Peter Myers' Blog

There Are Worse Things Than My Kids Ending Up Pumping Gas

Every now and then, one of my colleagues forwards to me an interesting article or link that they think I would enjoy.  This little missive from BankRate explores the age-old question of how to leave money to kids.

The teaser is none other than "Affluenza Project" founder Jessie O'Neill's experience with cocaine, booze and the wild life in Miami she experienced when her mother died unexpectedly and left her with $2 million in blow money. 

Family, Money, Connections and Communications

Clint (not his real name) is 90 years old.  He’s “the last one standing,” a few teeth short of 40, but in every respect simpatico.  His living history included, like so many others, the journey from the national purpose of World War II to the individual purpose of the California destination. 

Grown up in the Midwest, probably some opportunities here and there, but nothing like the 20^th Century gold mines of California – the ports, the farms, the abundant resources, new businesses, the imaginative spirit.  He is a man of great integrity, lots of good choices, and smart enough to distinguish snake oil from holy water. 

Children, Adoptions, and the Sage Observations of Clients

            How is it that “out of the mouths of babes” come so many wise comments?  If you work regularly with seniors, you find yourself hearing some of the same insightful comments from people who are (sometimes severely) mentally impaired.  Is there a little spirit inside there that just continues to “see things as they are” despite the breakdown of the physical equipment?  I think so.

        

Our hiring and the value of advice

We have just embarked on a hiring project at our firm.  As a firm like ours gets busier, the balance of the responsibility for handling the workload gets delegated to the person exactly qualified to handle that task:  you do not want people whose skills are in research, analysis, writing, and court process to be handling ordering the supplies or keeping the water jug full.  Nor do you want the counselors to be handling the routine drafting and funding.  The clients are not happy for having to overpay someone and the team member is not happy for not being challenged with appropriate work. 

Welcome to My Blawg

Greetings to all:

This is my first post on my first blog ("blawg" in legal parlance).  I am hopeful that this board will be, if nothing else, entertaining for my friends, family, colleagues and clients.  If you are receiving this, that means I think you might be interested in hearing from me on a semi-regular basis.  If not, just delete and move on.

There have been many times over the past few years where I have been struck by a matter, personal or in the wider world, that I wished I had a place to jot down my thoughts about the matter to share with others.  Well, the 21st Century has arrived and has given all of us, for better or worse, a 'soapbox' of sorts from which to proclaim our gratitude for the many things going right and our dismay at the rest of it.

I am not going to wax on about some legal gobbledegook here.  Most of you know that I write and teach in the legal and professional press, and this is not going to be that type of board.  So if you want to hear about the latest technique for avoiding UBTI by using preferred partnership interests in debt instruments issued by the family business, you are going to have to look elsewhere for that.  This is going to be about personal observations, without disclosing any confidences or identifying information (other than my own). 

I invite you on my journey.  If you think you would enjoy it, please click on the link to the right "subscribe to this blog feed."  You will be automatically notified by email each time I create a new post.