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October 26, 2007
"Helluva job, Holden."
George, Arnold--and WAC?--tour Rancho Bernardo. Here (San Diego Union-Tribune), here (NPR), and here (AP).
Yesterday, they let people back into my neighborhood of Bernardo Heights in "upscale" Rancho Bernardo. Our own mask-clad and normally patrician Holden Oliver was kind to get his hands dirty last night by helping to return my rescued animals (including my demented cat J.D.) to the house and by cleaning up some of the soot in the rooms where windows had been cracked. Holden's no man of the people. And, while athletic, he generally shuns menial labor and the outdoors. He once told Julie McGuire that his idea of camping is "when room service at the Hay-Adams is late". But he loves hanging around Republicans--and this
week RB has even more serious "R"s than usual, a lot of them wandering around outside in RB. Holden had been working up north when the fires became unruly. Even that work stopped for a while. So he goes to San Diego, which many people are still avoiding or trying to escape. Maybe he wants to change the Constitution, and then run Arnold for something different, and national, in 2012.
Holden can adopt an observer's role in all this and even blog about it--but I can't. I live there. Someone called earlier today and said that they were finding charred bodies and skeletons at some of the burned RB house sites, and that the electricity in RB just went out. I don't even know whether this stuff is true; I have been busy on the other end of America, and I haven't watched or read much news. I'll do my own tour and assessment tomorrow when I return to RB. Not really sure what to expect. I'm a Midwest-East Coast boy. I am relatively new to SoCal, to the fires, earthquakes, bobcats, coyotes and strange reptiles, to the inland mountain wilderness that surrounds my house, to secretaries and receptionists who forget to come in on their first day on the job, to UCLA Law grads who think that 8 to 6 is a "really heinously brutal day, partner-dude". When people here talk about "energy consultants", they may not be referring to experts in fossil fuels, coal, oil or natural gas.
On every front, California has always been the World Headquarters of Surprise--good, bad, useful and lame.
Updated at 12:15 EST.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
October 25, 2007
CMU study: WAC? is among the 100 most informative blogs.
That's the word from a recent study by researchers at the Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science. Details about the study are here. Excerpt:
Rankings are based on the following question: Which blogs should one read to be most up to date, i.e., to quickly know about important stories that propagate over the blogosphere?
The methodology of the researchers has algorithms, numbers and charts in it. So we don't get it 100%--if we did, we would have gone to medical school. Anyway, we're honored. The full list is here.
Posted by Tom Welshonce at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
October 24, 2007
California burning: "If your fax machine rings, your house is still there".
The good news: the young San Diego councilman I've known since his pup stage just released a sad and bone-chilling list of homes that have burned down in my evacuated neighborhood--and my house is not on it, they tell me. Bad news: I am not even in San Diego, and despite my normal thick-skinned "it's-just-real-life-happening" take on these kinds of events, not being there makes it even worse. Somehow, I feel guilty, and for no reason. The last thing I--or anyone else who lives in Southern California--needed was this.
This time the SoCal fires are worse than the ones in late 2003, when on a trip to London, I literally had to drive between rural mountain ridges on fire along Del Dios highway the night before my plane left just so I could stay in a hotel to get to the airport on time--usually a 20 minute drive. It was a bit like being in the escaping-burning-Atlanta scene of Gone With The Wind, except much longer burning and with lower but hotter flames.
When I am not traveling, I "live", as it were, in staid Rancho Bernardo, a quiet conservative suburb of San Diego. For years I was on the Planning Board there, and now I am somehow glad I'm not. I've been away from California--very far away--for the last 10 days, since the 13th. Was supposed to go back to SD this Saturday, the 27th, just in time for a presidential candidate fund-raising barbecue in La Jolla, of all things. I am sure it's been canceled. This past Monday morning, I learned, oddly, from a BBC report that my Bernardo Heights neighborhood was evacuated, which is a strange feeling. Later Monday, I learned no one could go downtown into work.
Anyway, all living things got out of my house via help from neighbors. No one except me and a bunch of animals, including my cat J.D., live at the house (my lawyer ex-wife "evacuated" years ago from my house on East Capitol Street in DC). With no one around in RB who really knows what has been going on, and before the officials released the list, how do I know what's going on? Answer: The same thing I did in 2003 when I was in London and Kent--every two hours I call my home fax machine (001-858-613-XXXX); if it makes the high-pitched fax noise, my house is still there. I love that sound now.
More later, if needed and I can--but I am going to an airport. Trying to work here. But my friend and blogfather, Chicago trial lawyer Patrick Lamb, urged me this morning to find the time to blog about it no matter how "busy" I am, even though I am far away from California. You're right, as usual, Pat.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
U.S. forest fires--and mercury?
Speaking of fires in WAC?'s San Diego neighborhood, forest fires in Alaska and the continental United States--California, Oregon, Louisiana and Florida--release nearly 44 metric tons of mercury into the atmosphere every year, according to a recent paper by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). The Southeastern U.S. emits most of this toxic metal. The mercury comes from both industrial and natural sources. See "Scientists Estimate Mercury Emissions from U.S. Fires" in Environmental Protection magazine or NCAR website.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:52 PM | Comments (0)
"No, officer, the book didn't exactly attack me--but I definitely felt menaced".
Fear and loathing in Bloomington. For a kind of Hoosier madness other than basketball, see at WSJ's Law Blog the piece "Indiana Law Student Shoots Real-Estate Finance Casebook". Casebook, shot twice in a parking lot, is reported to be in critical condition.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:22 AM | Comments (0)
October 23, 2007
Brussels: Microsoft won't appeal EU antitrust ruling.
But just the facts, please, ma'am. Apparently, not everyone "loves a winner"--and Microsoft is a case in point. In this EU antitrust development and important but possibly short-term setback for MS, it's amazing how many different slants and headlines there are in 50 or so news reports: everything from the gloating/kiss-off-and-die Financial Times via MSNBC: "Microsoft Concedes Defeat in EU Battle") to the mildly complimentary/obsequious (AP via Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: "Microsoft to Comply with Europe").
Most leads and headlines are anti-Microsoft. "Blinks", "bows", "suffered decisive defeat" and "bytes the dust" are popular in these. The British press (MS "finally admitted defeat in its nine-year battle with the European Commission...") is especially brutal. We expect soon to see from the Financial Times: "Despondent Microsoft Has Nervous Breakdown; Jumps Into Elliott Bay To Live With Alien Sea Creatures." So far the Wall Street Journal's version is the most factual and fair:
Microsoft Yields in EU Antitrust Battle
BRUSSELS -- Microsoft Corp.'s decision to drop its nine-year fight with European regulators could signal tougher regulation ahead for big, global technology companies operating in Europe.
The defeat also means Microsoft will need to tread carefully in Europe when it bundles products or features into its core operating system and will need to welcome competitors with fairly open arms if they come calling for ways to make their software work better with Microsoft's Windows operating system. [more]
Can't a world-changer and U.S. success story like MS get a break?
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:11 PM | Comments (0)
Business 2 Business: Blawg Review #131 and Carnival of the Capitalists #211
David Maister at Passion, People and Principles hosts Blawg Review this week, and focuses on the business of law. At the same time, the anonymous Editor at Blawg Review is the host of Carnival of the Capitalists, the longest running blog carnival.
Posted by Tom Welshonce at 05:00 PM | Comments (0)
IBA in Singapore: $7.50 Pepsis, "groupies", way too many dudes.
But otherwise, as always, a great event, and with the tone of a British-style Hell's Angels Labor Day picnic. Pulling no punches, Brendon Carr of Korea Law Blog, now back in "humdrum Seoul", gives his report of the week-long proceedings. WAC? is beginning to like this guy. A lot.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 09:17 AM | Comments (0)
October 22, 2007
Dumbing it all down: getting high-end clients.
Last night some people asked me "how do you land or 'get' new high-end clients?" In the question, "high-end clients" are sophisticated users of legal services, which tend to be larger and/or publicly-traded companies. Could I simplify the answer--or even dumb it down--on our blog? The dumb-downed answer I come up with is 6 things: Credibility, Relationship, Limit, Keep Up, Persist, Timing. It applies to any size firm:
1. Credibility. This is an easily verifiable and true portrait of the right people with the right specialties at your shop. If you don't have the portrait, get it. You may need to make changes in your lawyers and staff.
2. Relationship. Just bonding. It needs to be a personal relationship, but not necessarily a strong one, especially at first. See Malcolm Gladwell's discussion in The Tipping Point on the art of the "weak tie". And in my book, you need to "like" that GC, CFO or HR person. It will be very hard for you to keep up the conversation that "we want your business" if you personally think the client representative is difficult, arrogant or a stone creep. Or the "chemistry" is otherwise just bad. No matter how sexy the client, you should pass and wait until they are replaced, get fired or quit. Also, the personality or style of the client rep might tell you something about the client's culture--do you really want this client?
3. Limit. Sell two or three practice areas. Do not try to sell everything your firm does. No one believes any longer that your firm--whether 10 or over 1000--can do it all and do it well, even it if can. Too much talent out there. Also, this goes to Credibility, above.
4. Keep Up. Monitor the company. If it's publicly-traded or high-profile, that's easier to do. Know stock fluctuations and news. The politics and internal events of the client are key here. You can hit them at the wrong time: in the middle of in-house lawyer changes, a company-wide short-term crisis (sometimes knowable, so read the papers) or a merger or acquisition which hasn't hit the media (so not your fault if you don't know). See Timing below.
5. Persist. The hardest of the six things. Landing great clients requires discipline and organization. And the mental health of a slab of chrome-vanadium steel. Rejection, especially at first, is logical and natural--not personal. It's your job to obtain new business. Keep making the contact, but know when to back down in the short-term. GCs and people who hire lawyers are often busier than you. And on "like", it's a two-way street. They may not "like" you. Or they may think that they have the outside lawyers they need. "Weak" GCs (fewer and fewer these days, but you'll know one when you see/hear one) may even feel pressured to use the lawyers they have--whether or not they are happy with them.
And then there's the unruly "factor": Timing.
6. Timing. Which really means luck based on persistence. Right place, right time. But you are making luck happen. Because you persist, you are on the phone with a GC you are hunting, sitting in a some CFO's office, or just sent a happy "thought-you-might-be-interested-in this" e-mail--when something your firm can do for the client has recently come up. Congrats, my friend, Persistence and Luck just collided. And see Keep Up above. Stuff happens to companies--some of it bad, some of it good, some of it knowable. Don't call the GC on the day the NYT reports the insider-trading scandal. Let luck happen without interference from you.
Getting high-end clients. All dumbed down for you--and yet still very hard to do.
And then...you must deliver to keep the client. Even harder.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:50 PM | Comments (0)
Anti-semitism, prejudice, people and juries.
Here's something useful for both trial lawyers and actual humans.
Last week Anne Reed at Deliberations gave us a post which is important, gutsy and of the stuff that makes the blogosphere worth visiting. See "The Silent Stereotype". She begins:
A mock trial not long ago taught me a lesson about anti-Semitism. One of the presenting lawyers was Jewish, with both first and last names suggesting that heritage. The other lawyer had a name and a look suggesting Irish ancestry.
More here.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 05:00 PM | Comments (0)
Writing well: "Does it sing?"
See Pam MacLean's article, reprinted from The National Law Journal, "Longtime Rebel Alex Kozinski Prepares to Lead the 9th Circuit" at Law.com. In December, Kozinski will take the helm of the U.S. Ninth Circuit court of appeals. He respects and revels in sound and unpretentious legal writing.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 08:27 AM | Comments (0)