The Average Lawyer's Creed?

Isaiah 59:4 "No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments and speak lies; they conceive trouble and give birth to evil."

Update: a friend says that the above quote should apply to politicians, not lawyers.

Gender Gap

From NYT, April 18, 2010, Sunday Business, page 8:

Women account for just 6 percent of the chief executives of the top 100 tech companies, and 22 percent of the software engineers at tech companies over all, according to the National Center for Women and Information Technology. And among venture capitalists, the population of financiers who control the purse strings for a majority of tech start-ups, just 14 percent are women.

Interesting.

Malanga on California's Government Unions

Steven Malanga on California's government unions, including the teachers' union:

http://city-journal.org/2010/20_2_california-unions.html (City Journal, Spring 2010, "The Beholden State")

You wouldn't think that a public school teacher could possibly be an enemy of private enterprise and fiscal responsibility, but the rank-and-file don't usually dictate policy to their union bosses. Also, political discourse has become so hostile, no large entity seems to be fighting over the middle ground, where common sense resides.

Shameless Self-Promotion

Recently, I was featured in some publications. I wanted to put the links in one place, and this blog seemed like a good place. So, without further ado, if you are interested in SCU lawyers and what it's like to coach youth basketball, you might like the following links:

http://law.scu.edu/sclaw/spring-2010-private-practice.cfm

http://www.scribd.com/doc/27008818/Daily-Journal

http://ucdavismagazine.ucdavis.edu/issues/sp10/letters.html#letter_9

http://proxyexchange.org/barrister_program [current as of 1/2011]

Describing himself as philosophically Jeffersonian, Matthew [Rafat] is passionate about economics. It is not the theories or the personalities that draw him. It is the issues: "What concerns me now is that so many people in the U.S. seem to have lost their capacity for long term planning, delayed gratification, and sacrifice for future generations. At the end of the day, capitalistic systems rely on a fragile balance of supply and demand; thus, they only work if most people are honest, reasonable, and prudent, and they work best when economic transactions are transparent."

Ferrari Sighting in Downtown SJ

San Jose's Tea Party

San Jose had a Tea Party rally yesterday. There were many interesting signs from adherents and opponents. One teenager carried a sign stating, "Future Tax Slave." Someone else carried a sign proclaiming that "a village in Kenya is missing an idiot." Another interesting one-liner: "Save trees--stop printing money."

Meanwhile, Tea Party opponents mocked all the sign-carrying with (what else?) their own signs: "THIS IS A SIGN"; "THREE LETTER SIGN"; and "Don't Spread on Me," with a picture of a sliced bagel.

I did not see anyone carrying any guns. Everyone I noticed was polite, and many people were arguing respectfully with each other.

Civilian Courts Successfully Handle Terrorists

Next time someone tries to tell you that giving terrorists due process of law isn't feasible, remind him or her that "U.S. courts have, in fact, handled hundreds of terrorism-related cases since 9/11. Of the 828 defendants indicted in the United States on terrorism-related charges, 593 have been processed through the civilian court system, according to NYU Law's Highlights From the Terrorist Trial Report Card... Of the 593 defendants, 523 have been imprisoned...an 88.2 percent conviction rate." (Bob Kemper, Washington Lawyer, March 2010)