« October 28, 2007 - November 03, 2007 | Main | November 11, 2007 - November 17, 2007 »
November 10, 2007
A little CPR on the Spanish Steps: new program on cross-border disputes.
Thanks to Diane Levin for pointing out to us "International Dispute Negotiation"--a new podcast program presented by the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR). Not boring. Lively, with a short jazz violin opening and then intro by a woman with an interesting voice, the IDN program presents examples of the ways companies and professionals from different countries and cultures approach dispute resolution. It is hosted by General Electric's Michael McIlwrath, Senior Counsel, Litigation for GE Infrastructure--Oil & Gas, in Florence, Italy. The introductory interview, from the Spanish Steps at the Piazza di Spagna in Rome, is with CPR Senior Vice President F. Peter Phillips. And hear the more recent McIlwrath IDN interview with Brazilian lawyer Antonio Tavares on dispute resolution in Brazil.
Posted by Tom Welshonce at 11:39 AM | Comments (0)
November 09, 2007
"Mukasey Wins Vote in Senate, Despite Democrats’ Doubts"
WAC? was wrong about this one. From The New York Times:
WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 — The Senate confirmed Michael B. Mukasey as attorney general Thursday night, approving him despite Democratic criticism that he had failed to take an unequivocal stance against the torture of terrorism detainees. [read more]
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 05:22 AM | Comments (0)
November 08, 2007
Hillary Clinton keeps surprising us.
Hillary Clinton--who WAC? predicts will start picking up increasing support from moderate Republican women (and some men) in two key states--is doing well these days. NBC/WSJ poll: "Clinton Holds 20-Point Lead Over Rival Dems". Still very, very early. Like a friend once said: "This is America--no one wins the nomination without a couple of near-death experiences."
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Newport Beach, California: Great duty if you can get it.
"Newport Beach is like a French Impressionistic painting." This is Orange County's version of Westport, in Fairfield County, Connecticut. Interestingly, Newport Beach is even more conservative than Westport, but better-looking and with a lot more art. Snotty WAC? loves both towns.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Photo parfait by Bradford
Tara Bradford is an American "living la vie Parisienne while writing a book". Behold "Books Galore" at Tara's wonderful Paris Parfait, see from her collection a 1924 photo of an Egyptian bookseller, and take the rest of the day off. Hit a few bookstores, maybe--but only if you've done your 7.5 billable hours first. Half-day today. Live a little.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:44 PM | Comments (0)
Getting it right: UK firms with double digit revenue growth
Do "UK law firms have a more sophisticated approach to strategy than North American firms"? See this post at The Adventure of Strategy, a consistently fine site by business strategist Rob Millard, a partner at Edge International.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:21 PM | Comments (0)
Kane: Bad Clients
Try this mantra: "Life's short, practicing law done correctly is hard, and no client is better than a bad one." We love it when Tom Kane writes about bad clients. It gets our juices going. For WAC?, bad clients tend to be any non-corporate client--sorry, but even individuals with education and big money are generally horrible and annoying clients--and the vast majority of small and medium-sized businesses. Hey, that's just about everyone. In any event, only "hire" clients who understand your work, appreciate it, and pay you. It sounds flippant--but it's a basic truth to survive much less prosper. Good clients "get" great lawyering and great service. Bad clients do not. So see Tom's piece "Are Bad Clients Keeping You Up At Night?" Then repeat the mantra.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:55 AM | Comments (0)
November 07, 2007
"Uh, there's no pot here, Beavis--just monkeys."
Two Stolen Monkeys Are Returned To Owner
EIGHTY FOUR, Pa. (AP) - Two exotic monkeys were returned yesterday to a private wildlife compound in Western Pennsylvania, where they apparently had been stolen from a greenhouse in which teenagers believed marijuana was being grown. [read more]
See also "Pot-Smokin' Monkeys On The Lam" (Lehigh Valley News).
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:55 AM | Comments (0)
Legal Talk Network: The SoCal fires
There's an interesting interview of three San Diego lawyers on the recent southern California fires right here at the October 31 edition of the LegalTalkNetwork's "Lawyer2Lawyer" radio show. It's hosted by Law.com bloggers J. Craig Williams in Los Angeles and Bob Ambrogi in Boston. WAC?'s Dan Hull is one of the lawyers interviewed.
Posted by Brooke Powell at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)
November 06, 2007
Merrill Lynch's bad week.
Make that a tough month for Merrill Lynch, the U.S. brokerage founded in 1914. First, record losses and stock plunge, and CEO replacement. Now the SEC investigation on off-balance-sheet deals to obscure risky mortage debt (AP), the forced exit of the chief of ML's consulting services arm (Jacksonville Business Journal), and the exit of a municipal pension fund from the ML portfolio (Global Pensions).
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Citigroup: Rescue by Rubin
Business Week: Former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin is tasked with finding a new Citigroup CEO.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
The Environment: The Universal Waste Rule
You can expect to hear more from industry and government in the next few years on the issues of responses to global warming, nuclear energy, energy security, non-fossil alternative fuels, waste disposal, and the environment generally. We'll see more federal environmental law enforcement, which waned under both Ds and Rs in the past fifteen years. Remember Jimmy Carter? Remember the "cradle-to-grave" waste management scheme of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 ("RCRA")? Okay, well then, how about the
Universal Waste Rule (original) issued in 1995? Under federal UWR, which is being amended further still, certain hazardous wastes generated by a wide variety of businesses--companies which generally generated no other hazardous wastes--were given a uniform but relaxed treatment: light bulbs (e.g., fluorescent, mercury vapor, sodium vapor, neon); batteries such as nickel cadmium, silver oxide, and lithium; mercury-containing devices (thermostats, barometers, thermometers, switches); and expired, collected or recalled pesticides. For a good primer on the Universal Waste Rule, see in the recent issue of Environmental Protection magazine "Universal Waste: Bulbs, Batteries, Bugs and Barometers" by Mike King of Excal Visual LLP.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 02:52 PM | Comments (0)
CNN's Nancy Grace gives birth.
A Truly Blessed Event. Twins--a boy and a girl, according to AP. Forty-nine year old mother and babies are doing fine, CNN rep says. Which is of course good. But this is very, very suspicious to WAC? How could this happen? Who saw it? Why weren't we briefed about this earlier? Who drove to the hospital? Who was at the scene first? Did someone secure the area? Sounds like the old run-around to us.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:46 AM | Comments (0)
November 05, 2007
Dites-le en anglais, s'il vous plait?
Two blogs on France in English: French-Law.net, "French Law in English", by Nicolas Jondet, currently in Edinburgh; and French Politics by Arthur Goldhammer, at Harvard's Center for European Studies.
More out there?
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Melbourne muscle boutique launches new IP blog.
The talented but "unstuffy" Melbourne-based commercial law firm of Nicholas Weston just launched Australian Trade Marks Law Blog. This is a promising new site. See "Madrid Update", which is both a status report and primer on the longstanding Madrid system of international trade mark registration, administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). WIPO is based in Geneva, Switzerland.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Canadian ClientWork
One of the best sites out there on client service--you can use it or get an idea from it today--is still at "Clients" under the CBAPracticeLink section of the Canadian Bar Association's multi-faceted website. Always outstanding. No, client service is not an American thing.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Blawg Review #133
See here for Blawg Review #133 at Chicago IP Litigation Blog, by David Donoghue.
Posted by Tom Welshonce at 11:46 AM | Comments (0)