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December 01, 2011
Breaking law firm news: "It's about you--not about us..."
On Sunday night I was at once encouraged and amused to see at Reagan National Airport (DCA) a corridor advertisement placed by an American law firm with a bold, triumphant and "innovative" reminder. Apparently addressed to Prospective Clients Everywhere, the ad proclaimed, in effect, that Clients, Not Lawyers, are the Main Event, i.e., "hey, we're your friends--we're not like the others". Well, bravo to that firm. But should it take centuries for the legal profession to catch on that lawyering is never about lawyers? Why a reminder about the most basic fact of the profession? Our Roman friend Cicero argued his first case on behalf of a charge or "client" over 2,000 years ago. Are we ever going to get it?
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"Young Cicero Reading", Vincenzo Foppa (1464).
Posted by JD Hull at 03:38 PM | Comments (0)
Scott Greenfield: On Bullying, Cyber-Bullying and Real Life.
Life is Tough, Growing Up Hard, Legislation Expensive. At his enduring, highly-regarded, always-excellent and intermittently sensitive Simple Justice, see this one by Scott Greenfield yesterday: "When Bullying is Bull". Excerpts:
It's impossible to have any sort of reasoned discussion about bullying in the absence of a viable definition, and yet the conduct that is being swept into the mix continues to devolve. The overarching criterion seems to be conduct that is "hurtful," which leaves it to the person whose feelings are affected to determine that someone else is a bully. This can't be.
The issue isn't the mechanisms by which bullying occurs, even though the feds have an arguable basis for regulating these platforms or arenas. The issue is defining the conduct that comes within the parameters of regulation. The issue is that the teacups, the overly sensitive who are finally empowered to assert their feelings on the conduct of others, cannot be allowed to define wrongs based on their personal delicate sensibilities.
While most of us focus on this issue for only the few moments a high profile case arises, those who are behind the anti-bullying legislative thrust to vindicate their hurt feelings or further their scholarly niche are still busy at work pushing laws that would make most, if not all, of us and our children criminals. At some point, everyone hurts another person's feelings, whether deliberately or by benign neglect.
New York City's Greenfield in early 2010, just weeks before start of sensitivity training regimen.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)