Author Archives: JJD
Farewell Chicago
There was absolutely no point in having me stay in Chicago for another day of negotiations. We got to the offices and were shown into a conference room by the receptionist. We then got an email from the associate on the other side (my counterpart) informing us that he was in another meeting at the […]
One Day More
After last night’s break, we reconvened this morning on the 40th floor of our counterparty’s offices to resume negotiations. They began by handing us what was (in the terms of the partner I’m working with) an “F.U.” markup of the agreemnet we’ve been negotiating. In other words, in turning the draft, the other side had done everything they could […]
Dealmaking in the Windy City
As I boarded the plane to Chicago this morning, the partner I’m traveling with leaned over and said, “If anyone asks, we vote in favor of working non-stop until this agreement is done. Even if it means working all night long. Got it?” Got it. Only no one ever asked. At 5:00pm, the negotiations broke […]
Trauma Surgery vs. Urology
Last Thursday I got a note from my friend Paul saying that he and his wife Blake would be in town over the weekend. They live in Akron, Ohio, and were coming to DC to go to the temple (Akron apparently is equidistant from the Palmyra, Manhattan and DC temples, so they chose DC.) They […]
Flowers in spite of the firm
Last weekend was cold, rainy, and I had nothing to do. I was SO BORED. This weekend, on the other hand, the weather has been gorgeous, the cherry blossoms are opening, and I had a ton of things I wanted and needed to do. So, when last Friday rolled around, did I get any last […]
Puppet Ballet
Puppets are magical and creepy creatures. I read an essay once that described them as totally theatrical, because a puppet’s life and meaning (unlike a living actor’s) comes exclusively through performance: Without a puppet-master and an audience, all you have is a pile of sticks and cloth. Or is it? That’s the question (or at least […]
Like a bird
Back in the day, fancy ladies would often eat in their private apartments before coming down to dinner. That way they could be seen by everyone to eat like a bird. Er, maybe a dainty bird. As far as I know, that practice has generally fallen out of fashion – but the more I think […]
Masks in the bedroom
You know how, when you’re decorating a bedroom, and you’re 98% done, but you just can’t find the right thing to fill that odd-shaped gap over the table between your bed and the wall and you’re reluctant to just put up whatever because you’re in love with the paint color and would regret poking holes in it for […]
Tea Party
On Monday I received a phone call from Ashley in the middle of the afternoon. Despite being at work, I answered the phone. It was Teya on the other end, and she wanted to tell me all about her toilet-training successes before running off to eat her treat of chicken nuggets and French fries. Then today I got this […]
Fun Game
[Late Friday afternoon, Client sends a 150 page contract. I spend most of the weekend reviewing that contract. On Monday, Partner calls me into his office.] Partner: Client is very cost sensitive – they’ve asked us not to do a line-by-line mark-up of this document; instead, they want us to focus only on revising the […]
A More Gentlemanlike Manner 