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February 29, 2020
Bring Back Real Women: Parker Posey
Got sand? Parker Posey does. Rent "Party Girl" (1995). Watch her dance at the end. She's among the first in our Pantheon.
Pretty Bohemian Girl Next Door
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
February 28, 2020
Four more years?
Thank you in most cases for the warm, witty birthday greetings I received over the past 36 hours. Many were from childhood friends in Cincinnati, Chicago and even Detroit. The greetings from later periods were appreciated but frankly less fun to read. Some sailed right past me. Many did. OK, I can be slow.
Posted by JD Hull at 01:19 AM | Comments (0)
February 26, 2020
Writing Well: Lawyers Especially.
“If you work for a law firm, you and your firm are judged by every piece of writing that goes out the door.”
—Probably a DC lawyer and writer named Dan White. Circa 1988.
Henry Miller, American writer (1891-1980)
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 06:36 PM | Comments (0)
February 24, 2020
Clients, Customers and Buyers—Not You, Your Firm or Your Employees--are the Main Event.
Putting clients first is much harder than it looks. See Rule Two: The Client Is The Main Event at our annoying if true, way-righteous and world famous. 12 Rules of Client Service.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
February 20, 2020
"You can always tell the winners at the starting gate."
Fat Moe: She’s a big star now.
Noodles: We should have known, huh? You can always tell the winners at the starting gate. You can tell the winners. You can tell the losers.
--from Sergio Leone's 1984 gangster epic "Once Upon a Time in America"
Posted by JD Hull at 09:54 AM | Comments (0)
February 18, 2020
Seven
Happy Birthday today to the most beautiful seven-year-old girl in the World.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:11 AM | Comments (0)
February 16, 2020
Resist Western Wankspeak.
Let's nix professional, corporate and academic wankspeak and start speaking like human beings who value originality in language. Examples of wankspeak: empower, next level, unpack that, core competency and calling garden variety problems "challenges." Get the net, folks. We are starting to sound like Anita Hill or Steve Covey on acid. We can do better.
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Posted by JD Hull at 09:07 PM | Comments (0)
February 14, 2020
Irish
At Toomebridge
(by Seamus Heaney)
Where the flat water
Came pouring over the weir out of Lough Neagh
As if it had reached an edge of the flat earth
And fallen shining to the continuous
Present of the Bann.
Where the checkpoint used to be.
Where the rebel boy was hanged in '98.
Where negative ions in the open air
Are poetry to me. As once before
The slime and silver of the fattened eel.
from Electric Light, 2001, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Posted by JD Hull at 01:30 AM | Comments (0)
February 09, 2020
Coffee?
At Dupont Circle Sunday Farmer’s Market. About 10 AM. Where can I get some Unwoke Fascist Uber-WASP Sexist Racist Homophobic Pre-Colonial Unfair Trade Not Free Range Oppression Motherfucking Coffee?
Posted by JD Hull at 01:29 PM | Comments (0)
February 06, 2020
Consider “no engagement” letters to some would-be unsophisticated or crazy clients you’ve turned down.
Lots of conversations with persons who approach your firm with a legal issue do not result in your getting hired. The matter might be too small, too insubstantial or not the kind of law you do. You usually know in the first few minutes. But very often the time from the initial call or meeting to saying "no" is protracted. You may need to review documents, or speak with someone they asked you to contact. However, that may take a few days, and involve a few conversations and emails.
In those cases in which you need to put off saying no, write a declination letter. Email. Regular mail. Something. Put it in writing that you are not her attorney. It's easy. It simply says you are confirming that you and your firm are NOT going to represent him, her or it in the matter at hand. It does not say why. It does not need to say why.
If the would-be client is an "unsophisticated user of legal services" or, in your view, a stone crazy person, the declination letter is especially important. You may even want to write one if there was only a short phone call or meeting to evaluate the matter followed by an immediate verbal "no". Again, if there may be any misunderstanding, write a declination letter. And do it quickly.
Frequent questions:
1. Do you really need to do this from time to time?
Answer: Yes. At least 4 or 5 times for would-be clients in a large or BigLaw firm during your career. In the smallest firms count on doing it at least 50 times in the course of a career. If you do plaintiff's PI or represent Mom and Pops business clients, you may do it more.
2. Who do you send them to and when?
Answer: (a) To would-be clients in situations where you take more time than usual to evaluate the matter they bring to you before saying no, (b) to unsophisticated users of legal services or, and most likely, (c) to crazy people who might tend to rely on your legal representation going forward despite the fact that you have declined the representation. Do it as soon as possible.
3. Why? Why would you ever need to send a declination letter?
Answer: Because unsophisticated and crazy clients are legion. They may not listen well. Or no one will represent them--and they may be so desperate for someone to move forward with their marginal or "dog" case that they in effect hijack you and your firm in hopes that you feel duty-bound to act or that you will change your mind. This is particularly true if a jurisdictional deadline is looming.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)
February 05, 2020
Posted by JD Hull at 05:58 AM | Comments (0)
February 03, 2020
Victim America
Morning, America. Monday February 3, 2020. Get your victim on. If Victimhood eludes you this week, you’re doing it all wrong. 😎
Posted by JD Hull at 07:28 AM | Comments (0)
Trump.
People are a bit on edge in day-to-day liberal DC. Last 6 months especially. I was born in the city. I live in the city. Spent 25 years working in it. I’ve never seen anything like it. People have Trump on the brain. Some outrage. But they only talk to each other. People “like” them. No one knows or even talks to very many “others.” No one gets out much. I’m vocal—but selectively. People who think like me are mainly quiet.
Posted by JD Hull at 04:12 AM | Comments (0)