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December 22, 2007
Stocks enter the holidays on a high note.
From the Wall Street Journal:
In the last full trading day before Christmas, stocks brought joy to the investment world, delivering the December boost investors had hoped for.
Sources of holiday cheer included strong earnings, signs of healthy consumer spending and a possible capital infusion for Merrill Lynch, one of several Wall Street firms struggling with losses on mortgage-related investments. [more]
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Mediating Internationally
At the International Dispute Negotiation series of The International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR), hear the latest interview, No. 7: "Mediating Using International Arbitration Institutions: The ICDR and the ICC." Hosted by Michael McIlwrath, Senior Litigation Counsel with General Electric based in Florence, Italy.
Posted by Brooke Powell at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
On the Senate, court and cocktail parties.
I prefer tongue-tied knowledge to ignorant loquacity.
--Marcus Tullius Cicero, lawyer-statesman-poet-pundit (106-43 BC)
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 01:23 PM | Comments (0)
December 21, 2007
U.S. House committee issues subpoena in tape investigation.
Congress has shut down for the year but the House Intelligence Committee is still busy. Yesterday it issued a subpoena to Jose Rodriguez, the ex-CIA official who headed the agency's National Clandestine Service and allegedly directed that interrogation videotapes of two suspected terrorists be destroyed. Bloomberg: "House Panel Subpoenas Ex-CIA Official in Tape Probe". The NYT mentions that former Bill Clinton lawyer Bob Bennett will represent Rodriguez.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
A Texas trial lawyer in Paris
See "I'm Back" at Mark Bennett's Defending People: The Art and Science of Criminal Defense Trial Lawyering. Like us, Mark has noticed that the "French do exceedingly well" the following:
* Food and drink.
* Subterranean transport.
* Historic preservation.
* Clothing.
And we could happily add to that list. But we concur that what the French and WAC?'s favorite European cousins "do less well" for business travelers is "Technology".
While the hotel at which we stayed in the 7th Arrondissement provided, in theory, a high-speed internet connection, that mostly-theoretical connection didn't work well enough to stay online for long enough to do more than just check email...[more]
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:50 PM | Comments (0)
Business litigation as a lose-lose proposition.
Litigators and trial lawyers are like nuclear warheads; everyone has to have them. But once you start using them, things get expensive, disrupted and screwed up, even when you're winning every battle.
Litigators know this better than anyone. Hull McGuire does commercial litigation, lots of it, and we love doing it. But even in the best of cases, no one ever "wins". Like war itself, commercial litigation is a last resort, and an inefficient way to resolve virtually any dispute.
Holden Oliver, November 7, 2007
Posted by JD Hull at 11:10 AM | Comments (0)
Redux: Revolutionary marketing idea for holiday season.
One of our Brit friends found this re-occurring post and link below simplistic, shallow, anti-intellectual and apparently just "too American". And so we are obliged to pound it in until the British White cows come home. The advice here, of course, is all those things but--like other ideas and moving parts of American life--it actually works.
So once again, from the notebooks of the ridiculously simple but wise WAC? purple monkey pundit:
Do first-rate work for existing clients.
That's it. Nothing more.
See "When you work, you are marketing".
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)
December 20, 2007
Lawyer-blogger in hot water over criticism of elected judge
BROWARD COUNTY (Dec. 13) - A defense attorney's law license is at risk because he posted an angry description on the Internet of embattled Broward Circuit Judge Cheryl Alemán, calling her an "evil, unfair witch." Last week, as Alemán was on trial for alleged misconduct before the Judicial Qualifications Commission, The Florida Bar signed off on its finding that Sean Conway may have violated five bar rules, including impugning the judge's qualifications or integrity.
In the Halloween 2006 posting on a blog, Conway denounced Alemán for what he said was an "ugly, condescending attitude" and questioned her mental stability after, he says, she unlawfully forced attorneys to choose between unreasonable trial dates or waiving their clients' rights to a speedy trial. [more, South Florida Sun Sentinel]
And see Kevin O'Keefe's post "Lawyer Faces Discipline For Criticizing Judge In Blog" and Carolyn Elefant's Legal Blog Watch piece "Are Florida Judges Too Hotheaded?".
Posted by JD Hull at 10:52 PM | Comments (0)
What About Clients? named to ABA's "Blawg 100".
Many first-rate blogs didn't make this list--so we're really honored. We hope that our inclusion will bring attention to some of the consistent themes of What About Clients? since we started this project in August 2005, with the solid advice, example and help of a fine Chicago trial lawyer-blogger, and at the urging of two old D.C. friends of Hull McGuire: (1) client/customer service all over the world is remarkably poor, if not a cynical global joke; lawyers and other professionals can discipline themselves to deliver a better "experience"--weaving technical skills and real service--to valued clients, (2) corporate law firms under 150 lawyers can land and keep Fortune 500 companies if they have the right people and game plan (it's time for those with true grit to stop groveling and bottom-feeding), and (3) the legal services marketplace has become international for nearly all business lawyers.
There are the other WAC? categories--international business, litigation, IP, natural resources, HR, politics, writing well, Keith Richards, other mysteries of universe--listed over on your right that we cover every week. Other blogs we are "competing" with for votes in this ABA thing are very, very good. However, we think that WAC?--a part-time gig written by practicing lawyers (often under pressure and in very bad moods)--is more honest, broader in scope, funnier, better written, more useful, more thought-provoking, edgier, less constrained and just flat-out braver than most of the other great blogs out there. Life's short, and we started WAC? to say a few things you won't always hear at the cocktail parties and other dweeb-fests we all attend this time of year.
In short, we think lawyers should lead. So, if you are hearing us, and you appreciate it:
Posted by JD Hull at 10:27 PM | Comments (0)
December 19, 2007
A new and different Germany?
See "Arrogant Germans See Their Country as a World Power" and related links at The Atlantic Review, the fine news digest on German-U.S. relations published and edited by German Fulbright alumni. Excerpt: "The just released international Bertelsmann survey [PDF in German] indicates that Germans' views of themselves as a world power increased from the 2005 study by 8 percent to 49 percent in 2007." Also see "Germany To Play Larger Role In The World" at Berlin-based Observing Hermann.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Bush signs bill boosting fuel standards
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush signed into law Wednesday legislation that will bring more fuel-efficient vehicles into auto showrooms and require wider use of ethanol, calling it "a major step" toward energy independence and easing global warming. [more]
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
U.S. trade deficit falls by 5.5%
AP: Trade Deficit Declines To Lowest Point In 2 Years. To $178.5 billion in third quarter. But deficit with China is higher than last year.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 08:45 PM | Comments (0)
Iran receives nuclear fuel from Russia
WASHINGTON (NYT) — The United States lost a long battle when Russia, as it announced on Monday, delivered nuclear fuel to an Iranian power plant that is at the center of an international dispute over its nuclear program. Iran, for its part, confirmed on Monday plans to build a second such plant.
In announcing that it had delivered the first shipment of enriched-uranium fuel rods to the power plant, at Bushehr in southern Iran, on Sunday, Russian officials said that while the fuel was in Iran, it would be under the control of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the nuclear monitoring agency for the United Nations. Russia also said the Iranian government had guaranteed that the fuel would be used only for the power plant. [more]
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)
December 18, 2007
House spending bill: $516 billion, 1,482 pages, $7 billion in pork.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The House Monday approved a $516 billion measure funding 14 Cabinet agencies and funding for troops in Afghanistan, setting the stage for a year-end budget deal with the White House.
President Bush has signaled he'll ultimately sign the measure--assuming up to $40 billion more is provided by the Senate for the Iraq war--despite opposition from GOP conservatives. [more]
The Senate debates the bill today.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:17 PM | Comments (0)
More French job news: perks.
WAC? always wondered what people kept in those $2 million apartments near our usual hotel on I'lle Saint-Louis. AP: "French President Linked with Supermodel Bruni".
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 07:01 PM | Comments (0)
December 17, 2007
Herz: Strong, authentic and enduring business relationships.
If WAC? has a strength, that strength is telling you how to make great corporate clients happy from the moment you start to do the work--and keep that going. We focus on how to mix and blend your legal skills with client service for existing clients as seamlessly as possible. And, at a minimum, we'd like you to wake up and understand (1) the importance and (2) the difficulty of achieving that combination.
However, on the subject of networking and bonding with people who can bring you work in the first place--and the deeply personal and eternally human aspect of each business relationship--we are merely wide-eyed students. No one thinks or writes about these things better than New York's Arnie Herz at Legal Sanity. He is your guru and ours. See "Re-connecting With Your Business Network".
Posted by JD Hull at 12:34 PM | Comments (0)
Blawg Review #139
This week's Blawg Review (#139) is hosted by Legal Literacy.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 04:49 AM | Comments (0)
Deliver services to change the way clients think about lawyers.
We are talking about money here. Why try "to exceed client expectations" when the overall lawyer standard is perceived as low to mediocre? If your clients are all Fortune 500 stand-outs, and the GCs' seem to love you and your firm, is that because your service delivery is so good--or because other law firms they use are so "bad" or lackluster?
From Rule 4 of our 12 Rules of Client Service.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:35 AM | Comments (0)
Exactly where should you live in China?
Well, it depends. See this one from Dan Harris's China Law Blog, inspired by a post at Matt Schiavenza's A China Journal. And do not miss the comment (no. 4) at Matt's site from our Beijing-based Irish cousin Brendan O'Kane over at bokane.org.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)