unbillable hours

Blawger Bowl III, Weeks 4 & 5

The past two updates for this year's Blawger Bowl had to be delayed in order to facilitate moving.  You see, you can't play on the computer all day and claim that you're "packing." 

It's sort of like blawging at work. I.e., it doesn't end well. 

Regardless of the fact that I'm currently living amongst boxes and packing peanuts, I present week 4 and week 5 of the Blawger Bowl update for your perusal.  All three of you. 

Week 4 - Unbillable Hours v. Anonymous Lawyer/Jeremy Blachman

Week 4 put me up against Jeremy Blachman's "Completely Guessing."  Blachman is a sort of blogging celebrity, in that he has a novel published and has written for the New York Times.  Unfortunately, that didn't help his game.  Unbillable Hours won, 110 to 71. 

Blachman, a Harvard grad, takes notice on his blog of 02138, the smarmy alumni magazine for Harvard (there, now google can associate you shitbirds with being smarmy).  I had noticed the magazine myself, as, for reasons I don't understand, an issue ended up in my office mailbox.  I didn't go to Harvard, but I did go to a law school which views itself with equally self-important eyes.  Wrongly, in my opinion, as I still maintain that I learned nothing about the practice of law while there.  Nonetheless, I look at my law school's alumni mag ("bourgeoise ipsa loquitor," a.k.a., "the yuppies speak for themselves") and 02138 as part of the greater trend of lifestyle magazines designed to make the upper class and upper middle class feel special about themselves. 

I'll give another example.  In the somewhat affluent region in which I live (the Jersey shore), someone came up with the idea for a lifestyle magazine called "MAR." Much like Harvard's self-referencing "02138" (the main campus zip code), MAR refers to the area in which it serves: an area it refers to as the "Mid-Atlantic Riviera." 

Now, aside from the fact that I've never lived a lifestyle that approximates the Riviera, my readthrough of the magazine made me pray it was either parody or completely oblivious.  Executive helecopter charters competed with the solicitations of personal shoppers and Ferrari/Maserati of Central New Jersey.  Consultants provided advice about both feng shui and surgery to remove signs of aging. 

I wondered if the magazine would find its way to low income towns like Asbury Park or Neptune, just to rub in the insult. 

The magazines seem to be designed - like the society pages of old - to reassure a certain class of people.  "Yes, you're noteworthy," the photos of shiny-faced, suit wearing partiers seem to say.  "You deserve no less than this," the jewelry and custom kitchen cabinets (starting at a reasonable $40k) ads advise the privileged. 

In the grand scheme of things, I can't decide if the magazine is a signifier to me (time to get out; the area has changed and you're not interested in changing with it) or a hysterically out-of-touch statement, the "let them eat cake" of the Hummer crowd. 

Week 5, Unbillable Hours v. ????
This past week, my team took on one of the two teams ... about whom I know nothing (as indicated in my first blawger bowl post).  This is frustrating, since I have no way of doing a write-up about the blawger.  However, considering the bastards beat my team 96-72, signalling what may be a slow, ugly decline, I don't mind not having to do a write-up about them.

Blawger Bowl III, Week 3

Week three of Blawger Bowl could be described as a week lacking all intensity for Unbillable Hours' Jersey Teamsters.  Coming off of a 142-113 loss to BizzBangBuzz, the Jersey Teamsters felt the brunt of Atlanta's loss to New Orleans.  Fortunately, so did our opponent.  The Invent Blog's Draconian Measures fell to the Jersey Teamsters 89-86.  This leaves the Jersey Teamsters in third place with a 2-1-0 record and 324 overall points.  It also drops the Draconian Measures to 11th place with a 1-2-0 record and 293 overall points. 

The Invent Blog is a pretty technical blawg, as one would expect.  Focused on Patent Law, Stephen M. Nipper, Esq., author of the Invent Blog provides a lot of information for inventors and patent lawyers.  For example, think of those late night commercials that have the little caveman that invents the wheel.  The company that makes those commercials is an invention promotion company, and as with most other companies, there are ethical ones.... and not-so-ethical ones. 

The Invent Blog has information on some options for individuals when they've been ripped off by the unethical companies.  Of course, if you want advice, you should consult an attorney, but it's good that there are blogs out there that give this sort of information.  The Invent Blog is also a good resource to check out information on interesting patents, such as the design of the iPod.

Me?  I hate the iPod.  But you hipsters out there may like it. 

The culture of corruption in New Jersey

Over at Enlighten-New Jersey, a post entitled Creating a Culture of Corruption in New Jersey lists a quotation from New Jersey Assemblyman Michael Carroll (R-Morris).  It's an interesting quote, and I'll post the opening paragraph here. 

Most serious political corruption tends to be an urban problem. And a Democrat problem. Not because Republicans are inherently more virtuous, but because they tend to approach government from a different perspective than do Democrats. Dems see government as an engine for legally stealing from A to benefit B. Republicans, contrariwise, see government as a bulwark to prevent B from stealing from A.

The one problem with the quote, as of right now, is that the post from which it allegedly came is a dead link.  I have no way of telling whether Assemblyman Carroll actually made the above statement.  The Way Back Machine indicates that the page doesn't exist.  I suppose I could email the Assemblyman and ask, but it's less important to me whether the Assemblyman actually made such a statement than whether the statement is accurate and meaningful.  If pressed, I suppose it could be said that Enlighten-New Jersey is the "author" of the statement, until this statement is otherwise verified. 

Being a conservative, I would love for the statement to be true.  Corruption = a Democrat problem.  Great.  The issue is well-defined; let's get rid of corruption by voting out Democrats.  The problem is that it is factually inacurrate.  In Monmouth County, the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey undertook an investigation into corruption by Republican politicians.  This investigation, known as Operation Bid Rig, led to the indictment of at least 11' individuals, including Middletown Republican Raymond O'Grady. 

This link points to a number of Asbury Park Press articles on the investigation.  This July 21, 2006 article gives a "scorecard" of convictions and guilty pleas related to Bid Rig. 

As reported in this New York Times article, Committeeman O'Grady entered into a conversation that was surreptitiously taped by an undercover agent.  This conversation related to O'Grady's plan to accept a bribe.  When asked if he feared being caught by the police, O'Grady's response was nonchalant, to say the least.

In one case, Raymond O'Grady, a Middletown committeeman, casually dismissed an undercover agent's question to him on tape about whether he feared being caught by the police, according to the criminal complaint. "I can smell a cop a mile away," Mr. O'Grady bragged to the undercover agent who was taping the conversation, according to the complaint.

Operation Bid Rig took down corrupt Republican politicians in New Jersey.  Many of those Republicans were convicted or pled guilty.  Thus, we can address the assumption that corruption in this State exists as a Democrat problem and say, clearly, this assumption is false. 

As an aside, this assumption is so patently false that I think that is why one doesn't find a link to it on Assemblyman Carroll's website.  The Assemblyman is an intelligent, well-educated man.  He would know better than to make an assumption that is so readily disproven.

Corruption in New Jersey is a real, substantial problem.  The problem, so far, hasn't been solved, as evidenced by continuing convictions undertaken by the Federal Government.  And, as evidenced by the bilateral nature of these convictions, it's neither a Republican nor a Democrat problem. 

The problem is one of individual responsibility. 

Every individual investigated and convicted is responsible for the actions that led to his or her conviction, just as every individual - in the future - that is convicted will be as well.  It will not be solved by pointing fingers at one party or the other.  It will be solved when individuals involved in the governance of this State decide that they are better than the politics of unlawful personal enrichment. 

Not surprisingly, the fact that this State has failed to put forward an ethics reform bill to address public corruption is a problematic one.  Still, the actions of the U.S. Attorney evidence that, even without such reform, corruption can be policed, to some extent.  Policing corruption and reforming the laws concerning corruption are not the answer, though.  The final answer concerning corruption must be individuals taking their conduct to a level where there is no question of corruption.  Politicians must not merely be successful at getting elected; they must be virtuous.  The notion seems naive, but it's not an unheard of concept.

Update: Enlighten-New Jersey has posted a working link to Assemblyman Carroll's post.

Update 2:  Sharpe James seems to be under investigation for corruption.  There's a shock.

Blawger Bowl III, Week 2

This week, Unbillable Hours' fantasy football team, the Jersey Teamsters, went up against BizzBangBuzz' eponymous team.   I'm going to do the weekly updates differently this year.  I'm not going to post on everyone's wins and losses, because (1) besides those playing, who cares? (and we know who is winning and losing), and (2) I want to pay more attention to the blawgers I'm playing. 

This week, BizzBangBuzz spanked the Jersey Teamsters, 142 to 113, and was the highest scoring team in the league.  This puts BBB in first place with a 2-0-0 record and 254 overall points.  My Jersey Teamsters drop from second to fourth place with a 1-1-0 record and 235 overall points. 

BizzBangBuzz is a blawg focused on technology law and business practices. One article in particular on his blog that I thought worth reading was his collection of articles addressing authentic leadership.   One article in particular asserts the nature of being an authentic leader as follows:

Leadership, going forward, is not as much about telling as it is about hearing; not as much about knowing as it is about facilitating dialogue and inquiry; not as much about being in charge as it is about enabling the necessary capabilities and outcomes. This paper explores how authentic listening serves as an indispensable tool for leaders at all levels.

Like BizzBangBuzz, I'm interested in leadership, although I look not to business gurus to answer the question of how to lead.  I could post links to Marcus Aurelius and other classical writers as examples of leaders I really follow, but, truthfully, I really look to the lessons I learned from the Boy Scout Handbook.  From the handbook, I learned the Scout Oath and Law. 

The Scout Oath

On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country, and to obey the Scout Law; to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight. 

The Scout Law

A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. 

I know it seems cheesy, perhaps antiquated to look at the scouts as a source of leadership inspiration, but the facts of the matter are that there is a definitive link between those who achieved Eagle Scout, the highest rank in Scouting, and actual leadership. 

Some examples:

• Sen. Lamar Alexander,
• Mayor Michael Bloomberg (a pleasant surprise to me),
• Associate Justice Tom C. Clark,
• Brig. Gen. Charles Moss Duke (one of 12 men to walk on the moon),
• Texas District Attorney Ronnie Earle (who brought to light the Jack Abramoff controversy),
• Poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti,
• Hon. Robert M. Gould (9th Circuit),
• Chemist Dudley R. Herschbach (Nobel Prize Winner),
• Mike Judge (Director of "Office Space," "King of the Hill," and "Beavis and Butthead"),
• Archbishop William Henry Keeler,
• Capt. James Lovell (Commander of Apollo 13),
• George Meyer (Producer of "The Simpsons"),
• Sam Nunn, retired U.S. Senator,
• Lt. Col. Ellison Onizuka (Astronaut, died on the U.S.S. Challenger),
• Platoon Sergeant Mitchell Paige (Medal of Honor recipient),
• Gov. Mitt Romney,
• Steven Speilberg (director, "Munich," "Band of Brothers," etc.),
• Vice Adm. Richard H. Truly (Astronaut, first astronaut to run NASA, member of the three Skylab missions),
• Richard Vinroot, Esq. (former Mayor of Charlotte, N.C.), and
• Sam Walton (founder of Wal-Mart). 

Nearly every letter of the alphabet is represented above.  I tried to weed out a lot of the obvious choices (a borderline silly amount of astronauts), but the point is there is a direct connection between those who have evidenced an ability to live the aforementioned Scouting values and leadership in business, law, and the military.  The values, as put forward by the Scout Oath and Law, have a correlation with success, if not causation. 

From a personal perspective, I find that the Oath and Law work as a sort of mantra.  They inspire me to keep heading toward the right thing, the better thing.  I can't say that means I am any sort of leader at present; I imagine that's for someone else to judge. 

Public hints of the private world of corporate espionage

Link: HP Scandal: The Boss Who Spied on Her Board - Newsweek Business - MSNBC.com.

HP has now admitted to spying on its own directors' personal phone records in order to root out a leaker. It did so by using private investigators who engaged in "pretexting"—calling up phone companies and impersonating directors seeking their own records. HP late last week additionally admitted to spying on the phone records of nine journalists, including at The New York Times and Wall Street Journal, some of which date to 2005. HP's Dunn stands accused of orchestrating the investigation. Perkins quit in a rage over the surveillance and wants Dunn out as chairman; HP is painting him as an angry traitor with a vendetta against Dunn. Lying, spying, name-calling, finger-pointing—all of it is a tragicomedy that Shakespeare might've penned had he gotten an M.B.A.

Update: Interesting to see that Larry Sonsini, Esq., of Wilson Sonsini, approved the practice of pretexting (according to the article).  The article is well-written.  I like its reference to the murder of St. Thomas Becket. 

It remains unclear exactly what Dunn knew and when she knew it. The California attorney general will want to know if Dunn intentionally avoided knowing about the details, like a head of state who wants "plausible deniability" while ordering an assassination plot. (An ancient model, cited by old CIA hands, is Henry II. When he wanted to get rid of the Archbishop of Canterbury, he simply muttered in front of his knights, "Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest?")

I find it surprising that some consider Becket, a martyr, to be one of the "worst" Britons in history.

Boing Boing: Lawbot: open expert system for legal "advice"

Link: Boing Boing: Lawbot: open expert system for legal "advice".

Law Underground is an open, rules-based legal expert system. Civilians can use it to generate legal "advice" by following a decision-tree, and lawyers can fix the holes in its knowledge by adding new rules to the system.

Will.  Not.  End.  Well.

Objective - Justice: Why you should hire a lawyer

Link: Objective - Justice: Why you should hire a lawyer.

What, we're not supposed write notices of appeal like that?  I usually end with "And you better recognize that your ass is mine,"  but if that's coming on too strong....

Deposition Practice

Evan Schaeffer has post entitled In Depositions, Beware the "Usual Stipulations" that links to Ernest Svenson's post on deposition tips for young lawyers.  Both links have some great ideas for depositions.  In fact, the only tip I'd add is that the two most important words, for me, in depositions, are "Anything else?"

As in,

Q.  Can you tell me what happened on [the date of the incident]?

Witness.  Well, it was dark out, and Ms. Doe came in to buy a soda from me, and we talked about her baby, and then it was pretty much quiet until the accident.

Q.  Anything else?

Witness.  Um, well... let's see.  There was that fellow that came in just before the victim, but he didn't say much. 

In other words, let the witness give you the information.  Don't fight them by asking limited, yes-or-no questions unless you really need to do so. 

united states v. berger

The matter of United States v. Berger, 1:05-mj-00175-DAR-ALL, venued in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ("DDC")is not my normal subject matter, as I don't often post on law - if at all, these days - but is one of great interest to me since it's being prosecuted by the counterintelligence division of the Department of Justice.  On Instapundit, Pr. Reynolds posted that many are wondering why Berger, the former National Security Advisor to Clinton accused of violating various national security acts with his alleged misdeeds at the National Archives, has yet to be sentenced (apparently he was previously scheduled to be sentenced on July 8, 2005).

I reviewed PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records, the nationwide electronic database of Federal pleadings, orders, and opinions) for DDC and pulled up the docket report for Sandy Berger's case.  Berger was to be sentenced pursuant to a plea agreement set up on April 1, 2005 (I'll leave the April Fool's Day witticisms to you) with USDOJ that apparently had cooperation with the National Archives on some other matter as a condition of the plea.  Berger's cooperation is apparently still ongoing, and therefore the USDOJ requested, without opposition by the defendant, an adjournment of sentencing until August 24, 2005.  During that time, according to the USDOJ motion (attached hereto as berger.pdf), Berger will wrap up his cooperation (I imagine that Berger's cooperation will take the form of explaining how NARA missed the top secret documents hanging out of Berger's "gold toes").  For further information, I've also attached hereto Berger's Factual Proffer (bergerproffer.pdf), submitted pursuant to the plea agreement.

As a side note, I love PACER.  It's a great resource for lawyers to use to learn their practice.  I often will check out briefs in other cases just to improve my practice, plus, in my own cases, I can keep track of every pleading ever filed without a waste of paper. 

Update 1: 

An unnamed source told me that I might get Insta-linked on this post.  That being the case, please feel free to look around.  I used to do a lot more writing (as with this photoessay, independence day), but am now mostly devoted to photography, particular of the coasts of New York and New Jersey (I have the Quixotic goal of showing that Jersey is not as ugly as it's made out to be).  Here's a link to those photos.  If you're into photography, though, you really should check out the following three other photoblogs (first  mostly reviewed in my Picture Envy posts):

1. Chromogenic.net - my review of his shot fogport is here
2. No Traces - my review of B Sides from No Traces is here
3. Mute - I haven't gotten to Mute yet, but this post makes me realize that I need to do so soon.

Update 2:
"How's that for a slice of fried gold?*"

Holy crapola.  In the last hour, I've received 2,000 more hits than I normally receive per week.  Thanks to all the Instapundit visitors for stopping by.  Please feel free to embark on a political firestorm in the comments (just mind the furniture, if you would be so kind; that piece over there is an authentic late century ikea.... oh hell, bash it to particle board dust). 

Thanks to Murdoc Online for its link to united states v. berger.  Murdoc wonders there why little mention is made of Berger's plea bargain.  Good question. 

Thanks also to Conservative Outpost, which links to united states v. berger in its response to the Karl Rove matter. In another post, Conservative Outpost quotes a powerfully convincing speech from Sen. Cornyn, R-TX, a former District Court Judge and Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of Texas, on the confirmation process for the successor to Associate Justice O'Connor.  I love these glimmers of thoughtful political rhetoric that surface now and then, regardless of the politics of those who utter them. It makes me long for the days when statesmen wrote/spoke as well as Lincoln, the Roosevelts, or the last funny president, Calvin Coolidge.  I will take issue with one part of Sen. Cornyn's speech, however. 

Judges in our Federal system do not make law, or I should say are not supposed to make law. The laws are made for them and indeed for the entire Nation by the people's representatives in the form of statutes enacted by the Congress and in the form of the Constitution that we the people have ratified to govern our affairs. These are legal texts and they are supposed to tie the hands of judges in our system. Judges in our system are not supposed to make up the law as they go along. They are simply supposed to apply the laws made by the people to the facts at hand.

If the law is to change, it is because the people are the ones who are supposed to change it, not because judges do. Federal judges, again, have no general common law-making power.

This is technically inaccurate.  A situation could arise where a matter is brought before a federal district court due to that court's diversity jurisdiction (which, prior to Erie R.R. v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. 64 (1938), was a federal common law question) or federal question jurisdiction  that is based on or includes a question of common law liability.  Negligence is a classic common law question - was there a breach of a duty to endeavor to act in due care that was the proximate cause of an injury - that could arise in a federal court by virtue of diversity jurisdiction (heck, Erie itself was a negligence case).  I'm guessing this is probably more relevant when addressing federal cases where the federal laws concerning longshoremen or mariners keeps the case out of state court, but, nonetheless, there are federal common law questions.  Most of the time, federal courts will follow the law of the state, but there are instances where I can imagine that a question of first impression - one that no court has ruled on - goes before a federal judge before it goes before a state judge.  In such an instance, there would necessarily be a federal common law decision. 

In any event, here's to hoping that the next associate justice is a legal scholar.  Get someone "wicked smart," as they say.  Why not Posner?  Why not former U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White?  U.S. District Court Judge  Martini (a former congressman)?  William Weld (an amazing mind, based on my personal interactions with him)?  Hey, if you want to go leftist, why not Bill Bradley (another immensely smart man)? 

 

Infidel Cowboy gets a little Hunter S. Thompson-esque in his "isn't his funny" line of thinking. 

*via the brilliant Shaun of the Dead.

 

I guess he wasn't that ambitious...

TRANSCRIPT OF A RECORDING OF A
MEETING BETWEEN THE PRESIDENT
AND H.R. HALDEMAN IN THE OVAL
OFFICE ON JUNE 23, 1972 FROM
10:04 TO 11:39 AM
June 23, 1972 FROM 10:04 TO 11:39 AM 3
**********
HALDEMAN: okay -that's fine. Now, on the investigation,
you know, the Democratic break-in
thing, we're back to the-in the, the problem
area because the FBI is not under control,
because Gray doesn't exactly know how to
control them, and they have, their
investigation is now leading into some
productive areas, because they've been able
to trace the money, not through the money
itself, but through the bank, you know,
sources - the banker himself. And, and it
goes in some directions we don't want it to
go. Ah, also there have been some things,
like an informant came in off the street to
the FBI in Miami, who was a photographer or
has a friend who is a photographer who
developed some films through this guy,
Barker, and the films had pictures of
Democratic National Committee letter head
documents and things. So I guess, so it's
things like that that are gonna, that are
filtering in. Mitchell came up with
yesterday, and John Dean analyzed very
carefully last night and concludes, concurs
now with Mitchell's recommendation that the
only way to solve this, and we're set up
beautifully to do it, ah, in that and
that...the only network that paid any
attention to it last night was NBC...they
did a massive story on the Cuban...
PRESIDENT: That's right.
HALDEMAN: thing.
PRESIDENT: Right.
HALDEMAN: That the way to handle this now is for us to
have Walters call Pat Gray and just say,
"Stay the hell out of this...this is ah,
business here we don't want you to go any
further on it." That's not an unusual
development,...
PRESIDENT: Um huh.

REDACTED

JUNE 23, 1972 FROM 10:04 TO 11:39 AM 4
HALDEMAN: ...and, uh, that would take care of it.
PRESIDENT: What about Pat Gray, ah, you mean he doesn't
want to?
HALDEMAN: Pat does want to. He doesn't know how to,
and he doesn't have, he doesn't have any
basis for doing it. Given this, he will
then have the basis. He'll call Mark Felt
in, and the two of them ...and Mark Felt
wants to cooperate because...
PRESIDENT: Yeah.
HALDEMAN: he's ambitious...
PRESIDENT: Yeah.
HALDEMAN: Ah, he'll call him in and say, "We've got
the signal from across the river to, to put
the hold on this." And that will fit rather
well because the FBI agents who are working
the case, at this point, feel that's what it
is. This is CIA.
PRESIDENT: But they've traced the money to 'em.
HALDEMAN: Well they have, they've traced to a name,
but they haven't gotten to the guy yet.
...

United States v. Mitchell, et al., Trial Brief on Behalf of the Office of the Special Prosecutor, People's Exhibit No. 1., at 3-4.