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November 27, 2010
Above The Law Gets Serious.
A reason for lawyers over 25, and with passable mental health, to read a mega-popular law blog. Former Jones Day partner and current AON in-house litigation chief Mark Herrmann now writes a column for in-house counsel at Above The Law. We can't imagine a better holiday gift. Beats whoopee cushions, tantrums and cries for help. Is it time yet to ban anonymous and pseudo-anonymous commenters--and require real names and accountability from your many readers? Or still cool to weigh in as wusses and straight-up turds? Just asking. Well done, Lat and Mystal.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:11 AM | Comments (0)
November 25, 2010
Atlantic Review: Is the War on Hysteria now Transatlantic?
Our friends at the Atlantic Review--the Berlin-based press digest founded in 2003 by German and American Fulbright alumni--write that "Like America, Germany Needs More Sanity, Less Hysteria". Excerpts from a piece written by mainstay and AR co-founder Joerg Wolfe:
Where are the German Jon Stewarts, who could restore some sanity over here? The debate in Germany about multiculturalism and Muslims, immigration and integration is full of hysteria.
Christianity in Germany is not under attack by Islam. The real problem is that more and more Christians lost interest in practicing their own religion. [more]
The Brandenburg Gate, completed in 1791, is the last remaining Berlin gate. It is still a German symbol of peace, stability and wisdom.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
November 21, 2010
King Me. Now.
Back in the day, Baby Boomer Prince Charles, now 62, was cool, mod, dashing and could do no wrong. According to some recent polls, however, most Brits (see MSNBC piece) prefer Prince William and his new squeeze, Kate Middleton--both are 28 and, mercifully, have anti-slackoisie DNA and tendencies--as the next monarchs over his old Dad and his second wife Camilla Parker, 63. For all we know, the Queen, now a healthy 84 and on the throne since 1953, may supervise at the funerals of all four. Some upper class Brits seem to live forever. Toughest and feistiest humans on earth.
The current Prince of Wales headed for school circa 1958.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
November 19, 2010
Venice Beach, Los Angeles, California: Lord, Take Me Downtown.
The Ultimate American Zoo.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:34 AM | Comments (0)
November 18, 2010
Jim McElhaney: Jurors--and Lawyer Fatigue.
Most jurors are smarter than you think. Granted, they do weird things. But they get subtleties. They take their jobs seriously. And they don't want to be spoken to as peasants. See Jim McElhaney's piece "Lawyer Fatigue" at his McElhaney on Litigation column in this month's ABA Journal.
New lateral: Okay, he needs a little work.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:43 PM | Comments (0)
November 16, 2010
Writing Well: Satire--and Law?
The satirist is to be regarded as our physician, not our enemy.
--Henry Fielding, 1707-1754
Like lawyers, physicians may no longer be the great opinion leaders, or social architects, they once were, or people had hoped they would be. Still, you get what Fielding was trying to say. But satire (even Swift's) really never moves people. It just clarifies and makes them think.
So maybe it's ironic that satire is the only form of legal writing (I've even seen clever poetry in U.S. Tax Court pleadings) no one ever does--and should not try to do--in court papers, opinion letters or inter-lawyer correspondence. The law needs certainty, clarity and steadiness of tone--all kept at a consistent wave-length so we do not lose our place. You need to know the speaker or writer is 100% dead stone sober, and painfully no-nonsense serious. All are necessary mediocrities, if no fun at all.
But you do get excited and think you are about to see some great and epic satire and commentary every time you read a pleading which begins "COMES NOW...", a letter which begins (and my favorite) "Enclosed herewith please find..." or contract which uses "said" frequently. You are disappointed when you realize it's intended to be a serious document.
Legal Writing. Legalese. Legal-Speak. Can't we just "say it"?
Fielding's first novel was Joseph Andrews (1742), in which footboy Joseph rejects Lady Booby's advances.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:50 PM | Comments (1)
Great Work-Life Balance Moments in the Movies.
He's saying he didn't want to be President of the United States so he could stay home and be "Daddy"?
Give me a f***ing break.
--Billy Bob Thornton's Carville-like character in Primary Colors
Please send us an e-mail when drive, hard work, ambition--and the excitement that go with them--are no longer symptoms of a new loathsome American disease. We'll throw a party on our yacht.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)
November 15, 2010
Writing Well: Legal-speak needs to go.
Behold the image of the self-important "I'm-special" lawyer, rocking back and forth in his chair, and talking to himself like a mental patient.
Please help. It's silly and no one's impressed anymore. People are laughing again. Oh, Lawyer-Speak and Legalese. Of the lamer lawyer-centric institutions, only "Professionalism" and "Work-Life Balance" are more embarrassing, abused and irrelevant, and more likely to undermine clients, than the way in which many lawyers continue to speak and write. At least those two prissy battle cries originally had a point. But Legalese never had a point.
A few years ago, another law firm sent us a draft of a simple housekeeping agreement. It was a 3-page confidentiality agreement used during talks for an acquisition.
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We responded by submitting our own draft because, among other things, the draft we had received (presumably a "model" they had around their office) contained this language:
"Effective on even date herewith, the parties hereto hereby agree to...".
Whoa. How about just one date at the top or bottom of the Agreement and then say "The parties agree..."? And if the whole thing is an "Agreement", with language showing that the parties intend to be bound, maybe you don't even need that?
Either would save trees, ink and space, and would get the idea of contract across, and out of the way. And either would help diminish the image of the self-important "I'm-special" lawyer rocking back and forth in his chair, and talking to himself like a mental patient.
(from past JDH WAC? posts)
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:54 PM | Comments (0)
Weak Local Counsel--Another Lawyer-Centric Epidemic?
Weak local counsel (sometimes "terd") esp. Amer. n. 1. a wimpy law firm hired in an unknown or insular jurisdiction or locale for litigation (or other contentious matters) who, after the engagement has begun, instinctively and consistently puts local relationships ahead of the interests of your shared client. 2. Waste of time and money. 3. Encourage to apply for non-profit work.
They are legion, and some of your best friends. They are not bad people. They are often very smart and nice. Others may even call them good lawyers, and invite them to bar functions, family cookouts, church groups and wine-and-cheese parties. Or to more unruly places like Daytona, the Hamptons, or saloons with boozy names like Bullfeathers or the Tune Inn. They are Everywhere, and mostly men. They are in the wrong profession (or practice area). They don't know that yet, may never know, or want to know.
Do replace weak/wimpy local counsel quickly at the first sign of hesitancy to put your client first--even if it's supremely awkward, or involves "old ties". Clients do come first. In an ongoing contentious matter especially, you live and breathe it. Neither you--or your local attorneys--should even have to think very hard about that one.
You can serve a client without hurting relationships between lawyers in or out of their own provinces. One of the advantages of local counsel in litigation is a knowledge of, and rapport with, the locals, and their folkways. But those relationships come second to a mutual client. Anything less is at best "unprofessional" and, at worst, a conflict of interest. The following, from our "Sensitive Litigation Moment"/Federal Courts series, are among the most visited WAC? articles: Is "Professionalism" Just A Lawyer-Centric Ruse?, The Client's Professionalism Rules For Litigation, and "Professionalism Revisited: What About the Client?" (also in San Diego Daily Transcript, April 29, 2005).
Example: Last year our firm quickly engaged for litigation a local counsel in the small branch of a large Midwestern firm for an important out-of-state federal court discovery skirmish. They were two experienced lawyers with fine credentials who focused more on preserving personal relationships with local lawyers in their town than on going to bat for our mutual business client, a very good one at that. It was frustrating--and a bit pathetic--like having a courtly and polite but somewhat inebriated and prissy tennis doubles partner with weights strapped to each of leg, who was either unwilling or unable to go to the net. After informal discussions with adverse (plaintiff's) counsel failed three times, we and the client asked local counsel to file with us an aggressive but clearly needed motion in order to protect the record. Our co-counsel at first balked, and even defended themselves ("well, you know, we have to practice around here..."). It made us feel helpless and, well, angry.
But it was my firm's fault. We "let go" their well-known firm and them as soon as we caught on. We resolved next time to do better research on the ability of local counsel to be aggressive (if we needed it). Not only did our client and we waste time and money on that firm. The firm we canned lost out on the very real prospect of repeat work from that publicly-traded client. The client could have selected the larger firm for future work on its own, or our own boutique firm could have selected it for work with that client or other clients, as we often need strong help throughout the U.S. and in Europe. We love larger firms--when they deliver.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)
November 12, 2010
This Week's Blawg Review: IP Savvy in a Class by Itself.
Over at Cincinnati-based powerhouse Frost Brown Todd, partner and patent lawyer Stephen Albainy-Jenei is still a Mother of Invention. Don't miss this week's Blawg Review (#289), at his Patent Baristas. Even Austrian-born Hedy Lamarr is in play. It's always the quiet ones.
Patent Baristas frolics with the inventive Ms. Lamarr.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 01:59 AM | Comments (2)
November 10, 2010
My Marrakesh: Christian tattoo artists in Muqattam, Egypt.
East of Cairo, Muqattam is a suburb known for its past limestone cuttings, as well as for being the home of three generations of the Zabbaleen--the Coptic Christians celebrated in film and books as the unofficial "garbage collectors" of greater Cairo. And now, of course, for their work in tattoos. Visit our Yank friend Maryam--artist, writer, and charmed uber-princess--at her My Marrakesh.
Photo: M. Montague
Posted by JD Hull at 10:05 AM | Comments (2)
November 09, 2010
Mother Jones: Fear and Weirdness in the 2010 U.S. Elections.
Kevin Drum's November 5 article in Mother Jones--the enduring hell-raiser and serial winner of National Magazine Awards--is called "Weird Findings From 2010's Exit Poll Data". Excerpts, based on the new numbers:
The most intriguing result here is the top one: People who didn't vote in the previous presidential election shifted into the Republican camp at a fantastic clip. I have no idea why.
The most important categories are probably white voters and older voters, both of whom shifted Republican far more than the general population. Beyond the raw size of the shift, however, whites are important because their absolute numbers are so big and older voters are important because their big Republican shift was accompanied by higher turnout.
Conversely, although rural voters also shifted Republican in big numbers, their importance was diluted because their turnout was down.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:25 PM | Comments (0)
November 08, 2010
Heroes: Jill Clayburgh (1944-2010)
New Yorker. Artist. Warrior. Survivor.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:24 PM | Comments (0)
November 06, 2010
Stop me before I Twitter Stoned again.
"My name is Holden O.--and I'm powerless over keyboards after 6:00 PM." Hull says that the 1980s version of this was phoning ex-girlfriends or others while intoxicated and talking until they hung up (the "Indian Hill flu", he calls it). Now there's New Age brakes for this sort of thing--sort of: A Social Media Sobriety Test. It's not even (on purpose) a joke. See Scott Greenfield's "If This Helps" at his way-too-sane Simple Justice. Query: Just what is Twittering Success? Not getting arrested or beat up by someone's boyfriend? We don't get it.
Greenfield in late 1990s photo, pre-hunting accident.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 09:05 PM | Comments (0)
November 05, 2010
R.D. Lewis: Hungary Business.
At Cross-Culture by Richard Lewis, see "Country Focus: Hungary". It's a quick but fair rundown, and one with an historical thread, of doing business in Hungary. Plus ten rules to guide you. The last three:
8. Show your individuality. Hungarians are rather cynical, for ancient historical reasons, about leaders. The Soviet rule did nothing to change this attitude. But you will gain respect if you can show your individuality and expertise in a particular field, especially if it is intellectual, scientific or artistic. Intelligence, energy, shrewdness and a quick wit are admired. But remain generous-spirited and friendly.
9. Respect high achievement and competitiveness. They are eager to demonstrate that they can recover from the communist era faster than anyone else, and that they have been progressive (such as in having been early candidates for the EU.) They have an obsession to achieve and to show the fruits of their success in the form of status symbols like plush offices, cars and good clothes. It will do you no harm to do the same, if you can.
10. Choose the countries you talk about carefully. It will not help your case to overly praise Romania or Slovakia, or to talk about ethnic minorities unless you are well informed. The same goes for the communist period in general. You are on very safe ground asking about their difficult language and their linguistic and racial ties to the Finns, whom they admire. Always refer to Hungary as being part of Central Europe, not Eastern.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
November 04, 2010
Bill Gates and his IBM moment.
Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.
--Wild Bill Gates
Posted by JD Hull at 12:07 AM | Comments (0)
November 03, 2010
One college daily on the elections: "A changing of the guard".
From today's Duke Chronicle:
G.O.P. takes House while Democrats retain slim Senate majority
By CIARAN OCONNOR
In a sharp rebuke of President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party, citizens across the country voted Tuesday to shift the balance of power in Washington, handing Republicans control of the House of Representatives and whittling down the Democrats’ Senate majority.
While the Grand Old Party made significant inroads in the Senate, knocking out well-established incumbents like Arkansas’ Blanche Lincoln and Wisconsin’s Russ Feingold, Democrats won crucial races in California and Nevada that ensured they would retain control of the body.
In the House, Republicans took advantage of widespread voter discontent to beat a range of Democratic incumbents, many of whom fell victim to their unshakable association with a sagging economy and an unpopular president. As The Chronicle went to press, the GOP had picked up 59 seats, more than enough to guarantee it will control the chamber for the next two years. Sixteen seats remained undecided, according to The New York Times. [more]
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
November 02, 2010
So what's a "wine" arbitrator? Episode II of McIlwrath-Kirby IDN Interview.
Have you ever gone back and reviewed your firm's bill to a client to determine the fees on your end to select a panel of three arbitrators? How much was that? How long did it take?
Was having three arbitrators important to the client? And was it worth it?
Part II: Is one arbitrator enough? And if there's more than one, how do you spot a "wine" arbitrator on the panel? In June we featured Part I of Mike McIlwrath's interview with Jennifer Kirby, former Deputy Secretary General of the ICC's Court of International Arbitration in Paris. See "The $10 Million Business-to-Business Contract: 1 or 3 Arbitrators?", and McIlwrath's podcast No. 88 (taped April 23) of the CPR Institute's interview series on International Dispute Negotiation.
A month later, McIlwrath--he is Senior Counsel, Litigation for GE Infrastructure, Oil & Gas, and based Florence, Italy--continued his discussion with Kirby. Interestingly, they agreed that, with few exceptions, one arbitrator is preferable to a panel of three in business-to-business contract disputes, even higher value ones. Some of the reasons may surprise you. Hear IDN podcast No. 89 (taped on May 11), and Jennifer Kirby's "rule of thumb" at the conclusion.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
November 01, 2010
Lance Godard: "Are You Reading These Posts?"
"Value is the new golf." Consultant Lance Godard is apparently a man of a few well-chosen sentences--and we do like the one we just quoted on changes in outside lawyer-in-house relationships. As much as we often take a dim view of legal marketing experts, we also like his blog Are You Reading These Posts?, where he collects the better posts on getting and keeping clients. This site is not daily--but it's regular, high quality and with an international scope. Godard has taste in marketing resources, and he won't waste your time.
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Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Ted Sorenson (1928-2010)
Lawyer's lawyer, Kennedy's wordsmith, pluperfect international advisor.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Make Mine Catholic.
Great Moments in Papal Moxie. In the Western Christian tradition, today is All Saints' Day. It began in 610, when Pope Boniface IV in effect converted the Pantheon--which five centuries earlier had been dedicated to all the gods of ancient Rome--into a Catholic church. Boniface re-dedicated the Pantheon to the the Virgin Mary and all of the Christian martyrs. Talk about sand.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)