Dribble Down Economics

08/27/2020

Last night the Milwaukee Bucks decided to boycott their playoff game against the Orlando Magic in order to protest Kenosha police officer Rusten Sheskey’s shooting Jacob Blake seven times in the back. In a horrifying cell phone video, we can see the officer shoot Blake seven times in the back as Blake attempts to get into a car. After the Bucks took action, the NBA decided to cancel all three games. More and more NBA stars and coaches are saying that they cannot continue to play and entertain while this violence against Black people continues unabated….

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Use of Force

On Sunday, a Kenosha, Wisconsin police officer shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back while Blake was trying to get into his car. There is reporting that Blake’s three children were in the car. The officer is white and Blake is Black. The entire event was captured on cell phone video and, not surprisingly, went viral right away. Blake is currently in an ICU and his condition is classified as ‘stable.’…

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Trump Tax Endgame?

The Supreme Court heard argument today in a number of consolidated cases that seek release of Trump’s tax returns. For a man who appears to commit crimes and abuse power in public view ALL THE TIME, the tax returns have proven to be quite a sticking point. Trump demonstrably has no shame whatsoever, yet is fighting tooth and nail to keep the taxes secret. Could this be the smoking gun that finally brings down his presidency?

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Live from the District, it’s SCOTUS

Will live argument change the way we understand justice in the United States, or will greater accessibility to the high court’s inner workings increase our partisan divide?

It’s a big day. For the first time in history, anyone can listen in on Supreme Court oral argument as it happens. Yes, the public could previously go into the hallowed chamber, but only so many were able to obtain such privilege. Starting today, however, anyone with an internet connection can access the audio live. …

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Showtime

I’ve promised my employers a management plan memo in the next few days. This will serve as the initial road map for how I might bring some quality control to the practice of law. It is all well and good to spout aspirational platitudes, but it is quite another thing to put the proverbial money where they proverbial mouth is.

I think, in their short term, I need a more diffuse monitoring system. I continue to believe that the “task” is  the correct conceptualization of our unit of work. As a result, task management may be, temporarily, set up outside the existing (potentially inadequate) law firm practice management software. That may ruffle feathers, but it will give me a modicome of control, both symbolic and actual.

All the deliberate steps and implementation are bound up with the assertion of confidence. It should be no fiction. I’m taking control.

A burdensome madness

I’ve pretty much lost it.  My mind, I mean.  It’s not such a bad thing to have happen, so long  as it’s temporary, so long as no one gets hurt.  I came damn close to that line on Friday morning, even crossed it a little.  It was almost “bye-bye, job.”  But I’m getting reeled in now, with lots of help.  This long weekend is well-timed, even with the “insane” (pun intended) amount of writing I have to do.  There are certain things I can live with, certain fears, both rational and otherwise, I can tolerate.

At work, I’m going to bite the bullet and endure several weeks of “unpleasantness” in the name of a much needed quality push.  I’m seriously considering whether I can leverage my suffering in an attempt to indulge thoughts that came up (perhaps serendipitously) earlier in the week.  Maybe I can make some of those flights-of-fancy into reality.  Alternatively, it could make a bad situation worse – trying to force people to do something they don’t want to do while I’m being forced to undergo my own (heretofore referenced, though not fully described) unpleasant process of transition.  Well, I’m getting to a stage where I don’t really care.  If my place in this smal law practice is going to disintigrate, I’d prefer it to happen while I fight to do better and fight for what I want.  So, that’s how it’s going to be.

And also, I’m going to start listening to Uriah Heep.  That should help as well.

Can victims of catastrophic brain injury have ‘awareness’ of their plight?

A recent study in The Lancet, as reported in the New York Times, suggests that, at least some patients in a vegetative state do have awareness.

[S]aid Joseph T. Giacino, the director of rehabilitation neuropsychology at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, who was not involved in the research. “…it sure looks as if there’s not just a little bit of consciousness but a lot” in patients who had been deemed unresponsive.

In proving damages to help benefit victims of catastrophic injury, this study could potentially be used to support a finding of conscious pain and suffering, which is compensable.

On Trial Again!

Another short one, this time in the beautiful new court facility in Woodbury, New Jersey.  Closing arguments will start sometime around 9:45AM tomorrow in Courtroom 305, so you can all come on down, if you like.  Really, I’m very impressed with Gloucester County’s new building.  It’s wonderful to have such great facilities.  Also quite impressed by the staff and Judge McCaffrey.  It’s my first trial in front of him.

We’ll have a verdict tomorrow, probably early afternoon.

Court, Deposition, Court again

Trial list this morning, but they weren’t ready for us. That means we could get called to pick a jury and get started at any moment between now and Wednesday. Luckily, I have an understanding, and patient client.

Now I’m in a deposition trying to pin down the exact location of a slip and fall accident. There’s lots of confusion and this witness isn’t helping. In this city there are lots of property lines right next to each other.

Tomorrow, if my trial doesn’t start, I go to Court in Media, Pennsylvania to meet with the Judge about a trial the will start sometime next month. I’m hoping we can settle.