via
Getty
Images)
Fifteen
years
ago this
week, David
Lat,
who
then
ran
Above
the
Law,
asked
me,
a
veteran
big-firm
partner
who
had
recently
gone
in-house,
if
I’d
write
a
column
for
this
online
publication.
I
agreed. This
link to
my
first
column
shows
how
I
started
back
in
2010.
Originally,
I
wrote
two
columns
every
week. And
I
wrote
almost
exclusively
about
life
as
an
in-house
lawyer
or
things
I
had
learned
in
my
previous
life
at
a
large
firm.
I
wrote
about
“How
to
Drive
Clients
Nuts!” Once
you
come
up
with
an
idea,
you
might
as
well
fill
a
few
Mondays
with
it. So
I
also
cranked
out,
“What
Drives
Partners
Nuts!” And,
fair
being
fair,
“How
to
Drive
Associates
Nuts!”
I
used myself
as
a
case
study in
developing
a
legal
practice
at
a
large
firm. Since
I
was
no
longer
in
the
game,
I
could
afford
to
be
mercilessly
honest.
I
had
started
a
blog
when
I
was
at
a
law
firm. I
wrote
about blogging
as
a
business
development
tool. Again,
since
I
had
nothing
at
stake,
I
could
afford
to
be
honest. (After
I
moved
in-house,
my
co-blogger
kept
the
experiment
alive. He’s still
at
it
now,
with
help
from
others,
20
years
after
we
started
that
puppy.)
Very
occasionally,
I
veered
off
topic
onto
other
subjects. In
15
years
at
Above
the
Law,
I
stand
by this
as
the
cutest
column I’ve
ever
written,
even
though
it
touches
on
the
law
only
tangentially. Perhaps this
one is
a
close
second,
and
it’s
more
legally
relevant.
In
2012,
the
company
that
I
worked
for
moved
its
headquarters
(and
me)
overseas
to
London. I
reduced
my
writing
schedule
from
two
columns
per
week
to
one. When
you
live
in
London,
weekends
are
made
for
Paris,
not
cranking
out
columns
for
Above
the
Law.
After
my
move
to
the
U.K.,
I poked
fun
at
the
Brits. I
took
a
lot
of
grief
for
that
one.
At
about
the
same
time,
I
decided
to
collect
some
of
my
columns
in
a
book. (Here’s the
link to
the
book
at
Amazon, but
the
book
is
now
out
of
print,
so
you
couldn’t
buy
a
copy
if
you
wanted
to. Happily,
my
other
book,
“The
Curmudgeon’s
Guide
to
Practicing
Law,”
is
a
bigger
seller,
so
you
can
still grab
a
copy (affiliate
link)
if
you’re
interested.)
Long-time
readers
will
remember
that
Above
the
Law
originally
permitted
folks
to
click
on
an
icon
and
post
comments
about
every
column.
The
comments
ranged
from
vicious
to
insightful
to
vicious
to
intelligent
to
vicious
to
hysterically
funny
to
vicious.
My
book
reproduced
both
some
my
columns
and
some
of
my
readers’
comments,
because
I
accept
wisdom,
humor,
and
insights
from
all
sources,
and
even
viciousness
can
be
revealing.
When
I
started
writing
this
column,
I
had
to
give
it
a
name,
which
was
included
every
week
along
with
a
subtitle
hinting
at
the
subject
of
that
particular
column. Above
the
Law
believed
that
naming
a
column
was
important
for
branding
purposes. (The
branding
exercise
stopped
many
years
ago.)
My
column
was
originally
titled
“Inside
Straight.” When
the
time
came
to
name
my
book,
I
wrote
a
column
explaining
that
the
title
of
my
book
would
start
with
the
name
of
the
column,
“Inside
Straight,”
but
would
then
have
a
colon
and
a
short,
snappy,
subtitle. I asked
readers
to
suggest
subtitles in
the
comments. As
you
might
imagine,
I
received
a
variety
of
suggestions. One
of
my
favorites
was
from
the
commenter
who
proposed: “Inside
Straight: The
Annoying
Ramblings
of
an
Uber
Douche.” I
confess
that
I
used
a
different
title
when
the
book
was
actually
published.
Many
subjects
are
static;
they
just
don’t
advance
quickly,
and
you
eventually
exhaust
what
you
have
to
say. Life
as
an
in-house
lawyer
is
that
way. But
two
subjects
change
all
the
time: Sports
(with
a
game
every
night)
and
politics
(basically
the
same). I
bet
that’s
why
you
see
so
many
columns
about
sports
and
politics. After
Donald
Trump
was
elected
president
and
I
returned
to
the
United
States,
I
shifted
the
subject
of
my
column
from
“life
as
an
in-house
lawyer”
to
“how
could
we
have
elected
that
clown?”
(although
I
occasionally gave
Trump
his
due —
eliminating
the
penny,
for
example,
was
a
good
idea). By
then,
I
had
no
more
to
say
about
in-house
life
and,
with
Trump
as
president,
the
lure
was
irresistible.
My
columns
became
more
widely
read
when
I
started
writing
political
opinion. My
single
most
widely
read
column
ruminated
on
how Trump
might
react to
being
indicted. But
I
thought
this
column
was
OK,
too,
posing
a few
questions
to
my Trump-supporting
friends. Judging
from
the
reaction
to
that
column,
my
Trump-supporting
friends
don’t
like
being
questioned.
Years
ago,
I
published
annual
columns
celebrating
each
anniversary
of
my
time
at
Above
the
Law. I
titled
most
of
those
columns,
“Happy
Birthday
to
Me!” But
the
statistics
showed
that
nobody
read
those
columns. One
year,
I
tried
to sucker
people
into
reading my
anniversary
celebration. That
didn’t
work
either.
I
gave
up
the
tradition.
But
today,
on
my
15th
anniversary
at
Above
the
Law,
I’m
reverting
to
form
and
noting
the
occasion
out
loud. I
guarantee
you
that
I’ll
no
longer
be
writing
these
columns
in
2040,
so
you
won’t
be
seeing
any
30th
anniversary
post
from
me. Once
in
a
lifetime
is
enough.
For
a
once-in-a-lifetime
occasion,
let’s
celebrate.
Break
out
the
cake. Light
the
candles. Cut
yourself
a
slice.
Happy
birthday
to
me!
And
thanks
for
having
come
along
for
the
ride.
Mark Herrmann spent
17
years
as
a
partner
at
a
leading
international
law
firm
and
later
oversaw
litigation,
compliance
and
employment
matters
at
a
large
international
company.
He
is
the
author
of The
Curmudgeon’s
Guide
to
Practicing
Law and Drug
and
Device
Product
Liability
Litigation
Strategy (affiliate
links).
You
can
reach
him
by
email
at [email protected].