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August 08, 2009
Greater China: More than a feeling.
Dan Harris is no digital creep. In good and bad times, China is part of our new world. Visit China Law Blog. Bold, aggressive, never a generic "law weenie", and a stand-up Midwesterner like WAC?, Dan Harris (bonus: his real name!) thinks about and covers China business and culture better than anyone. Find out about "getting on" in China.
Posted by JD Hull at 09:52 PM | Comments (1)
Posted by JD Hull at 12:47 AM | Comments (0)
August 06, 2009
Nicely done, WJC.
Bill Clinton always did come to play. He and movie pals have excellent airplane adventure, do critical reconnaissance on the Dear Leader, secure release of Ling and Lee, and set stage for future talks on North Korea’s nuclear programs. Not bad, sir. See "Bill Clinton has quite a story to tell", a Reuters piece by Steve Holland, and "Let the Big Dog Run", a New York Times op-ed by Maureen Dowd.
It's not just Kim Jong-il. Even President Obama gets a little weird and excited around Wild Bill.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:56 PM | Comments (0)
Can "professionalism" be a smokescreen for mediocre lawyering?
"Professionalism"--like good crops, the flag and motherhood--is indeed hard to criticize. It is also tough to define. Is it always good for clients? Or can it even hurt?
It's not about the lawyers anymore. In litigation, and in other contentious projects, does the practice of routinely and without question granting extensions, expanding deadlines, and saying "yes" to an adversary's requests for an accommodation really help clients? Or are such courtesies merely effete and provincial folkways that take the focus off the main event: solving problems for clients? See "Professionalism Revisited: What About the Client?" in San Diego's The Daily Transcript of April 29, 2005. Has anything changed in five years?
Posted by Rob Bodine at 09:04 PM | Comments (0)
August 05, 2009
Speaking and Writing Well: The Overstatement.
If you're wonderfully but spectacularly Irish, like WAC?, and you try cases, you should also take notes here. And then take a year off from work. Just to study your notes and practice your speaking and writing.
Well, maybe take off two or three years. Think of it as an extended rehab for those who chew more than they bite off.
See at The Trial Practice Tips Weblog "The Only Writing Tip That Really Matters", which quotes William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White's The Elements of Style:
When you overstate, readers will be instantly on guard, and everything that has preceded your overstatement as well as everything that follows it will be suspect in their minds because they have lost confidence in your judgment or your poise.
Blarney Castle, near Cork, Ireland, housing the Stone of Eloquence.
Posted by Rob Bodine at 11:59 PM | Comments (3)
August 03, 2009
Original Complaint
Ah, but it is hard to find this track of the divine in the midst of this life we lead...
Hermann Hesse, Steppenwolf (1927)
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)