Wow, how do you like CS? Is it easy to establish residency there??? I've been in Italy for a month and love writing here, but it's expensive. Sadly, I head back to the states on wednesday!

And I thought the Texas judiciary system was bizarre! I couldn't get used to having our judges/justices run for office according to their political party--but at least we can get rid of them. Nevertheless, we get some incredibly incompetent people because the voters don't know any better and vote a straight party ticket, or just don't know who to vote for at all. In one notorious case, one crazy guy got on the appellate bench because his name was the same as a previous very qualified, excellent judge. It took a special election to get rid of him.

The good thing about NaNo, I hear, is that it's an encouraging environment even if you don't reach the 50K goal--most don't. There is something about participating in an event with a large group of others, suffering along with them (boot camp??) that can breed greatness for some! To sign up, go to NaNoWriMo.org and follow the directions to sign up. Then, you can either let me know that you did and tell me your ID and I'll find you, or, search for me as Anne Claybrook and add me as a buddy. That will let me know, and I'll get you in touch with our other brave soul.

That sounds like a nightmare of an appeal--and unfortunately, not unusual for those drawn out cases.

I acted as second chair for all of our large litigation trials (to preserve and prevent error, as needed), but my real love was appellate practice. Perhaps I was just fortunate in where I practiced but I found that most judges were well prepared, and I much preferred talking to a panel of judges than to a jury. I think that there really tends to be 2 different personalities in litigation--those that shine at trial and those that find their niche just talking to the bench. I quickly learned I was the latter, and fortunately, even in our smaller firm, I got the opportunity to do just that. My partners hated appellate work, so it worked out great!

I have thought some about bringing in elements of some of our cases. We had one case in particular that had it all: fraud, mayhem, sex, allegations of murder. Unfortunately, another one of my partners has dibs on that one since he brought the clients into the firm! And there's always the David Koresh/compound thing . . . nah, I think I'll leave that one alone!!

Are you doing NaNo this year? There's another attorney here on CS that has signed up and we've decided to be buddies. She thinks she knows of another atty/writer in CA who is planning to sign up also. We'd have quite a nice writing group going! Let me know if you are interested and I will send you our NaNo IDs.

I look forward to talking to you more here on CS.