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March 07, 2009
Save the country. Save yourself.
Save the country. Save the children. Up in heaven, Laura Nyro is watching. I saw Nyro on my 18th birthday. She thought you could be angry and happy at the same time; I feel that every day. Laura got really angry at you if you had "no gospel, no guts, no brain". Because you are missing life, work, relationships, ideas, growth,the separate magics of the West and the East, old verities--and joy.
Be inspired--or hang it up. If you're "blocked", head to your Lake District. Wait for a sign. Get your sign. Say thanks to Whoever.
Then come out of your woods swinging and angry: like a bad-ass preacher of the Church of the Final Thunder.
Like Laura Nyro.
Laura Nyro (1947-1997) wanted you to have fury in your soul.
Posted by JD Hull at 08:36 PM | Comments (0)
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 03:59 AM | Comments (0)
March 06, 2009
Upcoming Blawg Reviews: Global, urbane, a smidgen profane.
No-Wank Zone. It's all good. As a phrase, it's only exceeded in lameness by using "party" as a verb or "interface" in a meeting. But "all good" may apply here. In the next two months, some of the very best legal webzines and blogs are on deck to host Blawg Review, starting with UK barrister Carl Gardner and his Head of Legal on Monday, March 9. Next up: profane GeekLawyer (March 16) and urbane Above The Law (March 23). Below London's Charon QC speaks with GeekLawyer:
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:56 PM | Comments (0)
Notes From the Breadline (continued)
Among the things that I do care about is insurance, or, specifically, making sure that I have some.
--RST, March 4, 2009
Re: Keep on Keepin' On. The Notes. "Roxanna St. Thomas" keeps writing them and Above The Law is savvy enough to never miss printing them. See "I Have My Freedom, but I Don't Have Much Time". Past Roxanna Notes are collected here.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)
Growing in a recession.
Michelle Golden at Golden Practices: "Operating and Growing in a Down Economy". Missouri-based Golden consults for, and writes about, all professional service firms. And see Holden Oliver's world famous collection at "Optional: Panic, Pessimism & Self-Pity".
Posted by JD Hull at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)
March 04, 2009
Optional: Panic, Pessimism & Self-Pity
The other "E", in his studio, goofing on us.
Redux: So, tell me again, what do we do now?
Bad stock performances lately. More road rage, as even mellow car-centric Californians lose their tempers. And dog kicking, we hear, is way up in the Midwest, where until now "Appropriate" had served as Mantra, Law and Religion since early 1900s. There are also reports that, in the last 3 or 4 days, people in Boston and NYC are one (1) degree meaner than usual, i.e., bordering on criminally insane. Even the resourceful, lyrical, way-smart "E", domicile unknown, exists in a celestial malaise.
So again we summon the Masters of Professional Service Firms for guidance in the The Way-Down Global Economy. Some advice, with great related links, from people who think about this stuff all the time (so you don't have to). They were thinking about it all along. You can hire them, too.
Ed Poll: "Three Lenses for Law Firm Recession Survival" (9/16/08)
Jim Hassett: "The First Thing Lawyers Should Do In A Recession" (1/30/08)
Dennis Kennedy: "Planning for Legal Technology in a Recession" (1/22/08)
Tom Kane: "Time to Get Closer to Clients" (9/25/08)
Bruce MacEwen: "Costs & Revenues: Health Check Time" (9/5/08)
The prescient Larry Bodine: "Get Ready for the Coming Recession" (8/26/07)
Jennifer E. King: "Marketing Your Firm’s Legal Services During an Economic Decline" (2008 LexisNexis white paper)
And finally, Chicago trial-lawyer, thinker and value architect Patrick J. Lamb: Read Anything Pat writes these days.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (1)
The China instability hype.
Dan Harris at China Law Blog explains Why China Will Remain Stable. "I am getting so tired of the media litany that an economic downturn in China essentially guarantees political instability."
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Massey Coal due process-recusal case argued.
Fourteenth Amendment--Due Process Clause--Popularly Elected Judges--$3 Million Campaign Contributions--Overturned $50 Million Verdicts--That Recusal Thing. Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Company, Inc. (08-22) was argued before the Supreme Court yesterday. We're on pins, needles and West Virgina wheedles. Via Lyle Denniston at SCOTUS Blog the transcript is here.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)
March 03, 2009
Pretrial stage management: The Art of Creep Control.
See Anne Reed's "Looks Can Kill" and our past post "To jurors, do your trial associates and paralegals seem like creeps?*"
Let's face it. Lots of people in law firms, and some of their witnesses at trial, look like stone "creeps". Many of us in the profession are not attractive to begin with--and some of us seem shifty just reading names out of a phone book. A lot of younger lawyers--young males especially, for reasons which are hard to know--seem like hateful, vindictive, sneaky and rat-faced twerps and cretins every second you look at them. They can't help it. Worse, they don't know even know it. No one will tell them (I will, and have, though.)
Juries pick up on and see all of this. Over the period of a two or three week trial, they will miss nothing about anyone at his or her worst. So (a) don't be a creep, (b) don't bring creeps with you, and (c) if you must have creeps as witnesses or help, dress them up and instruct them on how to "un-creep" themselves.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (2)
March 02, 2009
Red City, Morroco
At Maryam's playful My Marrakesh, a frequent muse. Sanctuary for suits, acquirers and men never home by 6:15. Hafeza, sorry, it's so late, but please can we finally dance?
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:44 PM | Comments (0)