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March 28, 2011
How should you really handle "Difficult People" and "A-Holes" at Work?
Answer: Learn from them. Hire them. Try to keep them. Work with, for, through and around them. Cultivate The Difficult and even The Offensive. These two often overlapping groups--with infrequent exceptions--are exactly what we all need in our workplaces. They rule. They have built, managed and and lead empires, and inspired others, for centuries. Leadership styles vary. But we'll take the often-blunt Difficult Leader over the more political, politically-correct Lilly White Diplomat. Any day. Every day. Don't kid yourself. And read--but never follow--anything written by Stephen Covey. His message is Nice and Eloquent but Lame and Unrealistic. And Bordering on Evil. We're not that "evolved" yet, Justin. We don't have to be.
This is Ted. He's "difficult". Listen to him.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
March 26, 2011
Our Tribute to Women's Month, Teletubbies & Neutered U.S. Males.
Greaseman: Power Boaters v. Sail Boaters.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)
March 25, 2011
Ancient Galleries. Ancient Faces. Part II: Is she cheating on you?
"The men don't know."
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
March 24, 2011
At Cross-Culture: Suffolk's Sir Eldon Griffiths on the U.S. in Libya.
At R.D. Lewis's fine Cross-Culture, see "Long Before the No-Fly Zone, the US Hit Gaddafiland Hard" by Eldon Griffiths, a journalist and former editor of Newsweek. He also was a member of the British Parliament, representing Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk, England, between 1964 and 1992. He begins:
The Anglo-French led air incursion over Libya is being presented in Europe as unprecedented. It isn’t. 15 April 2011 marks the 25th anniversary of the American attack on Tripoli and Benghazi by a force of eighteen F‐111 bombers and twenty-eight KC10 and KC135 tankers from airbases in and around what then was the Suffolk constituency I represented in the British Parliament.
Posted by JD Hull at 04:38 AM | Comments (0)
March 22, 2011
Bennet Kelley's CyberLaw & Business Report: Podcasts 1 -7.
You can find the first seven shows right here. In No. 7, "Search Marketing and the Wireless Spam Act", which aired March 16, Kelley interviews author and Santa Clara University professor Eric Goldman, and Canadian lawyer James Gannon.
The Prince of Providence: Bennet Kelley.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
March 21, 2011
Business-to-Business Recession Litigation: Smarter, and Shorter, Battles This Time.
Finality itself is, very often, your client's "win".
--Some in-house guy in northern Italy, and others.
Let's indulge in a few law markets stereotypes.
Good times = expansion and deals. Bad times = smaller pies and lawsuits. Generally, it's true. But expect something different in the long run: more arbitration. The world's economic "new normal" has already given ADR (alternative dispute resolution) a huge boost.
However, I've never bought the idea that ADR generally is "faster, cheaper and better..." than court litigation to hear and decide disputes between corporate clients. Faster? Maybe, if you work at it. Cheaper? Maybe, if you work at it. Better result? Maybe, and only if the arbitrator is not afraid to apply the law, and not wimp out and merely "split the baby".*
But arbitration does hold the promises of its promotional cliches. You have to work hard for them, though.
Arbitration's main advantages--either in U.S. or abroad? For us, there are three. Only three--so don't buy or drink the promotional Kool-Aid unless you have nothing better to do. First, ADR allows non-U.S. litigants who are parties to deals with ADR clauses to avoid U.S. courts, which are dreaded due to perceived inefficiencies, delays, surprises and unexpected expense, and the very real possibility of awakening The Yankee Vampire: big jury verdicts with punitive damages.
Second, and more importantly, ADR lets litigants select their own judge or panel of judges. You can often find more skillful, expert and efficient deciders than the government's jurists (i.e., state court judges in America) to hear and decide your dispute. In ADR, those panelists are everything. GCs and their law firms should spend time, money and brainpower selecting them. And even for many disputes around $10 million, you don't need a panel. You just need one "good" man or woman. Get it over with. Repose and finality is very often itself a "win".
Third, you can write your own procedural rules--or borrow from the many fine sets already out there.
Raphael's "The Judgment of Solomon"
*Your client's case is the weaker one? The "WAF"--Wimpy (or Wanker, in UK) Arbitrator Factor--usually favors the company with the weaker case. If after your firm's best case development you are stuck with really bad facts and/or bad law--and you can't get back to a court with a jury--consider identifying wankers on the Arbitrator List, and manipulating opponents into picking the "least objectionable wanker" for your client.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Employees are Third. What did yours do for you last week?
(Warner Bros.)
Sorry. But it's not about Your Employees. Ever.
It's about Customers, Clients, and Buyers. If one employee does not put clients first, you have a problem.
Expect something great from employees. Well, this past week, did they help you add value for your clients and customers? It starts in your shop with your employees--who are important and valued, but always "third".
If you are training support staff, paralegals and associates properly, and giving them meaningful things to do, good for you. Make them part of your client work, and get them to "think like" (a) a client which wants problems solved and (b) you--the owner, shareholder or partner.
And on item (b), are they treating you like a client? What did employees do for you this week?
How are they adding value?
Do they advance things--or hold you back?
Practicing law correctly is hard. Learning it is hard. Client service is hard. And a job is a privilege--not a right.
"Training"? To be sure, it is likely a myth. Good associates and other support people train themselves, jump into the fray with energy and resolve, and learn by doing. You can't teach it. So find them.
If you have to spend additional time "training" or explaining things to employees, and you still want to keep them, that's fine. (But maybe they should pay you?)
Are they buying into the ethos of great substantive work, and 24/7-availability client service--like it's a crusade, a religion, and a way of life?
After all, you are only asking for the minimum.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Sticking: You and yours have it?
Via our friend Andrew Brooks: London Tax Lawyer, Wordsmith & Stand-Up Guy.
Posted by JD Hull at 10:58 PM | Comments (0)
March 19, 2011
Heroes and Leaders: Anyone out there with Soul and Sand?
Pro bono work for the poor and disenfranchised? Bar association causes and events? The Rotary?Insular church groups? Work soup kitchens on Thanksgiving? An occasional letter to the editor? Chamber of Commerce membership for people who look and talk just like you?
Give us a break. Why don't you just put on a little hat, play the banjo and do a self-congratulatory dance for co-workers, friends and neighbors? You're barely living. You reside in a Deluxe Cave for Dorks.
Reach higher.
Anglo-Irish, Angry and Brave. So now add this Clergyman and Satirist to our Cosmos of Heroes. He was a unique and rare gent. Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), the author of Gulliver's Travels, was truly authentic, and maybe not quite as sick and strange as his contemporary critics thought; they saw him through the lens of the many illnesses that plagued his last decade and put him in a permanently bad mood. Certainly, he had no fair shake from any of us in the last century, when we all went nuts on Freud.
Sure, Swift could be abrasive. And hyper-aggressive. He made enemies, both literary and political. But he was influential. We still talk about and, when at our best, emulate the purity underneath his anger and sarcasm. He is of course the man who, in his pursuit of Irish causes, and fighting the alternating apathy and arrogance of the English, suggested that Ireland's poorest address their poverty by selling their children as food to the rich.
Those who knew Dean Swift were impressed that he put his ideas and notions of wrongs to be righted ahead of all of his many simultaneous careers. He put ideas and the plights of others ahead of his own comfort and popularity.
Big Moxie--it fueled Swift's desire for justice and his need to end the suffering of others--had a life-long hold on Swift.
Yet he was very much part of The Establishment of the England and Ireland of his time. In fact, a mainstay.
So who's brave these days?
Are Americans "stand up" people anymore? We live in a consensus society and, if you are a lawyer, or some other kind of Western "professional", it's perhaps even worse.
You get patted on the head for making your thoughts and actions risk-averse and business as usual. It's safe that way. You never need to lead. And you are actually rewarded for "it"--i.e., Flying the Colors of Sameness--in the short term.
Who apart from clever publicity hounds thinks on their own, acts, embraces unpopular but sound ideas about new practice models, and are not afraid of the consequences in our conservative, conformist and essentially tradition-for-tradition's sake calling?
Just pro bono work for the poor and disenfranchised? Bar association causes and events? The Rotary? Insular church groups? Work soup kitchens on Thanksgiving? An occasional letter to the editor? Chamber of Commerce membership for people who look and talk just like you?
Give us a break. Why don't you just put on a little hat, play the banjo and do a self-congratulatory dance for co-workers, friends and neighbors?
Reach higher. For starters, what about the 24/7 primacy of the main event: everyday buyers, customers and clients as a focus which never changes? Doing your jobs with skill and pride. Never taking them for granted. Inspiring others with your passion.
What about real innovation? What about thinking and acting on your own--and away from the Change-Hating Mediocre Herd? Never Reading Self-Improvement or "Business Leadership" books? Why not use your "educations" and too-often stagnant minds to think, create, act and lead?
And be like Dean Swift? Substance. Soul. Style. Sand.
Who leads? Which execs? Which lawyers? Which doctors? Which humans who have been given things many others don't have?
(from past posts)
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
March 18, 2011
Been everywhere, man--but nothing trumps this.
“Law is the ultimate backstage pass.”
– John Milton/Satan (L’Associé du Diable)
I'm gushing but torn, like a guy who just ran into that beloved ex-girlfriend he inexplicably didn't marry, and will never get out of his head. It's my birthplace, training ground and favorite US city, Washington, DC, where lawyers re-wrote the book on what lawyers really are and can do.
Here we more than just litigators, deal-doers, drafters, agents, fixers, politicians, lobbyists, liars and K Street pimps. A good, broad-gauged "Washington lawyer", regardless of speciality, is a thinker, doer, creator, planner, problem-solver, consiligere and true trusted advisor.
Her firm is not just a "shop"; it's a laboratory for new ideas.
You won't meet better lawyers. Or people. The city itself has energy and personality, and is a vast library of people resources. Talented and feisty folks choose to move to Washington, DC; they are not "stuck" here, or here by default. So I gush a bit. I'm grateful I lived here for the first 12 years of my career, and can keep coming back to work.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
The Economist: Japan March 11 Quake Ripples Through Markets.
See "Market Tremors. Excerpt:
The Nikkei 225 index fell 17.5% in the three trading days following the catastrophe, wiping some ¥37 trillion ($458 billion) off equities. This compares unfavourably with market reactions to other disasters. Once the New York Stock Exchange had reopened six days after the September 11th terrorist attacks, the S&P 500 fell by 11.6% over five trading days, but after a further 14 days it had recovered to its pre-disaster level.
Posted by JD Hull at 02:23 AM | Comments (0)
March 16, 2011
Tough, Stoic Japan.
Hiroto Sekiguchi / AP
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 01:28 PM | Comments (0)
March 14, 2011
Slackoisie Studies: George Carlin in "Bobby, You're a Loser".
"Bobby, clean out your desk." (Busy polishing trophies? Skip to 4:30.)
Posted by JD Hull at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)
March 12, 2011
Celebrating Women: Reminder that Hull McGuire Hires the Overly-Comely.
(NBC)
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
March 11, 2011
Northeast Japan
15 hours ago: Near Iwanuma, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan (Kyodo News/ Reuters)
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Who says popular election of state judges is "Fishy"?
How rude. Not giving money to sitting judges and would-be judges for their campaigns? Next thing you know, lawyers will no longer be the main event--with clients calling some of the shots. See at Choose Judges on Merit, a site by the "renegade" Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts, these two gems: Jukebox Justice and Electing Judges is 'Fishy'. But whoa there, PMC. Without lawyers writing those campaign checks, only honest and highly-qualified jurists will want to have anything to do with state courts. There'd be a merit system that hatches all these boring smart ex-lawyers who as law students made Law Review and Coif and as kids couldn't get elected Junior High Student Council Treasurer if they'd passed out free beer, airplane glue and cheerleaders as party favors. What then, smart guys?
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
March 10, 2011
The UK: Scotland upgrades view of America.
From our Senior Brit Cultural Advisor ("Things Celtic") Duncan Campbell King--whom quite remarkably recently-separated WAC/P writer Holden Oliver hasn't slept with yet--at Mr. Campbell's Wrath of a Sumo King:
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (2)
Do Visit Bat Country: Disturbing. Never Pretty. Instructive.
Or we'll put the leeches on you. Visit Military Underdog first, and Popehat second, each pictured below celebrating Lent. They're your friends, and not like the Others. And welcome to San Diego--known to some as "Death with a View".
Posted by JD Hull at 05:20 PM | Comments (0)
March 09, 2011
Marrakech: Gallic Elegance. Dinner. Legs.
Listen up. If you're an American male and still a real guy--i.e., not a lispy 30-something robo-twit metrosexual but actual U.S. Male guy--do take this two-step test inspired by My Marrakesh: (a) Did your last hostess in America wear bunny slippers, Yves Saint Laurent pumps, black gymmers or Red-Soled Black Shoes with 3.5 Inch Heels topped with Black Leather Leggings? (b) Can you even tell the difference anymore?
By Maryam
By Maryam
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Ash Wednesday: Sarah Silverman Repents.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)
March 08, 2011
Fat Tuesday: Ancient, Global, Pagan, Christian, Everyone.
Venice earlier today.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (1)
March 07, 2011
Shrove Tuesday: Let's run this by the gods, shall we?
Neither Mardi Gras nor Lent are commanded in the Bible but come from pre-Christian, pagan customs. What does God think about such pagan customs?
--The United Church of God, in "What is Mardi Gras? Should Christians celebrate Mardi Gras (Shrove Tuesday)?"
The above neo-peasant nonsense from the "UCG" well represents the kind of brainless discussions we'd could be having daily across America if only Germany had triumphed in World War II. It's a very good reason to encourage your family members and friends to think and feel on their own about matters of spirituality. Note how UCG speculates on how God weighs in on the meaning of Fat Tuesday's undeniably pagan origins. Go to the link above.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 07:36 PM | Comments (0)
Jim McElhaney: Write and Practice to the Ear.
In several of its decades, in my view, Jim McElhaney was the only person or thing that saved the ABA from being 24/7 the shamefully uncreative Robot-Suit Wankfest that it still generally is. The Reason? It followed--never led. The Good News? The best lawyers in America were--and often still are--members. The Irony? Those lawyers were employed by the very same firms that were turning the legal profession into a cynical ruse and dodge--even for to-die-for corporate clients we all sought and still seek to service.
No one had learned to reconcile the two hard facts that law was morphing into both (a) a profitable business and (b) a profession. No one even tried. These two facts still collide for clients. The simple question was begged for two decades or more: how do we now align client interests with our own? "Value" to customers was never discussed. Real "class" was never a goal.
McElhaney, a teacher of trial skills, and an ABA star and stalwart, had loads of both. He was the only reason I stayed a member for 15 years or so. Remember him and others in the great "Litigation" quarterly? I still have them all. But I am not an ABA member now; I am a member of four state bars, one international lawyer group I am very proud of, two non-lawyer groups I am also proud of, and the IBA, which makes more sense for me and mine.
See in January's ABA Journal "Listen to What You Write: Your Ears Will Tell You If You’re Communicating Ideas Effectively. It concludes:
Polish the piece again and again. Keep asking yourself, “If I were reading this for the first time, would I understand everything it says?”
Then read it out loud to as many people as you can make listen—one at a time. Your ear will catch the little mistakes and omissions your eye skipped over. And if anything sounds awkward or strange, even if it looks OK, fix it so it sounds right.
Write to the ear so your readers will hear what you have to say.
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Posted by JD Hull at 04:26 AM | Comments (1)
March 05, 2011
Rancho Bernardo, California.
I spend a lot of time here in this suburb of San Diego. In one sense, it's a bit like my beloved alma mater across the country: a small serious community of reasonable men and women who work hard at producing young adults who may some day take their places as high-functioning members of the ultra-bourgeoisie. Just way less fun, free-thinking and diverse. Suburban San Diego. While "well-educated" and white collar, it's stiff, reactionary and semi-literate.
But it's a great place to rest--and think. I do get the people. I do like them. However, unlike the more energetic and erudite out-of-state dream builders, writers, artists, and unabashed Alphas who move further north to Los Angeles--LA transplants tend to hail from the American Northeast--newcomers to Southern California are from safe no-nonsense enclaves of the Midwest and South.
It's like, well, Pittsburgh or Indianapolis or any number of fine cities in "flyover" land where the message is stark but honest and clear: "Succeed--but do so on our terms. Don't go too far too fast on your own. Don't make us feel uncomfortable about ourselves." As one friend notes, both San Diego and Orange counties are, at best, "Ohio with Water". At worst, Death with a View.
It's getting better, though. Slowly, in small waves, both San Diego and next-door Orange are seeing increasing diversity in peoples, and in thought. It can't be stopped.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Corporate Counsel: What kind of SEC?
See Broc Romanek's piece yesterday, "Should the SEC Be Reorganized? If So, How?" Excerpt:
With a government shutdown averted--at least for two weeks--SEC Staffers still have plenty to be concerned about. One of the Dodd-Frank studies--required by Section 967 of the Act--is being prepared by an independent consultant, the Boston Consulting Group.
Expected to be published soon, the study's stated purpose is to "examine the internal operations, structure, funding, and the need for comprehensive reform of the SEC, as well as the SEC's relationship with and the reliance on self-regulatory organizations and other entities relevant to the regulation of securities and the protection of securities investors that are under the SEC's oversight."
Given that this study was commissioned at a time when it was expected that the SEC would receive more funds and would be in full hiring mode--and now the opposite is true--it will be interesting to see how the study handles this dramatic change in the Congressional-regulatory environment.
Harvey (1950): "Well, what did you have in mind?"
Posted by JD Hull at 12:49 PM | Comments (0)
March 04, 2011
The Good, The Bad, The Wakened.
Stand Up Loud: Dance. Off Your Limp & Faggy White-Collar Knees.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 02:25 PM | Comments (0)
March 03, 2011
Bang Bang for Customers: Step Up. Sound Off. Change It All.
Warner Bros./Columbia Records
The very best reformers commence on themselves. -- George Bernard Shaw
Break out of captivity...your heart's still wild. -- Patty Smyth
No time for Weenie lawyers--of either (a) the Lazy Blowhard or (b) Skittish Dweeb variety. It's time for lawyers to lead. Put clients first.
Tell clients what you really think. Give advice--not just options. Stop covering your ass. Take risks.
Stop pretending you are "special". (That's over.) Minimize clubbiness. Stop making the law about your convenience and schedule. Fire bad clients. Fight mediocrity. Fight mediocre lawyering.
Stop writing documents which sound like hopelessly incurable mental patients talking to themselves.
Surround yourself with strong talented people who challenge you. Fire employees who who don't buy into your goals--or who don't or won't get it--and stop pretending they'll see the light.
Demand that law schools give you minimally functional, motivated, self-reliant graduates who can think on their own--and who believe that any kind of work is an honor and privilege to perform.
Think like a business person and not a mere academic. Practice discipline and structure. Help clients control costs. Become a trusted consigiliere.
Change the way people think about lawyers. Stop being Passive Weenies and Ineffectual Dorks. Act. Serve.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)
March 02, 2011
Justin, Josh, Ashley, Brittany: Do you get it yet?
Note, too, that Iran is not a household appliance. Rumsfeld not a TV drama. Cameron not an African republic. Good for DLA Piper's Kimberly Egan and her "Everything associates didn't learn in law school" at Law.com. You hit some nails on the head; we'll buy you dinner with Charlie, Holden and me. Current events emphasis especially good, ma'am. But new associate batch's biggest problems? Consider (1) bad writing and disrespect for The Sentence, (2) cultural illiteracy bordering on loathsome disease, and (3) wimping out quickly, totally and unashamedly at the first sign of adversity or complexity of any nature. Pick up on them next time you write. Gold star, though. Trophy. Balloons and ice cream on Friday.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:37 PM | Comments (0)