It's The Shrub, there's the rub

No, it's not that RL is boring right now. Just that there's too much going on to do more than pop in every so often with a breathless "Still alive!"

So in the absence of time to write about mememememe, here's something about usususus:

( White House defends editing of climate reports )

Oh - re-reading that, it's ususus as in "us", not as in "U.S."

The Crayon Case

Stumbled across The Crayon Case, a real decision from a real torts case, that was passed along the legal internet community a while back amid much hilarity. This judge went to town on the ineptness of the two lawyers who'd argued before him. Thoroughly lambasted them. I remember reading an editorial/article (bear, do you remember where?) where somebody pointed out, quite rightly, that it was rather unprofessional and unfair of this judge to use his position of power to totally humiliate the lawyers, considering the power imbalance between judges and lawyers.

The writer made good points. I almost agree. In the end, though, I can't help feeling that the power imbalance between lawyers and clients is also quite marked, and sometimes there needs to be somebody around to be able to say, as the clients often cannot, "You. F***ed. Up. Big."

Besides, the snark is just too delicious :) Sample: "A more bumbling approach is difficult to conceive - but wait folks, There's More!" and "...despite Plaintiff's and Defendant's joint, heroic efforts to obscure it, the answer to this question is readily ascertained."

It starts a little slow, giving background info on the case, and picks up at the blue stars (**) I've also ommitted the full case/statute citations.

( Crayola )