LYtheGreat

在外所工作的，或者有意求职于外所的朋友可以看看这个Vault发布的排名。或许这个排名不能完全反映国内开office的外所在中国或亚太地区practice的优劣位次，但还是可以参考参考的。本想把排名表格直接贴出来的，但是明明完成了编辑却不能正常显示，只好留下链接（TOP 100 Law Firms），大家自己点进去看吧~~~

In winter and spring 2008, Vault surveyed more than 18,800 associates at more than 167 major law firms across the US and asked them to rank firms in terms of how prestigious it would be to work for them. We took these scores to calculate our prestige rankings. For the quality of life rankings, Vault asked associates to rate their own firms on issues such as treatment by partners, formal training, informal training and mentoring, hours and compensation and then scored the firms against each other.
Vault has also surveyed law firm partners from the nation's most prestigious firms, resulting in the Vault Partner Rankings.
See the results of the survey from Vault official website here, and find the Rankings Methodology in detail here.
There are also rankings of The Best 20 Law Firms to Work For (click here), The Best 20 Law Firms for Diversity (click here), and the Partner Prestige Rankings (click here).

对北京奥运会期盼的心情，从七年前申奥成功便开始酝酿、加深，到了开幕式当天下班的时候，简直到了急不可耐的程度。当奥运真的来了，它却匆匆而过，让人都来不及停下来细细体味这份激情。17天的那些想法，在这边补过。

► 奢美绚丽的开幕式：老谋子深算！量我中华之物力，结与国之欢心~~~
        虽然我从来都不怀疑我们中国筹办大型盛典的能力（想想十一届亚运会开幕式~~~），但张艺谋利用更先进的声光电技术展现出来的奇妙构思还是令人惊叹！卷轴作为整场的主线，一直贯穿到火炬点燃，很好的创意！主火炬也是超级漂亮啊！（刘琪大人在首钢验货时高兴地说：“比人家那火盆强多了！”）
        而场面铺张的风格仍然一以贯之——同样是放焰火，我们就能放出一锅铁水从鸟巢飞溅而出的夸张效果（这种时候，我是半点都不心疼自己交的税被他们拿去烧掉了~~~）。天朝上国么，撒点银子让蛮夷们开心开心啦，回头关起门来勒紧裤腰带好了。
        这个时候，伦敦奥组委已然是看得一愣一愣了。等他们缓过神儿来，便发现大事不妙了……（后来他们家总导演说他们无意与北京比较……我是觉得，你便是“有意”，又能如何了~~~）我们要厚道点，别把事儿做到极了，给人留点余地吧。结果我发现，我们还是不厚道的……
        顺便问一下，闭幕式上的“伦敦八分钟”到底想表达什么啊？一群人挤一辆开不过自行车的公交车，然后里面冒出个女鬼乱吼，一个老不修的拼着老命上摇滚附和，最后钻出来个过气球星开出一脚化骨棉棉球……这都说的是啥啊？？？

► 首金的羁绊：丽娘失射，无妨！有我女力士！
        首金的压力，连看的人都能感受到了。当杜丽未能如愿摘下这08奥运第一金后，CCTV的那个女主持脸色凝重，虽然她接着说了一大通宽慰杜丽和观众的话，却更看出了她的耿耿于怀。其实每个人都多少有些失落感的吧……当晚的新闻播出杜丽痛哭流涕，新闻工作者就是喜欢采集播放这种画面。。。其实这个时候大家都已释然（出了杜丽本人），极少有人还会怀着责怪的情绪吧。要说杜丽真是好样的，在这样巨大的压力下，在四天后便射落气步枪三姿金牌！
        女举为中国完成了首金重任。中国举重队真的是一支神奇的队伍。最初看举重比赛老是纳闷，为什么迟迟没有中国选手上场，难道没我们的人？后来发现，我们的力士们都早早地在后场歇着，等其他选手差不多三把举完了，才加个五斤上。实力啊！另外想说，男女举重队员（还有后来陆续登场的其他中国运动员）长相还都蛮好的。告别歪瓜劣枣的年代真好！（没错，我就是喜欢以貌取人的啊~~~）

► 国羽：杜、于强T，先撕倭女，终克棒子；宁是一姐，老将出马，技冠群芳；超级丹者，睥睨天下，国士无双。国人皆为之快焉！
        窃以为，国羽的综合实力在世界羽坛是首屈一指的。但分到各个单项上面，始终还逞不出乒乓、跳水那样不可战胜的王霸之气。开赛前，一般认为女单女双稳如泰山，男单么还是有很多内行人看好李崇伟，至于混双和男双则要冲击金牌。结果是女双头牌的张杨组合意外地早早败北，男双夺银（已是奥运最好成绩），拿了两次奥运金牌的混双项目拿了个第三……
        这些失利固然令人惋惜，好在男女单项和女双仍然力夺头名。好多人从实力和八卦的两个角度出发，期望“神雕侠侣”林丹谢杏芳双双夺冠。忒无聊！我是希望张宁蝉联冠军，同时幻想鲍春来能有所作为的~~~当然，鲍受孱弱的球风决定了鲍迷们的幻想终究只能是幻想……赛后小鲍子剃度了，号称“削发明志”。无语啊。。。这么多年练出来的绵软球风，应该是剃什么都变不了的了……
        张宁的夺冠真是大慰人心！这一方面是对广大老运动员多年坚持的告慰，另一方面也再让谢杏芳多一点历练。女皇加冕，尚需时日~~~
        奥运前，国羽总教头李大人是说了满话的（这是他招人厌的一个原因）。如今三金二银三铜应可保其帅位无虞，但国羽受到的挑战真的蛮多蛮强烈的，李大人得好自为之啊~~~ btw，似乎很多人“反李”，我则是“反反李”的。就算传言此人爱搞政治斗争，那便又如何？换个远离政治的人来，谁能顶？孩子们，醒醒吧，要学会勇敢地接受成王败寇的历史现实，乖~~~

► 棒子姑娘梦醒，埃蒙斯再送金牌：Impossible Is Nothing
        韩国射箭梦之队，每次的金牌，不过是到赛场取回去而已。中国射箭女团好不容易再次与棒子姑娘们再次聚首决赛，但还是以较大差距败北。然而随着张娟娟奇迹般地将三名韩国高手一一射落，梦之队也就到了梦醒时分~~~
        当射箭女团决赛最后一轮中国队以大比分落后时，我在韩国选手准备射出最后一箭时，心里反复念叨“脱靶！脱靶！！脱靶！！！”（好吧好吧，我就是个自我为先的坏轧轧~~~）当然，这种事情是极小概率事件，韩国毫无悬念地拿走了金牌。但小概率事件是存在的，“人不能两次踏入同一条河流”，埃蒙斯办到了！4.4环，这个胜似脱靶的分数，把金牌再一次送给了为争夺银牌苦苦挣扎到最后的中国选手。埃蒙斯是中国人民真正的朋友，伟大的友谊创造奇迹，北京欢迎你！（坏心眼里容不下奥林匹克精神~~~）

► 飞人退赛：力拔山兮气盖世，时不利兮骓不逝——非战不利，天不予我
        这届闹运会，咱中国的老百姓是比过大年还欢喜百倍的。只是刘翔的退赛，才实实地是件伤心事儿。或许各大媒体、记着并觉得这是个损失——炒作退赛的“内幕”比报道飞人再次夺冠更能令其兴奋。你尽可以臆想种种可能，但孩子们醒醒again~~~记住我们国家对金牌的重视程度是压倒性的。
        应该讲，国民对刘翔还是理解宽容占多数的吧。媒评此谓“中国的观众长大了”。只可惜孩子们成长过快，矫枉过正，呼刘翔为“英雄”之声甚嚣尘上。不是吧！这是竞技体育诶，伤了退赛太常见了，咋就成了英雄啊~~~个么男举的石智勇，也是上届冠军，也是因伤退赛（完成了抓举哦），怎么没人喊他是英雄？再看看中华台北队跆拳道女选手苏丽文，腿折了还拼死踢到最后一秒，谁是英雄？（不过我是觉得裁判应该判定苏丽文提前终止比赛的，就像拳击那样子，不知道跆拳道有没有这项规则）

► 中国国奥队：no comments

哦……这么晚了＝。＝，再不睡觉明天要迟到的。补写到此为止吧。flee先...

减肥话题已成为我人生永恒主题之下的反复炒作~~~
自从某姨减肥大成功后便常常自我炫耀并不失时机地奚落老子我
若论牙尖嘴利么老子不输其半分的，只是事实摆在眼前，我也实在无话可说……
个么，在办公室众姑娘们面前已然宣誓“老子拼了”，那便拼了吧...

昨天拿到从京东订购的欧姆龙的体重身体脂肪测量仪，斥资439粒米（今天突然降价为388粒米了，吐血！！！）
广告图和实物图分别如下：


测量结果当然仍然是超重……
所幸的是，翻出去年刚去健身房时所作体测的记录单来，发现各项指标已有下降
详言之，体重下降5kg（底子那是相当厚实 ～。～"）
身体脂肪下降18.98％！！！（数据出错了吧？肥肉如同熬油般的流失啊~~~）
BMI*相应缩减了5.84%
基础代谢**值降到1734kcal，降幅为5.81％（搞不懂为什么健身后这项指标反而下降了……）
虽然老子测出的身体年龄十分不理想（相比之下，某亲爱的贝测出值为18岁，口水啊口水~~~），不过一年来健身房算是没有白去了 ～。～

个么最后还是同样那句话自勉：
减肥尚未成功，同志仍须努力！

－－－－－注释的分割线－－－－－

* BMI：Body Mass Index，即身体质量指数，体重公斤数除以身高米数平方得出的数字，是目前国际上常用的衡量人体胖瘦程度以及是否健康的一个标准。有文章说一个BMI达到23的亚洲成年人现在被认为是超重，而理想指数是18.5至22.9。我的机器说明书里讲22是标准指数。（whatever...反正我还是有距离的……）
** 基础代谢：指人体处在清醒而又非常安静、不受肌肉活动、环境温度、食物及精神紧张等因素的影响时的状态下的能量代谢。（这里测出的应该是一天的千焦数。健身增强肌肉有助于增大基础代谢，从而增加热量消耗，有助于防止吃太多消耗不掉的热量变成肥肉……）

今天在日月光华BBS的FDU_Law版看到下面这篇关于billable hour的文章
再次转载出来先（对格式及标点有若干调整）：

发信人: walkingalone (华南虎), 信区: FDU_Law
标  题: Billable hours – harnessed to the clock
发信站: 日月光华 (2008年07月09日17:11:31 星期三)

Billable hours – harnessed to the clock

        Keeping a daily time sheet is a way of life for lawyers. Most track their work time in six-minute increments—“0.1 hour” on the client's bill. A lawyer's service is professional knowledge and skill. Time is the commodity sold to clients.
        The billable hour traces its history back to 1914 in Boston, USA. A Harvard trained lawyer named, Reginald Heber Smith, devised a detailed system based on new theories of “scientific management.” By the 1950's billing time for legal services was gaining in popularity in the US.
        Competing with time billing was flat-fee billing encouraged by state bar associations. Fixed, statewide, flat-fee schedules ended in 1975 after the US Supreme Courted ruled that they violated antitrust law. Lawyers were free to bill according to market demands. Billable hours became the standard charging procedure for nearly every legal service.
        In the US, law firm quotas of "billable hours" per year, range from 1700 to 2300 for each associate. As associate compensation has increased dramatically in the last five year, so have firm billable hour quotas.
        In China, billable hour quotas vary with the highest found in US-based international firms. These numbers are for associates in leading US, UK and PRC firms (including: Baker & McKenzie; Paul Hastings; Jones Day; Allen & Overy; Linklaters; Herbert Smith; Jun He; King & Wood; and Zhong Lun).
                       Range of billable hours 
US firms       1450 ~ 2000
UK firms       1400 ~ 1700
PRC firms    1400 ~ 1800
        Young lawyers often find it challenging to meet billing requirements. There are three components to achieving billable hours requirements: (1) having sufficient time in which to work, (2) having sufficient work , and(3) recording time properly. Consider these situations and the possible solutions.
        Situation 1: Too few assignments from your partner.
        Suggestion: Build relationships with supervisor(s) responsible for assigning work. Lawyers are more likely to delegate billable work to you if they trust you on a personal level and have had positive work experiences with you.
        Situation 2: Time spent out of your office.
        Suggestion: Find ways to bill time when you work for a couple hours at home on weekends. Use waiting time at the airport during a business trip.
        Situation 3: Developing relationships with coworkers and clients.
        Suggestion: There must be a balance between limiting non-billable time and developing relationships with coworkers and clients. But, realize that every minute spent on non-billable work must be made up at some future time.
－－－－－－－－－－－－－
Monkey D. Luffy Comments:

        Billable hours似乎是外资所以及实行这套制度的中资所的律师、法律顾问们除薪酬外第二关心的东西了。当然，不可否认，这两者本身就有关联性，因为有些律所直接规定仅当完成一定数额的Billable hours才能领取相应的奖金，而且annual review时Billable hours也是极其重要的参考要素。律所靠这个向客户收费，律师靠这个领薪水，个么这个紧箍咒我们是戴定了。
        可怕的是，这个紧箍咒收紧的力道还实在不小呢。上文统计的是极有代表性的外资和内资律所的Billable hours时间数，基本在1400-2000这个区间。就算是1500小时/年吧，以每年12个月、每月22个工作日计算（请注意，这里还要假设你是不休年假的），平均的Billable hours约为5.68小时/天。你或许觉得这个容易啊，每天八小时工作制，bill五、六个小时还不是易如反掌甚至理所应当？好，如果你把工作时间里所有起身倒茶喝水上厕所或发个小呆聊个小天之类的时间都charge客户的话，个么这是容易做到的。但至少我们所或者我自己是不会把休息、喝水、发呆、聊天、大小便的时间也记在客户头上的（如果billing rate是USD200/h，个么去撒泡尿，来回五分钟，折合约USD16，这也charge，总不太好……）。而且有的比较有专业操守的律所也会对开出去的bill作相应的扣减调整（比如所里会说，这个领域你不太熟悉，要自己花时间研究，了解很多东西后才能给客户提出专业的意见，个么这个self-develop的时间就不能charge客户了；或者干脆就说你工作效率偏低，这点点事情不能charge客户那么多钱——当然这都是有道理的）。照这个样子，以我的经验，如果某天的Billable hours为6小时的话，实际连续工作的时间可能要达到9－10个小时。
        当然，各家所有各家所的做法，甚至同一家所不同的趴也有各自的尺度。如听某中资牛所的一个师兄介绍，他跟的老板会暗示他事情做慢点，以便多记时间（号称“客户并不知道你该花多少时间做这个事”。我是觉得客户也不都那么傻……），这个跟我们为客户省钱的风格就完全相反。还有一个因素就是，掐时间的最小单位各有出入。文章中有提到以6分钟（0.1h）为单位，我们所以五分钟为单位，也有的所（如我一个同学所在某知名法资所）系统的最小单位为15分钟，结果这位老兄号称是“哪怕只做1分钟的事情也要掐一个单位的时间（即15分钟）”－。－" 所以当他实际工作16分钟时，就charge30分钟的钱……
        保持每天准确地记Billable hours是一个好的专业习惯，但实际上很难做到……当你忙死忙活一整天下来，奔命于不同客户的事情，然后在加班结束之后开始记时间的时候，其结果就是基本已经弄不清楚（或至少是记不准确）哪个客户花了多少时间。一旦timesheet拖了好几天甚至好十来天没记，那可简直就是mass of chaos了……
        另一个问题，如上文所述，其罗列的小时数是“for assiciates”的。associate本身概念不明，有些所第二年的paralegal就可以升为associate（一般是英国所），而有些所这个title给得比较紧，associate即senior lawyer（一般是美国所）。比如我们所，一般须有US bar admission并有数年律所工作经验才能升为associate。当然了，senior lawyer自己手里有很多活儿，一直处于忙不过来的状态，所以一年1400－2000h的要求基本都能达到。但是据我所知，一些外资所和几家牛X哄哄的中资所对junior们也适用该套标准，这可苦了小朋友们了——要知道小朋友的活儿都是靠senior或趴分下来的，有时会很多事情ong在一起做死，而有时候活儿会断档，pending...个么真的就像上文最后提到的，要去巴结上头的人揽活了~~~
        今年据说受米国次贷危机影响，经济放缓，泱及律所，看看周围，不少在律所的朋友都比以前空闲了（当然也有的所如PH是具有小朋友无所事事的优良传统的——每年招一大批人进去，每个月搞十几个小时的Billable hours，第二年裁汰一大批又继续招一大批……）。前两个月我每月的Billable hours较之前少了一半的样子，几乎要闲出个鸟来了……这段虽然情况有所回转，不过基本也还是蛮闲的，个么这才有空来更新博客啊~~~
        Sigh...这要人命的Billable hours啊……

Sim系列是EA GAME的大作，模拟人生和模拟城市都很有名
大学时曾经玩过SimCity3000和SimCity4
最近偶然看到bbs有人贴SimCity4的图片，突然就很怀念这个游戏，于是再次玩了起来
虽然我这种乱搭乱建的水准在高手面前实在汗颜，不过我还是要厚颜无耻地在这边秀一下自己的小破城~~~

由于博客图片显示的问题，看到的图片尺寸小于原始尺寸
将图片保存后打开可以看到大图片~~~

图一：


先在一片茂密的丛林平原中规划出一片“丰”字型住宅、商业相间的区域
建上地铁、公交等公共运输，还有小学和医院
两个风力发电站很快就拆掉了……


图二：


该图左上角部分就是图一中规划的小区经过一阶段后发展出来的样子
无非是些低密度的居民区，显得比较杂乱……旁边则是农田


图三：


城市继续发展，较好的教育、医疗、环境条件使高素质市民数量增加
于是就可以出一片高科技工业区了~~~（不容易啊，以前乱玩的时候出来的都是高污染的工业）
工业区规划在居民区和商业区之外较远的地方，所以配合了高速公路和高架捷运连接
右下角是三个发电站，污染啊污染~~~以后发展得好了可以出太阳能电站或核电站


图四：


这是Town Hall 的附近，高架捷运连通了地铁
规划了一些运动场地和公园


图五和图六：


本图靠上是商住混合的区域，靠左下角则是一小片商业区
因为有标志性建筑在，这片商业区未来将有较好的发展~~~
当中有球场和赌场，这些建筑会促进商业但会扰民，所以附近不宜加盖居民区了……

再发一张同样视角的夜间图：




图七：


这张图表反映的是城市的交通状况，绿色的线条表示地面路况畅通
因为从城市规划一开始就注意公交、地铁、捷运、高速相配合
所以全市交通畅通，几乎没有黄色甚至红色的拥堵路段~~~哈哈！

好了，暂时就发展到这边，感觉这个城市还是蛮有生机的，前途未可限量啊~~~


————————————————平民与贵族的分割线————————————————

贴完自己的小破城，再来发一些高手的作品，真是艺术品啊！
（以下图片均转帖自 模拟城市中文网 http://www.simcity.cn/）


















－THE END－

懒了这么久，老子我又回来叻...
                                                           ——题记

这篇博文其名“近来那些事儿”，实在是大大受了最近看的一本书的影响
该奇书名曰《明朝那些事儿》

要说历史书么，我多多少少也是看了一些的（教科书、历史题材小说不算呃），但这本比较特别
作者当年明月（真名石悦）是个公务员，历史爱好者，行文轻松诙谐，一扫历史书籍腐臭酸涩故纸气味
由于大量使用时新摩登的词句、话述与典故，所以窃以为该书非80后不能读也（但作者称所用素材皆有史料为证）
最初从当当网买来全五册，计划是要百忙中抽空御览的~~~结果一下子就看上了瘾，以至于连日苦读直至凌晨方休...

书的具体内容实在很难详述，你要问我它到底好在哪里，个么我要回答：
“就是好来就是好，就是好！”（前面省去“无产阶级文化大革命”九字……）
相信我，没错的！
去搞本看看吧~~~哈哈。。。

———————————————现实中的分割线———————————————

说起近来看的另一本书，那可有点赶不上潮流了
说的啊是——在那遥远的欧洲，一个事业有成名望颇佳的密码学教授和一个美丽大方聪明果敢的女警察（结果呢。。。他们之间没有传出什么八卦，对不起令大家失望了……），周旋于各股来者不善的势力之间，发挥大智慧大勇敢，解开道道密码拨开层层迷雾，去寻找传说中基督教（广义）神圣的“圣杯”——这样的一个故事。
“恭喜你，答对了！”（引自那什么丫的口头禅）
这就是去年还是前年热火朝天的《达芬奇密码》~~~
（绕了大半天，诸位火眼金睛想必早就看到旁边的图片了－。－"）

要说嘞我对宗教是完全不感兴趣的，而且老子可是地道的信仰马列毛邓的死硬分子
不过，具体问题具体分析么
该《达》书那~~~实乃披着宗教神秘外衣的一本闪耀着现实主义思想光芒和终极人文关怀大爱的优秀悬疑小说
更兼书中男女主角虽然共同走过了一段艰苦卓绝玉汝于成的不凡经历，但他们最终令大家十分失望地没有发生什么苟且之事...
应该讲，这是相当健康相当和谐的嘛~~~大家都应该来学习嘛~~~

比起同样是解迷或探宝的其他作品（e.g. “真想永远只有一个”的万年正太的名侦探柯南，以及潜入白金汉宫和白宫搜集线索的永远谢顶的尼古拉斯凯奇的国家宝藏），立意远非该《达》书所能比拟
      圣杯在古老的罗斯林教堂下面等待。
      剑刃和圣杯一道看护着她的门外。
      她躺在大师们令人钟爱的杰作的怀抱里，
      在繁星闪烁的天底下终于得到了安息。
当主人公从那里开始惊险之旅去寻找象征着那位圣洁女性的圣杯的踪迹，最终循着一条条藏于美丽诗篇中的线索又回到出发地并欣慰地发现那位圣洁女性终得安息。。。
延续千年的谜团在主角的心中解开并又归于永远的沉睡……

看过电影《达芬奇密码》的朋友不妨看一下原著（我的能力也就看看中文版而以，相信英文版会更美妙~~~）
不会令你失望！

———————————————现实中的分割线———————————————

接着要扯扯办公室的幸福生活

这两周着实是大大的淡季啊——手上没啥事儿~~~
结束了两个大的deal，同事们大多轻松不少，我么干脆就进入连日的self-development之中...
也好啊，歇口气，回头看看以前做过的东西，免得每次被老板问到都想不起是哪一折……
有空么跟在其他所混的同学朋友交流交流最近看到的各类笑话（ms赋闲的不止我们所我一人啊～。～"）
再有空么，拿起司法考试的重点发条装腔作势用功一番~~~

没有heavy burden不用加班，一两个礼拜每天bill不到1个小时 ＝。＝||
不用做事是开心的，不过时间长了心里也着实不安
不干活学不到东西，不学无术实在吓人。。。
不过开始这一段赋闲的时候正赶上所里一次training
看着vedio里主讲的NY office的某女趴，没完没了说了不知多久直到后来已经闭着眼睛披头散发了嘴皮子还在不停嘚呗...
虽然她老人家讲得累我（们）听得也累，不过收获还是不小的
印象里她有讲两条，我给记住了：
1. when dealing with your client, pretend to know and control everything even though you don't know anything (说着还问旁边陪练的家伙"do you agree with me?", 陪练的jewish guy一个劲儿的点头)；
2. do assume your client stupid (意思是跟客户打交道，啥事儿都得不厌其烦的说清楚、指明白，要不然客户就连签个字都会签到别人的签字栏里。。。)
要说还有一条么，就是O'bar教我们的，要学会cover your ass...（哈佛法学院出来的就是强啊！）

# 学习的机会不断有
# 忙一阵闲一阵
# 不用很早起不用常熬夜
# 工资不高但还够用
# 男女比例1:8
# 每周定期outing腐败

俺们办公室的幸福生活啊~~~

———————————————现实中的分割线———————————————

话说我懒劲儿又上来了，不想写了。。。
个么草草了事儿得了……

草草一：新进了Palm Treo 680手机，我也是“胖友”了呃 ～。～" （旁白：哟，您还真当之无愧呢！）
广告图


真机图









草草二：在徐家汇买好手机，顺道儿去了港汇永华影城看了《钢铁侠》
原本对漫画改编电影不看好，不过这本还是可以看看的，小推荐一下子。。。


—————————————结尾虚张声势的分割线—————————————

身是菩提树，心为明镜台。时时常拂拭，勿使惹尘埃。

菩提本无树，明镜亦非台。本来无一物，何处惹尘埃。


最近看樊树志老师的《国史十六讲》至隋唐部分，述及佛教禅宗一派，自然少不了其实际创始人高僧慧能的成名偈句“菩提本无树”（作以对其同门神秀“身是菩提树”一偈）。

都是很有味道的句子，不过慧能以其更为高深玄妙的偈句奠定了其“大师”地位（而其唯心主义的一贯立场也成为我唯物主义者批判对象之一，还记得以前马哲课本里唯心主义的例句“不是风动，不是幡动，仁者心动”么？便是慧能禅师另一名句~~~）。

撇去唯物论者对唯心论调的鄙夷，禅宗的只言片语给予我们的境界之美与其折射的现代心理学意义是无与伦比的。

以前一度很欣赏黄老之术鼓吹的“无为而无不为”，其清静平和心态的最终落脚点还是“有为”，这几年我也着实是就着“无为”的心态做着别人眼中的“有为”青年的。

有为当然很好，但是有为就有追求，与所谓“无欲则刚”相反，有追求就有心理上大大的软肋~~~尤其是当自己的追求不能预见不能避免并不能克服地（yes! it's force majerue）融入到众多有为青年相互参照甚至是攀比的追求体系之中时，就要不能自已、失去自我了，什么明镜台常拂拭，什么勿使惹尘埃……统统要落满灰尘，扫也扫不干净！

这个时候，就要说服自己，哦，本来无一物的啊~~~真有这个境界，才能粘不到灰尘的……

还真蛮难的说。。。

(@￣ω￣@)Moe~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

（好长啊……我竟然终于总算读完了的说 －。－”）

The Lawyer's Tale

A successful firm got caught up in expansion,only to discover it had lost its soul

By Barry Lawrence
Kaye Scholer LLP

“What has gone wrong?” thought the gray-haired managing partner of one of America’s, now the world’s, premiere law firms as he stared out of his Manhattan office window. He was trying to figure out how what once had sounded so good had turned out so badly and had brought his firm to the brink of disaster. Why couldn’t he replicate at his firm the successful business models of other professional service companies? Why couldn’t his law firm follow the lead of the once privately held investment banking firms that had turned themselves into profitable public companies on Wall Street?

 

The experts had been saying since 1980 that globalization would force law firms to be much larger, that they would have thousands of lawyers and offices in New York, London, Brussels, Tokyo and everywhere else where “value-added” work would “pay the freight.” While “pay the freight” made sense at the time, he knew that you couldn’t call what had been traditionally a very personal service between an attorney and a client, “freight.”

 

But that’s what the experts called it, as if it were a commodity. The firm had to become dominant in every market where it operated.

 

The buzz on the everyone’s lips was that there would be a small number of firms that would dominate the world. These global behemoths also would need to provide “synergistic” nonlegal business consulting services. This was all now called “value-added growth.”

 

The American Bar Association recently had changed the rules to permit lawyers to join with other business consultants. With the addition of a group of lawyers in Chicago who specialized in exotic financial transaction structuring, he soon orchestrated bringing into the firm a boutique hedge fund advisory group of very talented people - the firm’s first non-lawyer advisory group.

 

By deploying the firm’s and some of its well-heeled clients’ capital, he believed he had a winner. It started out well enough and was very profitable. These people seemed to make money in environments of rising and falling markets. It was magic.

 

He then recalled that, after a five-year debate, the ABA began allowing law firms to go public as long as their board of directors comprised at least two-thirds lawyers and lawyers owned the majority of the stock.

 

For years, lawyers had watched jealously the wealth their clients created by going public. If his firm stayed private, he knew his partners, who had spent a lifetime building up a practice, would have nothing to sell when they retired. He wanted these partners to be able to “monatize” their life’s work in some manner.

 

It was relatively easy for his law firm to reach 1,000 lawyers. This had been his first goal. He had to have the numbers, for he truly believed that a few firms would dominate the planet, and he wanted his law firm to be there. So from the base of New York, he quickly merged with a London firm. He soon moved to Brussels. Easy.

 

Tokyo was much more difficult. It had been an expensive move. For fillers, he acquired firms in Washington D.C., Chicago and Los Angeles. While he liked the LA folks, he never understood what was in the air out there that made them act so differently from New Yorkers.

 

It was around that time that his biggest client, an investment banking firm, CD First Chicago, convinced him to take his law firm public. What a great day - to be the first law firm to go public and, of course, on the New York Stock Exchange. With all the years of taking clients public as a corporate finance lawyer, he couldn’t believe that he was standing above the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, with the bell in hand, to usher in the day’s trading.

 

That evening, he was on a number of the TV business shows, talking about the adventure.

 

Look how far he and his law firm had come in just 5 years. But soon after the firm went public, its profits started to decline. It had been so hard to integrate all of these cities, all of the new practice groups, all of the different cultures.

 

By going public, the firm had to scrap what had been a relatively simple accounting system for a private firm with 5 offices with one that required the firm to account for everything in its now 20 offices. He found himself having to meet with his accountants constantly, in meetings that often ended in screaming matches, because they wanted the firm to reserve for every conceivable potential loss known to man.

 

Companies referred to this as the fall-out to the “Enron Syndrome.” While a private law firm, it was under the radar screen from a Wall Street point of view. Now, it was in the spotlight which resulted in substantially higher malpractice insurance costs and nearly every other cost. There was terrible pressure and scrutiny to reserve for potential losses of all kinds.

 

Then there was the constant pressure of meeting analysts’ expectations each quarter.

While he watched it for years, he thought he understood the pressures placed on his clients who were publicly traded to meet these quarterly thresholds. Analysts now were asking constant questions about why his law firm’s stock, which was when they went public, now had dropped to .25.

 

The anger and disappointment he felt then turned to introspection. The growth in all numbers -- lawyers, revenues and profits, as demanded by Wall Street -- could not be sustained in a continuous manner because of the ebbs and flows of the geographic economies in which the firm’s offices were located. Soon, the firm had to close its offices in “low margin” cities.

 

The sheer size of the firm had caused constant conflicts of interest between its existing clients and potential clients. The consulting groups, which had their own separate pressures to create profits while enthusiastically and creatively designing new financial instruments and other methodologies of doing business for the firm’s clients, were consistently running into the conservative side of the firm who were deal killers.

 

These naysayer lawyers, particularly from the tax and corporate finance departments, regularly were shooting down the schemes designed by the consulting groups. This lack of harmony ultimately caused the consulting groups to seek legal advice outside the law firm frequently. And then he had to deal with the horribly plummeting stock price. He had grown to believe that the firm's existing and potential clients ultimately judged his law firm's prestige and worthiness on the performance of the price of its shares.

 

The mere fact of the falling stock price was damaging the firm’s terrific brand name for legal services. In order to boost the price, the firm had to take actions to increase its business and profits. It had to take risks.

 

So the firm began taking clients who had spotty financial performance records, including the occasional restatements of earnings.

 

This ultimately caused significant write-offs of fees and his firm being involved in shareholder litigation when some of its clients went into bankruptcy.

 

The sum of all of this, he concluded, was that this “New World Order,” “the World is Flat,” “globalization,” in law firms was incredibly difficult to execute upon and make work. And what his law firm was required to do in this new environment was not compatible with the interests of the clients, the shareholders and, ultimately, the law firm itself.

Click! On went the clock radio. It all had been a dream -- a nightmare. His thoughts went to his father, also a lawyer, who had warned him about what he called the “excessives” of the “legal business” - a term that reflected the law firm’s change from a personal service profession to a big business which only thought about “profits per partner.”

While still in sweat, he was so pleased to begin starting the day without the terribly heavy burden of the nightmare. As managing partner, he soon would be chairing his firm’s weekend partner retreat to discuss the possible expansion of his highly prestigious 300-lawyer “blue chip” firm where he was constantly being told it was too small and the wrong size, and not global enough.

－－－－－－－－－－－
Barry H. Lawrence is Chairman of the Real Estate Department in the Los Angeles office of Kaye Scholer LLP, where his law practice consists of representing clients in various real estate industry matters, including merchant bankers who provide corporate financing, underwriters, REIT's, real estate developers and entrepreneurs, financial institutions and builders.

很黄，很暴力



Notes: Those instructions in black are "OK", and those in red are "Don't swallow" and "Danger! Use condom".

(\ ￣ ▽￣)o  Is there any applicable option missed? Flee~~~

      最近断断续续地在看美剧Bonston Legal（中译“律师风云”）。这是一本以一家虚构的位于波士顿的名为Crane Poole & Schmidt的律所为背景，围绕其中众多才华出众、个性鲜明的律师们法庭内外于公于私的故事铺陈展开的连续剧。该剧最吸引人的地方莫过于法庭上控辩双方（刑事案件中作为控方的检察官与作为辩方的犯罪嫌疑人的律师，以及民事案件中原被告双方的律师）的精彩对抗，而作为这一对抗终结的总结陈词（closing）无疑经常是对陪审团或法官产生最大影响，因此也常常是决定案件胜败的关键一环。无论是事实阐述、逻辑推理还是情感铺陈，总结陈词都是凝结发言双方最高智慧的最后博弈。

      下面要引述的是该剧第3季第11集中犯罪嫌疑人的辩护律师Alen Shore所做的精彩陈词。先要简述一下案件原委：在2005年袭击美国新奥尔良的卡特里娜飓风（hurricane Katrina http://www.nytimes.com/pages/national/nationalspecial/）中，当地一家医院的女医生Follette在没有接受病人请求的情况下，为五名绝症病人实施了安乐死并因此被控一级谋杀罪名。而当时的情况是，飓风导致大坝决堤引起洪水，医院断水断电，绝大部分医职人员逃离医院（包括五名死者的主治医师），留守人员从当时唯一能与外界沟通信息的一台收音机得知政府的救援人员数日内都无法到达，五名病人将无可避免地死于极度痛苦的脱水……

      I read an article in the New York Times magazine not too long ago. It was about how the elephants in Africa are going mad. Raping rhinoceroses, killing people, attacking one another, stampeding without provocation. These intelligent sensitive giants have become very, very disturbed.

      And the cause, they believe, is overwhelming, unrelenting trauma, stress. Be it poachers shooting at them, and their families or land development squeezing and destroying their habitats, profound and irreversible changes to everything they know about their world, everything about what it means to be an elephant. And it's driving them mad. Elephants aren't being elephants anymore. Up is suddenly down.

      That's what New Orleans was like during and in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. Up suddenly became down. Down was up. This wasn't the United States of America that week. It wasn't the third world. It was utter chaos. The set of norms and logic that we apply to everday life were gone and everything was wrong.

      A friend of mine told me that when he was finally able to get out of the city three days after the hurricane, he drove by a body lying on the sidewalk right up the road here, a body of a man partially clothed being eaten by an alligator, and my friend wasn't shocked. He wasn't even surprised. He was just fleeing.

      This was not the United states of America, nor any place else for that matter. During that horrendous week, the United States of America was nowhere to be found.

      My client, Dr. Follette, was to be found. She was there. When the storm hit and when the devastating effects started to become clear and then dire and then desperate, she stayed.

      Even when so many others around her were leaving, she stayed with those five patients, each facing an inevitable, imminent, and excruciating death surrounded by pain and suffering and degradation unfathomable to those of us were not there, she stayed and helped and cared and watched as those five patients slipped quietly into the good night. In a setting that was punishing, cruel and unusual, her actions were humane.

      Like those elephants in Africa, so many people, during that terrible time of chaos and desperation, seemed to lose themselves, seemed to lose their innate sense of humanity. Dr. Follette never did.

      She never did.