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June 23, 2007
It's 6:00 PM. Do you know what your summer associate is thinking?
Summer at law firms, Congressional offices, businesses and government agencies are fun for both the new clerks and interns and the more senior people who hire them--but the season is also useful for evaluating talent. And for developing talent and great habits. So once, again, and from a March 2007 post:
WAC? can't think of a better question to ask any associate or junior lawyer in the course of serving a client: "What are you thinking?" Ask it over and over again. Make them tell you about their thought processes. And educate them to tell you without asking.
Each project, or each of its subparts, by nature has a "running conversation". Try at regular intervals to bring everything back to one conversation--and not two, three or more different, internal ones, of two, three or more junior lawyers or paralegals working on the same overall project. Keep that conversation unified, external and live: real people with real voices meeting or talking on the phone.
You want to get really "interactive"? Then get off the Internet for a moment, stop the e-mailing, stop typing, stop blogging--and just talk. Active transactions, negotiations and litigations change every day. As we've written before, partners and senior lawyers in my firm want client service--i.e., solutions delivered in a way that puts the client first and changes the way clients think about what is possible from lawyers--to be good enough to permit the younger lawyers to steal, in a heartbeat, any client or client project we have. To do that, to work at that level, to improve legal products and solutions through the running conversation, lawyers doing the day-to-day work must be able to tell you, co-workers and the client what they are thinking. Keep thinking. But keep talking about it.
Give people that habit.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 03:31 PM | Comments (0)
June 20, 2007
Ruthie's got a brand new blog.
The British are indeed coming. Ruthie--GeekLawyer's sultry co-blogger, one of the hosts of the first LawBlog 2007 last month in London, and a woman with an enduring crush on WAC?'s well-bred and erudite Yank founder on your right--has launched Ruthie's Law ("Crime. But not as you know it.") First post was June 14. GeekLawyer, always a team player, has this to say about the new site. Ruthie gives us her version.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Outsourcing air emissions, too: China trade and the environment
At Environmental Protection magazine, see "U.S. Trade with Countries like China May Impact Future Global Climate Policy". In a June 13 research paper, Carnegie Mellon researchers suggest that, by importing more carbon-intensive goods from other countries, the U.S. is reducing its own carbon emissions; however, those same imports may be contributing to overall global increases. From the EP article:
As global trade continues to expand, issues of trade and emissions will continue to grow in importance. Many researchers have questioned how emissions associated with traded goods should be accounted for.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 01:34 PM | Comments (0)
June 19, 2007
China: Next Big Cities for IT Outsourcing
"...why is Dalian on the list...?" Only old China hand Dan Harris of China Law Blog is both knowledgeable and sophisticated enough to spot a recent list of the "next" top 10 cities for IT outsourcing in China, post it for us, and then take serious issue with it. See China's "Next" Top Ten Cities for IT Outsourcing.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Cite-checking, dudes.
This is your DOJ document.
This is your DOJ document on drugs.
WAC? likes the Harvard Blue Book and even the Chicago "Maroon" Book. And using them. It thinks that the fastidious baby boomers who perfected them got that one right. See at Above The Law re: bluebooking hell "This Is Why Cite-Checking Matters".
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:21 PM | Comments (0)
June 18, 2007
The Duke Chronicle: Nifong's bad Saturday...
From the Duke student daily, here's "State Bar finds Nifong guilty of 27 counts of misconduct - Lacrosse prosecutor to be disbarred", and other coverage from Raleigh and Durham, North Carolina.
UPDATE: Duke settles with indicted players.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:06 PM | Comments (0)
Charles Fox: Autism, and Blawg Review #113
Today is Autism Awareness Day (1 of every 150 children, according to the U.S. CDC). Chicago attorney Charles P. Fox of Special Education Law hosts a special Blawg Review, #113.
Posted by JD Hull at 09:51 AM | Comments (0)