Proposed Amendments to the Federal Rules

OK, I admit to not being the biggest fan of NPR but I do listen and have always heard various events introduced, in dulcet tones, as coming from the National Press Club. Where was this club and how do you join? Can someone like me ever get in?

Well, I still don’t suppose that I can join, but at least I’ll be able to get in this Thursday when I’ll have the privilege of joining several others for a discussion on proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure – at the National Press Club in DC. My paper discusses limitations on e-discovery as informed by generally applicable and neutrally established document retention and retrieval policies. The notion is informed by a philosophy that I tried to follow as general counsel of Rite Hite Holding. We should try not, I used to say, run our business for purposes of litigation. Something about the tail wagging the dog.

I am sure that this event at the National Press Club will not be broadcast. Even public radio has some required threshold of excitement.

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Most Important Election Law Decision: It’s Not Citizens United

In late October, I had the privilege of speaking at Chapman University’s Nexus Symposium on Citizens United – article to follow. For the four of you that haven’t heard, Citizens United held that corporations may use general treasury funds to finance independent communications that expressly advocate the election or defeat of a candidate – even during times proximate to the election.

The response to Citizens United has been, in my view, overstated. 

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More on An Ethic of Professional Satisfaction

I rather liked Rebecca Blemberg’s post on lawyer happiness and virtue ethics and would like to extend the discussion. I agree that one of the mistakes a lawyer can make is to follow the lure of a consequentialism that is divorced from her knowledge of herself and what that tells her about the way in which she should practice law.

We normally associate this with pursuit of the shimmering rewards of legal practice such as money or glory. Rebecca is right to suggest that these things, in and of themselves, will not make for a happy career. I know plenty of lawyers who love the practice while making tons of money and winning lots of cases, but their happiness as lawyers (and perhaps their success) has another source.

But it seems to me that one can become unhappy in the law by pursuing what might be seen as selfless objectives as well. Thus the picture of Al Pacino as Milton in The Devil’s Advocate.

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