What About Paris? ™

« August 2010 | Main | October 2010 »

September 27, 2010

Brit Politics: Revenge of More Liberal, More Pro-Union, More Controversial Baby Brother.

MP David Miliband v. MP Edward Miliband. LA Times: "Britain's Labor Party Chooses New Leader". This happened in intra-party elections held Saturday in Manchester. The Miliband family--three generations of it--is storied, talented, and inspiring. The winning brother, Ed Milband, is 40. Ed's win makes things more turbulent, if more interesting, in the UK government, now lead by the Conservative Party. Its leader is Prime Minister David Cameron, 43, who took office in May. Ah, dear Old Blighty. She's about to put on a show.

Critics, often preferring big brother David, called Ed Milband "Red Ed".

Posted by JD Hull at 05:59 AM | Comments (0)

September 26, 2010

Men in Full: Duncan Campbell King

No, no, he's not from the chubby U.S. Midwest--too erudite, measured, svelte, and well-read--but good guess. We admire Albion's new star Duncan Campbell King at Wrath of a Sumo King. He has given up all hope of ever behaving normally--and raised that to an art form. "I am Duncan Phebus Sumo Mercutius Steerpike Campbell King, Litigator Extraordinaire, and I do not want you to like me." Venting, feral women, Silicon Valley, and the First Amendment are some of recurring events here. He just says it. Like in olden days before we liberals ruined our speech and children with PC agendas--so your boys could grow up to sound like Mr. Rogers, or maybe your great-grandmother in St. Cloud. Duncan is hereby given a Club Ned pass for life: authentic, experimental, un-PC, way-feral.

Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)

September 25, 2010

In a Recession, you have a choice: (1) Hire Boomers, or (2) Get Your Squeak On.

Who do you really want for the hunt? Or as one Boomer said, quoted by Scott Greenfield in a fine Simple Justice post Greenfield turned in late last year:

Boomers will work long and passionately into their sixties, seventies and even eighties. They are never offended by hard work or complex problems.

They don't think that digital toys make your work better—and they are right about that. Boomers like complexity, ambiguity, and genuinely hard problems. Gadgets? They just make you coffee, or give you a copy.

I'd rather work with a 50-year-old than anyone because he or she, generally, will go on until the last dog dies. Never prissy. Always engaged. Nothing is too hard. Boomers are "Foxhole People" to the core.

One (1) Huntin' Dog.

Four (4) Looters.

Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:51 AM | Comments (0)

September 24, 2010

This Blog is a No-Wuss Zone. Anonymous comments ignored. Exception: 'Club Ned'.

Back in the Pre-Squeak Age, most people who wrote or said things were really proud--and not ashamed--of who they were. When you do comment, (a) use your real name, (b) have something authentic and thought-out to say, and (c) resist the increasing trend of the Net to gush so happily--and proudly--about Going Through Life as a Turd.

This is really not a PC New Age lawyer these-words-have-been-touched-by-God blog that lazy and poofy males born after, say, 1975, with inflated grades--and other "achievements" like perfect attendance records and nonstop breathing--generally want to read.

Why? It makes them uncomfortable. It doesn't fit their "world view". They need to read things that make them feel good about themselves for about another decade or so. And they may never "graduate", or grow. We do wish them the best.

This blog? It's not perfect. However, it's about real values for literates with real aspirations: real people who want to have great lives, and do difficult work for real customers and clients, and do it well. So to comment and be published at this blog, you must tell us who you really are.

We fortunately have never received that many (together with our daily spam comment load of around 200). We're very busy not blogging, and we don't care if most people do comment. Really. We can't even respond fully to most of better non-trash/signed ones we get.

Finally, but importantly, it would be nice when you comment if you had something to say and are not just one of the many people (including far too many lawyers) on the Net who is quite happy, frankly, going through life as a turd. You don't have to be nice. You just have to use your real name--and not be too stupid, or too much of a turd.

So we'll have a "conversation" with you. But you must use your real name--which is apparently, and sadly, a major achievement for so many. Not that long ago, people did this all the time without question, and for many centuries. It was considered to be part of the rent you paid for being a real person.

In fact, most people who wrote or said things were really proud--and not ashamed--of who they were. Back in the Pre-Squeak Times.

Exceptions under our policy: You are a Cuban, Chinese or Iranian dissident (i.e, we really respect you). A CIA operative (we respect you). A rape victim (either sex: we feel for you, respect your wishes, and will help guard your anonymity). Or a Club Ned Permit Holder (we feel so bad we can't stand to think about it or deal with you too much--but we're trying to understand your humiliation as a "man"...but still better you than us).

Sorry. Anyway, three further points:

1. Being miserable, afraid, incompetent and broke is a choice, you know? In the case of being violated in the worst possible male way, it's how you react to it, Justin. (Uncle Bob at Camp Sammy told you that! Remember?) So, anyway, if you continue to be in the profession, and you must hide, try instead for a while a specialty hot dog stand, opening a flower shop, or selling shoes, maybe. The Law is not your thing. Neither is Real Life.

2. Or at least take a canoe trip with some of your manlier buddies--and some time to think about it.

3. Full Club Ned membership details are here.

Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)

September 23, 2010

Once again: American Law Schools, can you help us all out on that pesky Value Thing?

Watch closely. At some point, a law firm, a law student, or a recent law grad may very well may bring a Rule 11-proof action against a "good" American law school.

It will not be because he or she cannot find a job. It will be simply because they cannot do one.

We are desperate--and burning daylight and money here. Marc Randazza is a San Diego-based First Amendment specialist who writes The Legal Satyricon. Like the undersigned, he is hard-working, works out of several offices, and is obviously having fun. Randazza is irreverent, "not prissy", passionate, mega-competent, and not concerned about what people think. Hear his April 2 NPR interview on SLAPP suits. Or read about abolition of limitations periods in clergy child abuse cases in "If you’re still Catholic...". He and his other writers don't cower behind "anonymity" when they write. Randazza's his own man, and a stand-up guy.

In short, an American. And none of this would be that unusual except that Marc is an American lawyer. And let's face it. Being eccentric, wild and/or "edgy" in American Lawyerland is not a tough mark to hit. Just wear a bow-tie, tasseled loafers and a trench coat. But maybe, say, in public, and wear them all on once, and on a weekday. Ah, live dangerously, lawyer friends. All over the world, we could go nuts--and "get it on" like big dogs.

Last year, Marc wrote "The Worthlessness of American Legal Education", a piece we admired and which is certainly worth your time to read. The theme "what should we expect now from law schools, anyway?" endures at Marc's blog and others. We've written about that theme--from the standpoint of clients as always being the "main lawyer event"--here at this blog for nearly five years. And written about it enough to know it's a very touchy subject.

In the late summer of 2008, we wondered aloud--and just weeks before the federal government's late "announcement" that there was a "recession goin' on"--on whether law students and recent grads should start paying law firms (yes, new lawyers pay the firms) for training to be lawyers who could add value in a shorter amount of time. In fact, our August 27, 2008 post was probably our most clicked-on but yet "unpopular" piece: "Should associates pay their law firms in the first 2 to 3 years?"

American law schools are some of the most impressive places of higher education in the world. They are exciting intellectually, great think tanks for business, and attract mega-talented humans, particularly in the quality of faculty. They hatch presidents, justices, senators, captains of industry, great authors and diplomats. But many law firms these days are meeting new grads who won't be even marginally productive for two to three years. Or longer. And new grads--at a shop that actually tries to train you--often (not always) "get more" than the firm does out of the relationship in those years.

Law schools, certainly, are not in business to pay students to be trained. Students pay the tuition--not the reverse. The schools get the money. The schools don't pay the students to be there to learn.

Which gets us wondering again. Why should law firms pay new grads--even top students from fine schools--if they are often years away from being productive, and the law schools, for all their promise, potential and cache, are doing about 10% of the lawyer-creating job?

In many instances, the new grad is the only real beneficiary in the law firm-employee relationship. Turnover everywhere is relatively high. Many firms get zilch--and start over again. The current situation is bad for clients because it compromises value--and it cannot be good for students who think they are equipped to add value when they are not even close.

We suspect that legal education in recent years appears to have done many students a disservice by making them think that law school--by its very nature of being focused on teaching you "to think" like a lawyer--could ever give students more than 10% of what they need to be full-gauged lawyers and problem solvers.

Law done right is a hands-on profession and takes everything you have, and organizational and managerial skills the schools cannot teach or be expected to teach.

"Thinking like a lawyer" does not inform your every synapse, breath, and moment.

Moreover, lawyering is not necessarily a "PC", gentle or even genteel culture. Are the schools telling them it is?

To be fair, the substance of the work at a client-focused law firm doing higher-end problem-solving (in deals, courts, international work, etc.) may be very cerebral and challenging. A feast of exhilarating ideas and causes. Lucky people leading a Life of the Mind.

But what is the actual tone and atmosphere of an excellent law firm--even the most humane ones--that quickly resolves problems and gets things done? Often it will be more like Rahm Emanuel, John Wayne or Colonel Bill Kilgore in "Apocalypse Now" commanding brainstorming, hard-ass and fully-engaged troops.

It it will be less like Mr. Rogers or Alan Alda whispering kind and nurturing things to the latest crop of Teletubbies and making sure they are okay. Big Bird and Care Bears in the trenches is not an image most of us wish to project to clients. (If we ever do that, please get a big net, okay?)

Bosses at law firms may be Coif, former Law Review editors, and writers of famous Matthew Bender tomes. But they are still bosses who "want stuff". They do not understand (or even like) younger people who can't get it for them. Many law firms are dominated by type-A problem solvers with strong personalities who live to get things done. Let's hope that never changes. It's good for the customers.

You may ask: has the "recession" or downturn in the global economy helped? Has it made students and graduates more likely to stick it out, and compensate for things they may not have gained from their legal educations? Are students and new grads "stepping up" to train themselves?

Answer: No. We, at least, are not seeing it. Nothing has changed.

And finally there's the question: Is it really necessary for law students to be in classroom settings for three years?

At a minimum, we wish that law schools could convey a few truths, and what might be called "old verities", to part-time clerks, summer clerks and grads:

1. Even for the most brilliant, motivated, resourceful and ambitious people, law practice is time-intensive and very hard--especially in the beginning.

2. Graduating from law school with top grades and willing to give practice the old Siwash try is only the beginning of your travail. Again, practicing law is hard. Even harder to learn how. And hard to maintain as years roll by at a comfortable and honorable level of quality. You don't get to say this much: "Sorry, Jack, but I'm on my break."

3. Real-life client problems pose extraordinary ambiguity and complexity (you can't "Google" the answers; you may fret over some projects and have to stay late; at first, it may interfere with your relationships and your "real life").

4. Maybe you'll find that private practice is not for you. It's not about the lawyers, courtliness, lawyer-centric cults of "professionalism", bar associations, wearing cool suits, prestige, money or being in a special club. If you stay in it for all that stuff, even if you make big bucks, you will regret it. No, you will hate it.

5. Clients. Talented people with JDs are legion. It's really about those you serve: the gritty details, hardships, and joys of "getting it right" for them.

Law Schools: Weenie factories? Or where one first learns to think hard, work hard and add value? (Photo: The Situationist)

(from a Dec. 21, 2009 JDH post)

Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:59 AM | Comments (1)

September 22, 2010

Almost overnight, American CPAs have started to drink, do drugs and philander.

Columbia Pictures

Not really. But those folks do seem to be getting out more.

Why are we talking about accountants here, anyway? Well, it's good to escape your own neighborhood--and on a regular basis. A real road trip--like drive from DC to Charlottesville or Chapel Hill. Or at least a virtual one. Like take a vacation from lawyers. Consider meeting engineers, actuaries, doctors, sales people, chimney sweeps, cocktail waitresses named Merle--you get the idea.

And accountants. As with lawyers, real accountants (i.e., they love what they do) put clients first. As a friend of ours once said:

Once I start gazing at my clients and stop gazing at my wallet, I have a life. Because I am doing what is important. Amazingly, my wallet takes care of itself.

Accountants, also like lawyers, are reputed to be careful and a bit risk-averse. And self-important and boring. But we never completely bought that (about the accountants, anyway). For many businesses, their day-to-day accounting firms are more cost-efficient, solution-oriented and productive than their outside law firms.

You and yours starting a business and putting your money, sweat and ideas into it? You aim to be the new Apple, new Starbucks, new P&G? Well, that's just great. Do hire both a CPA and a lawyer you respect and trust--you need both kinds of consigliere--and do it well before you incorporate. But find that CPA firm first.

Our fellow Midwesterner Michelle Golden at Golden Practices likes good practicing accountants, too. She's noticed all the accounting blogs sprouting up (nearly 200 so far).

Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (1)

Just out: 2d Edition of AAA Handbook on Commercial Arbitration

AAA Handbook on Commercial Arbitration--2nd Edition

Editors: Thomas E. Carbonneau, Jeanette A. Jaeggi

Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:00 PM | Comments (0)

September 21, 2010

Three years ago at WAC/P--Litigation: How much time should we ask the Deacon for discovery?

Will someone please send one of the damn clerks to the Church of the Final Thunder down the street and Shepardize a passage from the Book of Amos? Chapter 3, Verse 4, Jackson 5. This minute--or I'll sack the lot of you.

If lovin' the Lord is wrong, we don't want to be right. Our law firm and blog have writers of several different faiths and spiritual persuasions--including one lapsed Episcopal-Belfast Protestant with a taste for religious art. Catholics. Jews. And at least one born-again Druid. But this news item blew us away three years ago. Click on the two links. Do see "Rule 38". We did not make this up. It happened in America, of all places:

Bible-based ADR? This one is from David Lat at wonderfully secular Above The Law. WAC? may either begin drinking or attending services again. Maybe both at once. Rule 38 of the Institute for Christian Conciliation is: "Legal or Scriptural Briefs. The arbitrators may request or consider briefs or position papers that set forth the parties' understandings of the legal, factual, or scriptural issues."

(Photo: Major Tool Archives)

Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:50 AM | Comments (0)

September 20, 2010

"St. Elsewhere" starts with Episode #1 tonight.

All 6 seasons of "St. Elsewhere"--the much praised mid-1980s ensemble cast TV drama--starts today on the ALN cable channel. Relive the quality, originality and authenticity of Pre-Squeak America. Historical note: In this acclaimed series, none of the actors, or the characters they play, are "anonymous", or hide behind pseudonyms. The male characters are not "sweet", confused, wimpy, thin-skinned, or neutered. The women are scary. Episode #1 tonight. A gem.

"St. Elsewhere" runs in its entirety over the next several months.

Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)

Overheard Sunday in the 'Sades.

"Honey, just wear a black turtleneck--even Ned Beatty looks good in a black turtleneck."

Club Ned: Beatty days before his first Georgia fishing float-trip to bond with buddies and nature. Seriously, Louisville-born Beatty, 72, is one of America's great talents. Actor's actor. Played a fine Tennessee lawyer in Robert Altman's rule-breaking, genre-crashing "Nashville".

Posted by JD Hull at 02:59 PM | Comments (0)

For Gen Ys: Yours in the struggle, dudes.

(skip to 4:30)

Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:00 AM | Comments (2)

September 19, 2010

French still balking at brutal Anglo-Saxon regimes of Work.

Charles de Gaulle in 1947: "Two more months. And that's it, okay?"

There's just no other way to say it. Sure, wouldn't a long holiday of 65 years (since circa 1945) get even the French rested up? Historically, they are not a lazy or wimpy lot. A bit high-strung, maybe. But as this blog has pointed out repeatedly, the French, after all, are still curators of the best that Western culture, government and traditions have to offer us, and that they have way more artistry for life and class than you and I do, Ernest. Yes, they are. Certainly, they do. Just because our French cousins behave in irritating and superior ways doesn't mean that they are not both.

But c'mon, La Belle France, I mean, like, work much?

It's a fair question.

France has one of the healthiest populations on the planet (young, old, workers and non-workers). They are living longer and longer. So can you guys at least beef up the public treasury with more pension and social welfare funds by working a few years longer--until the ripe age of 62? Do see the unusually sympathetic (by Brit anti-French standards) story run by the BBC News: "French Horror at 'Anglo-Saxon' Welfare Reforms". Excerpts:

The French are scandalised by President Nicolas Sarkozy's determined push to raise the state pension age from 60 to--horror of horrors--62. A modest rise in European terms and in the current economic climate, you might think, not unreasonable.

Yet the French have always expected the state to provide--not only for their short working week, their excellent free schools and hospitals--but also their retirement.

The UMP's [the centre-right Union for a Popular Movement party], Jean-Francois Cope says the state pension age could rise to 63. Most people here do not contribute to private pensions. The vast majority rely on the state pension, and compulsory membership of industry schemes.

And:

The French get more sleep, and then there are those famously long summer holidays. In August, French society heads for the hills, the beaches, the mountains. Anywhere but the office.

To be fair, despite the "down-time" the French are still hugely productive, even in a 35-hour week.

Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)

September 17, 2010

UPDATED: Employees 1, Clients 0, Firms 0. What about Customers, Buyers and Clients?

"Bring it, Skippy." Two partners excited about their evaluations.

Pardon me. But isn't employee (and associate) satisfaction the responsibility of both employers and employees--but mainly of the employees themselves?

How did our priorities get so backward, myopic and screwed up? And so anti-customer? Why not evaluate law firm partners--and associates, paralegals, messengers, techs, assistants and law firms generally--based on client and customer service standards? Rather than on what associates think?

And on the opinons of "other little people" who pay our businesses and allow our businesses to exist. I must ask. Do law school profs live in an alternate reality? Does it happen as soon as they enter law school hallways? Does it happen to even to-die for academia acquisitions like fine higher-end lawyers who actually practiced law for longer than 18 months--the kind we at this blog get so jazzed about when they are infrequently permitted to teach? And those who work for world-class litigation shops for decades?

We do worry. See at the always-improving and growing (and we mean that) ABA Journal the short article "Partners Should Be Evaluated Based on Associate Satisfaction, Prof Suggests", inspired by a longer and, frankly, very well-done--if overly polite and risk-averse--AmLaw Daily piece.

The author of the ALM article is correct: it's "treacherous" to overgeneralize. But we're all wasting so much money on associates, many of whom are viewed as increasingly "helpless" in recent years--and often running a con on great clients in many cases by even billing them out at all--that a Purple Prose Cry from the Wilderness may make sense here.

Isn't employee (and associate) satisfaction the responsibility of both employers and employees--but mainly of the employees themselves? How did our perspective get so backward and myopic? Stephen Covey's campaign to bliss out the old corporate model? Mr. Rogers? The Phil Donahue Show? Didn't the Covey-esque "employees are oh so precious" overtures of the last 20 years presuppose a U.S. economy and Western markets that did well: green grass, good crops and a TV in every room? The big bonus at the holidays?

These are not those times, Jack. These are the times of tool sharpening--and going back to the places of definitions. Adjustment. Correction. And a reexamination of commercial value itself. The good news: clients, law firms and other service providers and vendors who learn from the present economic troubles will come out stronger.

Look, employee satisfaction is always important. But employee happiness, while desirable, ranks "third" (#3) in the scheme of work things. Or perhaps even fifth (#5) in the scheme of overall priorities. So let's run through it all again, shall we? Here's one possible list that might make sense so we can all be "better people" and know true caring-sharing new age holistic Sweetness and Life in our lives.

Consider these "new metrics", in order of their importance in the scheme of All Things:

1. God, the Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, The Moral Order in the Cosmos, Great Spirit, Sacred Oaks, the Watchers, Eric Clapton.

2. Your family. Close friends.

3. Your customers, buyers, clients. #1 for Work.

4. Your company. #2 for Work.

5. Employees, associates, and the help. #3 for Work.

6. Pets. Animals. Being nice to street people.

7. Plant life.

8. Rocks. Cars, household appliances, PI and insurance defense lawyers, some books, a few other material things.

9. Airports that make sense. Cheetos. Possession of the 1968 Chicago Convention-era "drug implement" of some kind crafted from an actual billy club and given to me in 1985 by a now-dead famous writer. (Please, no jokes or comments; too easy. No, it wasn't Lillian Hellman.)

10. Traveling the world. Reading the classics. Dinner with Annabeth Gish or Parker Posey. (Should be #5, #6 and #7 if you can "afford" them.)

I have it. How about evaluating partners--and associates and law firms generally--on client service standards? Far-out, huh?

Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)

September 15, 2010

China business: Bribery, rogue foreigners, risk.

Is bribery by many foreigners normal, "fair game", an option, or rare? Inspired by Rich Brubaker at his All Roads Lead to China, Seattle-based Dan Harris writes about China corruption at his tirelesss China Law Blog. Excerpt:

When it comes to getting caught, there are essentially two kinds of companies. One kind makes very clear it will not permit corruption and it does whatever it can to make that very clear to its people.

The other kind does a lot of winking and nodding and other things to make clear that though "I personally don't like it, the less I know about it, the better."

Above: Like our cousins the French, the Chinese often overreact--but only for show, the appearance of enforcement, and to get attention.

Posted by JD Hull at 12:44 AM | Comments (0)

September 10, 2010

Mother Jones, you really know how to make a guy sore.

The definition of marriage has never included "man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be." But we forgot (totally) why homosexuality is like bestiality and pedophilia. So time to check in with ex-U.S. senator Rick "Man on [pick animal/child]" Santorum. At Mother Jones, do see "Rick Santorum's Anal Sex Problem".

Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:00 AM | Comments (1)

September 08, 2010

"We like Rahm."

Chicago can wait. And we always have liked former Representative Rahm Emanuel (D-Illinois) but wish he'd put being the Mayor of Chicago on the shelf for a while. See at Politico yesterday's "Hizzoner? Emanuel Must Decide Fast". Our mild-mannered president Obama needs him to remain as Chief of Staff. From a party standpoint, this man is the "Anti-Democrat": Competent and Non-Wimpy. Dems are lucky to have him. He is not afraid to make enemies--most pols are--and he generally upsets/destroys only the "right" people. Bonus: he curses properly and wonderfully--and is in fact ranked in the Western world. (Top six, English/Street Swearing Division, according to Holden Oliver's research.)

Anyway, please talk him out of it, someone--or I'll be turning "R" again. Rahm's just 50. He'll keep. So will the City of Chicago.

Posted by JD Hull at 11:01 PM | Comments (0)

שנה טובה

Posted by JD Hull at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)

September 07, 2010

Wanted: One Huntin' Dog. Then Another.

And Another. Get three or four--and stop hiring. But Buy Boomer. Get stuff done. Resist the low standards of The Net and the CrappySphere. Nothing beats having a Boomer in your office when it's time to get things done. We're loyal, irreverent, and fun. You get energy, hustle, charm, and a nearly overwhelming sense of cultural identity. And we got that woof-woof thing going.

Yes, enthusiasm. We are always seen wagging some serious tail. Hardworking. Generation Moxie. Do-or-die.

And loyal.

But the real difference between "them" and us?

Weenies (by some estimates 98% of current work force, if you include older workers who buy into Gen-Y-style laziness and lack of self-respect)? They go through motions and push buttons on machines--and then say it's "work". The will never make anything, save anything, believe in anything, or even get famous for longer than 3 minutes. They are in love with the sound of their own breathing. Because, well, that's enough for them. (They will never even bark properly.) Low standards re: everything.

Boomers? Boomers will get their hands dirty, try anything to get work done (and are ashamed if they fail), and live to see problems are solved. We'll drool and roll around and make fools of ourselves over Work Done Well. And we love firing people in the morning after a good full moon--"feels like victory..."--even more than we love espresso, raw red meat and killing.

You want something done? Done right? Then Buy Boomer. Consider going straight to the top, for the best, and work from there:

HELP WANTED: Of counsel for growing and energetic Pittsburgh-based boutique business law firm with publicly-traded clients to die for. Candidate must have at least 8 years of highest level federal Exec. Branch experience, world-wide connections, Yale Law degree, one year at Oxford, own money and people skills. Crowd-pleaser. Must be able to sell anything to anyone. And be originally from Hope, Arkansas. State government experience preferred but not required. Same for participation in Renaissance weekends, and fund-raising. United Nations experience also a big plus. You don’t need to re-locate. Happy to set up the office for you. Wherever you want. Harlem or Chappaqua, New York are okay. Or DC. You decide. You can work out of your house. Whatever. NOTE: No previous private law practice experience necessary. Not a problem–no problem at all. Excellent benefits package.

Above: Two intense way-fun boomers getting jazzed about accomplishing hard tasks. Resist the Crappysphere and the Anti-Work wank fest. Woof. OK?

Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)

"All I need is some Tasty Waves, Psilocybin, and I'm Healthy."

Shrooms? Really? Reuters: "Magic Mushrooms May Ease Anxiety of Cancer." Moreover, they say those little plants might make the Blind see. Heal All the Sick. Raise the Dead. And make you set your chickens free--like Fred McDowell once did.

Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 10:05 PM | Comments (0)

September 05, 2010

Got balls?

"Friend me?"

Whoa. Life sure got smallish, wimpy and squeaky fast.

"Nice guy/lady--just don't get in a foxhole with him/her". We hope that no one has ever said or thought this about you--but it's likely that they already have. We live in a world where about 98% of the time wimpiness and lack of courage are rationalized, stylized, and sold to us as "smart" or "prudent" and even as a "right".

Americans, too, of course. For all our bluster, many of us get weaker, more insubstantial, and more irrelevant every day. We don't meet and talk. We rarely look anyone in the eye. Instead, we type and text, day in and day out: skittish mini-critters running on shiny little treadmills in cages set behind screens and tubes.

Squeak-squeak.

Indeed, Technology has insulated--rather than "unleashed"--many of us. Is this all there is? Dang! Busy but dazed and confused? Whoa. Life sure got small and squeaky fast.

Squeak-squeak, you losers.

"Are we not Men?" Historically, all humans (not just Yanks in de-evolution stages) have routinely sidestepped truth, our real beliefs, and initial urges of loyalty to others. We mean loyalty as automatic and instinctual. Bordering on tribal, almost a pang, and often directed blindly, this "sticking" is the Mere Base Rent you pay for just being here, forming relationships, and taking up space on the planet. It's not "extra credit" or "gravy". You don't get points.

Loyalty can be to true friends based on history--or to virtual strangers out of a sense of justice and quick detection of bs. It is the support and allegiance owing to anyone who we know in a flash, and in our deepest and best selves, deserve our immediate aid and good offices because of fairness, past ties, a promise or an understanding.

It is always situational. You either get it--or you don't.

"Are we not Men?" Welcome to the House of Pain, Mr. Prendick.

Well, hey, at least everyone's doing it--and been doing it for all of recorded history. No shame at all, right? You made average. You're "living small"--but at least you're a true generic. A big relief.

And if you're really and truly in the other 2%, congratulations! But here are two key questions:

1. Do you really know who (a) at work and (b) in your life will "stick" when you need their support?

2. Do you even have to ask them for help--or do they lie in the weeds when you need them the most?

Our advice. Once a week, use your common sense, your passion, or ideally both together, to support someone who deserves it then and there. But do it whether or not it's convenient, or in your interest, to support him or her. (If you can't think of or identify many day-to-day examples of this--at work, in the community, or in the streets--we feel sorry for you. No need for you to ever to read this blog again. You won't get it--not one word.)

You'll not only get scads back. You'll start to learn who you really are.

Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)

September 04, 2010

There is no God: End times outrage pits Earl against Nantucket.

Sailors and watchers are resting now,
Some on this sandy lea,
And some with the sea-grass round them twined,
Are asleep in the wandering sea.

--from "The House-Top Walk", by Charles L. Thompson

Union Street's Quaker Uncle Billy readies for Earl.

Earl's got jail-house tats, bad genes, and your sister's deb pics.

Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:35 PM | Comments (0)

Were you born in 1941?

Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 02:23 AM | Comments (0)

September 01, 2010

Best prof-loved corporate law sites.

They may in effect send 25-year-old teacups and teletubbies to your shop each Fall--but some law profs do have fine taste in resources for working stiffs who must labor in the streets and trenches. Read the takes on better corporate blogs of J.W. Verret (George Mason) at Truth on the Market and of the still-famous Professor Bainbridge (UCLA). We would not add to the combined list. Well done. Pass+ to both. You need not call your mothers.

Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)

International Arbitration: New York's Debevoise steps up.

And does the sane thing. Clients have had good reason over the years to disbelieve promises by law firms to restore arbitration to its original goals of faster-cheaper-better. Almost none of them were kept. Litigation is a money-maker, and larger firms, boutiques and other Western law shops with higher-end corporate clients have too much riding on the fees. But some observers think that New York City-based Debevoise & Plimpton, with 650 lawyers in US, Europe and Asia, still may have done the right, sane and smart thing by developing and announcing its "Debevoise Protocol to Promote Efficiency in International Arbitration" (April 2010). Do see, by GE's Mike McIlwrath, an in-house oil and gas litigation lawyer based in Florence, Italy, this article: "Faster, Cheaper: Global Initiatives to Promote Efficiency in International Arbitration", reprinted from 76 Arbitration 568–570 (2010). Debevosie will be a hero to clients worldwide, and keep its own clients forever, if it delivers and keeps up the leadership. The April 2010 Debevoise Protocol is reproduced in McIlwrath's piece and can also be found on Debevoise's website.

Posted by JD Hull at 10:31 AM | Comments (0)