« January 20, 2008 - January 26, 2008 | Main | February 03, 2008 - February 09, 2008 »
February 02, 2008
Procter & Gamble to spin off Folgers.
Here at the New York Times. P&G will focus more on its other consumer products, like paper products Bounty and Pampers (which helped send one WAC? lawyer-writer to college), and razors. Procter, which has trained and hatched some of the smartest, most aggressive and proudest marketing and sales people on the planet, gave WAC? our Ease-of-Use idea. It came from the "new" plastic red Folgers coffee container and an assist from the Arthritis Foundation.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 04:35 AM | Comments (0)
February 01, 2008
Going home.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
So...what are you wearing?
See Carolyn Elefant's post "Must Lawyers Dress for Success?" at Legal Blog Watch. Our 2 humble cents. First, nearly all of our clients are out of town, and we can generally predict when we will see them. So we care more about your phone game. And your work and responsiveness to clients. Second, we love associates who love to work long hours so we can make money and they can learn. So wear what you want--but
look very presentable and by that we mean classy. We prefer suits in the East and at least blazers in the West--but you can always bend the rules. Finally, for you guys, who have less fashion sense: no Grateful Dead Ts or bolos during the week. And socks (two) are nice. If you are a straight up clothes horse, try bow-ties, and maybe spats. Such attire has this bonus: it makes senior lawyers who supervise you realize you don't give a damn about what they think. Red pocket squares are way studly, but only if they barely show. Also, avoid the FBI agent/Nazi youth cheap dark suit and crew-cut look, popular among insurance defense lawyers in Midwestern towns stuck in the 1950s. If you wear suits, buy good ones. Clients, juries and our moms all hate creepy-looking "cookie-cutter" males with law degrees and really close-cropped military haircuts in third-rate suits, white shirts and boring ties and shoes. Dudes, please shine your shoes. The ladies look there right away.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (1)
Tom Kane: "Is Your Firm Ready for a Leader from Outside?"
Here.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Nuclear proliferation: "Has Iran won"?
See The Economist, the world's new Time Magazine of the Entire West--just wittier and better written than Time or Newsweek (sorry, Howard). The piece begins: "Who would have thought that a friendless theocracy with a Holocaust-denying president, which hangs teenagers in public and stones women to death, could run diplomatic circles around America and its European allies? But Iran is doing just that."
Posted by JD Hull at 02:17 PM | Comments (0)
January 31, 2008
Law Biz: "Downbeat" is the word.
Not a pretty mosaic--but you should see at Bill Gratsch's Blawg's Blog a collection of recent reports and articles on the new lay of the land in "Legal Industry Forecast Downbeat". Includes annual Hildebrandt report and posts by Rob Millard, Pat Lamb and Carolyn Elefant.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Newest Wall Street worry: Bond insurance.
AP: A "heavy loss" by bond insurer MBIA Inc., and the prospect of new downgrades in the bond insurance industry.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
January 30, 2008
The courts, the Clean Water Act, and permitting.
Do see "CWA: 2007 Judicial Review", by Cleveland-based Robert Casarona, in Stevens Publishing's Water & Wastewater News.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
America: 2.2% growth rate in 2007; 0.6% in 4th quarter.
AP: "Worst year since 2002."
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Edwards Out.
DENVER (AP)--Democrat John Edwards is exiting the presidential race Wednesday, ending a scrappy underdog bid in which he steered his rivals toward progressive ideals while grappling with family hardship that roused voters' sympathies but never diverted his campaign, according to The Associated Press and NBC News. [more]
We expect you'll see the boy again. He's 54 and, whether you like him or not, he's a natural with ambition, game and grit. Query: These days how do you keep a populist message from sounding like class warfare?
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Florida votes: McCain defeats Romney; Giuliani likely out.
McCain, Clinton Win Florida Primaries
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch/DowJones)--John McCain of Arizona won a closely fought battle with Mitt Romney to win Florida's Republican primary Tuesday night, propelling his candidacy mightily forward to the 24-state Super Tuesday contest on Feb. 5.
Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani placed a disappointing third in Florida's Republican race after staking much of his run for the nomination on the Sunshine State. Late Tuesday, Giuliani was reportedly set to drop out of the race and endorse McCain on Wednesday.
On the Democratic side, Sen. Hillary Clinton handily defeated rival Sen. Barack Obama in an expected win. [more]
Baltimore Sun: Giuliani's Concession: A Bad Day in Florida
AP: McCain Beats Romney in Florida GOP Race.
Sydney Morning Herald: Giuliani Who? McCain Claims Florida.
London Times: McCain Takes Florida as Giuliani Campaign in Tatters.
Melbourne Herald Sun, Australia: Hillary Clinton Wins Easy Florida Vote.
Rudy, we hardly knew ye. You go John.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:15 PM | Comments (0)
"What should I do today to increase new business?"
If you have a passable blog called "What About Clients?", professional people give you "free stuff" to review. Good news: it's free, and it's almost always worthwhile material. Bad news: you practice law, run a business, travel, write straight non-blog pieces for mean editors and agents, and have an inventory of worthwhile free things to review for free. More bad news: you're a picky guy on client development ideas; you want to read and hear things that both work and serve as a "call to arms". Well, lately I've been both reading the books and listening to the audio portion of Jim Hassett's ambitious
The LegalBizDev Success Kit. I'll be writing about it more. There's lots to it but, for now, hear this. The man has thought through client development and retention from A to Z. The materials are presented so that even lawyers can understand. Your firm--whether it has 1 lawyer or 3000--has two choices: hire Jim as a consultant or buy the Success Kit. Got that? If you are like virtually all law firms on the subjects of (1) marketing, and (2) keeping your best clients from going to your competitors (i.e., marketing committee is well-meaning but complacent and/or clueless, and ignores firm's own marketing professionals), you need him or it.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)
Breaking: Getting older is sad for some.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)
January 29, 2008
You gotta vote for somebody.
Visit our Federal Election Commission Campaign Contribution Summary, first created in 2002, and regularly checked and updated. If you don't cough up $2300 to a national candidate, that's fine with us--but at least vote in your primaries and vote in November. These are interesting times in the still new American experiment. Let's not screw it all up by merely watching them go by. Get in the game. Like the famous Bob Dylan song, "you gotta vote for somebody". Well, you guys know what we mean.
Posted by Tom Welshonce at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
New book out! "Retail Banking Services in America: A Passion For Client Service Excellence"
Just kidding. At this level, Banks don't care. Great lobbyists, we must admit--and we'd even work for your retail arms if you greasers would just up your rates a bit like in the old days. We won't hold our breath. Anyway, on customer service for non-commercial accounts, if you continue to mix (a) the lowest-drawer employees with (b) millions of peasant checking-account customers and (c) treat them both badly (what other inference may we draw?), you'll always get (d) Retail Banking Client Service that hovers between (1) Drug-haze Mediocre and (2) Spectacularly Bad, i.e., hiring peasants to treat others as troublesome peasants (brilliant, in a way). See "Take it to the Bank: A Primer on Poor Client Service" at Law Consulting Blog.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 08:26 PM | Comments (1)
Street Fight: "Oh, now you've Kennedy-ed me....I'm shrinking".
Or, "Senator Obama, we knew Jack Kennedy, and you, Senator, are--well, dude, you were two-years-old...."
But that really does hurt, HRC, and we feel your pain. But Uncle Ted, Joe Jr., Caroline--that's dirty touch football, sports! With certain voter groups--including many in the "50+ over-educated guilty white liberal people" block--Kennedy endorsements cannot be trumped. Ouch! But misty-eyed we-shall-overcome Leary-lovin' Mailer-readin' baby-boomer old white liberal that WAC? is, the Truth is that Hillary Clinton is 10 times more prepared and qualified to become president than Obama is. Hands down. Still, ouch. This is a street thing now, my fresh-faced friend. An Irish thing. Whiskey! Hit us again! Another. Another. Turn your glasses over. We got the sand now--and we be most game for ya'. Begin the new age, new frontier epic battle: Boston Lace-Curtain Irish v. Chicago Little Rock-Bubba Protestants.
Anyway, Irish up by one...
WASHINGTON (AP) Two generations of Kennedys - the Democratic Party's best known political family - endorsed Barack Obama for president on Monday, with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy calling him a "man with extraordinary gifts of leadership and character," a worthy heir to his assassinated brother.
"I feel change in the air," Kennedy said in remarks salted with scarcely veiled criticism of Obama's chief rival for the nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, as well as her husband, the former president.
"I have marveled at his grit and grace," he said of the man a full generation younger than he is.
[more]
Query: Can the nearly 60-year-old Kennedy machine still write, or what?
Photo: ABC News.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 05:42 PM | Comments (6)
January 28, 2008
SAG Awards: thanks, we needed that.
About last night. Believe what you will about Los Angeles. Like NYC and DC, it's a magnet for talent, extra-hard work, big ideas and just plain big ones. You think being a lawyer is hard? It is, done right. But success in Hollywood is way harder. No town for weenies. NYT: "Stars Seize Their Chance to Shine at SAG Awards ".
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 08:00 PM | Comments (0)
Bilbo Gandalf LLC
Bilbo then disappears. Bilbo has actually put on his magic ring and slipped away. Back at his hobbit hole, Bag End, he has a frank talk with Gandalf the wizard before leaving the ring behind for Frodo. This sets up the rest of the three books, which tell of Frodo’s quest to destroy the ring and thereby save Middle Earth. Was just a matter of right time and place. See Blawg Review #144 at Cyberlaw Central.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:23 AM | Comments (0)
Good morning, American worker.
Happy Monday. It's still Winter. Today, you're just a shade of a tad Hungover. You hate your Job. Your entire Life. Your Dog. And your eldest son's resume is beginning to read like a Police Blotter. Re: suffering, maybe you can just use It, because it teaches.
Suffering overcomes the mind's inertia, develops the thinking powers, opens up a new world, and drives the soul to action.--Anthony H. Evans
Great minds have purposes, others have wishes. Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune; but great minds rise above them.--Washington Irving
Posted by JD Hull at 12:08 AM | Comments (0)
January 27, 2008
Real Blogs are Rare: Ray Ward's Minor Wisdom.
And he'd just say shucks. It's Sunday: the only day I spend any time alone, am quiet for long stretches, and won't yell at any one. In my head and heart, where things can grow, I've bumped Ray Ward's Minor Wisdom from the #11 spot to #1 on my best blogs/blawgs/sites/all on-line and electronic magazines. This is All Categories, All Professions, All Nations, All Tribes, All Humans, All Life, All-Cosmos. I've seen the light, having waited for a vision to deliver me. Minor Wisdom has beyond lawyerness: spiritual, literary, musical, political, brave, human, personal and get-off-your-ass. And he's one of the few Jesuit-educated humans who makes it all sound like damn fun. His blog is so much better than every lawyer blog I've seen--including this one--that it makes me want to write full time, even if I starve ("purity of the heart is to will one thing"...). Well, strike the starving part. Anyway, let's pull Ray and MW from that soul-less category: lawyers. He's that and more. He reminds us that Jesus is headed for The Big Easy--and that's enough to make a blind man see.
Posted by JD Hull at 09:37 AM | Comments (3)
SC: Clinton punts, Obama makes big U.S. history.
Is this an interesting--and let's face it, great--nation or what? AP. WAC? has followed national elections since 1968--and there has never been a year like this one.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:54 AM | Comments (0)