T. Austin Brown

New Yorker in Paris, or Parisian in New York. Lawyer. Food enthusiast. Doctoral student. None of this is legal advice. The opinions expressed herein are not the opinions of my employer
https://www.theses.fr/s308285
https://transatlanticlaw.blogspot.com
https://www.pantheonsorbonne.fr/page-perso/tbrown

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Last Notes

2025-06-18 03:14:22 UTC

New York officially banned trial by battle in 1786.

2025-05-19 01:08:25 UTC

I spent the day making a Gantt chart for my dissertation. Please clap.

2025-04-22 22:40:40 UTC

Time for my favorite class of the semester… Small Claims Night Court!

2025-04-08 04:18:09 UTC

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@nprofile…96mr Thanks for the tip! That's a promising lead

2025-04-08 04:09:31 UTC

A friend of mine in Missouri who has an LLM but hasn't yet passed a US bar is looking for work as a paralegal after having been laid off. Experience in business law and family law. He has a little less than a month to find new work before his visa expires. He's willing to relocate. #fedihire #law #paralegal #visa

2025-04-04 04:19:09 UTC

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@nprofile…l5py Wow. I had to look that up. It looks like they may have come to their senses in 2018.
https://apnews.com/travel-general-news-b15e498141b94feca12841e79e2ddb00#

2025-04-04 04:16:09 UTC

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@nprofile…nt5r That's awful. If that's the case, poor Nicole. It does seem like an odd behavior. This is I think only my second Nicole, but it's been going on so long...

2025-04-04 04:07:45 UTC

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@nprofile…l5py Totally understandable. There are a lot of people who might wear this for suspect reasons. It's also spot on with the era. This was set in 1625 and pretty much any European outside of Europe was doing some atrocities in similar armor.

2025-04-04 04:01:46 UTC

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@nprofile…nt5r I should make a special trip :)
But Nicole says she's Polish--a likely lie, but specific enough a choice of a place with a lot of history related to that number.

2025-04-04 03:59:04 UTC

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@nprofile…3w0r lmao!

2025-04-04 03:52:24 UTC

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@nprofile…nt5r DIdn't know that. I always wondered about that place!

2025-04-04 03:51:56 UTC

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@nprofile…l5py This is a costume from a Movie where I play an English guard in England.
Conquistadors definitely suck, though.

2025-04-04 03:43:26 UTC

I know the #Nicole accounts have two-digit numbers, but this one is 88, and that's making me ask: Is the #FediverseChick a Nazi?

2025-04-02 23:12:00 UTC

What a shitty day to be working on an article about the Great Depression.

2025-04-01 01:00:39 UTC

🐠

2025-03-30 20:56:28 UTC

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I can't believe how many times I typed "Mr. Garrison" without adding
https://sb-esq-social.b-cdn.net/media_attachments/files/114/253/376/094/616/117/original/bd2bff2c8090cdab.png

2025-03-30 20:52:52 UTC

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Who was Mr. Garrison, and why did Whitney feel the need to maintain this correspondence with a maybe printer, maybe lawyer, who had lost all his money?
These papers likely came to La Guardia through a subpoena of Whitney's papers, as the NYSE was under intense scrutiny from the gov't in the wake of the 1929 crash. Whitney was frequently called to D.C. to testify, and (judging from the amount of mail La Guardia had in his files) likely getting dozens of letters a day from lunatics nation-wide. 6/

2025-03-30 20:48:41 UTC

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In a number of letters, Garrison suggests something like a requirement of listed companies filing their quarterly balance sheets or a questionnaire, like what we now call the 10Q/10K reports. Whitney rebuffs him saying it would be impracticable and beyond his authority. 5/?

2025-03-30 20:42:12 UTC

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These two are writing us page-long single spaced typed letters, but I don't know who Garrison is, and why his correspondence is getting so much careful attention from Whitney. Also, why is Garrison's letter's mention of his business (poorly) redacted in La Guardia's copy? 4/? #history #finance
https://sb-esq-social.b-cdn.net/media_attachments/files/114/253/309/393/576/989/original/a8ca6ed33235e89e.png

2025-03-30 20:33:24 UTC

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Whitney replies with a letter the next day, including Garrison's "esq" suffix that was not in the telegram, and including Garrison's address at 82 Beekman Street. That address is now a hospital building or parking garage, I think, but I found an old photo on the "oldnyc.org" from 1929.
https://www.oldnyc.org/#720023f-b
Is the building in the foreground 82? Is it labeled "Printers" 3/?
https://sb-esq-social.b-cdn.net/media_attachments/files/114/253/285/243/328/252/original/f894df125e1004da.png

2025-03-30 20:26:18 UTC

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Garrison's name is associated with a printing company in Manhattan, but the ongoing and detailed correspondence with Whitney begins with a radical rule change for the NYSE members. Sent Dec. 13, 1931 to Whitney's hotel in Washington, D.C. #history #stonks
https://sb-esq-social.b-cdn.net/media_attachments/files/114/253/241/072/762/514/original/cdede6fd241ab108.png

2025-03-30 20:16:34 UTC

Ok, internet sleuths, I have another depression era #history challenge for you. Going through the papers of Fiorello La Guardia, who prior to his mayorship of New York City was represented New York's 20th district in the House of Representatives, where he participated in some of the most thorough investigation of the frauds that led to the 1929 crash, I found a series of letters between Richard Whitney the later-disgraced president of the NYSE, and Wilbert Garrison, Esq. 1/?

2025-03-29 16:38:58 UTC

A listserv I’m on put out a call for readers for a legal essay contest for high schoolers in New York (I can’t this year, unfortunately), but my inbox has a number emails from lawyers that say “I can read!” without the full context

2025-03-29 01:59:16 UTC

NY AG files $200 million settlement with Galaxy Digital over LUNA
https://www.axios.com/2025/03/28/luna-galaxy-settlement-terra

2025-03-18 15:07:54 UTC

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Sometimes I post things for reasons. https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-justice-department-orders-national-security-lawyers-review-jfk-documents-2025-03-18/

2025-03-18 03:00:29 UTC

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I was given a choice of waiting an indeterminate amount of time (and possibly being charged) to scan all 100 boxes, or I could have them go through the 3 likely boxes over a couple of months, expedited, but couldn't request more. I chose the 3. I'm pretty excited to see what I get.
As a lawyer, I also fully understand how a case of this size ends up with 100 disorganized boxes of files, "binder" was just an interesting term.
But it takes a lot of time and effort to scan these things. 2/2

2025-03-18 02:56:13 UTC

I sent a FOIA request to the SEC some months ago for some historical documents from an older case that a lot of people talk about, but that most of the information available publicly is from newspapers rather than original source documents. I requested the "transfer binder", which I assumed would be like a 3-ring binder with the ultimate settlement, press releases, and maybe some of the key documents. The binder is actually over 100 banker boxes of unsorted papers. 1/2

2025-03-11 23:16:54 UTC

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@nprofile…3r56 I love irritainment!

2025-03-11 23:02:00 UTC

I came up with a new word: “finfotainment”
Financial+info+entertainment.
Low quality financial information intended more for entertainment purposes than investment advice.
It’s going in the dissertation, and I’m claiming it.
But feel free to distribute. #finance #law #finfotainment

2025-03-11 16:29:47 UTC

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@nprofile…vdcr When we first adopted Charly (RIP) he would only respond to French. The first three months, at least.

2025-03-06 04:23:05 UTC

Back in NYC. Full of airport lounge wine and pirogi. Can’t wait for bed.

2025-03-06 01:59:39 UTC

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Weight of the aircraft may be too high for La Guardia.

2025-03-05 23:53:44 UTC

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@nprofile…rukh peut être Macron doit réfléchir sur le budget CNRS?

2025-03-05 23:51:37 UTC

On my way home from the NASAA 2025 Enforcement Training. There is a LOT going on in state securities regulation.
It was great meeting, and a visit to my birthplace, Pittsburgh, PA.
I gave a talk, along with Danielle Stoumbos of the CA Department of Financial Protection & Innovation, about carbon markets.
Went to a jazz club on Mardi Gras.
Heard a lot of great speakers.
https://sb-esq-social.b-cdn.net/media_attachments/files/114/112/501/382/316/859/original/36a72dfd3000cb50.jpeg

2025-02-11 17:13:31 UTC

A colleague is doing a survey to finish their thesis. If you're a US person with work experience, consider helping out.
https://baruch.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_5cJYZaRPxzKFObc

2025-02-05 17:29:55 UTC

I had to take a MSTeams meeting on my personal phone yesterday and today I’m getting chat notifications from someone who can’t unmute in a courtroom where I haven’t made an appearance since 2022. 🤬

2025-02-03 23:32:41 UTC

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...from someone I really did not want to email me. The email had no words, just a picture of my apartment building from the outside, in the middle of the day, with my downstairs neighbor sitting in her wheelchair, unaware that she was being photographed. It was a nasty sort of passive-aggressive act. I didn't feel unsafe, and I had already moved anyway. But it is a reminder of how much data is out there about us, and how someone can still have it even after it's been changed.

2025-02-03 23:28:08 UTC

A few years ago, when I was moving from full-time solo practice to working for a small firm, I had a few weeks gap where I had to give up my office and register my apartment as my law office before starting the new job. Attorney business addresses are public info and searchable, and I wasn't entirely happy about the situation. But I was moving soon anyway, so I did it. Sure enough, a few weeks later (after I had already moved and re-registered at the business address) I received an email... 1/2

2025-01-26 05:08:59 UTC

Working on my course materials for the spring semester, and I just remembered some of the slides included in this article. Pray for my students. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/02/powerpoint-slides-pentagon-ash-carter/ #academia

2025-01-23 22:52:33 UTC

I had to notarize an affidavit for the first time since the new CPLR rule went into effect last year that allowed for sworn affirmations rather than affidavits in New York (affirmations have been allowed under the FRCP for a long time). Since I started the new job, I haven't taken any acknowledgments, either. I'm glad my stamp didn't dry out. #law

2025-01-13 22:58:42 UTC

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@nprofile…fgyc France. But I have to stay on New York time because I’m working remotely

2025-01-13 00:03:14 UTC

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“Message in a Bottle”! This time acapella.

2025-01-13 00:00:26 UTC

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We’ve moved onto the Beatles, suddenly his English has improved. Maybe he just knows the words better?

2025-01-12 23:57:51 UTC

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I’m watching this with fascination. His stereo is on someone’s windowsill. They have their shutters closed, but it’s a bunch of 20-somethings who live there, and I can’t imagine they don’t have work tomorrow.

2025-01-12 23:45:24 UTC

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Back to lovely day. Karaoke version. He doesn’t know the words, probably doesn’t even understand the English.
Oh yeah. Totally making up English-sounding words. I think Bill Withers would have actually enjoyed this.

2025-01-12 23:41:55 UTC

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Now he’s singing. Karaoke “Je me suis fait tout petit” George Brassens. 🤦‍♂️

2025-01-12 23:39:34 UTC

There is someone outside my window drinking beer and dancing alone to Bill Withers “Lovely Day”. It’s 0h36 on Monday and 0°C outside.

2025-01-09 16:33:10 UTC

Beware of remote work scams:
https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2025/attorney-general-james-stops-text-message-scam-targeting-vulnerable-new-yorkers

2025-01-08 17:21:49 UTC

I keep getting texts alerting me to evacuation conditions in Glen Oaks. I wondered why, then scrolled up and saw that earlier alerts from that number were for CUNY snow condition alerts from February. Someone’s database is leaky.

2025-01-07 22:17:39 UTC

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@nprofile…36ju @nprofile…9wug Americans are so used to easily crossing borders with no planning that they’re going to be unpleasantly surprised when other countries start treating us the way we treat them. European travelers have had to do this non visa visa step to come to the US for years.

2025-01-07 17:40:49 UTC

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@nprofile…36ju @nprofile…9wug It’s going into effect for the Schengen zone later this year, I believe.

2025-01-06 23:06:56 UTC

20 years ago, we replaced the hideous mint green toilet in our bathroom and put it out on the street for garbage collection.
Overnight, some enterprising artist wrote "R. MUTT" on the rim in red lipstick. LIPSTICK on a TOILET!
Anyway, I was just organizing some files, and came across the digital version of this photo that lived framed in my office for a long time before it got lost in a move.
https://sb-esq-social.b-cdn.net/media_attachments/files/113/783/275/034/912/944/original/1f8a3c274613b955.jpg

2025-01-05 19:59:26 UTC

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Possibly also "together boat" but that sounds more romantic than a joint venture.

2025-01-05 19:54:37 UTC

I just found an ancient Greek term (cited by a 17th century Dutch jurist, writing in Latin): σύμπλοιας.
The modern writer claimed that classical Roman lawyers used the term (Romans used Greek to sound smart, like how we use Latin) to mean "joint venture" or partnership. The Greek is literally sum + ploios... or partner ship. #language

2025-01-05 18:40:02 UTC

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I got myself a second monitor, and I feel like my mind is expanded.

2025-01-04 06:23:15 UTC

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I need sleep.

2025-01-04 03:05:08 UTC

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I got an earlier start today and things are finally moving along after being stuck in the doldrums for longer than I am willing to admit.
I’m thinking about getting a second monitor, as I feel like working with so many sources on a little laptop screen can be mentally limiting. Anyone have any suggestions for a low cost monitor that can plug into a USB-C? Or better yet, one they’re willing to give away the next time they upgrade ?

2025-01-03 06:17:20 UTC

Why does the #writing bug hit me at 11pm? I have work tomorrow. I need sleep. Maybe I should move to LA. It’s only 10:15 there.

2024-12-29 18:56:59 UTC

"I have met with but one or two persons in the course of my life who understood the art of Walking, that is, of taking walks,—who had a genius, so to speak, for sauntering: which word is beautifully derived “from idle people who roved about the country, in the Middle Ages, and asked charity, under pretence of going à la Sainte Terre” to the Holy Land, till the children exclaimed, “There goes a Sainte-Terrer,” a Saunterer,—a Holy-Lander."
Henry David Thoreau WALKING 1862

2024-12-26 23:50:30 UTC

#chanukka waffle-latkes!
https://sb-esq-social.b-cdn.net/media_attachments/files/113/721/803/362/294/923/original/183e0e20d41219de.jpeg

2024-12-26 15:59:49 UTC

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I’m not the only person in the office, though. I can hear someone else somewhere.

2024-12-26 13:42:30 UTC

Not a whole lot of people on the subway this morning

2024-12-24 19:49:22 UTC

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@nprofile…sda9 This is my favorite Christmas movie.

2024-12-24 19:37:23 UTC

If you won't burn the environment down, at least consider stuffing it with toxic chemicals!
https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/driving-an-ev-big-oil-hopes-you-dont-cut-down-on-plastic-too-f70992e0?st=m6PQwC&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

2024-12-24 19:33:13 UTC

My bureau is hiring!
https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/2024-12/ipb-nyc-aag-3749-web_0.pdf
#law #jobs #Attorney #ESG

2024-12-24 19:08:23 UTC

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Occasionally "both sides" journalism is ok. Here's the companion piece on Python if you're interested.
https://econ.st/4fEHl6x
#python #bothSides

2024-12-24 19:04:46 UTC

I've hit a point where some of the data I need to access can only be retrieved via C++ coding (at least it's simple, though, and R has the Rcpp package so I don't have to do this in the terminal or a new IDE)
Anyway, here's the Economist on R: https://econ.st/3Du7MyC
(gift link)
#rstats

2024-12-21 01:58:34 UTC

Doing our annual watch of Trading Places, out family #ChristmasMovie that we watch instead of Die Hard.

2024-12-21 00:46:09 UTC

I just voted YES on the PSC CUNY contract! #CUNY #Union #academia

2024-12-20 21:25:23 UTC

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This is not the sort of thing they put in the investor relations materials.
And my FOIA request to the SEC turned up over a hundred boxes of evidence.

2024-12-20 21:19:02 UTC

I'm trying to remember the name of the business professor who was on the Board of Directors at Occidental Petroleum in the 70s, whose Director compensation was greater than his academic salary and who signed the undated resignation letter at Armand Hammer's request. My searches are turning up nothing. #law

2024-12-16 22:03:58 UTC

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@nprofile…u7c9 ah. I’m so pathetically bad at video games. I think I gave up with Red Dead Redemption before I even tried playing online.

2024-12-16 19:28:00 UTC

Someone just described taking a break from a deposition as a “bio break” and I think I’m going to use that forever. Like do you need to pee, eat, reproduce? I don’t know! I don’t care! #law

2024-12-14 19:32:30 UTC

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I used the leftover dough and some conference cheese cubes to make a cheese boat.
https://sb-esq-social.b-cdn.net/media_attachments/files/113/652/837/988/969/700/original/8cc47581ce88380c.jpeg

2024-12-14 02:33:46 UTC

Tarte flambée. Ou presque. Raclette et oignons sur pizza faite maison.
https://sb-esq-social.b-cdn.net/media_attachments/files/113/648/825/170/358/187/original/bad7dd8cd3eb0fd8.jpeg

2024-12-12 14:35:06 UTC

Had to take a different route to work today because of someone pulling the brake on the subway. Walked to the office from Canal Street. Got this shot on the way. Possibly one of the most New York pics I’ve ever taken. Description in alt text
https://sb-esq-social.b-cdn.net/media_attachments/files/113/640/325/529/021/041/original/cf56d99135f3c3a6.jpeg

2024-12-07 23:09:51 UTC

I went to the NYPL main reading room today. It was overwhelmingly crowded in midtown. I barely settled in when kiddo needed ingredients for a school project. So I renewed my book and left. The grocery stores were packed, too.
I finally got myself organized to start writing, but it’s now time for dinner.

2024-12-06 05:58:10 UTC

I'm not going to comment on this. But this is a case out of Florida about ESG, DEI, and pride. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flmd.417121/gov.uscourts.flmd.417121.102.0.pdf

2024-12-04 04:38:34 UTC

In a first for me, I just had a student submit a brief writing assignment in Chinese. I decided to machine translate it and it was ok. Then I wrote a comment asking if the student could please do the next assignment in English, and ran it through the machine translator into Chinese. I have no idea what comment I just sent, what the tone is, or how the student will take the feedback.

2024-12-04 02:50:27 UTC

I got my first teaching observation report for an asynchronous online class, and I'm really relieved that it had a lot of praise. It's only my second semester using Brightspace, and there were some glitches getting it running. #teaching

2024-11-27 18:33:02 UTC

“The reasons for fraud on this level were simple: railroad stocks were favorites of foreign investors, and the great distances between them and the companies the stocks represented made fraud a tempting option.” #page42  Rules of the game:  • Grab the nearest book. • Turn to page 42 • Find the 2nd sentence • Post the sentence in a toot with the hashtag & write the rules as a comment to it • Don't look for your favorite, coolest or wittiest book. Go for the closest.

2024-11-24 20:08:58 UTC

Time for some Sunday grading. Sigh. https://youtu.be/h3WJDzyDbMs

2024-11-22 18:56:14 UTC

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@nprofile…sxgz c’est bon d’avoir l’abonnement étudiant 😁

2024-11-22 18:40:14 UTC

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@nprofile…sxgz lien cadeau: https://www.lemonde.fr/article-offert/07ff9f91af92-6404776/proces-des-viols-de-mazan-quarante-huit-jours-dans-le-marecage-du-proces?lmd_medium=al&lmd_campaign=envoye-par-appli&lmd_creation=ios&lmd_source=default

2024-11-20 03:59:51 UTC

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@nprofile…frjf Thanks. I forgot.

2024-11-20 03:58:18 UTC

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Getting to the chapter on the 4th amendment now. So we're gonna listen to this one. I'll play it again if anyone did their writing assignment for the defamation chapter, too. #music #law #TuesdayTunes https://youtu.be/oponIfu5L3Y?si=UrfNwoLv3Iz1vDUr

2024-11-20 03:13:12 UTC

Catching up on grading. Need grading music. Let's swap...
https://youtu.be/JUHABIiDS8Q

2024-11-18 19:57:30 UTC

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@nprofile…evrs ooh I was almost in that movie! I was going to play an office manager. But the production got delayed and my work visa expired.

2024-11-17 21:43:26 UTC

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@nprofile…st8m it’s pretty amazing how often the bus (which still has to stop at all the same lights) is faster than a car to go the same distance in manhattan (if you exclude the part where you drive around for an extra 20 minutes looking for parking, then it’s not so amazing). Manhattan really is not a great place to drive, and anything that limits cars here is useful.

2024-11-17 03:01:39 UTC

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@nprofile…cdrm me, too. But they seem pretty serious about the Australia thing. We have to wait to see if Netflix picks it up

2024-11-17 02:49:16 UTC

This is a public service announcement...
With guitars!
They made a season 3 of Fisk!
Still only available in Australia, but maybe the magic of the VPN?
#law #QualityTV

2024-11-16 02:58:56 UTC

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@nprofile…92y4 I got my washer/dryer combo delivered by bike (with trailer) in Paris.

2024-11-15 05:28:58 UTC

I changed the banner on my profile, and realized that my avi is still a picture of me in 17th century armor, and... I think it's kinda perfect. #law #NightCourt

2024-11-15 03:00:42 UTC

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@nprofile…wl5n I’m no Harry Anderson, and the criminal court was across Centre Street, but there were definitely some characters in that room.

2024-11-15 02:19:26 UTC

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@nprofile…wlal yup. Anything you file in court is public record. Those People’s Court shows essentially function as arbitration forums--you sign an agreement to arbitrate, and then Judge Wapner makes a decision.
I got one of those invitations the one time I sued a client for fees.

2024-11-15 01:38:44 UTC

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One of the court officers was a former teacher and complemented me on my style. A former MIDDLE SCHOOL MATH teacher! I don’t know how many middle schoolers you know, but that compliment meant a lot to me. I have no shame about bragging about that.

2024-11-15 01:36:07 UTC

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I did talk about the process a little, as I led the litigants through their trial, and tried to be loud enough for everyone to hear.

2024-11-15 01:32:04 UTC

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The cases end up taking the whole evening, and I don’t like to give my decisions from the bench, so we’ll talk about them in class next week.

2024-09-10 22:56:46 UTC

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@npub1nxf…u2mr I almost played a role as an office manager in this film, but it got delayed because Ray Liotta died and my work visa expired.
I haven't seen it yet, but the Director has a reputation of subverting sexism.

2024-09-10 18:42:46 UTC

Spanikopita. #MardiPatisserie
https://sb-esq-social.b-cdn.net/media_attachments/files/113/114/724/795/041/743/original/6047ad4514b31495.jpeg