Jeff Buckley

I’d completely forgotten Jeff Buckley’s Grace album was so good. I was on my morning drive to work (Debarr to 15th to Ingra to 5th to the parking garage) when a piece on Jeff Buckley came on the radio because he drowned ten years ago in Memphis. I listened to some of the tracks from Grace on the NPR.org website yesterday and decided I had to re-discover this album. So today I grabbed my CD and brought it to work where I copied it onto my computer and now I’m listening. ‘Last Goodbye’ is a good track.

Lawyer inanity

During my lunch break yesterday and today I’ve been reading with some interest a growing comment section on the Wall Street Journal Law Blog regarding law schools and their ‘tiers’. I find the entire argument rather amusing and have said so:

LOL
The entire premise – that one must attend a Tier 1 school to amount to anything professionally – is absolute hogwash. Perhaps for those too narrowly focused to understand that major firm life is not (contrary to opinions too often expressed in WSJ) the pinnacle of our profession. The vast majority of excellent legal work done in this country is outside of those firms. The vast majority of rich (if that is how one properly characterizes success) and powerful (politically/socially) attorneys work either for themselves or in small firms doing ‘regional’ or local practice. It is at these shops that attorneys ‘help’ their clients (persons not anonymous shareholder-driven corporations) the most.
Comment by operator101 – May 23, 2007 at 3:48 pm

Aren’t I so smart? I write so well, don’t you think? But wait! There’s even more to my public ramblings to East Coast lovers!

As I sit here enjoying the nice view of the ocean and the nearby mountains outside my office window I am astounded to read there remains so many unhappy ‘lower tier’ graduates. Just live your life and stop attempting to measure your sucess against others who clearly do not share your basic qualities. I never wanted to be a ‘Yale’ or ‘Harvard’ graduate (although I work with several) so perhaps my expectations were low compared to other ‘lower tier’ students. Maybe it is all about the perspective that one brings to professional life? Regardless, I will sit and enjoy my government paycheck and magnificent office view.
Comment by operator101.com – May 24, 2007 at 3:52 pm

Completely inane comments by silly attorneys. I’m, obviously, of the opinion that people need to grow-up and stop acting like little children. That doesn’t, of course, forestall anyone from writing weird things.

Photos from Ketchikan

As I wrote yesterday, the lady friend and I flew down to Ketchikan last week (by way of Juneau and Sitka) for a visit. Had an awesome time with friends. Took A LOT of photos. I just finished uploading the new photo gallery – just click on the photo to see the photos.

Or you can go and visit my entire photo gallery and take a look at the other selections I’ve got for you. Please note that the photo galleries open up in a new window.

Back from Ketchikan

Had a trial last week. 10 hours over two days to pick a jury. 30 minutes to present my case. No defense case. Guilty on one count and hung on the other. I didn’t agree with the judge’s decisions. I think I’ll retry the case next month.

Flew to Ketchikan. It was a blast. Great sunny weather. Good hiking on the Perserverance Trail in Tongas National Forest. Great time flight-seeing up through Misty Fjords National Monument. Zip-lining north of Ketchikan at Southeast Adventures was pretty freaking cool but scary at the same time.

I’ll be putting up photos soon from our trips. As for now, it’s back to work this morning.

Trial Next Week

Well, it’s official. I’ve got another trial next week. The assigned attorney won’t be able to do the trial so I volunteered. Now I’ve got to get ready for the trial while still being able to leave town this weekend for a trip to Talkeetna.

Another trial this week.

I promised a long time ago NOT to talk about work.

Whatever.

I was bored, love to do trials, am not currently in a position which maintains a trial caseload and the assigned attorney was out-of-town this week so I worked a DUI trial. Things didn’t really go as planned.

Picked a jury? YES

Opening? YES

Interviewed all witnesses? YES

Ready to do a quick felony trial? YES

Have a judge change the pattern jury instructions? YES

The last one is NOT supposed to happen. Both sides liked the pattern instruction. It gave the defense a, well, a DEFENSE. It gave the State good stuff to argue that what the defendant did was, in fact, a crime. We were all in agreement. It was something very odd that we both agreed on this as the issue the instruction gave the law on (and I don’t believe I’m overstating this here) was the only freaking issue for the jury to decide! But, the judge applied his view of the law, basically directing the jury to convict the defendant.

That, to me, is not the point of a trial where there is one issue and it is a fact-driven inquiry that should be left for the jury to decide.

I didn’t need the judge’s help as I had good facts, a good jury panel (pat myself on the back), credible civilian witnesses (oh, it’s been so long since I had a trial where my civilian witnesses weren’t crackhead thieves), all the defendant’s incoherent angry drunken rants were clearly recorded, and my officers were of the ‘testify great in court’ type.

So be it. Might have another trial next week.