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October 29, 2010

Eric O'Neill: Hard times jeopardize security clearances.

In Washington, D.C. alone, over 300,000 people from all walks of life have a national security clearance or approval from the federal government to work in or around government secrets: everyone from U.S. intelligence community chiefs and analysts to electricians contracted for projects at the Pentagon or FBI buildings. Above, Eric O'Neill, lawyer, real life American hero, and CEO of The Georgetown Group, talks to CNN on how foreclosures and other financial problems are perceived, fairly or unfairly, to make some Americans with security clearances vulnerable to bribes by foreign spies.

Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:24 PM | Comments (0)

October 27, 2010

Dante's Charon: Crossings.

The Ferryman Charon. Gustave Doré's illustration to Dante's Inferno. Plate IX: Canto III:

And lo! towards us coming in a boat
An old man, hoary with the hair of eld,
Crying: 'Woe unto you, ye souls depraved!'

In Greek mythology, non-lawyer Charon took souls to Hades--the entrance to the underworld. He did, however, have a standard fee agreement. Supernatural Charon ferried the newly dead across the river Acheron other if they had an obolus (a silver coin worth a sixth of a drachma) to pay for the ride. If you couldn't pay him, you had to wander the shores for a period of one hundred years.

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

October 23, 2010

Saturday: Pre-Depression Era Moxie Music.

"Down on the heels, up on the toes, stay after school, learn how it goes." --Buddy De Sylva, Lew Brown, Ray Henderson

Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:04 PM | Comments (0)

October 21, 2010

Again, French workers protest cruel Anglo-Saxon work regimes.

We check in on the French work ethic frequently. This week, French citizens in several cities have been marching against proposals--long pushed by President Nicolas Sarkozy--that would raise the retirement (and pension) age from 60 to 62. See Richard Nahem's report at "French Pension Protests" at his I Prefer Paris. However, our friend Richard says not to cancel your trip to Paris. French protesters who want to work less are apparently not dangerous or life-threatening. Just annoying.

Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (2)

October 20, 2010

Scott Abeles: On SCOTUS players--and clients.

Are U.S. Supreme Court stars always worth it? Washington, D.C. litigator and appellate lawyer Scott Abeles writes about the "Supreme Court Practice's Turks, Clerks, and Quirks" at his recently launched site Quiet Desperation. Excerpts:

The upshot is not that clients should decline to add top Supreme Court practitioners when presented with the opportunity to put one to a case. Rather, it is that clients must do the homework.

Ask a trusted contact at the firm what he or she thinks of the addition. Ask another. Do I really need this person? Who is pushing the addition?

How will the Turk improve the case? Who will really be doing the work? Who comes with the Turk?

Scott M. Abeles

Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)

October 19, 2010

National Writing Day: Blawg Review #286

This week's Blawg Review is a soulful meditation on writing. It's also a kind of ode to us unsung rubes who've loved to write, slaved away at it, and done it in declasse English for the past six centuries. And BR #286 of course, as usual, offers more. Do note that tomorrow, October 20, is the 2nd annual National Day on Writing.

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

More Unmaskings: Bravo, Carla Franklin.

So now maybe we can start having fair fights--and know where to serve that summons. This is a "privacy" issue? A privacy issue? No, it's not. Get the net. Most of the press coverage (i.e., OMG, accountability has trumped "privacy"!) on the Carla Franklin saga must have been written by 27-year-olds who spent J-school trying out different glues. "Privacy" on the Net doesn't carry with it the right to be a no-name rock thrower. You want to be cool--and maybe lob one in there at the enemy? Fine. Use your real name. You can even be a "bully"--we could care less. We just need bullies with real names. See in last Friday's New York Daily News "Judge Orders Google To Unmask YouTube Cyberbully Who Attacked Columbia MBA Graduate".

Posted by JD Hull at 11:47 PM | Comments (0)

Stephanie West Allen: On Changing, Evolving, Growing--Millennials, Boomers, and other Humans.

These are the Big Changes in personality and spirit: an overhaul or re-wiring of the brain, and an unfurling of the soul that often comes with it.

You hear it your whole life--from friends, family, and co-workers. They say that "people don't change".

From personal observations alone, I'm persuaded that they are 100% wrong. Take positive changes. People do make them, if slowly, and often with difficulty, in both fundamental and subtle ways. The best and biggest changes are often born in personal pain and crisis. And what about negative, "neutral" (or trivial), and even goofy changes? We all make these lesser, mild and unintended changes--and we do it all the time. We make them even if at heart we are hopeless, faithless, or lazy about the prospects of personal or professional blossomings.

For years, scientists have agreed that people change whether they want to or not. The trick is to harness the power of your brain to make the "good" changes--the ones that make sense for us--happen. We also call this growth.

Stephanie West Allen, a Denver-based mediator and consultant, has made a career of the study and utility of how people can and do change on all sides of difficult issues. The notion that people can change--fundamentally or in other ways--has interested me most of my life, beginning in childhood. Last year, when I first met Stephanie over the phone, and I later spent a couple of days with her in a Midwestern city, I was excited to know that someone (and with a law background, no less) was living and breathing it. The subject, of course, was not on the agenda of the meetings she and I were attending, and so I kept my exhilaration about it to myself.

But I kept thinking about it, and still do.` When I can, I read about the science of garden variety "human change".

Do note that the idea here--and Stephanie's work--is not about mere "consensus" or even "compromise". It's about the processs of starting to change and expand the way you think. There's a big difference making a deal (with yourself or with others) and real growth. As the actor William Hurt, who likes to work the idea of change and growth into his lines, might say with obvious irony: "I was merely evolving". These are the Big Changes in personality and spirit: an overhaul or re-wiring of the brain, and an unfurling of the soul that often comes with it.

Does that require pain and loss? Well, maybe. It certainly requires "work" on a scale that few are strong enough, and privileged enough, to undertake. My humble advice, to myself, and to others: wake up, get a plan, and try to change yourself anyway. Get bigger. Life is not only short; most of us are missing an awful lot of it.

To get a quick glimpse of what I mean, do read Stephanie's article, in the current issue of the ABA's Law Practice Today, entitled "Rules of Engagement: Generation Y". It's thoughtful and immediately useful. And I liked the way she concluded the article with "Remember that different is not necessarily wrong". Good for her she added the word "necessarily". Some things--like lawyers of any generation putting a client first--are just wrong to change. Let's not mess with that one.

Stephanie West Allen writes two well-known blogs: Brains On Purpose™, about neuroscience and conflict resolution, and Idealawg.

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

October 14, 2010

The Problem of Witness Demeanor in International Disputes.

In international arbitration and mediation, first-language barriers can be the least of your client's difficulties. How does a mediator or arbitrator arrive at a true--and fair--consensus on the meaning of ordinary verbal and non-verbal conduct by a witness? What is the significance of the "delayed answer" to a question? In one culture, delay means hesitancy and evasiveness (e.g., to most Westerners). In another, delay may denote careful consideration of the question--and a sign of respect to the questioner.

In 2009, GE's in-house counsel Mike McIlwrath interviewed Australian mediator Joanna Kalowski, who works out of both Australia and Paris. Kalowski discusses how she became a mediator and lessons that come directly from her work. She has also trained mediators in Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, Italy, Thailand and Hong Kong. Their 25-minute discussion, "Public Consensus Across Cultures" (IDN No. 61), taped on February 13, 2009, is part of McIlwrath's highly regarded interview series on International Dispute Negotiation sponsored by the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution, or CPR Institute.

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

October 11, 2010

Watkins on Business Mediation.

Atlanta-based Barnes & Thornburg partner John L. Watkins recently launched a multi-part site called Watkins Mediation: Business Mediation Resources, which includes a blog he writes. Both a litigator and ADR veteran--he represented clients in arbitrations and mediations long before that was cool--Watkins gets that ADR is designed to be a useful tool for clients. And not a cynical wankfest for their lawyers. Read his reminder in "It's Mediation, Not a Trial". Also see his three-part series on "Insurance and Mediation", which includes reservation of rights and coverage issues. Bonus: Watkins writes like a human being who happens to be a fine lawyer and commercial litigator. His writing is nuanced--but clear, concise and a pleasure to read.

"Alexander and Diogenes", Gaspard de Crayer (1584-1669)

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

October 09, 2010

Hard Times at Duke.

The Duke Experience. In The Chronicle, the award-winning, muckraking, star-hatching, and these days way-tawdry 105-year-old Duke daily newspaper, visit "Sex List Draws Media to Duke". Here are some excerpts--including two of the offending history-making links, which we have added--to get you started (warning: you may do no work for the rest of the day), to do more research, and in case you missed the buzz on Thursday of last week:

The 42-slide PowerPoint that has drawn widespread attention was meant to be shared between friends.

In it, Karen Owen, Trinity ’10, vividly describes the sexual performance of 13 current and former Duke students, all of them varsity athletes and many of them lacrosse players.

After Owen sent the PowerPoint to a few friends, it eventually made its way across listservs at Duke and then onto sites such as Jezebel, The Huffington Post and CNN.

At one point Thursday night, “Karen Owen Powerpoint” was the second most-searched term in the United States on Google. “Duke Powerpoint” was 10th.

Deadspin, a sports blog, and Jezebel, a blog that covers women’s interests, first posted the PowerPoint last Thursday. The document has since been viewed more than 2 million times on the sites.

And the best quote ever:

“I regret it with all my heart,” Owen told Jezebel. “I would never intentionally hurt the people that are mentioned on that.”

Above: James "Buck" Duke smoking a big one on West Campus.

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

Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:27 AM | Comments (0)

October 07, 2010

Wow. I'm blown away. Way to return that phone call!

The most beautiful maiden in the leper colony. Why try "to exceed expectations" when the overall lawyer standard is perceived as low to mediocre? Can we step up and set new standards? Rule 4: Do Work and Deliver Services that Change the Way Clients Think About Lawyers.

Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)

October 05, 2010

George W. Bush, Revisited, Sort Of.

From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Sunday, February 3, 2008, "One of us".

Posted by JD Hull at 01:00 AM | Comments (0)

October 03, 2010

Consider a run for President, too, Rahm.

Why not? I do like Rahm--and always have. This is not merely because Rahm Emanuel might well have been my Congressman, and maybe even Mayor, if my family and I years ago had not left the feisty suburbs of lakeshore Chicago years ago for Cincinnati, Ohio, an ironic result, arguably, of my dad's corporate successes. While I may be alone at my firm in reacting this way, I, for one, was doubly moved Friday by his remarks during his final moments as White House Chief of Staff. It was political (and politics done well)--but human and real. For a mix of takes, see blogs at the Chicago-Sun Times, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal.

Above: Rahm Emanuel, only 50 and not a lawyer, is solutions-oriented, driven, tough, smart, openly rude to Slackoisie, and wonderfully un-PC. Government plus business experience. Mega-talented, unafraid, energetic. And a leader. Oh, good dancer, too. Questions?

Posted by JD Hull at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)