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September 29, 2012
If You or Your Clients Plan to Do Business in Africa, Please Read This First.
Martin Meredith's The Fate of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence, 750 pages (2005, Perseus Books Group).
Posted by JD Hull at 09:23 PM | Comments (0)
September 27, 2012
Battle of Two Old Titans: King Coal v. Growing, Getting-Cheaper, Cleaner, Princely Natural Gas.
Justin Sullivan/CSM
If you follow the news, you can hardly ignore the news that there is a lot more accessible natural gas underneath us than thought even ten years ago, and that we are now going dog nuts in a guilty and often messy blitzkrieg extracting it.
It's not fashionable these days, I know. But if I really think about it, my law practice, most years, most days and recently, has had something to do with fossil fuels: various forms of petroleum, natural gas or coal as fuels or pollutants--from producing, using, mixing, transporting and storing them to cleaning them up. Thirty-three years ago, "constrained abundance" was the term used to describe coal reserves in the breakthrough book Energy Future edited by Harvard Business School's Robert Stobaugh and Daniel Yergin. And the writers of the chapter on coal, Mel Horwitch and Frank Schuller, would still be right about that: there is still lots and lots of the fossil fuel that helped transform America from a farming to an industrial nation.
Coal. There is still lots and lots of it--of different grades and sulfur content--in the ground around the world. Maybe two centuries worth in North America alone. Generally, it's been and still is plentiful and cheap but dirty stuff.
Yet not so cheap in recent years. Apart from the fact that environmental regulations on air pollution made it much more expensive to burn coal, the price of cleaner-burning natural gas and synthetic natural gas has trended down in recent years. There is more of "the energy prince of hydrocarbons" (another wonderful fuel tagline from Energy Future in 1979) than we had once believed. You can hardly ignore the news that there is a lot more accessible natural gas underneath us than thought even ten years ago, and that we are now going dog nuts in a guilty and often messy blitzkrieg extracting it.
Various environmentalist groups, of course, applaud the decline of coal. But there are obviously tough regional economic problems--and that human cost we all forget about in our policy arguments with friends and co-workers on "energy security"--for later generations of coal-producing workers and their companies all over America. But I like the fact that coal is still an election issue, even if it's a waning issue. Yesterday, though, The Christian Science Monitor did a nice job on coal as an election issue this year. See "War On Coal"? Why Obama Might Not Be Industry's Worst Enemy.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:44 PM | Comments (0)
If you are doing business in Canada or America, then please get this book: Legal Aspects of Doing Business in North America (2nd Edition).
Here's a book about doing business and making investments in Canada and the United States America that businesses and law firms--especially non-North American players--need to buy. Salzburg-based Dennis and Chris Campbell are once again the Editors of Legal Aspects of Doing Business in North America (2nd Edition) published by Juris. It features a state-by-state and province-by-province analysis. As with the 1st Edition, a 1540-page looseleaf that is updated annually, the Campbells have kept and expanded upon the talented team of American and Canadian working lawyers who write it.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:39 PM | Comments (0)
September 25, 2012
If you missed--or just don't get--Burning Man 2012, see this one by Leah Lamb.
There is a reason that down through history the desert has been a canvas, a testing ground and a place of new starts. With that in mind, see Leah Lamb's "Partying for Planet and Dancing with God (at Burning Man)" in The Huffington Post. Most of her article's photos are by one inspired and talented Scott London. Two excerpts:
My favorite way to explain Burning Man to someone who hasn't attended is by saying that you are with thousands of people who have traveled great distances to get there (it's a pilgrimage of sorts). Upon entering through the gates, the first words you hear from the greeters are, "welcome home." Once through the gates, it is as if you are attending a huge party thrown just for you.
I found myself within the walls of the gates of the Juno Temple one evening, lying on a blanket with old friends with nothing to do but look up at the sky. It was a magnificent night, the sky was filled with clouds that acted as blankets and kept the night air warm. The light of the full moon danced and glided across the sky, lightening sprayed sparks that competed with the stars. And we had nothing to do but be exactly where we were, and watch a great show hosted by the night sky.
It was there that I came to understand how ancient Greek mythology was born, how when one looks, one can see the gods and deities living in the clouds. As I watched the clouds, felt the rain, reveled in the lightening, I finally understood that this celebration, this expression of true, radical happiness, is food for the Gods, and they had come to the party.
Photo: Scott London.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:28 PM | Comments (0)
September 24, 2012
All Hail The Charon QC Van Rouge Tour: A Modern Legal Domesday Census, Sort Of, Starting With Kent.
It will be a real pleasure to get out and talk to lawyers and non-lawyers all over the country to see what they think about our legal system. A mix of podcasts, blog posts, tweets, photos, and even the odd video--with me behind the camera.
--Charon QC, London and Kent
In October, the popular and highly-regarded British law prof, writer, podcaster and pundit Charon QC will start from Kent his Van Rouge Tour of England. A kind of modern Legal Domesday adventure, Charon (pronounced "Karen") will indulge us with a fine Celtic romp throughout most of Britain for several months "doing podcasts with lawyers and non-lawyers [plus posts and tweets about them] as I go with a detailed commentary on law, life and other matters as I find them." Sponsorships are still available; given Charon's wide following and readership, that's an opportunity for both Brit and non-Brit law firms to share in the magic of our hero's velvet-voiced reporting and always-compelling interviews (incidently, he has interviewed me either in or from London four times, to much fanfare and heightened interest in our firm). More details on Charon's trip are here and coming up shortly on Charon's blog.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:45 AM | Comments (0)
September 23, 2012
Congratulations, Geeklawyer and Jess.
The House of Geeklawyer announces the arrival of a new 8.5 pound male litigator.
20th Century Fox
Posted by JD Hull at 04:20 PM | Comments (0)