Blog Glob: Monday morning shorts

Excerpt from Louis Nizer: A Leader Wears Many Hats (Michael McKinney) . . .

He must be an archaeologist who exhumes evidence; a psychologist who strengthens his client and weakens his enemy; a paragon of patience to withstand the unreasonableness of troubled clients; a man of endurance to withstand the strain of the most arduous profession; an optimist in the darkest hours and a pessimist in the brightest, so that momentum doesn’t slacken; a historian of the law so that he can better predict its future; an idealist in the service of justice and a practical man who may forgo litigation in his client’s interest; a precisionist who must draft documents which defy ambiguity; a negotiator who makes deals not breaks them; . . .

Excerpt from Thursday. April 12, 2007, post at Bone Marrow Poptarts (young cancer patient, daughter of new partner in a law firm) . . .

She called today to say
that she understands. About me.
Doctors. Life. Cancer. Everything.
She said she wants to be a good mother
because she doesn't have forever.
Only today. That's all we have.
She's been a lawyer all her life.
She made partner at her new firm
last year. Tomorrow she is
putting in her two weeks.No more law books.
No more court dates.
 No more going through files
at the dinner table.
Or forgetting dinner all together.

Excerpt from The Future of Strategy (Rob Millard) . . .

The new model of business strategy that will dominate the 21st Century is already here. It is to be found, in a form rapidly approaching adolescence, in the emerging concepts of military strategy and  the serious academic journals. . . . It is even to be seen in completely different fields that are not intuitively related to either business or strategy, but that have important concepts that influence both, such as emerging areas of physical science such as quantum mechanics and chaos theory.

The W Magical List of Women Bloggers

Lawyer fees rise . . . and fall (Dan Pink) . . .

 

The Wall Street Journal reports that some big-time lawyers are billing at $1000 per hour. Meanwhile, Bloomberg says other attorneys are seeing their work outsourced to India, "where lawyers tag documents and investigate takeover targets for as little as $20 an hour." Sounds to me like a legal well curve.

Excerpt from The World of the All-Too-Narrow Consultant  (Alan Weiss) . . .

Lawyers hold my personal record for being the narrowest of all professionals, . . .  . Outside of the world of torts and Lexus-Nexus (or whatever that is) they aren’t able to glibly discuss many things, partly because their educational preparation is about as wide as the change slot in a candy machine, and partly because the rigors of the profession demand that they immerse themselves in little else. I guess I want such a lawyer defending me, but probably not befriending me.

Excerpt from "More lawyers see appeal of blogs" (subscription required-Kansas City Business Journal) . . .

"Personally, none of the attorneys I know blog or admit to it," said Francesca Cheroutes, a Shughart Thomson & Kilroy PC lawyer, "because in our industry, it's such a conservative industry that you don't want information about you out on the Web."

Excerpt from Elder Mediation . . .

To access the brochure titled Considering Guardianship for Someone You Care About? Consider Mediation click here To access the brochure titled Caring for an Older Person and Facing Difficult Decisions? Consider Mediation click here

Excerpt from "Expensive arbitration climate paves way for mediation" (subscription required-Portland Business Journal) . . .

The alternative dispute resolution industry, including mediation and arbitration, took root in the 1970s and 1980s in response to widespread concern about the escalating costs of litigation.

"It worked for awhile, but now arbitration is being treated a lot like litigation," said Bill Crow of Portland's Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt. "I think most businesses have found that it doesn't save money." 

Excerpt from review copy of Style Matters: The Kraybill Conflict Style Inventory (PDF) . . .

So how do you respond to conflict? Most people aren't sure how to answer. It is often easier to describe how others respond than how we ourselves respond. Style Matters gives you a snapshot of yourself. With that picture in hand, you can make conscious decisions in responding to others. You can build on your strengths and improve your weaknesses.

Excerpt from Why Some Law Firms Won't Plan (Tom Collins) . . .

. . ."They thrive on change.”  The entrepreneur law firm leader avoids at all cost getting boxed into a corner by a mission statement.  What these leaders often thrive on is a set of core values that they bring to the organization.  Those values give the enterprise it characters and unify the law firm.  Its mission and its purpose, in large part, are the core values.

Excerpt from Blawg Review #123 . . .

This week, the Editor of Blawg Review has designated the Texas Appellate Law Blog as pro tem Supreme Court of the Blawgosphere.  As such, the Court has final discretion regarding the issues presented here.