Evan Schaeffer's Legal Underground

GADGET UPDATE: The Opportunity Mars Rover . . . Are you a lawyer who'd like to get away from it all? Then perhaps you should think about this--

It's the Opportunity Mars Rover, which is just now beginning to broadcast images of the Victoria Crater at Meridiani Planum. That's someplace on Mars. Even for the rover, it wasn't easy to get to. But now that it's there, it's big news, a "geologist's dream come true." If you want to know why, be sure to follow the links.

BLOGROLLING LEGAL UNDERGROUND . . . Thanks to the following weblogs and websites that have recently added permanent links to this one via their blogrolls*--

• I'll Be the Juddge of That
• Cardozo Cyberlaw Society
• Legal Medicine
• Missouri Divorce & Family Law Blog
• Law Firm University
  
• LawFuel.com
• Chicago IP Litigation Blog
• Who Owns the Fox?
• Law andstuff
  
• Legal Andrew
• Wings, Grits and Briefs

*Blogroll (1) n. A list of weblogs, typically found in a column on another weblog; (2) v. To add a weblog to a blogroll.

AT MY TRIAL PRACTICE WEBSITE . . . "Writing Reply Briefs."

LAWYER GREETING CARDS . . . Only one of many examples--

You'll find them at the Billable Hour card store. (Image copyright © Stu Rees. All rights reserved.)

A WEBLOG DIES A NATURAL DEATH . . . "So the journey is over," writes lawyer Jim Peterson at his weblog Lewis and Clark: What Else Happened. "This is my last post."

I first noticed Peterson's weblog in January, 2005, when I was regularly "reviewing" weblogs. I wrote--

It's a daily dose of the Lewis and Clark expedition, detailing both what happened with the expedition on a particular day and what happened somewhere else. As the weblog's author, Jim Peterson, explains, "This weblog is not so much about Lewis and Clark as it is a riff on Lewis and Clark. It’s about simultaneity. Ever think back to an important day in your life and wonder what else happened that day? Here I’ve considered every day of the Lewis and Clark expedition as important, and looked for simultaneities."

It was a good idea. But just as the Lewis and Clark expedition came to an end when the expedition reached St. Louis on September 23, 1806, so Peterson's weblog came to an end September 23, 2006. Congratulations to Peterson for sticking with the idea from start to finish and executing it so well.

BLAWG REVIEW #76 . . . David Maister's Blawg Review #76 focuses on "themes of work and professional life, firm management, marketing, strategy and careers." You can find information about next week's host and instructions for getting your blog posts reviewed in upcoming issues at the Blawg Review weblog.

AT MY TRIAL PRACTICE WEBSITE . . . "Communicating with Juries: Demonstrating the Order in Chaos."

LIGHT READING FOR YOUR WEEKEND . . . In certifying a class against the tobacco industry for its marketing of light cigarettes, Judge Jack Weinstein issued a 540-page opinion. You can read the full thing here (pdf). Friends of big tobacco can seek solace at Point of Law.

TEACHING GOOD MANNER TO YOUNG LAWYERS . . . According to reports, an entirely new industry called "associate training and development" has sprung up because young lawyers can't dress themselves, don't know anything about wine, and have covered their bodies with unsightly tattoos.

Want to learn more? It's all here in "Law firms are investing in the finer points of etiquette," by Gail Appleson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

A Tip from the Machiavellian Lawyer

The Machiavellian Lawyer once said:

Can a kernel of wisdom be found in even the most trite of trite expressions? Consider this favorite of the trial lawyers: Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. For many lawyers, this single line contains everything they think they need to know about the fine art of settlement negotiations. By making use of this expression, they attempt to measure the reasonableness of a suggested compromise not by the more complex standards of the strategically gifted, but with the simple expedient of measuring their own internal feelings of greed. For them, the right time to settle is the point at which they begin to feel less like a pig and more like a hog. You can do better than this. If your co-counsel uses this expression, remember that not only is he less self-aware than he believes he is, but his ability to assess greed by any rational standards is open to debate. While greed for some means a nicer car, greed for others means a larger yacht or a second jet. When you hear this expression being used, ask yourself about the person using it. Is it a lawyer who is just a pig? Or is it a hog who smugly believes he's just a pig? When working with co-counsel, always beware of hogs in pigs' clothing, for they may be your undoing.