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March 31, 2014

Mr. Chavez

Today, the American states of California, Colorado and Texas observe an official state holiday to honor the late Cesar Chavez. Chavez was a Mexican-American civil rights and labor leader who, beginning in the late 1950s and early 1960s, brought worldwide attention to the low pay, poor living conditions and poor working conditions of American farm workers, including the health threat posed by pesticides to workers' health. A tireless organizer of non-violent strikes and boycotts, Chavez was instrumental in the formation of the United Farm Workers, and guided the UFW until his death in 1993. For his work, he earned the respect and admiration of countless contemporary American leaders and politicians.

César Estrada Chávez (March 31, 1927 - April 23, 1993)

Posted by JD Hull at 05:33 PM | Comments (0)

March 30, 2014

Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968)

"Portrait of Chess Player"

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Coming soon: The Easter Ferret.

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March 28, 2014

Mississippi Fred McDowell: John Henry.

Posted by JD Hull at 11:03 PM | Comments (0)

March 27, 2014

St. Genevieve: I know it, I see it.

Get down on your knees and pray! I know it, I see it. The Huns will not come.

Sainte Genevieve (422-512) saved Parisians from the Huns, the legend goes, in 451. People had started to flee Paris in anticipation of the invasion led by Attila--but stopped when she told them she had a vision that the Huns would not enter Paris. She became the city's patron saint. In 1928, a grateful Paris erected a statue to her on the Pont de la Tournelle (now about 400 years old). Genevieve is facing east, the direction from which the Huns approached. She is also said to have converted Clovis, king of the pagan Franks, to Christianity. If you walk from the Right Bank to the Left Bank near the Ile Saint Louis, you walk right under her, with Notre Dame on your right.

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March 26, 2014

Wednesday: And now it's time to...

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March 24, 2014

If you're a professional, 24/7 is really not too much to ask.

See "Rule 9: Be There For Clients--24/7" in our annoying but true 12 Rules.

1. Law is a service business.

2. Lawyers are not royalty.

3. It's a privilege to practice law (and to work, too).

Image: The wonderful Whole Theatre, Charlottesville, Virginia.

Posted by JD Hull at 12:38 AM | Comments (0)

March 22, 2014

Maximilien Luce: Port of London, Night.

"Port of London, Night" (1894), oil on canvas, by Maximilien Luce (French, 1858 – 1941).

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March 21, 2014

Peter Paul Rubens: The painter loved a great feast.

The Feast of Venus, circa 1630-1640. By Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640). Flemish Baroque Painter, Diplomat, Charmer, Father, Husband, Savvy Businessman, Fluent in Six Languages, Workaholic, Renaissance Man. Raised in Cologne and Antwerp.

Posted by JD Hull at 11:33 PM | Comments (0)

My friend Ernie from Glen Burnie: The 7 Habits of Highly Useless Lawyers.

Return of EFGB and the Seven Habits. Lawyers who won't take a stand is a time-honored tradition. Ernie from Glen Burnie, a life-long friend of mine, is not such a creature. It's just his nature. He'll stand up for people who pay him--and people he just met on the subway. You can read Ernie's story. It's about an old parchment he claims was discovered in Alexandria, Virginia, around the same time we both began practicing law in the District. Do see "The Seven Habits of Highly Useless Corporate Lawyers". This is a true story, mostly. So listen up.

Stand-Up Guys: Ernie, a dead-ringer for 1950s icon Neal Cassady, and the author, during their pre-lawyer years in Washington, D.C.

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March 20, 2014

Living Well: Samuel Johnson on John Dryden.

The effects of a vigorous genius working upon large materials.

--Samuel Johnson, commenting on the life work of John Dryden (1631-1700), English poet, critic and playwright.

From The Indian Emperour

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March 19, 2014

Real Religion: Buenos Aires.

Headmistress, Mystery School, 2004

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March 17, 2014

The Role of Irish Guys on the World Stage.

The purpose of the Irish guy is to drink and wear trousers.

--Anonymous Irish Woman

There are of course exceptions to the above view. This day--St. Patrick's Day--is in honor of a Brit captured and sold into slavery by "Irish marauders" to the chieftain Mil uh in the year 403 to work in what is now the County of Antrim. Patrick died on March 17--in either 493 or 460. In the intervening years, Patrick changed Ireland forever. Never underestimate Irish guys.

Seamus Oliver, Dublin, Week Days.

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March 16, 2014

1916: Forógra na Poblachta

("Proclamation of the Republic", April 24, 1916)

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March 14, 2014

Wordsworth on Writing, Working, Lawyering.

Writing--any kind of writing--is hard work. The most inspired "work moments" I've had are in this category: watching someone struggle with getting to the right word or phrase under pressure and when they are tired. The first time I saw it was watching a college daily editor--my roommate both in college and in DC for a while--struggle at 4:00 AM over a few words in the final sentences of a student reporter's story covering a public figure's on-campus speech.

He was also a student stringer for a well-known newspaper, and knew his bosses far away would see his article on the event. He had already phoned in the facts to an editor in Manhattan--and he had been careful to get those facts right.

The public figure had screwed the pooch; he had said some goofy and impolitic things that, given his government job, he should not have said, or said differently. The event was likely to draw attention from mainstream media around the country the next day.

And that happened. My friend, of course, couldn't have fully known in advance of any storms his piece might cause; I really doubt that would have mattered in his effort.

He still deeply cared, at four in the morning, about the writing--which was "good enough, but not quite there yet"--and it moved me.

Getting it right under pressure was--and still is--Steve's life. He later worked as a reporter for two national newspapers, and wrote a best selling and well-regarded book on international trade.

Writing, any kind of writing, is hard work--especially hard for those who are good at it, or even just care about it.

Wordworth's Muse: In the Lake District, you might hear "ghostly language of the ancient earth".

Even if you can't be perfect, and often you can't, please put your heart into it. Half-assed writing in any genre and in any profession--letters, reports, summaries, briefs, memos, anything written--means (1) you don't care, (2) you don't believe it and (3) I shouldn't read it--especially if I am a client, boss, judge or other "editor".

Typos? Missing words? Bad documentation/citation? Horrible grammar? Long rambling inefficient sentences that tragically hide great ideas and points? Not getting to the point early enough? Lazy writing?

It means you're either in deep personal crisis and should have someone else do it or--and much worse--you really hate what you are doing. You're telling me, the reader, "screw you, Jack". The former? You can always get back in the saddle. The latter? Time to get a new gig, don't you think?

*William Wordsworth

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March 12, 2014

The Rules.

1. Represent only clients you 'like'.

2. The client is the main event.

3. Make sure everyone in your firm knows the client is the main event.

4. Deliver legal work that changes the way clients think about lawyers.

5. Over-communicate: bombard, copy and confirm.

6. When you work, you are marketing.

7. Know the client.

8. Think like the client--help control costs.

9. Be there for clients--24/7.

10. Be accurate, thorough and timely--but not perfect.

11. Treat each co-worker like he or she is your best client.

12. Have fun.

Copyright 2005-2014 J. Daniel Hull.

Posted by JD Hull at 03:25 AM | Comments (0)

March 10, 2014

John Irving: Writing Well.

Half my life is an act of revision.

--John Irving (1942-)

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March 09, 2014

Scott Greenfield: New York Times v. Sullivan, 50 years on, and more.

Back in olden times, I wrote my first law review article on a U.S. Supreme Court decision, Time, Inc. v. Firestone, that added another wrinkle to "public figure" under the line of cases following New York Times v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964). In New York Times v. Sullivan, now 50 years old, the Court established the actual malice standard for media coverage of public officials in defamation cases. It was, and is, a ringing victory for the First Amendment and the press. First Amendment rights, however, do collide with other constitutional principles in some difficult instances. Rights of the accused in criminal cases is one of them. For an especially good take on this, see our friend Scott Greenfield's post at Simple Justice today, "Confronting A Free Press, 50 Years After NY Times v. Sullivan". An excerpt:

But what of our right to know, to have the press use confidential sources whose identities must be protected or they will clam up, and we will be left in the dark? Sure, this time it was something as trivial to society as a shooter’s diary, but the next time could be Deep Throat and bring down a president.

That’s the nature of constitutional conflict. It’s not easy, and a painful choice must be made. We want both rights to prevail, but the conflict makes it impossible. One will fall in the face of another, and it can’t be prevented.

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March 08, 2014

Peter F. Drucker: Managing Oneself.

Here is the starting point of all management. Thanks to my friend John Davidson, a St. Louis business lawyer, and a fine and refreshing thinker in his own right, for reminding us all of the enduring Wonder of Drucker and, in particular, of one of Peter Drucker's best essays. See "Managing Oneself" which last appeared in the Harvard Business Review in January of 2005. There are few real classics. This is one of them.

Posted by JD Hull at 11:56 PM | Comments (0)

March 07, 2014

Marcel Proust: On Travel.

The world is a book. Those who do not travel read only a page.

--Marcel Proust, 1871–1922, French novelist, critic.

Proust in Venice.

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

March 04, 2014

It's Mardi Gras: Robert Palmer plays Allen Toussaint with Little Feat.

Sneakin' sally through the alley
Trying to keep her out of sight.
Sneakin' sally through the alley
When up pops the wife.

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Fat Tuesday

Mardi Gras, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1879

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March 03, 2014

Eric L. Mayer: Of Civil Disobedience and Selfies.

Eric Mayer writes about "Selfies Gone Wrong: The Tariqka Sheffey Story" at his Unwashed Advocate. With an assist from the enduring Army Times, Mayer sketches the classic collision of Selfies and Blowing Off Military Retreat Honors. In a nutshell, an Army private assigned to the 59th Sustainment Brigade at Fort Carson, Colorado, ducked into her car to avoid saluting the American flag being lowered at 5 p.m., selfied herself and trumpeted her disobedience with considerable sass in the selfie's caption. Legions of folks, some veterans, complained. A Fort Carson post spokesperson named McNutt has confirmed that the military chain of command is all over this like a big dog, and Pfc. Sheffey will have to answer. Our take? We have no opinion on the story's disciplinary (i.e., crime and punishment), legal or common sense aspects (i.e., hey, don't generate evidence of your bad self doing "bad" things). We have a larger concerns: philosophical, aesthetic and basic street cred. Listen up. Selfies were/are never good, never cool. They are the province of little kids, the Whoopee Cushion Guy and lower rent narcissists. Let's. Quit. Doing. Selfies. Please?

Early Selfier Protoype: Ed Grimley in 1985 (NBC photo)

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March 02, 2014

Euripides: The bondage of chilled speech.

This is slavery: not to speak one's thought.

Euripides, stand-up Greek (480-406 B.C.)

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March 01, 2014

Parker Posey: You don't need the money with a face like that.

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