« February 01, 2009 - February 07, 2009 | Main | February 15, 2009 - February 21, 2009 »
February 14, 2009
Congress passes the "just-might-work" $787 billion stimulus bill.
A bold and historical action. President Obama keeps reminding us it might not work fast or well. We get it. What's in this thing, anyway? Bloomberg: "Congress Sends Obama $787 Billion Economic-Stimulus Package". Excerpt:
The Senate late yesterday voted 60 to 38 to approve the legislation. Three Republicans joined Democrats in favor of the measure. Earlier in the day the House passed the bill, 246 to 183, with no Republicans in favor.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:24 PM | Comments (1)
The unused perk.
Law is the ultimate backstage pass. There are more students in law schools than there are lawyers walking the Earth.
--John Milton/Satan/Al Pacino in The Devil's Advocate (L’Associé du Diable) (1997)
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 10:59 AM | Comments (0)
Charon QC's Podcast 100: Lawyers, Yanks and Banks.
But who's interviewing whom? London's Charon QC does his 100th Podcast, interviewing WAC?, an annoying Type-A morning person who interrupts for sport, in their third talk together. One subject nervously covered was Britain's GeekLawyer. The very idea of next month's sequel to the barrister's Blawg Review#166 has entire Midwestern U.S. communities shuddering, carrying small crosses, and keeping garlic at work. GL is said to be in Canada, and poised for U.S. entry.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:33 AM | Comments (0)
February 12, 2009
British firm spurns Moscow-based Yank lawyer and "sex" writer.
My good man, what were you thinking? We're betting she'll sue Allen & Overy, a large but functional British firm WAC? likes. Deidre Dare obviously has the Moxie to lob one in there. This was all knowable. See Legal Blog Watch: "Muzzled Lawyer Gets the Boot, Threatens Suit". Let's noodle this, shall we? An American lawyer you hire moves to Moscow. She's impetuous. She writes this steamy stuff. Her last name is Dare. You fire her. Your 79-year-old Magic Circle firm attracts unwanted press coverage easily. It makes money. What result?
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:00 PM | Comments (0)
Is England getting wimpy?
Militarily? We don't think so. But our friend Joerg Wolf at the Berlin-based Atlantic Review asks "Are Americans Concerned that Britain is Becoming Europeanised?". The concern is that the UK--America's ally in the Mideast, and admired for its special fighting units--is going the way of the "peacekeeper nations" on the European continent. Forty-seven comments to this one.
Posted by JD Hull at 10:50 PM | Comments (0)
Stimulus bill: $789 billion
Yesterday, and 'ahead of schedule', House and Senate conferees approved a bill that could be voted on this week. Details of the bill are not widely known yet. For now, see The Washington Post: "Congress Reaches Stimulus Accord". Four very general parts: tax breaks, investment in health care and alternative energy, funding for infrastructure, aid to state and local government.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 05:31 AM | Comments (0)
February 11, 2009
Writing well: Craig Williams
How to Get Sued: An Instructional Guide is by Newport Beach trial lawyer and writer J. Craig Williams, who also authors the respected May It Please The Court. How To Get Sued covers, in an irreverent way, how "real life" becomes "real litigation".
Posted by JD Hull at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)
February 10, 2009
This is Elkhart.
And this is Elkhart high on Obama. Like my beloved alma mater hundreds of miles away, Elkhart, Indiana is a small but serious socially conservative community of reasonable men and very smart women that works hard to produce young adults who may some day take their places as high-functioning members of the ultra-bourgeoisie. Just kidding, mainly. WAC? has northern Indiana blood, twice lived near Elkhart as a child, and is practically a homey. Speaks fluent Hoosier.
This is the real Midwest, though. Obama didn't do well in Elkhart in November. So right now, it's the perfect town to pitch your $800 billion idea. See Bloomberg: "Obama Adopts Elkhart as Everytown in Pitch for Stimulus Plan". Excerpt:
He mobilized an army of people in the American heartland who cheered at scripted applause lines with the ways of Washington as an all-purpose villain.
Then he used his first primetime news conference last night not so much to present new arguments or numbers as to invoke the plight of Elkhart, Indiana, a recession-ravaged town of 52,000 people with an unemployment rate that has more than tripled in a year to 15.3 percent. He visited there yesterday morning and adopted it as a symbol for his appeal. [more]
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (2)
The one-stop e-Discovery shop?
Cases are won or lost at trial on discovery. So in between projects we've had an eye out for a "one-stop" e-discovery resource for business and law. You know, something competent, vigilant and complete perched out there in all the digital clutter? See Gabe’s Guide to the e-Discovery Universe, started in March 2008. This may be it--we are not sure yet--if it can cover and link to: (1) developments in the discovery and e-discovery rules, (2) new cases under Rules 26, 34 and 37, and (3) the better e-discovery sites popping up at the larger firms (some of which are excellent). Not easy but we'd love D.C.'s Gabe Acevedo to try. Gabe's Guide now includes as topics Discovery News, Second Requests in M&A, Foreign Corrupt Practice Act, Subprime Litigation, Technology, and Outsourcing and Offshoring.
Posted by JD Hull at 10:24 PM | Comments (1)
February 09, 2009
Look, before you stimulate?
Turning Japanese? We really don't think so but see at Bloomberg: "Obama Says Any Delay on Stimulus ‘Irresponsible’". And then read at Forbes.com "We Don't Want To Become Japan":
It matters what gets built: Japan spent too much on increasingly wasteful roads and bridges, and not enough in areas like education and social services, which studies show deliver more growth and jobs than basic infrastructure.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)