TU NO ESTAS SOLO EN ESTE MUNDO. YOU ARE NOT ALONE SI TE HA GUSTADO UN ARTICULO, COMPARTELO

Friday, December 19, 2008

RODRIGO GONZALEZ FERNANDEZ, CHILE, LES DESEA FELICES FIESTAS

RODRIGO GONZALEZ FERNANDEZ, DIRECTOR DE LA RED DE 105  BLOGS Y TODO NUESTRO PERSONAL LES  DESEA
A NUESTROS QUERIDOS LECTORES DE LA RED
UNA FELIZ NAVIDAD EN COMPAÑIA DE FAMILIA Y
 UN EXTRAORDINARIO Y PROSPERO AÑO NUEVO , Y QUE SEA LLENO DE ENERGIAS.


Saludos
Rodrigo González Fernández
Diplomado en RSE de la ONU
www.consultajuridicachile.blogspot.com
www.el-observatorio-politico.blogspot.com
www.lobbyingchile.blogspot.com
www.biocombustibles.blogspot.com
www.calentamientoglobalchile.blogspot.com
oficina: Renato Sánchez 3586 of. 10
Teléfono: OF .02-  8854223- CEL: 76850061
e-mail: rogofe47@mi.cl
Santiago- Chile
Soliciten nuestros cursos de capacitación  y consultoría en LIDERAZGO -  RESPONSABILIDAD SOCIAL EMPRESARIAL – LOBBY – BIOCOMBUSTIBLES  ,   y asesorías a nivel internacional y están disponibles  para OTEC Y OTIC en Chile

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Political Lawyers Ask, What Could Be Verse?

Political Lawyers Ask, What Could Be Verse?

It is the time of year when poor Clement Moore begins rolling restlessly in his grave. The author of the 1823 poem, "A Visit from St. Nicholas," is condemned to endure a perpetual litany of adaptations and parodies of his one enduring work. The latest comes from the government affairs group at Womble Carlyle, where lawyers are predicting a Christmas Eve flurry of activity from the Federal Election Commission and felt compelled to rhyme about it.

At the Womble blog Political GPS, it is noted that the FEC has announced action on only 38 enforcement cases this year, compared to an average of 100 in previous years. There is good reason for this, the blog suggests. For the first half of the year, the Senate was deadlocked over new appointments and the FEC lacked a quorum. Without a quorum, it could not authorize any investigations or even any settlements.

The blog predicts "that a bunch of cases will come tumbling out of Santa's bag, just in time for Christmas." Many will involve routine matters, but a few will involve what election law insiders call "Christmas communications" -- notable announcements that get lost in the season's snowdrifts. To mark this annual end-of-December ritual, Political GPS offers its take on Moore's verse:

'Twas two days before Christmas at the Federal Election Commission,
When the press office issued a quiet transmission.

Whispers of cases backed up for weeks,
The docket shakes loose, with hardly a squeak.

There is more, but rather than deprive the blog of your clicks, I encourage you to read the rest here -- with due deference, of course, to the spirit of Mr. Moore, not to mention the FEC.

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Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on December 17, 2008


CONSULTEN, OPINEN , ESCRIBAN LIBREMENTE
Saludos
Rodrigo González Fernández
Diplomado en RSE de la ONU
www.consultajuridicachile.blogspot.com
www.el-observatorio-politico.blogspot.com
www.lobbyingchile.blogspot.com
www.biocombustibles.blogspot.com
www.calentamientoglobalchile.blogspot.com
oficina: Renato Sánchez 3586 of. 10
Teléfono: OF .02-  8854223- CEL: 76850061
e-mail: rogofe47@mi.cl
Santiago- Chile
Soliciten nuestros cursos de capacitación  y consultoría en LIDERAZGO -  RESPONSABILIDAD SOCIAL EMPRESARIAL – LOBBY – BIOCOMBUSTIBLES  ,   y asesorías a nivel internacional y están disponibles  para OTEC Y OTIC en Chile

Crack Cases Clog Federal Courts

Crack Cases Clog Federal Courts

A new report from the U.S. Sentencing Commission says that federal courts handled more than 17,000 cases this year brought by crack cocaine offenders seeking shorter prison sentences. The cases came in the wake of retroactive amendments to the federal sentencing guidelines that reduced prison terms for crack cocaine offenses.

Nationwide, 17,168 cases were filed seeking sentence reductions and 12,119 were granted. The jurisdictions that saw the greatest number of these cases were Virginia's Eastern District with 1,113 and Florida's Middle District with 1,065. The federal circuits with the most filings were the 4th with 3,899 and the 11th with 3,314. The cases that were successful resulted in an average decrease in sentence of two years, from 137 months to 114 months. Of the cases that failed, the most common reason was that they were deemed ineligible for the reduction under the revised guidelines.

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Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on December 17, 2008 at 11:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Worst Judicial Hellholes

In the spirit of the holiday season, the thoughtful folks at the American Tort Reform Association have delivered their annual gift to the defense lawyers and tort critics of the world. In what has become an annual tradition, ATRA has released its latest ranking of Judicial Hellholes, "America's most unfair jurisdictions in which to be sued."

After a reprieve last year, West Virginia reclaims its 2006 top spot on the list for what ATRA describes as "its near perfect storm of anti-business rulings, massive lawsuits and cozy relationships between the personal injury bar, the state attorney general and some in the judiciary." Six other jurisdictions make the list: South Florida, Cook County in Illinois, Atlantic County in New Jersey, Montgomery and Macon counties in Alabama, Los Angeles County in California and Clark County in Nevada.

ATRA also provides a "watch list" of jurisdictions that could become trouble and doles out "dishonorable mentions" to the supreme courts of Massachusetts and Missouri -- the former for a ruling about doctors' duty to warn of a drug's side effects and the latter for a ruling "that effectively invites plaintiffs from all around the country to file claims in the Show Me (Your Lawsuits) State."

For the first time this year, the report strays from its criticism of plaintiff-loving judges to include plaintiff-loving legislators. Judges, after all, must "play the cards they are dealt" by state legislatures, ATRA notes. In a section of the report titled "Tort Deform," ATRA criticizes a "more activist strategy" of lobbying by the American Association for Justice and its state counterparts to enact laws more favorable to plaintiffs. This seems odd, given the longtime activist lobbying pursued by so-called tort reformers and ATRA's own stated mission of lobbying for laws more favorable to defendants. When it comes to defining hellholes, I guess the devil is in the details.

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Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on December 17, 2008


CONSULTEN, OPINEN , ESCRIBAN LIBREMENTE
Saludos
Rodrigo González Fernández
Diplomado en RSE de la ONU
www.consultajuridicachile.blogspot.com
www.el-observatorio-politico.blogspot.com
www.lobbyingchile.blogspot.com
www.biocombustibles.blogspot.com
www.calentamientoglobalchile.blogspot.com
oficina: Renato Sánchez 3586 of. 10
Teléfono: OF .02-  8854223- CEL: 76850061
e-mail: rogofe47@mi.cl
Santiago- Chile
Soliciten nuestros cursos de capacitación  y consultoría en LIDERAZGO -  RESPONSABILIDAD SOCIAL EMPRESARIAL – LOBBY – BIOCOMBUSTIBLES  ,   y asesorías a nivel internacional y están disponibles  para OTEC Y OTIC en Chile

Friday, December 05, 2008

TOM PETERS Advice for Tough Times December 2008

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· Advice for Tough Times
· Excellence
· Opportunism
· Visibility
· Transparency
· Demeanor
· Paradox
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Tom Peters Times--December 2008
Advice for Tough Times

This special edition of the Tom Peters Times contains contributions from around the Tom Peters Company team. We are collectively frustrated at the general air of negativity in the business news, so we decided to compile an extra TPTimes edition with personal stories, advice, and selected media clips to help sustain you through these testing times.

Visitors to the blog on tompeters.com know that Tom frequently recommends tactics for this most disruptive of eras. We have synthesized some of Tom's most compelling messages into six pieces of "Advice for Tough Times." Using this list as a template and an idea from Tom as introduction to each section, TPC-ers have added their contributions under the following headings:

Excellence

Opportunism

Visibility

Transparency

Demeanor

Paradox

We hope that our observations, insights, and stories will inform and inspire your own action agendas. Think of this as a smorgasbord of ideas! Enjoy! We've posted the text on our website, also, to give all our readers the chance to revisit this newsletter if you choose.

Madeleine McGrath
Managing Partner, UK

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Excellence

Get on with doing the business you have and see it through brilliantly. Stick to the basics. Keep it simple! The devil is always in the details.

When it comes to focusing on the basics, cash flow and customers both come near the top of most peoples' agendas. Recent entries on tpwireservice.com, offer some great advice on these subjects.

In "Hug Your Customers," we are reminded about good habits that can turn customers into a cadre of unofficial marketing evangelists and keep our business in the forefront of their radar screens.

"Economy Requires 'Back to Basics' Cashflow" presents reminders and tools to help us stay focused on the lifeblood of our businesses--CASH!

And a recent BusinessWeek feature warns that the current financial crisis requires a different approach to the fundamentals of our businesses in "Why Traditional Recession Tactics Are Doomed to Fail This Time." On the basics theme, one of their key observations is that "strategists must rediscover the lost art of authentic value creation."

Lessons for us all?

Are you doing all you can to ensure that the resources you have at your disposal are deployed on the products and services in your portfolio that create the most value for the customer?

Are you making it absolutely clear to everyone who works with/for you that the fulfillment of the customer work you do have must embody the highest level of excellence that you can collectively achieve?

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Opportunism

Opportunism--there may be a lot of room for it--will pay off through speed off the mark and excellence in execution.

Richard King, Managing Partner, UK, observes that, like London buses, recession and business opportunities often come along at the same time! Virgin Chairman Richard Branson is currently talking to a group of interested parties about a possible bid for London's second largest airport, Gatwick. The UK Competition Commission has ruled that Gatwick's current owners, BAA, may have to sell the airport because of their market domination. BAA also owns London's Heathrow and Stansted airports. In these difficult times, Gatwick may turn out to be worth a lot less than its £2.5bn market valuation. So, it's "opportunity knocks" in recessionary times for Sir Richard, who never needs asking twice, and a big challenge for Virgin to put together the consortium needed to pull off what would be a major coup, for Virgin and for all victims [Richard's word] of the current London airports' customer service!

Madeleine McGrath has unearthed an opportunistic proposal from the New Zealand Institute (NZI) to their Government that may have ramifications for business leaders. Previous recessions have seen unsettled expat New Zealanders move back to the Australasia region, but too many have chosen to settle in Australia rather than coming all the way back to their homeland, says the NZI. The intention this time is to compete aggressively to encourage talented Kiwis to return home and deploy their skills in support of their own nation's economy. (See the NZI's October 2008 paper, "Economy on the Edge.") How many employers see their current employees as an asset rather than an expense when times are tough, let alone their former employees? Yet businesses often lose their best people to the competition, and this downturn may be the chance to get some of them back!

Lessons for us all?

Are you thinking laterally enough about opportunities and needs that are being manifested in your marketplace?

Are you thinking laterally enough about your talent pool, and using the recession as an opportunity to attract the very best?

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Visibility

March toward the sound of the guns. MBWA (Managing By Wandering Around). People have to see who they are working for and who they are dealing with.

Tom Peters says "Treble Your MBWA": "One of my favorite quotes, from Carolyn Lamb ... goes like this: 'A year from now you may wish you had started today.' Yes, today many of us wish we had 'wildly' 'over' invested in those employee-vendor-client-community relationships when the market was heading North and there was a little slack in the system. Well, perhaps we didn't, but ... it really is never too late. ... Work the damn phones. Keep working the damn phones. Show up. Keep showing up. Call clients and suppliers, ask them how things are going, and how you can help. This is not about sales (directly), but about 'showing up'-taking time from your busy affairs to offer assistance of any sort. (E.g., offer up your network ... Etc.) This is even more important with our employees. 'Over'inform--the rumors are invariably worse than reality. 'Over'do your MBWA ..." (Read the complete blog entry.)

Richard King has this story for us all: "Like most business leaders these days, the CEO of a specialist manufacturing group I know well has planning and implementing cost reductions right up there at the top of his jobs list! Last week I heard that one of his Directors had missed a committed savings milestone. This delinquency had come to light in the week before the Director concerned had booked a family holiday. Rather than reacting immediately and risk spoiling the whole family's break, the CEO lived with his frustration until after the holiday. When the Director returned, he was invited to an offsite one-to-one session with the CEO--on his first morning back. I'm sure there was some pretty straight talking done, in private, between the two of them! How do I know this story? The Director told it to me because he knew I was looking for stories of leaders facing up to the unpleasant realities of this recession. He especially wanted to express his appreciation for the considerate way his CEO had treated him.

Lessons for us all?

Are you tracking numbers of customer, prospect, and networking contacts in your regular reporting and recognizing those people who are working hardest on relationships?

Have you adopted/recommended "face to face" as the management medium of choice for delivering tough news to employees, colleagues, and partners?

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Transparency

Be absolutely straight with people, especially those at the front line. People who play the blame game in any way, shape, or form are out of here!

"Our people are our most important asset," or so says many an annual report. Val Willis, a U.S.-based Facilitator, spotted a great example of a business facing up to the challenges of these tough times, but staying true to its people principles. In San Antonio, Texas, the downturn forced Toyota to close their plant for three months. The dilemma they faced was how to handle this in regard to their 4,500-person workforce. According to Financial Week, Toyota is redeploying their workers on community work, retraining, and education classes in lieu of layoffs. "This was the first chance we've really had to live out our values," said Latondra Newton, general manager of Toyota's Team Member Development Center. "We're not just keeping people on the payroll because we're nice. At the end of all this, our hope is that we'll end up with a more skilled North American workforce."

In a second example, Ruth Smith, a UK Facilitator, explains how a retail client had set about responding to their constantly changing market conditions by instigating weekly management/front line sales reviews to pick up and respond to trends in customers' purchasing habits quickly. At the meetings, they make instant decisions on changes to promotions and product offerings in order to capitalize on customer demand. This week-by-week approach had led to criticism by staff of so-called "knee jerk and reactive" managers, and changes were often resisted by front liners until they were brought in on the review meetings. Once managers took the time to engage everyone in the process, rapid adjustment and constant change have become normal business.

On tpwireservice.com, we find this Daniel Goleman article entitled "Tea and Empathy" from strategy+business. Goleman identifies what he calls the crisis of accountability that organizations are facing, and contends that transparency, social and emotional learning, and leadership must take a much higher profile on the leader's agenda.

Lessons for us all?

Are there any ways in which you can use layoff situations to build and strengthen your workforce and your culture?

Are you doing everything you can to keep all employees informed of your emergency plans and strategies?

How tuned in are you to the emotional temperature of your business?

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Demeanor

Banish "gloomy" from your persona, even if it kills you! But remember, "sunny" is pretty stupid, too. Who do you think you're kidding?

As we watch the media pundits and commentators pick holes in the world's politicians' brave attempts to address the current economic mess, a new book from one of Tom's Cool Friends, Raj Setty, is a welcome ray of light. The book's title is Upbeat, and it contains many gems of inspiration to encourage a positive attitude during tough times. At the outset, Raj sounds off at the insidious impact that negative conversations have on your life. If every conversation that you have begins with a depressing catalogue of doom and gloom, not only are you setting a depressing tone, you are also wasting that time. In that context, banning gloomy conversations about things over which you have no control becomes an immensely sensible, positive resolution. Think about it!

UK Executive Coach David Pilbeam helps to shed more light on what leaders can do to engender a positive attitude in their people and sustain an upbeat atmosphere in the workplace. "People always feel better and can perform better when they are in situations where they can use their strengths," says David. So he recommends that leaders take the time to think, or discover, what the strengths of their key team members are, and to reframe work projects so that people can use their natural strengths and the business can benefit from them. Productivity, performance, and personal confidence all go up.

Lessons for us all?

Are you doing your best to stay out of negative and unproductive conversations? How about stimulating the opposite?

Are there any ways in which you can reframe what your people are working on in order to make better use of their strengths?

Consider appointing a "mood monitor" to give you direct feedback when your demeanor is becoming too gloomy (or vice versa!).

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Paradox

Have a positive mental attitude AND be ready for the worst.

Mike Neiss, U.S. Facilitator, reports that he recently attended a meeting at a client company whose market had just tanked. Rated the number one place to work in their industry by Fortune, this business is in Fast Company's top fifty innovative companies in the world, and its latest product line is winning rave reviews from publications ranging from Wired to BusinessWeek. The COO announced that it was essential to make an immediate workforce reduction, and because the company was already quite lean, the reduction would really test the mettle of the organization. They discussed how to act in strict accordance with the core values of the company and how they would ensure the business reasons for the cuts were communicated to everyone. They were concerned about the impact on the essence of what had made them a great company, and the heavy additional burden that would be transferred onto those who remained. The COO then revealed the information they would be sharing with employees about the company's future plans, including continued funding of R&D projects, investments in employee development, and improving the infrastructure of the business. "This was clearly not just PR spin," Mike reflected afterwards, "but actual plans with real numbers coming directly from the top officers of the company." The confidence that they would emerge from this recession a stronger company "with their soul intact" was obvious. Mike left the meeting impressed with their commitment to be absolutely honest with their workforce and inspired by their confidence about the future. Not a word was said about creating or protecting "shareholder value," but Mike is convinced that market value will increase as a result of the changes.

Necessity and hard times often go hand in hand with invention. With this in mind, Helen Green, another of the UK team, reports on a letter she saw in the London Times. The writer, British Academic Brian Kettell, drew attention to the explosion of innovation that took place during, or shortly after, the Great Depression of the 1930s ... "frozen food, jet engine and Sellotape (1930), electron microscope (1931), Polaroid and parking meter (1932), FM and stereo recording (1933), cat's eyes [retroreflective safety device] and Monopoly (1934), canned beer, nylon and radar (1935), voice recognition systems (1936), photocopying (1937) and ballpoint pens and instant coffee (1938)" ... the list goes on and on!

For more ideas about how to stimulate innovation, don't forget an all-time favorite, Tom's "Pursuit of Luck," which gives you lots of ideas about ways to break free from your current thinking patterns.

Lessons for us all?

Have you been back through your list of cutbacks to be sure that you are not draining off your future lifeblood, personal or business?

Are there any uncomfortable changes you have been avoiding (be honest!) that you really should act on now?

Have you considered making a list of the things you will be most proud of achieving in 2011?

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.............................!.............................

Subscribe at http://www.tompeters.com/your_world/join_the_fray/

(C) 2008 tompeters!company


CONSULTEN, OPINEN , ESCRIBAN LIBREMENTE
Saludos
Rodrigo González Fernández
Diplomado en RSE de la ONU
www.consultajuridicachile.blogspot.com
www.el-observatorio-politico.blogspot.com
www.lobbyingchile.blogspot.com
www.biocombustibles.blogspot.com
www.calentamientoglobalchile.blogspot.com
oficina: Renato Sánchez 3586 of. 10
Teléfono: OF .02-  8854223- CEL: 76850061
e-mail: rogofe47@mi.cl
Santiago- Chile
Soliciten nuestros cursos de capacitación  y consultoría en LIDERAZGO -  RESPONSABILIDAD SOCIAL EMPRESARIAL – LOBBY – BIOCOMBUSTIBLES  ,   y asesorías a nivel internacional y están disponibles  para OTEC Y OTIC en Chile

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Circuit Court Bars Sketch Artist

Circuit Court Bars Sketch Artist

Here is a sketchy decision if ever there was one. When longtime courtroom sketch artist William J. Hennessy Jr. showed up last week at the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, supplies in hand, to capture oral arguments in a high-profile Guantanamo detainee case, the court's chief deputy clerk stopped him short. No sketching allowed today, she told him.

According to a post at The BLT, Hennessy was sidetracked but not derailed by the ban. In place of his sketchpad, he brought a legal pad into the courtroom and jotted notes about the lawyers and judges, recording gestures, clothing and the like. When he got back to his office, he drew the scene based on his notes and his memory. "As long as I can see it I can sketch it," he told The BLT.

In a wide shot, he captured the panel judges on the bench and Solicitor General Gregory Garre (dark gray suit with a solid light blue tie) at the podium; Hennessy sketched Bingham McCutchen partner P. Sabin Willett (dark suit with a red, black, and white striped tie) standing alone. Willett argued for the release of Uighur detainees, who were not in court.

When the circuit judges saw Hennessy's sketch, they were not happy. The clerk called him to convey their dismay. Asked by The BLT about the court's sketchy prohibition, Chief Judge David Sentelle said there is no set rule on sketch artists and each panel decides for itself. "The judges who presided make the decision."

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Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on December 3, 2008


CONSULTEN, OPINEN , ESCRIBAN LIBREMENTE
Saludos
Rodrigo González Fernández
Diplomado en RSE de la ONU
www.consultajuridicachile.blogspot.com
www.el-observatorio-politico.blogspot.com
www.lobbyingchile.blogspot.com
www.biocombustibles.blogspot.com
www.calentamientoglobalchile.blogspot.com
oficina: Renato Sánchez 3586 of. 10
Teléfono: OF .02-  8854223- CEL: 76850061
e-mail: rogofe47@mi.cl
Santiago- Chile
Soliciten nuestros cursos de capacitación  y consultoría en LIDERAZGO -  RESPONSABILIDAD SOCIAL EMPRESARIAL – LOBBY – BIOCOMBUSTIBLES  ,   y asesorías a nivel internacional y están disponibles  para OTEC Y OTIC en Chile

Monday, December 01, 2008

A Very Different Thanksgiving Story

A Very Different Thanksgiving Story

At his blog, Leadership for Lawyers, Mark Beese tells the story of one adventurous boyhood Thanksgiving he spent on the Tonawanda Indian Reservation near Buffalo, N.Y. A local Boy Scout leader named Dan had been able to get an invitation from an Iroquois religious leader to the reservation's mid-winter festival, a Thanksgiving festival in which families gather for three days in a rustic, one-room longhouse lined with benches and heated only by wood stoves at either end. Beese, then a young Boy Scout, was interested in native culture and thrilled at the invitation.

After an elderly woman in traditional dress questioned them and told them the rules they would have to follow, they finally were able to meet their host, Corbett Sundown, chief of the Seneca Nation and a kind of medicine man known as the Keeper of the Faith. He appeared to be in his 70s, Beese writes, short and strong, with white hair beneath a baseball cap. He was to be their guide and over the weekend they had many conversations. But one stood out in Beese's memory. It started with Sundown asking Beese if he knew the difference between Christians and Native Americans. Answering his own question, he explained:

The difference between the Christians and my people is how we pray. The Christians pray to God, 'give me this, give me that.' It is a give-me religion. They are always telling God what they want and how they want it. They are focused on themselves, not on others. They think God is there to give them what they want.

We pray with gratitude. We pray, 'Thank you for the Sun, that warms us and grows the corn. Thank you for the rain and the snow that gives us water and irrigates the beans. Thank you for the earth, that feeds the plants. Thank you for the trees, that give us wood for houses and heat. Thank you for giving us each other.

Sundown's words have stayed with Beese, who thinks of them every Thanksgiving. "On Thanksgiving Day, when we re-create the Harvest Celebration of pilgrims and natives, I think of Corbet Sundown's admonition of recognition and thanks."

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Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on December 1, 2008


CONSULTEN, OPINEN , ESCRIBAN LIBREMENTE
Saludos
Rodrigo González Fernández
Diplomado en RSE de la ONU
www.consultajuridicachile.blogspot.com
www.el-observatorio-politico.blogspot.com
www.lobbyingchile.blogspot.com
www.biocombustibles.blogspot.com
www.calentamientoglobalchile.blogspot.com
oficina: Renato Sánchez 3586 of. 10
Teléfono: OF .02-  8854223- CEL: 76850061
e-mail: rogofe47@mi.cl
Santiago- Chile
Soliciten nuestros cursos de capacitación  y consultoría en LIDERAZGO -  RESPONSABILIDAD SOCIAL EMPRESARIAL – LOBBY – BIOCOMBUSTIBLES  ,   y asesorías a nivel internacional y están disponibles  para OTEC Y OTIC en Chile

What is a Law Degree Good For, Besides Law?

What is a Law Degree Good For, Besides Law?

The National Law Journal this week raises the question, "Is the Versatility of a Law Degree Just a Myth?" "People don't see the value in the joint degree. They think I'm confused," Dina Allam told the NLJ regarding her joint law and master of business administration degree from Ohio State University. In hindsight, Allam said, she would have skipped the JD and gone straight for the MBA.

Allam won't get any argument from Ron Friedman, the lawyer-turned-consultant, who writes at his blog, Strategic Legal Technology, that he does not see a JD as a useful credential for jobs outside law. He explains:

When I graduated NYU Law in 1986, I worked as a strategy consultant for Bain & Co. My pre-law school job experience got me the job, the JD got me the “consultant” title, the same as MBAs (in contrast to “associate consultant” for BAs and, in my class, one MD).

I started law school uncertain if I would practice. I heard many lawyers and law placement professionals say how flexible a JD and law practice experience is. I found that with my prior business experience, a few employers (e.g., investment banks) would consider my JD as the equivalent of an MBA. I’ve seen little evidence that the market has changed since then.

If Friedmann's right, then how does he explain all the lawyers who end up in interesting careers outside of law? He chalks it up largely to chance. "That many lawyers end up with interesting non-law jobs does not mean a JD is a path to those jobs or a 'flexible' career. It only means that some lawyers, after they practice some years, can change careers." In the NLJ piece, career consultant Stephen Seckler puts it this way: "Going to law school gives you a certain set of credentials that really aren't valuable for anything other than practicing law."

I say, tell that to Barack Obama. Ours is a society of laws. Laws control virtually all aspects of government and business and many of our personal affairs. To understand law, I believe, is to understand how things work. That was why I went to law school on the advice of a journalism adviser who said, "You know how to write and report. Get a degree that will teach you about the world." Law was his idea, not mine, but I've never regretted my JD.

What do you think? Does a law degree prepare you for anything other than law?

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Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on December 1, 2008


CONSULTEN, OPINEN , ESCRIBAN LIBREMENTE
Saludos
Rodrigo González Fernández
Diplomado en RSE de la ONU
www.consultajuridicachile.blogspot.com
www.el-observatorio-politico.blogspot.com
www.lobbyingchile.blogspot.com
www.biocombustibles.blogspot.com
www.calentamientoglobalchile.blogspot.com
oficina: Renato Sánchez 3586 of. 10
Teléfono: OF .02-  8854223- CEL: 76850061
e-mail: rogofe47@mi.cl
Santiago- Chile
Soliciten nuestros cursos de capacitación  y consultoría en LIDERAZGO -  RESPONSABILIDAD SOCIAL EMPRESARIAL – LOBBY – BIOCOMBUSTIBLES  ,   y asesorías a nivel internacional y están disponibles  para OTEC Y OTIC en Chile

Blawg Review Visits Alice's Restaurant

Blawg Review Visits Alice's Restaurant

Arlobio You'd think it would be reason enough for a blogger to give thanks to have Arlo Guthrie show up at your door on Thanksgiving Day and offer to help you write Blawg Review, that weekly recap of highlights from the legal blogosphere. But to help him in writing Blawg Review #188, Eric Turkewitz had not only that icon of counterculture protest, but also a whole bevy of actual blawgers. For Turkewitz, the author of New York Personal Injury Law Blog, the guest list of legal bloggers made for memorable dinner conversation, as the assembled lawyers did what lawyers do and talked turkey. Here is a taste:

As I carved the turkey in the kitchen, Gene Quinn from the IP Watchdog was telling me of a patent to debone a turkey. Our resident vegan, Sherry Colb from Dorf on Law, was not amused and wanted to talk about the hypocrisy of gathering to celebrate while an animal gets slaughtered. (There's one in every crowd, Arlo whispered to me.) Meanwhile, Amir Efrati from the WSJ Law Blog shifted the talk to the ritualistic pardons a few lucky turkeys receive from politicians. We chatted about the Sarah Palin and George Bush turkey pardons and then the more serious people pardons that Bush just signed and those he might sign soon. His colleague at the WSJ, Ashby Jones, joined in with more on those begging for a Bush pardon, as did Andrew Golden from the Marquette faculty.

Seems like the only person missing from this feast was Officer Obbie. But even without him, it is a Blawg Review you will gobble up.

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Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on December 1, 2008


CONSULTEN, OPINEN , ESCRIBAN LIBREMENTE
Saludos
Rodrigo González Fernández
Diplomado en RSE de la ONU
www.consultajuridicachile.blogspot.com
www.el-observatorio-politico.blogspot.com
www.lobbyingchile.blogspot.com
www.biocombustibles.blogspot.com
www.calentamientoglobalchile.blogspot.com
oficina: Renato Sánchez 3586 of. 10
Teléfono: OF .02-  8854223- CEL: 76850061
e-mail: rogofe47@mi.cl
Santiago- Chile
Soliciten nuestros cursos de capacitación  y consultoría en LIDERAZGO -  RESPONSABILIDAD SOCIAL EMPRESARIAL – LOBBY – BIOCOMBUSTIBLES  ,   y asesorías a nivel internacional y están disponibles  para OTEC Y OTIC en Chile

Three Lawyers' Mumbai Survival Stories

Three Lawyers' Mumbai Survival Stories

No doubt many lawyers were touched by the week's tragic turn of events in Mumbai. Here are three survival stories I've found from news reports.

Boston transplant stays safe. Lawyer Nirva Patel and her husband Paresh left Boston two years ago to make their home in Mumbai, taking an apartment in the heart of the city's commercial center within eyesight of the luxurious Taj hotel. Today they are safe, but they are confronting a mix of emotions and reactions that echo what they felt in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States. "We just saw a body being thrown out the window," Nirva Patel said in a telephone interview with The Boston Globe Saturday. "The entire Taj hotel is in smoke. They say there's a foul smell emanating from the Taj. ... We're too afraid to open up our doors and windows."

The 30-year-old Patel, a graduate of Boston University and New England School of Law, and her husband remained safe by staying inside their apartment building, monitoring the news on TV and the Internet. As the lobby of their building became a staging area for freed hostages and evacuees from the Taj, they helped out by dispensing cellphone chargers so the displaced could stay connected with their friends and families.

The Patels regularly dine in the restaurants at the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower hotel, two blocks from their apartment, and at the adjacent Oberoi and Trident hotels, four blocks in the other direction. Paresh knows two people who escaped from Oberoi's Kandahar and Tiffin restaurants, where dozens were killed. And Nirva ate lunch Wednesday at Trident's Frangipani a few hours before the siege began. She might have returned to the hotel that night if not for lack of a baby sitter.

Speaking to The Boston Globe, Patel said she was thankful for the safety of her family, which includes a 7-month-old daughter and small dog. "I'm grateful. I'm really grateful. We could have been there."

Retired judge turns to texting. Meanwhile, inside the Taj, vacationing former Cook County (Chicago) Circuit Court Judge Benjamin S. Mackoff and his wife Carol were thankful they had brought an international cell phone with text messaging. For nearly 48 hours, as the couple remained holed up in their hotel room, their text messages served as a lifeline to their family, the U.S. State Department, reporters and others, and eventually helped coordinate their rescue Friday morning, as reported in the Chicago Sun-Times.

We got a call from the colonel of the [Indian] army, and he said we will give you a password, and if we come to the door and give it to you, come quietly with us," Mrs. Mackoff told CNN after being rescued. "That's exactly what happened. 

"They took us down a back service stairway that was very quiet. We were tiptoeing through glass and blood and discarded shoes from people who it appeared had recently died."

The 75-year-old Judge Mackoff and his investment-banker wife Carol, 66, were part of a tour group staying at the hotel and had been traveling through India since Nov. 6.

BlackBerry was lawyer's salvation. For Australian lawyer David Jacobs, trapped in a room on the 16th floor of the Oberoi/Trident Hotel, his BlackBerry proved to be his salvation, according to the Sunday Mail. Hiding in a closet, the 58-year-old Baker & McKenzie lawyer exchanged a stream of e-mails with his family in Sydney and two U.S. security experts.

"I don't know if I'm going to get out of this and I love you and I love the kids, and we've had a great life together," he wrote in one e-mail to his wife. Throughout the ordeal, he received advice from security experts on escape options and what to do if taken hostage.

In an ironic twist of fate, Jacobs represents hotels as head of his firm's Global Resort & Tourism Practice. No word on whether the Oberoi/Trident is his client.

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Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on December 1, 2008


CONSULTEN, OPINEN , ESCRIBAN LIBREMENTE
Saludos
Rodrigo González Fernández
Diplomado en RSE de la ONU
www.consultajuridicachile.blogspot.com
www.el-observatorio-politico.blogspot.com
www.lobbyingchile.blogspot.com
www.biocombustibles.blogspot.com
www.calentamientoglobalchile.blogspot.com
oficina: Renato Sánchez 3586 of. 10
Teléfono: OF .02-  8854223- CEL: 76850061
e-mail: rogofe47@mi.cl
Santiago- Chile
Soliciten nuestros cursos de capacitación  y consultoría en LIDERAZGO -  RESPONSABILIDAD SOCIAL EMPRESARIAL – LOBBY – BIOCOMBUSTIBLES  ,   y asesorías a nivel internacional y están disponibles  para OTEC Y OTIC en Chile

Monday, November 24, 2008

charles darwin: Blawg Review #187 -- Evolution Day Edition

Blawg Review #187 -- Evolution Day Edition

Today is Evolution Day, the anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin's seminal work, On the Origin of Species, most commonly associated with the principle of "survival of the fittest." And with many law firms struggling to survive, Evolution Day provides an apt theme for Blawg Review #187, hosted at Josh Fruchter's Lawyer Casting.

Unlike Darwin's theory of evolution, you won't find any "missing links" in this Blawg Review, which offers tips from around the legal blogosphere on surviving in this economy. The advice runs the gamut, with obvious ideas such as remembering to focus on clients or registering to use LegalOnRamp if you're recently  unemployed. But there are also some suggestions that seem counter-intuitive such as why you shouldn't run out and set up a bankruptcy practice (since clients may not be able to pay your fees) or why firms should not lay off associates to save money, but rather, might consider investing in them.

All in all, in this economy, Blawg Review #187 should come as a natural selection for your reading. And you can also play a role in the next iteration, to be hosted at New York Personal Injury Attorney Blog, where Eric Turkewitz has already put out the casting call.

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Posted by Carolyn Elefant on November 24, 2008


CONSULTEN, OPINEN , ESCRIBAN LIBREMENTE
Saludos
Rodrigo González Fernández
Diplomado en RSE de la ONU
www.consultajuridicachile.blogspot.com
www.el-observatorio-politico.blogspot.com
www.lobbyingchile.blogspot.com
www.biocombustibles.blogspot.com
www.calentamientoglobalchile.blogspot.com
oficina: Renato Sánchez 3586 of. 10
Teléfono: OF .02-  8854223- CEL: 76850061
e-mail: rogofe47@mi.cl
Santiago- Chile
Soliciten nuestros cursos de capacitación  y consultoría en LIDERAZGO -  RESPONSABILIDAD SOCIAL EMPRESARIAL – LOBBY – BIOCOMBUSTIBLES  ,   y asesorías a nivel internacional y están disponibles  para OTEC Y OTIC en Chile

Lawyers Seeking Opportunities Overseas

Chile is a godd alternative

Lawyers Seeking Opportunities Overseas

In a waning economy, lawyers looking for new employment horizons might be advised to look across the horizon -- literally. Because as Legal Blog Watch's own John Bringardner writes in the New York Times, overseas markets are the new land of opportunity for lawyers.

Back in the gold rush days, law firms had a tough time selling lawyers on locales like Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Hong Kong. But now all that's changed, and recruiters are finding plenty of lawyers willing to travel halfway around the world for a job. Because of increased interest in overseas positions, firms can afford to be choosier about who they hire, and also stingier with their incentives. For example:

When Kirkland opened its Hong Kong office in 2006... it was hard to complete its hiring locally. American and British firms there were willing to make candidates the kind of fantastic offers they’d rarely see at home. “Two years ago I saw third-years asking to be made partners,” David Eich [a Kirland partner] says. “With the market crash we immediately felt the inflection of that. These days I see partners happy to take a salary adjustment for their circumstances.”

Still, going overseas isn't just a way to bide time while the economy recovers. Many lawyers are embracing the overseas alternative as an opportunity to build a practice at a time when there's not much going on at the office at home. Seems like a no-brainer to me.

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Posted by Carolyn Elefant on November 24, 2008


CONSULTEN, OPINEN , ESCRIBAN LIBREMENTE
Saludos
Rodrigo González Fernández
Diplomado en RSE de la ONU
www.consultajuridicachile.blogspot.com
www.el-observatorio-politico.blogspot.com
www.lobbyingchile.blogspot.com
www.biocombustibles.blogspot.com
www.calentamientoglobalchile.blogspot.com
oficina: Renato Sánchez 3586 of. 10
Teléfono: OF .02-  8854223- CEL: 76850061
e-mail: rogofe47@mi.cl
Santiago- Chile
Soliciten nuestros cursos de capacitación  y consultoría en LIDERAZGO -  RESPONSABILIDAD SOCIAL EMPRESARIAL – LOBBY – BIOCOMBUSTIBLES  ,   y asesorías a nivel internacional y están disponibles  para OTEC Y OTIC en Chile