It's not just a blog carnival; it's the law! ~ a fool in the forest
I was working in the lab, late last night,
Howelloween—Denise Howell is hosting Blawg Review #30. Verrrrrry spooky!
Business Pundit Rob May's post "Why American Express gets Blogging" is a good place to get oriented.Brian Gongol submits:
On Dane Carlson's Business Opportunities Weblog, you can read the transcript of Jane Pauley's interview of Sir Richard Branson. It's fascinating reading and original content.
From Anita Campbell's Small Business Trends blog, you might want to check out "Adventures in Entrepreneurship: Managing Change". This is one of the panel questions the three blogger panelists were asked by Clay Shirky, the moderator.
Lifesaving Through Economic GrowthMark at SportsBiz discusses the marketing activity of Chivas USA, an expansion franchise of MLS, which has directed its activities exclusively at Mexicans and Mexican-Americans who are familiar with its parent club, a famous Mexican soccer club:
When viewed as a lifesaving tool, growth-oriented economics gains a moral authority its opponents often overlook. Growth in the world's poor countries generally requires two ingredients: Access to free trade and the rule of law, particularly as it applies to property law.
Chivas USA: The Power of a BrandTom Kirkendall at Houston's Clear Thinkers has this scoop:
It appears that a new business model may be developing: leverage an existing brand into the United States and appeal to the American immigrant community.
Selling socially responsible ice creamGeorge, at Fat Pitch Fiancials, begins:
...about the socially-responsible nonsense that Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream spews while selling its quite good -- but unhealthy (i.e., socially irresponsible) -- ice cream.
30 Days to Becoming a Better InvestorGautam Ghosh on Management offers advice about:
November is going to be a manic month of investment knowledge and wisdom here at Fat Pitch Financials. I hope to make November the month that we all become better investors by learning at least one new thing each and every day from each other.
Building Your Organizational QuotientModern Marketing, by Collaborate PR & Marketing, asks:
There are three things you need to be aware about when you think of your career in an organization.
What Is Open Source Marketing?The Truth by Scott explains:
The buzz of meeting like-minded people from all over the world: the fun of sharing ideas, however crazy or leftfield; the feelings of empowerment; the can-do, pioneering freedom. It’s these social, entrepreneurial values that are driving Open Source among gamers, petrol heads, food lovers, film fans, musicians, sports junkies, globetrotters and almost every other area of modern culture. Just like TV did 50 years ago.
Why Capitalism Doesn't WorkFree Money Finance discovers:
You know the old saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"? I know something that's so broken that you don't want to fix it. In fact, it also works so well that you can't fix it. I'm talking about Capitalism. But before you denounce me as a Commie or Anti-American or just dismiss me as a kook, hear me out.
20 Ways to Save on a ShoestringJane Dough, who's blogging the ongoing chronicle of a single 30-something Bostonian who is seeking enlightenment and control of her Net Worth at Boston Gal's Open Wallet, takes a test to find out:
So again we see that how much you make is not the greatest determinant of your net worth -- how much you save is the key! Stay tuned and we'll continue this series to give you some ideas on how just how to do that!
How does my household balance sheet stack up against typical U.S. households?Jeffrey Strain at Personal Finance Advice offers advice:
My Net Worth seems to place me in the "Middle Class" category which is good I guess (at least I am not poor!). I seem to have more cash assets than most and less bonds and stocks/retirement money. Perhaps I should start to shift from focusing just on saving money and instead start exploring more ways to invest my money.
The Best Investment You Can MakeJonathan Wilde at Catallarchy thinks:
While saving money may not be in vogue when it comes to an "investment strategy," it comes with a number of qualities that most investments would love to have. Here are some of the reasons that saving money is the best investment you can make.
Millionaires are not necessary good modelsFrank at Hello, Dollar! wants to share ideas:
The Millionaire Next Door, a popular book, argues that saving is the way to become rich. Which is true, but misleading. The less money we spend, the more we save, and the richer we are likely to be. But the goal should be to maximize happiness, not wealth.
Long-Term Financial PlanOn a blog called The Real Returns, this Moneywise blogger calculates:
Lately I've been working on creating a comprehensive long-term financial plan. As much as I think and learn about personal finance, I have yet to put all of my goals and plans down in one place. So I thought I'd do it here, and maybe we can learn something from each other.
Impact of P/E ratios on Long-term ReturnsMartin Lindeskog at EGO shares some thoughts on the bidding for AOL's web portal:
Is market overvalued? If the time is on your side, paying 40% higher P/E will reduce your returns over the 40 years by only 1%.
EGO PortalOne of the most highly-regarded law blogs, beSpacific, has accurate, focused law and technology news, including a recent Executive Summary from the Guidewire Group Market Cycle Survey, October 2005: Blogging in the Enterprise:
When I heard about the bidding for America Online's web portal (AOL ), my initial reaction was similar to the first paragraph of Dawn C. Chmielewski's article, AOL is the belle of the ball again.
Enterprise Blogging Catches OnChristopher Carfi at The Social Customer Manifesto asks:
Corporations of all sizes across a wide array of industries are adopting blogging technologies and practices. 89% of respondents are either blogging or are planning to blog.
Who's Listens To Blogs? Andreesen, Bradbury, Rhodes, Sifry, Wyman...Elisa Camahort at the Worker Bees Blog discusses comment spam with a commenter:
It's not easy for a "company" to do this. It's so easy for a person to do this. Companies (despite their legal existence as "entities") really can't do anything on their own. They don't walk. They don't talk. They don't bathe. They can't communicate.
People communicate. That's where relationships happen. Between people.
Bloggers getting more and more restrictive with comments, and it's bad for blogging businessTriple Pundit exclaims:
And it's definitely not good for blogging business.
Treasure America ANWR Video is Out - Have a Look!Professor Glenn Reynolds, the Instapundit, has some good ideas:
3P followed the adventures of the Treasure America team this summer as we visited the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in search of economic arguments against opening the refuge to oil development.
Some 21st Century Ideas on Energy and EmploymentTony Gill at the Gill Blog specializes in Workplace Continuity and has been writing about telework as a business continuity strategy:
With gas prices skyrocketing, people are looking once again at ways to save energy. Unfortunately, while high gas prices bring back memories of the 1970s, the policy solutions that some people are bringing forth seem about as dated as shag carpets and leisure suits.
Connecting Telework to Broadband, BCM and Gas PricesThe Wired GC is thinking ahead:
I came across a piece the other day that was just fascinating, as the primary basis for justifying telework was made by correlating the costs of broadband with the cost of gas.
Flu Pandemic and Disaster PlanningDavid Foster at Photon Courier has some interesting stories about the Hurricane Katrina recovery effort at Norfolk Southern and at UPS:
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have provided real-time stress testing for the disaster planning of many businesses. Not all have fared well; many are now doing things differently.
Amid the stories about a possible worldwide flu pandemic, one planning difference becomes apparent: while hurricanes and other severe natural forces impact people and physical structures, the flu only hits people. And keeps hitting–a flu pandemic comes in waves and can last for months.
The right way to run a railroad (or anything else)Goggalor, one of The Young Conservatives, explains:
The aspects of organizational culture demonstrated by NS and UPS are strongly related to the factors that allowed the British fleet to achieve dominance over the French and Spanish fleets in the late 1700s and early 1800s.
The Liberal Agenda On EconomicsHenry Stern at InsureBlog takes a look though:
The liberal mindset, when it comes to economics, primarily consists of the need to compensate for those who are unable, or refuse, to amass the amount of wealth completely necessary to exist in today’s world.
A New Transparency...Big Picture Guy at Big Picture, Small Office presents:
We all know that carriers negotiate prices with providers, and we have some vague notion that these prices are significantly less than the “street rate” that doctors (and others) charge patients who either don’t have insurance, or aren’t in-network. Until now, though, we had no idea what those costs really are.
Bonus BabySteve Pavlina's Personal Development Blog has Steve pondering:
When it comes to giving bonuses, our Board will stop at nothing.
What Is Productivity?The Never Work Alone group examines:
Find a person who knows and embraces their life’s purpose, and you’ll find a truly productive person. But in the absence of purpose, you’ll find busy-ness, but never productivity — the volume of output created might as well be tossed on the trash heap.
Theory of Constraints in public educationTim Worstall at his eponymous blog uses the breathtaking stupidity in the National Health Service to provide a basic lesson in management.
Never Work Alone is a blog where you'll find great advice for management and leadership related problems. Each week we post a problem and a summary of the response from the great community of managers and leaders over at the Never Work Alone Google group.
Stupid, Stupid.Jack Yoest shares his personal experience and insights:
I know I criticize the National Health Service a lot, regarding it as producer driven and a bureaucratic nightmare. But I’m also willing to admit that the management itself can be guilty of the most crass stupidity.
Ford, Hardee's and Government: Vendor ManagementJoin in the discussion to grow a profitable business at JSLogan, where Jim Logan asks:
My public sector experience was somewhat different from the recent initiatives by Ford and Hardee's to improve operating margins by reducing the number of suppliers.
When's The Last Time You Purchased From Your Own Company?Adrian Savage at The Coyote Within, a blog for sharing insights and thoughts into how to survive and prosper in a harsh world, shares some insights and thoughts about:
The idea is to walk in the shoes of your customer and test every aspect of presenting your offering and serving a customer - a concept I believe is worth repeating.
Quitting TimeSkip Angel at Random Thoughts from a CTO has some random thoughts:
One of the greatest gifts is to recognize when you're in the wrong place, or doing the wrong things, then find the courage to stop whatever that is and make a change without guilt or regret.
Create Your DestinyRosa Say at Talking Story with Say Leadership Coaching says:
Some people would think of destiny as one of those mystical things. That the stars aligned and good things happened to you. Others would think of a calling, that you did something that triggered a path to greatness -- your destiny. Others believe that destiny will come to them, they just need to get a sign from somewhere. Others believe that your life is determined for you, or pre-destined. I think there is yet another way to destiny.
Doing the right thing. Bravery at what cost?Toni Straka, The Prudent Investor, is counting down:
Folks, this stinks. More than ever before, I am convinced that to be a truly great manager requires considerable bravery, and the willingness to say, "I'll take my chances, for I believe that if I do right by this person, they won’t sue me. Even if they do, I'll be able to sleep at night." Unfortunately it does take pure courage and bravery, for the higher up the organizational hierarchy you go, the less managers are feeling the company will stand behind them and foot the bill if they do get sued.
Greenspan: 100 Days To Go - And Then?Joe Kristan at Roth & Company Tax Update looks at:
The countdown for Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan's last 100 days in office has begun. While the White House has said it will name his successor by mid-November it has to be doubted whether the new chairman will change the style of inaccessibility all chairmen have adopted since the foundationof the Fed. More transparency would be welcome. There is no other public body/authority in the world that keeps the public at such a distance as the Fed does. But the style "We speak, you listen and there is no time for any questions," could backfire in a world of globalized financial markets.
Tax Reform - Plan ADaniel Solove, group blogging with professors about the Law, the Universe, and Everything at Concurring Opinions, thinks about the future:
The President's Tax Reform Panel is getting ready to issue its recommendations. This post discusses the proposals, and why they will go nowhere.
When Google is KingProfessor Dale Oesterle at Business Law Prof Blog is watching stocks:
We are entering the age of the Google Empire.
Google Trading at All-Time HighProfessor Victor Fleischer, at the Conglomerate blog, isn't impressed with the recent stock price pop, for different reasons:
I'm sure investors don't mind when the stock rockets up, but inevitably Google will one day fall short of estimates, and its stock will rocket down.
Time to Short GOOG? (At least until tomorrow)For those of us, lawyers included, who are less adept with numbers than tax law professors, Anita Campbell at Facteon Online Factoring has found a handy one-page cheat sheet about basic accounting concepts:
I never cease to be astonished by the amount of gamesmanship still tolerated by the accounting rules.
Valuable Accounting Cheat SheetThe gurus with the free naming and branding service at Wordlab present Sony's new smart phone:
Have you ever wondered the proper way to do certain accounting functions?
Sony Muggles Name SmartphoneJohn Walkenbach at J-Walk Blog points us to some tips on:
So, we wondered what moniker the naming wizards at Sony would conjure up for their latest smartphone, codenamed Hermione. Something really, really smart, even clever, perhaps, magical. While geeks feverishly waited to get their sweaty little hands on the new phone with its magical powers, all we wanted was the name. Give us the name, dammit.
How To Improve Your BusinessBarak, at IRIS: Information Regarding Israel's Security, presents an economic analysis consistent with a political perspective:
A fascinating success story at The 700 Club: Stepping Up to the Challenge.
Why 'Energy Independence' Is Mostly Poppycock-But Doesn't Have to BeJoshua Sharf at View From a Height tells us how happy this make him:
Any lowering of U.S. demand would temporarily depress prices, which would cause a global increase in consumption which would at least partially undermine any initial cost reductions. There are, however, some worthwhile steps that can be taken to lower the amount of petrodollars funnelled into terrorism.
Southwest Plants in Denver - But Can It Grow?Barry Welford at The Other Bloke's Blog serves this freshly baked:
Southwest Airlines has announced plans to come to Denver, after a twenty-year absence. Since fares historically begin dropping on the announcement that Southwest plans to enter a market, I can't begin to tell you how happy this makes me.
Montreal Bagel BlogPatent Baristas serve up fresh brew and news:
Montreal Bagels are known world-wide. They're also one of the food items on which there's lots of debate. Who makes the best Montreal bagel? Is the Montreal bagel better than the New York bagel? Marketers know that to have such interest in a product is a critical step in making the sale. AIDA - Awareness > Interest > Desire > Action. That's the recipe for success.
Of Tamiflu And Generic ThingsRuy Diaz at Western Resistance has more news analysis about Tamiflu:
Perhaps to avoid a public relations nightmare as well as a showdown on compulsory licensing for its drug, Roche now says it will sublicense Tamiflu production to any company that can produce it in sufficient quantities - now that just about every country is trying to stockpile the drug. Forty countries have placed orders with Roche so far and the company has been under pressure to allow others to produce Tamiflu so demand can be met. Some countries, such as Argentina, have said they will produce their own version of Tamiflu.
US: Schumer the Terrible Attacks Economic LibertyIronman at Political Calculations figures:
That is, Roche is being punished for its remarkable success in developing Tamiflu--no good deed goes unpunished. (Don't be fooled by the verb 'calls' used on the story; Schumer didn't 'call', he threatened Roche.)
Byrd's Tariff Feeds Fat CatsThe anonymous economist at Different River considers the recently passed Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which restricts the ability of municipalities to sue gun manufacturers for damages caused by criminal misuse of products:
...examining how the actions of a self-interested politician and the corporations who learned how to exploit the system created at the behest of lobbyists provides some really good insight into the modern political process...
Regulation by Lawsuit?Evan Schaeffer's Legal Underground takes a bite out of fast-food company shield laws:
Now obviously it's preposterous to claim that the gun industry is actually "unregulated." It's one of the most regulated manufacturing industries there is, right up there with pharmaceuticals and automobiles.
Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger!George's Employment Blawg finds restaurant managers overworked and underpaid:
You go, House! Meanwhile, I'll ask the question I asked in April: "Where Are the Promised Obesity Lawsuits?" As far as I know, it's still true that most plaintiffs' lawyers have no more interest in suing the food industry for obesity than they do in eating a Big Mac.
Reducing Long Hours Worked by Restaurant ManagersDavid Daniels at Technology & Business Reinvention says:
Restaurant managers, including those at chains like McDonalds and Hooters, are among the salaried employees who routinely work many hours of overtime without receiving any overtime premium.
It's All About ServiceKieran Healy at Crooked Timber points to an article in the New York Times about a well-known ad agency executive who said there aren’t many female creative executives (the people who come up with ad campaigns) because they aren't up to the job, and got pilloried by bloggers before losing his:
Trade shows are hard work but a necessary component to raising awareness for a growing company in a short couple of days. A well managed show makes it so much easier. So with the rapid adoption of the Web/Blogosphere and Internet Communications tools taking business away from trade shows you'd think that show managers would know better and compete with service and value. They haven't made the connection yet. Leaving the door open to astute service oriented companies.
Creative ReasoningYvonne DiVita at Lipsticking gives a big kiss to dads:
As for "Death by blog," I guess there’s some irony watching the world’s top ad guy radically misjudge consumer sentiment.
Jane Gets Emotional About DadsEconomist Gary Becker and Judge Richard Posner go head-to-head on US immigration policy at the Becker-Posner Blog, and find themselves substantially in agreement:
As we see more and more women demanding equality, standing up for each other, finally getting noticed for their brains -- instead of their emotions, Jane wishes to say a word for those emotions -- the emotions that helped us fall in love with the men in our lives...and thereby, to create a family.
Many More Skilled Immigrants - BeckerGuarino, whose orientation is conservative/republican, thinks his party is failing the American people is in the area of free trade and globalization:
To me it seems like a win-win situation for the US to admit annually a million or more skilled professionals with permanent green cards that allow them eventually to become American citizens. Permanent rather than temporary admissions of the H-1B type have many advantages to the US as well as to the foreign professionals.
Skilled Immigrants - Posner Comment
I am puzzled by the political opposition to increasing the quotas for highly skilled immigrants. The average worker is benefited by immigrants who have skills much greater than his own, because they increase U.S. productivity (so the average worker benefits as a consumer and he may even benefit as a worker if his employer's greater productivity increases the employer's demand for workers) and he does not compete with them; they are in different job categories. And as Becker points out, restricting immigration of highly skilled workers increases the incentive of U.S. firms to outsource production to countries containing such workers; and outsourcing, by exporting jobs, harms the employees of those firms.
Big Box Martinterim thoughts...at a blog on business in India, with a global outlook:
Monday night, I saw on CNN a remarkable animated piece that captures in a vivid way the whole issue of globalization for American workers. The piece was, all at once, hilarious and poignant. Ordinarily I do not post anything that contains vulgarities; but this piece does, so be forewarned. Nonetheless, I want to provide a link to it because it depicts in a special way the truth of our current state of affairs, with obvious implications for the Piedmont Triad.
Go to www.jibjab.com, and watch "Big Box Mart".
The fire under the bonnet, IT staffingIndependent Conservative repeats what needs to be said again:
In Indias services sector, this is the model that works. Get hungry best in class employees, set them free on the job (almost). Critics abound on the kind of work that gets done in Indias IT sector and are not entirely unfounded, but the amount of exposure and empowerment an associate gets is perhaps unheard of in many other industries.
FedEx chief says European over-regulation is bad for business!Michael Cale at Financial Methods has details of a paper published by The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, which contains material for both sides of the political aisle:
How much longer will people complain about China, India and other countries before they realize that many jobs are being given to other areas because in many cases we have over bound the hands of corporate executives? I think it may be a long time for some! A company needs to be able to make changes as needed to be competitive! Otherwise the leading companies in the world will no longer be American! Then where will Liberals get funding for their social programs, with no rich executives to tax?
Ten Myths of Social Security ReformMike Pechar at Interested-Participant has good news for Chinese food lovers:
The report doesn't address the issue of immigration and Social Security reform, but the two are linked. As the retiree population grows, industrialized nations will quietly compete for young immigrant labor. This is a difficult position to advocate politically, especially if domestic unemployment is high. The US is in the best position to draw immigrants, but this is a difficult position to publicly endorse due to concerns over terrorism.
Finger Lickin' ChineseIan Hamet at Banana Oil! blogs:
Food giant KFC, owned by Kentucky-based Yum Brands Inc., recently opened a milestone franchise in Shanghai, bringing the total KFC outlets in China to 1,500. The new outlet is a drive-in, only the second drive-in in all of China after Beijing. Interestingly, Beijing also has the distinction of hosting the largest KFC restaurant in the world in Tiananmen Square.
The Fountainhead in Chinese!James D. Hamilton, who is Professor of Economics at the University of California, San Diego, produces Econbrowser, where his analysis of current economic news engages commenters in lengthy discussion:
Looks like the typical Chinese media-wide blast of the same news, but that means a lot of people have been introduced to the book.
GM losses and other economic newsDrawing on his pre-law "Communications Arts" major, J. Craig Williams raises the bar at May it Please the Court with his new Internet Radio Show, Coast to Coast, which he co-hosts on the Legal Talk Network:
No matter how amazing your accomplishments, it's always nice to try to set your goals even higher. I was pretty impressed when General Motors managed to lose $1.2 billion on its North American operations in the second quarter of this year. But yesterday GM announced it had outdone even this, losing $1.6 billion on its North American operations in the third quarter.
Coast To Coast Internet Radio Program On Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer ProtectionDavid Giacalone at f/k/a, a website advocating one-breath poetry & breathless punditry with haikuEsq, f/k/a ethicalEsq, serves potluck:
The new Coast to Coast internet radio program, with my co-host Robert Ambrogi, discusses the new Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer Protection Act of 2005. We take up the discussion of this new bankruptcy law that has both the bankruptcy courts and bankruptcy attorneys' offices swamped.
realtors and legislators are selling you outDan Melson at Searchlight Crusade has "consumer information from those who know the system" and he offers this installment from a complete list of segments at the bottom of the post:
However, realtor associations have found a sword against discount brokers and a shield against the antitrust laws: They've been successfully lobbying state legislators, who have dutifully enacted so-called "minimum service laws" (in the name of consumer protection, of course), which require brokers to provide a broad set of services, regardless of whether the consumer wants or needs them.
The Good Faith Estimate (Part II)Evelyn Rodriguez writes passionately at Crossroads Dispatches about:
One of the most common tricks I've seen is for loan officers to tell clients and prospective clients they can roll the costs into the loan so they don't have to come up with cash. Despite being told this is what the client intends to do, they then give you, the client a payment quote in the third column here based upon you paying all of these costs out of your pocket - with the Check You Need To Have. In short, they're acting like all those closing costs have mysteriously vanished somewhere, like they're lurking in the Bermuda Triangle waiting to ambush some poor unsuspecting sap who will never be seen again. This poor sap is you. You're going to pay them somehow. They generally can be rolled into the loan, but make sure the loan provider gives you a payment based upon real numbers. Most people shop for a loan based upon payment because they don't know any better. This gives loan providers incentive to play games here, and the vast majority do.
Fusing the Business of Your Soul with the Soul of Your BusinessA Fool in the Forest, attorney George M. Wallace, presents:
My sense is that if you read this blog that perhaps business is your Kuru, your Forest as well (but the main thread that ties readers together is this sense of adventuring and questing, rather than retreating from the hero(ine)'s journey).
Vinous VignettesThat was serious fun. Thanks to Rob and Jay for letting us host Carnival of the Capitalists this week. And thanks to everyone who participated with us, especially you, our readers. If you've got a blog of your own, you might continue your participation in this linkfest by picking your favorite post from this week's editon and blogging about it, too, with a hat tip to our Carnival of the Capitalists #107. A big thanks to those of you who reward our efforts with link love or other social gestures from your blogs to ours. If you like what we've put together here, please send your peeps to check us out.
Aussie Reptiles Against Drunk Diving
Stompin' in the Foothills
A Sad Soap Opera at Sanford
Fred Wine Goes With Everything
The Supreme Court on Business IssuesProfessor Bainbridge, who has registered his .com as a service mark, writes a lot about Harriet Miers these days. You might want to read more of his considered opinions after you check out these links we found especially interesting for this special "business law" issue:
Looking at what we are told about her practice history, my guess is that Harriet Miers is fluent in the language and customs of business people in the United States. Although her practice was not extraordinary, it was solid. On the other hand, she does not seem at all passionate about business law. When she is not engaged in billable work, she mostly pursues politics, not business. When she writes and teaches, her focus is on litigation and legal ethics, not business law.
Miers and Business LawProfessor Larry Ribstein at Ideoblog is concerned about the wealth Harriet Miers hasn't accumulated:
Miers and the Economics of Adjudication
Over at TCS, I've published a column entitled Where Might Harriet Miers Make Her Mark? No, the piece is not another anti-Miers screed; I'm saving those for the blog. I viewed this piece as a mini-scholarly project and, as with all my scholarship, I tried very hard to let the model go where it wanted, even if it ends up with predictions I find politically unpalatable.
Miers and business, againMatt Bodie at PrawfsBlawg wraps up this discussion about:
...I’ve seen nothing to change my mind, but something to make me worry even more: Miers’ investing. As discussed here, she apparently hasn't yet recognized the wonders of the portfolio theory. This makes me wonder whether how much sophistication Miers will bring to judging complex business issues.
Harriet Miers and the "Good for Business" QuestionWe can only assume Harriet Miers has strong opinions about this. Bruce MacEwen at Adam Smith, Esq., whose blog is an inquiry into the economics of law firms, polls his audience:
To me, Harriet Miers doesn't look like a pro-business nominee; she looks like a big-law-firm nominee. There's a difference. Big law firms are likely to cater to big, institutional clients on a variety of matters. To generalize a bit, they bill by the hour, spend a lot of time and attention on matters, and prize their client relationships. They are influential in local and state bar associations. They may like business, but they like the practice of law as well. So in the areas that a wide range of businesses might most be looking for help -- tort reform, damage caps, harsher pleading requirements -- a big-firm nominee (with ABA leadership experience) might feel a twinge in restricting or limiting the role of lawyers in the process.
Yea or Nay on the Billable HourThe Greatest American Lawyer has some thoughts on:
Will the billable hour ever lose its dominance?
One Man's Thoughts on the Billable Hour
...the demise of the billable hour, if it ever comes, will be primarily client-driven. I am less confident that the precise contours of the Post Billable Hour World will follow Jim's template, but it's both a carefully specified model and one that has been proven to work in other professional-service contexts.
Client Service: Law Firm Client SurveysAt Houston's Clear Thinkers, attorney Tom Kirkendall is having trouble reconciling disparate senetences for white collar crimes, pleading:
The failure to survey clients, I believe, is largely intentional by most law firms who spend a lot of energy keeping clients in the dark about their cases, strategy, budgets and expected results. Most traditional hourly billing firms don't have any inclination to solicit feedback from their clients because they have no intention of provoking change.
Help me understand thisProfessor Peter J. Henning at the White Collar Crime Blog notes changes in the timing strategies of prosecutions:
Something is seriously out of whack here.
"Real Time Enforcement" - The New Prosecution Approach?Jim Calloway's Law Practice Tips Blog has little yellow dots on it, and now he's worried about your color printer:
In the past white collar cases were noted for taking significant time for investigation and prosecution. Long grand jury sessions would peruse documents and prosecutors would often spend time working up the ladder to eventually prosecute high-ups.
This may be changing in some parts of the country. Noted in this post here , David Nahmias, the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, used the term "real time enforcement. This can be considered a move in a direction toward proceeding with prosecutions at a quicker speed.
Your Color Printer Turns Government SnitchBlogger George and Lawyer George at George's Employment Blawg is beside himself about gender discrimination and sexual harassment:
It sounds bizarre, but did you know that your color printer has likely been modified to provide information about your use of it to law enforcement? Yes, I know. I couldn't believe it either.
Dial To Pay $3M for Strength Test with Disparate Impact on WomenTom Collins at morepartnerincome.com refers to an article in the September 26, 2005, issue of The National Law Journal titled, “How Women Can Develop Business", by Karen Bush and Elaine Metlin:
A common sense approach to using a physical test that simulates a job activity for purposes of screening applicants for a manual position may well be shot down for having a disparate impact on women, as the Dial Corporation recently learned the hard way.
Mixed Messages on Sexual Harassment — and a Movie Too
Is the problem of sexual harassment getting better or worse? Should women complain to management about it more or less? Are victims better off staying on the job to fight or quitting and moving on?
Women RainmakersTed Frank at Overlawyered tries to set the record straight about:
Rainmaking is relationship building and most discussions of rainmaking approach it from a guy standpoint. Yet the role of women in the top ranks of law firms and businesses is increasing.
Differences can be strengths rather than weaknesses. As the authors of the Law Journal put it, "By leveraging some of their differences as strengths, women attorneys may discover some innovative, effective and decidedly non-traditional approaches to developing business."
Urban legends and Stella Liebeck and the McDonald's coffee caseProfessor Dale Oesterle at Business Law Prof Blog highlights:
Amazingly, rather than argue that the tort system shouldn't be judged by the occasional outlier, the litigation lobby has succeeded in persuading some in the media and on the left that the Liebeck case is actually an aspirational result for the tort system, and, not only that, but that anyone who says otherwise is just a foolish right-winger buying into "urban legends"...
Shareholder DemocracyMarc Mayerson at Insurance Scrawl takes a look at recent case law on the ratio between the punitive damages and the compensatory damages:
A lot of bantering has gone on this past year about increasing shareholder democracy, especially with respect to the election of directors (shareholder access to the ballot, majority voting for election of directors). Obviously, this bantering presupposes that shareholder democracy should be increased. What has struck me is that does not seem to be the message coming from the marketplace. There are many publicly traded "totalitarian regimes" out there, i.e., public companies that are controlled by one or a few shareholders. Google is perhaps the best known example.
It’s Good to Be a Bad Insurance Company in AmericaJonathan B. Wilson looks at the recent guns and cheeseburgers legislation coming out of Congress and sees something interesting:
Verily, I recognize that Benjamin Franklin helped establish the insurance industry in this country, but it does not seem likely that he or the other founders of the Republic would have intended to clothe this one class of businesses with such special, constitutional protection.
A Leading Predictor of Tort Reform?Lance Koonce, writing at the Privacy and Security Law Blog, is concerned about:
The close timing of the ILR's announcement and the passage of these two bills suggests a close coordination between the ILR and Congressional leadership. Congress does not leap at every pronouncement of the Chamber, but rather it may be that the Chamber knew that action was forthcoming and timed their announcement to magnify the appearance of their involvement. If so, their announcement is something of a leading indicator of Congressional action.
Inadvertent Disclosure of Business Secrets Through Intellectual Property FilingsBig Ron Coleman is understandably worried about name confusion with the big guy at Likelihood of Confusion:
While theft of trade secrets tends to garner more prominent headlines, there are also a number of ways in which a company can lose control of its secrets that are unintentional, and often preventable.
Scientology Returns to its IP-Abusive WaysJ. Craig Williams at May it Please the Court has recovered from hosting Blawg Review #28, and is ready to get back on the horse with a submission to our Carnival of the Capitalists, and this post for Blawg Review:
This foray into trademark, however, is evidently something new. It won't be as easy — copyright has a sharper teeth than trademark, notably statutory damages and the notice-and-takedown provisions of the DMCA, which don’t apply to trademark infringement (real or imagined). So far the websites have been standing fast — but then again, so did the Cult Awareness center. Something to watch, and worry about.
Trademark Infringement Claim Rides Off Into The SunsetDenise Howell at Bag and Baggage, who's hosting Blawg Review #30 next week on Halloween, treats us to:
A horse is a horse, of course, of course, unless the horse is the famous ... polo pony?
Pumpkin SeasoningHeh. Indeed. [nod to Glenn Reynolds]
Also a big deal to my son at the moment is Charles Schulz's Halloween mainstay, It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Thirty-nine years old and still going strong, that one. I wish I could consult with a Schulz scholar on whether the author was embroiled in some nasty breach of contract dispute at the time of its creation. In addition to Sally's "I'll sue!" and "You owe me restitution!" when she realizes the Great Pumpkin just ain't gonna show and she's missed out on "tricks or treats," there's this priceless dialogue between Lucy and Charlie Brown over the annual football-pulling ritual:
CB: I guess if you have a signed document in your possession you can't go wrong. This year I'm really gonna kick that football... (Whummpp!)
L: Peculiar thing about that document — it was never notarized.
Justice for Sale?Mea culpa.
Bainbridge blogs incessantly about Harriet and why she would be a terrible choice, and that gets total coverage, but someone points out, "Hey, a justice on the Illinois Supreme Court blatantly violated his own court's rules on when a judge must not participate in a decision and that participation dealt with reversing a Billion Dollar decision in favor of consumers", and that goes completely ignored? I interview Monroe Freedman, only the most famous legal ethicist in the country, about the topic (who was aghast, I might add, at what the Justice did) and no one thinks that's worthy of a cite?
Carnival of the Capitalists, the blog carnival for business, recently celebrated its second anniversary. CotC founders Rob May and Jay Solo marked this achievement with two special editions, last week's at BusinessPundit and today's at Accidental Verbosity. And next week we're hosting Carnival of the Capitalists #107, here on the Blawg Review website, along with our very own Blawg Review #29.
"It's our natural environment, to read things on the Web, to read news stories, and to have something to say," said Ann Althouse, a law professor at the University of Wisconsin who posts her views at althouse.blogspot.com. Compared with spending a year writing a law review article, she said, blogging is fun.Watch for more lawyers having fun with Carnival of the Capitalists at Patent Baristas on January 23, 2006, and at PHOSITA on January 30, 2006. Heh, they had so much fun hosting Carnival of the Capitalists at Rethink(IP) a few weeks ago, they're rethinking it again on June 6, 2006. It's not too early for other business-minded lawyers to schedule a date to host Carnival of the Capitalists in the third and fourth quarters of '06.
May it Please the Court, a phrase frequently uttered by supplicant barristers, is the title of the wonderful weblog of legal news and observations by trial lawyer J. Craig Williams.
Two internet deals came together this week, perhaps beginning a trend, with big media companies taking an interest in blog networks.
"Weblogs is delighted to join up with AOL, and in so doing, we've reached a milestone in the development of citizen media," Jason McCabe Calacanis, co-founder and CEO of Weblogs said. "Weblogs has made great strides over the past two years building high-profile blogs. Yet, we realized that taking our network to the next level required a partner not only with a significant audience, but the advertising expertise to leverage it. In AOL, we found the ideal company to join."For many of the same reasons, we are pleased to announce today that Blawg Review has affiliated with Law.com an online division of ALM, a leading integrated media company serving legal, real estate, financial and business professionals.
Our special host for Blawg Review #27 at Legal Blog Watch is the incomparable Lisa Stone, originator of BlogHer. A blogger and a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times, she also blogged the Democratic National Convention for the Los Angeles Times.
Established in 1938, the Nieman program is the oldest mid-career fellowship for journalism in the world. The fellowships are awarded to working journalists of particular accomplishment and promise for an academic year of study in any part of the University.As a blogger for American Lawyer Media's Law.com blog network, she now writes Legal Blog Watch a.k.a. Inside Opinions: Legal Blogs.
It seems, on first impression, as if lawyer and poet must surely exist in different universes of thought, feeling, and practice. And for many lawyers and poets there must be truth embodied in this crude impression–the law leads north and poetry south, to follow one is to give up the other. Yet, lawyers write poetry, and poets practice law. Should we be surprised to learn that lawyers, by training and craft, attuned to the nuance and power of language, and to the clever deployment of language as rhetoric and drama, write poetry? We may have grown accustomed, in this era of John Grisham and Scott Turow, to the idea of the lawyer as novelist, but there is still some mystery, even a sense of wonderment, at the idea of a person both poet and lawyer.Professor James R. Elkins, of West Virginia University's College of Law, writes that on his website Strangers to Us All: Lawyers and Poetry, where David Giacalone is one of many such persons discovered.
Perhaps there is no reason to think so grandly of our poets or so badly of our lawyers. The celebration of the one and the damnation of the other becomes rather confused when we find a man or woman embracing both. Perhaps we misunderstand our poets, in the way we do lawyers, because we know so little of their practices, their language, and their contribution to a literate society. Whatever the relative merits and worth of lawyers and poets, we are fast becoming a society which knows far more about its lawyers than about its poets. (We know it to be the exceptional reader and person who reads poetry, and claims to learn from it, to depend on it to hone sensibilities and chart a path in the world.) With our great ignorance (if not active disdain) of poetry, how can it continue to play a part in our literary lives? What makes poetry, and thus the poet, special, different, marginal, misunderstood, ignored?
We may find that the poet, like the lawyer, sees the world in a nuanced way that demands it be addressed with a special language, language that calls attention to itself and sets itself apart by form, rhythm, and practice. Both poetry and law are acquired taste, all the more surprising, to have such tastes acquired by a single person.
David A. Giacalone graduated from Harvard Law School in 1976 and is now retired (from a solo practice as an attorney and mediator). Giacalone spent over a decade in antitrust law at the Federal Trade Commission, before turning to family law. He currently lives in upstate New York. Giacalone's weblog -- f/k/a -- features haiku and law-related commentary (with the hope of interesting more lawyers in haiku). Giacalone's haiku can be found in his dagosan's scrapbook archives.David is a familiar old friend to many of us lawyers who blog—his alter-ego, Prof. Yabut, a bane to students unschooled in the law—yet he remains undiscovered to some who are new to the blawgosphere. No appreciation of this online world of lawyers, law students, law professors and pundits, writing about the law, their lives and loves, is complete without reading this anti-blogger's uniquely creative blawg, f/k/a___one-breath poetry & breathless punditry with haikuEsq, formerly known as ethicalEsq.
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