Kenneth Jindal

If anyone watched Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's response to President Barack Obama's speech Tuesday night, they probably noticed Jindal was speaking very unlike the Rhodes Scholar he is. His gee-whiz phrasing, combined with an exclamation point at the end of virtually every sentence made for painful listening.

But it sounded oddly familiar. I was thinking about it on the way in to work this morning and it hit me: Jindal must be watching episode-after-episode of the Emmy-winning NBC sitcom "30 Rock" and trying to emulate the show's lovable country bumpkin page, Kenneth.

I'm apparently the 30 millionth person to think of this. From the Chicago Tribune to the Huffington Post, it seems like everyone is as smart as I am.

See for yourself:

Offers and acceptance

It seems recently that insurance companies—reeling from the effects of their dismal economic performance and poor investments during the housing and credit boom of the early 2000's—are now tightening up and making terribly low settlement offers. 

The problem is, this only gets their insureds in trouble. I immediately am forced to file suit and take the insurance companies into court—along with their insureds. The insurance companies have to hire their own lawyers and their own lawyers (who are paid by the hour) make sure to bill the case into extinction until they finally agree to settle (on the day before trial) for the amount I originally demanded. It's a ridiculous business strategy and the same one that landed the insurance companies in the place they're in now. 

Here's some free business advice: Treat your customers (your insureds) well and do what they're paying you to do (protect them from lawsuits) by making reasonable settlement offers.

Running

Went running this morning with a good friend. It was my first run in a week or so and I was sucking wind. But, as always with running, it felt great. There's something good about working to accomplish a goal—whether it's making it to the top of the next hill or settling a big case. Now my goal is to just go running again this week.

Back at work

Suzette and I just got back from a weekend in San Francisco and the Bay Area. We visited friends and family and saw where I was born and raised in a little house in Sunnyvale.  

It is a beautiful place—the Bay Area—and we had a great time.

 

It's also good to be back at it this morning. 

What I'm doing right now

I just read a David Pogue story in the NYT about Twitter—this web site where you're supposed to tell everyone you know what you are doing right now. I've also seen this in Facebook and probably it's part of Myspace and all that other internet social Web 2.0 gobily-gook. What I don't get is what people care about what I'm doing right now. "Surfing the internet" "looking for hotels in San Francisco" "wasting time" "updating my Twitter status." In fact, why doesn't everyone's twitter status say "updating my twitter status"? Isn't that really what they're doing right now. I don't know, maybe I don't have enough time or think too highly of what I'm doing right now, but it seems like everyone is so busy with what they are doing right now to care about what I'm doing right now. Right now I will to quit typing this blog post about what I'm doing right now. That's what I'm doing right now. Now.

Free legal work

Right now I'm working on what lawyers call a "pro bono" case. That's Latin for "free legal work." It's part of my job--just like hunting down and suing drunk drivers is part of my job. It's part of my job--just like treating people with no insurance is part of a doctors job. It's just what I have to do. The case I'm working on now is for a good friend who got into some legal trouble. Sometimes its for someone I don't know really well, but just want to help out. We all run into trouble at some point or another (some more than others), and need someone to help out. It's what I do and I'm happy to help.

Liza

Liza Felici just joined the firm as our new administrative assistant. She is incredibly well- (if not over-) qualified and is a pleasure to work with. Please give her a call at 512-364-0655 and say hi.

Marketing

Just working on a new marketing plan for the firm today. It's harder than it looks--getting folks involved in car wrecks to give us a call. 

There are a lot of great lawyers in Austin and a lot of people who are very good at representing car accident victims. Lucky for me, I was trained by one of the best and have a lot of these same great lawyers who send me new customers from time to time. 

It's a great thing--running your own business and creating an atmosphere where good people trust you to handle their affairs. I'm honored to do it and it's one of the best things about being a lawyer.

So give us a call at 512-364-0655 and let us help you.