Cleavage Cacophony

August 9, 2007 — Shannon Quadros

So I’m sick of this incessant talk about Cleavage-gate and the non-stop press about a one-off incident of a dipping neckline. Gosh, America is so prudish. On the one hand we have Hustler and Playboy and Girls Gone Wild, yet a peeping breast, let alone a protruding one sends the whole nation in a FCC-phoning and complaining tizzy and a media frenzy. There are some good men and women being thrown into the Iraqi version of Hamburger Hill and we don’t spend our time thinking about how we can get them safely home. But the media goes ga-ga over a sexegenarian’s breasts. There ends the future of the Fourth Estate.

I think Jay Leno put it best when he said, “Those are not the boobs in Congress you should be worried about!”

Too true Jay, too true.

Posted in America, Communication, Custom, Internet, Media, Politics. No Comments »

Three more things you can do when you’re surfing the web

July 1, 2007 — Shannon Quadros

The Houston Clear Thinker himself, Tom Kirkendall recently linked to my blog off his blog without me having to ask or as more likely in my case, pay him copious amounts of money on a periodic basis. I actually read his blog quite frequently myself and it’s a wonder I haven’t linked to it before. I have decided that today I shall remedy the situation and consequently you shall see a brand spanking new link to Houston Clear Thinkers on the blog roll to the right. Tom talks about everything, kinda like me though he is far less Joycian stream of consciousness than this blog overwhelmingly tends to be. Which is probably why more people read his blog then mine.

In addition to Houston Clear Thinkers, an old friend Anora W. sent me two brilliant links to sink my virtual teeth into:

1. www.TED.com

2. www.WeFeelFine.org

www.TED.com or Technology, Entertainment & Design is an alarmingly fantastic nexus of genius. That’s all I can say to describe it. Check it out for yourself.

www.WeFeelFine.org is a remarkable thought experiment about collecting data on what people feel via their blogs and manifesting that data in a visually appealling and interactive form. I suggest taking a gander at the creator’s page and see some of the other brilliant bits of work they’ve come up with.

The chappies at www.WeFeelFine.org understand that words are simply constructs of thought and the way you arrange words and manipulate them have a profound effect on their reception. This reminded me of a day long ago when I read about the telepaths in Alfred Bester’s The Demolished Man. I’ve had the tune stuck in my head for 15 years:

Four, sir; three, sir;
Two, sir; one!
Tenser, said the Tensor.
Tenser, said the Tensor.
Tension, apprehension,
And dissension have begun.

        - From The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester

Posted in Art, Blogging, Communication, Internet, Language, Literature, Media. 1 Comment »

It’s 10 o’ clock; Do you know where your customers are?

June 27, 2007 — Shannon Quadros

Mark Bennett has been spouting pithy wisdom these days like it’s going out of style. In particular his post on “Something to look for in a Criminal Defense Lawyer” struck a chord with me because it resounds across all industry. The ability for your client/customer to communicate easily with you and have access to you is paramount. I do not have clients, I have customers and particularly when my customers seek me out, it means that something has gone wrong. And when something has gone wrong, the customer might not necessarily want a solution - though that is likely something that they seek - one of the other main things that they seek is to be heard. Heard by you, the product/service provider. I don’t know any of my customers that do not have my cell phone and don’t unfortunately liberally use it. It makes my electronic leash feel all the more so but I am certain that I have avoided more fires and put more out because I have been able to address the client immediately. I am reminded of the Maloof brothers who own amongst other things the Sacremento Kings and the Palms in Las Vegas. They matter-of-factly said on an interview on CNBC that they don’t think twice about granting access to them to all their clients and suppliers. Their reasoning was that ultimately the buck stops with them and that if a customer needs to speak with them then they are doing a disservice to that customer if they are unavailable.

I’ve had lawyers in the past that had more gatekeepers than the gold in the sultan’s palace. I agree with Mark, nobody is going to go or rather ultimately stick with a service provider that doesn’t talk to their customer/client. 

Posted in Business, Communication, Law, Law firms. No Comments »

No law student left behind

June 8, 2007 — Shannon Quadros

Law Prof. Nancy Rapoport had an insightful concise posting on her blog about the ramifications of Bar Review, Bar/Bri and its corollary to the effects of the Bush administration’s ‘No Child Left Behind’ policy.

First off, it drives me insane that Bar/Bri has a virtual monoply on the bar review business and has been squeezing law students for as much as they can get. And yet we have no solution inspite of a class action that was brought against them. And good luck trying to find a legally competent law student that is willing to test your theory that they don’t need Bar/Bri to pass the bar. Half the time I think Bar/Bri is fear, like Kaplan, Kumon and Network news: If you don’t take Bar/Bri you’ll fail, if your child doesn’t go to Sylvan tutoring he’ll fall behind in elementary school and will be selling ice-cream out of truck; stock up on duct tape for when the hurricane comes or your puppy and child will fly away.

What saddens me most about bar review and the bar exam in general is that law schools now come to almost inherently rely on those classes to fill in the gaps. I have more than once heard, law professors & administrators say ‘it’s okay if you don’t take this class, you’ll learn all you  need to know in bar review.’ First off, if we don’t need to know this why is it on the bar in the first place (anyone listening State Bar????) and second if law schools start to supplant their teaching to bar review, have law schools lost their way?

Is this a gross case of pedagogical passing of the buck??

For my engineering licensing exam for example, we had two parts to that beast. We had a general exam where we were expected to know some imporatant principles across the board of engineering disciplines. Therefore we were expected to know the basisc of mechanics and some chemical engineering but we weren’t expected to advanced structural analysis. In our second section we were asked to pick an area of engineering to be tested on or take another general exam which went a little further into every area. Now I know that we won’t exclude areas of law to test in the bar exam but obviously there is some disconnect with the state bar ( which is comprised of nothing but lawyers ) and law schools ( similarly occupied by lawyers ) with one group deeming a certain tenet of law important and the other group disagreeing. Obviously we’ve got a lacuna in communication. Is that really so hard to resolve?

Posted in Communication, Education, Law, Law school, Public Policy. 3 Comments »

Legal writing - The most criminal of all enterprises

May 10, 2007 — Shannon Quadros

Houston-based criminal defense lawyer Mark Bennett writes a remarkably interesting blog that I discovered courtesy of Gilman’s Blawgraphy . Bennett is part of a husband and wife criminal defense team (I hate to think what happens in that household when someone doesn’t take out the trash!) and through his blog chimes in on the world of Criminal Defense.

Bennett (Mr.) posted on the need and use of Plain English which is one of the most refreshing things I’ve read in a long time. His blog goes up on my wall of shame/fame (i.e. BlogRoll) and should be added to your daily dose of legal fiber.

Bennett claims to be a radical too. If we all could learn to be. If only just a little.

Posted in Blogging, Communication, Criminal Law, Custom, Houston, Law, Law firms, Legalese, Tradition. 1 Comment »

My name is Inigo Montoya. You didn’t let me in your law school. Prepare to die!

April 12, 2007 — Shannon Quadros

The ladies at the admissions office at the University of Houston Law Center are certainly a motley crew. They are generally harassed by the prospective masses only to be largely forgotten once we’re in. I happen to deal with them quite frequently because I’ve taken a vested interest in how my law school is run and I try and help them out as much as I can with regards to feedback about the admissions process, the look of the applications material etc. So I was generally quite pleased when they started writing a blog about the admissions process at the UH Law Center. If you haven’t read it and are a prospective student, you certainly should.

With them quoting Inigo Montoya and telling you why an e-mail address such as ‘SexyMama2006′ is virtual insanity they deserve a pat on the back for their efforts to demystify the admissions process. I think it’s a grand idea. Grand enough to warrant a link on my wall of shame i.e. my blog roll.

Posted in Admissions, Blogging, Communication, Houston, Law, Law school, UH Law, University of Houston. No Comments »

Legal writing- Has it stalled?

April 1, 2007 — Shannon Quadros

I don’t normally advocate taking pictures in and around bathroom stalls. It’s just not the gentlemanly thing to do. However, I have learnt not to heed my own advice lately and could not resist the urge to show you what’s on the walls in the bathrooms at the University of Houston Law Center.

Don’t think a legal education is being put to good use?  I disagree. From the picture below it’s obvious we have superior legal writing & editing development at the UH-Law Center.

Legal Bathroom

P.S.: I do apologise for the horrifically ‘Pun’-ny title. Couldn’t resist that either.

Posted in Communication, Humor, Language, Law, Law school, UH Law. 1 Comment »