Susan Raridon Lambreth of Hildebrandt publishes a survey on Monday providing a glimpse into the largest survey yet conducted on associates in law firms around the world.  It’s electrifying because it punctures a number of myths about new generations who supposedly don’t share traditional attitudes and work ethics. 

Susan’s Report is being released on Monday – but here are a few insights:

• Overall associate satisfaction is somewhat higher than expected.
• Associates are not the unhappy collection of unfulfilled employees portrayed in the media. As a group, they are engaged, interested, and happy with their compensation. Very few show any

In today’s issue of IT Management, an interview with Pamela Jones the editor of Groklaw.

Groklaw is a blog and website devoted to covering and explaining legislative and jurisprudential issues of interest to the Free Software and Open Source communities – Ms. Strong recently won a Knowledge Trust Honors award, which honours the best of the best in information and library science and information technology. . . . [more]

Few lawyers in Canada – I except the wonderful Milt Zwicker – will remember the name of Kline D. Strong who died at the weekend. But he transformed the practice of law in North America.

Kline Duncan Strong 1927 ~ 2007 Kline was born January 23, 1927, in Driggs, Idaho He tried to impress upon his family that you’ve never really experienced work until you’ve hoed sugar beets. His professional education included a CPA/MBA from Northwestern University, a law degree from the University of Colorado and he was the first person to obtain a Ph.D in law office management. He . . . [more]

A recent article  on a San Francisco-based web site has this this caption

American kids, dumber than dirt
Warning: The next generation might just be the biggest pile of idiots in U.S. history

 The article states:

No, my friend takes it all a full step — or rather, leap — further. It is not merely a sad slide. It is not just a general dumbing down. It is far uglier than that.

We are, as far as urban public education is concerned, essentially at rock bottom. We are now at a point where we are essentially churning out ignorant teens

I have to be brief this week, because I’m posting this from the LexUM conference in Montreal, while listening with one ear to the translated words of a speaker on the issue of information overload.

I’ve noticed lately that I have trouble hearing the occasional word. I think it must be because the people I hang out with are getting older and so have an increasing tendency to mumble. This can be frustrating, but it can also be fun when I find my brain supplying an amusing word or phrase to replace the blur. The classic instance of this is . . . [more]

Here’s a short list of links that came up in presentations yesterday and that might be of interest generally:

Droit francophone

Droit francophone, le portail de diffusion libre du droit de l’Organisation internationale de la francophonie donne accès à :

* Un portail de plus de 4100 hyperliens juridiques évalués et commentés
* Des collections juridiques nationales et régionales
* Un moteur de recherche du Web juridique francophone

Neil Campbell pointed us to this some time ago, but it seems that the URL has changed since then to the one used above.

Biblioteca Juridica Virtual

In Mexico

El Instituto de

“You can’t do much without a brain. Decapitation is, in most instances, associated with a decline in IQ.” (my emphasis)

Hmmmm…..

Never mind.

On the other hand (so to speak)

Still, I’m going to assume that the emphasized phase shows that the writer-author of this bon mot has been in court recently. A tip of hat, so to speak. . . . [more]

[Bill SB 362] would prohibit a person from requiring, coercing, or compelling any other individual to undergo the subcutaneous implanting of an identification device, as defined.

California Senate Bill 362, made law October 12, 2007

I had no idea that anyone was considering the insertion of chips into employees, but I find I’m not surprised by the revelation. Apparently, a Cincinnati video surveillance company, Citywatcher.com (seemingly no longer online), required that employees be so branded.

[via Deeth Williams Wall E-Tips] . . . [more]

The rejuvenated ABA Journal recently conducted an 800-lawyer survey, the results of which appeared in the October 2007 issue and on the Journal’s website. Some of the findings say a lot without having to say much at all. Consider the subtexts within respondents’ level of agreement with the following statements:

“I find the practice of law to be intellectually stimulating” — 81%
“I am satisfied with my career” — 55%

“I am satisfied with my career”
– Public-sector lawyers — 68%
– Big-firm lawyers — 44%

“I feel that my firm or organization values my contribution”
– White . . . [more]

The TED blog continues to delight and amaze. What caught my eye this time is a piece on graphic artist Maira Kalman, “The Illustrated Woman” (“I’m trying to figure out two very simple things: how to live and how to die. Period… And yell at my children and do all the normal things that keep you grounded.”). Kalman has illustrated many New Yorker covers, has written and illustrated many children’s books, and, if you can imagine, done 56 illustrations for a new edition of Strunk and White’s “The Elements of Style.”

Because of the TED video . . . [more]

I’ve just come across the site for a conference given at Berkeley early in the year: Law and the Emotions: New Directions in Scholarship and I have to say the topic was a new one for me. A couple of the papers may give you a sense of the thing:

• Cheshire Calhoun, Department of Philosophy, Colby College, “Hope Matters” [abstract] [full paper PDF]
• Owen Jones, Vanderbilt University Law School & Department of Biological Sciences, “Biology, Emotions, and Law” [abstract PDF] [precis PDF]
• Dan Kahan, Yale Law School, “Two Conceptions of Emotion in Risk Regulation” [

If you’re interested in start pages, you might take a look at Webwag, a recent entry into the market from the former Google guy in France, Franck Poisson. I found it to be quickly responsive, when adding new feeds, easy to move things around in, and appealing enough to look at. One feature I like — which may be available on other start pages, too — is the ability to go to a web page, frame a portion, and from that portion alone create a widget in Webwag. See in the image here (click to enlarge), for example, the . . . [more]