Two new must-reads dealing with corporate law.

I'm recommending two articles, both because I appreciate their points of view and because I respect the authors.

The first one is by Jay Krishnan, and it's called Peel-Off Lawyers: Legal Professionals in India's Corporate Law Firm Sector. 

The second one is by Elias George, and it's Using Game Theory and Contractarianism to Reform Corporate Governance: Why Shareholders Should Seek Disincentive Schemes in Executive Compensation Plans. 

I think you'll enjoy them both.

A wonderful essay on why loving what you do makes work so easy.

It's by James B. Stewart, and it's in today's special Dealbook section in the New York Times (here).  Although I'm not a fan of eschewing one's hobbies (as my friends can attest), here's the passage that hit home:

. . . The one thing nearly all the partners had in common was they loved their work.

This came as a profound revelation. Of course they worked long hours, because it didn’t feel like work to them. They took great satisfaction in the services they rendered their clients.

That's the kind of job you want to have--one in which you look forward to walking in the door and getting down to business.  (By the way, that's the kind of job I have--and have had, ever since I became a law professor.)

UPDATE, thanks to a good point by one of my fave buddies:  for the first few years of work, you won't know if you love what you do, because you're still learning the ins and outs of your job.  Give it time.

FURTHER UPDATE:  as to that UPDATE point, see here.  My own philosophy, which may have no grounding in reality whatsoever, is that your choices, over time, reflect your psyche's understanding of what it is that you love.

When funny videos on the billable hour pop up, the death of the billable hour approacheth.

See here.  Hat tip to The Legal Whiteboard blog.

The death of the billable hour may be far away, and--for some types of work--may never happen, but for a lot of legal work, I think that the death of the billable hour is approaching, slowly but steadily.

Still love it--every time.

Quad "Script Ohio" (here).  I just love seeing the alumni march in the band.

Love it.

This commercial rocks on so many levels.

JFK at Rice, 50 years ago.

Here.  Go, Rice, and go, NASA. 

I am addicted to lawprofblawg.

And here's a perfect example of why I'm so addicted to it.

Dear RNC and DNC:

STOP IT.  Stop calling us at home.  We mean it.  It does you no good to call us, because there is literally nothing that you will say in your phone calls that will influence us, and all that you're doing is ticking us off by disturbing us at home.

This morning, the DNC called:

DNC:  Hi, is this Nancy?
Me:  Yes.
DNC:  We're from the DNC, and we're calling you to . . .
Me.:  Here's the thing:  we're sick of these phone calls, and so we've made a rule that whichever party calls us last is the party against whom we're voting.
DNC:  Oh, you're so full of it.
Me:  [click]

Dear DNC:  Your person was rude by calling me "full of it," so you're now at "vote -1."  PLEASE DO NOT CALL ME TO APOLOGIZE.  It's OK, though, if you find out who spoke with me this morning and reprimand her.

Missing the point about out-of-control fees and expenses.

See this story about a court disallowing some over-the-top expenses (here), especially the last three paragraphs.  Hat tip to Prof. Jessica Gabel for sending me the link to that article.

My take:  orders to show cause can be embarrassing.  Being the focus of a story about one's out-of-control expenses is always embarrassing.

Maybe the speed of law practice is such that it makes it difficult for those lawyers submitting fee apps to a court from reading the line-by-line detail of each bill, but scrimping on time reading attachments that get filed with a court is probably not the best place to save that precious time.  I would hope that the same billing judgment that should operate when sending bills to a client would also apply when submitting fees and expenses to a court.

I wrote a couple of articles about fees and expenses:  see here and here. The latter piece includes a long discussion about the book Professional Fees in Corporate Bankruptcies, by Professors Lynn LoPucki & Joseph Doherty.  I agreed with a significant portion of what LoPucki & Doherty said in the book.  (I disagreed with some other parts, but then, no book's perfect.)  The book is a good read:  useful and clear, with some striking discussions about their data.

Bottom line about this news story that started my post:  not everything is billable.  Not by a long shot.  And until lawyers return to the days where they understand that concept, there will be more stories like the one in law.com.

R.I.P., Sally Ride.

What an amazing person you were.  We are all better off for your contributions.

It's nice to be recognized: UNLV (Boyd) Law is 45th in most-cited study.

See here.  Hat tip to TaxProf Blog.

Very bad customer service.

Why I will never order from Premier Audio Video again:


What I received: 

Premier Audio Video - Amazon Marketplace s6qy3vv3gkc85t7@marketplace.amazon.com	2:14 PM (16 hours ago)
to me

Order [snip]:
1 of Western Digital WD Elements 1 TB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive WDBAAU0010HBK-NESN [ASIN: B002QEBMB4]

------------- Begin message -------------

Please box it back up the same way you received and send to:

Returns Dept
ATTN: RMA 27152667
9997 Rose Hills Rd.
Whittier, CA 90601-1701

Does need to be returned complete in original box with all accessories, paperwork and packaging.
There is a 15% restocking fee charged on non-defective returns. Refunds issued on return. Thank you.

What I replied:

Thank you.  Please be advised that I will post my interactions with you--including the discussion of a 15% restocking fee for a product that does not work with the current Mac operating system--every possible place that I can post it, including but not limited to your seller review on Amazon, my blog, Twitter, and Facebook.

UPDATE:  The explanation that Premier Audio Video gave me when I sent my reply?  "We didn't say that it WOULD work w/Lion."  Sigh....

Reason number, oh, a million why Rice U. is cool.

See here.  Hat tip to Eric Van Horn.

The transcript from the USTP Fee Guidelines meeting is up:

See here.

Finally! "Twiqbal"!

Hat tip to my hubby, for showing me this post from PrawfsBlawg.

R.I.P. Nora Ephron.

Not only did she make the front page of the New York Times with her obituary (which she deserved), but she touched so many of us with her poignant and funny work.  Thank you, Nora Ephron.  We'll miss you.

"Call Me, Pay Fee" -- I wish I'd written it.

See here for a great column about the über-annoying robo-calls we're all getting on our landlines and cell phones. I'm none too thrilled about all of the political calls we're getting as well.

Jeff and I are at the point of changing our outgoing message to "if you're calling us about a political campaign, a get-rich-quick scheme, or anything else that someone's paying you to convey to us, rest assured that whatever you're selling, we will not be buying."

An opinion piece that everyone should read.

This one, about Vincent Chin, by Frank Wu.

Thanks, Legal Ethics Forum!

Sure did appreciate this post. 

Dear Dad: OK, maybe now.

Got to say that today's NYT letter to the editor by Donald Bernstein made my day (here).