Futurelawyer

#PoetryFriday - Indian Summer.

He walked with her through trees,
and imagined the forest.
He walked with her through deserts,
and looked up and saw the stars.
They walked to the beat of a drum
only they could hear.

The ancestors smiled on them.
They guided the sun’s rays
and stars’ light,
to shine on their path.

The ancestors had traveled through millennia,
looking for the tracks of the bear,
following it to its lair,
so that they could lie down and rest.

They were companions for life,
sharing the trail,
prepared to fight battles in tandem,
together.
They were confident that the ancients
would show them the way
to the top of the mountain.

When they reached the mountain top,
they realized that though they could look to the heavens
for truth,
it would always elude them,
and that the only way to find it
would be to see what lay
on the other side of midnight.

When she died,
he still didn’t know the truth,
but he was left to find another
to share his journey.

Before Anesthesia Was Invented, There Was No Elective Surgery.

You had to be in a life and death situation to undergo surgery before anesthesia was invented. This was the common method of causing patients to lose consciousness enough to undergo it.

Pinot At Work.

It's Opening Day, and it is hard enough to get some work done before the game. Pinot is a welcome diversion; but she is also a distraction. So many distractions. So little time.

 

I Hear Singing.

I hear the songbird sing
in my pocket of springtime,
against a Florida sky.

Springtime will turn to summer.
Summer will turn to fall.
Fall will turn to winter,
and my hope is to remain
for them all.

Love and laughter fill my days,
until the winter turns them cold.
My night sky evaporates
in a disappearing blackness
that promises nothing,
and delivers nothing
but death and destruction.

Still, I dance in the moonlight,
and touch her in places
not available to other men.
I kiss her in the darkness,
blind to the future
and oblivious to the nothing that awaits me.

Will the leaves still dance in the wind
after I am gone?

Opening Day - When Every Team Dreams Of The World Series.

When you get to be older, many things become possible. For instance, you are more inclined to splurge on things when you realize that you will be dead sooner rather than later. Life is short. So, I upgraded our seats for this season, and the small market Rays still have a chance to make the Series one more time before the inevitable. St. Petersburg, Florida, is the place where America welcomes Springtime, and the boys of summer will be beginning another season this afternoon. It is one of life's ironies that we will be in an air conditioned building to avoid the 90 degree Florida sun. But, it is the game that counts, and watching young athletes makes old men dream again. The new rules promise to shorten the game; but, for old purists like myself, it might just create more chaos, as there are more rules to violate. In any event, let's put aside petty differences and listen to the crack of the bat this afternoon with a mix of nostalgia and excitement. Play ball!

#WhyIAmASolo - I Won't Ever Be Abandoned Outside A Cable News Building.

You won't ever see me on cable news. You won't ever see me doing a perp walk with a new client. You won't see me pretending to be a legal expert on TV. I will be in my office, counseling ordinary people about ordinary problems. I will be enhanced by artificial intelligence computers, and new technology. I may be advising and counseling in an RV somewhere. But, abandoned by an unforgiving media firestorm? Never. Chasing fame and fortune is a fool's errand. You are the only judge that counts.

National Vietnam War Veteran's Memorial Day.

While I served in the Army, I was in college and law school during VietNam's war years. Here is a shout out and a thank you to Robert J. Sisson and Larry McCarthy, both of whom are VietNam vets. I was in law school for three years at the end of the war, and never had to spend any time away from the U.S. Thanks to every vet who had to make the trek across the world. If you know a VietNam vet, say thank you today. They surely didn't get their due when they came home, and many didn't get to come home.

 

#WhyIAmASolo - ChatGPT Is Another Way I Can Leverage Technology To Compete With BigLaw.

Lawyers Who Resist AI Are Like Dinosaurs Before The Day The Meteorite Hits. Even though BigLaw, in the main, gets what a sea change AI and Chatbots are bringing to the practice of law, the beauty of Big Data and ChatGPT is that it can be used by every lawyer, even the solos. I am already using it as an assistive technology, and I can save hours of painstaking research by generating content with it, and, after the conversation, apply my own take to the content, and use it as an assistive. It, in fact, gives me the power of BigLaw without the thousands of dollars and hours required to build a whole team of law clerks, associate lawyers, secretaries, paralegals, and other persons that BigLaw uses to generate legal content. All technology has created a level playing field for solo lawyers, and the dinosaur law firms who aren't jumping on AI will, indeed, be crushed by the meteorite that is coming. In some ways, as an old lawyer, I lament that I won't be around to see it. But, I caution every lawyer. The sky is falling. Run faster.

 

#ParrotSunday - Savannah - RIP

Savannah has been gone a couple of years now; but Facebook and my computers keep reminding me that she was beautiful, and loved only me. While it isn't rare for a parrot to bond to one human, she was unique, in that she loved me; but hated every other human on the planet. No one else could go near her. Connections are about souls, not necessarily the human kind.

#ParrotSunday - Savannah - RIP

Savannah has been gone a couple of years now; but Facebook and my computers keep reminding me that she was beautiful, and loved only me. While it isn't rare for a parrot to bond to one human, she was unique, in that she loved me; but hated every other human on the planet. No one else could go near her. Connections are about souls, not necessarily the human kind.