A public service announcement for those last minute shoppers looking to buy a special present for the lawyer in their life.

If you don’t know what to get the lawyer in your life then consider your problem solved.

Pure Awesome.

Brooks Brothers Miracle Non-Iron Shirts are the best thing to happen to the profession since Abe Lincoln.

They’re pricey but they’re great.

I used to be on a first name basis with my drycleaner but no more. These shirts truly are non-iron and I think they save money over a normal shirt in drycleaning costs.

Brooks makes these for men and women.

If you are my wife, parents, or in-laws, or simply want to get something for your favorite blogger, I wear a size 15 1/2  33  and take a slim fit.

This is the annual post, where in the words of Colin McEnroe, I congratulate my blog for staying upright for another year. As I’ve learned, keeping a blog upright for a year is no small task.

My very first post was on December 24, 2007 titled “Hello”. Four years later, I’ve stayed true to my mission statement:

I’ll be writing about legal issues, the practice of law, Connecticut legal stories and really anything law related that interests me enough to write about it.

For 2011, my New Year’s resolution was to avoid writing “Bysiewicz”on this site.  Aside from one post about the legislative changes to the statutory requirements to serve as Attorney General (which wasn’t substantively about Ms. Bysiewicz) I kept my resolution.

I’m looking forward to 2012. Through this site, I’ve realized that I really enjoy writing about the legislative process. In addition to it being interesting, our legislature gives me lots to write about. In any given year, only a few bills capture the attention of the media. There are plenty of scraps and interesting proposals that fly well under the radar. Those are the bills that I love.

The legislative process in 2011 was dominated by the budget. It will be interesting to see what 2012 yields as the General Assembly now has more time to deal with other matters. Election years are always interesting.

Thank you for reading. This site is a labor of love. In 2012 I hope to add to the discussion and to bring my readers more outstanding content from the Independent Media Network.

Happy Holidays,

Ryan

Most of my day is spent negotiating. Almost all of my negotiating is on behalf of my clients.

Recently, I purchased a new car. This was the first car that I’ve purchased since passing the bar.  The process caused me to realize that I do very little negotiating in my daily life. After all, there is no haggling with Amazon.

In many ways, negotiating the purchase price of a new vehicle was much easier than any negotiating I do in practice. The reason: purchasing a car occurs in an open market.  If you don’t like the offer one dealer gives you – you simply call another dealer.  A consumer also has the advantage of being able to have dealers compete for a sale.

I can’t tell you how many times I’d love it if my clients could negotiate with a different spouse during a divorce.

In the practice of law, we are often stuck with the party across the table from us. Often this relationship does not occur by choice (you don’t get to choose who hits you head on) nor do you get to choose your judge.

My negotiation skills did help me to leverage a good deal. Negotiating the price of a car is in many ways no different than negotiating in a case – there is no substitute for research. Learning as much as I could about the car I wanted to purchase and market research on its cost ended up saving me money.

Is it the season or is it me? If I had a nickel for each time I uttered the phrase “no good deed goes unpunished” to a client during the past 2 weeks – I’d have like 40 cents.

There is nothing more exciting in the practice of law than taking a case from consult to a victory at trial (assuming the verdict holds up on appeal).

I love to try cases. Unfortunately, given the nature of civil practice, I don’t get the opportunity very often. Most of my trial experience comes from contested PJRs, family motions, and evictions.

More than anything it’s the creative and competitive process involved in trying a case that makes me excited to come to work in the morning. Sometimes it’s the 10th time you’ve looked over discovery and relevant case law that a breakthrough occurs. Finding that edge and exploiting it at trial is lots of fun.

Recently, I represented a client in the purchase of a home. The client made a $5000 deposit on the house. For a variety of reasons, the deal fell apart and the seller refused to refund the deposit.

From the outset, I was convinced my client was entitled to the refund of his deposit. Though as a judge once told me when confronted with a weak argument “that’s what lawyers do, make arguments, and often wind up believing them”.  Thinking your client is right and proving your client is right can be two totally different things.

Given the small amount of money at stake, we opted to file a small claims suit. The other side offered to split the deposit to settle the case.  We thought we had a strong case and rejected those offers.  We were right. The magistrate awarded us the return of the deposit and denied the defendant’s counterclaim against my client.

This lead us to a trial before a magistrate. Whenever I’m at counsel table be it in small claims court or the appellate court – my adrenaline starts pumping. It’s the same feeling I get before participating in a sporting event.  Frankly, it’s addicting. It’s exciting regardless of the venue or stakes.

It’s why I became a lawyer. It’s why I love being a lawyer. The day I don’t get excited about putting on my case before any court is the day I stop practicing law.

by Christine Stuart

The nine-member bipartisan Reapportionment Commission won’t finish redrawing the congressional maps before the court-ordered noon deadline, which means it will be up to the Supreme Court to decide.

Attorney General George Jepsen said his attorney’s have alerted the Supreme Court that the commission has reached an impasse and attorneys for both the Republicans and Democrats are expected to submit their briefs by 3 p.m. today.

It’s the first time in recent memory the Supreme Court will be asked to finish the task of drawing the five congressional districts before February 15th.  Click here to read more.

In September, I did something radical.

For as long as I can remember, I was a carb junkie. Devouring breads, baked goods and candy as I went through my day.  While training for my last marathon, I really began to put on the pounds. No amount of running can outrun a bad diet. It was no coincidence that as my training peaked, my consumption of junk food peaked, and my weight peaked.

After a particularly bad training run, I decided that my diet was a real problem. For every step forward I was taking on the roads of Glastonbury – I was taking two steps back with my diet.

A friend suggested paleo for athletes. After toying with the idea for sometime, I decided to commit. What did I have to lose? My high carb diet wasn’t working for me.

I started eating as much healthy meats, vegetables,  nuts, and fruits. I didn’t restrict my calories.  I ate until I was full. I cut grains and processed sugars from my diet.

And something remarkable happened.

My running improved and significantly. I posted a personal best in a 5k this fall with a time of 22:27 (nearly 3 minutes better than my prior best).

More importantly, I felt better. After breaking my addiction to sugar, my energy levels and focus improved. No longer was I going from sugar crash to sugar crash throughout my day.

As an added plus, I’ve reduced what Adrian Baron calls “barrister belly”. Since September, simply by eating healthy, I’ve lost 22 pounds.

Losing weight + gaining focus + increased energy = a more effective lawyer.

If you want to know why this works, check out the video below: