Gender: Female
Industry: Law
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PR for their future

Over my years of exposure to the legal field, time and time again, I have come across brilliant legal minds that suffer from court-shyness and lack the relationships required to build a solo practice.  It’s not that they lack in networking skills.  They have enough rapport with senior lawyers and firms who appreciate them and their work.  They are trusted for their research and opinions, but no one would ever trust them at trial.  This happens to these unfortunate lawyers regardless of their capacity as an attorney.  It happens simply because their skills like researching, drafting, and negotiating gain acclamation, much before their trial skills are at all tried or tested.  Although some of them are content to bypass the courtroom, others are frustrated with their lack of live experience in court — a lack that makes them feel something less than a complete lawyer.

The problem begins with their lack of exposure to the open court from the beginning of their careers.  While the inns of UK require the would-be barrister to give quite a large number of compulsory speeches in front of peers and dignitaries as part of the course, such practices are not found in our law schools.  The most discerning law students here remain untested public speakers, and a lot of them dread their first tests at trial.  Some actively pursue alternate careers, just to skip public speaking.

But the situation in Houston is an eye opener.  The Houston municipal courts have a program running where the biggest law firms of the city send young lawyers as volunteers to prosecute on behalf of the city.  Fulbright & Jaworski initiated the program in May 2005 following the success of a similar program started from the firm’s Dallas office for prosecuting minor misdemeanors in Plano.  Since then, Baker Botts, Haynes & Boone, and Vinson & Elkins, have joined in the Houston program.  These firms are sending out their young lawyers to earn live experience inside the court, and acquaint their faces to juries, judges, and defense attorneys.  There is no doubt that this exercise in public relations and actual trial experience is going to help the lawyers out in the future.  The firms have found a great way to help young lawyers develop their skills of presentation and learn to think on their feet.

I am not saying that it’s all that bad for those who rarely step inside a courtroom.  But the quality of representation inside most courtrooms leaves much to be desired.  Maybe programs like the one in Houston will benefit the people and the young practitioners in different ways, but I’m sure the quality of representation will increase inside the courts.  That by itself is something to strive for.  Needless to say, the experience the participants will gain is setting them up for a better career in the future.

05-01-2007

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Kilpatrick Stockton adds a feather to their hat

Kilpatrick Stockton hit the news twice this week. First, for their partner Rupert Barkoff being named a Legal Eagle by Franchise Times, and then again, when Paula L. Hopper joined their Raleigh office in the Employee Benefits related division as Counsel.

Having earned her B.S from Meredith College and her J.D. from Mississippi College School of Law, Paula Hopper has built up a distinguished legal career. She served as a Judicial Clerk to Chief Justice Burley B. Mitchell, Jr. and Justice Franklin E. Freeman, Jr. at the North Carolina Supreme Court. In 2005, she was elected to the Legal Elite of Business North Carolina magazine. Paula has also co-authored “Campaign Finance Rules in Limbo” in Campaigns & Elections, June 2003.

Paula’s experience includes advising clients on election law, campaign finance, and government ethics at both the state and federal levels. She is well known for her depth in the law related to politics including lobbying law compliance.

I wish her success and hope as she continues to blaze the trail. More information on Paula L. Hopper can be found at http://www.kilpatrickstockton.comdxc/attorneys/detail.aspx?I D=14067&pglist=&stlist.

04-30-2007

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It can’t be more stupid!

http:/ /chronicle.com/free/v53/i33/33b02401.htm 

Last week opened with gunshots at Virginia Tech turning everything gloomy.  I could have recovered from the gloom.  But what really ate my insides and keeps on eating them, is the face of that gun-toting wacko peering from almost every news site, newspaper, or TV channel.  The coverage given to this psychopath killer once again proves what we already know: the passion of the media with the gross and the grotesque borders near to insanity and nearer to fetishism.  The stupid media is turning this stupid psychopath into an icon and a martyr.  And if they continue on that path, it won’t be long before some other weak minds try to emulate him just to get media coverage.

The American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment’s Spring 2006 Report covered 117 campuses.  It shows that out of the 95,000 students surveyed, more than nine percent had seriously considered suicide, and one in every 100 had attempted suicide within the previous year.  Considering that the gunman himself was a student who committed suicide, his continuous coverage doesn’t make me feel very happy.  The point has aptly been made at Professor Stephen Bainbridge’s blog over at www.professorbain bridge.com in “Reacting to Virginia Tech.”  If you want the pro-gun, no-gun, and campus legal policy approaches to the event, check out the JD2B blog archives at www.jd2b.com.

Well, getting back to the normal from the abnormal, over there at Peter Lattman’s blog in the Wall Street Journal this week there is a good piece on former Qwest CEO Joe Nachchio, who has been found guilty of insider trading.  More interesting to me was the article on Chris Marston, founder and CEO of Exemplar Law Partners posted on www.lead ershipforlawyers.typepad.com/.  Marston has started a law firm with a novel approach.  His firm goes only for flat-fee billing, and hires only entrepreneurial lawyers.  His firm also builds cross-functional teams from the time a matter is accepted.

Now, if you are a lawyer who litigates abroad, then don’t miss the post “International Arbitrations: Dealing With Delay” at www.whataboutclients .com, and save Mel Simburg’s article from the link given there.

Returning to recurrent stupidity, if Don Imus got fired for his stupid comments about the Rutgers’ woman’s baseball team, then, Professor Stephen Bainbridge at www.professorbain bridge.com argues, that Alec Baldwin, too, deserves to be fired for calling his 11-year-old child a “rude, thoughtless little pig.”  Shows how stupid Baldwin can be.  Fathering a pig!  Imagine that!

04-27-2007

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Rosen’s made an Earthquake in Zipland

Rosen Law Firm, one of North Carolina’s largest divorce firms, has come up with a real cool idea.  It’s an attempt to assist the families of divorced clients through the first throes of post divorce adjustment.  Rosen is offering a game called Earthquake in Zipland made by Zipland Interactive Ltd. for this task.  The game, which has been  developed following extensive research, is therapeutic in nature. 

Moose, the principal character in the game, takes a family on a quest of exploration.  Those playing the game experience emotions like anger, solitude, and the mental conflicts that surround the central concept of loyalty.  Psychologically, the game helps children to adapt to their parents’ separation through interactive game play.

The game is based on research in a number of fields including family counseling and clinical psychology, and forms a healthy approach towards divorce therapy for the entire family.

That is a laudable effort on Rosen’s part, and one hopes to see other firms adopting similar humane stands towards children shocked by parental separation.

I must say that nothing can be better than such a game to ease the hearts of children and mend the family bonds stressed by divorce.  Why didn’t anybody think of it earlier?

04-26-2007

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What a Lady!

Labor MPs in U.K. are indignant over this Lady and ministers are poised to interfere to cut her down to size.  She is the chairperson of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority and draws a paycheck of £60,000 from the U.K. government for a two-day week.

At the sweet age of sixty, besides the post mentioned, she is on the board of the Planet Group, New York; she is the chairman of the advisory board of LoSoNoCo, Florida; she is on the boards of an American and also a Turkish university; she is the chairperson of the School of Oriental & African Studies, London; she is the chairperson of Private Equity Investor, PLC, a public company in U.K.; she is the senior independent director of Quintain Estates, U.K.; she is an adviser to Hill & Associates, Hong Kong; she is the deputy chairman of Friends Provident, U.K., and she holds at least a score of other positions in other companies, institutions, and organizations.

Another woman, a Labor MP, U.K., cannot take it any more.  Lindsay Hoyle vented her frustration by asserting that ministers must intervene to examine the phenomenon.  She feels that it is outrageous for a person to hold so many positions at the same time.

The lady we are talking about is of course, a lawyer.  Lady Barbara S. Thomas is keeping all her positions for now, and in spite of the palpable jealousy she’s created by her performance, there has been no allegation or suggestion that she neglects her duties.  Not even from Lindsay Hoyle.

Ladies of her kind only come out of law school!  I tip my hat to Lady Judge and say keep up the good work!  There aren’t many people that would be able to keep a handle on all of those jobs at once.

04-25-2007

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