Thoughts from the Founding Fathers, no. 1

Before heading to law school, I was fascinated with the foresight our Founding Fathers exhibited in creating the US Constitution that exists today.  Of course, my study of law only enhanced my interest in how it was drafted, why certain language was included, and the debate that constantly occupies the nation.  To indulge my own interest, this post is my first entry of many discussing the Founders and will feature a quote from one of them (thanks to my father-in-law, Capt. Philip Crowell, III, US Navy (retired) for feeding these to me).  Enjoy!

"The first and governing maxim in the interpretation of a statute is to discover the meaning of those who made it."

-  James Wilson, Of the Study of Law in the United States (1790)

This statement seems especially important today with the gun control debate centering on the Second Amendment.  Without arguing my personal opinion on the matter, James Wilson's statement suggests that when interpreting the meaning of our Constitution, we should take a look at what it meant to the authors.  This, or course, means taking a look at the Federalist Papers, for a start, as well as statutory construction during the late eighteenth century, among other sources.  I wonder how many citizens involved in the discussion have done that?

James Wilson, for the record, was born in Scotland in 1742 before moving to the US in 1766 to begin practicing law.  He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and an original Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  You can read more about him here.

Feel free to leave your comments.  I would love to start a dialogue with any willing participant.

Best,

JD

John D. Duncan is president of J.D. Duncan, PC, founding partner of Prater, Duncan & Craig, LLC in Newnan, Georgia, and is Esquire by Day.  You can find him at www.jdduncanlaw.com, or follow him on twitter and Facebook.

I had to laugh

At myself, that is.  Picture this:  having lunch with my fellow Newnan-Coweta Bar Association Board at Fabiano's to discuss upcoming involvement in local moot court competition.  Good conversation over lunch, good food, business concluded.  Lunch right down the road from courthouse, where I am due to appear about 30 minutes later.  Check paid, saying our goodbyes.  SPLASH!!!  Water spills all over me and my iPad.  We all jump up in hopes not to get wet.  Everyone else was luckier than me, but I'm more concerned about ruining my electronics.  iPad saved, but I am soaked.  Yes, this should be a fantastic day in court now.

Every now and then, I totally embarrass myself like this.  All I can do is laugh.  No need to be the court jester, but it's far easier to laugh than to scowl (and way more fun).

And for the record, I dried off with time to spare before I spent a moment before Judge Blackmon.  Thank goodness!

Bespoke: A Rant

I don't know about you, but I grow tired of people that use big or in-vogue words to elevate themselves or their product without really saying anything different.  Granted, my favorite author is Ernest Hemingway, who would never use a $10 word if $1 would suffice, but it bores me to no end seeing advertising that attempts to use a hip word to distinguish their product from the competition.

Enter the era of "bespoke."  I see this word on jewelry sites, lawyer advertising, car dealerships, and even a dog collar shop that offered my American Bulldog a bespoke leather collar.  This word is trending right now, and I'm not sure why considering it has been used in London for hundreds of years.  Companies use the term to describe their product as "customized to the buyer's specifications," but most don't offer near the level of customization that true bespoken products require, and typically not clothes at all.  It's just the cool new word to say your stuff is made specifically for your customer.  But is it actually "bespoke?"

Bespoke is a term coined in London's custom mens suiting district, Savile Row.  Here you will find tailor firms that have been in the same location for generations, and create highly customized suits for their clients, who range from royalty to Jagger.  Their motto is basically that, when you walk out with your new suit, it should look like you've had it your whole life.  The Savile Row Bespoke Association defines the word as follows:

"Bespoke - a suit made on or around Savile Row, bespoken to the customer's specifications. A bespoke suit is cut by an individual and made by highly skilled individual craftsmen. The pattern is made specifically for the customer and the finished suit will take a minimum of 50 hours of hand work and require a series of fittings." 

This term is only appropriately applied to mens garments.  A customer meets with their tailor and picks out his fabric; the fabric then "be spoken" for.  Only suiting fabric is unique enough from one to another to require such a term, with various tweeds, wools, and cashmere blends.  Let's be honest, even custom shoes from John Lobb will use the same black calf skin that their ready-to-wear models boast.  Over the course of a few months, the various tailors, cutters, and fitters, craft a suit that fits the wearer perfectly to his body exactly.  The initial consultation notes things like a slightly lower left shoulder, or that the wearer's profession forces more wear to his right elbow than his left.  The number of specific measurements and notations can be in the hundreds.

In that sense, could a dog collar possibly be "bespoke?"  I'm thinking no, since the shop only asked for my dog's neck size.

Part of this rant comes from a re-boot to my website.  I would love to describe my estate planning services, for instance, as bespoke simply because it does sound great.  And while the wills my clients enjoy are highly customized to fit their specific needs, they are not suits and they (typically) do not take fifty hours to write.  So for my advertising, I will not try to sound clever and use bespoke to describe what isn't bespoke at all.  Customized, yes.  Highly detailed, yes.  But legal services are not to be worn at your daughter's wedding, so bespoke they are not.

JD

John D. Duncan is president of J.D. Duncan, PC, founding partner of Prater, Duncan & Craig, LLC in Newnan, Georgia, and is Esquire by Day.  You can find him at www.jdduncanlaw.com, or follow him on twitter and Facebook.

iPad Stylus Review

Welcome to 2013!  With the new year, I thought I would write about something I typically don't which is a product review.  Actually, this is more of a commentary on what I have found recently using my iPad as a note-taking device in court.  This is by no means an exhaustive list of styluses, but more of some helpful thoughts on what I use, so that you don't experience what I did yesterday.  But if Santa was nice to you this Christmas and you are now in the market for a stylus to go along with your spanking new iPad, this might help.

I have been using Penultimate for taking notes for most of the past year.  I love it's simplicity, and the ability to save my notes into notebooks like a moleskine notebook (which I love and have them scattered all over my office and house).  But just a couple of weeks ago, I downloaded the 2012 app of the year, Paper, and am working with it to see whether I like it better.  Paper is at least far more nice-looking.  The app is not designed specifically for note-taking, but for this review I don't believe the app matters.  While I could do a comparison of these two apps, I will save that for later and focus on the tools instead.

Pogo Sketch Pro:  So, because I am now using Paper for notes (as well as my terrible attempt and drawing when I get bored), I thought I would try the Pogo Sketch Pro since it is one of the styluses that works well with drawing apps.  Thankfully a buddy of mine has one that he doesn't use, so I've been working with it for a couple of weeks.  Off the bat, I like that it has a rubber grip rather than a completely aluminum body.  I drop this far less than the others.  The nib is rubber, which I prefer to the foam ones, but it has tiny holes in the tip and feels lighter than others that I have tried.  More control when drawing, sure, but writing is a problem.  Yesterday, I had a real problem trying to take quick notes, often recording only halves of words.  This could be because I use an anti-glare screen protector on my iPad.  TenOne says this stylus does not support screen protectors.  They mean it.  While I like this stylus for doodling, and it feels great, I'm afraid I can't use it in court like I want to.  Thankfully I had my old stand-by in the briefcase.

Alupen Pro:  I have kept this stylus in my bag for about six months, and it's what I always have used in court.  I like the Alupen line because they are all-aluminum, which feels really cool, and this particular model has a pen on one end which comes in handy in the middle of a hearing.  Having trouble with the Pogo stylus, I switched back to this yesterday and it worked as wonderfully as always.  The nib is a little stiffer, which I think helps make solid contact with my screen protector, and I don't have to think about pressing down in order to write.  The ONLY drawback to this stylus, for me, is the fact that it does not have any rubber grip.  I drop it...a lot.  Aluminum is cool, but this is a slippery stylus.  And I hate dropping things in front of a judge or jury.  The pen end is a screw-up style, so you can't really open the pen with one hand like a click function would, but I have no idea how you would design that feature anyway.

Alupen:  I keep the standard Alupen in my office and at home.  They come in plenty of colors, and also have the all-aluminum construction.  One downside to this stylus is that you cannot get replacement nibs easily.  My bird tore a hole into one, and now I have a perfectly good aluminum stylus with no tip taking space in my bedside table.  This stylus is big and chunky, and also has a very firm nib for writing.  It writes just as good as the Pro above, but it is thicker and heavier (which you may or may not like).  This one is also very slippery.  If you have big hands like I do, however, this might be a great choice.  So many styluses are small enough to fit in your wallet, and I hate hand cramps.

For anyone that has seen my handwriting, you would know that it is terrible, so for me to write a review like this might seem silly.  All three styluses record my handwriting as it really is, unfortunately with no magic spell making my cursive any more beautiful.  After having to go through a motions calendar yesterday, I will no longer take the Pogo Sketch Pro with me.  It's a fine stylus, sure, but it just doesn't work for me when taking notes.  For that, I need a stiff nib that allows me to write quickly so I don't miss any of the judge's order.

Happy Hunting!

JD

John D. Duncan is president of J.D. Duncan, PC, founding partner of Prater, Duncan & Craig, LLC in Newnan, Georgia, and is Esquire by Day.  You can find him at www.jdduncanlaw.com, or follow him on twitter and Facebook.