Posts

The Last Carnival of Trust

Welcome this month’s Carnival of Trust.  It is an historic post, because it is also the last Carnival of Trust.

The first guest host of the Carnival of Trust was Ed. (short for Editor) of Blawg Review exactly three years ago in August of 2007.

It’s fitting that Ed. is also hosting the final edition of the Carnival of Trust, particularly since he was so instrumental in the development of the C of T. I want to thank him personally for his tremendous and selfless help in getting the Carnival off the ground, and for constantly being a source of support.

And before eulogizing the Carnival I want to make sure you read the current edition; Ed. has done a wonderful job of closing it out. He’s got great trust-related themes ranging from confidence in business to journalistic collusion to the question of whether anonymity destroys trust.  

Click over to the Blawg Review site to read the latest (and last) Carnival of Trust.

Why We’re Closing Out the Carnival

I want to be clear I consider the Carnival of Trust to have been a solid success. We were able to shine the light of publicity on a lot of well-deserving bloggers, and to offer concentrated doses of great writing to our readership, thereby enriching the lives of all concerned.

The Carnival was frequently cited as a leader in several Carnival reviews, notably the Carnival of Capitalists and On the Moneyed Midways. I’m proud of all that.

But at least for TrustMatters readers, things have shifted. We rarely get the kind of commentary we got in the past, and I think that’s for good reason. The role that the Carnival played for us in the past is increasingly being played out on Twitter and LinkedIn, and in community aggregators like the Customer Collective. 

I think this is simply a sign that communities of discussion have diffused. No judgment there, no right nor wrong, no regrets. But it does mean we’ll try to shift our efforts as well.

Know this: we are not killing off the Carnival. It will emerge, phoenix-like, in a different form. We’re still working on it, but it will contain periodic collections of thought pieces by others—pieces that we’ve separately either blogged about, or tweeted about, or commented on in other forums. We will also still accept submissions to the Carnival of Trust through the central carnival submissions site

So firstly, thank you for your past readership of the Carnival of Trust. Stay tuned for its new incarnation.

And I want to say an extremely special thank you to the great bloggers who have graciously given of their time and energy to host the Carnival of Trust in the past. We all benefited from their work. Here they are, including the link to the Carnival they hosted. 

The July 2010 Carnival of Trust
Hosted by Doug Cornelius at Compliance Building.

The May 2010 Carnival of Trust
Hosted by Julian Summerhayes at JulianSummerhayes.com.

The April 2010 Carnival of Trust
Hosted by Skip Anderson at his blog.

The February 2010 Carnival of Trust
Hosted by Bret L. Simmons at his blog.

The January 2010 Carnival of Trust
Hosted by John Ingham at Social Advantage

The November 2009 Carnival of Trust
Hosted by Jordan Furlong at Law21.ca

The October 2009 Carnival of Trust
Hosted by Scot Herrick at Cube Rules

The September 2009 Carnival of Trust
Hosted by John Caddell at Customers Are Talking

The August 2009 Carnival of Trust
Hosted by David Donoghue at the Chicago IP Litigation Blog.

The July 2009 Carnival of Trust
Hosted by Adrian Dayton at Marketing Strategy and the Law.

The June 2009 Carnival of Trust
Hosted by Dave Stein at Dave Stein’s Blog.

The May 2009 Carnival of Trust
Hosted by Victoria Pynchon at Settle It Now

The April 2009 Carnival of Trust
Hosted by James Irvine and Tripp Allen at The Egyii Blog

The March 2009 Carnival of Trust
Hosted by Beth Robinson at Inventing Elephants

The February 2009 Carnival of Trust
Hosted by Ian Brodie at Sales Excellence

The January 2009 Carnival of Trust
Hosted by Diane Levin at Mediation Channel

The December 2008 Carnival of Trust
Hosted by Stephanie West Allen at idealawg

The November 2008 Carnival of Trust
Hosted by Jim Peterson

The October 2008 Carnival of Trust
Hosted by Charles H. Green

The September 2008 Carnival of Trust
Hosted by Ann Bares at Compensation Force

The July 2008 Carnival of Trust
Hosted by Andrea Howe at The BossaBlog

The June 2008 Carnival of Trust
Hosted by by Clarke Ching at Clarke Ching—More Chilli Please

The May 2008 Carnival of Trust
Hosted by David R. Donoghue at The Chicago IP Litigation Blog

The April 2008 Carnival of Trust
Hosted by Mark Slatin at True Colors Consulting

The March 2008 Carnival of Trust
Hosted by Duncan Bucknell at the IP ThinkTank Blog

The February 2008 Carnival of Trust
Hosted by Michelle Golden at Golden Practices

The January 2008 Carnival of Trust
Hosted by Ford Harding at Harding and Company Blog

The December 2007 Carnival of Trust
Hosted by John Crickett at Business Opportunities and Ideas

The November 2007 Carnival of Trust
Hosted by Charles H. Green at Trust Matters

The October 2007 Carnival of Trust
Hosted by Steve Cranford at Whisper

The September 2007 Carnival of Trust
Hosted by David Maister at Passion, People and Principles

The August 2007 Carnival of Trust
Hosted by the Editor of The Blawg Review

The July 2007 Carnival of Trust
Hosted by Charles H. Green at Trust Matters

The First (June 2007) Carnival of Trust
Hosted by Charles H. Green at Trust Matters

Blawg Review #275

This week, we are very proud to play host to the blog carnival for everyone interested in law, Blawg Review.  Trust Matters readers, please say hello to the nice visitors from Blawg Review. Blawg Review readers, welcome to our little sandbox and please make yourselves at home.

A Bit of History

It was two years ago and change that we played host to Blawg Review #150, so it’s high time we hosted again. 

Not only that, but the famously anonymous Ed. (short for ‘editor’) of the Blawg Review is simultaneously hosting this month’s Carnival of Trust. Touching, and appropriate, as Ed. played an enormous role in getting the Carnival of Trust off the ground at its inception.

But enough about common lineage. Let’s start with the post “Trust and Compliance” by Doug Cornelius, where he pretty much nails the distinction between those two key concepts (with a Jennifer Hagy cartoon for good measure). Which comes first?  Does one cause the other? Is one a necessary or sufficient condition for the other? When do we need trust, and when compliance? Doug is crisp, succinct, and I think solidly right. 

And wait—what’s this? More common lineage: Doug just happens to have hosted last month’s brilliant Carnival of Trust as well. It’s getting all incestuous around here. 

Moving right along.  Eric Turkewitz at the New York Personal Injury Law Blog gives some lessons on blogging etiquette and just plain class, and displays said class himself by using Walter Olson as an object example.   

David Kopel at The Volokh Conspiracy went to the movies and was inspired to write Understanding Inception. Two of the 60 comments sum it up: “Fantastic analysis of the movie,” and “the analysis was better than the movie.” Which raises an obvious conundrum—to go see a meta-movie, or to just read the meta-review? Maybe I’ll just sleep on it. 

Also in The Volokh Conspiracy, Eugene Volokh covers the law’s struggle with that age-old riddle, Q. when is a rape not a rape? A. when it’s religiously permitted. The lower court agreed; the appellate court reversed. 262 commentators continue the debate in the Green Room; hurry and you’ll be #263.

David Lat at Above the Law has the Quote of the Day: What Crawled Up His Robe?

Scott Greenfield at Simple Justice has a different spin on the same case, in Unexplained Removal For Unfortunate Hostility (Update: Explained, Sorta).  Judges are hostile all the time, says Greenfield—to the defense, that is. But why the unprecedented removal of a judge—is it for being hostile to the government?  SG is suspicious. A novel position for SG, but hey just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean… And he just may be right.

Criminal Defense Attorney Mark Bennett at his law blog Defending People re-invents the concept of Inbound Marketing for lawyers: nothing makes you so credible as recommending others along with yourself. Read his Small Lesson. A lesson not just for lawyers, or even marketers, but for the Manual for Living Life.

Criminal Defense Attorney Mark Bennett, on his Social Media Tyro blog asks ‘which do you want–reputation or exposure?’  They’re not the same.  

Want your blog to drive traffic to your website?  Kevin, at Real Lawyers Have Blogs, asks the right question: Why Would You Want That?

Can you tell when someone’s lying?  That debate will continue unabated, but here’s a small cool part of the puzzle from Keene Trial Consulting, in We Know Liars When We See Them.  Folks who watch the TV show Lie to Me do not get better at telling when someone else is lying; but they do get a lot more suspicious about everyone.  Want to empanel a jury of conspiracy freaks?  There you go.  You’re welcome.

As long as we’re on the subject of not-nice behaviors, Dan Harris at China Law Blog raises an interesting question about bribery.  Does Your Home Country Even Care?  He notes a recent report on how actively home-countries enforce anti-bribery laws on companies doing business in China. Interesting to see which countries are high- and low-active countries; interesting, Canada, eh?

Big fish, little pond? Or little fish, big pond? Ashby Jones at the Wall Street Journal Law Blog has the answer: New Study: Forget the Rankings, Just Bring Home Straight A’s

Apparently HLS students agree with Jones’ blogpost above, being as how they’re all atwitter over a nonchalant attitude toward grades by a prof and the administration. Read Elie Mystal at Above the Law: Grading Shenanigans at Harvard Law School? Spring Evidence Students Confronted ‘Irregularities’.  Hey no problem; just send them a copy of that study,  Sander & Yakowitz’s paper, I’m sure they’ll get over their bad Harvard selves and see the light.

Frank Pasquale at Concurring Opinions helps distinguish between being Anti-Business and Anti-The Worst Businesses. There’s an added bonus in a lengthy comment to that post by Patrick O’Donnell.

What’s the penalty for offering to take sexual services in barter as payment for legal services rendered? In New Jersey, it’s a one-year suspension.  Bobby Frederick, of South Carolina Criminal Defense Blog, seems to think that’s odd.  Fuggedaboudit, Bobby. 

Walter Olson (not a lawyer, but the proprietor of the oldest "lawblog" Overlawyered) writing on the law at Cato about the ADA and the Chipotle Grill Experience. What does the ADA filing mill have in common with patent trollery, copyright mills, and “citizen suit” filings? They’re all like the sausage factory; pretty ugly inside.

Speaking of ADA, did you see last week’s Blawg Review #274 at LoTempio Law Blog, marking the 20th anniversary of the American’s With Disabilities Act?

In closing… Insurance lawyer George M. Wallace blogging personal interests on his "fool in the forest" blog.

And that’s it. Many thanks to Ed. for the honor and privilege of once again hosting the Blawg Review.  Followers of law blogs and regular readers of Trust Matters will find more great links to blogs worth reading in the last Carnival of Trust, hosted today by the Editor of Blawg Review.  Enjoy!

The Carnival of Trust for May 2010 is hosted by Julian Summerhayes

Welcome to the May Carnival of Trust — a compilation of the best blogosphere-wide trust-related posts in the last month.

This month the Carnival is hosted by Julian Summerhayes, at his blog of the same name.  Julian’s Twitter-handle is @OneLife.

Each month the selections are made by a revolving guest host.  In Julian’s case, the eclectic selections reflect his own eclectic background.   Hailing from Devon, England, Julian has worked in the recruiting, aerospace and the legal sectors. 

If you click on over to his site to read the Carnival, you’ll find fascinating posts from a baker’s dozen bloggers.  The subject material ranges from branding to crisis management to project management to emotional connection to the sales process.  I find it a powerful experience to read the widely varying manifestations of the simple concept of trust.

Do yourself a favor.  Click on over to the Carnival of Trust. And enjoy the high quality reading.

Maybe you’ll be moved to submit some material of your own to future Carnivals.  You can do so by clicking here.  And you can read past Carnivals by clicking here.

Many many thanks to Julian Summerhayes for hosting this most excellent edition of the Carnival.

——

January Carnival of Trust is Up

The Carnival of Trust this month is ably hosted by Jon Ingham, world traveler HR capital expert who hosts the blog Social Advantage from his perch in the UK.  And Jon has produced a delightful Carnival for you.

Jon has done the heavy lifting for you, so you can read highly concentrated doses of the best (that is, from Jon’s perspective) of the last month’s postings broadly related to trust.  Jon’s perspective inevitably colors the choices, which is exactly what we want from Carnival of Trust hosts; his viewpoint is that of human relationships.

Some of the goodies he’s served up for you include:

  • The emerging Trust Economy;
  • Whether it’s ethical to tweet workshop content;
  • Should you give trust, or should others earn it;
  • Three easy steps to losing trust.

And more.  All with Jon’s trenchant commentary.

Go ahead, treat yourself to some fine reading at the Carnival of Trust.  It’ll lower your cholesterol. (Well, it’ll do your heart good anyway).

Thanks again to Jon Ingham for hosting.

 

 

October Carnival of Trust is Now Being Served

 

 

Scot Herrick, author of the delightful blog Cube Rules, is this month’s host of the Carnival of Trust

For those who don’t know, the Carnival of Trust is a monthly collection of the most interesting and noteworthy posts from the Kingdom of Blogs over the past month.  Each month, the Carnival is hosted by an experienced blogger–not myself.  The definition and selection of "interesting and noteworthy" is left to the host; each host infuses the selection and commentary with their own point of view.  The result is a great chunk of reading for you.

This month Scot has collected some terrific blogposts that answer the following questions:

– Would you rather fix your customer’s problem, or be right?  Think carefully now…

– Can you break promises with your employees, or not?  And if so, how many?

– What’s a great acronym for remembering the components of RESPECT?

– How can you get your parents to trust you?

– Would you rather hire a relative, be hired by one, or recommend one?

– How can you market yourself as being trustworthy?  (It’s not a trick question).

 You don’t get this much concentrated good stuff anywhere else.  Treat yourself to a choice bit of edutainment; you’ll love the way it tastes, honest!

Many thanks to Scot Herrick for hosting this month.  If you liked this month’s Carnival of Trust, you might enjoy looking at past Carnivals as well.  And if you’d like to see your blogpost up there in the lights, please do contribute your blogpost (or someone else’s you’d like to nominate) at this site

Again, enjoy the October Carnival of Trust.

 

 

 

April Carnival of Trust: the Best Yet?

This month is the 22nd Carnival of Trust.I take nothing away from the other editions by saying that the bar has been raised yet again; this particular Carnival stands out.

Hosted by James Irvine and Trip Allen of Egyii (think "edgy’), out Singapore way, what intrigues me so much about this edition is the case that Allen and Irvine make for trust as one of the most pervasive elements of doing business in the new milennium.  I defy you to read this Carnival and not come away sold that if you’re engaged with trust, you’re not doing business right in today’s world.

For those of you who may not be following, a Carnival is a collection of blogs.  The Carnival of Trust, however, is special, and not just becausd it focuses on trust.

The Carnival of Trust is hosted on a rotating basis, and each host picks the Top Ten–no more, no less–trust-related blogs from the past month, from the fields of Strategy, Economics and Politics; Leadership and Management; Sales and Marketing; and Advising and Influencing.  Not only that, but the hosts weave them together with succinct commentary that adds its own value.

What you, the reader, get is intelligent selection, thoughtful content, and incisive commentary.  Beats any search engine going. 

In this Carnival you’ve got articles connecting love and profit; profit and new social media; branding; and the economics of giving away.  All connected by some very insightful commentary by the egyii folks

Like to see past Carnivals?  Like to enter your own blog piece into the funnel for the next month’s Carnival?  Visit the Carnival home page; and submit material for the next Carnival here. 

Give this one a read.  And drop a note to thank James and Trip for the great work they did here.  Just click on April Carnival of Trust, and enjoy.

March Carnival of Trust is Up!

The March Carnival of Trust is up. 

Hosted this month by  Beth Robinson, at her blog Inventing Elephants, Beth brings above all an eclectic perspective to the subject of trust–and it shows in her wide-ranging choice of topics and insightful commentary.

The Carnival of Trust, hosted on a rotating basis, chooses the Top Ten trust-relevant posts of the preceding month–and provides trenchant, bite-sized commentaries on the posts themselves.  The result is a limited set of highest-quality content.  High content, pre-screened and with intelligent value-adding commentary.

Click through to the Carnival and see what Beth’s eclecticism brings to the subject of trust.  There are strong blog pieces here ranging from social media, to building business trust in China, to an advocate of predictability over trust, to ROI and accountability.  All of which wonderfully demonstrate the breadth of issues touched by trust. 

If you’ve got a blog post you’d like to see in that Top Ten list, feel free to nominate it.  The carnival comes out once a month, on the first Monday of each month. The deadline for submissions (see http://blogcarnival.com/bc/submit_1693.html) is always the prior Thursday.

Thanks again to Beth for hosting; drop on by for some tasty reading. 

January Carnival of Trust is Up

The January Carnival of Trust is up.

Hosted by Diane Levin at MediationChannel.com, this month’s edition certainly had a feast to choose from, what with all manner of scandals and conflict in the news. Diane’s choice of material for the Carnival chooses to emphasize the basics of trust–something well worth doing in times of off-scale low trust.

Each month, the Carnival of Trust rotates to a new host. Each host selects the Top Ten trust-related blogposts in categories including Sales & Marketing, Management and Leadership, Advising and Influencing, and Strategy, Economics & Politics.

Since the host chooses only the Top Ten, and thoughtfully adds some valuable perspective of his or her own, it ends up being a rich and rewarding reading experience. Diane’s selections include such topics as Ponzi Schemes (no big surprise there), trusting your customers, trust lessons from improv comedy, moral education in the workplace, and reflections from a week in the frosty northwoods–without electricity.

Many thanks to Diane. Hop over to the Mediation Channel and read the January Carnival of Trust.

Want to submit a post? Articles can be submitted through Blog Carnival’s submission form. Please be sure the article is related to trust and be aware that each host will choose only ten articles each month. The deadline for submissions is always the Thursday before the first Monday of each month.

You can also read past Carnivals here.

 

 

December Carnival of Trust is Up

 

The December 2008 Carnival of Trust is now officially up, courtesy of Stephanie West Allen at Idealawg. Many thanks to Stephanie for a fascinating set of selections.

Do yourself a favor and click through to her site to view the full set of the Top Ten selections. To whet your appetite, here are a few subjects Stephanie has selected:

–What a con man has to teach us about trust

–Seth Godin on trust

–25 behaviors that will destroy trust

–the 8 factors that go into evaluating a handshake.

And six more round out the Top Ten Trust selections this month. Fascinating stuff. Just what the Carnival should do–the tough job of screening the internet each month for interesting material on trust, and doing the heavy lifting by narrowing it down to the Top Ten. Must-trust reading.

Again, read the current Carnival of Trust here. Read past Carnivals here.

And if you’d like to submit your own blog post for consideration in next month’s Carnival, please do so by clicking here.

See you next month!

 

 

Blawg Review #150: Updated!

UPDATE
This piece from today’s Wall Street Journal Law Blog post by Dan Slater about the 60 Minutes story on legal ethics broke after the Blawg Review went up, but I think it’s important enough that it deserves a place in the review, alongside Howard Bashman’s original post. The commentary makes for relevant and compelling reading.


Welcome to this week’s presentation of Blawg Review, the 150th issue of the blog carnival for everyone interested in law.

I was introduced to blog carnivals by my friend and colleague David Maister, one of the co-authors of The Trusted Advisor book. David hosted Blawg Review #76 and #131 and agreed with me that a “carnival of trust” would be interesting as well and, hopefully, just as popular.

The famously anonymous editor of Blawg Review most graciously offered his experience to me as a mentor during the early development of the Carnival of Trust. I hosted the first two editions here on Trust Matters. My new blog carnival mentor at Blawg Review hosted the third. Since then, the Carnival of Trust has been hosted by David Maister, Steve Cranford, John Crickett, Ford Harding, Michelle Golden, and Duncan Bucknell. So, it’s with a debt of gratitude to lawyers who blog that I’m pleased to be hosting Blawg Review #150 on Trust Matters this week.

All lawyers, whatever their specialties in law, strive to be trusted advisors. In books, articles, and posts on this blog, I’ve written extensively on matters of trust, including topics of special interest to lawyers. I encourage those of you new to my site to explore my resources on building trust.

Disclaimer: this issue of Blawg Review includes subjects of interest to everyone, not only lawyers! While I’m not an attorney, I’ve discovered many interesting and helpful blog posts by lawyers, which I’m pleased to present in this Blawg Review #150. So here we go.

Raymond Ward has an excellent quotation from George Orwell advocating clear language. I might add that speaking and writing clearly and without jargon goes a long way to establish trust.

Sheryl Sisk Schelin posts Seven Days of Inspiration, which reviews non-legal websites that are among her favorites.

Kevin O’Keefe shows us nine ways to find the top legal blog in niches. Tip: it works for niches outside the law just as well.

Marc Randazza considers a proposal for the “Internet Notary” to harness the power of the free market to correct irregularities in the marketplace of ideas.

Jeremy Phillips couldn’t bring himself to write up the latest chapter in the litigation saga concerning the “Budweiser” name, so he solicited a few “buds” to compose Budweiser-themed haikus.

Those who appreciate real haiku will not want to miss this retired antitrust lawyer, David Giacalone, who writes snowjob: lessons from the other big vote.

Jim Chen revisits a previous topic and suggests again that law schools should do more to teach commercial law. Who could argue with that? Find out.

Gordon Smith discussed whether college-bound athletes can sue over rescinded scholarship offers. A good test of commonsense vs. the law, or so it seemed to me.

In the California gay marriage case, Dale Carpenter doubts the court will find for its advocates.

Mike Masnick, Tim Armstrong, and Kevin Donovan all discuss whether the decline of Digital Rights Management diminished the authority of the DMCA.

Eugene Volokh had another strong week with posts concerning the imposition of women-only hours at Harvard’s athletic facilities and a California court’s attack on home-schooling.

Kip Esquire takes the libertarian view on the ruling of the California Court: No Right to Homeschool.

Kevin Underhill nicely captures the comedy and pathos in a dramatic doughnut-related crime in Oregon this week. Some lawyers specialize in droll humor, and I love ‘em. Kevin is one.

Scott Greenfield says Some Alternatives to Sentencing Are Just Plain Bad.

Casey lives on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. He is a law student and works in politics; his name has been changed to protect his identity in this case. His story about what it’s like to spend five grim days in the D.C. jail is awful, but other inmates from the DC Jail could tell worse. “Casey” raises some pretty big social issues in a compelling way.

E.L. Lipman mourns the loss of a mentor-in-chief, William F. Buckley, Jr.

Judah Zuger at Changing the Court, a chronicle of how a group of planners and practitioners are attempting to change the Bronx court system’s approach to low-level criminal offending, tells a heartwarming story about youth giving back to youth.

I’ve always loved the Billboard Liberation Front’s unique brand of civil disobedience, but this time they’ve outdone themselves,” writes Kevin Jon Heller. Comments ensue.

Eric Turkewitz reports that Allstate Slammed With RICO Charge Over Sham Medical Exams, and A Doctor, Sued In Insurance Company RICO Suit, Responds To The Charge anonymously in the next post.

Jaya Ramji-Nogales discusses Renting a Womb: Outsourcing’s Next Frontier.

Douglas McNabb reports that the Untied Arab Emirates passed a law against human trafficking.

Peter Black links to a video that explains Twitter to those who don’t get it.

Barry Barnett tells a story of “Settlement Negotiations on Trial”.

Stewart Weltman gives the counter-argument to the leverage-is-good law firm model in a post he titles “News Flash – A Legal Consultant Gets It All Wrong When It Comes To How Lawyers Can Best Serve Their Clients“. Know what? He’s dead right.

Holden Oliver quotes the firm’s name partner, Dan Hull, who advises “Watch your clients’ money like it’s yours.”

Dan Solove considers Facebooks banishment of David Lat and due process. Who owns the right to social rights in privately held social networks?

Deven Desai asks Who Owns Your Emails, Blog Posts, or Facebook Pages? How About You?

William reports on a Night out on the town for Ricky Raccoon.

Ricky Gervais Inspires Copyright Opinion
is discussed at length in an excellent blog post by William Patry, Google’s Senior Copyright Counsel. He quotes a fine judge, who has this description about the putative inclusion of IP within some corporate training materials: “They are aggressively vapid; hundreds of pages filled with generalizations, platitudes, and observations of the obvious.” Yup, that would be pretty right.

John Wallbillich looks under the covers of Legal Directories: Insight or Indulgence? Are Legal Directories the equivalent of the Yellow Pages? Or are they high-touch opportunities or competitive differentiation?

Apparently there is a national movement supporting the rights of students to pack heat on college campuses,” writes Dan Filler.

Howard Bashman reports on a “26-Year Secret Kept Innocent Man In Prison; Lawyers Tell 60 Minutes They Were Legally Bound From Revealing Secret” .

Jim Maule writes with authority about Using Taxation for Non-Tax Purposes. You’ve heard this argument before—but not with this data.

Brenda Cossman considers when government funding becomes censorship.

Duncan Bucknell, who’s hosting the March 2008 Carnival of Trust, has this week’s roundup of IP Think Tank Global Week in Review.

R. David Donoghue at the Chicago IP Litiation Blog, which will host the May editon of the Carnival of Trust, has More on Toy Trains: Should Derivative Works be Registerable Without Permission?

Brett Trout looks at Patent Lawyer Porn.

Non-traditional lawyer Steve Cranford makes the case that “Committees Can Kill Even the Greatest Idea” is one of the Laws of Branding.

Former GC Anita Campbell, discusses Why A Positive Mental Attitude Matters During Recession.

Bruce MacEwen at Adam Smith, Esq. considers the problem of attrition at law firms: is it process or passion?

“So now comes the test. You’re a professional firm, with a variety of practice areas or target industries. Due to turmoil in the markets, business is down (or is forecast to be down) in one or more of our major areas. What do you do?” asks David Maister. You know the answer: now try to defend it.

Thanks to everyone who submitted or recommended posts for Blawg Review #150, especially to Colin Samuels and Diane Levin, who each sent me several recommendations but not their own excellent posts that I’ve cleverly hidden in the links to their names. A special thanks to the selfless editor of Blawg Review, whoever he is, for all the help and guidance with this and the Carnival of Trust.

Blawg Review has information about next week’s host, and instructions how to get your blog posts reviewed in upcoming issues.