Beatles And Apples Don't Mix

Again.

Keynote Inside; Set Those TiVos

I can't be sure (there're a whole whopping lot of us), but I think I might be working on, among other things, the first Keynote presentation ever to sneak in the doors at Reed Smith. Big deal, it's just like PowerPoint, right? I wish I could better put my finger on why that's not right, but it's not. Keynote is easier, more flexible, prettier for sure, and more fun (both to put together and to watch). Highly subjective I know, but you'll just have to take my word for it.

You'll also have to make sure to catch Music Wars tonight on TechTV (5:00 PDT/8:00 EDT), and the 90-minute panel discussion/open mike session (6:00 PDT/9:00 EDT) to follow. Good related links are Erik Parke's pending lawsuit against the RIAA (which has to have been brought under the omnipresent Business & Professions Code Section 17200), and the EFF's petition (via the West Coast's own Donna Wentworth).

Today's New Blawg

"I don't have kids or a life, but I do have tenure," writes UCLA law professor Stephen Bainbridge (more), in response to concerns about the 20 posts cranked out in his blog's first two days of existence. [Via the Volokh Conspiracy] If you're a lawyer or law student who has studied corporate law, odds are you're already familiar with Professor Bainbridge; it will be fantastic to come to know him more directly through his weblog. Professor Bainbridge blames his blog on Hugh Hewitt, who wants "less corp law, more politics;" I'll chime in with my own typical request for "more wine!" (And have you met Jeff Cooper?) It's great to see another law prof blog, welcome, and don't worry—you'll have a new dance partner before you know it.

The Unalawyer's Manifesto

Two parties, one appeal—one lawyer? If you're X-Treme Advocate Blair Hoffman, you just might convince a court to make it happen. Blair, who is a judicial staff attorney with Justice Ming Chin of the California Supreme Court, has won the California Lawyer's X-Treme Advocacy contest, as selected by Judge Alex Kozinski. In introducing the winner, Judge Kozinski discussed the fine art of advocacy:

I decided that the winning entry would be the one that did the best job of making me doubt my initial negative reaction to the proposition it was advancing. We do see this in cases on occasion: An advocate will advance a point that seems wholly counterintuitive-one that has no apparent chance of success. And then, by skillful use of logic and authority, the advocate manages to turn the judges around and secure a victory for his client. Whenever that happens, it confirms once again that lawyers are not fungible and that great advocacy can make a big difference in the outcome of cases.

Myron Moskowitz provides yet more advocatorial inspiration in the same issue ("Get It Right the First Time: tips from an appellate lawyer").

Geshunteit

"[A]s Adam and Eve discovered, self-awareness and sin often go hand in hand." Autonomic computing and four other technologies will change the world, says Scott Kirsner in Fast Company.