How ‘bout them (bull)dogs?

It seems we collared some interest with this week’s cover of Maryland Lawyer, which depicted the bulldog mascot of Womble, Carlyle, Sandridge & Rice.

The bulldog is called Winston, as in Winston-Salem, location of the firm’s home office. The one in the firm’s Baltimore lobby is a stuffed animal.

Want to know more? Winston (looking far more fierce than his Charm City counterpart) even has his own bio on the firm’s Web site, just like former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and the firm’s other lawyers.

Ehrlich’s bio is longer, naturally. By about 65 words.

-BARBARA GRZINCIC, Managing Editor, Law

A world of water

Today is Blog Action Day, when bloggers everywhere are asked to tackle environmental issues. So here we go:

Oil is over $84 a barrel. Farms are being crammed with corn, at the expense of wheat and soybeans, to feed the ethanol craze that picks up with every election cycle in recent years. And nuclear power has become a topic of energy-centric conversations again — locally, thanks to Calvert Cliffs—and nationally. Don’t forget about wind, solar, biomass and on and on and on…

All are relevant resources in one way or another, and all make good news fodder and talking points for the talking heads that just seem to add more hot air to a supposedly “warming” climate. But to Marylanders, particularly those in the central part of the state and on the Eastern Shore, there’s a resource shortage that trumps all those concerns right now: H2O.

With a large part of our state under an official “drought watch,” we all should watch our water consumption a lot more closely. No, I don’t expect a Nobel prize for pointing this out, but I do wonder what people are doing to conserve this precious resource. Let us hear from you.

-FRANCIS SMITH, Assistant Special Publications Editor

Law blog round-up

A few tidbits for your Monday afternoon:

* Anonymous southern Maryland blogger Pillage Idiot has a post on a New York State judge who couldn’t stop himself from commenting approvingly about a public defender’s posterior. In the courtroom. Four times.

* Kip Esquire at

A Stitch in Haste has a good round-up about various states’ restrictions on sex offenders. He writes in part:

I am long numb to the thought that hack politicians are perfectly willing to pass a law that they have been warned is almost certain to be struck down, or that de jure exile has finally been proposed somewhere. It will be proposed elsewhere in the future.

What do you think?

* The ABA Journal has this post summarizing the case of a Connecticut lawyer who disappeared in July after admitting that he embezzled money from clients. My question: What kind of police officer publicly uses the term “offed himself” in reference to a missing person? Um, maybe some sensitivity training is in order here?

* Grant Griffiths at the Home Office Warrior has this item about the perils of working from home. To all you home-office lawyers out there: would you recommend it to others?

Want to see more Maryland-centric blog posts in the Monday morning round-up? Then please, write some, for Pete’s sake. The Maryland blawg community is small and posts sparingly, I’ve found.

People, please, don’t let poor Ron Miller at the Maryland Injury Law Blog and the Maryland Lawyer blog do all the dirty work! (And if anyone knows of some good Maryland law blogs I might be missing, post them in the comments.)

-CARYN TAMBER, Legal Affairs Writer

Lawyers still spar, 30 years after Mandel case

After attending Friday’s forum on the 30th anniversary of Gov. Marvin Mandel’s sentencing, I was amazed at how emotional and animated the attorneys who worked on the case still are about the subject.

You could almost see the soap box underneath lead Mandel attorney Arnold M. Weiner’s feet when he turned toward his opposing panelists, saying, “It’s a shame he had to go to jail for 19 months for something that wasn’t a crime.”

Weiner was referring to a 1987 Supreme Court decision (McNally v. United States) that effectively negated Mandel’s 1977 conviction for mail fraud.

Lead prosecutor Barnet D. Skolnik countered with a speech about how Mandel’s actions were — at the time — still a crime, and used the word “bribery” at least four or five times.

But, much like athletes leaving their emotions on the field, both sides of the room clearly had a mutual respect for one another and could just as easily crack a joke.

Baltimore City Circuit Judge Charles G. Bernstein, a former defense counsel, was sharing a microphone with Weiner at the panelists’ table at the University of Maryland law school. At one point he remarked, “the most dangerous place in Baltimore City is between Arnold Weiner and the mic.”

Weiner also got the audience laughing when, referring to the deadlocked jury being “imprisoned” in the jury room, he said, “It almost looked as if the jury was going to spend more time in jail than any of the defendants!”

As a lawyer, can you always leave your emotions in the courtroom or do some cases stick longer than others?

-LIZ FARMER, Legal Affairs Writer

More bad news for newspapers?

Seems like bad news comes in bunches for the newspaper industry these days.

A recent story in the Financial Times noted that a newsstand in New York City has stopped selling newspapers. The owner said he makes more money selling candy and besides, newspaper peddling is just “not worth it.”

The article continues:

The people who distribute newspapers in New York are always late, said our man. ‘And they rip me off.’ He was making 2c on a Post (cover price 25c), 5c on a Daily News (25c) and 9c on a New York Times ($1.25). A plastic bag costs him 3c.

Has it come to this? Will we be reduced to reading gum wrappers and cigarette packs on the subway or in the coffee shop?

Or do you already get all of your news via your computer or PDA?

-TOM LINTHICUM, Executive Editor

What’s up with that chicken foot?

On Saturday, the front page of The Daily Record featured a story on the popularity of pumpkin chucking, or “chunkin,” contests especially the world-famous Punkin Chunkin in Millsboro, Del.

One of the photos featured a Ellendale, Del. man affixing a chicken foot to his pumpkin launcher.

The question has been raised here in the office—why the chicken foot?

Given the prevalence of the poultry industry in southern Delaware, is it a substitute for the ultimate lucky talisman, the rabbit’s foot?

Or is it a potent talisman in its own right? According to Karma Zain Spiritual Supplies, whose eBay store includes an authentic Chicken Foot Charm Fetish Talisman, the “chicken foot is traditionally used in Southern rootwork and ‘New World Voodoo’ (i.e. New Orleans Voodoo) for protection.”

Or, maybe he was just getting the chicken foot ready for a more epicurean pursuit.

What’s your take?

—BEN MOOK, Assistant Business Editor

I rest my case

In response to my post from this morning about employee weight gain due to work lunches, a coworker suggested I keep a photo diary of our Friday here at The Daily Record.

11:30am: Birthday cake at editorial staff meeting.



12:30pm: Sandwich spread at staff lunch.










Don't forget the potato salad.

Tops on Judiciary Committee’s list — and Brit Hume’s

Reports from the DRI annual meeting:

Boosting pay for federal judges, ending partisan acrimony in judicial confirmations and cleaning up the Department of Justice top the agendas of congressional Judiciary Committee members, according to House Chairman John Conyers, D.-Mich, and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

The two spoke this morning at the annual meeting of DRI, a national organization of defense lawyers and corporate counsel. Kimberly Atkins, D.C. correspondent for our sister publication Lawyers USA, was there; you can read her blog entry for DC Dicta.

On a lighter note, DC Dicta passes along this quote from Fox News’ Brit Hume, who also addressed the DRI meeting in Washington: “If I was in trouble — I mean really bad trouble, and I could have anybody in the world representing me … I’d want [Bill] Clinton. I sort of feel like he could make a jury believe anything.”

DRI’s annual meeting lasts through Saturday.

-BARBARA GRZINCIC, Managing Editor, Law

A marathon post

I’d love to write about how I’m getting ready to run the Baltimore Marathon. But I can’t because, frankly, that would be a lie.

In all truth, I drive 26.2 miles and I’ve got stop twice to use the bathroom and once to stretch my legs. So, running it will have to wait for another day.

That doesn’t mean I’m not a fan of marathons, though. Three years ago I got the opportunity to travel to Germany and watch a friend of mine, Bill Gries, run in the Berlin Marathon.

Let me tell you, I’m a lifelong sports fan who has been to my fair share of sporting events, but I’d never seen anything like that. To see that mass of people taking on one of the toughest physical challenges imaginable is a sight to behold.

What makes it so awe-inspiring is not the spectacle; it’s seeing people in all shapes and sizes, in all age groups, running together as miles of spectators cheer them on. And, the farther back and the more out of place a runner is, the louder the cheers are.

Baltimore’s marathon, while not as large as Berlin’s, evokes the same kind of feelings. It’s astonishing to see the 22-year-old track star running alongside, however briefly, the 70-year-old living out a life-long dream.

If you get a chance to do it, trust me, set out your chairs and watch. You won’t regret it.

As for me, well, I’m hoping my wife will buy me a Segway in the next few days so I don’t have to walk all the way from the car to my spot on the sidewalk.

-LOUIS LLOVIO, Business Writer

DC Dicta debuts

Want to know what Ken Starr was doing back in Washington last week?

Care to see how one lawyer handled a pesky point of stare decisis in a grilling at the Supreme Court?

With the launch of DC Dicta, our sister publication Lawyers USA promises “the latest legal buzz on the Supreme Court, Congress and other Washington newsmakers.”

You’ll find the link here or on the right-hand side of this site, under “Other Dolan Media Blogs” - just scroll down past our own archive and list of labels.

-BARBARA GRZINCIC, Managing Editor, Law