The Cane Corso recently received official recognition from the American Kennel Club.  Effective June 30, 2010, the breed became eligible to participate in AKC-sponsored competitions, generally considered the most prestigious in the industry.  Instantly, a dog breed that existed in relative obscurity in Italy for hundreds of years and that was nearly extinct until the 1980s, was endowed with bona fides that have the potential to take the breed’s profile, value, and desirability to another level.  Interestingly, the breed’s name roughly translates as “guard dog,” with “cane” meaning “dog” in Italian, and “corso” indicating “guide,” “guard,” or “protector.”

Appropriate enough transition into the point of this post:  Appreciate your mentors.  If you’re fortunate enough to work closely with an experienced attorney who is well-respected by both peers and clients, who endorses and employs high practice standards, who can staff you on the kinds of matters that you find interesting and challenging, and who still is willing to invest the time in guiding and protecting you through those inevitable early missteps, then take full advantage.  Even if you’re a sole practitioner who won’t be supervised directly by such an attorney, you can observe and learn from those who have built the kind of practice and reputation to which you aspire.  When it comes time for potential clients to check your bona fides, you want it to be obvious that you were guided by attorneys who helped you take your experience, reliability, and discretion to the next level.

As you work with mentors to lay the foundations for your own career, keep an eye on the Cane Corso.  In receiving recognition from the AKC, the breed took its first step toward a title run at the Westminster Kennel Club Annual Dog Show.  The 135th Show is in February 2011.

Given the uproar following the “offside” calls against Team USA at the 2010 World Cup, now is as good a time as any to warn young associates against an analogous infraction in law practice.

First, a wholly inadequate primer of the offside rule under FIFA Law 11: An offside offense occurs only when two conditions exist—1) the player is in an “offside position,” and 2) the player is “involved in play.”  Thus, an offside offense can occur, for example, when a player posts up near the opponent’s goal, waiting for the ball to come to him, and then tries to take what he might think will be an easy and perhaps game-winning shot.  (For those concerned with technical accuracy, check out FIFA’s animated tutorial)  But because of the speed at which the game progresses, conditions giving rise to an offense also can catch otherwise attentive players off guard.

Warning to young lawyers:  Do your part to make sure you don’t get hit with an offside offense by partners, clients, opposing counsel, or a judge.  As in soccer, an offense can occur before you know it if you lose sight of where you should be in advancing a matter, get used to waiting for others to tell you your next move, or believe that you can always take last-minute steps to make up for early inaction or carelessness.  Lest you think otherwise from Landon Donovan’s recent TV appearances , you’ll likely get little sympathy for drawing an offside offense, even if the call was made in error.

Three months ago, I had no idea how the details would play out when I returned to the full-time practice of law.  As my maternity leave drew to a close, it was inevitable that I’d soon be knee-deep in digests instead of diapers for most of the day.  For me, it wasn’t so much a question of “work-life balance” as it was about shifting my mindset back into “battle” mode.  Would my new-found “mommy instincts” prevail over the litigation skills that I’d been cultivating for the last several years?  Say, if I found myself engaged in largely one-way babble with a fussy deponent, would I be tempted to burp him to see if that gave him any relief?  Although there were such uncertainties, I had no doubt that I could conquer them.

You see, by the end of my maternity leave, I saw myself as something of a Wonder Woman.  I considered it an amazing feat that I’d kept a helpless, defenseless, totally dependent human being alive for more than 2,100 nonbillable hours.  And she was not merely “alive”; she was thriving.  I’d warded off life-threatening injuries.  I’d even become so organized and disciplined that I could anticipate when hunger would strike and have a bottle on standby before she could hardly belt out a cry.  Given all that I’d accomplished in such a short span of time, it was appropriate that the World would honor me in May with a day dedicated to celebrating my achievements as a Mother.

So it was with all the confidence of a Superhero that I returned to work.  I dared (in my mind) plaintiffs’ attorneys to stand up against my discovery requests.  I laughed at the notion that any assignment was too challenging.  I chuckled at the pile of unread e-mail and magazines that I had allowed to stack up in my pre-motherhood days as a Procrastinator.  The Alter-Ego was in town, and she…meant…business.  Because, like any self-respecting superhero, I had endured a life-changing event that motivated me to be better, faster, and stronger.  In my life as a full-time attorney, that translated into my being more efficient, productive, and organized so that I could get back to what really mattered—my daughter.

We all read stories about how challenging it is to balance work with raising a family.  Those challenges are real and should be recognized.  But in what ways has being a parent, new or experienced, enhanced your working life?

And speaking of Wonder Woman, the real deal got a makeover earlier this week.  Check out her new look here.  Anybody know where I can get that jacket?

By Brian Malcom

Last year, we told you about Google Voice.  The service allows users to forward calls from one Google Voice number to multiple, already-existing numbers.  For instance, you can have contacts call your Google Voice number, and then forward those calls to ring your desk, your home, and your mobile telephone.  Google Voice also offers some pretty cool extras, like transcribed voicemails and free long distance.

Though the service was once invite only, it is now open to all who wish to join.  If you are a solo practitioner or work for a small firm, this service may offer some assistance in managing your communications and keeping long distance costs down.  Learn more about it here.

Note: Some readers expressed some concerns regarding confidentiality and ethics because of Google's targeted advertising.  To date and to the best of our knowledge, no court or state has examined the issue.

By Brian Malcom

I purposefully did not review the first release of this software.  The iPad had just hit stores, and I did not want to be too quick to judge software developers that were still working out the kinks.  I am glad I reserved judgment.

The first release of this app was somewhat buggy.  For instance, the app would frequently crash when reviewing “large PDFs” (greater than 10 MB).  You could not email a PDF to yourself once you made annotations.  You were forced to sync it with a desktop companion via WiFi.  On that topic, trying to transfer large files to or from your desktop was tedious and downright impossible by WiFi transfer.  To be fair, I am not sure if I should blame Aji, the developer of this app, for the WiFi transfer problems or Apple.  Apple has acknowledged that the iPad has a WiFi software problem that will be fixed in the next update.  I just know it did not work well.  Now, you can sync large documents using the iPad’s USB cable.  This is much more stable.  You can also email marked-up files to yourself now.

This newest release addressed some of my frustrations with the first version, and I saved a whopping $2.00 by being an early adopter.  The price of the app was $7.99 when it was first released.  It is now in the App Store for $9.99.  All in all, I would now recommend that attorneys download this app for their iPad.

According to developer’s site, the newest version has the following features: 

• A complete annotation system: Text Notes, Highlight, Underline, Free-Form Drawing, Bookmarks, and more. An intuitive interface allows for viewing and editing annotations without leaving the document reading view.
• Full-featured PDF reader: Continuous-scrolling page display with all standard scroll/zoom gestures supported, and full-screen reading mode. Edit mode now supports two-finger scrolling.
• Easy transfer of PDFs: Send and receive PDFs via email, through iTunes sync, by browsing to any PDF link, or using our free desktop transfer software.
• Tabbed PDF Reading: Quickly switch between multiple open documents. Tab setup and page locations are always remembered, whether switching tabs or quitting and returning to the app.
• Fully Customizable Toolbars: Reposition and resize toolbars, and drag-and-drop to configure tools included on each.
• Comprehensive PDF support: Copy-and-paste text, view existing PDF annotations, support for internal and URL links, and PDF outline/bookmarks support. Fully integrates annotations directly into the PDF.
• Document and full-library search: Search your entire PDF library to instantly find all documents with any keyword. Tabs sort new, unread, and annotated documents.
• APS (Aji PDF Service): Free companion desktop application for easy sync with your existing desktop PDF collection. Recommended for large libraries of documents.
• Aji Support: integrated application help and tips, and top-notch email and forum support.