f/k/a . . .

August 30, 2007

Mt. Upton acts up against sex offenders

Filed under: law news — David Giacalone @ 2:15 pm
- lawn sign in Mt. Upton, NY [News10Now]

- “Mt. Upton is United: Sex Offenders Get Out !… & Stay Out !…“

An ugly sign of the times got the spotlight yesterday in a tv news report that focused on rural Chenango County, New York. (News10Now [Syracuse], “Chenango County sex offender law under consideration,” by Dana Hendrickson, Aug. 29, 2007; video included). Hundreds of lawns and shops in the tiny hamlet of Mt. Upton, NY, are sporting a red-on-white version of the sign pictured above, in a new campaign to persuade sex offenders to leave and stay out of their community. And see “Hamlet opposes offenders” (The Daily Star [Oneonta, NY], Aug. 29, 2007) Apparently, Chenango County Sheriff Thomas J. Loughren, whose website prominently features its Offender Watch program, is “pursuin” a county-wide sex offender residency law. The Daily Star reports:

“A group of people submitted a petition to the Guilford Town Board to make it illegal for sex offenders to live close to certain areas where there may be more children. That includes places like schools, bus stops and playgrounds

“The Chenango County Sheriff said because more than one town supervisor has contacted him about the same idea, he was motivated to think about a county-wide law instead.”

With a little Googling, I learned today that Mt. Upton is part of the Town of Guilford, which has a population around 3,100. Chenango County’s total population is about 51,000. Although Chenango’s county-seat, Norwich, is less than 80 miles from Schenectady, its politicians and citizenry have apparently not learned anything from the painful ongoing battle over sex offender residency restrictions [SORR] here in Schenectady County. (see the list of our prior posts on this topic below, especially “Schenectady’s (d)evolving Sex Offender Law“, Aug. 23, 2007). I wonder which towns and villages will feel victimized when exclusion zones leave their community open to sex offenders who are pushed out from the more populated areas of Chenagno County.

.. Is this logo about to get a big footnote?

Of course, I continue to empathize with the concerns of parents who worry over the safety of their children (having, for example, represented children who were victims of sex abuse by family members), but I must point out again that there is no reason to believe the laws they are pushing will be effective, but many reasons to suspect they will be counterproductive, extremely expensive to enforce, and unconsitutional.

Carrieann Heath, the Mount Upton mother who started the sign campaign after learning that “four or five” sex offenders were living in her hamlet (News 10 found 3 on the registry), is quoted saying they are not vigilantes (see the enlightening video) and told the Daily Star:

“There’s no lynch-mob mentality here, it’s more about protecting the kids.”

Supporters of the signs and the proposed laws don’t seem to realize that lynch-mobs and vigilantes always purport to act for some great, sacrosanct principle — such as protecting children, or the honor of white women, or the inviolability of property rights or union-free factories. When Chenango County’s politicians meet in Norwich to consider passing sex offender residency laws, I hope they will not take the city’s motto — “Where the 19th Century Meets the 21st” — too seriously. There are some forms of community action that are best left in the 19th Century.

According to the Daily Star, Carrieann Heath said she has been told most of the offenders in Mount Upon are not from the area, but may have been released by the New York State Center for Intensive Treatment in Norwich. A spokeswoman for the state agency that operates the Center says, however, “No one is released from the CIT into surrounding communities.” Inmates who do well there are transferred to less-restrictive state facilities, not released to live on their own. Of course, it is always easier to attack outsiders and — as we learned here in Schenectady County — to stampede politicians with slogans that decry being made a “dumping ground.”

wrong way smN I hope the leaders and residents of Chenango County will take a good look at the Gatehouse News report “Sex Offenders: A Flawed Law” when considering whether to pass a sex offender residency law. They might want to pay particular attention to the piece “Costs mounts to support sex offender laws” (MetroWestDailyNews, Framingham MA, Aug. 26, 2007) and — if they need examples of political courage in the face of “squeaky wheels” and popular demands to “do something” — to “Political Pressure: Legislators quick to target sex offenders,” (MetroWest Daily News, Aug. 27, 2007).

The arguments and developments relating to Schenectady County’s SORR laws should also be instructive for the people of Chenango County. f/k/a’s coverage, with links to many relevant materials, can be found in the following postings:

ExitSignArrow One final point for now: I hope Chenango County’s leaders will seek out experts in the area of sex offender management. For example, see the New York State Alliance of Sex Offender Service Providers. Much helpful information is also available at The Parson, website of Rev. David Ness. It’s possible that useful contacts might also be available locally through the Guilford Press, a major publisher of psychological text books. In fact, the revised edition of “Principles and Practice of Psychiatric Rehabilitation: An Empirical Approach” is being published by Guilford Press in September 2007, and its authors may be able to offer considerable assistance in coming up with far more effective solutions than the use of residency restrictions.

new kids
move in next store –
withholding a smile

………………………………… by dagosan

August 29, 2007

NOLA after Hurricane Katrina: two years treading water

Filed under: q.s. quickies, Haiku or Senryu — David Giacalone @ 7:45 pm
Two years ago today, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, including the City of New Orleans, Louisiana. Americans have found many ways to remember our nation’s worst natural disaster and the bureaucratic, municipal and personal disasters that continue in its wake, as the rest of us continue our lives.If you’re looking for some thoughtful commentary and coverage of the two-year anniversary, you might try National Public Radio’s week-long series, “The Katrina Effect,Two Years Later: Katrian’s Legacy“,” where “NPR reports on the state of efforts to rebuild homes, towns and lives.” Interesting features include:

  • “New Orleans Suffers Crisis in Mental Health Care“from All Things Considered. (did you know New Orleans Parish had 240 hospital psychiatric beds before Katrina, and only 30 now?)
  • “President Bush Marks Hurricane Katrina Anniversary” (Aug. 29, 2007) - shall we say, not without controversy?
  • “Has America ‘Abandoned’ New Orleans?” At Talk of the Nation, August 29, 2007, people are focusing on historian Douglas Brinkley’s op/ed piece, “Reckless Abandonment” (Washington Post, Aug. 26, 2007) explains why he feels that New Orleans is a case of “reckless abandonment.” Brinkley argues that the government’s “policy of inaction” may set a dangerous precedent for future disasters, saying: “Let’s, for once, put New Orleans on the front burner. After all, Katrina exposed all the ills of urban America — endemic poverty, institutionalized racism, failing public schools and much more. New Orleans is just a microcosm of Newark and Detroit and hundreds of other troubled urban locales. How we deal with New Orleans’ future will tell us a lot about our nation’s future.”

For lots more on this topic, read Brinkley’s book “The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast.”

  • At Blog of the Nation, you can join the talk on whether we’re/they’re “Running in Place in NOLA” (At Blog of the Nation (Aug 29, 2007), in the efforts to rebuild New Orleans.

This morning, a tanka (5-line Japanese-form poem) by Janet Lynn Davis at Magnapoets JF weblog, reminded me that I really wanted to recall what I was feeling two years ago as the Katrina disaster unfolded. Re-posting some of the poems I wrote at the time was an eye-opener, but reading my weblog commentary was even more of a reminder of shared humanity and disappointment in our government. I’m going to reprint my posting of September 1, 2007 again today, together with a happier one that featured the words and poems of Prof. David G. Lanoue of Xavier University of New Orleans, talking of his return to his home in February 2006. David Lanoue is one of our Honored Guest Poets, and is much-acclaimed for the 8000 translations he has made of the poems of Japanese Haiku Master Kobayashi Issa.

GW: “the check’s in the mael(strom)” (originally published Sept. 1, 2005)

Haiku is rarely about politics or anger (on the surface at least). Neither is its cousin senryu, which focuses on human nature. Usually, that’s fine with me, but today it leaves me frustrated, as I put together this pre-holiday weblog posting. (”Death and Lawlessness Grip New Orleans,” NYT, Sept. 2, 2005)

 

Like Prof. Althouse, I try to be evenhanded, even when looking at people whose politics are far different from my own. Of course, evacuation and rescue could not have been performed in a day. But, I must say that those who want us to believe that this Administration simply has a public relations problem with the Katrina Aftermath — that the President simply hasn’t found the right words yet — are cutting Mr. Bush far too much slack.

 

Unfortunately, I believe that the President’s response to Katrina shows all to well both his willingness to mistake his intended outcomes for reality and his tendency to use wishful thinking and rosy scenarios instead of the truth when speaking to the American people. More important, I believe the lack of sufficient planning to deal with unevacuated New Orleans residents who happen to be very poor and also black shows an inability to empathize with their plight (in normal times or times of crisis). (See NYT, “A Can’t-Do-Government,” by Paul Krugman, Sept. 2, 2005).

 

 

waving from rooftops –
another party
in the French Quarter?

convention center —
potty parity
in New Orleans


two days
after the hurricane –
tears for strangers

treading water:
“keep your chin up”
the President says

[Sept. 2, 2005]

 

 

I wish a safe and pleasant Labor Day weekend to all of f/k/a’s friends and visitors — but I hope that Katrina Fatigue won’t put its victims out of the minds of the lucky ones who only know the aftermath from tv or the internet. Everything should look at little different this year.

LanoueSelf “one haijin’s return to New Orleans: David Lanoue” (originally published, Feb. 17, 2006)

Yesterday, I asked professor-poet-author-translator David Lanoue if he would share his reactions to returning to New Orleans with us. Here, unedited, is his reply, including a few haiku/senryu on the subject:

From David Lanoue, Feb. 15, 2006:

her pen dries up
she blames
Katrina

New Orleans is a tale of two cities. I live Uptown, which didn’t flood seriously for the most part and is now a thriving area. The main signs of Katrina are the absence of the St. Charles streetcar (expected to be back in service by this December), the absense of many trees (the shady avenue isn’t as shady as it once was), and the presence of legions of Mexicans pounding on rooftops and hauling trash. I’m getting plenty of practice speaking Spanish.

after the hurricane
the shady avenue
isn’t

My worst Katrina complaint is that my landlady raised our rent +$500. But I
count myself very, very lucky. I have friends and colleagues who lost jobs
possessions, and homes.

The other city is grim indeed: vast swaths of neighborhoods lie vacant, trashed, molding, unlivable. I have friends living in FEMA trailers and holing up in the upstairs rooms of houses with gutted first floors. The feeling in those neighborhoods is depressing, desolate. And the looting continues.

floodCityN

One of my friends was all set to move into her new FEMA trailer yesterday, when she discovered that someone had stolen the electric meter (with no neighbors around, it’s hard for the first returners to get a foothold). But she’s happy to “have” a trailer. Months ago, one was put in her yard by a FEMA contractor, and the trailor was stolen before she ever saw it. (Or, the contractor lied about delivering it; you decide who to believe.)

the city recovers
restaurant
by restaurant

The most hopeful sign of life and rebuilding is the return of the university students: to Tulane, Xavier (where I teach), Loyola, SUNO… With their return–blessed legions of kids with backpacks on bicycles–more restaurants are reopening; more coffee houses are extending their hours. The students are consumers and they supply the workforce of waiters and dish washers (which, by the way, is a high-paying job these days, given the labor shortage).

MardiGrasG

Everyone’s hoping for a monumental Mardi Gras. Having lived here 25 years,
I’d grown jaded to Carnival in recent years, seizing the opportunity of days
off to travel elsewhere. This year’s different. I plan to attend every parade; to party in the French Quarter till dawn; to shake the hands of, or plant a kiss on, every out-of-towner I can grab. The City of New Orleans is open for business. Come on down!

blown away by the hurricane
every stripper
I knew

- all poems by David G. Lanoue

tiny check His coverage of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath in New Orleans has made Ernie the Attorney Svenson and his weblog even more renown. Here’s my plea to David Lanoue to put up a weblog and regularly share his thoughts and poetry on the rebirth of New Orleans with his friends and fans in the haijin community.

Let me leave you on this two-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina with three poems by Master Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue:

in the mud
after the flood, one rose
of Sharon

in the flood
its karma is strong…
flying locust

 

evening moon– katydid
surviving the flood
a katydid

 

update: Aug. 30, 20007: Today’s article by Adam Nossiter for the New York Times article, “Commemorations for a City 2 Years After Storm” (NYT, Aug. 30, 2007), dated-lined New Orleans, begins “This city remembered Hurricane Katrina’s second anniversary Wednesday with sadness, hurt and flashes of anger over a recovery that has returned it to only a portion of its former self.” It captures a variety of moods with brief quotes from many residents of New Orleans.

See Shane Gilreath’s commemorative Katrina haiga at MagnaPoetsJF.  

 

 

why do lawyers lie (about contingency fees)?

Filed under: law news, viewpoint, Haiku or Senryu — David Giacalone @ 12:22 am

The two-person Austin, Texas, law firm Perlmutter & Schuelke, LLC offers a free copy of partner Mark L. Perlmutter’s 1998 book “Why Lawyers (and the rest of us) Lie and Engage in Other Repugnant Behavior,” at its civtrial.com website. Here’s what the publisher and P&S say about the book:

Why Lawyers (and the rest of us) Lie & Engage in Other Repugnant Behavior, takes on our bashing, adversarial culture, epitomized by the Americal Civil Justice system. As readers explore its unremitting hostility and deception, they learn that the legal system itself is merely an exemplar of a profound defect in our national character — a lack of courage to confront the dark side that exists in all of us. Unchecked, this dark side runs amok, embroiling us in shrill, unproductive conflict, which in turn creates a spiral of alienation and distrust. But Why Lawyers Lie does not just identify the problem; with humor and insight it unearths the underlying causes and provides solutions. It is a book for anyone weary of unproductive conflict, be they litigants, lawyers, professionals, or observers and participants in politics and business.

At Amazon.com (where you could pay over $12 for a used copy of the book), the Publisher describes author Perlmutter as “a leading authority on ethics and professionalism. His philosophies have been embraced by the Texas Bar Association and numerous professional groups interested in learning how to solve disputes honestly and ethically.” The P&S firm site says “Mark trains other lawyers and law students in persuasion, trial tactics, and professional ethics.” He’s also an adjunct professor at U. Texas law school.

After reading the above information about lawyer Perlmutter and his war against deception, hostility and “unproductive conflict,” I must admit that I’m surprised by the content of the first post I’ve ever read at the P&S weblog: “In Defense of the Contingent Fee” (Aug. 20, 2007). I found the posting yesterday, when D. Todd Smith, who is hosting Blawg Review #123 at the Texas Appellate Law Blog this week, pointed to it, saying that the “Blog ruminates on contingent fees as a form of value billing.” Of course, the ethics of contingency fees and value billing are often on my mind, as evidenced by the content of this weblog.

Below the fold (click “More“), you’ll find one version of a disclaimer I often must use when talking about the ethics and economics of contingency fees. It’s meant to anticipate the usual reaction of p/i lawyers, who dismiss all criticism of contingency fee practices as the spawn of evil, anti-consumer, pro-business, tort reformists. For the record: I am a client’s rights and competition advocate, and neither a tort reformer nor insurance industry puppet.

My beef is not with the concept of the contingency fee (”no fee unless we win”), which has many useful purposes and is not inherently unfair to the client, but with the use of a “standard” contingency fee percentage by a law firm or within a community for virtually all clients, with no connection between the fee level and the actual risk in a particular case that the lawyer will work without adequate compensation. Furthermore, my focus is on the average, unsophisticated, “everyday” personal injury client, not on complex class actions, novel product liability cases, or commercial lawsuits taken on a contingency basis.

I don’t know whether it was Mark Perlmutter or his partner Brooks Schuelke who penned “In Defense of the Contingent Fee,” or if they write the weblog pieces jointly. I do know that “In Defense of the Contingent Fee,” is typical of the highly defensive, self-serving, and misleading propaganda spread by the plaintiff’s personal injury bar (who variously call themselves “trial,” or “justice,” or “consumer” lawyers), whenever a question is raised about the ethics or wisdom of contingency fees.

P&S make two major erroneous points in their posting:

  1. they equate contingency fees with the currently fashionable concept of “value billing;” and
  2. they insist that the personal-injury plaintiff has the bargaining power needed to avoid unfairly high fees.

Contingency Fees & Value Billing: Perlmutter & Schuelke explain that “a new wave of attorneys are practicing value billing; setting a fee arrangement up front that is not based on the time spent on a project, but on the value that the attorney brings to the client.” (emphasis added) They quote Enrico Schaefer of The Greatest American Lawyer weblog, saying “The best part about value billing is that it requires the lawyer to think strategically, offensively and proactively every single day.” P&S then assert:

“But value billing isn’t new. Personal injury lawyers (and many other plaintiff’s lawyers) have been value billing for years through the use of contingent fee agreements. . . . And the contingent fee has all the strategic benefits mentioned by Mr. Schaefer; the personal injury lawyer has an incentive to think through the case and push it to resolution as efficiently as possible.”

There are a number of problems with equating contingency fees with value billing. Briefly, they include:

  • Very few clients play any role in setting the contingency fee, making it incongruous to say that the fee reflects the client’s valuation. There is no discussion or negotiation. The client rarely is given essential information (such as the likelihood of success, the probable size of a recovery, and the amount of time and money that is likely to be invested by the lawyer) that would allow him or her to place a value on the lawyer’s participation. The contingency fee percentage is merely the lawyer’s valuation of his or her efforts — the price to hire the firm’s services. And, it is presented to most clients on a take-it-or-leave-it basis.
  • tiny check More important, the application of a “standard” percentage fee to the entire amount won by the client– usually 33.3% or 40% — cannot possibly measure with any precision “the value that the attorney brings to the client” — especially when the same fee level is used by almost all lawyers in town, regardless of their skill and experience, and applied to almost all clients, no matter how risky or risk-free the particular case. But, the client with a meritorious case walks into the door of a law firm with a cause of action that already has significant worth/value (like bringing an uncut diamond to a jeweler) — and, the typical contingency fee collected by a lawyer applies the stated percentage of winnings whether the lawyer has achieved, diminished or increased the value of the client’s “gem.”
    • Although a contingency fee that is “stepped” to reflect the stage in the proceedings when a resolution is reached (e.g., 25 - 33 - 40 - 50%) has the potential to better reflect value received by the client, doing so requires knowing whether the net return to the client actually increased by going forward rather than settling earlier, whether the end result was more than the initial estimated worth of the case, and whether a more skilled lawyer could have achieved a similar result at an earlier stage.
  • Furthermore, there is no particular reason to assume that working on a contingency basis achieves “efficiency benefits” for the client (even if we assume that typical value billing does have such benefits). P&S claim that “the personal injury lawyer has an incentive to think through the case and push it to resolution as efficiently as possible.” What is “efficient” for the lawyer — bringing the case to a resolution that produces an adequate fee as quickly as possible and with a minimum effort — may have little or no relationship with achieving the maximum net return for the client. When a law firm has a constant stream of cases that keeps each lawyer fully occupied, the incentives under a contingency fee agreement tend toward pushing to have each case “cashed out” as soon as possible, without worrying about marginal return on efforts that might increase the client’s take.

winter thaw
the little white lies
that won’t fade away

………………………………….. ed markowski

white lie
the mirror doubles
the white chrysanthemum

………………………………..……… Roberta Beary
“white lie” - bottle rockets #12; fish in love: HSA Anthology 2007

SoapBox The Client’s bargaining power vs. p/i lawyers. After condemning Tort Reformers for attacking contingency fees while purportedly embracing value billing, Perlmutter & Schuekle get a little shrill and disingenuous:

“And the arguments against the contingent fee are ridiculous. The major criticism is that plaintiffs do not have any bargaining power and thus, unfair fee agreements might lead to a windfall for plaintiffs’ attorneys. . . . the premise that the plaintiff doesn’t have any bargaining power is simply false.”

What is the basis for the bargaining power claim?

“For example, if you do a Google search for “Austin personal injury lawyer” you receive 2,150,000 results. While there are obviously not that many personal injury lawyers in Austin, the point is clear that the potential plaintiff has the ability to shop around.” (emphasis added)

Now, I understand. After decades convincing the public that a “standard contingency fee” exists (and might even be required by law), while adopting a de facto Advertising Rule of Omerta over Fee Levels, and presenting virtually every client that walks in the door with a fee agreement that already has that standard percentage filled in, without stating a willingness to negotiate that fee, Perlmutter and Schuelke want us to believe that the unsophisticated injured party can readily threaten to “shop around” for a lower rate and thereby avoid being stuck with an unreasonably high fee. In effect, we’re supposed to believe that every year tens of thousands of p/i clients who have bargaining leverage never use it — instead, they choose to passively and unnecessarily hand over a large chunk of their damages to their lawyer. [see our essay do “standard” fees still exist? (April 5, 2006)]

Of course, that isn’t how the real world of p/i lawyers and clients works — despite the existence of thousands of p/i lawyers rabidly seeking injured clients. Ask any adult member of the general public what the contingency fee is in their community [they will readily give you a number] and whether they are allowed to negotiate for a lower percentage [they will be confused or bemused by the question]. Or, as we suggested in an essay last year that describes and explains the market failure and lack of price competition in personal injury cases [contingency fees (part 1 of 4): market failure (April 2, 2006)]:

Pick up your local Yellow Pages. Check out all of the many full-page and block ads by p/i lawyers. Can you find even one that mentions an actual fee level, much less a willingness (a) to charge less than the local customary percentage or (b) to negotiate the fee? If you do, please let me know. [Note: It’s been 16 months, and no one has sent us an example.]

Similarly, former Harvard Law School Dean Derek Bok also described the strange market failure in the p/i litigation field in his landmark 1993 book The Cost of Talent (1993), at 139 to 140. His analysis begins:

“The world of plaintiffs’ litigation would seem competitive enough to satisfy the most zealous free market economists. [with yellow pages and billboards filled with smiling lawyers willing to take your p/i case] . . . Curiously, however, the crowded market for legal services turns out to work quite differently from anything described in an economics textbook. . . .

ooh “There is little bargaining over the terms of the contingent fee. Most plaintiffs do not know whether they have a strong case, and rare is the lawyer who will inform them (and agree to a lower percentage of the take) when they happen to have an extremely high probability of winning. In most instances, therefore, the contingent fee is a standard rate that seldom varies with the size of the likely settlement or the odds of prevailing in court.”

“. . . Instead of perfect competition, then, the world of plaintiffs’ litigation is a much more haphazard place where ignorance and luck play prominent roles in shaping the fortunes of attorneys.”

The best P&S can do is to argue that “for the exceptional case . . . personal injury lawyers are often willing to negotiate the fee.” Well, if true, “often for the exceptional case” simply won’t suffice for meeting the ethical duty of each p/i lawyer to each client.

As I wrote last year [in contingency fees (part 4 of 4): ethical duties (April 7, 2006)], after fully exploring the ethical and fiduciary duties of lawyers entering into contingency agreements:

The lawyer must (1) fully inform the client of all relevant factors, so that agreements can be entered into knowingly and intelligently; and (2) treat each case and client separately, when deciding on the appropriateness of the arrangement and the reasonableness of the agreed-upon fee.

tiny check The ethical expectation is that the lawyer will make a good faith, professionally-informed estimate of his or her anticipated effort and risk (of non–recovery or inadequate compensation), and explain that evaluation to the client, prior to their coming to an agreement on a contingency fee. The lawyer will offer the client a reasonable fee (one reasonably related to the perceived risk), rather than automatically requesting the maximum percentage permitted in their jurisdiction, and hoping the client will passively accept it. Only when the client is brought into the discussion, fully informed of the lawyer’s good-faith evaluation of the case, and told of the right to negotiate, can we begin to rely on the reasonableness of the resulting contingency fee.

Why do lawyers lie about contingency fees? Frankly, they’ve put on ethical blinders, and live in deep denial about the fairness of using standard contingency fees, because their little racket is just too good to jeopardize by treating each client and case individually and fairly. If you want to know the facts about a lawyer’s duties relating to contingency fees, and the client’s rights when entering into such agreements, we suggest you read:

campfire…
with each fresh log
the old man’s fish grows longer

family photo
my very best
or else smile

crescent moon
the ex-con’s
friendly smile

“thirty-five.”
the caricature artist lengthens his nose

lunar eclipse umpireS
i fall for
the hidden ball trick

……………………………………………. ed markowski
“campfire” - Modern Haiku (Autumn 2006); “lunar eclipse” tinywords (Aug. 29, 2007)

No Lie: Many thanks and much appreciation goes out to friend and haijin Ed “Prolificus Maximus” Markowski, for coming out of haikai retirement today to pen a passel of pithy poems on falsehood and deception, in a matter of a couple of hours.

(more…)

August 26, 2007

an unthemely response (and sexy antitrust models, too)

Filed under: law news, viewpoint — David Giacalone @ 4:33 pm

H-H-H August weather may not be adequate justification for this mostly-frivolous and slightly soggy Saturday Sunday posting, but it’s the only excuse I have.

Above the Crowd?: The 600-lawyer firm Nixon Peabody [NP] just wanted to celebrate it’s inclusion in the Forbes 2007 list of 100 Best Companies to Work For, when it commissioned the (tacky-dorky) commemorative song, “Everyone’s A Winner At Nixon Peabody“. But, when the music video appeared at YouTube and on the legal tabloid Above the Law, NP quickly showed it doesn’t play well with others, nor have a corporate sense of humor, or any PR common sense. As a result, Nixon Peabody has brought a ton of e-shame, infamy and ridicule upon itself in the space of a mere two days. You can recapture David Lat’s unfolding story at Above the Law: “Someone Deserves To Be Shot Over This” (Aug. 23, 2007); “Nixon Peabody: This Is Not a Love Theme Song” (Aug. 23, 2007).

microphoneG NP came down hard on Lat, crying that the song [which got 10,000 listens in 12 hours] was never meant to be public, is certainly not a “theme song” nor advertising subject to ethics rules, was obtained illegitimately by Lat, and must be taken down. Lat complied, but don’t fear:

The story and Nixon Peabody’s diminished reputation spread rapidly across the blawigverse: see, e.g., Orin Kerr at Volokh Conspiracy, asking what NP should have done in “Law Firms, the Blogosphere, and Unexpected Attention;” Denise Howell at Bag and Baggage, who wonders why NP isn’t simply “celebrating the high camp and silliness;” and Carolyn Elefant at LegalBlogWatch, who noted that “Nixon Peabody reacted the way any humorless, stuffed-shirt stereotype of a BigLaw firm would.” Lat is compiling a LinkWrap of posts about the story.

SoapBox Too Low for Above the Law? [update: 8:30 PM: David Lat has graciously contacted me about the problem I had getting my Comments accepted at his weblog. He said:

Hi David. I have no idea as to why your comment didn’t appear — I certainly didn’t censor or unpublish it, and it didn’t show up in the Spam comment filter either (which I check periodically to publish comments that erroneously get marked as spam).

Lately we’ve been having some problems with comments disappearing. Maybe try posting again? And if you ever have a comment problem, just email me to let me know.

Thanks!

As far as I’m concerned, that answers my questions satisfactorily, and I am going to remove my whiny complaint from this posting. I’m pleased to know that David is not censoring [my] Comments. I’ve written about this issue before (e.g., here and here, and there); the proprietor of a weblog has every “right” to disallow particular Comments or trackbacks, but I expect successful, high-profile webloggers to have sufficient self-confidence to be able to take civilized, good faith, non-defamatory disagreement or kidding. Meanwhile, if you haven’t read Lat’s “Biglaw Perk Watch: Nap Rooms?” and my reaction, “nap room ethics for lawyers” (Aug. 22, 2007), check them out.

the son who
argues everything
I study his face in a puddle

sunrise
I forget my side
of the argument

……………………………………….. by George Swede - Almost Unseen

antitrustDVD Competitive Humor. Nobody expected Antitrust: the Movie (2001) to be a comedy; and, if you watch AAI’s antitrust primer “Fair Fight in the Marketplace,” today on WETA in D.C., you won’t get many belly laughs. But, that sad reality did not deter me from trying to motivate my blog-buddies Hanno Kaiser, David Fischer and Manfred Gabriel at the excellent “Antitrust Review” weblog to help spread a little antitrust (or even competition policy) humor across cyberspace.

My crusade was spurred by an entry on this website’s SlimStat page that showed a visitor had Googled <lawyer jokes antitrust> on Friday morning. While the first substantive result went to an f/k/a posting from April 1, 2006 (featuring a tale about the American Antitrust Institute), I thoroughly searched the first three pages of Google results and Antitrust Review was nowhere to be found.

That brought me to write to Hanno, David and Manfred (no jokes about humorous names please!) in an email note that urged them to assert their rightful place in the annals of antitrust humor. You’ll have to tell me whether my efforts were successful. Yesterday, the following post appeared at Antitrust Review, with the title “Antitrust Humor, Lawyer Jokes and Sex” (Aug. 25, 2007):

“In an doomed effort to one-up Antitrust Review, long-time and good friend of Antitrust Review David Giacalone recently bragged that a Google search for antitrust and lawyer jokes reveals that his (excellent) website is number one (substantively) while Antitrust Review is nowhere to be found (despite posts involving Stephan Colbert and April Fools Day).

“We’re happy for f/k/a … Seriously we are. Because we are first in antitrust and sexy (as if you didn’t already know that).

“To paraphrase Right Said Fred: Antitrust Review is too sexy for this blog, too sexy for this blog, so sexy it hurts.”

The f/k/a Gang admits that the posting “Hot Sexy Models“, which propelled Antitrust Review to the top of Google’s <antitrust sexy>search results is impressive. (And, yes, we lingered a bit longer than usual at their site that day, and emailed the URL more than is our custom.) But, with insight gained from spending my late 20’s through late 30’s in the Bureau of Competition of the Federal Trade Commission, I repeat my advice to David, Hanno and Manfred:

“Male antitrust lawyers need all the help they can get on the social scene. Women greatly prefer men with a sense of humor over men who ogle over and/or post photos of sexy women on their websites.”

one button undone
in the clerk’s blouse I let her
steal my change

peering into
the deep well, two boys
talk about girls

A sigh from her
then one from me —
two pages turn

………………………………………………………… by George Swede
“one button undone” - Almost Unseen (2000)
“A sigh from her” - Frogpond XX/2
“peering into” - The Heron¹s Nest

Let’s hope the Antitrust Review collaborators will soon conspire to keep us all in stitches. For now, you might go to Daryl Cagle’s Political Cartoon Directory to find humor on your favorite antitrust or competition case or subject. Here at f/k/a, we get a lot of smiles from the search engine queries that bring visitors to this weblog, and we used to regularly share discovered gems with our readers through the Inadvertent Searchee pages. Our little correspondence with the Antitrust Review editors this weekend, inspired me to update some of those Google and Yahoo search results to see how f/k/a is doing these days (with no SEO manipulations, I might add) on the search engine results front.

Here are some of the results. An f/k/a post is the:

one glass of wine -
Google keeps asking
“Did you mean _____?”

blossoms
past their peak -
boomers’ first date
…………………………… by dagosan

The beetle I righted
flies straight into
a cobweb

…………………………………. by George Swede

Editor’s note & update (Aug. 27, 2007), 8 AM: I just reGoogled <antitrust sexy> and got a very big surprise, and smile; the post you are reading right now is the:

update (11 AM, Aug. 26): Well, my campaign to move Antitrust Review to the top of the heap for matters of antitrust humor has been remarkably successful. As of 11 AM this morning, Antitrust Review holds the #1 spot for Google search results for both <antitrust lawyer jokes> and <antitrust humor>, while f/k/a is still on top for <antitrust and sexy>. David Fischer and his joint venturers may have to change their tune about sex vs. humor. The mystery of the Google Search Algorithm continues.

DriveNowTalkLaterN    But, seriously: Driving While Phoning Is Stupid: We interrupt this unserious post for a quick reminder of one of our society’s most irresponsible cardinal sins -- DWP, Driving While Phoning. It does not happen often enough but.,law enforcement agencies across New York State (which bans the use of hand-held cellphones while driving) will “enforce the law against driving and using a cell phone from Sunday through Friday next week as part of the ‘Taking Action Against Driver Distraction’ campaign.” See, e.g., “Unsafe at any speed — for all drivers: Chemung County, Elmira officers to set example on cell phone use while driving” (Elmira Star-Gazette, Aug. 24, 2007). Columnist Jim Pfiffer explains:

“Most people acknowledge that driver distractions, from dialing a phone to putting on makeup in the rearview mirror, are dangerous. Cell phones are one of the biggest distractions. Here’s proof: In 2003, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimated that driver inattention led to 25 percent of reported crashes. Three years later, as cell phone use increased tenfold, that number jumped to 80 percent.”

And, this makes great sense: “Elmira police officers and Chemung County Sheriff’s Department have told their officers to pull over to the side of the road when using cell phones for non-emergency purposes. It’s not safe, and it’s a public relations nightmare.” And, see “No typing, talking behind the wheel? Bill would restrict cell phone use” (The Ann-Arbor News, Aug. 22, 2007), which has this amazing statistic (about adults!!):

‘A recent AAA “poll indicated that two out of three adults who drive a car and have used text messaging had read text messages or e-mails while they were driving, and 57 percent said they have sent text messages or e-mails from behind the wheel’.”

Click to get Car Talk’s Talk Later bumper sticker.DriveNowTalkLaterG

dagSicilianAfro Are Law Firms Cooler & More Tolerant Than the Fashion World? You decide, after a fashion expert from Glamour magazine advised black lawyers at Cleary Gottlieb not to wear afros or dreadlocks: See “Bloggers Fan the Fury Over Hairstyle Advice to Cleary’s African-American Lawyers” (Aug. 27, 2007); “Cleary Gottlieb Has a Bad Hair Day: Talk about a fashion don’t” (Aug. 1, 2007), both from The American Lawyer/Law.com, by Vivia Chen. Of course, some lawyers have spent decades being cool — such as Yolo County (California) Public Defender Barry Melton, formerly of Country Joe & the Fish (via Arbitrary & Capricious; hat tip again to the Edster). But, I have one final, shocking confession to close out this post: despite the Sicilian ‘Fro of his youth (see 1971 mug shot), Your Editor was never really very cool.

 

rain on
my bald spot –
recalling dry-scalp Aprils

. . . ……………. . by david giacalone (a/k/a dagosan), photo by Mama G.

See original, enlarged image haiga at MagnaPoets Japanese Form.

courageous mayor vetoed flawed sex offender laws

Filed under: viewpoint — David Giacalone @ 11:26 am

  Metro West Daily News of Framingham, Mass., had an excellent editorial last December, on the subject of sex offender “exclusion-zone” laws, which I wish I had known about in time to submit to the Schenectady County Legislature this past week (or sooner). See “Wise veto of a flawed law” (Dec. 4 , 2006; erroneously dated Aug. 26, 2007, in the first version of this post - - sorry for any confuseion) The editorial starts with the politically-obvious, “Everyone hates sex offenders, especially those that prey on children. People want them kept as far away as possible, and they’ll welcome any government action that promises to do that.” It notes that the City of Marlborough “is the first MetroWest community to jump on this bandwagon,” and explains:

“Its City Council last month approved an ordinance that would prohibit those convicted of sexual offenses against children from living within a half-mile of any school, day care or recreational place — a zone that ends up covering at least 95 percent of the city. Those offenders also could not visit parks, playgrounds or other recreational places where children congregate. Offenders who own homes could stay, but renters would have to leave town, either now or when their leases run out.”

The reasoning is so good and universally-applicable, that I am going to reprint most of the rest of the editorial here, and hope that you will click the link and read the entire piece:

“The proposal is politically popular but, as we’ve argued in this space, impractical and misguided. While the city’s police chief and solicitor raised objections during the council debates, Mayor Nancy Stevens was quiet — until Thursday, when she wisely vetoed the measure.

” ‘I am concerned about the constitutionality about it,’ Stevens said at a press conference. ‘I believe this particular piece of legislation will give people a false sense of security.’

“She’s right, on both counts. Similar ordinances are being challenged in what The New York Times this week called “a national wave of litigation.” Marlborough’s law is vulnerable on several grounds. Because its restricted zones cover so much territory, it amounts to banishing offenders from the city. It imposes a new penalty on those who have already served their sentences, without affording them due process. The exemption for homeowners and those whose offenses were against adults, could be ruled discriminatory.

“Marlborough is still smarting from a lawsuit filed by a man who served 10 years in prison for a rape he didn’t commit. Taxpayers can’t afford to spend years and thousands of dollars defending a faulty law.

“Defending a law that won’t work is especially wasteful. . . . Do people really think child predators will steer clear of Marlborough just because of this ordinance?

“Law enforcement experts even believe such ordinances can make matters worse. . . . If they cannot find a place where they can legally live, they will just go underground. . . .. “We congratulate Stevens on having the courage to question this popular, but misguided, ordinance, and urge City Council to sustain her veto.”

While the Schenectady County Legislature was voting to reaffirm its unwise sex offender residency law (prior post), I wish they had the example of Marlborough’s Mayor Nancy Stevens in mind. Mayor Stevens had the courage to veto the politically-popular sex offender law sent to her by the City Council.

A few days ago, we told you below the fold about the excellent report from Gatehouse News Service, titled “Sex Offenders: A Flawed Law,” which we hoped would be picked up by newspapers across the country. I’m pleased to say that a group of Gatehouse newspapers in the Greater-Boston area of Western Massachusetts (covering Brockton, Fall River, Framingham, Milford, Quincy, Taunton, Waltham, and more), and including the Quincy Patriot Ledger, ran the first of the two-part series today, with “Sex Offender: A Flawed Law - Right Next Door” (and see MetroNewsWest.com, Framingham, MA, Aug. 26, 2007). The feature also includes “Costs mounts to support sex offender laws,” and “Violent sex attacks led to tough laws.” I urge you to take a look. [update (Aug. 27, 2007): You can see installments of Part II of this series at MetroWest Daily News, by going to “Political Pressure: Legislators quick to target sex offenders,” and “If sex offender laws don’t work, what does?” (Aug. 27, 2007)]

update (1:30 PM, Aug. 26): My guardian angel at Blawg Review saw this posting and immediately wrote to tell me about Dunan Riley’s post yesterday at TechCrunch, “See all sex offenders in your neighborhood” (Aug. 25, 2007). Riley describes a free “Peace of Mind” [POM] service from Vision 20/20 that lets you pinpoint on a map all sex offenders living near any U.S. location. He explains, “Users simply add their address, city and/ or zip code to the Vision 20/20 site, and then the locations of sex offenders in the immediate vicinity are displayed over a map. Clicking on each sex offender leads to a profile which includes the name, address, and crimes of the sex offender, as well as a mug shot.” I just went to Vision 20/20’s POM Locate Sex Offender page, and was amazed by the speed and thoroughness of the service. It is interesting to see where that SOs are clustered in our County.

According to Vision 20/20, “You can also register with POM Offender Locator to receive an alert the moment any new offender moves into your neighborhood. It’s a Free service!” Sort of makes you wish that our laws motivated every sex offender to continuously and accurately report his or her actual residence.

update: Aug. 27, 2007: In an editorial called “Drawing Lines,” the Syracuse Post Standard (Aug. 26, 2007) raises important issues that a community should address before imposing sex offender residency restrictions. It focuses on the impact of the Cicero, NY’s SORR on one offender who would be forced to move from a home he has owned since 1991. The editorial begins:

“The case of the 49-year-old registered sex offender, who may be forced
to move from the home he has owned for 16 years in the town of Cicero,
illustrates the complexity and sometimes shortsightedness of laws
designed to act as buffers between dangerous sex offenders and a
vulnerable public.

“The Cicero statute, passed last year, prohibits Level 2 and 3 sex
offenders from living within one mile of a school or day-care center
entrance or 1,500 feet of a playground or park entrance. The Cicero man
it is now being applied to (he was not identified in court papers) was=
convicted of first-degree sexual abuse in 1991 and given five years
probation. He has undergone counseling, attended an alcoholic treatment
program and has not been in trouble since his conviction. He is suing
the town for the right to remain in his home. He should have that
opportunity.”

After discussing issues and research, the editorial concludes:

“Communities considering sex offender residency restrictions must ask the
question: Do such laws truly make their communities safer? Or are there
more effective ways - electronic monitoring systems or safety zones, for
example - of keeping a watchful eye on the offenders most likely to
strike again?”

August 24, 2007

tardy quickies

Filed under: q.s. quickies, Haiku or Senryu — David Giacalone @ 10:09 am
These q.s. quickies never got out of the typewriter yesterday. Was it worth the wait?

Agita Avoidance from Overlawyered.com: I learned this week that Ted Frank can be quite considerate, even when engaging in his customary brand of hyperbolic (or even less-than-fully-thoughtful) pro-se bashing. Several times last year (while authoring the SHLEP weblog), I took Ted and his Overlawyered.com teammate Walter Olson to task for exaggerating the problem of frivolous pro se lawsuits and dredging up stale examples of loony lawyerless litigants. See,”like a regifted fruitcake,” “pro se recycling goes over and above,” and “are housing courts really too tenant-friendly?“. It made me smile a couple days ago, therefore, when Ed at Blawg Review sent me a head’s-up about Ted’s posting “Forbes on pro se cases” (Aug. 20, 2007).

“Before David Giacalone jumps down my throat, let me say that I had a lengthy interview with Falkenberg, detailing my views on pro se litigation, but only the throw-away anecdote about Roy Pearson’s pants suit made it in. (Interestingly, the Supreme Court’s decision this spring in Bell Atlantic v. Twombly helps resolve the problem I complained about in that December post.)”

Of course, Mama G. brought me up right, and it is rare that I go around jumping down throats. But, I am grateful that Ted wanted to spare me the aggravation and agita of thinking he was a repeat offender. On the other hand, I think I will need more than one dose of Maximum Strength Cyber-Zantac to get through an entire helping of Ted’s article yesterday in The American, “Pro Se’s Outlandish Menu” (Aug. 23, 2007). Meanwhile, in case you feel lucky and click on his article anyway, go here for some tips from WebMD on preventing heartburn.

at the height
of the argument the old couple
pour each other tea

I put the pillow
on my head . . .now my thoughts
are too loud

……………………………………………………. by George Swede
“at the height” - from Almost Unseen (2000, Brooks Books)
“I put the pillow” - from Simply Haiku Journal (Dec. 2006)

[ Me Ne Frego] Chinglish and Chin-Flicks: An op/ed piece in Wednesday’s New York Times made me think of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s infamous “chin-flick” episode, outside a Boston church, along with his apparent contempt for the judicial custom of avoiding the appearance of impropriety. There was no subject matter connection between Scalia and the article “In Beijing, Orwell Goes to the Olympics” (New York Times, by Ross Terrill, Aug. 22, 2007), but, I always like to tweak the good Justice and put in a good word for Judicial Probity. The link was the article’s discussion of “Chinglish” and the campaign by Chinese political leaders to look good at the Olympics next year by assuring that the English of their citizens sounds good:

“The penalty for “Chinglish” is usually humiliation, not incarceration. Still, citizens are asked to snitch, Mao-era style, on people who shame China with their shaky English. An outfit called the Beijing Speaks Foreign Languages Program issues prefabricated foreign phrases to workers who cannot converse in any foreign tongue. The Olympics have become one more tool in the authoritarian state’s box of tricks.”
. . .

“Yes, curbing Chinglish — along with current efforts to eliminate spitting, littering and pushing to enter a bus or train — shows the better side of authoritarianism. . . .

“Correct language, like a gold medal, is desirable in itself. But neither guarantees glory for a state that pursues them for political ends (ask the Soviet Union). Sport should just be sport. The democracies should insist on that and leave political manipulation to the dictatorships.”

Of course, we mostly-monolingual Americans need to squelch our own habit of being annoyed whenever a foreigner (or American) speaks English poorly or with a thick accent. We certainly don’t have to worry about a lot of Americans speaking Mandarin poorly — but, not for the right reasons.

winter sunset
buttoning mother’s coat
up to her chin

the um in her voice
before offering me
the senior discount

…………………. by Carolyn Hall
“the um” - A New Resonance 2; Frogpond XXIII:2
“winter sunset” - Frogpond XXVIII: 3

treading water:
“keep your chin up”
he says
………………………………. by dagosan

Bench Blogging: Speaking of judges, both May It Please the Court and Blawg Review pointed yesterday to an interesting article in Case in Point, the National Judicial College magazine, titled “Are You Out There? Blogging On The Bench” (Spring/Summer 2007). As BR explains, “The article features blogs that judges write, and blogs that judges read.” It also goes into the ethics and etiquette of judges, court staff and lawyers writing weblogs. The Blawg Review editor continues:

And, if any judges are reading Blawg Review for this editor’s personal recommendations of more blawgs that judges might find especially interesting, here’s a list of law blogs also worthy of judicial notice.

Balkinization - “an unanticipated consequence of Jack M. Balkin ”

Concurring Opinions - “the Law, the Universe, and Everything ”

Deliberations - “Law, news, and thoughts on juries and jury trials”

QuizLaw - “a free and easy to use resource for finding understandable legal information without all the “legalese.” ”

f/k/a - “the home of ‘breathless punditry’ and ‘one-breath poetry’”

Above the Law - “A legal tabloid”

Since no one is more widely-read when it comes to the blawgiverse than Ed, Blawg Review’s anonymous Editor, we recommend that judges and our readers check out his selections. After all, a man who gives f/k/a a Creative Lawyer Blog award in 2005, and names shlep: the Self-Help Law ExPress “The Best Weblog in the Public Interest” in 2006, has very good taste, indeed.

Drive-By News Consumption: The August 2007 edition of the Harvard Monthly e-newsletter links to an interview titled “Thomas Patterson on Young People and News“. Patterson is the Bradlee Professor of Government and the Press at the Kennedy School, and he gives his perspectives on the recent Shorenstein Center Report on Young People’s Daily News Consumption, Young People and News. Patterson says:

“What we found in our study is that young people are about half as attentive to daily news as older adults . . . ”

“I think the big difference between younger Americans and older Americans in news use is that for a lot of older Americans news is a daily appointment. You wake up in the morning, you go to the door, you pickup your newspaper, you read your newspaper while you have a cup of coffee, at six-thirty in the evening you turn on the evening newscast. That’s been the pattern for older Americans for fifty years, news as an appointment.”

“For young Americans, most of them do not make any appointment with the daily news, but it doesn’t mean that they don’t have some exposure to it. They are so media connected that it’s really difficult for them or anyone else in this society to not have some news exposure, but they essentially don’t put part of their day aside to partake of the news.”

winter solstice
adolescent wiccans
flunk a spelling test

………………………………………. by dagosan

complaint billFN Outsourced & Overcharged, LLC: Two years ago, Carolyn Elefant wrote a piece at MyShingle asking whether lawyers should “Pass On Cost Savings from Outsourcing?” “. Today she has continued that topic at Law.com’s LegalBlogWatch, in a posting called “A Post About Ethics Rules, Offshoring and Mark-Ups on Contract Attorney Fees” (Aug. 22, 2007). This time, Carolyn discusses a Bloomberg article on Jones Day and other firms offshoring legal research services, explains differences between using foreign and domestic lawyers relating to having to inform the client of the markup of costs, and asks “when does a mark-up become unreasonable within the meaning of the Code of Professional Responsibility’s requirement that lawyers charge ‘reasonable fees’?”

For all the reasons we gave in our posting of June 28, 2005, the f/k/a Gang agrees with George Washington University law professor Thomas Morgan that ethics rules require law firms to pass on to clients cost savings from outsourcing, and we believe that “when outsourcing, the ethical law firm just passes on the cost.” Indeed, it seems appropriate to ask the ethical law firm to seek out low-cost options and give the client a choice — and, ethically necessary to fully inform clients when outsourcing (at home or abroad is done).

Color Me Supreme: Thanks to her sidekick Tyler (the Blawgiverse’s Most Famous Fetus and Baggage), award-winning weblogger Denise Howell knows a thing or two about coloring books. Last week, she used her bloggy pulpit at Bag-and-Baggage to tell us about the ABA’s “U.S. Supreme Court Coloring and Activity Book” (Crayons Included!). Here’s the low-keyed spiel from the ABA book store:

Have fun and learn about the Supreme Court! It’s a coloring book with a surprising educational twist. This 32-page coloring book features expertly rendered illustrations depicting significant Supreme Court Justices of the United States to color in–including all current sitting Justices.

The U.S. Supreme Court Coloring and Activity Book is perfect for the children of lawyers and judges, or for teachers looking for a new resource for Law Day or Constitution Day. Law Firms will want to purchase to book in bulk for their employees–especially for “Take Your Child to Work Day”!

The book also includes Supreme Court related activities and puzzles such as, matching, word-search, and connect-the-dots games for slightly older children. Suitable for all ages, this book is perfect for teachers and young children, law firms and lawyers looking for client or visitor give-aways, and makes a great gift, too!

If you want to learn some law while doing your coloring (and not spend any money for the book), we suggest “Law & Order: An adventure to color ” from Brandon Bird, which we told you about in “our kind of law book” (April 30, 2004).

a child’s painting
bleeds into itself
summer rain

………………………. by Matt Morden - from A New Resonance 2: Emerging Voices

Sex Obsession & Sex Offenders: We’ve been writing a lot about sex offenders lately here at this weblog. Niki Black of Sui Generis presents her own thoughts on the subject in a recent article, “Youth Obsession and Offenders.” For example:

“As a mother, I am disgusted and deeply disturbed by any form of child abuse and will do everything within my power to protect my children from predators. But I cannot ignore the conflicting messages with which our culture is bombarded regarding the connection between sexual desire and youthfulness. . . .

“Our youth-obsessed culture created and supports these undesirable desires. To permanently demonize those who simply parrot that which they see constantly in the media, or to permanently imprison those who are unable to restrain themselves from acting on the desires and ideals actively espoused by our culture is, in my opinion, nothing short of hypocritical.”

hugSmallN Heads up Walter & Ted: As we first exclaimed two years ago, August 31 is Love Litigating Lawyers Day. Click that link to find some great quotes about lawyers and litigation. And, go here for a selection of lawyer haiku and senryu. What more can we say? (LLL Day was created by the folk at WellCat.com)

long deposition–
the lawyer’s
“at the risk of repeating myself”

………………………………………………………… by Barry George, Esq.

Considering the agita I have gotten from certain “plaintiff’s lawyers,” a/k/a Justice Lawyers or Consumer Lawyers, who do not like my client-advocate’s approach to the ethics of contingency fees [see, e.g., “contingency fees (part 4): ethical duties”], it is rather ironic that two of the first three Yahoo Search results for “Love Litigating Lawyers Day” bring the querists to this weblog.

DisgruntledEsq: It was most kind of Jay Shepherd of Gruntled Employees to point to my recent piece on the need to consider the ethics of some forms of alternative billing. But, I must say that I am not impressed by the reasoning he uses in declaring “Hourly Billing: Presumed Unethical” (Aug. 22, 2007). Calling it reasoning is being too kind. Perhaps all the Dignity Police who care so much about the Image of the Profession should take a little time off from their campaign against such dreadful scourges as pit bull logos and heavy-hitter nicknames, and do a little jawboning about the lawyers who keep claiming (often for self-serving financial reasons) that 90% of the profession is acting unethical merely by billing by the hour. [see our post “presumed ignorant” (July 26, 2007)] Talk about giving me agita.

TrustBusterTeddyS p.s. If you live in the DC Metro area, you can finally see the American Antitrust Institute’s award-winning (and surprising entertaining and informative) documentary on the history and benefits of the antitrust laws, “Fair Fight in the Marketplace,” on WETA Channel, this weekend, August 26th at 4 p.m. and midnight. The film has already aired on 75 PBS stations around the country to date. We wrote about the video and its needlessly controversial genesis in “Antitrust: the movie.” You can always see it online at the Fair Fight website, which includes a special edition for high schoolers (and a 30-second trailer).

afternoon nap
i fall asleep
in a dream

skid row
on every bar napkin
a lighthearted joke

…………. by ed markowski (2006)

August 23, 2007

a riutta interlude

Filed under: Haiku or Senryu — David Giacalone @ 3:06 pm

  I just can’t seem to get my punditry act together this afternoon.  However, my day was brightened by a quick trip to Tinywords.com, where I discovered this little gem by Andrew Riutta:

morning fog
a midwife wipes the eyes
of a newborn

That provided me with the perfect excuse f