Chuck Newton

Harris County, Texas (Houston) Is Number 6 In The U.S. In The Number Of Rich Suckers

Now do not get mad at me.  In Texas the word "sucker" can be a word of endearment.

But, here is the good news.  According to CNNMoney, Harris County (most of which is Houston, Texas) is the sixth largest county in the U. S. of A in terms of millionaires.  There are a whopping 99,504 of these suckers in this one little area.  1 out of every 100 millionaires in the country lives in Houston, Texas.  Of course that still leaves plenty of millionaires for everyone else, but our millionaires are probably a little more bodacious than most.  Sure Bill Gates is the richest guy in the World and he lives in Seattle, but then Bill is no Robert Durst who, having dressed up in women's clothing, killed a guy, cut off his head, disposed of the body, threw the head that was never found in the ocean, did not tell a soul, and when caught is acquitted for acting is self defense.  Sure Durst was originally from New York, but he was one of us when he acted in self defense.

Calming The Savage Beast

Why have we as lawyers become so judgmental of others in our profession?  Why do we feel so possessed to be aggressive?  I think it is often the loss of perspective along with the tension we all feel to achieve results.  There is nothing wrong with this per se, but it tends to make us tense and a bit of a beast sometimes.  I must admit that I tend to think it is a little less so for solos, home office lawyers, carpet commuters and Third Wavers.  Possibly this is true because we do not also feel the institutional pressure of THE FIRM to perform and otherwise achieve what might not be achievable.  It might also be that we are more centered in the real world.  We do not have blinders and, along with our practices, we are acutely aware that the opinions of others are justifiably as important -- are family, loved ones, friends and church.  Too often, I feel, the confining walls of Big Law gives everyone tunnel vision and leads everyone to believe that you can feel, react, and operate differently at home and socially, than at work or court.

Duke Ellington Caravan (1952)

A Good 'Un

How Do I Figure It Out? How Do I Start?

I tend to receive much email from law students, recent law graduates, or lawyers wishing to adventure elsewhere.  The emails often ask, how do I get started?  How can I figure out what to do?  What is the first step that I need to take?

Truly you are on your own.  Only you can make that decision to take the first step.  But, you are right, that taking the first step is not so much the problem as knowing which step to first take.  The truth of the matter is that I have not had a good answer (or maybe the best answer)for this question.

Objectives And Big Law

I got this from Peter Olson's Solo In Chicago blog.  It is a very good blog.  Short.  Clean.  Crisp.  Unlike your's truly.  It is from Bryan Schwartz, a bankruptcy attorney who declares:

From a psychological standpoint, is this why I went to law school? People have a need for affiliation, power over their careers, and the need to feel that their desire for achievement is being met. The only one being met with the large firm is achievement--there's been a loss of affiliation and power/influence. As you move from a partnership to a corporation, you become a widget...People are so focused on money they forget to live their life, their life is defined by money really. People feel trapped by the firm dictating their life.

Sober Horse Carries Drunk Man Into Bank

I picked up this story from Luke Gilman's Riding High On The Hog Blog, only I see the story in a different light.  Luke argues that when the man in question left the pub he realised he was too drunk to ride all the way home - and because it was cold, he decided to use his bank card to open up a nearby bank foyer and take himself and Sammy inside to sleep it off.  In other words, Luke accuses the rider of doing a bad thing - getting drunk and sleeping it off in the entry way of the bank.  I prefer to see the story as Sammy the horse, being concerned with the condition in which his trusted rider found himself, helped him to find refuge from the elements in the foyer of the bank.  The horse did a good thing and an honorable thing.  On top of that the horse left the bank some high quality fertilizer to put on their rose bushes.  But, does the horse get any recognition for his brave and honorable acts?  No.  Sammy is subjected to scorn and ridicule heaped upon him by the public at large.  Look at Sammy's face.  Do you see anything but innocence?  I think not.

Will You Come Fly Away With Me

Do We Need A Change In Courses?

This from CNNMoney:  MBA programs are changing the curriculum to add courses on interpersonal skills. MIT for one is dialing back on pure quantitative skills and adding more interpersonal coursework. Also, Wharton, Tuck, Chicago, the University of Virginia's Darden, and Berkeley's Haas School, among many others, have also started stressing teamwork and are paying more attention to "soft" skills like listening to colleagues.

It is brilliant really.  As much as this is probably needed in MBA programs, it is likely needed more in law schools across the country.  With all of the concern about jerks, asses, Rambo lawyers and the like of late, what is needed is more training in the "soft" skills of dealing with other people and other attorneys by lawyers coming out of school.  Too much emphasis is placed on the adversarial system with not enough training on effectively deal with others.  If the practice of law is anything, it is about interpersonal skills.  To many students, teaching them to be adversarial without teaching them interpersonal skills is like handing them a gun without teaching them how to use it properly.

You Have To Worry When These Kinds Of Things Make It Onto The Web

Where does it leave us when a lawyer gets disbarred for being an ass, and the public equates it to being more of an ass than every other lawyer.  The distinction is not good lawyers versus bad lawyers, as really bad and misbehaving lawyers from the less bad and misbehaving lawyers.  These perceptions do not arise by accident.  I personally believe it is because the bar-tenders work too hard at attacking marketing and the profession as a whole, while ignoring all of the bad personalities that contribute to these images.  Courts allow some lawyers to act out badly, attack other lawyers for no reason to get an advantage, and play games.  It is not how this is suppose to work, but I have to put up with a lawyer, for example, who believes that maintaining a URL and a blog should cause me to be sanctioned for bringing a properly filed adversary.  Judges do not typically fall for this stuff, but they also just shrug their shoulders at it as well.  How bad is it when parodies like this Hyatt Legal Services commercial make there way around the net.