July 02, 2008
Bad dog: GeekLawyer coverage
Oxford grads are baaad. Blawg Review #166, hosted this week by the Keith Moon of legal blogs, got noticed. Nothing sacred; no one spared.
Posted by Holden Oliver at 08:07 PM | Comments (2)
July 01, 2008
O Rare GeekLawyer
If you want a friend, find Jesus; but punters [clients] are for bleeding.
--GeekLawyer on Client Service
Blawg Review #666. Barrister-pundit GeekLawyer never disappoints. We at WAC? like him the way he is. But the world-famous Glastonbury festival in Somerset this past weekend likely did him in--so I plan to take him to an AA meeting near Fleet and Chancery when I'm in London in September. This is Blawg Review #166. He is your host. Women, children, liberals, conservatives, Catholics, Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, your Mom, Mormons, the religious right, Midwesterners, most lawyers and their spouses will not like it. Witty, very British--and vile. So it's bound to be one of the most popular and famous Blawg Reviews ever. Bravo. You sick unit.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (2)
June 26, 2008
Next up at Global Blawg Review: GeekLawyer.
The big question for Blawg Review readers next week is Geeklawyer to run rampage through the next Blawg Review? A relatively tame and expletive-laundered sampling is below:
Dan Hull’s blog is the quintessential American lawyer blog. Dan is a depraved evil sociopathic neocon ambulance chasing beast pretending he loves his clients merely to get into their wallets. Of course he has his bad side too but let us not explore that little dark alleyway now.
--GeekLawyer, October 6, 2007
Posted by JD Hull at 11:18 PM | Comments (1)
June 02, 2008
China Law Blog: The World Peace Edition of Blawg Review
Blawg Review #162 is hosted by Dan Harris at China Law Blog. Harris, as always, is ambitious. He takes us all over the globe. He instructs. He opines. But his real goal is World Peace, and sweetness and light generally. He accomplishes this in his exemplary, humorous, memorable and truly great Blawg Review edition--with one war-like exception.
In response to our post on Saturday, "Big Dog finally hosts Blawg Review", Harris addresses a one-on-one basketball match with my boss. Harris, a Hoosier, claims that since Dan Hull is from Ohio it wouldn't be a fair contest. To that, we have two words: LeBron James, a Buckeye.
Posted by Brooke Powell at 08:22 AM | Comments (0)
May 31, 2008
Writing well and sanely.
One of WAC?'s most clicked-on posts is Just Say It: The War Against Legal-Speak. It derives from just part of an actual lawyer document we had to read at work that was both entertaining and disturbing. Our point was and is that more plain, simple, clear, non-legal writing could help get things done and help the public image of lawyers.
Posted by Holden Oliver at 11:24 PM | Comments (0)
May 23, 2008
Karl Llewellyn
We have no great illusions, my brethren and I, about how much good it will do you to be told these things in advance... 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.
Okay, you semiliterate drones and law cattle. In our May 8 quiz, Chicago's Shaula Evans was the first and only person to identify Karl Llewellyn, Professor of Contracts and Chief Reporter on the Uniform Commercial Code, as the author of the above. The prize? She wins a collectible: a Hull McGuire PC/What About Clients? coffee mug in burgundy, navy blue and white.
The above speech? It's from the opening chapter of the The Bramble Bush: On Our Law and Its Study (1931), which sprung from a series of introductory lectures Llewellyn gave to first-year law students during the 1929-30 academic year, when he was appointed the first Betts Professor of Jurisprudence at Columbia.
The book's name? It's from a poem.
There was a man in our town
and he was wondrous wise:
he jumped into a bramble bush
and scratched out both his eyes--and when he found that he was blind,
with all his might and maine,
He jumped into another one,
and scratched them in again.(from "The Bramble Bush", Robert Penn Warren)
Posted by Brooke Powell at 11:55 PM | Comments (0)
Got proofreading?--Part II
Proofreading may be boring. But it's important, and part of who you are if you are in the business of turning words into money and value. Here's a comment by Minneapolis lawyer T.J. Conley--he gives us wisdom and a tip--in response to yesterday's post:
One of the senior lawyers at our firm used to say that you are only as good a lawyer as you are a proofreader. One of my tricks, to avoid the natural tendency to see what you think should be there, is to read a document backwards. You'd be amazed at what you catch.
Posted by Holden Oliver at 05:03 PM | Comments (0)
May 22, 2008
Got proofreading?
Proofreading errors are avoidable, even under the gun--if you make ardor in proofreading a habit.
Take invoices to clients. Invoices, if done correctly, are a great way to communicate what you've done for a client and they can even serve as a marketing tool. They are a genre of documents we all need to get right. Clients can always be expected to read them. So they need to be really "right", right?
Lawyers don't talk about proofreading enough. It amazes us that badly proofread pleadings and letters still emanate from some of the best American and European law firms. It mars and even desecrates otherwise good and sometimes brilliant work. Mistakes will happen in
law practice in any event--but the idea is to minimize them, and especially those you can control. Proofreading errors are avoidable, even under the gun, if you make ardor in doing it a habit. Our recurring nightmare is that the GC of our best client says: "If at $___ an hour you guys can't spell [or write], believe me, we can find a law firm tomorrow morning that can." For that reason, as mentioned in a 2005 WAC? "Just Say It" post on writing for lawyers, Rule 5 (of 8) in the good writing section of our firm's Practice Guide is:
5. Proofread, proofread, proofread. (Oh yes, at our firm, we have a written policy on proofreading you must actually sign before you start work. Go ahead, laugh.)
"Pretend that, for every typo you miss or grammatical error you make, you have to buy Dan Hull as many Heinekens as he could drink in one evening in his late twenties on St. Patrick's Day in the most expensive Capitol Hill watering hole he and his friends could find."
Together with thinking and writing simply and clearly, there's no more important habit for a lawyer to develop. Misspellings, omitted or misplaced words and off-the-charts bad grammar are often important errors which blot out otherwise good work--and ones we can control.
It's that simple.
Posted by Holden Oliver at 12:59 AM | Comments (2)
May 19, 2008
Blawg Review #160: Ms. Ruthie, finally.
"The ultimate London law bird", according to Palo Alto-based WAC? news chief Holden Oliver, hosts this week's Blawg Review #160 at Ruthie's Law. For a time she was Robin to GeekLawyer's Howard, and much more. Brains, beauty, wit and British subtlety in one hard-working solictor. Originally from King's Lynn in Norfolk (on The Wash), she just moved to London, which she plans to conquer. A European with an American soul.
Posted by Brooke Powell at 11:31 PM | Comments (1)
May 17, 2008
London star Ms. Ruthie hosts next Blawg Review.
Ruthie of Ruthie's Law is the ultimate London law bird: (1) solicitor-writer-biker and (2) one of the few women who on earth who can make my badly jet-lagged boss--now on his way back to California--gush, rock back and forth like a mental patient, and make noises like a damn raccoon. "To most of the world, she's a saucy if talented flirt--but she melts my heart". Ruthie hosts Blawg Review this week, Monday, May 19th.
Posted by Holden Oliver at 11:01 PM | Comments (1)
May 16, 2008
Writing Well: The Criminal Defense Trial Lawyer Weenie-Client Exception.
New York's Scott Greenfield at Simple Justice makes a good point in "Crossed I's, Dotted T's, Enough".
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
May 14, 2008
Writing well
Writing is easy; all you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until the drops of blood form on your forehead.
--Gene Fowler (Eugene Devlan) (1890–1960)
Posted by Holden Oliver at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
May 12, 2008
Blawg Review #159
This week's Blawg Review #159 is hosted by Brian LaBovick at the Whistleblower Law Blog.
Posted by Brooke Powell at 05:33 AM | Comments (0)
May 10, 2008
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)
May 05, 2008
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 at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
April 28, 2008
Oh Canada: Blawg Review #157
Toronto-based Michael Fitzgibbon hosts this week's Blawg Review #157 at Thoughts from a Management Lawyer. Fitzgibbon's is one of the most active and consistently fine lawyer sites you could read.
Posted by Brooke Powell at 11:58 PM | Comments (2)
April 23, 2008
Writing Well: Happy Birthday, Bill.
When we in the West do write well, we thank two people who took chances and liberties with a gritty, often maligned language called English: Geoffrey Chaucer and, 150 years later, William Shakespeare, born on April 23, 1564.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
April 21, 2008
Blawg Review #156: Are you an Avatar?
"Are virtual worlds the beginning of the end of society?" And what's virtual law, anyway? Author-blogger Benjamin Duranske hosts this week's Blawg Review #156 at Virtually Blind. Strange, wonderful, even inspiring. And a very nice review of last week's posts. BR #156 also gets a write-up by Robert Ambrogi, who like us is intrigued by virtuality, at ALM's Legal Blog Watch.
An Avatar, pre-Durankse.
Posted by Brooke Powell at 12:58 AM | Comments (0)
April 14, 2008
Writing well.
Books are fatal: they are the curse of the human race. Nine-tenths of existing books are nonsense, and the clever books are the refutation of that nonsense.
--Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881)
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Blawg Review #155: Bad Poetry Day
Greg May hosts this week's Blawg Review #155 at The California Blog of Appeal.
Posted by Brooke Powell at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
April 11, 2008
Writing well.
The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.
--Mark Twain (1835-1910)
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
April 09, 2008
Two industry victories in one online music sharing case.
Tom Welshonce's article "Record Companies Score Two Victories in One Case Against Online Music Sharing" was published in the March 28 edition of the Allegheny County Bar Association's Lawyers Journal. Virgin Records v. Thomas is the case of Jammie Thomas, a 30 year-old woman sued by seven record companies for unlawfully sharing music
files online. In October, a jury awarded the record companies $222,000 in damages for violation of copyrights in 24 songs. In December, the Bush administration threw its support behind the record companies by asking that the judge uphold the constitutionality of the award. A motion for new trial is still pending before the Minnesota district court. Read the article here or here.
Posted by Brooke Powell at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
April 07, 2008
Blawg Review 154: World Health Day
David Harlow hosts this week's Blawg Review #154 at HealthBlawg.
Posted by Brooke Powell at 07:02 AM | Comments (0)
April 05, 2008
Writing well.
To write simply is as difficult as to be good.
--W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
April 02, 2008
Writing well
He who can properly summarize many ideas in a brief statement is a wise man.
Euripides, non-lawyer (480-406 B.C.)
Posted by Holden Oliver at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
March 31, 2008
Pirate Blawg Review #153
Aye, matey--it's not Talk Like a Pirate Day yet, but Real Pirates keep it up all year round. The savage and merciless "Captain George" Wallace of Wallace & Schwartz hosts this week's Blawg Review #153 at Declarations and Exclusions. Read it now, ya' empty ignorant black-hearted law scums, or we'll have it out of yer meager wages.
Posted by Brooke Powell at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
March 17, 2008
Saint Patrick's Day Blawg Review
In Dublin, Daithí Mac Sithigh hosts this week's Blawg Review #151 at Lex Ferenda.
Posted by Brooke Powell at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
March 13, 2008
Law Practice Magazine: Reading Minds
Stephanie West Allen, in her inaugural "Reading Minds" column of the ABA's Law Practice Magazine's March 2008 issue, asked "wise minds" to recommend their favorite books on the topic of building professional relationships. Read one J. Daniel Hull's paragraph on Cicero on Friendship--and then the suggestions of three genuinely wise people: Karen E. Glover, U.S. District Court Judge John Kane and Susan Cartier Liebel.
Posted by Brooke Powell at 03:19 PM | Comments (0)
March 10, 2008
Blawg Review #150: Trust Matters and Charles Green
Charles H. Green of Trusted Advisor Associates hosts this week's Blawg Review #150 at Trust Matters. His rendition is straightforward, thoughtful, and rich with ideas you can use today.
Posted by Brooke Powell at 03:59 AM | Comments (0)
March 07, 2008
Emailed "thank you" notes are low and tacky; if you mean it, handwrite it.
A good thank-you--a real thank-you--means something. It is notable, memorable, important.
--Tom Chiarella, A Little Gratitude, Esquire Magazine, April 2007
In case your mother never told you, you're from central Utah or the Ozarks, or you were stoned all four years at Andover, let us remind you to never thank anyone for something truly important--a meeting, referral or a dinner--with anything but a prompt handwritten thank you note. Good stationery. We suggest Crane's or something better. And no excuses for not doing it; many, many business people and some lawyers with taste think that no written (typed is okay--but handwritten is better) thank you note means no class. Even if you are not convinced that thank you notes are noticed and appreciated (they are), pretend that WAC? knows more than you and do it anyway.
However, "electronic thank-yous" by e-mails or in comments for links or mentions in posts or articles on the Internet--let's say 3 different people link to your blog every day and you are working full time--are okay. And you'll always miss a few who mention you in cyberspace. But if you don't regularly thank people at all for links to or mentions of you, your blog or website, you are fouling your own nest. Not thanking people in the blogosphere is not just tacky and low but (1) arrogant and (2) dumb. And adds to the notion that (3) bloggers are insular, passive-aggressive weenies and geeks lacking in people skills. No one will give you any business or invite you to New Canaan, Grosse Pointe or Aldeburgh for the weekend. Oh yeah, if your site is so damn successful that your links, e-mails and comments are through the roof, hire someone else to do the thank yous--written or electronic--for you.
Posted by Holden Oliver at 11:59 PM | Comments (1)
March 05, 2008
Blawg Review #149: Antitrust Review
David Fischer of Shook, Hardy & Bacon, LLP hosts Blawg Review No. 149 at Antitrust Review.
Posted by Brooke Powell at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
February 26, 2008
More on good writing--for associates.
In the ABA's Law Practice Magazine, by Marcia Pennington Shannon: Helping Associates Improve Their Writing Skills.
Posted by Holden Oliver at 12:29 AM | Comments (0)
February 25, 2008
More high notes and wisdom from Iowa: Blawg Review #148
For the second week in a row, Iowa--a Midwestern U.S. state known for French explorers, the great Sac and Fox tribes, solid people, fine writing and now nimble IP muscle boutiques--claims center stage in the world of legal weblogs. Brett Trout at BlawgIT hosts this week's Blawg Review, No. 148.
Posted by Brooke Powell at 11:00 PM | Comments (0)
February 20, 2008
Just Say it: More Good Things on Good Writing.
My Mom in Cincinnati wants me to write more good and nice things. She's a very positive and spiritual person--clearly put here on Earth to make up for some of the rest of us. So what about good and sane writing by lawyers? How do you do it? Here are some suggestions from our firm's Practice Guide for beginning associates, paralegals and assistants. None of this is gospel--lots of lawyers and non-lawyers have good ideas on sane lawyer writing--but pay particular attention to the final Point 8:
1. Use short "people" words whenever possible. Like words a trial lawyer might use in addressing a jury. Use short sentences. Be precise but informal. Don't try to sound too much "like a lawyer": "whereupon", "hereinafter," "aforementioned", etc. No one is impressed or enlightened by these terms. No one sane and secure likes it. Just say it.
2. Economize on words. Make every word count. Don't repeat yourself.
3. Be accurate and truthful--yet friendly, personable and optimistic in your writing style. Clients know they have issues and problems. There's no need to further agitate and depress them.
4. There are no perfect or sole answers to 95% of legal issues. So offer a few alternatives, take a position and even break new ground. You need a reasonable and logical position which makes good business sense and provides an affirmative recommendation, plan of action or conclusion. Whatever you do, do not only tell the client what it cannot do under the law. Tell our client what it can do, too.
5. Proofread, proofread, proofread. (NOTE: We have a written policy on proofreading you must actually sign.) Pretend that, for every typo you miss or grammatical error you make, you have to buy Dan Hull as many Heinekens as he could drink in one evening in his late twenties on a St. Patrick's Day in the most expensive Capitol Hill watering hole he and his friends could find.
6. Citations of sound authority should be used--but used sparingly. No string cites. Use the The [Harvard] Blue Book--A Uniform System of Citation or the much maligned University of Chicago Manual of Legal Citation, "The Maroon Book". The citator is your friend--not your enemy.
7. When you write, get to the point up front and summarize it right away. And then expand on it. Don't make the client, other lawyer or judge guess about what your conclusion will be 5 pages away.
8. Take a stand. Tell the client what you think the client should do. Our client reps are business people or lawyers. A good way to make them mad is to not tell them what you think they should do. If your advice is sound, and followed, but not successful, don't sweat it. Business clients take calculated risks every day--and you can, too. Pretend here you are not the side-stepping risk-averse lawyer they may have trained you to be, and take responsibility for some of the failure. But do make a decision, recommend something concrete--and take the hit if you are wrong.
Posted by JD Hull at 06:22 PM | Comments (1)
February 18, 2008
Ray Ward: Client-centered legal writing.
In "How to write for the client":
By eliminating the legalese and communicating like a human being, a lawyer can produce client-centered writing: something primarily for the client; something the client can readily understand.
Posted by Holden Oliver at 11:54 PM | Comments (0)
Just Say It: The War Against Legal-Speak.
Lawyer-Speak and Legalese. Of all lawyer-centric institutions, only "Professionalism" and "Work-Life Balance" are more embarrassing or more likely to undermine clients--and at least those two originally had a point. Catching up on Sunday morning, I noticed a clause from the unused draft of a 3-page IP agreement used during talks for an acquisition a few years ago and forwarded by one party's lawyer: "Effective on even date herewith, the parties hereto hereby agree to...". Whoa. How about just one date at the top or bottom of the Agreement and then say "The parties agree..."? And if the whole thing is an Agreement, hey, maybe you don't even need that? Either would save trees, ink and space, be more to the point--and would help diminish the image of the self-important "I'm-special" lawyer rocking back and forth in his chair and talking to himself like a mental patient.
Update: Thanks, as always, to our good twin and ally Ray Ward at his the (new) legal writer. WAC? feels less alone.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:45 AM | Comments (0)
February 04, 2008
Blawg Review #145
VENI, VIDI, VICI : Super Bowl Blawg Review
Super Bowl XLII: New York Giants 17, New England Patriots 14. Patriots fan WAC? has 3 reactions: (a) Whoa. (b) Huh? (c) Greatest Super Bowl ever. Congrats, New York.
So welcome to Blawg Review #145: The Super Bowl Edition.
Or The Test-Your-Mettle Edition. The "Got Sand?" Edition. The Prepare for Battle Edition. You get the idea. We like "wake-up" themes. Over-dog themes. Under-dog themes. "Grandiose" themes. Anything to make us think, make you think, make us both money (it's a business; get used to it) and have fun at the same time.
We are honored to host again. Our first Blawg Review appearance was #65: The World Cup Blawg Review. BR #65 was about opening American lawyers' minds to the brave new world and global services economy developing all around us.
BR #145 is about Who You Really Are and how you prepare and engage for Lawyer Life. No, we haven't gone all soft and PC on you. We still think that generally "work-life balance" and "professionalism" are red herrings being cooked up by people who should have never gotten involved in the law profession in the first place. Sorry. We just know this: What Kind of Human You Are Drives What Kind of Lawyer You Are.
It's that simple.
VENI, VIDI, VICI. "I came, I saw, I conquered". Sounds pretty macho, huh? But there's a gentler side to it. First, as a Human Being, and a lawyer, are you prepared to meet the challenges before you? Second, can you think and develop a strategy to survive, prosper and get what you want in life and law? Do you have the right Tools? Third, can you Act? Do you have the sand, the spirit and the moxie for the Arena?
Talk about "grandiose". Take a trip to Rome, even now, and you see around you the still proud stone remnants of the most grandiose earthlings ever. Romans walked "it" and talked "it" for centuries until they got, well, uh, positively and internationally "over-extended" by around the Fifth Century AD. Ah, devil hubris. In better but turbulent times, according to the historian Plutarch, a flushed and preening Julius Caesar sauntered into the Roman Senate in 47 BC and declared after a recent victory in what is now Turkey: "Veni, vidi, vici".
Be bold, but watch yourself, folks. Don't trip over your hubris. Three years later Caesar was dead on the floor of the Theatre of Pompey. Three centuries later Rome was starting to fail. But don't worry about it--we know you came to this party prepared.
I. VENI (We came...)
"As our case is new, we must think and act anew." -- Abraham Lincoln
PREPARE, OBSERVE, LISTEN, CALM THE MIND, CHANT A LITTLE, TEST YOUR LOLITA IQ, EAT RIGHT, TOOL-SHARPEN, SAVOR THE EXCITEMENT TO COME.
Practicing law is hard. So is life. Before we begin, and before the contest heats up, let's prepare. Let's start with, well, just us.
For starters, can you think for yourself?
And can you get others around you to think for themselves? See a post by Georgetown law prof Carrie Menkel-Meadow at Concurring Opinions called "The Phenonmenology of Political Correctness." PC peer pressure: Obama, HRC or flavor of the week?
Are you a parent--or not?
Seattle law prof Julie Shapiro at Related Topics asks "should a man who engages in an isolated incident of casual sex with a woman be considered the parent of a child that results from the encounter?" She says no, and her reasons make sense. See "The Obvious Objection".
Got Cultural Literacy?
Who is Plutarch, anyway? Super-lawyer Cicero? The Manchester School? Longshanks? Alexis de Tocqueville? Rumi? Who was Hunter Thompson? And why is Keith Richards still alive? In olden days, lawyers were classically educated and well-rounded--check out Tom Jefferson's resume--and proud of it. And they knew the answers to these kinds of questions because it was part of their culture and knowing the answers enriched their lives. These days, "specialization", while undeniably important, has given most lawyers brains that look like the inside of a Wal-Mart: everything seems to be there, but nothing you see is that important in the grand scheme of things.
What a rook. Not fair. You have a liberal arts degree in American or Asian Studies or Art History from Yale or Tufts or Middlebury, and now you're....defending in car accident cases, or doing wills for people who don't appreciate your "art". J. Craig Williams at May It Please the Court wants you to know, inter alia, about Lolita, the persona, the book, and who wrote the book: What Do You Mean? We Didn't Know That! How Were We Supposed To Know? Don't worry, Woolworth's Department Stores didn't know who Lolita was either. They had to look it up.
Focus, focus, focus.
No one writes about the inside of a client's head better than Michelle Golden at Golden Marketing. She reminds you that--with either would-be or existing clients--Make Every Date a First Date. And that last interaction? That's THE interaction.
Gathering and Organizing Facts.
It's one of the most important things lawyers do, no one talks about the hard work involved, and even Congressional committees remember themselves and their charges and give it the old college try from time to time. At Balkinization re: Spygate: "Finally, the Senate Judiciary Committee to Investigate Videotape Destruction".
Listening Skills.
Shook Hardy's David Fischer tells you at Antitrust Review who NOT to always listen to: the Fourth Estate, or mass media. See David's This Is Not Legal Advice.
Also see Jamie Spencer's Listening to the Client, Telling the Story, and Homework, partly inspired by a fine Susan Cartier Liebel piece.
See this post at Ms. JD: Who Will Listen?, on whether women themselves in law firms will be heard by firm management on work-life balance issues affecting them.
And does your firm listen to its young?
Evan Schaeffer religiously keeps his ear to where the real energy and ideas are. See at his Legal Underground "The Weekly Law School Roundup #107".
Brain Exercises.
Alvaro Fernandez at SharpBrains gives us SB's January Brain Fitness/Training Newsletter. Keep your brain in shape with these resources on cognitive and emotional training.
"Inner" expression.
At her MediationChannel.com, die-hard Patriot's fan and trusty but demanding Blawg Review sherpa Diane Levin--a fancy ADR lawyer with enough personality for 10 lawyers and 5 regular humans, and a closet beatnik if we ever saw one---has this for us: "Up my sleeve: body art reveals the inner life of lawyers". See this online gallery of photos of lawyers, doctors, and other professionals and "the body art they keep hidden from their colleagues". Jesus, Diane.
Is your mind clean?
Our old Cincinnati buddy Potter Stewart always knew it when he saw it. Brett Trout, at BlawgIT, asks Who Surfs This Much Porn?, in a post on the firings of nine randy DC employees through special software detection. Tragedy. When WAC? worked in DC, there was no such tech; all porn had to be live and in the open, and limited to lunch times in main hallways.
Are you eating right?
And will Germans start to go the way of Americans--each citizen eventually big enough to have his or her own zip code? Cheeseburgers now served in German cans? See at the Berlin-based Atlantic Review, run by German Fulbright alums and one of our favorite sites, "Anti-American Food". Excerpt: "The stereotype of the fat Americans with their daily diet of fast food is pretty popular in Germany, but more and more Germans are obese themselves".
And here's a bonus "Americans-are-way-fat" post for Blawg Review's increasing European readership. At a Stitch in Haste, you find "Is There Really a 'Too Fat to Eat Out' Bill in Mississippi?" Yeah, there really is. See Mississippi H.B. No. 282.
Are you watching your GC's costs?
In-house lawyers won't believe it at first--but they'll love you if you do it and may think of you as (1) more than a one-night stand and (2) not the enemy. They have seen enough law firms of the looter variety--and guess what? Law firms aren't seen as producers in the scheme of things. See at the Wired GC "Amorphous Support Services". And WAC? Rule 8: "Think Like the Client: Help Control Costs".
So how's the writing going?
WAC?'s made no secret that lawyers everywhere are now officially permitted to start writing full sentences with full thoughts with simple words designed to express and hold the reader's attention. Legalese is medieval and your clients hate it. Read at Legal Andrew "Be a Better Writer with Leo--Write to Done".
Ethics, Ethics, Anyone?
At The Legal Scoop, do see "Ethically Required to Remain Silent?".
II. VIDI (We saw...)
NEW TOOLS, NEW RULES FOR THE NEW ARENA.
King Billable Hour v. Value Pricing:
The Greatest American Lawyer is not alone in his sentiments. Is the tide turning? Or are the much-maligned billable hour and alternative value pricing methods two ways to reach the same goal: value for the client it can sense as soon as the bill gets there. Will lawyers themselves want to dump the BH? Read GAL's "As Bad as Hourly Billing is for Clients, It’s Worse for Lawyers" about a talk he recently gave to lawyers in Michigan.
Sticky Deals:
New Zealand's Geoff Sharp at mediator blah...blah instructs us on "Agreements That Stick".
Tech, tech and more tech--and you need it:
The mysterious Ed. at Blawg Review reminds us that ALM's LegalTech New York 2008 event is this week (February 5-7) at the New York Hilton Hotel. An interesting bonus this year--along with The Common Scold tech diva Monica Bay has promised in the form of "lousy coffee and mediocre Danish"--is Ed. himself. You can meet the boy wonder and buy him a drink. I've met with him twice now in California--and this accomplished and cosmopolitan man never disappoints. His real name and hometown? Don't even think about getting the answer. Even the hooch you feed him won't help much. Thus far, "Milky Way Galaxy" is all Ed. will allow.
Oklahoma's Jim Calloway of Law Practice Tips Blog is another law technology pioneer you can meet at LawTech New York 2008. Jim, with little effort, did a lot for our blog when we started it 30 months ago--he wrote about it once and suddenly people were reading WAC? His recent post on the eve of LawTech: "Client Development: Keep 'Em Coming Back for More with Technology".
Our resourceful Queen City pals at Patent Baristas found www.docstoc.com. See "Want To Make Your Documents Available to Others?".
Faster, better, cheaper: do you really need your newspaper subscriptions anymore? At Discourse.net, consider "Yesterday's News Tomorrow (Literally)".
IP Dragons:
Enrico Schaefer--that's Mr. Greatest American Lawyer to you--notes over at Traverse Legal that ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, Unanimously Votes to Change Policy To End Domain Tasting.
At Robert Ambrogi's Law Sites, learn about "Sophisticated Search for Public Domain Law" and PreCYdent, a new free and possibly superior open source legal database started at the University of San Diego Law School. It will operate on ad revenues.
Securing Innovation makes clear that its company IP.com is NOT suing Nokia for $17.7 Billion. A German IP licensing company with a similar-sounding name---IPCom GmbH & Co. KG--that is demanding billions in patent licensing fees from Nokia is a different entity.
IP Dragon--"Gathering, commenting and sharing information about intellectual property in China to make it more transparent, since 2005"--asks "Does China's Copyright Law Has A Sense Of Humour?".
Charon QC Check:
In the U.S., and in like jurisprudence systems across the Atlantic, The Rule of Law, well, rules. WAC?'s friend and Super-Brit lawyer-educator Charon QC so reminds us in his recent interview-podcast of Andrew Holroyd, President of The Law Society, the United Kingdom's counterpart to the American Bar Association (if the ABA had a serious and effective international human rights focus which, let's face it, it does not, but it could...). Holroyd: "The Law Society continues to urge the government of Pakistan to return to an internationally recognised standard of the rule of law and to release and reinstate those lawyers and judges who remain in detention.”
HR Baristas:
St. Louis lawyer George Lenard at his "Employment Blawg asks: Does the ADA (Americans With Disabilities Act) Need 'Restoration'?"
Randy Braun at Juz the Fax tells us the Second Circuit Says "No" To Conditional Overtime. In Chao v. Gotham City Registry, Inc. (06-2432-CV - Decided: January 24, 2008), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held, in a case of first impression, that an employer policy requiring prior authorization for overtime work does not relieve the employer from paying overtime absent such pre-approval.
Trial techniques:
First, Jury Work. We prefer to think of this piece as "Meditation on a Mont Blanc Pen", and it's wonderful. Elliot Wilcox at Winning Trial Advocacy Techniques Blog instructs on "How to Capture Important Details During Jury Selection". Milwaukee lawyer-jury consultant Anne Reed offers "Who Should Stay And Who Should Go?" at her always-insightful Deliberations.
At Settle It Now Negotiation Law Blog, Victoria Pynchon has some advice on "Impeaching Witnesses in Depositions to Improve Your Bargaining Power".
Constitutional Law Theory:
Noted Florida-based con law scholar Stanley Fish recently asked in a NYT piece whether American constitutional theory--which contains the building blocks of most U.S. Supreme Court decisions--"matters" anymore. In short, is it now "irrelevant" in the face of current commercial and cultural realities? Essentially Contested America took notice: "What's Stanley Fish's Beef with Constitutional Theory?".
III. VICI! (We conquered...)
First, explain something to me.
If the media and TV shows about lawyers have made lawyers out to be forthright heroes and scrappy fighters for adoring and trusting clients embroiled in noble causes, then how come about 98% of us in reality are gentle and sweet if intelligent risk-adverse creatures who would rather choke to death alone in the dark than write a strong letter to the Editor of Town & Country about a feature on hard-wood floors we didn't really like? When the chips are down, most lawyers we know won't stand up for themselves--much less a valued client.
Practice of law is too unpleasant and too contentious for most of us. So we hide behind our passivity under the rubric of "professionalism". What's up with that?
Well, most of this next group is of a different breed.
Take New Yorker Eric Turkewitz at New York Personal Injury Lawyer, a guy with enough energy, dry wit and moxie to intimidate Zeus. We loved his marathon Blawg Review #134, and we really like a few posts he did lately. "Bloggers Head to NY High Court As Both Defendant and Counsel in First Amendment Lawyer Advertising Battle" involves court battles of a couple of Eric's friends--Scott Greenfield of Simple Justice and Andrew Bluestone of New York Attorney Malpractice Blog--which association Eric discloses in a classy and tasteful way. And see his "Philip Morris $79.5M Punitive Award Reinstated By Oregon High Court".
Another fighter, and friend of the Irish:
At DUI Blog, Lawrence Taylor, a fellow Californian and guy I could have made moderately rich in the 1970s, has written "DUI Double Jeopardy and Multiple Punishment". DUI Blog is subtitled: "Bad Drunk Driving Laws, False Evidence and a Fading Constitution".
So get in the game and control your environment a bit. And your clients'. DC lawyer Jon Frieden at E-Commerce Law urges that you Take Control of Your Online Reputation.
Here's another serious trial dog, this one named Beldar. BeldarBlog asks "Benches, birds, and bees: Daddy, where do judges come from?" We watch courts some--and so we'll be watching Beldar. He notes: "...state-court trial judges around the country generate few written opinions, and in many states...they typically generate practically none". We've noticed, too.
Sox First reports that The Donald just got sued for $4 billion by a Las Vegas property management company which claims Trump unfairly blocked it from leasing out a number of the condominiums in the Trump International Hotel and Tower. Theory: monopolistic practices and violation of anti-trust laws, false promotion and unfair competition. The suit asks for $1 billion in compensatory damages and $3 billion in punitive damages.
2008 Election:
Nothing in American life is more contentious than the U.S. presidential election cycles every 4 years. Mixed in with the schmaltz is a real conversation. What are Americans really about, what do we want, and how do we get there? There are more bedrock and fundamental issues with human faces (often reposed in the candidates themselves) in 2008 as never before. Race, gender, privacy, the establishment clause, presidential power, and real character, for examples. Over at the Word on Employment Law with John Phillips, Miller & Martin's John Phillips writes about Race, Gender, Politics and Employment Law.
Established author and now Cornell law student Gregory Parks is guest writer this month at BlackProf.com. See his "Implicit (Unconscious) Race Bias and the 2008 Presidential Election: Does Obama Stand a Chance?--Part I".
Australia's Peter Black at his Freedom to Differ notes that candidate Mike Huckabee Endorses GodTube. And Huck me, ya' big stud.
Yale's Jack Balkin thinks that television has rendered national elections a referendum on presidential character rather than substantive issues. That's hard to argue with if you think back to what Americans have voted on since the Nixon-Kennedy TV debate of 1960: personality and trust issues move us the most, and they have propelled John McCain among Republican candidates in a compelling way in the past few weeks. See "Television Culture and the Politics of Character".
Finally, about last night.
Your office a little quiet today? Did your prized ex-U.S. Supreme Court clerk Weldon in Boston call in, maybe from the Newton slammer, despondent and too-drunk-to-bill? Or is it just the "cold and flu" season? A useful clue is offered at Strategic HR Lawyer in Super Bowl Monday "Flu" - 1.5 Million to Call in Sick".
Still, Boston as a sports town has really come into its own. What's up? See for an explanation "Boston Forever", at Jeffrey Standen's The Sports Law Professor.
No one ever said Super Bowl was pretty--or even legal. Howard Friedman's Religion Clause points out that Large Church Super Bowl Parties Violate Copyright Law", according to NFL lawyers.
But Super Bowl may be energy-efficient. Anthony Cerminaro at BizzBangBuzz, which focuses on technology startups and emerging growth companies, notes that "Power Use Drops During Super Bowl".
"A useful lawyer is like pro football coach. He needs to be smart enough to understand the rules--and dumb enough to think it's important." --Overheard at Harkness coffee shop, recently. Really.
Thanks for visiting BR #145. Samuel Johnson said: "He who makes a beast of himself takes the pain out of being a man." Or a woman. Or a lawyer. Being a lawyer isn't so bad once you get the human being part down. Even a little. We feel refreshed and ready--at least for this week.
Blawg Review has information about next week's host, and instructions on how to get your blawg posts reviewed in upcoming issues.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (12)
January 28, 2008
Bilbo Gandalf LLC
Bilbo then disappears. Bilbo has actually put on his magic ring and slipped away. Back at his hobbit hole, Bag End, he has a frank talk with Gandalf the wizard before leaving the ring behind for Frodo. This sets up the rest of the three books, which tell of Frodo’s quest to destroy the ring and thereby save Middle Earth. Was just a matter of right time and place. See Blawg Review #144 at Cyberlaw Central.
Posted by Holden Oliver at 12:23 AM | Comments (0)
January 14, 2008
Blawg Review #142
Blawg Review #142, a letter to a new lawyer, is hosted by Susan Cartier Liebel at Build A Solo Practice, LLC.
Posted by Holden Oliver at 06:10 AM | Comments (0)
January 07, 2008
Blawg Review #141
This week's Blawg Review is hosted by the erudite U.K. blogger Charon QC. Dan Hull met Charon in London last year, and was very impressed. We are all impressed by Blawg Review #141.
Posted by Holden Oliver at 04:39 AM | Comments (0)
December 30, 2007
WAC?'s Blawg Review nominations
For Blawg Review of the Year, they are #'s 94, 102, 116, 127, 134, 137. In a short time, Blawg Review has emerged as a progressive, straight-up phenom. Bravo to all hosts--getting better and better--and to that hard-working Ed. guy, especially for going outside the often-insular U.S. for hosts. Bring on more Brits, Scots, any extant Picts, Irish guys, Aussies, Canadians, the French, Germans, New Zealand, South Africa, maybe Utah. More Asia!
Posted by JD Hull at 10:09 AM | Comments (0)
December 17, 2007
Blawg Review #139
This week's Blawg Review (#139) is hosted by Legal Literacy.
Posted by Holden Oliver at 04:49 AM | Comments (0)
December 12, 2007
Blawg Review #138
The Human Rights Day Blawg Review is hosted by PG at de novo.
Posted by Holden Oliver at 12:39 AM | Comments (0)
December 05, 2007
Blawg Review this week: Heavenly.
Beauty awakens the soul to act.
--Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)
You need inspiration? Well, WAC? does; we need a miracle every day. Blawg Review, consistently first-rate and tasteful, often literary, cannot be much finer or heroic than it is this week. A double-Blawg Review of the Year winner, Colin Samuels at Infamy or Praise is an admirer of The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri's epic poem written between 1308 and 1321. At Blawg Review, Colin now brings to a close his Divine Comedy theme and narrative tracking Dante's journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise (or Heaven), guided first by the Roman Epic Poet Virgil, then by Dante's Life-Long Love Beatrice--and
finally of course by The Yank Lawyer Colin.* In the third cantica, Paradiso--that's Blawg Review #137 for us folks in bow-ties with PDAs and Harvard Bluebooks--Beatrice guides Dante through the nine spheres of Heaven. Dante even sees the face of God, but can find no words to report his experience: All'alta fantasia qui mancò possa ("at this high moment, ability failed my capacity to describe") XXXIII, 142. In 2005, Colin first hosted BR with Inferno-themed Blawg Review #35 and became the 2005 Blawg Review of the Year winner. Hosting again in 2006, he decided to stay with Dante's great work, and published a Purgatorio-themed Blawg Review #86--and again, won the "best review" award. The engravings appearing on Colin's posts in all three installments are by the renowned French artist and book illustator Paul Gustave Doré, and from the illustrated editions of The Divine Comedy published 1857 and 1867.
*Virgil, a pagan, may not enter Heaven, so Dante's fellow Florentine Beatrice takes over. Lawyers, each with a back-stage pass to the Cosmos, may go anywhere.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:11 AM | Comments (0)
December 03, 2007
Blawg Review #137 -- Blawg Review in Paradiso
This week's excellent Blawg Review is brought to you by Colin Samuels at Infamy or Praise. The Divine Comedy's third cantica, Paradiso, provides the theme for Blawg Review #137. Infamy or Praise also hosted an Inferno-themed Blawg Review #35 (2005 Blawg Review of the Year winner) and a Purgatorio-themed Blawg Review #86.
Posted by Holden Oliver at 10:26 AM | Comments (0)
November 26, 2007
Blawg Review #136
Peter Black at Freedom to Differ (an Australian blawg) hosts Blawg Review #136.
Posted by Holden Oliver at 10:40 AM | Comments (0)
November 19, 2007
Blawg Review # 135
Today is Equal Opportunity Day in the U.S., and Part 1 of Blawg Review #135 is hosted by Transgender Workplace Diversity. Part 2 will appear tomorrow, Transgender Day of Remembrance, at the Rainbow Law Center Blog.
Posted by Holden Oliver at 08:40 AM | Comments (0)
November 12, 2007
Blawg Review #134...
...is a real marathon, and it's up at the New York Personal Injury Law Blog.
Posted by Holden Oliver at 05:44 AM | Comments (0)
November 05, 2007
Blawg Review #133
See here for Blawg Review #133 at Chicago IP Litigation Blog, by David Donoghue.
Posted by Tom Welshonce at 11:46 AM | Comments (0)
October 29, 2007
Blawg Review #132
This week's edition of Blawg Review is brought to you by Grant Griffiths at Home Office Lawyer, and is a collection of posts related to solo practice.
Posted by Tom Welshonce at 09:32 AM | Comments (0)
Lawyers Writing Sanely and Well: Lori Herz
Ironically, few lawyers write well. Many of us aren't even aware of that. Good clients and the general public are justified in beginning to conclude that either we won't or can't write sanely and well.* At WAC? we've discussed that problem a lot, but not enough, at our section called Writing Well. When lawyers write, we meander, repeat, confuse, use too many words, are awash in jargon, are lazy, use the wrong words; in the end, we sound like self-important mental patients talking to ourselves. Useful and even brilliant legal thinking and insights get lost. Read lawyer letters to counsel or clients if you don't believe me. At best, most of them are full-of-it but entertaining. Or, for fun, just read our pleadings:
COMES NOW, the plaintiff, GiantMart Inc., by and through its attorneys, Adams, Bones & Carson, LLC, brings this cause of action against Upstart LTD, scumbags, for violations of the Lanham Act, and for other causes, which are set forth in their entirety below, and files with this Honorable Court the herein Complaint, the following of which is a statement of its averments and allegations: [with names changed to protect the lame, and one embellishment]
rather than
Plaintiff GiantMart Inc. states:
There are of course lots of nuances to this problem and they extend to American speech and writing generally. Our own King's English-Hemingway-Flaubert-worshipping Holden Oliver totally loses it and needs to be sedated when anyone uses either "PARTY" or "IMPACT" as a verb. He also abhors "COMES NOW","NEXT LEVEL", "MATRIX" and PARADIGM" and refuses to return Steven Covey's phone calls.
But let's start with lawyers. Last month, Lori Herz, a New York-based lawyer with fine lawyer credentials, business writer and no-b.s. writing coach, and Arnie Herz's other half at his Legal Sanity, launched Write For Clients, subtitled "How Powerful Writing Builds Business Success". Lori herself can really write; we've said before that only two or three writers in the blog community are as good as Lori. If you need help, talk to her. And see Kevin O'Keefe's interview with Lori last month.
*WAC? thinks that in-bred lawyer clubbiness, the resulting failure to represent clients aggressively and lawyers' lack of business sense are even bigger problems--but medieval lawyer writing is a symptom of the greater lawyer "insularity" problem. Generally, the vast majority of lawyers all over the world just don't get it. Our services for and service to even to-die-for clients are poor to mediocre. Sorry.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:28 AM | Comments (1)
October 25, 2007
CMU study: WAC? is among the 100 most informative blogs.
That's the word from a recent study by researchers at the Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science. Details about the study are here. Excerpt:
Rankings are based on the following question: Which blogs should one read to be most up to date, i.e., to quickly know about important stories that propagate over the blogosphere?
The methodology of the researchers has algorithms, numbers and charts in it. So we don't get it 100%--if we did, we would have gone to medical school. Anyway, we're honored. The full list is here.
Posted by Tom Welshonce at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
October 23, 2007
Business 2 Business: Blawg Review #131 and Carnival of the Capitalists #211
David Maister at Passion, People and Principles hosts Blawg Review this week, and focuses on the business of law. At the same time, the anonymous Editor at Blawg Review is the host of Carnival of the Capitalists, the longest running blog carnival.
Posted by Tom Welshonce at 05:00 PM | Comments (0)
October 22, 2007
Writing well: "Does it sing?"
See Pam MacLean's article, reprinted from The National Law Journal, "Longtime Rebel Alex Kozinski Prepares to Lead the 9th Circuit" at Law.com. In December, Kozinski will take the helm of the U.S. Ninth Circuit court of appeals. He respects and revels in sound and unpretentious legal writing.
Posted by Holden Oliver at 08:27 AM | Comments (0)
October 19, 2007
Renaissance Man
Despite his Harvard pedigree, David Giacalone, lawyer-writer-poet and gentle pundit, is always a class act. If you haven't visited his f/k/a... lately, please do so. We suggest starting with his recent "Gov. Spite-zer needs more EQ" for the house special: political commentary and law followed by wistful, seasoned haiku.
Posted by Holden Oliver at 11:59 PM | Comments (1)
October 15, 2007
From Middle Earth: Blawg Review #130 (X 2)
This week's Blawg Review is split in two in recognition of Blog Action Day (today) and Conflict Resolution Day (Thursday). The Northern Hemisphere is covered by Diane Levin's Online Guide to Mediation from Boston, Massachusetts, and the Southern Hemisphere by Geoff Sharp's mediator blah...blah... from Wellington, New Zealand. This is as fine a Blawg Review as you'll see.
Posted by Tom Welshonce at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
October 08, 2007
Blawg Review #129: Columbus Day
No. 129 is by David Harlow at HealthBlawg. Columbus Day: it's an Italian thing, sort of. But WAC? must give some discovery credits to native Americans, the Vikings and the Beatles.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)
September 24, 2007
Blawg Review #127 - The Runaway Jury Review
Do yourself a favor and take a few minutes today to read Blawg Review #127, which is hosted at Anne Reed's Deliberations. This week's edition of Blawg Review presents the "17 Best Tips For Voir Dire".
Posted by Holden Oliver at 07:49 AM | Comments (1)
September 23, 2007
Tomorrow is Blawg Review #127: "Hey, Anne, we know David Lat, we went to the track with him once, and you're right, you are no David Lat, okay?"
With apologies to the late Lloyd Bentsen. Lat-envy. Some of us--not WAC?--have it. Even uber-Milwaukee trial lawyer and jury guru Anne Reed, at her fine Deliberations, has it: "I can't rhyme, my dog can't write, and I'm not David Lat -- so please, be kind". But, tomorrow, at BR #127, we think she'll do just fine. No need to be that kind.
Posted by Holden Oliver at 12:30 AM | Comments (0)
September 10, 2007
"Never write a letter, never throw one away."
Off-topic, and not. For reasons which go back to 1974, WAC? misses Dr. Thompson. See this Charlie Rose interview, undated, but likely about 1997.
Posted by Holden Oliver at 06:30 PM | Comments (1)
September 03, 2007
Promethean Anti-Slacker Blawg Review #124
Whoa. Blawg Review #124, the Labor Day Special, is up at George Lenard's Employment Blawg. It's really long and comprehensive, a super-human effort. But it's also Promethean (Prometheus (Προμηθεύς) means "forethought"). You won't see a better specimen of Blawg Review than this one in terms of planning, choice of content and writing. So Lenard's an especially thoughtful and hard-working fellow. If he doesn't get an end-of-year award from BR's mysterious editor for something, we will have our junior co-blogger and associate Holden Oliver jump from the 32nd floor of the US Steel Building on New Year's Day 2008. It's the least we could do in protest. And, besides, Holden's billable hours were down at 2,500 last year.
Posted by Tom Welshonce at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
August 31, 2007
Two posts you should read today
How to define your niche, at Jim Hassett's Legal Business Development.
Hey Mister, Can you spare a Dime....Or a Client?, at Tom Kane's Legal Marketing Blog.
Posted by Holden Oliver at 06:20 AM | Comments (0)
August 28, 2007
Leave Out the Parts that People Will Skip
Thanks to Pat Lamb for pointing out this post at BlogBloke.
Posted by Tom Welshonce at 05:01 AM | Comments (0)
August 27, 2007
Blawg Review #123
Blawg Review #123 is up at Todd Smith's Texas Appellate Law Blog.
Posted by Holden Oliver at 07:03 AM | Comments (0)
August 22, 2007
Blawg Review #122 - The Blawg Review Syllabus
See this week's edition of Blawg Review at David Gulbransen's Preaching to the Perverted.
Posted by Tom Welshonce at 06:20 AM | Comments (0)
April 30, 2007
Writing to and for clients.
Writing to clients is as important a thing that you do as a lawyer. Don't waste their time with long-winded lawyer-speak, which sophisticated clients dislike anyway and find amusing at best. Chicago trial lawyer Patrick Lamb discusses "Good Writing" at his highly-regarded In Search of Perfect Client Service. A short post, it ends:
What do our clients lack? Time. Don't waste it. Each word you write or utter should prove you value their time more than your own.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:45 PM | Comments (0)
December 20, 2006
In the Holiday Season, all creatures, even Legalese, are tolerated, loved.
With apologies to Clement Clarke Moore. From Singapore Law Blog: "Whereas, on or about the night prior to Christmas, there did occur at a certain improved piece of real property (hereinafter "the House") a general lack of stirring by all creatures therein, including, but not limited to a mouse." And then...
Posted by JD Hull at 02:58 PM | Comments (0)
December 07, 2006
Good Legal Writing, Plain and Simple.
Good sites on better writing for clients, lawyers and other humans can be found at The Estrin Report. Declare war on "aforesaid", "party of the second part", "oye, oye" and "COMES NOW THE PLAINTIFF, Purple Monkey Corporation, by and through its attorneys, and for its Motion, the following of which is an obsequious prayer, to this Most Honorable Court...." Just say it.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
November 19, 2006
The War on Jargon, Legalese and Other Goofy Speech.
See Jay Shepherd at Gruntled Employees on the demise of legalese, cop babble, corporate-speak and the McDonaldsization of language: "Abandoning Jargon 'At A High Rate Of Speed'".
Posted by JD Hull at 12:25 AM | Comments (0)
October 29, 2006
Writing Well: LH Wordsmith
From Arnie Herz at Legal Sanity, see "The Next Wave of Legal Sanity", and learn about LH Wordsmith. This is Lori Herz's new company. Arnie and his wife Lori have stayed on the cutting-edge of client service, good lawyering and practice management ideas. Both are fine thinkers and writers. And only two or three writers in the law blog community are as good as Lori. Period. If you or your clients can get Lori and LH Wordsmith to help with writing, jump at the opportunity.
Posted by JD Hull at 01:15 AM | Comments (0)
October 22, 2006
Speaking of Candor...
Speaking of KFB, political incorrectness, wild men, anti-weenies and just saying it, from Salon, here's an interesting piece about Edward Abbey, "Where Have You Gone, Edward Abbey"? Abbey (1927-1989) was a writer, essayist, radical environmentalist and thinking person's loose cannon who lived in the desert American southwest. He made conservatives and liberals nervous, and many wanted him put to sleep. People confuse Abbey with Edward Albee, a still-living playwright, when they see his name in print. Different guy.
Let's note that back in the day, WAC? and his college girlfriend--now a lawyer but despite this is still creative and able to think, speak and write--were charter subscribers to Ms. magazine. Ms. is a real American achievement, even if you hate it. To the then 2-year old "Mizz" Abbey wrote in 1973: "Some of us menfolks here in Winkelman [Arizona] ain't too happy with this magazine of yourn". He didn't like Texas, either, writing in 1954:
...it combines the bigotry and sheer animal ignorance of the Old South with the aggressive, ruthless, bustling, dollar-crazy brutality of the Yankee East and then attempts to hide this ugliness under a facade of mock-western play clothes stolen from a way of life that was crushed by Texanism over half a century ago. The trouble with Texas: it's ugly, noisy, mean-spirited, mediocre and false.
Today, and more than ever, Salon Salon writer Philip Connors concludes, "America needs the ornery writer".
Posted by JD Hull at 12:26 AM | Comments (0)
October 14, 2006
Just say it: Why legalese is bad.
Posted by JD Hull at 03:46 AM | Comments (0)
September 25, 2006
Finally: "The 7 Habits of Bad Writing".
There are 7 habits of "Bad Writing". Do see Susan McDonald's post at Legal Research & Writing blog, as well as Roy Jacobsen's, both commenting on Matthew Stibbe's original post setting out the 7 types at Bad Language. "It was a dark and stormy night..."
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
August 12, 2006
Writing For Clients: "Just Say It" Part 2 - Redux
A vacation re-run, from December 2005. Patrick Lamb liked it at the time, so we figure it must have legs:
Back to thinking about legal writing for clients de-mystified (December 9 post), I wonder if you just start with writing to courts. After all, lawyers (including judges) have a certain way of talking to each other which often (a) really isn't needed and just alienates the rest of the thinking world, and (b) even makes it think we are talking to ourselves dementedly and self-absorbedly.
For example, from the first line of an actual federal district court complaint:
COMPLAINTCOMES NOW, the plaintiff, Upstart Corporation, by and through its attorneys, Adams, Bones & Carson, LLC, brings this cause of action against GiantMart, Inc. for violations of the Lanham Act, and for its reasons, files with this Honorable Court the herein Complaint, the following of which is a statement of its averments and allegations:
Why not instead just:
COMPLAINTPlaintiff, Upstart Corporation, states:
Well, is it just me?
Dan Hull
Posted by Tom Welshonce at 02:36 PM | Comments (2)
May 15, 2006
Just Say It: Good Writing for Clients, and Other Humans.
We have just 12 rules and no rigid doctrines here. Nonetheless you may not use "heretofore", "said" as in "said widgets" or "COMES NOW" in this space. Ever. See "Writing for Clients - Just Say It": Parts I-IV here, here, here and here. This blog loves sane and people-oriented writing for clients, fellow counsel and courts alike. So does New Orleans lawyer Raymond Ward, the "Rainman", who writes Minor Wisdom, one of my favorite blogs. His site is full of good tips on many things, including good writing. See Ray's most recent posts "Naked briefwriting" and my favorite "All they really need to know about legal writing they learned in the 3rd grade".
Posted by JD Hull at 03:56 PM | Comments (0)
May 01, 2006
All Day on Law Day: Ben Cowgill's Blawg Review #55
Other than some good works by yours truly, and infrequently at that, one of the few good moments lately for a certain enduring university in Durham, NC is Blawg Review #55 by fellow alum Ben Cowgill at SoloBlawg.com. Is this Blue Devil talented and multi-faceted or what? An innovative and very interesting bonus is that Blawg Review #55, with its looking-for-America theme, runs all day, today, which is Law Day. Very clever. If you're a boomer, Ben's treatment may make you a little nostalgic.
Posted by JD Hull at 05:57 PM | Comments (0)
April 26, 2006
Blawg Review #54: Brandy Karl, IP Alice, Takes Us Down the Rabbit Hole.
Speaking of Alice in Wonderland, I just returned from a two-day trip to Los Angeles--a place where James Spader's wonderfully eccentric trial lawyer on Boston Legal could feel perfectly normal 24/7--and then immediately turned to Brandy Karl's compelling and successful stab at Blawg Review #54 with its Alice theme based on Lewis Carroll's two books. Do see Blawg Review #54 and get familiar with Brandy A. Karl and her blog bk! - Brandy Karl's IP Blog. And see also some of her other posts. A Boston-based IP and copyright lawyer, Brandy's fun, funny, can write--and she's got moxie. So down the rabbit hole with you. While generally upbeat, "What About Clients?" is not written by particularly complimentary people. But each week Blawg Review keeps getting better and better and curiouser and curiouser.
Posted by JD Hull at 08:35 AM | Comments (0)
April 17, 2006
Blawg Review #53: Jim Maule, Tax Day and Taxation as Pervasive.
Blawg Review #53 by Villanova Professor James Edward Maule at MauledAgain is further support for my relatively new but ever-strengthening theory that tax lawyers after all really are creative--and have both depth and breadth, big personalities and writing ability as well. As a lawyer surrounded by serious tax talent, I posted in January with equal admiration about Paul Caron's TaxProf Blog. And once again, I just hope Julie, Janet, Al and Tom at our shop all read Jim's blog and his post today, too. Jim has written a balanced and just plain fun review of last week's better posts; he's another reason Blawg Review has become a must for even busy people to read.
Posted by JD Hull at 04:50 PM | Comments (0)
April 10, 2006
Blawg Review #52 - If this doesn't sell you on lawyers blogging, nothing will.
This week's Blawg Review is hosted by David Giacalone at his f/k/a. A lawyer who despite his D.C. antitrust and Harvard Law pedigree cares about good writing and does it very well, David in Blawg Review #52 reveals as usual the wondrous range of possibilities in substance, creativity and tone blogging can offer. And the guy has an opinion about a thing or two. As regular readers know, David's site, while substantive and sometimes edgy, mixes law, ethics, politics and poetry (haiku, and he even has a primer for the unwashed). Finally, f/k/a is always beautifully done. It won the 2005 Blawg Review Award for Creative Law Blog.
Posted by JD Hull at 07:34 AM | Comments (2)
April 06, 2006
Inc. Magazine: Best Customer-Service Practices
Even though I was a subscriber to Inc. Magazine for years, I noticed this only recently while doing some research for this blog. It's here, a collection of Inc.'s better articles and feature stories on customer service over the past 6 years.
Posted by JD Hull at 03:44 AM | Comments (0)
April 03, 2006
Blawg Review #51's Writer is Nobody's April Fool.
George M. Wallace of Declarations and Exclusions, a/k/a A Fool In The Forest, did this week's Blawg Review with Blawg Review #51. We are lucky to have this literate, lyrical and whimsical host. Read Blawg Review #51 and then tell me if you still think lawyers are stiff, lame and uncreative. George's writing is Some Serious Dang Fun.
Posted by JD Hull at 03:40 PM | Comments (0)
3L Epiphany - Not Bad for a Buckeye.
As a basic Google search will tell you in a matter of seconds, 3L Epiphany, a blog by Ian Best, a third-year OSU law student and fellow Buckeye (ok, I claim a few jurisdictions), is both an inquiry into and catalog of the blawg phenom. 3LE has received a tremendous amount of kudos, press and hoopla lately--all well-deserved. See especially Ian's increasingly-famous Taxonomy of Legal Blogs. My comments: (1) this is both an impressive and interesting achievement and (2) why didn't I think of something this when I was 24?
Posted by JD Hull at 12:16 AM | Comments (0)
April 01, 2006
Never date anything April 1; never rely on anything dated April 1.
Which can be "Rule 13", a new client service rule. This causes obvious problems because of today's date. While you are thinking about this (which should not be for very long), note that A Fool in the Forest today has a special prequel to his Blawg Review #51.
J. Daniel Hull
Posted by JD Hull at 12:49 PM | Comments (0)
March 28, 2006
Blawg Review #50 Is Out, Out There and It Should Wake Us All Up.
The Dark Goddess of Replevin Speaks did Blawg Review #50 this week, and DGR, a/k/a Seattle's Ruth Laura Edlund, did not disappoint. This may be H.L Mencken with a law degree reincarnated in Grunge City. She afflicts the comfortable and comforts, well, the possessed, dispossessed and disinherited: anonymous bloggers, women at BigLaw (are humans just better off as men?), a dusty museum piece in our Constitution called the Establishment Clause and even the tender teachings of one's own flawed human soul. Some new sites here for me, including Howard Friedman's Religion Clause, and Jews on First. The Dark Goddess reminded me that blawging can be more than the same self-congratulatory conversation (i.e., "wankfest", if you're English) between the same people from the same country in the same profession on the same subjects. It made me want more--from her, other bloggers, myself. I think DGR is royally alienated and artfully pissed off, and she would probably not like me at all--and I like her that way. So see Blawg Review #50. For fun, check her post 2 weeks ago "Washington State Barbies". I admit that "Bellevue Barbie" is my type.
Posted by JD Hull at 09:14 PM | Comments (0)
March 20, 2006
Oklahoma, You're OK Department: Blawg Review #49 Is Out.
Good mornin' pards. From his Oklahoma-based Jim Calloway's Law Practice Tips Blog, Jim Calloway has authored Blawg Review this week and Blawg Review #49 is here. Jim's #49 is a comprehensive one--and covering some great blawgs/blogs which were new to me--by a man on the vanguard of legal weblogs since day one and who cares about the quality of the blawgosphere. Blawg Review itself is a useful digest service if you write and/or read blawgs but like me you struggle to keep up with new blogs and good posts. You can see the previous 48 reviews at Blawg Review.
Posted by JD Hull at 08:45 AM | Comments (0)
March 10, 2006
Patrick Lamb: In Search of Perfect Blawgs.
Visit Chicago litigator Patrick J. Lamb's new and improved site at In Search of Perfect Client Service. The man keeps raising the bar on everything. Pat makes it difficult for mere mortals and country lawyer types like me to keep up.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:19 PM | Comments (0)
March 06, 2006
Blawg Review #47 is Out, and...
...it's a thoughtful, even-handed, spirited and comprehensive scan of last week's posts by Unused and Probably Unusable.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:29 PM | Comments (0)
March 01, 2006
Return of Mark Beese, Leadership for Lawyers.
Mark Beese at Denver's Holland & Hart is back with Leadership for Lawyers after a 3-month blog-sabbatical. I for one am very happy about it. When we first launched this site, Mark noticed our efforts and its theme of boutique firms competing with much larger ones, and was encouraging early on. L4L is a first-rate site on lawyers as human beings, innovators and marketers, and on law firms as real laboratories for new ideas. Welcome back, Mark.
Posted by JD Hull at 01:42 AM | Comments (0)
February 27, 2006
Blawg Review #46
Sean Sirrine at De Novo has this week's Blawg Review. Along with a bunch of great links, Sean offers some helpful "tips" on keeping blogs fresh. Nice job, Sean.
Posted by Tom Welshonce at 12:19 PM | Comments (0)
February 20, 2006
Patrick Lamb: Blawg Review #45
My friend and frequent cyber-mentor Patrick Lamb at In Search of Perfect Client Service did the honors this week for Blawg Review #45, which reviewed last week's posts. As usual, Pat does a superb job.
Pat and I are both practicing business litigators approximately the same age. We both were raised in the Midwest, were high-school debater types and have strong dashes of Gaelic DNA. We are both serious students of client service and law practice management. So over a year ago, when I was reviewing blawgs to see if I wanted to launch one myself, I was particularly interested in and struck by Pat's hugely popular blog. Then I thought it was the best legal weblog. I still think it's the best. We are all lucky to have the guy around.
Posted by JD Hull at 08:48 PM | Comments (0)
February 18, 2006
A Little Help From The Canadian Bar Association: "Plain Language Legal Writing".
The Canadian Bar Association's CBA Practice Link, which I check from time to time, has been running a 3-part series on "Plain Language Legal Writing" adopted from articles by Cheryl Stephens. Take a look at Part III - Mastering Modern Legal Correspondence. Previously posted Parts I and II, "Writing as a Process" and "Writing to Be Understood", are now off-limits to non-CBA members but worth obtaining, so I think I'll try. But Part III on correspondence is detailed, generally applicable to any good writing, well-thought out and useful to anyone who shares this goal: put our embarrassingly medieval legal writing tradition out of its present misery (i.e., kill it), lovingly leave it to language and legal historians, and turn it into unpretentious English which clients and other lawyers will actually want to read. Bravo.
Posted by JD Hull at 01:12 PM | Comments (1)
February 17, 2006
Two Great Blogs By Non-lawyers We Can Actually Use.
The first is I [Heart] Tech by Adriana Linares--a Florida-based tech consultant specializing in lawyers, an Earth Mother for the digital age, and clearly one of the sassiest yet most feminine human beings on the planet. Adriana is also CEO of LawTechPartners. And she can write. There were several women like Adriana at Duke when I was a student there. Most of them studie