The Cane Corso recently received official recognition from the American Kennel Club.  Effective June 30, 2010, the breed became eligible to participate in AKC-sponsored competitions, generally considered the most prestigious in the industry.  Instantly, a dog breed that existed in relative obscurity in Italy for hundreds of years and that was nearly extinct until the 1980s, was endowed with bona fides that have the potential to take the breed’s profile, value, and desirability to another level.  Interestingly, the breed’s name roughly translates as “guard dog,” with “cane” meaning “dog” in Italian, and “corso” indicating “guide,” “guard,” or “protector.”

Appropriate enough transition into the point of this post:  Appreciate your mentors.  If you’re fortunate enough to work closely with an experienced attorney who is well-respected by both peers and clients, who endorses and employs high practice standards, who can staff you on the kinds of matters that you find interesting and challenging, and who still is willing to invest the time in guiding and protecting you through those inevitable early missteps, then take full advantage.  Even if you’re a sole practitioner who won’t be supervised directly by such an attorney, you can observe and learn from those who have built the kind of practice and reputation to which you aspire.  When it comes time for potential clients to check your bona fides, you want it to be obvious that you were guided by attorneys who helped you take your experience, reliability, and discretion to the next level.

As you work with mentors to lay the foundations for your own career, keep an eye on the Cane Corso.  In receiving recognition from the AKC, the breed took its first step toward a title run at the Westminster Kennel Club Annual Dog Show.  The 135th Show is in February 2011.

Given the uproar following the “offside” calls against Team USA at the 2010 World Cup, now is as good a time as any to warn young associates against an analogous infraction in law practice.

First, a wholly inadequate primer of the offside rule under FIFA Law 11: An offside offense occurs only when two conditions exist—1) the player is in an “offside position,” and 2) the player is “involved in play.”  Thus, an offside offense can occur, for example, when a player posts up near the opponent’s goal, waiting for the ball to come to him, and then tries to take what he might think will be an easy and perhaps game-winning shot.  (For those concerned with technical accuracy, check out FIFA’s animated tutorial)  But because of the speed at which the game progresses, conditions giving rise to an offense also can catch otherwise attentive players off guard.

Warning to young lawyers:  Do your part to make sure you don’t get hit with an offside offense by partners, clients, opposing counsel, or a judge.  As in soccer, an offense can occur before you know it if you lose sight of where you should be in advancing a matter, get used to waiting for others to tell you your next move, or believe that you can always take last-minute steps to make up for early inaction or carelessness.  Lest you think otherwise from Landon Donovan’s recent TV appearances , you’ll likely get little sympathy for drawing an offside offense, even if the call was made in error.

By James Bowden

Personal Time Entries for October 16, 2009

7:30 – Leave home for work; expect to vomit for one reason or another in the following 12 hours

10:00 – Leave work to pick my spouse up from the airport, whose arrival is conveniently scheduled to remove me from the office when bar results are set to post; compulsively visit the Tennessee Bar Examiners’ “Successful” website via blackberry for 7,943^rd time from the parking garage to no avail

10:45 – Arrive at home to drop spouse off before returning to work; question wisdom and necessity of returning to work due to personal conviction of failure; consider eating palpable doom and foreboding for lunch; think better of it; remember that I am required to return due to inopportunely scheduled training luncheon (“this is what you would be doing if you had actually passed the bar”)

10:46 – Receive text message from friend and law school classmate in Missouri: “Congratulations!;” receive Practice-Group wide email from Practice Group Leader congratulating all new associates for passing the bar; enjoy comfortable silence after dry heaving subsides; receive congratulatory kiss from spouse

10:51 – Leave home for work, having decided doing so was no longer awkward; commit first act of legal significance following receipt of results - break traffic code by placing cell phone call to mother while driving; mentally review affirmative defense of necessity

10:53 – Phone call to mother interrupted by phone call from insurance agent seeking to sell me a life insurance policy; really; ignore insurance agent call, consider purchasing call blocking

11:10 – Arrive at work; ponder that the world feels the same despite the addition of honorific suffix; remember that I owe $10 to a guy in Real Estate on the best lost bet ever; consider decorating office

Congratulations to everyone who passed the Tennessee Bar!  Remember: it isn’t unauthorized practice of law anymore – now it’s straight malpractice.  If you need to talk to someone, I know a really eager insurance agent.

By Eileen Burkhalter Smith 

Getting there, of course, is most of the battle.  But now that you are second chair, the number-one support position, what do you do?  The answer is: it totally depends on the trial, the court, and the first-chair.  Communication is an absolute necessity.  Here are a few things, however, that I think are pretty important, and at which the second-chair should make sure someone is looking:

1. Basic Logistics—including out-of-town witnesses, exhibits, trial technology, and accommodations.  Don’t forget about directions for those who may need it, and multiple phone numbers for everyone.  Do you have a war room nearby?  Will the Court have space for witnesses to wait in a separate room?  Do all the witnesses know that the trial may last 3 days? Is a court-reporter booked?  
2. Trial Details—of course, all the directs and cross exams are divided between you and the first-chair.  If appropriate, ask to try a cross of an expert, or to argue a difficult motion in limine.  Also, be sure you have the rules—local, state or federal, chambers, and any particulars of the judge.  Something will most likely come up for which you have not planned.  Do you need a laptop and printer for in-trial motions?  Will the court allow oral motions?  Are deposition transcripts accessible at counsel table?  These come in very handy when a witness “forgets” what he said earlier in the case. 
3. Picking the Jury—whether or not you are involved in taking the voir dire, this is an important area for the second chair.  Ask what will be the most helpful during the process.  Should you make notes of the answers of each venire?  Have you divided up the pre-trial juror research?  How will you deal with your strikes?  Does the Court allow back-striking?