My stories are organized into six categories that I designate after I’ve written the story and am posting it to my site. I recognize that while I’ve written across all six categories and find that some stories fit neatly into those buckets, I suspect that if I were to redo the blog, i would change and probably expand the categories to better conform with what I actually write about the most. Without trying to construct labels, I tend to write about world affairs as I see them with an emphasis on things of American import, the natural world around me as I increase my awareness of it, my stage of life as an aging and semi-retired member of the American privileged class (some might say the educated liberal elite), observations of the business world of things of high personal interest, and things that just catch my fancy in the moment including movies, books, music or whatever. If that sounds self-indulgent and not altogether focused on the needs and wishes of my readership, that would be accurate. As I’ve said many times, I write for myself and if others have an interest, so be it. People are sometimes intrigued and sometimes put off by the random arc of some of my stories. Sometimes I write with a clear and steady purpose and the arc is easy to follow and grasp. Other times, there is a stream-of-conciousness to my writing that has me connecting and jumping amongst things that I see as related and instructive to one another, but others may find chaotic. What all of my stories have in them is a genuine reflection of what lives in my mind and soul. They almost all involve lots of research that reflects my thirst for knowledge and they almost all are connected in some way to my personal life experiences. I suppose that all makes the collection of the almost 3,000 stories a form of autobiography. What I know for sure is that when asked if I plan to write an autobiography I laugh and say that I don’t need to because my being is already captured ad nauseam.
I am blessed with a fertile imagination and cursed with an abundance of curiosity. There are times when I envy those that can narrow their focus and stay on a course that pleases them and gives them peace. I am not so fortunate. Every day for me is a new adventure and every day a line of thought gets modified by the environment around me or those that seek me out for one reason or another. What that translates to is a rich panoply of observations that I find fascinating and yet some find tangential and random. Take for instance this evening. I saw the film Lawrence of Arabia come up on my Prime feed. It is perhaps one of my ten favorite movies with cinematic production value ahead of its time (David Lean directed it in 1962 to 7 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director), music that stirs the heart and is recognizable in its humming, and dialogue by Robert Bolt who also wrote A Man for All Seasons and Doctor Zhivago that produces one quotable line after another. As I watch Lawrence wrangle with King Faisal (Alec Guinness) and General Allenby, Faisal, with his Arabic wisdom, says, “Young men make wars, and the virtues of war are the virtues of young men… courage and hope for the future. Then old men make the peace, and the vices of peace are the vices of old men… mistrust and caution.” That ends this famous war story. There is a universality to lines like that which transcend generations. And that’s the sort of observation that always stops me cold and I am forced to ponder “what’s it all about, Alfie” (from the film Alfie of the same vintage).
This distraction of curiosity turns into an asset in my expert witness work. Every day is a certainly a new adventure in that arena. That comes in two flavors. First, the feast or famine aspect means that on any given day I can have emails flying at me from every direction or there can be a deafening silence from just as many directions. Then, the variety of case topics that find their way into my portfolio are a rainbow of colors. Right now I have three cases that are on the front burner. They are all involving investment firms in one way or another. In two I represent the defendants and in the third I work for the plaintiff. The litigation claims of most investment cases involve the “usual suspects” of breach of contract, misrepresentation, fraud, and assorted other nasties. My job involves reading claims, answers to claims, depositions, emails, text and call transcripts, account statements, pitch decks, offering memoranda, and scads of trade data. I then have to triangulate to a short list of opinions as to what went on and how that comports with the claims and counter-claims being made. That analysis leads to the writing of a detailed report, perhaps a renewal to an opposing expert’s report and maybe even another round of rebuttals that flex my expert citation and experiential muscles. Once we get past the “you’re full of shit…no, you’re full of shit…” part of the expert to expert recriminations, there are depositions and then a normally long wait for a hearing or trial testimony. While every case has a unique litigation path, there is a generic path and flow that allows me to have a decent sense of what will be required of me and when…pending courtroom motions for delay or postponement. The best way to stay busy as an expert is to have a layering of caseload that doesn’t have too much deadline overlap.
As I finished and submitted one report a few days ago, I have a few weeks to write my next report, which is reasonably well-defined at the moment, and perhaps a month or more (still not date defined) to write the third report. Meanwhile and in between there will be responses and rebuttals the slide in. And then there are the half dozen new “on the hoof” cases that I have been designated as being the or a leading candidate for assignment. I know from experience that these interviews (all done by Zoom or Teams) always seem to go well and the feedback is almost always encouraging. I guess that’s better than the alternative, but that is still no guarantee of success that I’ll get hired. I have to keep all of those in my head as to whether they are plaintiff or defendant work, the nature of the case claims, the timing of the adjudication (report due date, deposition, hearing, trial and venue). Damn, that’s a lot to juggle some days. As people always say, being busy is a high class problem, but its also a thing to be considered and puzzled.
Thank goodness my curiosity is available to help me wade through it all or I would be wringing my hands over what needs to be done at any moment. I feel like my story writing is the daily calisthenics that tightens my intellectual muscles and keeps me ready to jump in at the most critical moments, like formulating and then building the bases for the opinions that are expected of me. So, this week and next I am digging in and getting shit done and that causes a bit more nervous leg jiggling, but lots of sense of satisfaction as well.