Month: June 2004

The weather is way strange in NYC. Today is summer, as opposed to the three previous days of a nice spring. Eh.

–> Asians in the news:

Being the sucker that I am for news on royalty, it appears that Japan’s Crown Princess Masako is just buckling under the severe public and personal pressure that she’s under. A Harvard-educated woman who had a career in Foreign Service until she married the Crown Prince, Masako has since become “dowdy” and has only produced a daughter, contrary to the desires and expectations of the promoters of primogeniture of the Japanese royal bureaucracy. Considering that Crown Prince Naruhito’s brother himself has only daughters and there are no male descendants, Japan is going to have to quit it with the whole primogeniture thing. This Chicago Tribune article (via Yahoo) notes that Masako is “more or less a prisoner of her womb.” It makes me wonder what it means when educated, high class Asian women feel so oppressed, whether or not they put the stress on themselves or that it is their society that does it.

UC law professor John Yoo is in the news about his legal memoranda to the US Justice Department. Findlaw has an interesting analysis by Julie Hilden; she appears to say that while Yoo’s memoranda may be covered under his role as a lawyer advising the government (and therefore not a legal violation and to say otherwise would chill attorneys from advising the government), what he did may be morally wrong. Hmm. May the lay public, forget law students and lawyers, accept the distinctions between morality and legality? Hard to say.

–> Non-Asian-related (so far as I can tell) news: I couldn’t resist reading this article, while I was passing through Findlaw: “Man Charged With Chalupa Assault” – it’s a Taco Bell tort, apparently. ;-D

–> weddings and stuff like that… On Sunday, I highlighted the NY Times’ wedding announcement of the Piepers, of bar review fame (to be more precise, Mr. Pieper’s son – who I heard also teaches some of those classes). Therefore, upon further elaboration: the bride is a medical doctor; Pieper the Younger is a lawyer; plus Pieper the Younger’s parents are, well, dedicated to the family business (the wedding announcement notes that Pieper the Younger’s mom is an editor of the Pieper materials); so, I figure, hopefully, the bride can fit in this family’s activities (she could cover torts, I guess, or treat the students for carpal tunnel syndrome for writing their notes so much). (sidenote: thanks to FC for ruling on the side that the Piepers are public figures who can be referred (see his comment to my post); I had my guess there, considering that they’re in the business and are well known).

Well, June is wedding month (putting aside that it is bar review time, which the Piepers ought to know); congrats to the Piepers and to… [drum roll] J. Lo and Mark Anthony (hmm. was a pre-nup signed there? Any other rules of NYS Domestic Relations Law to consider? Oh, wait – Jennifer Lopez and Mark Anthony weren’t even married in NYS; but aren’t they still domociled in NYS? Oh whatever)….

And, last but not least least, a more or less relevant link (relevant to the lawyers out there): The ABA e-Journal had the latest humor column from Sean Carter, wherein he notes his concerns about law firms’ attempts to get new business. I present parts of it for laughs to start the week:

[….] For the most part, law firms subscribed to the Field of Dreams theory of business development–if you a build a law firm, clients will come.

Well, in typical lawyer fashion, it’s only taken about two centuries for us to realize that this strategy is about as reliable as the 9th Circuit, and just as often wrong. As a result, in the past few years, law firms of all sizes have become more proactive in their marketing efforts. While marketing was once the exclusive domain of personal injury lawyers, attorneys in all areas of the law are beginning to realize that all little “piggies” must eventually go to market.

Interestingly, while lawyers have been slow to embrace this reality, I suspect that we will quickly make up for lost time. In fact, if we’re not careful, we’re bound to become a little overzealous. Obviously, this wouldn’t be good for a profession whose members are currently regarded just above head lice in terms of popularity. (Sadly, head lice have us beat in terms of affordability.)

We lawyers aren’t known for our creativity. By nature and training, we seek precedent. Therefore, I fear some law firms will begin to air knockoffs of famous commercials from the past.

I shudder at the possibility. Will I turn on my television one day to see a little old lady standing at a counter, yelling, “Where’s the brief? Where’s the brief?” Or perhaps, even worse, we’ll see one law firm touting its associates as the lawyers “that just keep going and going and going …”

[….]

Of course, no media campaign would be complete without newspaper advertising. A simple quarter-page ad reading “Integrity. Excellence. Service.” would be great. Yet, I already suspect that soon enough, lawyers will want to get more bang for the advertising buck. Therefore, before long, we’ll start to see law ads in the sports section featuring scantily-clad women with captions that read, “For a hot IPO, call Jackie and her friends at Forrest, Gump and Jennings.”

[….]

OK, OK! Perhaps I’ve taken this a little too far. Except for collections attorneys, none of us would stoop that low. Yet, the point still remains that we should all strive to conduct our marketing efforts with the utmost dignity and class. After all, to borrow a phrase from the classic Right Guard commercials of the 1980s, “Anything else would be uncivilized.”

Uh huh, sure Mr. Carter. ;-D He’s not the same as the ABA Journal’s The Rodent, but Mr. Carter is nicely funny.

Take a moment to reflect on D-Day and the passing of former President Ronald Reagan.

Update: dentist visit took long; cavities filled; dentist giving his tips. Dentist does Sundays because he’s the Chinatown sort who’d be open. (got to love the Chinatown sort, especially when they have suitable American education and training).

More update: Smarty Jones, that Philadelphia horse who didn’t win the Triple Crown after all, is promoted in the NY tabloids as “Smarty Pooper.” Yeah, wit isn’t the greatest strengths of newspaper headlines anymore. But, I suppose congrats goes to the horse Birdstone for being a spoiler.

Flipping through the NY Times wedding sections (I just do that once in awhile in case someone from my alma maters is in there or in case the little blurb has some interesting social implications reflecting modern society), I came across this fascinating wedding announcement. Folks who have done bar review will know what I mean. (not sure if it counts as public info, so I won’t directly refer to the personnages mentioned in this article; what say you, ladies and gentlemen attorneys?).

A link I’ve been meaning to include: StarTrek.com had the latest e-chat with Scott Bakula, actor portraying Capt. Archer on “Star Trek: Enterprise.” The most amusing interlude:

simon c: Is Scott Bakula your real name or is that one of those really cool made up stage names?

SB: My real name is Denny Crane. [The name of William Shatner’s character on “The Practice” and its impending spinoff. ]

;-D Hehehe, Scott Bakula, a.k.a. the ex-Sam Beckett of the series “Quantum Leap,” has a sense of humor (and watches tv!!!).

Tony awards tonight: I watched most of it. Very interesting. “Avenue Q” won best musical – looked like a lot of fun. Was amazed that “I am My Own Wife” won the big awards – it’s a show that pushed boundaries, particularly when its male star played all the roles, including that of an East German transvestite. Ah, and Hugh Jackman, the award show host/star and winner for “The Boy from Oz.” Uh hmm. Jackman’s attractive and a great singer and dancer. May America appreciate its stage traditions again; I’m sorely tempted to see the shows now after having watched the Tony show. Congratulations to the winners.

Been behind on Slate.com articles. But, note the fascinating article analyzing David Letterman. Slate associate editor Bryan Curtis concludes that Letterman has gone soft and becoming Leno-like. I can’t quite agree with Curtis; I don’t know if it’s correct to say that Letterman’s Leno-like, but he has softened around the edges. I also don’t quite like the increasingly obvious promote-my-latest-project stuff of the celebrity appearances on Letterman’s show, but it’s not like his guests have never done that before his surgeries and his current domestic life. I still prefer Letterman’s interviewing over Leno (when Letterman’s interested in his guests, there’s a real sense of conversation and sincerity in the guest and in Letterman).

Enjoy the week…

For the members, check out the people on this page at Handong Law School. Anyone look familiar?

Hong Kong Crowds Mark Tiananmen Square Killings (New York Times)

1989: I remember cutting out on my college summer job to read all of the news magazines emblazoned with that emblematic man in front of a tank photo. I felt that I needed to know a lot more.

1995: At a roundtable discussion at a study abroad at Hong Kong University, I got a snooty fatherly lecture from Alan Lee essentially saying that we had no business poking around Hong Kong politics, and that they knew better. Well, of course they would know better, but I thought the whole point of a study abroad was to go somewhere and find out more about the place. Martin Lee, by being far more pessimistic about the Basic Law, was far more supportive.

1997: Graduation from law school was on 6/4. Some East Asian professor from Columbia was the honorary degree recipient; never directly mentioned the significance of the day. Very curious.

2004: Fifteen years later, a cycle curves back onto itself much like the Chinese zodiac. Some people were threatened, many were scared, some became more wealthy and powerful, many became emboldened. No one can deny that many people were killed, and it is up to some to make sure that it is not repeated.