Walls and Windows
Dense, crowded with facts and rules, appellate decisions at times have hidden meanings. What those meanings imply––well, that’s the task of interpretation. At face value a sentence or paragraph may seem relatively simple. But what lurks beyond? “For all the great texts have esoteric significance, he believed and taught…” writes Saul Bellow in Ravelstein. Ascertaining […]
Behind the Scenes
To help another person. What does “help” actually mean? How does one help someone? Assist? Guide? Be of support? Teach? Counsel? The simple fact: most helpers do not help. We surely intend well, but our efforts fall short. What’s the reason? Well, let us count the ways. We unwittingly work at cross purposes to another’s […]
The Science of Subjectivity
“An action taken with positive thoughts will never produce negative results.” ― Debasish Mridha Risk, and its acceptable level, turn on internal and external circumstances, both known and unknown. Let’s take a simple, if somewhat stylized, example to illustrate. Suppose someone presents to you the following opportunity. There are a thousand sealed boxes all of them identical […]
Solution First, Then Problem
There are easy solutions––and there are difficult ones. Merely because one has chosen a difficult solution to a problem does not work to confer an advantage. The result’s the same. So, what are some methods to help find an easier way? Leverage. Using a fulcrum, a small weight can leverage a far greater weight. Ask: […]
Possibility of Interpretation
Possibility of Interpretation Ideas, late-night thoughts, random musings––to keep track of things, and why not? Item. Certain strongly held beliefs, particularly those which define one’s identity, if looked upon at a slightly readjusted angle, can easily become a form of self-deception in much the same way as that of a mirage or hallucination or possibility […]
Picking the Ring
Two people, or groups of people, are in direct conflict with one another. The first has a distinct set of advantages the other does not possess, say, a certain skill set particularly well suited for prevailing in one particular contest. The second has another set of advantages the other does not possess. The trouble, however, […]
A Higher Activity
Two colors almost identical. Two words almost synonymous. Two sounds almost indistinguishable. How to distinguish? When we set about to “distinguish” two or more items or objects, thoughts or ideas, we’re looking for what separates them, some way of placing them into separate classifications or categories. Some questions to ask when you’re about to distinguish […]
Advocacy by Algorithm
Legal method, defined as advocacy, presentation, or persuasion, is due for an upheaval. One trend that’s emerging—artificial intelligence. Brief writing in a matter of minutes rather than hours, gathering, summarizing and presenting data in seconds rather than weeks, even crafting the most persuasive verbal patterns of sound and speech––all will be shaped and affected by […]
Flow Transference
States of mind are fluid, and maintaining the right frame of mind is not something that necessarily arises naturally. It requires thought, insight––something akin to the flicking on of a light switch. It can also arise by other means. We’ve all heard the term “being in the zone.” In his well-known book, Flow: The Psychology […]
The Edge of Impossibility
“The first discipline is to focus your finest effort on the one or two goals that will make all the difference, instead of giving mediocre effort to dozens of goals,” write Chris McChesney, Sean Covey, and Jim Huling in their book The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals. A contested case will […]
