LEX FUGIT

LEX FUGIT-JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG (MARCH 15,1933-SEPTEMBER 18, 2020)

The country lost a great jurist on Friday, with the death of U S Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

In her final days she told her granddaughter:  "My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed."

When Associate Justice Antonin Scalia died on February 13, 2016, 8 1/2 months before a presidential election, Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell said of the Court vacancy:

March 20, 2016: McConnell tells Fox News Sunday, "The Senate has a role to play here. The president nominates, we decide to confirm. We think the important principle in the middle of this presidential year is that the American people need to weigh in and decide who's going to make this decision. Not this lame duck president on the way out the door, but the next president." 

President Obama's nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, never had so much as a Senate hearing, much less a vote.

I am sure the Senate Republican majority will adhere to their same guiding  principles with the death of Justice Ginsburg, a month and a half before the election.

They will, and we will have the vacancy filled before election day.

Sadly, it is power first, principle be damned.

I see campaign signs that say "America First".  Sadly, it is party first, and America is left behind in the dust.

I used to be a Republican.

Rest in Peace Justice Ginsburg and God Help America.

THE LEGAL CIRCLE OF LIFE

Lawyers "switching sides" in the old PI litigation game happens so often, that it has become something of a cliche.

Plaintiff lawyers become defense lawyers. Defense lawyers become plaintiff lawyers. Plaintiff lawyers become defense lawyers become plaintiff lawyers again.  And on and on.

And lawyers who have never litigated ever, for any side?  They, of course are appointed judges.

I have crossed the Great "V" Divide.  After many years as a plaintiff PI lawyer, I jointed a defense firm in the year 5BC(Before Covid).  

During my plaintiff days, around 12BC I started a legal blog, now discontinued, called AttorneyButler.net. Some Detroit history,  some legal commentary, some feeble attempts at comedy.  There was a lot of crossover between the second and third areas.

During my blog's run, I jousted with a gentleman named Dan Pero, who ran his own blog, AmericanCourthouse.com. As to Dan:  "He has served as Chief of Staff and Campaign Manager for former three-term Michigan Governor John Engler and was the architect that helped build the state Republican majority of the 1990’s."-Strategic Federal Affairs website.  Again, according to the site:  "He has worked with the premier GOP consulting agencies in the nation: Bailey, Deardourff and Associates, V. Lance Tarrance and Associates and Karl Rove and Company. Campaigns and Elections magazine recognized him as one of Michigan’s “top influencers” in 2010."

Dan, and his boss John Engler, were not friends of trial lawyers--that is plaintiff lawyers.  I was one at the time.  And we didn't agree on much.  And, while I think Dan was paid for writing his blog (I suspect he had a large ghost staff), my blog was a hobby.

However, while we didn't agree on legal issues, Dan was a gentleman, a good family man and we shared a few interests "outside the lines".  We may still be Facebook friends.

Although our disagreements were fundamental and we both used blogs to publish our views, we were civil to each other in a way might be seen as weak, and "low energy" in today's environment.  Sad.

LEX REALLY FUGITS-DETROIT LEGAL NEWS AD 1926

 

One of my "hobbies" is the the collection and preservation of Detroit Catholic school history.  I run a Facebook group called "I Went to Catholic School in Metro Detroit"  currently with approximately 11,800 members.  Ooh, I should post that on LinkedIn.

A group member recently donated some yearbooks from U of D High School, including the 1926 Cub.  That was so long ago, that the school was located in Dowling Hall on Jefferson in downtown Detroit, not the current location on 7 Mile and Cherrylawn it has occupied for 90 years.

Included in the advertising section (a staple of 20s yearbooks) there was this ad for the Detroit Legal News, an enterprise a mere 32 years old at the time.

The Legal News is still around 94 years later, though digital news rather than hard copy papers rule.  Its current office is on Lafayette, rather than Congress.

The Legal News has even had the good taste to run a couple of articles I have written over the years, most recently in 2016.  Ooh, I should post that on LinkedIn as well.

LAWYER CARTOON-POST HIATUS EDITION

"And I'd like to send members of the jury a series of links to my social media accounts, so you can post a review.  Suggested templates are available."

LEX FUGIT HIATUS ENDS

The ruminative hand under the chin seems popular among podcast panel members

Way back in the  Olden Days (early March, 2020), the Lex Fugit Podcast panel-(clockwise:  Paula Cole, Mike Butler, Ron Steinberg, and John Cothorn), met at that venerable Detroit lawyers' watering hole, Jacoby's on Brush to discuss brainstorm the format and content of our upcoming broadcast.  Our studio was to be the DBA's Lawyers Lounge on the 12th floor of the CCB, with a hoped for move to Jacobys once we "perfected" the technique and technology.

 

Then COVID 19 changed everything.  The Lawyers Lounge and the CCB have been effectively locked up tight since March 23.  Bars and restaurants opened up for limited dine in service on June 8.  It is hoped that Jacoby's is back open for business and is doing well.

 

The practice has changed remarkably over the past 6 months.  While a fair amount of work can be down through Zoom and like apps, the in person proceeding has largely disappeared.  I have had only 3 personal appearances in various litigation matters over that time.   I have brown bagged as many lunches since the spring of 2020 as I did in my last year of high school, and all the years in between.  Our social distance-friendly office walls are closing in.  And, I find I am missing the cattle calls of motion days in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb,  Genesee and Washtenaw Counties.  

 

And I miss in person Case Evaluation.  I have sat as a neutral in Wayne County 6 times since mid-May, and while the Zoom hearings have gone off seamlessly, due to the great work of the MTA staff, it is just not the same.  Saving on gas and parking  does not compare with the lost networking with the litigants, evaluators and staff.

 

When trials, in person motions, deps, mediations and case evaluations will return is not known. l am afraid the the new default setting of "No oral argument of motions unless directed by the Court" will be with us forever.  I find that disappointing.

 

But, its time the podcast got going.  

 

One good thing about becoming "Zoom Nation" is that our podcasts, originally planned to be audio only, will be by Zoom and we hope there can be some measure of audience (if any) input during the broadcast, by way of the Zoom chat feature.

 

In our latest planning meeting on September 4, the group has decided on a program format, and will be moving toward uploading a promo in the near future.

 

The format will include an opening panel discussion, about the practice in the Detroit area, past and present.  We will then bring on a guest panel member.  After talking with the guest, all of the panel will make a presentation on a specific area of the practice.  Don't expect a discussion of the Rule Against Perpetuities.  But be prepared for practical advice gained through more years of practical experience than I prefer to calculate.

 

Our first presentation will be on all aspects of the deposition-the prep, the dep and the follow up.  A prospective title "Get Hep with the Dep" was quickly, and justifiably shot down.

 

We are in negotiations with our first guest.  We are stuck on whether Door Dash delivers only domestic champagne to home office Zoom waiting rooms.

 

 

 

MY LINKEDIN "ACCOMPLISHMENT" POST-I

This was meant as a joke, in large part.  Then last week I was notified of this honor bestowed on me--at a price:

 

LINKENIN APOCALYPSE-DRACULA'S PROFILE

A promising future ahead for this young man with a profile like this.

OLD GREETING FOR A NEW NORMAL

COVID 19 has severally limited in person appearances for nearly all phases of the practice.

During my last few in person proceedings in the olden days (Now any time before March 23, 2020), attorneys didn't shake hands.  We fumbled awkwardly with variations of the fist pump and the elbow bump.

In the Zoom world, such greetings do not translate, gratefully.  And I refuse to use the Mickey Mouse gloved hand wave emoji.

In the current environment, wearing a baseball cap, bill forward rather than backward is considered by many to be a sign of deference to the court.  

We are better than this? (I pray).

So I have come upon my personal solution, thanks to a new client and to attorney Dewyna Bazzi, of the AT Law Group.

I met with a new client, IN PERSON!, last week, and I was concerned about respecting a culture with which I was not really familiar.  I called Dewyna, asking for some pointers.

She not only told me, she showed me (selfies in the office are hard):

This simple greeting was, and is, perfect.  My clients appreciated it.  And, it is perfect for our new normal.  No hipster fist pump.  No awkward declining of a proffered hand crusher.  Translates well to Zoom World.

And it certainly beats the my other candidate for contactless greeting-The Little Rascals "High Sign" (click picture for the complete effect):

Thank you, Dewyna, from the other side of the "v",  for your help, and for pointing me the way forward.

SELF-PROMOTION APOCALYPSE: WILLIAM S. GILBERT PREDICTS LINKEDIN

I am "on" LinkedIn, and I even paid for the Premium version for a few months. That said, I continue to have trouble understanding its value as either a paid or a free service.

Nearly all  LinkedIn content is a combination of self congratulation, self promotion, and mock humility.  And oh, lest I forget, omniscience. LinkedIn lawyers never lose, apparently.  The definition of victory and achievement is, however, quite broad.

Disclaimer.  I began practicing law before the digital age, and the advent of purchased honorifics.  I have tried many cases, winning some losing some.  I have argued countless motions, dispositive and otherwise, doing pretty well.  I did not broadcast the wins using the technology of the day. I have been profiled in newspapers more than once.  I have had numerous articles published, and awards bestowed.  I have held more offices and served on more committees and boards than I can remember.  Most of the plaques, certificates, and framed articles are stacked in a corner of my basement, next to some outdated computer towers and monitors.    Each week I decline and delete multiple offers to buy various honors.  

My point is that not everything I, and I daresay you have done, merits proclamation to the planet Earth and beyond.

Yet on LinkedIn everybody is a genius, posting and at the same time digitally blushing,  at the glories bestowed upon them by an astute and aware public.  And such achievements.  One group posted 8x10 pictures of the members of golf outing committee, each member meriting his own post.

The words "Honored" and "Humbled" appear often, as does "Congratulations".

Recently, an attorney I had connected with (in an evil hour) posted about receiving notice of an "unexpected victory" right as he left for vacation.  This victory was on a discovery motion concerning whether a deposition was to be in person or by Zoom.  HUZZAH!   I bet no one paid for his own drinks in the Grand Hotel bar that night.  Personally, I consider that the LinkedIn equivalent of posting a picture of your dinner on Facebook.

If everything is noteworthy, if everything is special, if honors can be purchased online, is anything really exceptional?

Over 130 years ago, Gilbert and Sullivan predicted the world of LinkedIn.  From the operetta The Gondoliers, the song "There Lived a King" contains these lyrics:

In short, whoever you may be,

To this conclusion you'll agree,

When every one is somebodee,

Then no one's anybody! 

 

The video below shows the entire song and is worth a look.

 

 

ZOOM 1.0 BREAKOUT ROOM