actual sort of on topic question
 

:eyeroll: i wasn't being serious, mr. spookyfish.

besides, there is no way that you are one of mr. penske's socks because you have not once posted any pictures depicting hilary clinton as a dominatrix, ice berg, etc. and have not once blamed everything including late afternoon or early evening thunderstorms on the clintons.

and i know that i am not one of mr. penske's socks.

ms. naughty diplomat

actual sort of on topic question
 

that still leaves me. . . . .

or him.

penskeV

Ten Commandments and Schools
 

Protestors were detained when the 800-pound stone tablets were removed from four different school districts.

http://www.dln.com/news3.spml

I hear about this on the radio yesterday as well. One of the individuals who opposed the removed claimed that the monuments were part of a "display" along with other great documents in history. I think he mentioned Hammurabi's Code, the Declaration of Independence and perhaps the Magna Carta. What struck me about this statement was that I have seen the "display" documents in school buildings. They are bolted to a wall and all of the documents are reproduced on a white plastic sheet. How is an 800-pound granite tablet part of the display? That's just fucking stupid.

aV

Ten Commandments and Schools
 

favorite quote from the article - ''We have to make the decision in America if there's going to be local control of what we're going to teach our children,'' said Dave Daubenmire, among those protesting at Peebles High. ''Is it going to be the people here in the community, or some judge in a courtroom in Washington? The people of Adams County have spoken.''

am i the only one who noticing the very close similarity between what this moron is saying and what people in places like mississippi and alabama were saying after Brown v. Board of Education about desegregation. but i guess since white supremism is no longer okay for all but the biggest idiots and losers the narrow minded bigots have turned to christian sepremism to satisfy their need to be narrow minded bigots.

is it possible that we can convince some other state to take adams county? maybe mississippi or alabama the people there sound like they would fit right in.

ms. naughty diplomat

actual sort of on topic question
 

that would be pretty funny. and as long as they aren't totally blocking the sidewalk or beating up people or something it would simply be a funny protest. if for no other reason, why would they actually think that their protest would have any effect on a large law firm?

ms. naughty diplomat

actual sort of on topic question
 

Well the goal of a picket like that usually isn't to try and change the behavior of the company [Baker]. Instead, the goal is usually to try and bring media and public attention to the company and the issue. The idea is for the bad press to shake up the firm, or a hope that clients will see the big bad rat and the picketers and then call and ask what was up with the pickets and the giant rat (and should we keep doing business with this law firm if it will get a union mad at us). I believe, however, that this type of publicity was actually good for the consulting firm. One of their main areas of "expertise" is dealing with union organizing efforts. Imagine the mileage they got out of being able to say "We got the unions all pissed off at us and pikceting and we haven't even done anything yet. Imagine what we can do for you when we really go to work!"

aV

actual sort of on topic question
 

i could see how that sort of thing could actually help a law firm or other business services provider. i mean in labor and employment law, management side firms tend to view union dislike of them as a badge of honor.

ms. naughty diplomat

Penske's always on topic
 

Exactly. Glad to see I could generate some page hits for you kids. Keep the good work and I'll be back to visit in the fall.

Penske's always on topic
 

feel free to stop by anytime. between you and a giant inflatable rat, active discussion resumed on this board.

hmmm, what does that say about the ohio legal community?

ms. naughty diplomat

N E W S
 

Rumor on the street is that something bad is happening at Arter & Hadden. Real bad.

aV

N E W S
 

how realistic sounding is this rumor?

it sounds rather vague to me

mnd

N E W S
 

This was posted on the "other" board:

"A&H announced to its associates it will be dissolving yesterday, ala Brobeck. Should hit the papers tomorrow. Non-Ohio offices not performing for long time; leases too much $$$. Bummer. I am surprised it took this long for this to hit the BB."

aV

N E W S
 

wow, that is really bad. especially since the ohio offices really only seemed to be doing poorly because of their expansion. yet another example of the danger of law firm mergers.

i think i've said it before, but i think that they expansion outside of the ohio market left them vulerable because they never became a strong national firm and didn't keep that strong of an ohio base - their cleveland and columbus offices weren't really large enough to be anchor offices for a 400+ attorney national firm (which is what they were at their peak). i suspect that a large part of their problem came from the washington office which had fallen all the way down to 14 attorneys (of which only was was an associate) - i seem to recall that they had about about 60 or 70 attorneys there at one point before they started losing people.

i hope in the future that law firm partners will look at something like that and see the danger of the expand or die mentaility - perhaps no firm was a better representation of trying to go from a regional firm to a national firm than arter. just like brobeck perfectly represented the tech boom thinking, arter perfectly represented the expand and become national way of thinking.

ms. naughty diplomat

N E W S
 

Was this a post or a news story? Damn, I apparently need to spend more time around the water cooler. You know, I wondered about this, because I know someone who went to A&H less than a year ago, and recently heard em went somewhere else, where em went of counsel. I'm not sure if it was because of the situation there, or if em just decided the partnership track wasn't happening for em. What the hell is going on in this fucking market, and are there any other firms on the brink in your opinion? I'm becoming very discouraged about the whole thing.

sf

N E W S
 

that was a post, this is a news story. doesn't say that they are dissolving, but if this is supposed to be damage control it sure isn't very reassuring.

"Arter & Hadden, until recently a rapidly expanding national firm, is struggling to ward off dissolution or bankruptcy as excess office space and a string of lawyer departures sap the firm's revenues."

its from the recorder in california so mainly focuses on california - although i still think that the dc office is the largest problem because it declined so much in size (about 50 attorneys). even the cleveland office is down 20 attorneys.

good night,

ms. naughty diplomat