Steve Jobs

Practical strategies to bring your practice into the modern era.

While year-end planning is important, it does not have to be a multi-day ordeal, as Shannon Achimalbe explains.

This is the beginning of your next chapter. This is just the beginning of your outstanding career.

You begin to notice a pattern with the attorneys who are consistently good – they are very good persuaders, no matter what practice area they're in.

What lies behind the genius...

Ed. note: Above the Law will have a reduced publishing schedule on Friday, July 4, in observance of the day when Will Smith beat those aliens. * Two state supreme courts rejected the bids of guns rights advocates to give felons the right to own guns. But if you outlaw guns, only outlaws… wait, that slogan doesn’t work here. [The Volokh Conspiracy / Washington Post] * Hobby Lobby fallout. Religious groups are asking President Obama to accommodate their “sincerely held belief” that gay people don’t deserve jobs. [Talking Points Memo] * On the other hand, Hobby Lobby opens the door to student loan forgiveness. [Tyler Coulson] * People hated talking to Steve Jobs about their work. Was it because kids these days don’t understand the value of hard work? Or was it because computer geeks are notoriously introverted? [What About Paris?] * Don’t discriminate against people getting divorces — they’ve got enough to worry about. [Adjunct Law Prof Blog] * Some legal academics think bank executives should be paid in bonds. Here are some arguments against that. [Fortune]

What does the con man tell us about America?

The Beatles’ company, Apple Corps, sued Apple Computer in Britain. Who prevailed in this legal battle of the Apples?

That's a pretty great start to a departure memo, right? Let's just say that this leading law firm got zapped -- by a laser....

This column will be published the day our year-end numbers are made public. Word on the street (and the Street) is that we should beat expectations. If true, that would be a very good thing. This isn’t inside information; it’s been opined and published in several national media outlets, and in any event, I am […]

It is without question that Steve Jobs was a genius, and we will never know what he could have created with more time. As the saying goes, if you can’t beat 'em, copy 'em. Or at least that is what Valerie Katz is saying now. And luckily, she came across a blog post by Larry Bodine about what lawyers, particularly small-firm lawyers, can learn from Jobs....

* The Westboro Baptist Church has announced — on an iPhone — that it will be picketing Steve Jobs’s funeral. And now I have an Alanis Morissette song stuck in my head. [Los Angeles Times] * Price check on aisle seven. Price check on aisle seven for a divorce train wreck. People over in England […]

* Saying your dog ate something isn’t a creative enough excuse these days. Try this instead: “I kept the clients’ missing money in my car, which I left running in the parking lot to keep my dead dog’s ashes from freezing. Someone then stole the car, and now the missing client money is gone forever!” […]

Steve Jobs passed away yesterday. And millions of people across the planet learned of the news on devices he invented. You’ve probably already heard the details. The 56-year-old chairman and co-founder of Apple had been fighting pancreatic cancer since 2004. He ran one of the most successful companies in the world, a company he founded […]

* With about 90 vacancies in the federal court system, the Senate approved six for judgeships, including Judge John Roll’s replacement. [Thomson Reuters News & Insight] * $400 per wasted hour? That’s not what you’re paying your lawyer. That’s what he’s paying in sanctions for futzing around during depositions. [Daily Business Review] * Texas Roadhouse: […]

* Professor Laurence Tribe on “the constitutional inevitability of same-sex marriage.” [SCOTUSblog] * You can sleep when you’re dead — and you can prevail against the IRS in litigation, too (as the late Ken Lay just did). [TaxProf Blog] * Speaking of the dead, just because someone is burglarizing your business doesn’t mean you can […]

If we can learn from the loss of a loved one or the end of an era, we can likewise learn from the “death” of a small firm. To those small firms still alive, take this opportunity to reflect on your firm’s past, present, and future. Do not wait until your own funeral to take stock and learn your lessons....

It’s strange how quickly the world changes. Things used to be so simple, but now Steve Jobs has resigned from Apple and we’re having earthquakes in Washington, D.C. Moreover, some fundamental rules of online conduct are beginning to look like artifacts from a bygone era when people were crazy for RAZRs and nu metal. Gone […]

One morning last week, I walked past dozens of loyal Apple customers lined up to buy the new iPad 2. I scoffed as I walked by, my old, beat-up iPod nano playing in my ears. I also had the misfortune of walking past the same store later in the evening. A sign in the doorway […]

* UVA Law grad Corwin Levi used his law school notes as his artistic canvas. I bet he has a really snazzy collar. [Ex-Lawyers Club] * Not all professors are lazy. Professor Ilya Somin hops on the “make new exam questions” bandwagon. [Volokh Conspiracy] * Professor Stephen Bainbridge has another theory on how “Tiger Mother” […]