Professor Bainbridge...on law, politics, religion, culture & food

At a financial firm where I worked, the partner’s axiom was: Say it and forget it, but write it and regret it. 

In the healthcare firm, it was: If you didn’t document it, you didn’t do it.
- which cuts both ways, come to think of it.

In the healthcare firm, it was: If you didn’t document it, you didn’t do it.
- which cuts both ways, come to think of it.

As Henway says, it cuts both ways.

I can’t recall how many times I’ve written the letter that goes, “I am writing to confirm our conversation of XX/XX/XXXX in which you ... If my understanding of our conversation is incorrect in any way, please inform me by correspondence at your earliest convenience.  Very truly yours, Me.”

I had a lawyer give me advice, tell me that he was a lawyer and knew better than I, be wrong, and then denied he ever said it.

In my experience, lawyers do not say it and forget it, they say it and then deny they said it.

I also met a guy in college who had just finished law school.  He told that he could never actually practice law as it would require him to suspend every moral teaching he knew.  Don’t know what happened to him, but I doubt he went into litigation.

Reminds of a scene in a Walter Mosely novel (Little Yellow Dog?) where tEasy Rawlins tells a young lad cheating on his woman in her very neighborhood not to shit where you eat.

In Boston, it’s: Never write when you can speak; never speak when you can nod; never nod when you can wink.

Yup, I got yelled at as a summer for this mistake, a particularly major mistake in fields where attorney-client privilege is regularly waived (such as IP, as part of a defense against willful infringement.) I don’t intend to make that mistake again.

I find I must respectfully disagree with the second professor, and not for reasons relating to political correctness.

If you consult your same Bill Clinton intern example, it was certain gifts bestowed by Ms. Lewinsky by the President that provided tangible evidence of, and corroboration for, the liaison.  (E.g., the second professors’ “mink”.)

That and a certain presidential double helix “gift” still clinging to a blue dress.

To sum up: Print, gifts, and DNA are all “out”, which leaves land line (non-long distance) telephonic or face-to-face conversation.

Even then, nothing much to be gained from kissing and telling, as Ms. Lewinski quickly learned following her misplaced trust in one Linda Tripp.