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October 13, 2007
Climate change, nuclear power and the NRC
Speaking of bright ex-American Vice-Presidents who win the Nobel Peace Prize, some people think--and this is ironic if you've studied the environmental movement in the U.S.--that climate change concerns may lead to the building of nuclear power plants, both in the U.S. and worldwide, on a relatively large scale. We believe that, too. By the way, the last commercial nuclear reactor to go online in the U.S. was the Watts Bar plant, a TVA facility in east Tennessee, in 1997. Remember the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission? See Environmental Protection magazine's "NRC Seeks Comment on Implementation of Reactor Oversight Process (ROP)" and the NRC's call for comments to improve the 7-year-old ROP process. Comments close on December 7.
Posted by JD Hull at 03:47 PM | Comments (0)
Brendon Carr's Korea Law Blog
American Brendon Carr, based in Seoul, publishes Korea Law Blog, clearly a "blog to watch." See "Popular Korean Concept of Corporate Governance Rules", and the discussion of Korean chaebols, or conglomerates. This week Brendon attends the annual IBA meeting, held in Singapore this year. He notes:
As a US lawyer working in Korea, I am a huge fan of the International Bar Association as a networking and social event. I enthusiastically recommend this event to any young lawyer, or in-house counsel, wanting to build a wide-ranging, international network of colleagues and friends. Truly a top-quality bunch of people attend this conference.
Updated: 10/14/07 4 PM EST
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:56 AM | Comments (0)
October 12, 2007
The Environment: Tennessee boy makes good.
Al Gore wins Nobel Peace Prize (MSNBC) for climate change work. Congrats. But, dude, don't run for president. You're not the type...WAC? thinks that, like George McGovern before him, Gore, who we admire greatly, has somehow become the "Willy Loman of the Left", to borrow a phrase from an old friend. Like Willy, Gore has a sense of entitlement, and he is liked--but not well-liked. Even the deluded Loman, created by playwright Arthur Miller, had fire in his belly. Prince Albert just doesn't.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
The Billable Hour: The Way of the Happy Rich Dinosaur?
Or, "No thanks, I'll just watch". Call me a Mastodon but my firm's not willing to give up the billable hour. Clients like it. So we like it. It works for our clients and our firm, especially in providing value, especially for longstanding clients, and for our model: high-end services for high-end clients who know and trust us in a "muscle boutique" setting. The hour gives us the power to be enormously flexible in adding value.
For all clients and all lawyers, the billable hour model is not perfect, I admit. There is a huge potential to abuse clients. But resorting to a value-billing/flat-fee model, in my view, would make matters much worse.
As an aside, my firm's clients apparently do not believe that hourly billing for us is supplying Hull McGuire with blank checks, or that we milk engagements. This has nothing to do with being good or morally superior. It's a business thing. Clients know we want repeat business. So we work hard at keeping the bills both fair and satisfying on a gut-level so they'll come back. The rest is done with trust--the most intangible, important and pivotal element is the relationship. I can't help you there--but you'll know it when you get it.
I'm sure there are many firms like ours in these respects. And so far
not one of our clients--i.e., GCs from large and often mega-large companies--have asked for any arrangement other than hourly billing. Some have had over 20 years to ask for value-pricing or something like it. They have not. When they do, we will listen.
However, I think that even in the long-term very few sophisticated and sane GCs will ask for complex litigation or regulatory disputes conducted on a straight value-pricing basis. It would alienate the best commercial trial and administrative law talent in America, as the course of the law's more contentious matters can be truly wild and unpredictable. It's hard to budget for a war.
For some transactional (which can be quite war-like) and some less contentious work, value-billing may make sense. But asking many of us to do it because it's fair and makes sense--and without market pressures and an existing value-price-based economic structure--is like asking us to "give peace a chance". If we agree, we'll feel both good about ourselves and smart--but we'll get run over. There's simply no business incentive for many to join in that good fight.
Moreover, let's assume for a moment that "value-billing"/flat fees went beyond its current status as an alternative client-lawyer arrangement and that it became the "norm"--don't worry, it won't--or to stretch this out a bit, it became, in effect, "required" across the board. It would: (1) compromise good clients who want outlandishly fine legal talent and niche specialities, which this country, by the way, has in abundance; (2) further dumb-down corporate legal products and services (additionally, dilution of the gene pool in recent years at some of the larger firms as they expand, nationally or abroad, is already a problem); (3) make client service even worse; (4) excuse if not exalt mediocrity in legal work in general; and (5) cause some fine lawyers to leave the profession. Welcome, folks, to McLaw. I hope that I am wrong, or that it never happens.
Further, and in a slight variation on the theme, until the market somehow changes, our firm is simply not interested in would-be clients of any size who want up-front "deals" on rates and services. We work too hard. We run from such companies when they find us; they don't get what we offer. We also understand that in-house counsel of a few fine American companies conduct "bidding"-type and RFP programs. Well, again, no thanks. For us, participating would degrade client and firm alike. Color us grandiose.
But if our clients and new clients we seek in the future change, we will change, too. So in the meantime, we listen. We watch. If we're not getting something important about the BH issue--which right now seems to us about as compelling and as relevant as the dreaded Y2K crisis--we'll come around. So we start with Carolyn Elefant's article in Legal Blog Watch, "Boston Firm Bans Hour", reporting on Jay Shepherd's firm and recent post at his fine Gruntled Employees.
Updated: 5:00 PM PT, 10/12/07
Posted by JD Hull at 10:56 PM | Comments (0)
October 11, 2007
Does NASCAR or North Carolina cause cooties?
Staffers from The Last Plantation get their shots, head to North Carolina, take in the races: MSNBC video.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)
October 10, 2007
Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe: and the winner is...Dylan Thomas.
It's held at Hippodrome de Longchamp, Paris. On Monday a horse named Dylan Thomas won. For fun, note how the persnickety British press writes about a 'Welsh' horse's victory on French soil:
Outdated draconian French racing rules almost cost the remarkably durable Dylan Thomas his victory in yesterday's Prix de L'Arc de Triomphe, as stewards spent an age examining all angles of a piece of interference involving the winner in the home straight on video before eventually letting the result stand.
All manner of Europe's gentry and royalty shows up for Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Quite a party and gathering of peacocks--a great place for WAC? to do a little client development, sort of. And at Tara Bradford's Paris Parfait, see hats and more hats. Makes you forget about Rule 37 and want to get on a plane.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Fred Dalton Thompson is now a 2008 GOP Player.
Like other public figures who won fame on television--Jerry Springer, Howard Cosell, Charlie Rose, Tim Russert and Geraldo Rivera, to name a few--actor-ex-US Senator Fred Thompson started out life as a lawyer.
Last night in the "R" presidential debates, he sounded like a pretty good one, holding his own and handling himself well enough to give candidates Rudy Giuliani and the spectacularly annoying Mitt Romney some future worries. Fred needs work but he's a player. But it still seems to us that Rudy will be the GOP candidate. MSNBC.
Posted by JD Hull at 07:36 PM | Comments (0)
When will China invade Taiwan?
Here at Transnational Law Blog, by Travis Hodgkins, just one of the TLB wunderkinds at UC Hastings law school.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)
October 09, 2007
The Blogs of War, Day 3: Right Wing Nuthouse
And back on the right, we have Rick Moran's Right Wing Nuthouse. He's from the northwest Chicago suburbs (way west of WAC?'s old neighborhood on the lake in Highland Park and his mother's childhood Evanston), conservative, of course, and he likes to write longer pieces but posts frequently. Not a hip-shooter. Thinks for himself. Looks "down" on all politicians, not just Ds. He loves the Cubs and Da' Bears in a way that is most poignant. He swears wonderfully when he's in the right mood. And he worries about America's space program in "The Enormous Damage Done to Our Space Program by 'the Space Race'".
Posted by JD Hull at 11:53 PM | Comments (0)
Sold Out: HRC women's summit next week in DC
Hillary Clinton's all-day women's summit (i.e., mega-fundraiser) next week on the 17th in DC is being billed as attended by women from all 50 states. It's sold out. Sensitive new-age guy WAC? and another Hull McGuire person will attend. Hey, it beats giving money to state judge candidates in the jurisdictions where HMPC is licensed to practice law. Besides, we need the party. And I need a quick trip home.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:33 PM | Comments (0)
October 08, 2007
Blawg Review #129: Columbus Day
No. 129 is by David Harlow at HealthBlawg. Columbus Day: it's an Italian thing, sort of. But WAC? must give some discovery credits to native Americans, the Vikings and the Beatles.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)
October 07, 2007
In Lisbon still? Meetings over? Dude, work much?
Welshonce Watch: Our Tom Welshonce has all the luck. I'm in San Luis Obispo again--and he's here in Portugal with the Salzburg-based IBLC. Last night I got a call from Hanjo of Bonn, Paul of Caridiff, Wales, and other solicitors from a prominent UK firm--all deadly serious lawyers,
usually--and Tom on my special "bat phone" I use abroad. I gave it to Tom three weeks ago when I was in Pennsylvania. It was 1:30 AM Sunday in Lisbon, and these gents were either attending late night services or conducting an experiment of some kind in the Alfama district's "cultural sector". The Welsh guys were speaking in tongues--Druid-sounding stuff, I think. Go Lisbon.
Posted by JD Hull at 08:57 PM | Comments (0)