Futurelawyer

So Little Life...So Little Time...Don't Waste It.

We spend so much time in our lives trying to join groups that are in the majority. We join political parties in order to win more votes in order to gain power over other humans. We root for sports teams and aspire to sit in stadiums with crowds holding more of our fans than the other guy. We adjust our behaviors in order to live our lives the way others want us to live, be they parents, or siblings, or lovers, or spouses, or colleagues, or other groups with which we identify. What if we followed our own light, without any conscious or subconscious need for the approval of others? What if we were our genuine selves, without regard to the opinion of anyone else? We might find that we are much less likely to join the ranks of the insane. 

First World Problems - Should The FutureLawyer Upgrade To The Boox Note Air 2?

First Look At The Onyx Boox Note Air 2. Decisions, decisions. As many of you know, I have been using the Boox Note Air for a few months now, and it has replaced paper in my note taking. I make a PDF of my daily calendar, and keep an annotated calendar throughout the day. I use the notepad feature to take notes in a variety of circumstances. I have converted my paper checklists and information gathering forms into electronic forms that I complete on the Note Air. The best part of the Note Air, however, is its access to the Android PlayStore, which gives me access to thousands of Android apps. I can check email, browse the web, play chess, and a myriad of other functions, all in sync with my color tablet and smartphones. It is a great EReader and I seldom read on the tiny Kindle PaperWhite anymore. I can transfer PDFs of documents, contracts, pleadings and any other document to the Note Air, and read them, with the full power to annotate with an electronic pencil. So, what is the problem? Well, Onyx has upgraded the Note Air to version 2. It has more memory, an octa-core processor, and claims to have a better writing feel. Alas, since I am happy with what I have, $500 for a new one seems a bridge too far. You, however, have the opportunity to get in on the ground floor. Lucky devils.

#WhyIAmASolo - I Don't Have To Deal With The Peter Principle.

Peter Principle. One of my college professors required us to read "The Peter Principle", by Laurence Peter. For you millennials, the Peter Principle postulated that, in a hierarchy, employees tend to get promoted and rise until they reach a position for which they are totally incompetent. This reality is shown in all bureaucracies, and in politics and other large organizations. Does it apply to BigLaw? I don't know; but, I surely don't want to find out. I am perfectly fine in my solo bubble, with as little contact with large organizations filled with graduates of the Peter Principle school of management as possible. Judges, I am certainly not casting aspersions on your Honors, or your competence. We all must soldier on.

Hey, Marie, What If All My Gadgets And Stuff Give Me Joy?

Why DeCluttering Guru Marie Kondo Is Wrong. When I see a home or office online that is completely devoid of anything other than furniture and chairs, my first reaction is that someone just built the house, and is selling it, or that someone just moved out. Seriously, I live in an office that has hundreds of books, cables, gadgets, magazines, gizmos, and other assorted stuff. I think I still have the souvenir baseball I caught at Tropicana Field in 2001. Occasionally, I will get a large plastic bag, and stuff a bunch of old stuff in it. Then, the bag goes into the portion of the garage that isn't part of my home office. Sometimes, I store stuff in boxes. Then, a year or so later, when I am looking for 25 year old cable for something, I will drag the box back into the office, and start going through it. It is like a combination of Xmas and Nostalgia. You could say the same thing about the Living Room and Family Room in the house. Someone once asked me what it was like living in a Museum. Every item there brings me memories, or joy, or inspiration. Our stuff can bring us joy, just like lack of stuff can. You just have to learn how to find joy in everything. Sorry, Marie. You can live a sterile, stuff less life, if you want. But, I am not coming along for the ride. 

Own A Piece Of History - An Original Signed Bible.

Apparently found in a bookstore in Jerusalem, this $20,000 Bible, signed by Jesus, will certainly find a home with a collector. The authentication process may take a few millennia; but, what's a few thousand years for a true believer? Some skeptics claim that the Jesus who signed the Bible is a Latin American from Arizona; but, that doesn't explain how the Bible got from Jerusalem to the States. Another mystery that will never be solved.

Before AnyLaw, Before Google Scholar, Before FastCase, We Had Pocket Parts.

Pocket Parts. If you don't know what this post is talking about, I suggest, young Grasshopper, that you spend some time on this Wikipedia page. I spent many hours as a law student and young lawyer sitting in my law library, surrounded by hundreds of leather bound volumes, and placing thin groups of pages anchored with staples and cardboard, inside the back cover of old volumes of primary and secondary law. Putting in the pocket parts was one of the tasks, in BigLaw, assigned to young Associates, or to Law Clerks and Legal Assistants. It was considered a menial task; but, because I never worked in a firm with more than three lawyers, and went solo in 1985, I did it myself. The odd thing is that the pocket parts contained every new case or statute on point, and I learned a lot doing that mundane task. There is something satisfying, and tactile, about holding the current state of the law in your hands. While the demands of the practice sometimes caused the pocket parts to pile up in the law library, it was always a nice respite from the craziness of the world, to sit among dozens of books at a long wooden table, checking on the new things that affected everything. I still have the paper law library, and I confess to the guilty pleasure of going out there sometimes, and sitting among the work of giants and knaves, and the collective wisdom and foolishness, that somehow has been lost in a cloud of electrons in an invisible sky.

#TBT - The Library Was A Great Place To Meet Girls.

#WhyILiveinFlorida - We Don't Need No Stinkin' Oxford Commas.

Florida man writes a book. Nuff said.

If You Can Read, You Don't Need A Live Guru.

Most of the wisdom I have acquired in life came from life experience, and reading the stuff coming from the minds of wise people. Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius didn't seek fame or fortune, or charge money. Epictetus was a slave whose wisdom was written down by his students. Marcus Aurelius was an Emperor who didn't want the job; but, did the job as best he could, and wrote ideas and thoughts down for his own uses. I don't trust any person who claims to have a direct line to wisdom, and then charges money for the service. So, when I got an ad this morning offering the services of a "Live Guru", I didn't respond. You don't need to pay money to a religion or philosopher in order to find happiness. Buy a book written by someone smarter than you are, and read it. There. I just saved you a few thousand dollars. You're welcome.

The Trial Lawyer's Discovery Bible.

2021 Discovery Handbook. "In 1994, the Trial Lawyers Section of The Florida Bar, the Conference of Circuit Judges, and the Conference of County Court Judges formed a joint committee to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas on how to improve the day-to-day practice of law for trial lawyers and trial judges. At the committee’s first meeting, it was the overwhelming
consensus that “discovery abuse” should be the top priority." This first paragraph of the 2021 Trial Lawyer's Handbook describes the joint effort to make discovery effective and ethical for Florida trial lawyers. However, the book is a guide to ethical litigation everywhere. It is nice to romanticize trial law as a Perry Mason challenge of wit and daring in a courtroom. But, good discovery will, as boring and time consuming and expensive as it is, win or lose many more cases than a flamboyant lawyer talking to a Judge or Jury. I am many years past wanting to spend my days in litigation and conflict. But, if you are in the arena, download and print this book. It is a road map and a bible. It should be at your side every step of the way.