insurer MBIA Inc., and the prospect of new downgrades in the bond insurance industry.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
January 30, 2008
The courts, the Clean Water Act, and permitting.
Do see "CWA: 2007 Judicial Review", by Cleveland-based Robert Casarona, in Stevens Publishing's Water & Wastewater News.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
America: 2.2% growth rate in 2007; 0.6% in 4th quarter.
AP: "Worst year since 2002."
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Edwards Out.
DENVER (AP)--Democrat John Edwards is exiting the presidential race Wednesday, ending a scrappy underdog bid in which he steered his rivals toward progressive ideals while grappling with family hardship that roused voters' sympathies but never diverted his campaign, according to The Associated Press and NBC News. [more]
We expect you'll see the boy again. He's 54 and, whether you like him or not, he's a natural with ambition, game and grit. Query: These days how do you keep a populist message from sounding like class warfare?
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Florida votes: McCain defeats Romney; Giuliani likely out.
McCain, Clinton Win Florida Primaries
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch/DowJones)--John McCain of Arizona won a closely fought battle with Mitt Romney to win Florida's Republican primary Tuesday night, propelling his candidacy mightily forward to the 24-state Super Tuesday contest on Feb. 5.
Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani placed a disappointing third in Florida's Republican race after staking much of his run for the nomination on the Sunshine State. Late Tuesday, Giuliani was reportedly set to drop out of the race and endorse McCain on Wednesday.
On the Democratic side, Sen. Hillary Clinton handily defeated rival Sen. Barack Obama in an expected win. [more]
Baltimore Sun: Giuliani's Concession: A Bad Day in Florida
AP: McCain Beats Romney in Florida GOP Race.
Sydney Morning Herald: Giuliani Who? McCain Claims Florida.
London Times: McCain Takes Florida as Giuliani Campaign in Tatters.
Melbourne Herald Sun, Australia: Hillary Clinton Wins Easy Florida Vote.
Rudy, we hardly knew ye. You go John.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:15 PM | Comments (0)
"What should I do today to increase new business?"
If you have a passable blog called "What About Clients?", professional people give you "free stuff" to review. Good news: it's free, and it's almost always worthwhile material. Bad news: you practice law, run a business, travel, write straight non-blog pieces for mean editors and agents, and have an inventory of worthwhile free things to review for free. More bad news: you're a picky guy on client development ideas; you want to read and hear things that both work and serve as a "call to arms". Well, lately I've been both reading the books and listening to the audio portion of Jim Hassett's ambitious
The LegalBizDev Success Kit. I'll be writing about it more. There's lots to it but, for now, hear this. The man has thought through client development and retention from A to Z. The materials are presented so that even lawyers can understand. Your firm--whether it has 1 lawyer or 3000--has two choices: hire Jim as a consultant or buy the Success Kit. Got that? If you are like virtually all law firms on the subjects of (1) marketing, and (2) keeping your best clients from going to your competitors (i.e., marketing committee is well-meaning but complacent and/or clueless, and ignores firm's own marketing professionals), you need him or it.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)
Breaking: Getting older is sad for some.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)
January 29, 2008
You gotta vote for somebody.
Visit our Federal Election Commission Campaign Contribution Summary, first created in 2002, and regularly checked and updated. If you don't cough up $2300 to a national candidate, that's fine with us--but at least vote in your primaries and vote in November. These are interesting times in the still new American experiment. Let's not screw it all up by merely watching them go by. Get in the game. Like the famous Bob Dylan song, "you gotta vote for somebody". Well, you guys know what we mean.
Posted by Tom Welshonce at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
New book out! "Retail Banking Services in America: A Passion For Client Service Excellence"
Just kidding. At this level, Banks don't care. Great lobbyists, we must admit--and we'd even work for your retail arms if you greasers would just up your rates a bit like in the old days. We won't hold our breath. Anyway, on customer service for non-commercial accounts, if you continue to mix (a) the lowest-drawer employees with (b) millions of peasant checking-account customers and (c) treat them both badly (what other inference may we draw?), you'll always get (d) Retail Banking Client Service that hovers between (1) Drug-haze Mediocre and (2) Spectacularly Bad, i.e., hiring peasants to treat others as troublesome peasants (brilliant, in a way). See "Take it to the Bank: A Primer on Poor Client Service" at Law Consulting Blog.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 08:26 PM | Comments (1)
Street Fight: "Oh, now you've Kennedy-ed me....I'm shrinking".
Or, "Senator Obama, we knew Jack Kennedy, and you, Senator, are--well, dude, you were two-years-old...."
But that really does hurt, HRC, and we feel your pain. But Uncle Ted, Joe Jr., Caroline--that's dirty touch football, sports! With certain voter groups--including many in the "50+ over-educated guilty white liberal people" block--Kennedy endorsements cannot be trumped. Ouch! But misty-eyed we-shall-overcome Leary-lovin' Mailer-readin' baby-boomer old white liberal that WAC? is, the Truth is that Hillary Clinton is 10 times more prepared and qualified to become president than Obama is. Hands down. Still, ouch. This is a street thing now, my fresh-faced friend. An Irish thing. Whiskey! Hit us again! Another. Another. Turn your glasses over. We got the sand now--and we be most game for ya'. Begin the new age, new frontier epic battle: Boston Lace-Curtain Irish v. Chicago Little Rock-Bubba Protestants.
Anyway, Irish up by one...
WASHINGTON (AP) Two generations of Kennedys - the Democratic Party's best known political family - endorsed Barack Obama for president on Monday, with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy calling him a "man with extraordinary gifts of leadership and character," a worthy heir to his assassinated brother.
"I feel change in the air," Kennedy said in remarks salted with scarcely veiled criticism of Obama's chief rival for the nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, as well as her husband, the former president.
"I have marveled at his grit and grace," he said of the man a full generation younger than he is.
[more]
Query: Can the nearly 60-year-old Kennedy machine still write, or what?
Photo: ABC News.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 05:42 PM | Comments (6)
January 28, 2008
SAG Awards: thanks, we needed that.
About last night. Believe what you will about Los Angeles. Like NYC and DC, it's a magnet for talent, extra-hard work, big ideas and just plain big ones. You think being a lawyer is hard? It is, done right. But success in Hollywood is way harder. No town for weenies. NYT: "Stars Seize Their Chance to Shine at SAG Awards ".
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 08:00 PM | Comments (0)
Bilbo Gandalf LLC
Bilbo then disappears. Bilbo has actually put on his magic ring and slipped away. Back at his hobbit hole, Bag End, he has a frank talk with Gandalf the wizard before leaving the ring behind for Frodo. This sets up the rest of the three books, which tell of Frodo’s quest to destroy the ring and thereby save Middle Earth. Was just a matter of right time and place. See Blawg Review #144 at Cyberlaw Central.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:23 AM | Comments (0)
Good morning, American worker.
Happy Monday. It's still Winter. Today, you're just a shade of a tad Hungover. You hate your Job. Your entire Life. Your Dog. And your eldest son's resume is beginning to read like a Police Blotter. Re: suffering, maybe you can just use It, because it teaches.
Suffering overcomes the mind's inertia, develops the thinking powers, opens up a new world, and drives the soul to action.--Anthony H. Evans
Great minds have purposes, others have wishes. Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune; but great minds rise above them.--Washington Irving
Posted by JD Hull at 12:08 AM | Comments (0)
January 27, 2008
Real Blogs are Rare: Ray Ward's Minor Wisdom.
And he'd just say shucks. It's Sunday: the only day I spend any time alone, am quiet for long stretches, and won't yell at any one. In my head and heart, where things can grow, I've bumped Ray Ward's Minor Wisdom from the #11 spot to #1 on my best blogs/blawgs/sites/all on-line and electronic magazines. This is All Categories, All Professions, All Nations, All Tribes, All Humans, All Life, All-Cosmos. I've seen the light, having waited for a vision to deliver me. Minor Wisdom has beyond lawyerness: spiritual, literary, musical, political, brave, human, personal and get-off-your-ass. And he's one of the few Jesuit-educated humans who makes it all sound like damn fun. His blog is so much better than every lawyer blog I've seen--including this one--that it makes me want to write full time, even if I starve ("purity of the heart is to will one thing"...). Well, strike the starving part. Anyway, let's pull Ray and MW from that soul-less category: lawyers. He's that and more. He reminds us that Jesus is headed for The Big Easy--and that's enough to make a blind man see.
Posted by JD Hull at 09:37 AM | Comments (3)
SC: Clinton punts, Obama makes big U.S. history.
Is this an interesting--and let's face it, great--nation or what? AP. WAC? has followed national elections since 1968--and there has never been a year like this one.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:54 AM | Comments (0)
January 26, 2008
And NYT endorses McCain.
"...the best choice for the [Republican] party’s presidential nomination". [more]
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)
January 25, 2008
Chicago girl makes good.
NYT edit board endorses HRC. Well, if you're her, it's almost the ultimate--and you'd be celebrating, duck-walking, and doing the antler dance. The New York Times is the Democratic Party, and it just endorsed Hillary Clinton.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Goldhammer: The French nuke model.
At his wry French Politics, Art Goldhammer briefly comments on the future of nuclear power, inspired by a Roger Cohen NYT piece two days ago that we missed: Why America needs Atomic Anne. Cohen: "It's not often that I find myself recommending a French state-owned industry as the answer to major U.S. problems, but I guess there's an exception to every rule." Ah, the energetic but impressionable Yanks.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:43 PM | Comments (0)
The Environment: China still talking the talk.
"To be clean is glorious--but you won't make the Big Bucks." The Economist: Don't drink the water and don't breathe the air.
China's environmental bureaucrats...readily admit that pollution is poisoning the country's water resources, air and soil. They acknowledge that carbon emissions are soaring. If only, they lament, the government would give them the means to do something about it.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 09:13 PM | Comments (0)
Tax-based stimulus package "robust".
AP: President Bush likes it. Hill leaders like it. Now, get ready--and worry about too little too late. We need a $150 billion shot in the arm three weeks ago. If WAC? gets a rebate, we'll hit Target's Great Books section in Aisle 26A.
WASHINGTON - Congressional leaders announced a deal with the White House Thursday on an economic stimulus package that would give most tax filers refunds of $600 to $1,200, and more if they have children.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 01:15 PM | Comments (0)
January 24, 2008
Loathing on the campaign trail: "All life is junior high".
Presidential elections--beauty contests--dweeb wars. NYT: Romney Tops In Ill Will Among GOP Rivals. "Within the small circle of contenders, Mr. Romney has become the most disliked . Actually, we like Mitt, and think he's immensely talented; we just think he's way creepy. And how about those mini-me staffers he's got?
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Watch your clients' damn stock price.
I don't love technology; it's rarely the main event, and it shouldn't be. Technology doesn't make you a better lawyer, lover, house painter or ad exec. But it is a great tool. You CAN use it to daily check your clients' stock prices. MSN and others let you do it. They have watchlists. Daily. Clients like you better when you love what they love, and worry how they worry. It's just a click away.
Posted by JD Hull at 08:33 PM | Comments (0)
January 23, 2008
Wall Street: Quite A Ride.
AP: "Wall Street tumbles for a second day".
NEW YORK - Stocks extended their decline Wednesday, with investors uneasy after reports from big names like Apple Inc. and Motorola Inc. dashed any notion that the Federal Reserve's emergency rate cut could in short order patch up the economy. Bond prices rose but pulled back from their highs after stocks pared their steepest losses.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
"Is excellent client service at an all-time low?"
"Just take a look around today’s high-paced, low-loyalty and skilled-labor-shortage economy, and you’ll see that the level of client service is quickly diminishing." RISMedia and Stuart Crawford: "Slow down and serve" to earn client loyalty.
Posted by JD Hull at 10:49 PM | Comments (0)
Wall Street: Now, whiplash.
AP: "Stocks Plunge, Then Post Big Gains ".
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 09:16 PM | Comments (0)
I haven't been to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan yet.
But I'll get there. In the meantime, our friend, heroine and spiritual leader Maryam at My Marrakesh has--and she took photos, and wrote about her trip. This happy human gets around.
Posted by JD Hull at 08:59 PM | Comments (0)
Election 2008: "Say it ain't so, Fred..."
AP: Thompson drops out of race.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 08:59 PM | Comments (0)
"Prospects"
At FreelanceSwitch, an excerpt from a book by Ilise Benun: "10 Things You Need to Know About Your Prospects".
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 04:03 PM | Comments (1)
Is going green really good business--and is it even happening?
See Environmental Protection, the Stevens Publishing magazine for environmental pros.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)
January 22, 2008
Southern Winter
Associated Press: "Freeze Follows Snow in South, Gulf Coast"
"...put some bleachers out in the sun/And have it out on Highway 61".
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
The Year of the Bull
TOKYO (AP) - Global stock markets extended their shakeout into a second day Tuesday, plunging amid worries that a possible U.S. recession will cause a worldwide economic slowdown. [more]
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
2008 election: Can Wild Bill dance?
Last night's Myrtle Beach, SC Dem debate: personal, feisty and a bit childish. No one looked too good to us. A John Edwards night--but an Obama crowd and an HRC set-back. See Chicago Tribune. Highlight of evening was question: How "black" a president was Bill Clinton? Obama, using dancing as the criteria, hits it out of park. Note that WAC? dances way better than Bill, Obama--and especially Clarence Thomas. And we do the Philly Dog New Breed, picked up from spectacularly drunk lawyer-friends who are partners at the Philadelphia firm of ______ after a 3rd Circuit argument last year. Those Penn Law boys got Rhythm.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
January 21, 2008
Real Lawyer Stuff: MLK Day at Blawg Review
Blawg Review #143 is up. It's thoughtful, graceful and first-rate. It's hosted by Gideon at Public Defender Stuff.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:14 PM | Comments (0)
Mr. Huckabee's Bible-based America: "Have a magnificent Christmas".
Does Huckabee still believe that his narrow version of Christianity must dominate every detail of human existence in this country? He doesn't like to answer hard questions about the intersection of his faith and his politics, but it is long past time that somebody demanded a straight answer.
Joe Conason in "Holy Constitution", Salon
Granted, Salon's writers are generally "liberal"--but that doesn't mean that they are always wrong, or trying to get your kids to try out Satan-worship instead of Pep Club after school. And here at WAC?, by the way, there are no known athiests, some of us attend conventional services, and we all like the holiday season, including Christmas. But Mike Huckabee's now famous charming, pandering, anti-secular, First Amendment-rattling "Christmas message" made WAC? question both his smarts and his character. Just as bad, hardly anyone except Ron Paul called him on it for more than a day. Bad, bad form--by Mike, and by all of us. Moreover, you'd have to be blind or an LSD/glue/nitrous oxide casualty not to believe that the intersecting white bookcase edges behind him in that spot were not deliberately intended to represent The Cross. So what's Happy Mike thinking? Our take: If you don't get the Establishment Clause, Mike, that's not good, of course. (Remedial high school U.S. history and government classes might help.) If it's an election ploy, hey, you old fox, that's wickedly clever, but it's sad and cynical to pander to those who would not or could not comprehend the primacy of the church-state division in American history, law and tradition. That, folks, is sacred.
Un-American, Mike. Bad dog.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 07:59 AM | Comments (0)
January 20, 2008
The Framers meet Rodney Dangerfield.
My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.
--Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr. (1900-1965), speech in Detroit, Oct.7, 1952
Even Adlai Stevenson's political enemies looked up to him. The highly-respected Illinois governor, diplomat and lawyer never got to be president--he lost to crowd-pleaser Eisenhower twice--but a lot of people wanted him to have that job. He liked ideas. American ones. People called him an "egghead" a lot. Ever wish that as a lawyer you did something genuinely worthwhile, important and part of a great American ideal? Something difficult, often unpopular and that reflects hard choices we've made as a society? Or are you just another lawyer dependent on the insurance companies for dough who wants to read a great blog every now and then? Tomorrow's host for Blawg Review is Public Defender Stuff. "Indigent defense news, delivered fresh daily". The guy's name is "Gideon".
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Overheard in Los Angeles: Club Ned
In the Starbucks on Sunset in Brentwood, a woman to her man about what to wear to an event on Saturday night: "Honey, just wear a black turtleneck! Even Ned Beatty looks good in a black turtleneck."
Ned at home relaxing, planning Georgia fishing trip with buddies.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
January 19, 2008
My little town: OpenCongress
When I worked and/or lived on Capitol Hill (15 years all told), new "local" newspapers and weekly magazines about Congress and our national yet surprisingly insular little town and community within The District would come and go. Only a few of them survived and prospered. But here's a new and interesting one, at least to me, via Ed. at Blawg Review and the Susan Crawford Blog: OpenCongress. It's an on-line magazine apparently mixing the traditions of The Hill and the Library of Congress' Thomas with the added trumpeted goal of reporting the "real story behind the story". We'll assume that means facts and not gossip.
Posted by JD Hull at 09:48 PM | Comments (0)
Fancy Brit lawyer Ruthie loses passport in back of Scottish cab.
We know from her on-line confession that this happened to the famous English lawyer-writer-biker Ruthie in Aberdeen, Scotland around New Year's, culminated in a run-in with the feared and notoriously unrelenting Grampian Police, and therefore almost certainly involved booze, men and/or worse. See "Do Not Lose your Passport" at Ruthie's Law. We Yanks expected much better. Arched eyebrows.
Posted by JD Hull at 08:20 PM | Comments (3)
Sicily's governor sentenced to prison.
ROME (AP, Jan. 18) - A court in Palermo convicted Sicily's governor Friday of helping a Mafia boss and sentenced him to five years in prison.
Gov. Salvatore Cuffaro said he would appeal and continue serving as governor of the island while the case was in progress. [more]
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 02:23 AM | Comments (0)
Law firm logos are still goofy, useless, and a waste of time and money.
It lacked subtlety--but we got our point across, and lots of people clicked on it two years ago. Our post, from January 2006, is here. It was inspired by a series of Tom Kane posts on whether firm logos help or hurt. Conclusion: (a) you already have one in your own trade dress, (b) so don't change it, and (c) don't go any further and embarrass yourself.
Posted by JD Hull at 01:00 AM | Comments (0)
January 18, 2008
Non-law firms: Be big or be boutique?
And to quote a wise friend of ours: "The Future is already here--it's just not evenly distributed." From Business Columnist Steve Pearlstein at the Washington Post:
We've been hearing it for years from corporate executives, management consultants and industry analysts: To survive in highly competitive markets, you either have to be big enough to have scale or small enough to find cover in protected niches. In between is a competitive no man's land where no company can make it. [more]
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
US Airways Club, too?
Sex in Restroom Stalls is Private, ACLU Says
ST. PAUL, Minnesota (AP) - In a legal effort to help a U.S. senator, the American Civil Liberties Union is arguing that people who have sex in public bathrooms have an expectation of privacy.
Republican Senator Larry Craig is asking the Minnesota Court of Appeals to let him withdraw his guilty plea to disorderly conduct related to a bathroom sex sting at the Minneapolis airport last year. [more]
Thanks for clearing that up.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)
January 17, 2008
"Dumbing it all down: getting high-end clients".
Here. Even David Maister wrote that he liked Dan Hull's post on the subject when it first appeared on October 20. "We're not worthy, we're not worthy."
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
More coverage of MeadWestvaco Corp. case...
See TaxProf Blog. And the transcript of yesterday's argument before the Supreme Court is here.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:47 PM | Comments (0)
Crude oil supply unexpectedly up; price down to under $90/barrel.
AP: "Oil Prices Slide as U.S. Stockpiles Soar". The U.S. Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration weekly report: crude oil supplies rose by 4.3 million barrels last week, the first increase since November.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:15 AM | Comments (0)
Breaking: Hungarian scientists decode Doggy Talk.
See Livescience.com. No inroads, however, reported on Lawyerspeak. But there's hope: "I'm pretty sure this could work with any animal vocal signals," researcher Csaba Molnár told LiveScience.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)
January 16, 2008
Big banks not banking on climate change.
But there are exceptions, like Barclays, Deutsche, Citigroup and Bank of America. See Environmental Protection and the report of Ceres.org.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:19 PM | Comments (0)
Boundary Flare-Up: U.S. Supreme Court Revisits Constitutional Limitation on States’ Power to Tax -- MeadWestvaco Corp. v. Illinois Dep’t of Revenue.
By Julie E. McGuire and Thomas C. Welshonce
Julie McGuire graduated first in her class from Carnegie Mellon University (B.S. Management Science and Mathematics, 1980), and first in her class from the Duquesne Law School (J.D., 1985), where she was an Editor of the Duquesne Law Review. A highly-respected corporate tax lawyer with an international practice, she is also a Certified Public Accountant. Tom Welshonce, a 2004 Order of the Coif graduate of the University of Pittsburgh's law school, was the Lead Articles Editor of The Journal of Law and Commerce. He focuses on multi-jurisdictional transactions, and assists with ADR in the U.S. and abroad. McGuire and Welshonce are lawyers with Hull McGuire PC.
This morning, January 16th, the United States Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case of Mead Corp. v. Illinois Dep’t of Revenue, 861 N.E.2d 1131 (Ill. App. Ct. 2007), appeal denied, 862 N.E.2d 235 (Ill. 2007), cert. granted sub nom. MeadWestvaco Corp. v. Illinois Dep’t of Revenue, 128 S. Ct. 29 (U.S. Sept. 25, 2007) (No. 06-1413). The Court has granted certiorari in only a handful of tax cases this term. In MeadWestvaco, it will revisit its long line of cases defining constitutional boundaries on the States’ power to tax corporate income. MeadWestvaco will be the first case since the Court’s 5-4 decision in Allied-Signal, Inc. v. Director, Div. of Taxation, 504 U.S. 768 (1992) to mark and enforce the constitutional boundaries at stake.
The Boundaries: “Unitary Business” Or “Operational” Function
Businesses no longer operate from a single location in a single state; they now operate globally. Physical, geographical state borders no longer define where a state’s power to tax ends. The question: what part of a company’s global income may be taxed by (or “apportioned” to) a particular state, when most of the income is earned outside of the state’s traditional borders? The struggle has always had two sides: states want to tax a piece of all of a taxpayer’s income, and taxpayers want to pay tax only on income that can be attributed to benefits received by the taxing state. The need for neutral boundary-setting now is critical.
The Supreme Court has long held, under the due process clause and commerce clause of the Constitution, that the entire net income of
a corporation may be fairly apportioned among the states for tax purposes by well-reasoned apportionment formulas that do not violate constitutional boundaries. The Court has defined two boundaries beyond which a state may not reach in taxing corporate income. The income must either (i) be part of taxpayer’s “unitary business income” or (ii) arise from an “operational” function. Otherwise, the state cannot reach the income.
The Supreme Court declared in Mobil Oil Corp. v. Comm'r of Taxes, 445 U.S. 425 (1980) that the “linchpin of apportionability” is the unitary business principle. This principle establishes what income can be taxed, and how far a state can reach in taxing income generated outside of its borders. The unitary business principle, as applied by the Supreme Court, determines what part of a corporation’s activities form part of a single unitary business. When a unitary business is found to exist in a particular state, then that state may tax a portion of the corporation’s entire unitary business – even those transactions that seem to have nothing to do with that particular state. But a state may not tax any piece of a corporation’s income that is derived from “unrelated business activity” which constitutes a “discrete business enterprise” outside of that state. In Mobil Oil, the Court found that dividends received from Mobil’s foreign subsidiaries were taxable by Vermont because Mobil could not prove that its subsidiaries’ foreign operations were distinct in any business or economic sense from Mobil’s petroleum sales activities in Vermont. Instead, the Court found indicia of a unitary business: (1) functional integration, (2) centralization of management and (3) economies of scale. Based on those factors, the Court held that Mobil and its subsidiaries constituted a single unitary business. Vermont could therefore constitutionally tax a piece of that unitary income.
In contrast, but under the same unitary business principle – and applying the same three factors – the Court found that no unitary business existed in ASARCO, Inc. v. Idaho State Tax Comm'n, 458 U.S. 307 (1982). In ASARCO, certain foreign subsidiaries were found to be discrete business enterprises and not part of ASARCO’s unitary business. Therefore, Idaho could not tax dividends received from these subsidiaries. In the early 1980’s, the Court also decided both F.W. Woolworth Co. v. Taxation & Revenue Dep't, 458 U.S. 354 (1982) (New Mexico could not tax income in the case of a non-unitary business) and Container Corp. of Am. v. Franchise Tax Bd., 463 U.S. 159 (1983) (California could impose tax when a unitary business was found). The facts in each case were determinative.
Ten years later, in 1992, New Jersey argued in Allied-Signal, 504 U.S. at 784, that the unitary business principle should be rejected outright – and that the Supreme Court should overrule its earlier cases that defined the constitutional boundaries for states’ taxation of corporate income. In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court rejected New Jersey’s arguments, and affirmed its earlier decisions.
In Allied-Signal, the taxpayer was a Delaware corporation domiciled in Michigan with some operations in New Jersey. New Jersey attempted to tax the corporation’s sale of a 20% interest in a subsidiary that the corporation had held for over two years. The Court found that no unitary business existed based on the same three factors (functional integration, centralization of management, and economies of scale) discussed in the Court’s earlier decisions. Since no unitary business existed, New Jersey could not tax the gain based on the unitary business theory. And while the Court acknowledged that the unitary business theory was not the only constitutional justification for tax, a second much narrower (and little discussed) justification – existing when the assets serve an “operational” function – could not be found in the facts. The Court stated that an operational function might be found, for example, where the income is (1) interest earned on short-term deposits in a bank if that income forms part of the working capital of the corporation’s unitary business or (2) an interim use of idle funds accumulated for the future operation of the taxpayer’s business operation. Importantly, the Court found that the corporation’s gain arising from the sale of its 20% interest in its subsidiary, held for over two years, could not amount to a short term investment of working capital analogous to a bank account or a certificate of deposit. In such a case, the gain could not have been found to arise from an operational function.
Following Allied-Signal, the constitutional boundaries are clear: a state may not tax until the facts show (i) income being part of a unitary business or (ii) income arising from an operational function. Despite this clear framework, the states continue to struggle over boundaries.
Illinois, 2007: The Struggle Over Boundaries Continues
Earlier this year, Illinois confronted these constitutional boundaries in Mead, 861 N.E.2d at 1131. Mead, an Ohio corporation, is a producer and seller of paper supplies. In 1968, Mead purchased Data Corporation for $6 million. Data Corporation, at the time, was in the business of developing ink jet printing systems and computerized information retrieval technologies. By 1973, Data Corporation became Lexis/Nexis, and over the next 20 years, developed into one of the world’s leading electronic retrieval systems for law, news and business information.
Between 1968 and 1993, Mead treated Lexis/Nexis at times as a separate subsidiary and at times as a corporate division. However, Mead and Lexis/Nexis maintained separate day-to-day business operations and did not share personnel or make joint purchases. Lexis/Nexis had its own headquarters separate from those of Mead. There was no centralized manufacturing or warehousing, and no favorable intercompany transactions. Mead did, however, approve major capital expenditures for Lexis/Nexis.
In December 1994, Mead sold Lexis/Nexis for approximately $1.5 billion. Mead excluded the gain from its taxable Illinois income. After an audit, Illinois taxed the gain, finding that Mead and Lexis/Nexis were unitary businesses. Mead protested, and the Illinois trial court concluded that (i) Mead and Lexis/Nexis were not unitary businesses, but (ii) under Illinois’ internal tax law, Mead’s sale of Lexis/Nexis was a liquidation of property “essential to [Mead’s] regular trade or operations,” and Illinois could tax a portion of the gain. Mead appealed to the Appellate Court of Illinois.
Constitutional boundaries – marking Illinois’ power to tax – were at stake.
Initially, the Illinois Appellate Court acknowledged the idea of boundaries. In fact, the court recognized that a state can constitutionally tax only (i) where there is a unitary relationship between the payor and payee or (ii) where the asset serves an operational function. The court also acknowledged the trial court’s record and opinion holding that no “unitary business” existed between Mead and Lexis/Nexis based on the three Mobil Oil factors. Despite this, the Appellate Court (i) declined to rule on the unitary business issue and instead (ii) held that Lexis/Nexis served an operational function for Mead, and that Illinois could tax the sale.
In finding an operational function, the court emphasized the following factors:
Mead was 100% owner of Lexis/Nexis. Although Mead did not have day-to-day control over Lexis/Nexis, its involvement with Lexis/Nexis was more than merely passive. Mead developed Lexis/Nexis by contributing capital support until it become profitable. Further, Mead continued to approve major capital expenditures by Lexis/Nexis. It also manipulated Lexis/Nexis’ business organization, treating it as either a division or a corporate subsidiary, depending on what was more beneficial to Mead. Additionally, Mead retained tax benefits and control over Lexis/Nexis’ excess cash.
Mead, 861 N.E.2d at 1140.
These facts, the Appellate Court suggested, are indicators that the gain arose from an operational function. But the Supreme Court has held that income arising from an operational function must be analogous to a short term investment of working capital. Specifically, in Allied-Signal, the Supreme Court held that gain on an investment of more than two years did not arise from an operational function. Mead’s investment in Lexis/Nexis lasted more than twenty years. Did Illinois cross the constitutional boundary?
Overstepping the Boundaries?
In short, none of the facts considered by the Illinois Appellate Court are relevant to a finding that the Lexis/Nexis gain arose from an operational function. The Illinois Appellate Court adopted the trial court’s findings that (i) Lexis/Nexis served an operational purpose, in that Lexis/Nexis represented a significant business segment of Mead; (ii) Mead considered the Lexis/Nexis business important in Mead’s strategic planning; and (iii) the operational purpose allowed Mead to limit the growth of Lexis/Nexis if only to limit its ability to expand or to contract through its control of capital investment. This operational purpose, the Appellate Court seemed to hold, defines the constitutional boundaries and allows Illinois to tax the gain.
The court crossed the boundaries. Operational purpose is irrelevant. Rather, Allied-Signal requires a finding by the court that the gain arose from a short term investment of idle funds (i.e., an operational function). And though semantically similar, operational purpose is simply not the same – when constitutional boundaries are being defined – as finding that income arose from an operational function.
Moreover, the court confused the unitary business concept with the operational function concept, blending the critical facts. In its finding of an operational function, the court relied on facts typically discussed in an analysis of a unitary business: (1) functional integration, (2) centralization of management and (3) economies of scale. Yet the court declared that it was not ruling on whether a unitary business existed.
In any case, operational purpose is also irrelevant to a finding of a unitary business. The ASARCO Court rejected Idaho’s argument that “corporate purpose should define unitary business” and constitutional boundaries. In short, Idaho had argued that “intangible income should be considered a part of a unitary business if the intangible property (the shares of stock) is ‘acquired, managed or disposed of for purposes relating or contributing to the taxpayer’s business.’” The Supreme Court in ASARCO rejected Idaho’s argument outright:
This definition of unitary business would destroy the concept. The business of a corporation requires that it earn money to continue operations and to provide a return on its invested capital. Consequently, all of its operations, including any investment made, in some sense can be said to be ‘for purposes related to or contributing to the [corporation’s] business.
ASARCO, 458 U.S. at 326.
Illinois has overstepped the existing constitutional boundaries that clearly require that either (i) a unitary business exist or (ii) the income arise from an operational function. And any discussion of internal law as to “business” and “nonbusiness” income is unnecessary. That issue is simply not reached.
Will the Boundaries Shift?
MeadWestvaco is the Court’s opportunity to enforce the long-established constitutional boundaries that define a state’s reach and power to tax. But Illinois, together with other states, will likely urge the Court to reconsider and reverse its earlier cases and shift the constitutional boundaries. Has the Court shifted in its thinking since its 5-4 decision in Allied-Signal in 1992? Will the boundaries be redefined? The Court’s decision will send a strong message either way.
____________________________________
Note: An additional issue before the Appellate Court of Illinois but not discussed here was whether gross receipts from Mead’s sale of financial instruments should have been included in the calculation of the sales factor in the apportionment formula on Mead’s 1994 Illinois tax return.
Hull McGuire PC has offices in Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh and San Diego and practices in the areas of taxation, international law, corporate planning and transactions, intellectual property, commercial litigation, employment practices, natural resources and legislative affairs.
Posted by Julie McGuire and Tom Welshonce at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)
January 15, 2008
Michigan primary: It's 8 PM EST, and the hay's in the barn now.
We don't think the Michigan primary means much. But we like to watch Michigan--a beautiful place with a bit of everything--as our principal blogger lived there twice, in Detroit and Grand Rapids. And he spent his childhood summers at Pointe Aux Barques, near Port Austin, where he started his first business and developed a life-long respect for old houses, the smallmouth bass and the beauty and raw power of the Great Lakes. AP: "McCain, Romney in tight race as Mich. votes ".
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 08:54 PM | Comments (0)
January 14, 2008
Patrick Lamb's new firm: Valorem
And speaking of Value Pricing as an alternative to the Billable Hour, see in the National Law Journal: "Chicago Startup Touts Alternative Billing Structure, Lower Fees"
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Citigroup may write off up to $24 billion; 20,000 jobs at risk.
Due to subprime and credit-related losses. See Reuters.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Get out of the Yellow Pages now.
It may sound counter-intuitive, but we continue to believe that the "Yellow Pages" and anything like it--i.e., people look up "lawyers" who do "[specialty]" and call your firm--brings on the worst possible headaches (and clients) for anyone who is doing or wants to do work for good companies. Even inexpensive name-specialty-phone number ads yield more trouble than they are worth. If you want sophisticated clients--and not "price-shoppers" who see lawyers as providing fungible services or commodities--unlist yourselves. But stay in the White Pages so clients who already know or have heard of you can find you.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 08:00 PM | Comments (0)
Blawg Review #142
Blawg Review #142, a letter to a new lawyer, is hosted by Susan Cartier Liebel at Build A Solo Practice, LLC.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 06:10 AM | Comments (0)
January 12, 2008
Monday: A preview of next week's SCOTUS argument on state taxation of multistate companies.
A corporate tax case before the U.S. Supreme Court?
It doesn't happen that much. On Wednesday, January 16, SCOTUS will hear arguments in the MeadWestvaco case, on the States' taxation of income of multistate companies. And on Monday, here at WAC?, two Hull McGuire lawyers--Julie McGuire and Tom Welshonce--give you a glimpse of the issues before the Court.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
January 11, 2008
EPA: Insurer will pay $42 million to remediate Superfund sites.
The insured is bankrupt Fruit of the Loom, the insurer is American International Specialty Lines Insurance Co. Inc. (an AIG company), and there are four sites--in Michigan, New Jersey and Tennessee. See Environmental Protection.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
$4B in stock: Countrywide unloads itself.
Bank of America agrees to acquire Countrywide Financial for $4B in stock
NEW YORK (Thomson Financial) - Bank of America Corp. Friday agreed to acquire Countrywide Financial Corp. for roughly $4 billion in stock.
The deal calls for Bank of America to swap .1822 of a share for each share of Countrywide stock. The transaction values Countrywide shares at roughly $7.16 each, based on Thursday's close. This is roughly a 7.6% discount to the Countrywide's closing price of $7.75 on Thursday. [more]
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:44 PM | Comments (0)
"First, it's jaywalking. Next, the ascots. And then hard drugs."
Until now, getting weird in Milwaukee was wearing a trench coat, a bow-tie and tassled loafers--all on the same day. But some guys just push the envelope. They learn, the hard way, that there's just no room for sartorial anarchy in the good German mind. The ABA Journal's Daily News notes that this really happened in Milwaukee, a German-American city which, just like WAC?'s beloved Cincinnati, is not known for anything too different or "way out" in white collar life: "Judge Fit to Be Tied Over Ascot-Wearing Lawyer". Brilliant header, color choice.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 08:50 PM | Comments (1)
The Economist on the 2008 election
"Up in the Air" is how this London-based magazine--these days enjoying a role as the Newsweek or Time for the entire West--decribes the post-Iowa and New Hampshire cosmos:
Everything is up in the air. That is not just because this is the most open election in America since 1928 (the last time that no incumbent president or vice-president was in the race); it is because Americans don't really know what they want.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 05:31 AM | Comments (0)
NBC report: Europe watching 2008 contest.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:38 AM | Comments (0)
QuizLaw is original, gutsy and fun.
Non-dweeb lawyers from New York and California write it. Dang. We're naming our next son after it: QuizLaw Pennington Oliver. "We're very proud of Quiz'. After Dartmouth, he'll spend a year at the Sorbonne."
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:14 AM | Comments (0)
"Unprofessional: Wimpy Local Counsel"
From WAC?'s archives, it's here.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)
January 10, 2008
What if they gave more client service awards?
From the Atlanta dBusinessNews: "Ford & Harrison Receives Top Client Service Honor". Bravo. The Atlanta-based Ford & Harrison specializes in labor and employment law. The firm's Client Service Promise #4 is "We will watch your budget". Bravo again. BTI Consulting Group did the rankings.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Value price this. Part V.
There's more commentary--to your right and below--including Allison Shields', and her fine post "Even More Talk About Pricing". WAC?'s continuing take: billing by the hour for our firm--which depends on repeat business from publicly-traded clients we have represented in many cases for decades--is not a broken system for us. When it breaks, or if the markets change, we'll fix it and/or adjust. And quickly. In the meantime, we know lots of ethical, forward-thinking, ultra-competent lawyers who provide value for GCs the "old way".
But let us change the subject(s). If you want to improve things, work to: (1) eliminate contingent fee agreements (the greatest anti-client device ever), (2) replace the popular election of state judges (an embarrassing, medieval travesty) with a merit-based selection system, and (3) make the lawyers and all staff in your shop profoundly and religiously client-focused. Further, please oh please work (4) to take the emphasis off "lawyer comforts" like (a) "professionalism"; it encourages lawyer clubbiness and compromises clients by, for examples, taking emphasis off procedural rules when you really need them, and turning local litigation counsels into wimps who won't go to bat for clients. And like (b) "work-life balance". Yeah, practicing law is hard.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (6)
Guessing about Wes Clark.
Obviously, he wants to be a player in the hoped-for HRC 2009 administration. But which job does he want? Four years ago, some of our lawyers raised money for him. We even organized fund-raisers we were too busy ourselves to attend. And I was one of his California delegates to the Democratic convention before he dropped out of the race in early 2004. In 2003 and 2004, Clark just wasn't ready for prime time in a gruelling 24/7 modern U.S. presidential race. He was too new to national politics. But he's got "talent". Like anyone worth a damn, he has detractors and enemies out the wazoo. However, so far none of them have kept him out of the fray with real or made-up stuff about his personal life or military career. He's still a crowd-pleaser. So what is he and/or HRC thinking?
Posted by JD Hull at 10:23 PM | Comments (1)
Fed will cut interest rates again.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Any confusion as to whether the Federal Reserve plans to cut rates further to help a struggling economy may have been cleared up today.
In prepared remarks, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke pledged Thursday to slash interest rates yet again to prevent housing and credit problems from plunging the country into a recession. [more]
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 08:59 PM | Comments (0)
January 09, 2008
Best business wisdom quote ever.
He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.
--Samuel Johnson, 1709-1784
If you don't fully understand, worry.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Value price this. Part IV.
Value Pricing v. Billable Hour. Scroll down. It's not often that we get a total of 17 comments on any subject, it goes on for 5 days, and all of the comments are informed and sane. How do we ensure that clients--from GCs to small businesses and individuals of more limited means--get value? The last comment, from trial lawyer John Day, who arguably speaks for billable hour Tories*, old schoolers and other high-functioning dinosaurs like WAC?, is likely not the last word:
I had lunch with an assistant general counsel of a publicly traded company today and discussed this controversy. His thoughts: "We do value billing on every matter where we employ counsel. We pay them by the hour, but if we don't think we get fair value for what we paid, we don't use that lawyer again."
Next?
*WAC? is part Irish (and yet generally factual). "Tories", interestingly, was first used to describe rural bandits in Ireland. And then, of course, it changed.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (1)
Kane: Get out of the office and ask.
In "Procrastinators Unite", Tom Kane notes that
since the best source of new business is from clients and referral sources, start there. Ask them. That means, plan to visit with your clients (off the clock) and those who have referred work, and talk with them about what problems they (or someone they know) are facing.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Two jolts in New Hampshire: It's McCain and Clinton.
MANCHESTER, N.H. (Boston Globe, Jan. 8)--Senator John McCain of Arizona delivered an electric jolt to the Republican presidential contest tonight by decisively capturing New Hampshire’s presidential primary, and Democrat Hillary Clinton apparently revived her White House hopes with a narrow win.
The Associated Press and NBC projected Clinton the winner over Barack Obama of Illinois in a contest that polls suggested Obama would win by a healthy margin. Former senator John Edwards of North Carolina was projected a distant third. [more]
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Hermann the German: McCoffee v. Starbucks.
The next Great War: McDonald's has a go at Starbucks. See at Observing Hermann yesterday's piece "We knew this was going to get ugly". Hermann regularly monitors developments in Western thought, culture and commerce--and in The Cosmos generally--but here has confined himself to one of his favorite if more pedestrian topics: sideshows of globalization.
Posted by JD Hull at 10:42 PM | Comments (0)
John McCain: The new Comeback Kid?
"McCain had been both smart and lucky...." A friend of ours, Michael O'Neil--a political consultant, pollster and TV commentator--posted this on his blog on January 7, the day before yesterday's New Hampshire primary: "McCain’s Rise from the Political Graveyard is Not His First". Not bad. His firm is O'Neil Associates, Inc.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:03 AM | Comments (0)
Written agreements: "More security for Chinese laborers".
At National Public Radio's Marketplace, listen to this recent interview with China Law Blog's Steve Dickinson. Effective January 1, a new employment law in China is requiring employers to give written contracts to workers--or risk big penalties.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)
January 07, 2008
"Avoid Cross-Cultural Communication Snafus"
An important read from The Complete Lawyer for all of us who do business internationally, by Janet Moore, founder of International Lawyer Coach, Inc. and the International Lawyer Coach blog.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:41 AM | Comments (0)
Heartbreak ahead for Hillary Clinton?
See Walter Shapiro's article today in Salon.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 06:00 AM | Comments (0)
Blawg Review #141
This week's Blawg Review is hosted by the erudite U.K. blogger Charon QC. Dan Hull met Charon in London last year, and was very impressed. We are all impressed by Blawg Review #141.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 04:39 AM | Comments (0)
January 05, 2008
Legal London: O Rare GeekLawyer.
American wank-fest, eh? GeekLawyer's podcasts are always worth hearing. Around Christmas, lamenting a lull in Brit lawyer blogging, and likely in his cups, the genius barrister noted, among other things:
"The UK blogosphere is dynamic--and it's interesting. The Yanks' [blogs] are full of boring old farts, wanking on all about their professional careers....academic debates about this that and the other....frankly, the UK blogosphere is comprised of characters."
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Value price this. Part III.
WAC? has retreated to the desert to recover from the holidays. But scroll down, read the comments. Savor the passion, the wisdom, the brutality. Anyone else?
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:21 PM | Comments (0)
Screen Actors Guild will stick it to NBC.
Take that, running-dog lackey studio suits.
AP: "SAG Says Nominated Actors Will Skip Globes."
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 05:59 PM | Comments (0)
January 04, 2008
Value price this. Part II.
WAC? listens and is frequently trainable. Scroll down a little on your right, and see the comments in response to our post below: from Ron Baker (we have always liked his unrelenting pluck on value pricing) of the Verasage Institute, and from Tennessee trial lawyer-blogger John Day (he's a very smart and thoughtful man). Some great questions and details...like change orders. More on this later--we worry changing from the billable hour for litigation projects for longstanding GCs--but, for now, from Baker:
"Utilize price-led costing;
Utilize Change Orders;
Utilize project management;
Utilize Key Predictive Indicators;
Utilize After Action (and Before Action) Reviews;
Engage in value conversations with each and every customer."
Update: And also a later comment from Christopher Marston at Exemplar Law Partners, LLC, another leader on value pricing. Next?...Pat Lamb, maybe? Will I get any work done today?
Posted by JD Hull at 11:11 PM | Comments (0)
Value price this.
Fact 1: WAC? and Hull McGuire like the billable hour; clients like it, and it works best, in their cases, to align their interests with ours. Fact 2: They don't ask for anything else besides the billable hour. Fact 3: We listen and are willing to learn about new things, and even take a lead--but we need more information on how value pricing or flat pricing alone could ever be in anyone's interests in high-stake projects with daily or weekly surprises. How does this stuff work? We need details about the solution--not battle cries and rhetoric about the problem. We seek a Value Pricing Users' Manual by a person with (a) an eye for nuance and (b) a intimate knowledge of (i.e., experience with) actual law practice in a pressure cooker context. We understand the arguments. Show us solutions and how it would work. Fact 4: The subject won't go away. See Carolyn Elefant's "Time Again for More Criticism of the Billable Hour". More later, but I need to fill out this timesheet.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:11 PM | Comments (8)
Iowa: Obama, Huckabee win.
Edwards (30%) and HRC (29%) behind Obama (38%). Romney (25%) and Thompson (13%) behind Huck (34%). And Biden and Dodd bow out. Can Obama overcome the too-young-for-president charge, and do it without mentioning JFK? Can Mike Huckabee raise some magnificent money in the long haul, and figure out where Europe is? Tune in next week folks, after New Hampshire primary. AP: "Obama turns back Clinton to win Iowa caucuses". See The Plank, The New Republic's blog, for some of the saner non-emotional blog coverage.
Posted by JD Hull at 10:37 PM | Comments (0)
U.S. job growth slowing?
WAC? has optimism in its DNA, but Automatic Data Processing, Inc., based on payroll data on nearly 24 million U.S. workers, reports that December was a bad month. See the WSJ Real Time Economics blog, "ADP Report Indicates Weak Job Growth".
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:53 AM | Comments (0)
January 03, 2008
Redux: Dude, if you can't steal our clients, you're fired.
Is the promise of "client service" at your shop just drinks-and-dinner b.s. and website lip service? Or is it real? Here's a new standard for associate and paralegal performance reviews we suggested a year ago. And it's a test, of sorts, for you rainmakers and partner-level lawyers. If the idea appalls or amuses you folks, fair enough--but do ask yourself why.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Brits and nukes.
UK seen giving green light to new nuclear plants
LONDON (Reuters)--Britain is expected to give the go-ahead to a new generation of nuclear power stations next week, sparking a frenzy of deal-making by nuclear firms as well as a fresh challenge from environmental campaigners.
"I don't think the government has any other option," said analyst David Cunningham at Arbuthnot Securities. "It's a necessary evil."
Nuclear operators say they could have new plants running by 2017, helping Britain to meet its 2020 goals for combating climate change.
The government green light, expected on Tuesday, is likely to be accompanied by publication of an Energy Bill to be fast-tracked through parliament alongside the Climate Change Bill and the Planning Bill. [more]
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
California sues EPA to force waiver on greenhouse-gas emissions.
SAN FRANCISCO (NYT)-—California sued the federal Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday, challenging its recent decision to block California rules curbing greenhouse-gas emissions from new cars and trucks.
Under the federal Clean Air Act, California has the right to set its own standards on air pollutants, but must receive a waiver from the E.P.A. to do so. The environmental agency broke with decades of precedent last month and denied California a waiver to move forward with its proposed limits on vehicular emissions of heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide. [more]
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:00 PM | Comments (0)
Morocco 2008
"The evening galloped like horses down a polished hallway. Soon it was 2008." Re-live new year's eve at Maryam's My Marrakesh.
Posted by JD Hull at 09:05 AM | Comments (0)
January 02, 2008
Patrick Lamb: What is he up to?
See "A New Value Based Law Firm" at Michelle Golden's Golden Practices. Let's all watch Chicago-based trial lawyer and businessman Pat Lamb. Value pricing. If anyone can make it work, he can.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
The tapes, the tapes--in America it's always missing tapes.
The U.S. Department of Justice will investigate the CIA's 2005 destruction of videotapes of the questioning of two al-Qaeda operatives. See Reuters.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:58 PM | Comments (0)
Crude oil hits $100
NEW YORK (AP)--Oil prices soared to $100 a barrel Wednesday for the first time ever, reaching that milestone amid an unshakeable view that global demand for oil and petroleum products will continue to outstrip supplies. [more]
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:55 PM | Comments (0)
Ann Althouse: best quotes of 2007, life actually, varmints.
If you don't like your life, change it.
--Lawrence Olivier, who would have turned 100 in 2007
The best one is above--except that it makes way too much sense. If you hate what you do and are, at least you're on the right track--but family, work, clients and feeding your dog merge into a joy-less chore until you fix it. The rest of her favorite quotes from her posts in 2007 are here. She recalls that we learned this past year that Arizona U.S. senator and 2008 GOP contender John McCain has a hair-trigger wit, too. No matter where you stand on gun control or immigration, the
word "varmint" (i.e., troublesome person or animal) deserves a comprehensive come-back in America. Join us. Use the word "varmint" today, preferably in writing--in an opinion letter, Rule 12 opposition brief, Phase I environmental report, or a reply to the Disciplinary Board. Just be discreet. Our young French friend Tocqueville would agree, or at least understand. This is America.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:29 PM | Comments (0)
January 01, 2008
Bang bang, you are the warrior. Ready?
Break out of captivity
And follow me, stereo jungle child
Love is the kill.....your heart's still wild.--P. Smyth
New day, new year, and it's time for lawyers to lead. Let's resolve to:
Put clients first, tell clients what we really think, give advice and not just options, stop covering our asses, take risks, stop pretending we are "special", minimize our clubbiness, practice discipline and structure, stop making the law about our convenience and schedules, think like business people and not like mere academics, help clients control costs, fight the mediocrity in legal products and client service we continue to accept, change the way people think about lawyers, quit writing to clients, to courts and to each other like mental patients talking to themselves, become trusted consigilieres, surround ourselves with strong talented people, fire bad clients, refuse to bottom-feed, fire employees who don't or won't get it (and stop pretending they'll see the light), act, and otherwise stop being weenies.
Our clients still wait for us to so evolve. To lead. Ready?
JDH, HHO, TWC 1/1/08
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:23 AM | Comments (0)