Futurelawyer

FutureLawyer Owned The First SmartWatch, But Litigator Is Cooler.

I thought I was cool, since I owned the first Smartwatch made some years ago; but, apparently Litigator beat me by a few Millennia.

#WhyIAmASolo - I Don't Have To Work For Rita Or Elon.

Solo law practice means that I don't have a boss at the office. You might say that every client is somewhat of a boss; but, clients come and go, and a good lawyer never gives up his independent exercise of the profession to a client. In fact, clients hire lawyers to exercise that independent judgment, which they are trained to do. If a client tries to control the representation, the client is a fool, and the lawyer who stays isn't really a lawyer anymore. So, I work for myself, and, while I have great respect for Elon Musk and the other entrepreneurs of the world, I don't think I want them telling me how many hours or what sacrifices I must make to work for them. Elon allows the people he hires great autonomy in doing their job; but, he is still a boss, and hires and fires at will. I don't need that in my life. If I were a young man again, I might make an exception for him; but, I am not that young man anymore. So, if you want to live your life in the way you see fit, go solo, young warrior. You probably won't make a lot of money; but, trust me, there are more important things in life. 

#WhyIAmASolo - I Can Install A Big Mouth Billy Bass On The Wall If I Want To.

25 Blogs Guaranteed To Make You Smarter.

25 Blogs Guaranteed to Make You Smarter. I made Curt Harden's Cultural Offering list again this year, and I am honored again, as I have been each year he has run the list. Along with Execupundit, by Michael Wade, Curt has introduced me to some great blogs. Whoever said blogging is dying, and being killed by short attention span social media, is wrong. These blogs, along with others, have enriched my life, and, indeed, made me smarter. Kurt's take on Futurelawyer:

Future Lawyer - “Future Technology for the Lawyer of Today” is the moniker but you really get a site run with the swagger of a lawyer who has lived life to the fullest.  A long-time favorite and NOT a law blog.

Thanks, Kurt. I don't chase awards; but, I accept this one with gratitude. By the way, your Cultural Offering, and our friends at Execupundit and Ray Visotski's Mitigating Chaos, Stephen Landry, our resident New Jersey higher learning guru, Wally Bock’s Three Star Leadership Blog , Serpentine Sheldon Serpentine, Jonathan Turley , a brilliant man, and many others are some of my favorites that you have introduced me to. Thanks.

What If They Had A Pandemic, And Nobody Came?

You would think that impending death wasn't a basic feature of being alive. The insane reactions to the pandemic were, in hindsight, foolishly over reactions, and many lost minutes, and hours, and days, and weeks of quality living due to bureaucratic bungling and overreach. How often, in our lives, do we say, if we knew then what we know now? "Trust the science?". Perhaps it is a good thing that most of us now have a healthy skepticism for anyone who purports to know what the science says. In any event, we are all going to die anyway. What matters is how we choose to live while we are here.

Put your mask on,

they said, as he entered the store,

and use that sanitizer

by the door.

You need to be careful,

said the flyer posted next to the counter.

The clerk looked like something

out of an alien invasion movie,

wearing a plastic shield

that reflected the light

from the garish fluorescent bulbs

in the ceiling.

He stared at big Xs on the ground,

taped with duct tape

in the color red,

which he supposed meant

it was serious.

Of course, he thought,

it was serious.

Death stalked him every day.

It was one heartbeat away,

or one fall down the stairs,

or one senseless act of violence.

Death was his companion.

He had learned to welcome its breathing

in the night.

Now, death was everywhere.

It screamed at him from the headlines

in the newspaper.

It followed him around,

like a puppy at Christmas.

In the early morning,

death spoke to him,

only after he spent some time

with the coffee.

But, he always knew it was there,

around the corner.

It eyed his wife as well,

speaking under its breath,

with an evil voice

and a muffled rejoinder

about the inevitable suffering

that goes with being human.

As he ran from the store,

ripping the mask from his face,

and screaming in anguish,

he realized that death would be there

anyway.

He resolved to live today

with a better companion.

Life tended to be easier to talk to.

Life was a happier brother in arms.

Life was his present.

His future

would have to take care of itself.

#WhyIAmASolo - I Don't Have To Work With The Meeting Moth.

You BigLaw employees know who I am talking about. Every organization has one or two (except, of course, we solos). The Meeting Moth just can't stop going to, or calling, meetings. Then, in a display of hypocrisy unknown until now, makes clear that he hates meetings. Why do they do it? I don't care. I just don't want to be in the same room with them.

The Kindle Is Dead, Long Live The Kindle Scribe.

Amazon Kindle Scribe Review. I love my beautiful color Samsung Galaxy Tablet and my beautiful Samsung Galaxy Smartphone. I can access anything on the Internet on them, and run dozens of Android apps that can keep me occupied for hours. When I don't want to be interrupted or go off on an Internet tangent that keeps me in a Google trance, I read on my tiny little Kindle PaperWhite. But, I hate the tiny screen, and I am soon drawn back to the color screens. But, during the day, I need to keep notes about my client conferences, and have to keep a daily calendar that I write on to keep track of the day, with its twists and turns, and cancelled meetings and hearings, etc. etc. So, I got an EInk tablet that has all sorts of bells and whistles, and I can write on all day, and is an Android tablet; albeit with a monochrome screen. But, I only need a basic note taking screen, and a basic screen for my daily calendar. So, when I discovered Amazon's new 10.1 inch Kindle Scribe, that combined Kindle's beautiful reading screen with note taking ability, I jumped at it. Yes, the note taking is basic; but, hey, my needs for that are basic. Now, if I don't want to be distracted by the Internet, and I want to read the Stoic philosophers,  or the great literature of history, or lose myself in a Sherlock Holmes mystery, I have them all in my hand. And, if I have to take notes during a client conference, I just click a button, and I can always go back to Sherlock if I want. The tiny Kindle and the Boox Note Air are now relegated to Rick's land of misfit gadgets, to be taken out and played with occasionally. Life is short. He who has the most gadgets wins.

I Had The Game On On My Wedding Day.

This cartoon reminded me of my wedding day. When you get married on Super Bowl Sunday, you need to make allowances. We had the game going on a big screen under the tent during the reception. So, our guests didn't need to sneak away into another room. But, I didn't have to arrive late on a horse; nor did I face plant into the wedding cake, so there's that. 

#WhyIAmASolo - Nobody Can Make Me Retire.

5 Reasons Lawyers Avoid Retirement. I got a kick out of this article, which claims to know why lawyers avoid retirement. Let's examine them:

1. Loss of identity
2. Reluctance to leave
3. Fears about transitioning
4. Inertia
5. Failure to succession plan

First, if I were to retire, I suspect I wouldn't "lose my identity". I would just change from a practicing lawyer to a retired lawyer. Sorry, but my identity has been well known to me since my middle life crisis in my forties. I know who I am. I continue to work because I like being useful. 

Second, I am not reluctant to leave. I suppose if I had partners, or was in BigLaw, there would be others who had a say in whether I stayed or went; but, I don't, and I will leave if I ever want to. It's about freedom.

Third, I am way past being afraid of what fate might bring me. At age 75, there isn't a lot fate can do to me. I am already playing with house money. Fear of death? Nope. Like Sinatra, I did it my way. I am prepared to go any time. Just wait until I spend another day or two with the love of my life.

Fourth, inertia is so not my problem. If anything, my failures have been linked to lack of impulse control. Like Steinbeck, in Travels with Charley, I have gone my own way and made decisions easily. When they proved wrong, I pivoted to another path. No regrets.

Fifth, what's a succession plan? I am solo. No succession required. Plant me in the ground, or put me in an urn. If you want a succession plan, go get a job. 

So, perhaps the question shouldn't be why lawyers avoid retirement. Perhaps, Ms. Lawyer, you should be asking yourself, why retire at all?

What If They Made A Kindle You Could Write Notes On?

Amazon Scribe. I love my Boox Note Air. It is a full WiFi tablet that can download Android apps. But, it is monochromatic, and I can do all the apps on my color Samsung Galaxy tablet. I also love that I can write all my client notes and daily calendar on the Note; but, reading with the Android Kindle app isn't ideal. The Boox Note screen is very fussy. It occurred to me that I had been doing most of my book, news, and magazine reading on my tiny Amazon Kindle Paper White, which, while water resistant, doesn't have an Eink function. No note taking. Well, Amazon must have been listening, because the new Amazon Scribe, which I just received, does just that. Think huge 10 inch format, with Kindle reading quality, and a stylus that can be used to write notes on books and documents, and can even be used to take notes. It is perfect for client conferences and meetings. Just click a ne Note, and start writing. There are even templates to choose from. Now, if I can figure out how to do a custom template of my daily Google calendar, I can set the Note aside. Are you still using paper and pen? Don't do that anymore. Join the digital revolution.