Posted by T. Greg Doucette on Oct 22, 2015 in
The After-3L Life Surprise! It’s a blog post!
I’ve given up trying to preserve the smilies here at law:/dev/null. Not sure when I’ll have the time to go into the archives and replace them in old entries, but from hence forward I’ll do my best to embrace the emojis that are now built-in to WordPress. ((Seriously, these things are now industry standards!)) 😱
Fees earned are still trending up
TGD Law officially finished three years back on September 20th. I still owe y’all a breakdown of how things turned out from Year 2, so add the Year 3 breakdown to that list. Suffice to say fees are still trending upward but the struggle with costs remains… well… a struggle.
On that same note, we opened an office in Charlotte!
Kinda cuts against the whole “Hey we really should contain costs!” narrative from that last paragraph, but I figure I’ve learned enough about how not to run the Durham branch that I think we can make a second office work. 😂
“Wait, did you say ‘we’?”
I did — I’ve actually got two associates who are still able to put up with me! 😮
At some point I’ll have to come up with blog-suitable nicknames for both of them, but one has been my paralegal since March who recently passed the bar exam; I’m hoping she’ll be my #2, once we get her over the whole fear of having never been a lawyer before.
The other has actually been a friend on Twitter (true story!), who I met for the first time during one of my Startup 101 presentations in Charlotte. ((Over 70 people came to hear that presentation!)) We had drinks in Raleigh the following Friday, and her skillset was uniquely suited for a multinational corporate fraud case I was working on; she started work sitting in on a deposition I had the next Monday. Hence the impetus for the Charlotte office.
Finances and associates aside, we had what I consider one of our marquee wins since the firm opened — torpedoing a baseless defamation case on summary judgment, after systematically dismantling an opposing counsel who was needlessly confrontational the entire time.
The Patton reference made me smile
We’d represented a nudist group ((We’ve truly had a colorful assortment of clients in just three years…)) whose board members were sued after they removed another board member for inappropriately touching somebody; the ex-member actually found a lawyer willing to file suit, arguing that he was “defamed” by the removal. Lots of First Amendment issues, and then us discovering he actually had a pattern of groping multiple women over a number of years.
At the onset of the case I got some guidance from Ken White over at Popehat — I’ve been a shameless fanboy of both him and Patrick at the same site since just before I took the bar exam — and gave them a shout-out when the judgment order arrived in my inbox 😊
Of all the motion hearings and trials I’ve had since I started practicing law back in 2012, that one was my most-crisp and thorough. And the case helped me continue develop my knowledge of First Amendment law that I’d started building from representing the Moral Monday protestors in Raleigh (37 of 39 dismissed) and one of the Black Lives Matters protesters here in Durham (also dismissed).
In my personal world, Nan is doing worse 😞 She finally had the operation to take her thyroid out a week or so ago. Apparently at some point during that operation the doctor nicked her parathyroid which (news to me) regulates the body’s store of calcium — while she’s also on medication that hinders calcium absorption. So long story short I’m sitting at my desk yesterday and see my Aunt Diane calling, which I just knew meant Nan was in the hospital. She was taken to the ER where they discovered she had almost no calcium left in her system. She’ll be there for at least 4-5 days until there’s some improvement. I’m crossing my fingers that things will turn around but I’m not optimistic.
Samson is still a pain in the butt. We’ve reached a détente of sorts with him destroying the apartment, but he’s taken to scratching at the doors to the bathroom and my bedroom, and (when that didn’t do the job) chewing at the wood paneling around them. Needless to say I won’t be getting my security deposit back.
There’s been more since then — asked by MDG to volunteer with the Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club, creating a new endowment at the NCSU Libraries to focus on collections on student leadership, my frustration with both parties in the General Assembly when it comes to the economy and our court system, etc etc etc — but hopefully I’ll do a better job of updating things here and will have those as future topics.
Hope all of you are doing well!
—===—
From the law:/dev/null archives:
Tags: Competence FTW, é›…é›…, MDG, Money Money Money, Nan & Pops, NCSU Libraries, Post-L, Samson
Posted by T. Greg Doucette on May 11, 2014 in
Background I’ve learned after writing this blog for almost 5 years now that I have -0- clue what the future is going to hold.
See, e.g., me thinking I might make it to Marine Corps OCS (nope), or me thinking I might become a prosecutor (negative), or my in-retrospect-absurdly-ambitious plans for NC SPICE (LOL).
So I made sure to eschew making any predictions when I got asked the inevitable question of what I looked forward to in my undergraduate alma mater’s future. ((Though I did make one small quip about our football team around the 1:31 mark… 
)) 
Here’s the last snippet from the interview, followed by some stuff on my history with traffic tickets: ((Mentioned after inadvertently learning the camera hadn’t been cut off yet ))
Questions in this Clip:
00:00 – What do you look forward to for the future at NC State?
01:46 – Is there anything else you’d like to talk about?
03:03 – Outtake: Traffic Tickets
And that’s it! Hopefully over these past 9 entries you’ve got a slightly more detailed view of the man-behind-the-blog. ((Also, I’ve now officially knocked out a third of my New Year’s resolutions 
)) 
Back to law-related stuff in the weeks ahead 
Hope all of you have had a great weekend, and enjoy the upcoming week!
—===—
From the law:/dev/null Student Leadership Initiative-related archives:
Tags: About TDot, NC SPICE, NC State, NCSU Libraries, NCSU Wolfpack, TDot.TV
Posted by T. Greg Doucette on May 10, 2014 in
Background Many years ago, back during the days-you-couldn’t-pay-me-to-relive when I was a 1L, I wrote this entry on LRA mentioning how my computer science background helped me with studying law (and also how I hated LRA 
).
That was the main topic in the penultimate snippet from my interview with the NCSU Libraries as part of their Student Leadership Initiative — not just how computer science prepared me for law school, but how my NC State education in general factored in.
Before we get to that though, you get to witness me being stumped by a question because the thing I thought was the highlight of my career in Student Senate was dead by the time I had the interview
Questions in this Clip:
00:00 – What do you feel is your greatest accomplishment as a student leader at NC State?
02:11 – Do you think your time at NC State has prepared you so far for law school?
06:07 – Could you talk a little bit about how your time at State has influenced your life more broadly?
Only one more video left, then I’ll get back to law-related stuff Good night y’all!
—===—
From the law:/dev/null Student Leadership Initiative-related archives:
Tags: 1L, About TDot, LRA, NC State, NCCU Law, NCSU Libraries, NCSU Student Senate, SG, TDot.TV
Posted by T. Greg Doucette on May 9, 2014 in
Background Long-time readers of law:/dev/null ((**THANK YOU**! 
)) have likely already come across at least one of the several dozen entries I’ve posted over the years on the UNC Association of Student Governments under our UNCASG tag and the Student Government category
If my time leading the Student Senate ((The single most-distinguished student deliberative assembly ever conceived in the State of North Carolina 
)) was best characterized as a hobby, UNCASG quickly developed into an obsession.
The group had grown so wholly and completely dysfunctional that it was practically begging for unconventional leadership, and I truly felt called to step up and fix it. So I eventually teamed up with the Pickle Princess to burn everything to the ground and start over — with N.C. State as my template.
But first there was the whole issue of running for reelection for the purpose of vanquishing a certain villain…
Questions in this Clip:
00:00 – So what factors influenced your decision to run for reelection?
07:27 – How did you handle both responsibilities as Student Senate President and ASG President?
Hope all of you have had a great week, and enjoy your weekend!
—===—
From the law:/dev/null Student Leadership Initiative-related archives:
Tags: About TDot, NC State, NCSU Libraries, NCSU Student Senate, SG, TDot.TV, The Pickle Princess, UNCASG
Posted by T. Greg Doucette on May 8, 2014 in
Background Every good story needs a good villain, and during my tenure as N.C. State‘s Student Senate President that villain was the Student Body President.
It might have been my own fault, informing the then-President-elect ((A recent candidate for the N.C. General Assembly down in Onslow County.)) “I’m not taking any sh*t off the Executive Branch” — on the night we got elected
Maybe I never gave him a fair shake because I’d always hated the Office of the Student Body President as an institution.
Or perhaps it really was how I saw it at the time: our two paths diverging over the failed leadership of the statewide UNC Association of Student Governments, and the fissures growing with each misstep from there.
Whatever the reason, the discord was sufficiently epic ((Including me having him thrown out of Senate chambers, and later chronicling his foibles in a censure resolution that was (intentionally) blocked before it could reach committee — ensuring its text would never be amended )) that it became the single longest response to any question I got asked as part of my interview with the Student Leadership Initiative. Take a look:
Questions in this Clip:
00:00 – Can you describe how you collaborated with other Student Government branches, particularly your relationship with Student Body President Bobby Mills?
Needless to say I wasn’t a member of the fan club
Thanks for watching, have a great night!
—===—
From the law:/dev/null Student Leadership Initiative-related archives:
Tags: About TDot, NC State, NCSU Libraries, NCSU Student Senate, NCSU Technician, Race Relations, SG, TDot.TV, UNCASG
Posted by T. Greg Doucette on May 7, 2014 in
Background So what would you do if you suddenly found yourself elected to public office with a huge mandate… and no platform?
That’s the question-behind-the-question of this next snippet of my interview with the NCSU Libraries Student Leadership Initiative.
Here’s a hint: we did a lot of things for the first time ever, and didn’t give three-tenths of half a damn what the University Administration thought about it
Questions in this Clip:
00:00 – So following your election to the presidency, did you make an effort to instate Hankins as Student Senate President?
02:23 – So you just mentioned the fee referendum, so we’ll talk about that if you don’t mind. Can you describe the student fee referendum and how your administration implemented it?
08:45 – As Student Senate President, you called for Congressional repeal of a bill that limited financial aid given to students with drug convictions. What inspired you to advocate for that issue?
Hope all of you had a great Wednesday! More tomorrow
—===—
From the law:/dev/null Student Leadership Initiative-related archives:
Tags: About TDot, NC State, NCSU Libraries, NCSU Student Senate, NCSU Technician, SG, TDot.TV, Tuition & Fees
Posted by T. Greg Doucette on May 6, 2014 in
Background It’s an odd bit of serendipity that today’s video in the NCSU Student Leadership Initiative snippets I’ve been posting happens to coincide with Election Day nationwide. ((And, believe it or not, I didn’t plan it out that way! 
))
When I finally rejoined the N.C. State Student Senate in April 2006, I was the campus equivalent of a snakebitten candidate. My initial spot in the Student Senate was only via appointment; when I ran in my first real election in March 1999, I foolishly filed for Student Senate President (as a 17-year-old) and got walloped. I ran again in March 2000 only to get pulled off the ballot en route to dropping out. Then I tried for a simple Student Senate seat in March 2006, with 4 candidates running for 3 College of Engineering seats…
…and I came in 4th out of 4, losing to a guy who didn’t even campaign
So after starting 0-for-3* ((Don’t know if getting removed from the ballot counts as a loss or not. I’ll leave that for y’all to decide )) in the election arena, I finally had an uncontested race for a Senate seat going into March 2007 and was looking forward to getting my first notch in the “Win” column.
Then I gave it up.
The rest of the story is too crazy for words, ((As testament to the craziness: my 2nd (3rd?) SSP campaign became course material for -3- different classes at N.C. State 
Professors taught students about the campaign in a course on marketing in the College of Management, a course on campaigning in the College of Humanities & Social Sciences, and a course on computer ethics (using Facebook for opposition research) in the College of Engineering. )) so here’s the video:
Questions in this Clip:
0:00:00 – During that time period, the Elections Commission decided to remove Student Senator James Hankins from the Student Senate President ballot. Can you talk about that, and your response to his removal?
Thanks for watching I hope all of your respective candidates won on this particular Primary Election Day!
—===—
From the law:/dev/null Student Leadership Initiative-related archives:
- Part 1 of 9: The Backstory (05/03/14)
- Part 2 of 9: In the Beginning… (05/04/14)
- Part 3 of 9: Dropping Out (05/05/14)
- Part 4 of 9: Prelude to Revolution (05/06/14) [this post]
- Part 5 of 9: Party Time in Witherspoon (05/07/14)
- Part 6 of 9: “Collaboration” (05/08/14)
- Part 7 of 9: SSP Round Two and UNCASG (05/09/14)
- Part 8 of 9: Law School (05/10/14)
- Part 9 of 9: Traffic Tickets (05/11/14)
Tags: About TDot, NC State, NCSU Libraries, NCSU Student Senate, NCSU Technician, Serendipity, SG, TDot.TV
Posted by T. Greg Doucette on May 5, 2014 in
Background Most folks I meet don’t believe it when they find out I was once a homeless college dropout. ((Case in point: back during law school graduation, after NCCU Chancellor Charlie Nelms offered some kind words about me to the crowd, Top Gun asked me when I got in line for my diploma “Is all that stuff he said true?” in total disbelief.)) I’ve mentioned it occasionally here at law:/dev/null but I generally don’t talk about it in person — it’s not exactly an uplifting topic!
Well of course that ended up being one of the topics of discussion during my interview with the N.C. State Libraries as part of their Student Leadership Initiative (links to Part 1 and Part 2 are below).
We also chat about me helping to shepherd a few items through the Student Senate on my return, including the creation of a campus LGBT Center. ((Apologies to my friends who just went into shock to discover I was supporting the LGBT community before it was trendy ))
Enjoy
Questions in this Clip:
00:00 – You’ve spoken about the challenges you faced while you were a student, specifically your time as a self-described “college dropout.” Can you talk a little bit about why you dropped out and what factors influenced your decision to return?
08:21 – As a Student Senator, you authored many bills including the Student Media Independence Referendum and a bill that supported the establishment of a campus LGBT center. Can you talk about your decision to support these bills?
I’m off for a weekly poker night with one of my mentors and his friends Have a great night y’all!
—===—
From the law:/dev/null Student Leadership Initiative-related archives:
- Part 1 of 9: The Backstory (05/03/14)
- Part 2 of 9: In the Beginning… (05/04/14)
- Part 3 of 9: Dropping Out (05/05/14) [this post]
- Part 4 of 9: Prelude to Revolution (05/06/14)
- Part 5 of 9: Party Time in Witherspoon (05/07/14)
- Part 6 of 9: “Collaboration” (05/08/14)
- Part 7 of 9: SSP Round Two and UNCASG (05/09/14)
- Part 8 of 9: Law School (05/10/14)
- Part 9 of 9: Traffic Tickets (05/11/14)
Tags: "Real" world rants..., About TDot, Money Money Money, Nan & Pops, NC State, NCCU Law, NCSU Libraries, TDot.TV, The Parents, Top Gun
Posted by T. Greg Doucette on May 4, 2014 in
Background Happy Star Wars Day everybody, and May the Fourth be with you
Yesterday I gave y’all the background behind a 1.5-hour long oral history project I did with the N.C. State Libraries — if you haven’t read that entry yet, you’ll want to do that before watching the video below so you understand why they ask the things they ask.
Go ahead. We’ll wait.
The interview is broken into 8 snippets of around 10 minutes or so apiece. Here’s the first one, on my background and deciding to come to NC State:
And for those who like knowing what they’re about to watch, here are the questions they ask me and the timestamps for them:
Questions in this Clip:
0:00:19 – Before we begin talking about your time at State, we’d like to talk to you about where you’re originally from?
0:00:48 – Do you have any siblings?
0:00:58 – What factors influenced your decision to attend NC State?
0:02:11 – Did you live on campus?
0:02:31 – Can you describe what it was like to live on campus?
0:03:45 – What campus events or clubs did you participate in?
0:06:37 – What did you hope to gain from your involvement in Student Government?
0:07:55 – Following your first year as a Student Senator, you campaigned for Student Senate President. Can you describe that?
Next video tomorrow — good night folks!
—===—
From the law:/dev/null Student Leadership Initiative-related archives:
- Part 1 of 9: The Backstory (05/03/14)
- Part 2 of 9: In the Beginning… (05/04/14) [this post]
- Part 3 of 9: Dropping Out (05/05/14)
- Part 4 of 9: Prelude to Revolution (05/06/14)
- Part 5 of 9: Party Time in Witherspoon (05/07/14)
- Part 6 of 9: “Collaboration” (05/08/14)
- Part 7 of 9: SSP Round Two and UNCASG (05/09/14)
- Part 8 of 9: Law School (05/10/14)
- Part 9 of 9: Traffic Tickets (05/11/14)
Tags: About TDot, Nan & Pops, NC State, NCSU Libraries, NCSU Student Senate, SG, TDot.TV
Posted by T. Greg Doucette on May 3, 2014 in
Background Out of the 561 published posts here at law:/dev/null, only about 9% or so are actually about me — who I am as a local internet legend ( 
), as opposed to my travails as a mediocre student / slightly-less-mediocre student politician / not-mediocre-but-broke solo practitioner.
Some of those T.-centric posts are squirreled away here in the Background category, while the rest mostly fall under the About TDot tag. Among them you’ll find the occasional disclosures like me being an extra in a Disney movie, thoroughly embarrassing myself academically in undergrad, and accepting my fate as a bald guy.
Well for the next week I’m going to take a break from writing about law stuff to share a smidge more about myself — and in video form!
Back in 2010, the N.C. State Libraries ((A unit I absolutely love love love with all my heart, even though I hardly ever used them as a student. Librarian Susan Nutter and her staff are among the most student-focused administrators in the entire University, and their philosophy of doing things on “student time” — getting any changes done in less than 4 years so current students can actually enjoy what happens — is a complete upending of traditional bureaucratic decision-making. They’re examples who should be emulated by everyone at NCSU. Period.)) started a really cool project called the Student Leadership Initiative, where the Special Collections folks were gathering oral histories from past Student Body Presidents about their times at the University.
I’ve always had a visceral hatred of the office of the Student Body Presidency though, ((I talk about that in one of the videos that will get posted this week )) even going as far as writing a preemptive resignation letter to my Senate President Pro Tempore in case the SBP were ever removed. So I kindly impressed upon the Libraries staff the importance of getting other non-SBP leaders, ideally including folks from the Student Senate. ((Specifically folks who were “pro-Senate” first — over the years we’ve had a number of Senators go on to be Student Body President, but I wanted people whose institutional loyalties were unquestioned ))
They graciously agreed, and included one of my closest friends and political allies among the interviewees.
Then a year later, back during October of my 3L year, they invited me
The final resulted ended up being this snazzy page with some of my SG-related highlights (and lowlights ((Including the generously euphemistic “took time off from school following his sophomore year” )) ) and a few video snippets of me rambling about campus life.
And if that wasn’t cool enough for me — certified Student Government geek with his geekery enshrined on one of his alma mater’s websites — they recently sent me a DVD with the whole doggone interview!
So naturally I’m going to post it here
That’s it for this entry tonight. I wanted to give you the backstory on what to expect, and for the rest of this week I’ll be posting one chunk of the interview each day so you can learn a little bit more about your friendly neighborhood blogger
Have a great night y’all!
—===—
From the law:/dev/null Student Leadership Initiative-related archives:
- Part 1 of 9: The Backstory (05/03/14) [this post]
- Part 2 of 9: In the Beginning… (05/04/14)
- Part 3 of 9: Dropping Out (05/05/14)
- Part 4 of 9: Prelude to Revolution (05/06/14)
- Part 5 of 9: Party Time in Witherspoon (05/07/14)
- Part 6 of 9: “Collaboration” (05/08/14)
- Part 7 of 9: SSP Round Two and UNCASG (05/09/14)
- Part 8 of 9: Law School (05/10/14)
- Part 9 of 9: Traffic Tickets (05/11/14)
Tags: About TDot, NC State, NCSU Libraries, NCSU Student Senate, SG, TDot.TV
