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July 29, 2010
Death of Big Bird: Work-life balance is no longer Cool.
Bad news for the Happysphere. And better news for serious lawyers and their clients. The down-markets do have a silver lining for professional services firms: those shops burdened by employees who take their jobs for granted or as some kind of right.
Our advice is simple and even very American. First, Terminate The Unwilling (note: just fire them, don't kill anyone). Second, Unload The Lame. Big Bird? Okay to kill.
Sound cruel and flippant? It's not. A job is not a right. It's either you or them, Clyde.
Kill Big Bird--and the rest is a walk. Get back to work. Get Sesame Street out of your shop.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:56 AM | Comments (0)
July 26, 2010
Mali Laughter
Here's the Net at an infrequent good moment. And perhaps at its best. About people--and not about "alternate realities", SEO, insular robot students, delusional young office workers, pretend lawyers, faux wisdom, and other human and digital garbage bringing the West down.
Here's quality and courage. See Maryam's My Marrakesh.
All photos at link by Maryam.
Posted by JD Hull at 05:05 PM | Comments (1)
It's Monday AM: You know for sure where your girlfriend/wife is? We might.
It could happen to you. Probably already has. "I AM the backdoor man. Men don't know. But little girls, they understand." --Willie Dixon
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)
July 25, 2010
Biotech expert Scott McPherson joins Hull McGuire.
As reported earlier this month by Doug Sherwin in the San Diego Daily Transcript:
McPherson joins Hull McGuire as special counsel
Scott E. McPherson, a respected San Diego biotech specialist and patent attorney, joined Hull McGuire PC as special counsel, effective June 1.
He will work with shareholder Julie McGuire on IP management and transactions in North America and Europe.
McPherson has a B.A. in biology from the University of California-San Diego, and an M.S.P.H. in toxicology from the San Diego State Graduate School of Public Health. Between 1990 and 1999, he worked as a pharmacologist and toxicologist in the biotechnology industry.
He has worked as in-house counsel for Nanogen Inc. and as an attorney for DLA Piper and Townsend Townsend & Crew.
McPherson's work for Hull McGuire clients will include searches and opinions on freedom to operate; opinions on invalidity; management and evaluation; and some patent prosecution.
He also is expected to assist Dan Hull with clean water and solid waste issues in the U.S. and the European Union, and environmental law legislative projects in Washington, D.C.
--Doug Sherwin, The Daily Transcript
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:36 AM | Comments (0)
July 24, 2010
Daniel Louis Schorr (1916-2010)
Liberal" versus "conservative" are not labels that can be used or should be used to define anyone of quality. An original, an original Murrow boy, and a class human. See yesterday's NYT piece. He was so good and often terrifying that a U.S. president sicked the FBI and J. Edgar Hoover on him.
By the way, Schorr used his real name when he worked. If you comment here, and especially if you are a hater, please use your real name. Have some respect for Schorr, and for yourself.
Our rules here: Happy but "angry" folks may comment. No spineless wonders. No whack jobs. No bitter and lazy males who hate their careers and won't do anything about it. Or the usual blogger or frequent commenter who is too socially-inept, ugly or fat to get laid.
So no losers and looters. Just seekers and builders. Like Schorr.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
If you need Moxie or Hope: Got Argentina for you right here.
Play Louder: Heal the Sick. Make the Blind See. Motivate the Lame. Get off your fat American asses. Get in shape. Get the blood flowing. Read some books. Quit e-mailing. Quit hiding. Take some trips.
Kids in Buenos Aires speak English as well as you do. They know more about your culture than you know about theirs. And they're curious.
Catch up. Be in the world. Talk to people who are different from you.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:05 PM | Comments (0)
July 21, 2010
Anonymity on the Net. Play it again, Charon: Charon QC-Hull "Anonymity" interview.
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One fine Saturday last July, London's velvet-voiced politics pundit and broadcaster Charon QC--in his other life a well-regarded law professor and writer--interviewed Dan Hull. And so they took a bit more time to do their 4th radio podcast together. It's more informal than the first three. Both, however, even the Rioja-loving Charon, were sober.
It's right here.
Charon (pronounced "Karen", and after a figure in both the ancient and Dante's world) and Dan first met in person in March 2007, doing their first interview (Charon's No. 5) in a Marble Arch hotel room when Dan was working in London. The topic on July 27, 2009--at least at first--was anonymity on the net in Charon's 150th milestone interview. All four interviews can be accessed on this site on your lower right.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
The Iranians: For centuries, governments have come and gone.
But they do endure. The truly global Sir Eldon Griffiths--former MP, writer and diplomat who for decades has traveled extensively in the Mideast--has popped up this month on Richard Lewis's fine Cross-Culture. See Sir Eldon's article "The Islamic Republic won’t last forever. The Iranian Phoenix will be reborn". It concludes:
The Mullahs are not forever. One way or another, they too will pass or be absorbed into the cultural fabric of historic Iran. With Ardeshir Zahedi, I cling to the belief expressed by a mutual friend, Houshang Navahandi, when he served as Rector of Shiraz University:
"Four thousand years of history with so many ups and downs have taught this to the Iranians: Iran has always survived, overcome its invaders… absorbed its occupiers. The Phoenix is always re-born from the Ashes."
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Why Salzburg Matters.
Yes, we know you dream in American. But you live in the world. Great clients know that. Do you? Apart from Mozart, art, salt, ancient Celtic culture, St Peter's (above) and restaurants carved into cliffs, this staid Austrian city is home to the International Business Law Consortium, an active group of over 85 first-rate law and accounting firms in strategic cities all over the world. It was founded in 1996.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 02:51 PM | Comments (0)
Happy Birthday, Mr. Hemingway (1899–1961)
The Anti-Teacup. Papa wrote the book on cool quality-of-life ideas for Tubbies who just can't take it anymore. Try them at home today.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)
July 20, 2010
Leave Indianapolis or Albany for a few minutes. Visit this guy.
Blue Lupines, wild roses, Moxie, fireweed. See A Public Defender's Life in Alaska.
Posted by JD Hull at 01:50 PM | Comments (0)
Slackoisie Alert: More Bad News for Non-Wanker Law Firms and In-House Shops Who Get It.
More unemployables. For polishing, looters head to expensive and wasteful 3-year incubation devices owned and operated by older unemployables. See Jane Genova's "Gen Y & Law School". Thanks to Stephanie West, sort of. Redford, do something. WAC? going back to bed. May begin drinking again. To start, Jamesons and ether, maybe?
Posted by JD Hull at 12:44 AM | Comments (0)
July 18, 2010
Get. Out. Of. Your. Cars. And. Dance.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:19 AM | Comments (0)
July 16, 2010
New O'Goldman Sachs logo.
Yesterday's $550 million settlement (in 3 months since fraud lawsuit was filed!) is more than a "nice result". It is Magic. And we are impressed. SEC looks ultra-wimpy on this one.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)
July 15, 2010
FCC Retro Walt Whitman Art Moment (with slightly flitty Poem).
My Darling, we'll come in low, out of the rising sun. Just you eight--and me.
And the new Morning. About a mile out, we'll put on our Music.
Me? Oh, I use Wagner. Scares the [badness] out of the [badness].
My Boys! They do love it!
"How you feelin' Jimmy?"
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Law School/Slackoisie Comment--and Quote--of the Year [with Badnesses Deleted]
From a WAC/P? mainstay and 100% full-frontal blunt commenter and stand-up Irish guy (note: we are editing, enlarging and/or embellishing only parts that offended us greatly, we didn't agree with, pissed us off, or we did not get):
Law schools can't teach people to be strong, weak, or in between. All "inside jobs". This subject can be discussed with your Mom, your shrink, baby Jesus, and your other abused and damaged [badness deleted] law school buds.
Finally, why the [badness deleted] are we letting Stone Weenies into American law schools in the first place? Why would they even want to go? Is there a new Affirmative Action program for Lames, Looters, Teacups and [several badnesses deleted]?
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Professor Quaalude with Skippy, future Law Review president.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:00 AM | Comments (2)
July 14, 2010
Why this Blog is Twittering this Summer.
Because it's Summer, it's Slower, and we're Slumming. It's an experiment. And so far it's a mixed neighborhood.
Best part: good looking people here and there. Worst part: good looking people with nothing to say. Funniest part: people who think they are liberal and are really not. Weirdest part: trying to figure out why some people think we need to know what they are doing or thinking. General Wit and Verve Level: nearly Zilch. Best Tweet: dead cat found decomposing in golf bag. Silly/stupid Tweets by WAC/P?: 14 or 15 of 150. Overall Take: Humans are having way too many babies.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
July 13, 2010
UPDATED: Teletubbie Alert (Orange Level): Law schools must now teach you how to be "a person"?
Above: This bunch headed for law school? Hopefully not--but run one over if you see one just in case. Speed up a bit.
To us, the suggested cure--that law schools do for people what people down through history have generally done for themselves (i.e., become full-fledged human beings)--seems way worse than the disease(s).
Get the net? Our head writer told me--at first--to "trash this blog post thoroughly, lovingly and like you mean it". And then said, on second thought, to go easy since the blogger is a "King-Hell Straight-Up Total Betty". So his hypocrisy knows no bounds.
We will bite our tongue, then. We will hold back.
But do see the well-written and sincere but perplexing "Will Law Schools Help Build a Healthier Profession?" at the otherwise sane Law People. So studies find that "within six months of entering law school, students experience significant decreases in well-being and life satisfaction, and substantial increases in depression, negative affect and physical symptoms." So, some voices cry out, the law schools should address this terrible and pressing problem.
Wait. Didn't we sign up for that risk? The often difficult externalities of professional school and learning how to be a lawyer? Comes with the territory, right? We knew law school and the profession would be stressful.
Isn't it a cliché--but a true one--that growing up is a hard and often painful process?
And now law schools should do something about it? To us, the suggested cure--that law schools do for people what people down through history have generally done for themselves--seems way worse than the disease(s).
"Lames, Looters and Tea Cups" are bad for clients. Law schools these days have enough problems producing grads who (a) are marginally useful within two years of being hired and (b) can get through the day without falling apart because they have come face-to-face with a real life client problem that fits no molds.
Turning law school into a rehab for people without life skills is going to make that problem worse--and put clients at even greater risk than they currently face at the hands of "Teletubbie" young lawyers.
Helping law students be real people so they can be happy as real lawyers? It all sounds "nice", though--especially if you are independently wealthy, you have never practiced law longer than 18 months, or you yourself are a victim of too much recreational mescaline during the 1960s.
Look, law people, we always thought that becoming a lawyer or a person was an "inside job". We seriously doubt that Law turns people to booze, drugs, nitrous oxide, ether, glue, Twinkies, or mental illness any more or faster than the same people would ingest or suffer in different or less taxing professions. A lot of that "hay is in the barn" when you get hatched (i.e., at birth). Some call it DNA, genes and family "patterns". Entire books by shrinks, regular physicians and scientists cover it.*
How about this? Law schools will work on recruiting somewhat tougher people who would make good lawyers and actually like, handle and even "use"--rather than fold under--the "pressure" that is likely to still accompany much great legal work for clients in the future? And then make them into the best lawyers they can make them into in three (3) semesters rather than six (6)? Or is that too insensitive, old school, and cost-efficient?
*Wait. Can law school teach our associates which fork to use, about the correct colognes, and how to decant the good port when visiting the Pilkingtons in Pointe aux Barques? Now you're talking.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (1)
July 12, 2010
Return of Newt: Give him credit for timing.
No comment--but if Gingrich, 67, wanted to wait for a way-low American moment to "declare", today's probably that day: Monday, July 12, 2010, and True Winter in America. AP: "Gingrich says he's considering presidential run".
16 years ago
Posted by JD Hull at 05:12 PM | Comments (0)
July 09, 2010
Lawyer, Journalist, and Magic Show: London's Charon QC
You just haven't been to London this week unless you've checked in with our friend Charon QC. Below Professor Charon wonders about delivery of services to elite clients trading in global markets.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:47 PM | Comments (0)
July 07, 2010
Senator Franken: And they said nothing really all that weird would happen before late 2012.
Good enough, smart enough, Senatorial enough. Alan Stuart Franken, love him or not, is smart, a player, still funny and still the junior U.S. senator from Minnesota. He was sworn into the Senate one year ago today.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
July 06, 2010
U.S. stocks make strong and cautious return.
But "ratchet down" expectations for rest of 2010. WSJ: "US Stocks Rise, Australian Comments Lift Growth Hopes".
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--U.S. stocks roared back from a deep slump Tuesday as an encouraging forecast from Australia's central bank and strong semiconductor sales fueled fresh optimism for stronger global demand.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 131 points, or 1.4%, to 9818, in recent trading. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index climbed 1.5% to 1038.
All of the S&P 500's sectors were in the black, led by its financials and technology.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:02 PM | Comments (0)
July 03, 2010
Birthday No. 234: But is America still in its Terrible Twos?
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
The Economist: Even Ancient Sumo Needs a Good Cleaning.
Gambling with an old, multi-layered and heavyweight sport. See "Japan's Sumo Scandal: Caught Off-Balance". Exceprt:
The scandal says a lot about modern Japan, a country undergoing a sweeping transition from informal, implicit rules to formal, explicit ones. Institutions long closed to public scrutiny are becoming more accountable.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 01:50 PM | Comments (0)