« September 09, 2007 - September 15, 2007 | Main | September 23, 2007 - September 29, 2007 »
September 22, 2007
AP: Columbia U. won't stiff author of Mother of All Blogs.
[NYC] City Council speaker Christine Quinn called Thursday for the university to rescind the invitation, saying “the idea of Ahmadinejad as an honored guest anywhere in our city is offensive to all New Yorkers.”
Next week Iran president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (his excellency's blog is here) will be in New York to address the United Nations’ General Assembly. We don't like the guy either but... See "Columbia To Proceed With Ahmadinejad Speech". Columbia's World Leaders Forum hosts. Will someone please ask him to post more?
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
It's One Web Day--and big day for all you druids in Pittsburgh.
OneWebDay is today and its mission is to "create, maintain, advance and promote a global day to celebrate online life." Each year on or around September 22 is also the autumnal equinox, which has meanings in science, religion and culture. It's also known as Alban
Elfed, Cornucopia, Feast of Avalon, Festival of Dionysus, Harvest Home, Mabon, Night of the Hunter, Second Harvest Festival, Wine Harvest, Witch's Thanksgiving, the first day of autumn, and about 2.5 weeks after the Hell's Angels Labor Day Picnic. It's not just a day for pagans, druids and your odd Uncle Fergus in Albany--but we mention such observances as these folks seem to be coming back via The Web.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 02:47 PM | Comments (0)
Yom Kippur
The Day of Atonement, which began yesterday at sunset, is the most important observance for many Jews. And perhaps the most intriguing and instructive to non-Jews.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)
September 21, 2007
"But it's still not okay in Toronto to ask your mom to haul your free weights from the basement up to your old room."
In Canada, too, "Employment Booming for Older Workers", particularly for women, Borden Ladner's Michael Fitzgibbon notes in his Thoughts from a Management Lawyer. Based on August figures in The Daily, a report of Statistics Canada, a Canadian national agency.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
High-end boutique gets big time limelight.
We think you will be hearing more stories like this one as clients, client reps and GCs continue to get savvier, smarter and more independent in choosing outside counsel. At Law.com's Legal Blog Watch, Robert Ambrogi reports that, at a recent London awards dinner, a Miami-based "Small Firm Wins Big Honor", and an international one at that. Just four lawyers, folks. Excerpt: "While Cantor & Webb may be a small firm, its clients represent big money. The firm focuses exclusively in representing high net worth private international clients in tax planning, estate planning and related matters."
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Rule 23 bummer No. 2: Melvyn Weiss
It's been a "say-it-ain't-so-Joe" week. First, securities class action king William Lerach pleads guilty to paying off a named plaintiff. Now his former partner Melvyn Weiss, according to the New York Times, has been charged personally by the U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles with conspiracy, racketeering, obstruction of justice and lying to a grand jury in connection with the same pattern: undisclosed millions paid to named or lead plaintiffs in class action suits. See "Weiss Indicted In Class-Action Kickback Case"; also Overlawyered and links
there. 2008 issues? Weiss, like Lerach, has been a player in national Democratic politics and fundraising. 2008 U.S. presidential election fallout at some point? WAC? is not sure. We do see an over-caffeinated 2008 campaign worker or two going over FEC disclosure reports like they were looking for the good parts in Fanny Hill.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
September 20, 2007
French to start working again?
WAC? loves the French above all Europeans. See our Ile St Louis post in March entitled "Ernest, the French aren't like you and me". But 62 years (since 1945) is a hell of a long vacation, and enough is enough. Not everyone loves the new president of France, pro-business tough guy Nicolas Sarkozy, but The New York Times reports that at least he's got the right idea:
Sarkozy Takes Aim at Retirement Perks
PARIS, Sept. 18 (NYT) — President Nicolas Sarkozy of France took the first perilous steps to rein in generous early retirement perks of powerful unionized workers on Tuesday in a speech demanding “a new social contract” that could raise their retirement age to 65 from as low as 50. [More]
Posted by JD Hull at 08:38 PM | Comments (0)
"Spend a Few Minutes Each Day on Business Development"
From Tom Kane at his The Legal Marketing Blog, inspired by virtual marketing coach Terrie Wheeler in this month's ABA Law Practice Today:
You can overcome your procrastination when it comes to developing business by doing a simple item each day. If you don’t get started, you may never become an effective marketer.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)
September 19, 2007
AP: Belgium for sale on eBay
Charles de Gaulle famously said that Belgium is a country invented by the British to annoy the French. Belgium and Belgians indeed are highly complex. Belgium historically has been the "battlefield of Europe", and there are overlapping communities here speaking Dutch, French and German. Politics are often conducted along these lines: the Dutch-speaking Flemish v. French-speaking Walloons. Personally, WAC? finds Belgians--you can't generalize, but we will--educated, efficient, smart, artistic, sophisticated, multilingual, haughty, festive, solid and yet a bit high strung (takes one to know one). A highly civilized region with subtle, and very old, tensions lurking. Finally, one Belgian, well, just lost it: "Someone Tries to Sell Belgium on EBay".
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Bill Lerach Guilty Plea: This disturbed WAC?
As PointofLaw.com, the San Francisco-based The Recorder and other sources reported yesterday, San Diego-based plaintiffs' class action guru William Lerach will plead guilty and be sentenced to 1 to 2 years in prison and pay $8 million in fines for arranging undisclosed payments to certain Rule 23 plaintiffs in securities-related lawsuits. The plea will be entered in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (Los Angeles). District Judge John Walter must agree to the sentencing range. More here, including the information, plea agreement and DOJ press release at WSJ's Law Blog.
WAC?'s gratuitous take. All of our clients and most of the lawyers in Hull McGuire PC never liked the class action bar much--but that's not the point. Lerach and his team at his firms were creative, aggressive and generally good craftsmen. They were good at what they did--i.e., a new kind of economic terrorism aimed at corporations via research,
pleadings and discovery--even if we hated it. If this new stuff is true, what a 100% waste of talent, energy and resolve. More importantly, what was taught/imparted to new, junior and younger lawyers in those firms over the years--at best that the law was a cynical game, a dodge? No moral high-ground, gloating or even humor by WAC? would ever fit this story.
Only sadness could.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 09:21 PM | Comments (0)
September 18, 2007
Rule 12: Have Fun.
It's supposed to be fun. American law is extremely varied, elastic and constantly presenting new practice areas. It has something for everyone. I am convinced of this. Please keep the faith and keep looking until you find it. Put another way, don't quit before the miracle occurs. It's there, and it's all inside you, in front of you. Simple--but still hard. It's a privilege and joy to do what lawyers do when they do it right.
In the 12 Rules of Client Service, Rule 12, the last one, is Have Fun. If you are not having fun, you are doing something wrong. Period.
Any questions?
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Arabian Beauty, Dartmoor Serenity.
See "Arabian Nights" at a new WAC? favorite blog, Tara Bradford's Paris Parfait. And then you can head north from Tangier to Devon in southwest England. Costs you nothing. It's fun following Tara around. What a world we live in, eh?
Posted by JD Hull at 10:58 PM | Comments (0)
September 17, 2007
"Toying with China"
It's at Dan Harris's award-winning China Law Blog. See/hear also "China Not Manned Enough for Safety" and the NPR "Marketplace" interview with Dan's law partner Steve Dickinson.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:44 PM | Comments (0)
Blawg Review #126 means business.
This week's edition of Blawg Review (#126) is at former GC Anita Campbell's Small Business Trends, and blends business and legal issues. We agree with Anita's comment that both businesspeople and lawyers will benefit from reading this week's edition. And we'll go one step further: lawyers have way more to learn about business than businesspeople need to learn about the law.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:00 PM | Comments (0)
"Would've left work earlier today, but fell asleep at my desk."
Happy Monday, American workers. And buck up, as we hear from a Gallup poll that 77% of you hate your damn job. Not a good stat. But there's hope. Please see at Gruntled Employees the piece "Ept Managers Lead to Gruntled Employees" and the linked-to materials.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 07:57 PM | Comments (0)
September 16, 2007
The real rose of Texas: Racehorse Haynes
Say you sue me because you say my dog bit you. Well, now this is my defense:
My dog doesn't bite. And second, in the alternative, my dog was tied up that night. And third, I don't believe you really got bit. And fourth, I don't have a dog.
--Richard Haynes, at an ABA conference, long time ago
WAC? loves trials and Texans. Houston trial lawyer Mark Bennett publishes a blog we'll start to watch more called Defending People: The Art and Science of Criminal Defense Trial Lawyering. See on now 80-year-old Richard "Racehorse" Haynes "A Great Moment In Trial Lawyering" And see Bennett's "Resiliency".
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Rule 11: Treat Each Co-Worker Like He or She Is Your Best Client.
In our 12 Rules of Client Service, this one, Rule 11, is perhaps the hardest one to achieve. The Driven and The Motivated--at least the able and confident ones--want people just like them in their workplace. This is admirable, and can cause problems.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 09:59 PM | Comments (0)
"FRCP and Metadata - Avoid the Lurking E-Discovery Disaster"
Recently, before attending and participating in a panel on the west coast on developments in American law over the past year, WAC? reviewed, among other things, this article, courtesy of Workshare and by Dennis Kennedy. It's one of the best primers you could read on the e-discovery amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure which became effective December 1, 2006. If Rules 26 and 37, FRCP, are part of your world--and they are if you work in federal courts--you should read it sooner rather than later. Not long, gets to the points.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:05 AM | Comments (0)