« April 27, 2008 - May 03, 2008 | Main | May 11, 2008 - May 17, 2008 »
May 10, 2008
Hermann the German: Germany as "Americanization Nation".
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Writing well: we're not.
It's what we've been trying to tell you. It's a problem and a shame. The lawyer as man or woman of letters: where did you go? We've had to ask half the bright young associates and law clerks we work with if English is really their first language. And all the electronics aren't helping matters. See National Law Journal.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Wanted: "A fool in the forest".
Which is the name of a site of a talented California lawyer named George Wallace who has been working too hard, even by WAC?'s brutal standards. We miss his playful yet erudite Renaissance man's perspective. We need more lawyers writing about Salvador Dali.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:45 PM | Comments (2)
May 09, 2008
International Dispute Negotiation: Iraq
Hear this week's IDN podcast, No. 25, "Resolving Disputes and Drafting a Constitution in Iraq" with Zaid Al-Ali, adviser to the United Nations on legal developments in Iraq.
Posted by Brooke Powell at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
EU trade commissioner: "Lose the protectionist jive"
One of the best points made in the 2008 U.S. presidential election has come from a British politician. A reporter with the Financial Times in London writes that EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson, a former member of Parliament and Labour Party mainstay, has had it with candidates, presumably Obama and Clinton, hunting American Democratic votes with protectionist rhetoric that they themselves don't likely believe. And he thinks the campaign noise may be setting the world trading system back by "decades". According to the FT, in a BBC interview on Hardtalk soon to be aired, Mandelson said:
It is irresponsible to be pretending to people you can erect new protection, new tariff barriers around your economy in this 21st century global age and still succeed in sustaining living standards and jobs. It is a mirage and they know it...
It is going to lead us into a vicious spiral of beggar-thy-neighbour policies which will take us decades back in terms of trade growth.
Mandelson refused to name the culprits.
Posted by JD Hull at 03:59 PM | Comments (0)
May 08, 2008
Who said this? "We have no great illusions, my brethren and I, ..."
about how much good it will do you to be told these things in advance. We have learned by bitter experience that you will not take the things we tell you very seriously. You conceive this, I take it, to be somewhat in the nature of the pep meeting to which you were first exposed when you entered college. You expect me to tell you that you should be earnest about your work, and get your back into it for dear old Siwash, and that he who lets work slide will stumble by the way.
And to whom was this said? Think carefully. The first person with the
right answer to both parts of the question will receive a free WAC? gift.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:56 PM | Comments (1)
May 07, 2008
The Economist: Can Viagra cure jet lag?
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (1)
Mr. Obama: Got platform?
After the Indiana and North Carolina primaries yesterday, NBC's Tim Russert may be right, and you may be the Man. Most Americans love hope, motherhood and good crops. We are optimists if nothing else. But specifics, if you please. The U.S. economy? Foreign policy? Trade?
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:31 PM | Comments (1)
Chief Seattle
Forget Amazon, Starbucks, Nordstrom, Safeco and Washington Mutual. As goofy as you feel when you watch and hear it, each trip to Seattle must include Pike Place Fish Market, and watching a little fish-throwing. They always make it seem normal.
Posted by JD Hull at 08:55 PM | Comments (3)
May 06, 2008
2008 U.S. primaries: just about done
Today: Indiana and North Carolina
May 13: West Virginia Democratic, West Virginia GOP (1/3 selected)
May 20: Kentucky, Oregon
May 27: Idaho GOP
June 1: Puerto Rico Democratic
June 3: Montana Democratic, New Mexico GOP, South Dakota
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
John Day: Great trial lawyering.
John Day in Tennessee is a working trial lawyer and writer who respects clients, juries, the profession and lawyering. Since December, he's somehow found time to keep giving us his remarkable series on "What It Takes To Be A Great Trial Lawyer" at his respected site, Day on Torts.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:33 PM | Comments (1)
The U.S. candidates and global trade.
Thanks to China Law Blog, we picked up on this still timely February 28 piece by Craig Maginness at Going Global entitled "Presidential Primary Edition--The Candidates, the Parties and Their Positions on Global Trade". Excerpt:
[John McCain] seems to be very much a free trader, and is willing to go even further in staking out what I think is a sensible but apparently unpopular stance on immigration as well. Among the Democrats, their records would suggest that Ms. Clinton has a more favorable view of international trade than Mr. Obama, though their pitched battle for the nomination is forcing both of them to skew their rhetoric to play to the protectionists in the labor movement bloc of the party.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 07:01 PM | Comments (0)
May 05, 2008
Smile when you violate our patents.
At Canada's Law Day: On Friday, Procter & Gamble sued Johnson & Johnson over two teeth whitening patents in Wisconsin's U.S. Western District. See also Reuters.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Your Mother hosts Blawg Review.
Our Blawg Review host for BR #158 is a Dallas mom-attorney at The Mommy Blawg. The focus in part is on today, apparently International Midwives' Day. But she writes very well, this mother, better than WAC?'s moms.
Some Mothers we knew 1964-75
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Client service in a down economy.
See Leo Bottary's "Client Service And The Economy" at his Client Service Insights... CSI/Season 2.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:00 PM | Comments (0)
In 2008, how are law firms getting and keeping clients?
Brian Ritchey at More Partner Income breaks down ALM's recent survey on how larger firms globally (about 75 on up) are developing business these days. One interesting point is that only about 50% of these larger firms have a system in place that include each of the following: client interviews, client care "teams" and sales training.
Note: The grumpy but inspiring Holden Oliver and I are happy to help. We need two days with your main team and, most importantly, an iron-clad commitment and plan from your Executive Committee on how you will build and keep a client service culture at your firm after we leave your conference room. Seminars without dogged follow-up that firm management "gets" and buys into won't cut it.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:04 AM | Comments (0)
International Dispute Negotiation: Mark Kantor interview
In ADR, nothing is more important than the quality and backgrounds of the arbitrators or mediator you select. Internationally, the appointment process is even more challenging. So hear (along with the program's trademark perky jazz violin intro) the newest IDN podcast, No. 24, "Mark Kantor on Appointing Arbitrators". Kantor, a D.C. lawyer, discusses how to assemble a first-rate international arbitration tribunal, from obtaining good information on candidates to logistics to ethics rules.
Posted by Brooke Powell at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)