My first exposure to the shadow puppets was their display in the film The Year of Living Dangerously, starring transgender Linda Hunt, except that she wasnβt transgender, the term was not in use then, she merely played a man, a photographer. A β¦
Former Miami federal criminal defense lawyer, Mexicana Airlines cargo station rep and oh yeah, Saudi Arabia.
- A&O Shearman
- Andersen Global
- Ashurst
- Baker Botts
- Baker McKenzie
- Bracewell
- Clifford Chance
- Clyde & Co
- Curtis
- Dentons
- DLA Piper
- Evershed Sutherland
- Freshfields/Hejailan
- Herbert Smith
- HFW
- Hogan Lovells
- Holman Fenwick
- Jones Day
- Tony Khoury
- King β¦
Shadow Puppets
Puppet Show
On the day I was stopped by police for possible involvement in an attempt to assassinate Jacques Chirac, I went to a saloon in Paris and brought a puppet I had purchased as a gift for my son. At first the puppet stayed in its backpack, but then he β¦
An Act of Charity
A young mother with her malnourished two year old son has staked out a begging post at the entrance to the BTS Metro station at Ekkamai. She is unwashed, unshod; she looks about fourteen and her son, similarly covered with the dirt from the busy β¦
Relativity and AI
Will AI Eat Relativity?
Relativity relies on the availability of poorly-paid new law graduates to analyze documents provided in discovery in civil cases. What will be the effect of AI on Relativity and the document review industry?
With respect to β¦
Handicapping the Conclave
(Guest post by Dr. D. Ball)
There is an old saying: He who enters the conclave “papabile” comes out “cardinale.”
Predictions mean almost nothing. When Ratzinger was elected, it is rumored that the one he almost lost to was β¦
Copy Machines
Copy machines were always busy at the law office. Whatever you wrote, you needed one copy for opposing counsel, one copy for chambers, and oneβif you were feeling recklessβor two for your own files. If you ran out of plastic toner, you were lost. β¦
How to Start and Build a Law Practice by Jay Foonberg
You canβt just start representing clients that fall into your lap without reading Jay Foonbergβs How to Start and Build a Law Practice. You really need to buy a copy. Do so ASAP. If you canβt afford to buy the book, read it at the library. It will β¦
ChatGPT and Lawyers
Let’s say that ChatGPT isn’t very good when it comes to the law. Hallucinations are an expected hazard of its use. The lawyer knows the law, but that’s not enough. A lawyer has to know how to close a real estate transaction, zoning, β¦
Foreign Firms in Saudi Arabia
E-Mail Design Elements
Emails today are like automobiles from say, 1915 to 1920 or so. The design hearkened back to the shape of a carriage made to be pulled by horses.
Except for the subject line, an email is still shaped like a physical letter. If the β¦
Our Culture, Today
Budgeting Litigation
Few companiesβespecially those surprised by litigationβhave a litigation budget. They don’t realize how expensive the judicial system can be. Company execs believe that litigation is but an annoyance until their defender passes a proposed β¦
One Thousand Tons of Chicken
It is a lot easier to steal chicken if there’s no chicken to steal.
Hunter Biden Laptop Story Sponsors Stripped of their Clearances
21 January 2025
Trump just issued an executive order stripping the security clearances of the 50 or so who signed the letter saying that the Hunter Biden laptop story was Russian disinformation. I assume that includes (text redacted).
I don’t β¦
Let There Be Strife
Lawyers: today and every day, say the non-denominational lawyer’s prayer:
“Raise up dissension amongst thy people; let there be strife.”
The Nicaraguan Route
I worked for the Panama Canal Commission from 1981 through 1985. The first two years constituted the “transition period,” during which the Canal Zone became a part of the Republic of Panama. For the first two years the Canal Zone β¦
Not that Safe
Three-pronged British electric plugs are touted as safer than US flat plugs. Brit plugs contain a fuse that is supposed to protect the user. Tried to unplug one today. Somehow it was live. 220v shot up my arm.
I guess they’re not as safe as β¦
How to Find Bank of America E-mail Addresses
Red State or Blue State, if you need to contact Bank of America customer service by email, the sole monitored official channel is Twitter.
If Twitter is shut down, how will Bank of America provide customer service to its account holders?
You mean, β¦
Donβt Forget the Chicken
Yesterday, I suggested a careful response to a Dutch blackmailer whose victim is a Saudi woman. Despite our efforts to help him upon his release from jailβhe announced to all and sundry that he was in the haram areas of Meccaβisnβt all Mecca β¦
Beware of Spies
Following the publication of Tinder, Sailor, Hooker, Pimp in the Navy Times, https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2020/06/16/tinder-sailor-hooker-pimp-the-us-navys-sex-trafficking-scandal-in-bahrain/the police cracked down on a few β¦
Test
A test.
110 v. 220
Voltage in Saudi Arabia
Lately, I have had little success with cooking in Riyadh. My appliances, an air fryer and a coffee maker, simply did not work. A few days ago, I did find out, though at the moment Iβm lacking instrument confirmation, why my β¦
Austin Tice
As of a year ago, Austin Tice was held in the basement of the Iranian consulate in Damascus, the same one bombed by the Israelis months later.
The US was not interested in this intelligence at the time.
Strange.
Nothing said about Austin Tice in the β¦
USA
My fellow obese citizens: Americans overseas are afraid to express nationalism. Own your idiosyncracies: insist on ice in your water and 8x11 paper, tip freely, put pineapple on your pizza, Half & Half in your coffee, write m/d/y, guzzle β¦
Revisiting Half and Half
Returning to Bahrain. The street they call the American Alley, near the US Naval Base, a place of interest to the Islamic Republic of Iran, just a short way across the Persian Gulf. Spies from a hundred countries try to capture overheard β¦