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February 28, 2009
GeekLawyer is coming to America. Again. (Update)
Weekends are the only times I can write on this thing about important national and world events. We then communicate with our sixteen loyal but isolated non-American readers who want all the skinny on the States in towns like Aldeburgh, England, Mainz, Germany and Tooele, Utah.
During the week, I help my firm make money defending people who are accused for no reason at all of: spilling, copying, making too much money, and suddenly breaking promises with people who suddenly have no money. Many of these business disputes, ironically, have their roots in a law firm making world-class transactional and "just-wrong" advice mistakes which could have been avoided by a smart third year associate on Methaqualones who shows up at work most days; it would be funny except for the expense to their clients.
Best of all, and the most fun, I also make sure that former employees, often highly-paid ones, of some companies wish they had thought twice about getting mad about something my client did. I talk with them for a few hours--well, sometimes two or three days--with a court reporter, people they don't like anymore, and people who work for me, in the room. You can see the lights go on. They learn with me. I feel I am of service. We have windowless rooms for those talks.
Lots of free coffee, though. If Elizabeth or Lauren is at lunch, or gone for the day, or sleeping, or it's the weekend, or Christmas Day, I often serve the coffee myself--always slowly, deliberately and with a head waiter's flourish, and from the left--hopefully while they are reading something they signed back in 1999. I get to sport bow ties for these little talks, but my office said the black cape, hat and eye-patch were a bit much, so I stopped all that. I still wear the spats, though.
All wonderful work, if you can get it--I still can't believe you can get paid for it. So I am reconsidering my lapsed relationship with the Episcopal Church. It reminds me of a couplet in the Celtic prayer-poem "Purple Haze", in which a picaresque left-handed genius named Jimi gets a little grateful himself. Visit Tower Records for a copy.
Seriously, though, here's a major happening, and an extremely controversial one. Apart from monetary strategy to jump-start the economy, President Obama's current foreign policy plans, and the advent of useful new Covey-esque seminars you pay for on "How To Accommodate Young People Born After 1974 At Your Failing Business", the big news in America is that GeekLawyer--who I was unfortunate enough to meet and have 13 Diet Cokes with in Mayfair last September--will again (see Edition #666 of July 1, 2008) host Blawg Review* on March 16.
A friend of mine, an inspired and quite sober Charon QC in London, even crafted a short film about the nervously-anticipated return of a man whom Elkhart, Indiana and many other U.S. venues can do just fine without thank you very much. It's the guy's language. He likes words (all of them), he's British (they are all quirky creatures, but GL has raised High Brit Quirk to a "potty-mouth" if intelligent art form) and so you get the idea (but maybe not; this is off-the-charts stuff, Jack). Charon's sensitive film, a labor of Lud, is below.
*Now edited by a dead guy, apparently, but a minor detail for Americans, like Ed., with moxie and grit.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:44 PM | Comments (1)
February 26, 2009
Recession survival tip (advanced).
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
--HST (1937-2005)
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:14 PM | Comments (0)
The Recession as Teacher.
Is this the end of the right to be helpless? Our astral twin, the uncommonly cruel but clear-eyed workaholic boomer apologist, New York's Scott Greenfield, had provocative things to say about, uh, real life, in this post: "Economics 101 (Slackoeisie Version)". What if you are among the "laid-off young", and need to hit the streets, he asks?
If you are fortunate enough to have clients, they will expect you to perform for them in exchange for paying you. This is not a novel concept, no matter how foreign it may seem to you. This was how your old bosses did things, while you were insulated from the harsh business aspect of the practice.
Your clients will call you or come to you with the expectation that you will provide legal services. They will expect your services to be timely, professional and minimally competent. They will not care about your work/life balance, and your need to take a "mental health day" off at the expense of a filing deadline will not be understood or accepted. Clients can be so darned unreasonable.
Some people. The way that guy struts around on his blog.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:43 AM | Comments (0)
February 25, 2009
"Nobody messes with Joe."
Here in Washington, we've all seen how quickly good intentions can turn into broken promises and wasteful spending. And with a plan of this scale comes enormous responsibility to get it right.
That is why I have asked Vice President Biden to lead a tough, unprecedented oversight effort - because nobody messes with Joe.
--The President, February 24, 2009
Vercingetorix Memorial in Alesia, France
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Above The Law has been covering the Recession.
And lately they've been doing it on purpose. To us, Above The Law always has been more than white shoe gossip, or notes from an underground (i.e., The Comments) of hard-working and often frustrated associates beginning to realize that down markets affect them, too. It also reveals attitudes about practicing law, and how younger lawyers are trained (or not trained). Further, over the last few months, we've all seen something else that is both instructive and poignant. Directly or indirectly, and every day, Lat, Mystal, Hill & Co. cover the recession, and employment markets, very well--and with a feel-your-pain empathy laced with humor.
Here's another, and new, reason to visit ATL on markets: "Notes from the Breadline: You Can't Go Back, and You Can't Stand Still", part 4, by "Roxana St. Thomas", a young New York City lawyer who was "terminated" (a phrase she discusses). The first three installments are here. The series began February 10. Query: You live in NYC. How do you feel about Buffalo?
My mother sent me a listing for a job in Buffalo; when I told her that I did not want to think about relocating just yet, and especially not to Buffalo, she seemed hurt. "You wouldn't have to relocate," she said impatiently.
"Buffalo is seven hours away," I told her. "What would I do? Commute?" She looked at me as though I had just declined a piece of homemade pie. "Hmphf," she sniffed. "You know, it pays a lot more than unemployment."
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:43 AM | Comments (0)
February 24, 2009
More cross-culture. More writing well.
“The teacher’s son’s classroom” may lack elegance, but is surely better than the roundabout “La salle de classe du fils du professeur.” Similarly “John’s sister’s programme” is more succinct than “El programa de la hermana de Juan”.
Pragmatic German and Nordic languages simply add ‘s’ to denote the genitive: Deutschlands Wetter; Danmarks kong; Sveriges huvudstad; while Romance languages have to resort to a variety of forms...
Heartless marauding northern European cultures may have certain advantages with words: economy, for example. See Richard D. Lewis's article "The Possessive Apostrophe" at his Cross-Culture. Don't get the elegant Mr. Lewis wrong, though. Read the whole thing. It starts with the Birmingham (England) City Council's removal of the possessive apostrophe from street signs. No kidding. Them Brummies.
Birmingham, above, is like Pittsburgh USA--just more pretentious.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Getting to "cross-culture consensus" in international disputes.
The panel will kindly note she's had several seconds to answer. Nothing further. And I will sit down. In international arbitration and mediation, first-language barriers can be the least of the challenges for your client. Consider, too, subtleties like the meaning of the "delayed answer" to a question. In one culture, delay means hesitancy and evasiveness (e.g., to most Westerners); in another, it may denote careful consideration of the question, and a sign of respect to the questioner.
In IDN No. 61, GE's in-house counsel Mike McIlwrath interviews Australian mediator Joanna Kalowski for the second time (see IDN No. 44). Kalowski, who works out of both Australia and Paris, shares how she became a mediator and lessons that come directly from her work. Kalowski has also trained mediators in Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, Italy, Thailand and Hong Kong.
Their 25-minute discussion, "Public Consensus Across Cultures", just taped on February 13, is part of McIlwrath's award-winning interview series on International Dispute Negotiation sponsored by the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution, or CPR.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
If you believe in Ed., maybe he won't die.
See Blawg Review #200, in which Ed. meditates on, well, his demise, and the death of Blawg Review. He and his Sherpas have been the idea, force, class and hard work behind the best trading in the global marketplace of legal ideas that anyone has ever seen. He wouldn't up and die on us, like that wonderful demented old hound dog I once had in Ohio, would he? Ed's human, mainly, and therefore a bit cagey and manipulative, too. But so was that dog. Look, just in case, everyone should close their eyes, and with feeling say together "I believe in Ed." or whatever--and maybe he and it will live on. Okay? Or you can host Blawg Review. Do something. He owes WAC? about $20 USD.
Above: Disney's Tinkerbell, who started out pretend life as J.M. Barrie's fairy in 1904.
Posted by JD Hull at 06:47 PM | Comments (2)
Is that an elected state judge in your pocket?
Or you just hugely happy? In The National Law Journal by Marcia Coyle: "Study finds strong relationship between campaign contributions and decisions by state Supreme Court judges". Who would have thought it? You'll see lots of coverage on this issue as the time nears for U.S. Supreme Court to hear arguments in the Massey Coal case on March 3.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 03:59 PM | Comments (2)
February 23, 2009
IP Monitoring and Lobbying: Our Kind of Better Mousetrap.
In or out of DC, a lawyer in a "regulated-industry" practice is often a lobbyist in the broadest sense--you may not like the word, but get over it--if he or she monitors developments in Congress or the federal agencies, even occasionally, and is poised to react to them for clients. Many tax lawyers are a good example. If you aren't one, you may serve clients more effectively if on occasion you are one from time to time. Do check registration requirements to see if they apply to you; much of time, they won't, but don't guess.
It's okay to be "one". You don't need to lapse into stealing, womanizing or hanging around Kelly's Irish Times or The Monocle--although we do recommend The Monocle. At the Queen City's Patent Baristas in southern Ohio, see "Build a Better Mouse Trap" and this site, a new tracker of policy development and legislation in the area of patent reform. Patent Baristas:
The Better Mouse Trap Blog is supposed to track legislative and regulatory developments, highlight member company activity, and deliver filter-free pro-patent reform messages to interested audiences, which seems like an oxymoron. While they have an agenda, we’re certain people will take away what they want.
The BMT Blog is free, too.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 02:27 PM | Comments (0)
February 21, 2009
McDonald's saves Germany.
In "No Crisis Here", Hermann the German, our friend and Berlin-based stringer, notes that the company is opening 40 new restaurants in Germany. Up to 2000 jobs may be created. "You know how people eat when they’re under stress sometimes?", Hermann asks. Most WAC? contributors have lived in the American Midwest. Stressed out or not, entire towns are Powerless over Twinkies and Big Macs. We know.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 08:10 PM | Comments (0)
February 20, 2009
Binge Drinking in Albion.
But is it good for America, too? Before answering read Charon QC's 2009 piece, "Binge Drinking is Part of Our National Zeitgeist". Consider also below photo taken in 1978 of terminally fogged-up Limey notable, now deceased, known to have had self-destructive lifestyle, being either a Mr. Keith Moon or one GeekLawyer, with regular weekend mistress on lease.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
February 19, 2009
Arizona's Budget Cutbacks: Speed cameras backfire, kill work ethic.
Subduing the driven, rewarding the Slackoiesie. According to our friend Dr. Michael O'Neil, political consultant and pollster with Tempe, Arizona-based O'Neil Associates Inc., and frequent television news commentator, that's exactly what speed cameras--part of Arizona's solution to its current budget crisis--are doing to the state's citizenry. Along with other states, Arizona is grappling with its largest state budget shortfall ever. New governor Jan Brewer is doing all she can. We are all moved by Arizona's grit and resolve.
But speed cameras?
It's a hidden and "pernicious" tax, O'Neil argued one Sunday morning on an NBC affiliate with the buzz-saw precision of Clarence Darrow on his best roll. Speed cameras were slowing busy Arizonans down. Stifling achievement in Type As. And lulling the laid-back and lazy into deeper sloth-like comas. We agree. And of all states, this artifice comes from the one that gave us the late Sen. Barry Goldwater, Moses of the American Right, an inspired no-nonsense candidate for President in 1964 who urged Americans to get off their sofas, stand up, and get out there and inherit a chain of department stores, like he did? Say it ain't so, Arizona.
Mike O'Neil explains the unintended consequences of the Arizona speed camera tax in his NBC commentary here.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 08:54 PM | Comments (0)
February 18, 2009
Superfund: Woburn winding down.
Never as infamous as Love Canal, but equally as disturbing in its harm to human beings and property, the Woburn Superfund site got the rapt attention and genuine concern of even the most industry-oriented environmental lawyers, and their clients. Woburn, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, also received more than its fifteen minutes as the subject of Jonathan Harr's book A Civil Action, which later became a popular movie. Due to the litigation described in the book, and the threat to the local public water supply, EPA in 1983 designated 330 acres of Woburn a Superfund site (Wells G and H site).
Like other New England sites, Woburn was a hazardous waste site for well over 100 years. After another 25 years of litigation, discovery, EPA enforcement activity, remediation and mega-publicity, the clean-up effort at Woburn continues. About four more years to go. See The Boston Globe of February 12: "After 25 years, Superfund site cleanup nears final phase". If you are interested in a slightly jaded but concerned view of what Superfund (or CERCLA) achieved, and did not achieve, read "A Dark Legacy's Impact", which appeared three years ago in Water & Wastewater News.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:52 PM | Comments (0)
GM and Chrysler want a few billion more.
At Dow Jones's MarketWatch, see "GM, Chrysler request up to $39 billion in loans". The lead:
General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, both drowning in debt as car sales continue to spiral downward, submitted requests to the U.S. Treasury late Tuesday that, if granted, could provide up to $39 billion in emergency loans to keep the automakers from falling into bankruptcy.
As the Wall Street Journal notes, GM also has outlined a "bankruptcy contingency" plan, which it said would require up to $100 billion in financing from Treasury should GM take the conventional Chapter 11 route. In any event, GM will also
shut five more factories on top of the closures it had already planned. In addition, it plans to eliminate thousands of dealerships and slash 47,000 jobs this year around the world, leaving it with a work force of about 200,000.
All of the above is true. WAC? has not made anything up yet today.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:48 PM | Comments (1)
You think?
It would be personally and judicially disrespectful to the United States Supreme Court and its justices for me to proceed in this or any other matter involving Massey.
--West Virginia Chief Justice Brent Benjamin
Okay, be hard on yourself, if you must. We almost missed this one on an issue that interests us, and should interest you, too. Especially if, like us, you'd rather spend your time reading the five cases cited in your brief than picking out a really boss Mickey Mouse tie on the morning of your next appearance before a popularly elected state court jurist. The Associated Press reported on February 2 that "West Virginia Justice Bows Out Of Massey Cases Amid Scrutiny".
Apparently, Brent Benjamin's memo announcing the "bowing out" was dated January 30, 2009. In mid-November of last year, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari on whether Benjamin's past refusal to recuse himself from a Massey case, after Massey's CEO had contributed $3 million to Benjamin's successful election campaign in 2004, violated the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In that West Virginia case, Benjamin had voted with the majority to overturn a $50 million jury verdict against Massey. Reform, anyone?
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:35 PM | Comments (0)
February 17, 2009
The Republic of Bennett
WAC? loves Texans, Texas, Houston, Texas, Archie Bell and the Drells, ZZ Top, Shelley Duvall, the late Bob Eckhardt (8th District Congressman, 1967–1981), and criminal defense lawyers. Always have. And we admire everything about Mark Bennett's first-rate Blawg Review #199 at his outspoken and useful-as-hell Defending People. We admired this sentence, too: "The lesson for trial lawyers is that the way we ask our questions affects not only the answers we get, but also whether we get answers at all." Tighten up, y'all.
Robert Christian "Bob" Eckhardt. Lawyer, editor and lawmaker (1913-2001). One authentic human.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:30 PM | Comments (1)
China Corruption Happens.
And it's okay to talk about it. At China Law Blog, see "China Law And Corruption. You'd Better Know Which Way The Wind Blows" by Dan Harris and Steve Dickinson. Excerpt:
The [China] economy is trending down and paying bribes is illegal. You knew that already. What you probably do not know is that downward trending economies...always seem to expose things that upward trending economies do such a good job of hiding.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 07:54 PM | Comments (0)
February 16, 2009
Several EU nations compete for worst recession.
Sort of. In "The European Countdown to Poverty", Joerg Wolf at the Atlantic Review is collecting "downer" economy stories by economist Edward Hugh at A Fistful of Euros, another site reporting on European business, government and politics. This past week, Spain was clearly in the lead--but at WAC? we have our money on Estonia.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 01:00 AM | Comments (0)
Jim Hassett: More on alternative fees.
Got some best practices for you right here. We still like the billable hour due to its flexibility in the hands of honest and client-centric American and European law firms--all eight or nine of them--but we listen to other ideas and regimes. See Alternative Fees (Part 5): Discounting at Jim Hassett's consistently thoughtful and insightful Legal Business Development. "Best practices" updated every Wednesday.
Life's short. WAC? likes to take stands and just tell you what to do. Here is our advice. If you are struggling with how to position your firm with clients in the "new" era of uncertainty that leers at each of us every morning--especially with corporate clients--hire Jim. You can read his blog and his books. You can listen to his arresting no-b.s. tapes. But skip all that--and just hire him.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:22 AM | Comments (0)
February 14, 2009
Congress passes the "just-might-work" $787 billion stimulus bill.
A bold and historical action. President Obama keeps reminding us it might not work fast or well. We get it. What's in this thing, anyway? Bloomberg: "Congress Sends Obama $787 Billion Economic-Stimulus Package". Excerpt:
The Senate late yesterday voted 60 to 38 to approve the legislation. Three Republicans joined Democrats in favor of the measure. Earlier in the day the House passed the bill, 246 to 183, with no Republicans in favor.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:24 PM | Comments (1)
The unused perk.
Law is the ultimate backstage pass. There are more students in law schools than there are lawyers walking the Earth.
--John Milton/Satan/Al Pacino in The Devil's Advocate (L’Associé du Diable) (1997)
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 10:59 AM | Comments (0)
Charon QC's Podcast 100: Lawyers, Yanks and Banks.
But who's interviewing whom? London's Charon QC does his 100th Podcast, interviewing WAC?, an annoying Type-A morning person who interrupts for sport, in their third talk together. One subject nervously covered was Britain's GeekLawyer. The very idea of next month's sequel to the barrister's Blawg Review#166 has entire Midwestern U.S. communities shuddering, carrying small crosses, and keeping garlic at work. GL is said to be in Canada, and poised for U.S. entry.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:33 AM | Comments (0)
February 12, 2009
British firm spurns Moscow-based Yank lawyer and "sex" writer.
My good man, what were you thinking? We're betting she'll sue Allen & Overy, a large but functional British firm WAC? likes. Deidre Dare obviously has the Moxie to lob one in there. This was all knowable. See Legal Blog Watch: "Muzzled Lawyer Gets the Boot, Threatens Suit". Let's noodle this, shall we? An American lawyer you hire moves to Moscow. She's impetuous. She writes this steamy stuff. Her last name is Dare. You fire her. Your 79-year-old Magic Circle firm attracts unwanted press coverage easily. It makes money. What result?
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:00 PM | Comments (0)
Is England getting wimpy?
Militarily? We don't think so. But our friend Joerg Wolf at the Berlin-based Atlantic Review asks "Are Americans Concerned that Britain is Becoming Europeanised?". The concern is that the UK--America's ally in the Mideast, and admired for its special fighting units--is going the way of the "peacekeeper nations" on the European continent. Forty-seven comments to this one.
Posted by JD Hull at 10:50 PM | Comments (0)
Stimulus bill: $789 billion
Yesterday, and 'ahead of schedule', House and Senate conferees approved a bill that could be voted on this week. Details of the bill are not widely known yet. For now, see The Washington Post: "Congress Reaches Stimulus Accord". Four very general parts: tax breaks, investment in health care and alternative energy, funding for infrastructure, aid to state and local government.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 05:31 AM | Comments (0)
February 11, 2009
Writing well: Craig Williams
How to Get Sued: An Instructional Guide is by Newport Beach trial lawyer and writer J. Craig Williams, who also authors the respected May It Please The Court. How To Get Sued covers, in an irreverent way, how "real life" becomes "real litigation".
Posted by JD Hull at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)
February 10, 2009
This is Elkhart.
And this is Elkhart high on Obama. Like my beloved alma mater hundreds of miles away, Elkhart, Indiana is a small but serious socially conservative community of reasonable men and very smart women that works hard to produce young adults who may some day take their places as high-functioning members of the ultra-bourgeoisie. Just kidding, mainly. WAC? has northern Indiana blood, twice lived near Elkhart as a child, and is practically a homey. Speaks fluent Hoosier.
This is the real Midwest, though. Obama didn't do well in Elkhart in November. So right now, it's the perfect town to pitch your $800 billion idea. See Bloomberg: "Obama Adopts Elkhart as Everytown in Pitch for Stimulus Plan". Excerpt:
He mobilized an army of people in the American heartland who cheered at scripted applause lines with the ways of Washington as an all-purpose villain.
Then he used his first primetime news conference last night not so much to present new arguments or numbers as to invoke the plight of Elkhart, Indiana, a recession-ravaged town of 52,000 people with an unemployment rate that has more than tripled in a year to 15.3 percent. He visited there yesterday morning and adopted it as a symbol for his appeal. [more]
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (2)
The one-stop e-Discovery shop?
Cases are won or lost at trial on discovery. So in between projects we've had an eye out for a "one-stop" e-discovery resource for business and law. You know, something competent, vigilant and complete perched out there in all the digital clutter? See Gabe’s Guide to the e-Discovery Universe, started in March 2008. This may be it--we are not sure yet--if it can cover and link to: (1) developments in the discovery and e-discovery rules, (2) new cases under Rules 26, 34 and 37, and (3) the better e-discovery sites popping up at the larger firms (some of which are excellent). Not easy but we'd love D.C.'s Gabe Acevedo to try. Gabe's Guide now includes as topics Discovery News, Second Requests in M&A, Foreign Corrupt Practice Act, Subprime Litigation, Technology, and Outsourcing and Offshoring.
Posted by JD Hull at 10:24 PM | Comments (1)
February 09, 2009
Look, before you stimulate?
Turning Japanese? We really don't think so but see at Bloomberg: "Obama Says Any Delay on Stimulus ‘Irresponsible’". And then read at Forbes.com "We Don't Want To Become Japan":
It matters what gets built: Japan spent too much on increasingly wasteful roads and bridges, and not enough in areas like education and social services, which studies show deliver more growth and jobs than basic infrastructure.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
February 07, 2009
Germany's Alien, UFO and Daily Strangeness Problem.
And you thought it was just that they've had all these American soldiers around all the time for the last 64 years (which would put the zap on anyone's brain). Examine Berlin's Hermann the German for space news. He's Sirius, too. "They’re breeding like rats."
Posted by JD Hull at 11:27 PM | Comments (0)
February 06, 2009
Dang, 250 leads.
See Scott "Bob Redford" Greenfield's "My 250th Call Through Avvo!" at his Simple Justice. Nothing much gets by Scott, and we've learned much from him. He's introduced us to the rich and powerful people he runs with in NYC. He loves children. He dances with his wife. He returned our phone call, once. But, dude, it beats the yellow pages.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
"What About Paris?" We begin early this week.
Via Holden Oliver, the aging law student who thinks all music stopped in 1977, we begin our weekend alter ego What About Paris? a bit early this week.
And why not? We had a tough week--and maybe you did, too. Besides, the world no longer begins and ends with the United States. We at WAC? and Hull McGuire want to be in and stay in that larger world: as humans, lawyers and business people with clients who are "all over" it. If you have any non-U.S. ideas or notions--new news, old news, old verities, commercial tidbits, new art, very auld art, anything at all--send them in. What news of the job markets in Europe? What trade show did you attend in Mainz? What are those arty dudes you know doing this weekend in Aldeburgh? What of Snapes Maltings? You been to Tangier yet?
And what about Paris these days?
Posted by JD Hull at 11:35 PM | Comments (0)
February 04, 2009
Tom Daschle goes paws up.
Obama's well-liked HHS nominee withdraws re: $146,000 in back taxes. See yesterday's Washington Post.
Posted by JD Hull at 04:48 PM | Comments (0)
February 03, 2009
February's Carnival of Trust
We know--it sounds like you died and went to Hallmark. But the Carnival of Trust is excellent, conceived and guided by revered and famous minds. Even surly WAC? jumped at a chance to get involved with COT later this year. This month it's hosted by Ian Brodie, a consultant based just south of Manchester in England's Northwest, at his Sales Excellence. One post featured is "Belligerence Kills", at Sales Loudmouth by Tim J. M. Rohrer, and it's instructive. But Belligerence, as an instinct, is instructive, too. Belligerence is also Good. Be belligerent. Very American. Irish, too. You have to listen to It.
Belligerent Gallic chieftain Vercingetorix surrenders to Caesar, 52 BC.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 08:01 PM | Comments (4)
Like him or not, Bill Clinton is a U.S. asset.
Even our controlled Commander-in-Chief gets excited, starstruck and a little weird around WJC. What's the deal with his wrist?
We vote "R", "D" and "Other" at WAC?--but all of us here like Wild Bill. We can't think of anyone we'd rather have with us abroad. The guy always comes to play. If you're reading this, WJC, you might reconsider. You've had three years to decide, and Hull McGuire still does lots of work in western Europe. We'll pay you to sit in the room. Or to stop in and say hello. Or phone in. Whatever. Ring us.
See Salon, where Joe Conason is watching Bill Clinton work his magic in Davos, Switzerland at the World Economic Forum:
What roused the global elitists from their glum torpor was the opportunity to lay blame for the economic catastrophe that has befallen the world. There was one obvious target: the United States of America, whose stupid and criminal bankers have inflicted so much harm on the whole of humanity. It is an undeniable fact that the Russian and Chinese leaders explored with great relish at every opportunity.
Into this hostile territory rode Bill Clinton, the lone American to whom anyone at Davos might actually listen as he attempted to uphold the name of his country.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:54 AM | Comments (0)
February 02, 2009
Keep your Beginner's Mind.
naughty child–
instead of his chores
a snow Buddha“Gimme that moon!”
cries the crying
child--by Kobayashi Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue (and our heartfelt thanks to DG).
The ability "to think like a lawyer" is about 10% of what you need to be an effective lawyer. Lots of people finally acquire it. Some are famously better and faster at it than others. A revered Skadden M&A partner wrote years ago that, at a minimum, it requires thinking about something that is "inextricably attached" to something--but without thinking about that something to which it's attached.
Legal reasoning is critical--but it's never enough by itself to become an outstanding lawyer. The rest is frame of mind: energy, ambition, organization, logistics-sense, re-thinking everything all the time, a take-charge orientation, genuine people skills, and an urgent passion to solve tough problems. If you think you want to be a litigator or trial lawyer, you will also need Very Tough Hide--something which you can learn the hard way.
Finally, no matter what, you need Will, and Big Ones.
Almost all of students we have interviewed in the last five years made law review, and will graduate at the top of their class. Again, not enough. Lawyers need to learn to think and act on their own from the first day. You need the traits listed above. Think of it as an inside job.
If you are new, "steal our clients", please. Be that good. That will take a while. While you are learning, please understand that you are getting more than you are giving. You don't know much. So it's not unreasonable for us to ask you to try to do perfect research, editing and proofreading.
But we love your ideas, your first impressions, and the trick is to be confident enough to ask dumb questions and make comments. Often, your first impressions or "reactions" to a problem or project are very good--but we don't always hear them right away.
So maybe read Alan Watts. Or at least read a lot of David Giacalone at f/k/a..., an HLS grad who really gets it. Think of David as your spiritual leader and technical adviser in one person. Read, for example, his "Phoenixes and Beginner’s Mind". Keep reading him.
You may not know at first very much law, or how to apply it to facts for a fee, and then give the "right advice". But you have instincts evolving all the time--they have little to do with law school--that may surprise you. You had them all along.
Posted by JD Hull at 02:31 PM | Comments (1)
Brit King of Media interviews California ADR Vixen.
Howard, Oprah and now Charon QC. Mayfair's playful pundit. London's Charlie Rose. Albion's first Rioja Ranger. Charon (pronounced "Karen") just aired podcast No. 94, an interview with famous West Coast ADR princess Vicki Pynchon. Yanks who listened were pleased and grateful that Ms. Pynchon, who lives near Malibu, minimized expressions like "totally", "most heinous" and "some really tasty waves, dude".
Posted by JD Hull at 10:07 AM | Comments (0)
Baby, We Were Born To Eat.
Super Bowl Halftime: Can we have the Kinks, Sting, Bono or B.B. King next year? Despite the hopelessness and self-pity in much of his lyrics--even in the unique rock anthem "Born To Run"--Bruce Springsteen is and always been an inspiring man, with a fine and authentic band. He inspired a whole generation of kids from certain New Jersey counties to eat, drink, watch MTV and totally give up on life with his "hey, there's nobility in being a turd and a loser" message.
We're kidding, well, a little. We do love seeing Clarence, and multi-talented Little Stevie. We admire the New Jersey spirit. But could a Super Bowl halftime show be worse? Nothing sounded very inspiring to us. And Bruce, you're pushing sixty but you're still a rock star. So, dude, get on a program. Ask Mick Jagger. Eat some carrots or something. Try 24-Hour-Fitness. And make Stevie sign up, too. We've seen the future and it's a slimmed down E Street Band.
Hey Stevie, easy on the canoles, dude.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)