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May 05, 2007
Saturday's Charon: Goodbye to Blair
Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair, who turns just 54 tomorrow, is expected to resign in the next few days. Like his friend Bill Clinton, he leaves power as a relatively young man with options, including getting rich from memoirs and the speaking circuit. But some, WAC? included, think he'll take a stab at European Union president in the next couple of years. And like Clinton, Blair has intense fans and detractors. So yesterday London's Charon QC posted a photo of Blair waving goodbye and started a caption contest. So far Charon's got 10 suggested one-liners for what Blair is saying on his way out.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Ray Ward: "A New Orleans rite of spring"
Renaissance man, lawyer's lawyer and Dan Hull's good twin, Ray Ward at Minor Wisdom has all the dope on the Tchoupitoulas Social Aid & Athletic Club's 25th Barathon coming up in just 13 days, on Friday, May 18th. Starting and finish lines are at Le Bon Temps Roulé. 6:05 PM sharp. Six bars, six beers, six miles. Pros only.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 06:31 PM | Comments (0)
May 04, 2007
Patten: Litigation Avoidance
As usual, London's Justin Patten at Human Law has a point. See "Are Lawyers Ready To Embrace The Concept Of Litigation Avoidance?"
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:48 PM | Comments (0)
May 03, 2007
The French presidential election
It is between two French baby boomers, Ms. Ségolène Royal and Nicolas Sarkozy. It is interesting, fun, testy and embarrassingly American in style, beginning to resemble the Hells Angels Labor Day Picnic. And yet it is still very French. The biggest issue in the campaign is the controversial French 35-hour work week. She wants to keep it; he hates it. See The Times of London's article "Sparks Fly As Royal And Sarkozy Fight It Out" about last night's televised debate, which leads off like wrestling reportage:
Sparks flew as Ségolène Royal and Nicolas Sarkozy tonight launched into their two-hour face-off on French television in front of an audience of around 20 million.
Facing each other six feet apart at a square white table the finalists for the French presidency made their opening attacks with Royal notably more aggressive in her initial stance.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 01:57 PM | Comments (0)
Subpoena for "lost Rove e-mails" served on AG Gonzalez
There's a copy of it here, via beSpacific, if you scroll down a little. This features a lawyer-politician with an arguably high-end client, the U.S Congress. Sen. Leahy (D-Vermont) requested the Rove e-mails at the Judiciary Committee’s oversight hearings on the U.S. Attorney firings (for alleged job performance problems) with Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez on April 19, 2007, and again in a letter on April 25. When there was no response to either request, a subpoena for the e-mails issued from Leahy to the Justice Department on May 2.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:17 AM | Comments (0)
May 02, 2007
Rupert Murdoch: Today MySpace, Tomorrow Dow Jones?
He already owns Fox, MySpace and The Times of London. Now he's bidding for Dow Jones, and its The Wall Street Journal, and he'll probably need to exceed his first bid of $5 billion. See Newsweek Business story and the many related links.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:23 PM | Comments (0)
Geeklawyer Sighted in US
British Werewolf in America. He apparently entered at Bangor, Maine, of all places. Geeklawyer may be in States to rest up for the UK Legal Blogging Conference he and co-writer Ruthie have organized in London for May 18. Anyway, the infamous barrister and pundit is here unsupervised, sans Ruthie, doing whatever he wants. Advice to New Englanders until GL leaves: Alert local authorities. Lock up your women. Stay in basement with radio and food. Don't leave house after dark.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 08:52 PM | Comments (0)
May 01, 2007
May Day, Law Day--and Blawg Review #106
Our main author is in the humble but beautiful village of Indian Hill, Ohio, pretending once again that he actually has a career in the film industry as an agent and treatment writer--but there are big doings today which I can cover. The ever-popular Blawg Review has been out for a whole day, and this week's host for BR #106 is Brett Trout at his Blawg IT, a finalist in the 2006 Weblog Awards. It's also Law Day, USA (but not Lawyers Day, we're reminded), established by President Eisenhower in 1958. Law Day has brought out the best of the usual poetic musings by Harvard Law grad David Giacalone. Finally, of course, it's May Day, the date of many different cultural, agricultural, religious and political observances all over the world for centuries, including the ancient Gaelic celebration called Beltane, as well as Walpurgis Night, celebrated in Scandanavia and Central Europe.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 02:47 PM | Comments (0)
April 30, 2007
Writing to and for clients.
Writing to clients is as important a thing that you do as a lawyer. Don't waste their time with long-winded lawyer-speak, which sophisticated clients dislike anyway and find amusing at best. Chicago trial lawyer Patrick Lamb discusses "Good Writing" at his highly-regarded In Search of Perfect Client Service. A short post, it ends:
What do our clients lack? Time. Don't waste it. Each word you write or utter should prove you value their time more than your own.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:45 PM | Comments (0)
Jack Valenti (September 5, 1921 - April 26, 2007)
See this New York Times obit, which is fair and pretty comprehensive.
To me, Jack Valenti was not just the Motion Picture Association of America CEO, Hollywood's "DC guy" or the fellow who came up with the movie ratings system. Part of our neighborhhood, he was the elegant, dapper but tough-looking little guy and ex-LBJ aide you saw walking often by himself near the southwest corner of 16th and Eye where he had his office, about two blocks north of the White House, and one block west from I had my first private practice lawyer job in Washington, D.C. in the ASAE Building. When you saw him walking around you knew that he was a "Washington somebody" whether you specifically recognized him or not: Washington royalty--but without the button-down boringness. He exuded it, but he never seemed like a self-important DC jerk. Some of us wandering around downtown DC during lunch or in the evenings after work did recognize Valenti. He was the man on the far left in the famous November 22, 1963 Air Force One picture, looking on while LBJ was being sworn in.
Posted by JD Hull at 10:07 PM | Comments (0)