A quick anecdote I might have told. As maybe a 2nd year associate, I went to complain to a partner that I'd billed 300 hours 3 months in a row, and I was about toast. First he said I was being whiny, but after a bit of that he noted that 1/
Even at the sort of crazy place I worked, top performers used to bill 1800 hours a year. Partly, that had to do with the fact that the firm just needed to generate so much more $$$ to be competitive, but there was another thing - computers. 2/
I was in corporate then. So, he said, imagine how practice used to be. You'd get a proposed contract. You'd mark it up by hand. Late night. But then you gave it to the typing and redlining people. Reprieve. You'd do the cycle again. Late night. 3/
Then it would literally be put in an envelope and mailed to opposing counsel, unless they were down the street. In any event, the whole cycle took them a couple of days to get back to you. Or maybe you'd have a call first. Anyway, *those* nights you'd usually go home early. /4
Then they'd messenger or mail it back. Couple of tough nights.
But anyway, you see my point. Now, all of that cycle is compressed down to maybe even 24 hours. There is no downtime for a redlining person to manually redline your draft. Word or the redlining software does it. /5
And the pressure on the associates in particular caused by that speed up is *a lot*, all up and down the profitability pecking order. So when I talked to older Partners, maybe over a drink, they'd all admit the practice didn't even resemble what they did coming up.
There was just a lot more play in the joints. So much more.
I'll give another example. I worked for a partner who *only* edited by hand. But he also often left at 5 pm, and worked from a home in the countryside afterwards. So, hmm. We would print out the draft and literally have a paralegal drive it to him. a1/
The paralegal would sit on his porch or whatever while he worked (outside). Even in that version of the world, I got a few hours to snooze or eat or whatever.
Anyway, that... is not how the current partners work.
And of course I'm talking about the most elite firm where it was nothing to tell a paralegal to drive deep into Dutchess County in a limo to deliver a draft. At a firm that wasn't so rich, you'd just hand it to him in the AM. And thus, the play in the joints.
For all the hours discussions - I found a day of my informal notes from when I was very new. Two things to see - day started at 10ish. Ended at 3 am. But there was about 4 non-billed hours in the middle. I probably slept.
Anyway, this was completely debilitating. 0/10. Do not recommend. 😂
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Guys, an actual filing in federal court is asking for the court to establish the Stewardship of Gondor in the absence of Aragorn. No, I'm not joking. courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco… h.t @questauthority
Needless to say, the federal district court is not going appoint Denethor II to run the United States.
Oh, I went to find out if they had suggested some Stewards. They had. It's Trump's cabinet!
Seriously, I will be startled if an order to show cause threatening discipline does not issue from the Court.
Sb8, in most relevant part, bans what Texas would call dismemberment abortion, and what I think the other side would call dilation and evacuation procedures (without prior “fetal demise”)
To give a flavor of it, Judge Jones at one point asked Appellees’ counsel about abortions yielding body parts for sale, and explained that even in high school you kill the frog before taking it apart.
History side-note moment: I read this 1776 report. I'll leave to others the various errors and whatnot. But it is a singularly bad piece of writing. Like how I wrote as a first year college student, but before my teacher told me to try again.
I cannot explain how unusual and dismissive it is for the Fifth Circuit to summarily affirm without even responsive briefing. They might as well have stamped “please go away you silly person” on the top.
I’m sitting here laughing, but also, it’s terrible that the Court is presented with these stupid and shameful cases.
Anyone interested, Gohmert’s appeal has been filed in the Fifth Circuit. Of course, this will fail, it’s dumb, etc. But since it’s in my wheelhouse, I’ll keep track.
No motions yet. I assume they’re going to file some kind of emergency request.
Here’s their motion for an expedited appeal. I don’t really get what they want. They said they need relief before 1/6, but the best this appeal can do is put them back at square one. Anyway, enjoy. drive.google.com/file/d/1YNKDS_…
Trying to distribute 750 vaccines for the entire city of houston through a call center was completely bananas. When I heard about it I assumed they had tens of thousands of doses.
There’s a deadly pandemic. The City is passing out vaccines. Literally hundreds of thousands of people in Houston fall into Texas’s 1b priority (everyone has a BMI > 30). Call center???
I’ve been very positive about Houston leadership during the pandemic. But … let’s not do it this way.