8-11-23
Have you ever thought of writing a novel? Well, a judge’s novel has caused some drama in a courtroom. U.S. bankruptcy judge, Stacey Jernigan writes legal thrillers with biotech companies, crooked financiers, and Mexican cartels. Her latest is Hedging Death. James Dondero, a former chief executive of a hedge fund company, cites “unquestionable parallels” between himself and the hedge fund character in her most recent thriller Hedging Death. Jernigan has rebuffed his efforts so far, at one point quoting Oscar Wilde: “Life imitates art far more than art imitates life.” Stacey G.C.Jernigan has been a U.S. judge since 2006 in Dallas, Texas, and at a large international law firm based in Texas. She has an adult son and and adult daughter and writes and travels extensively. Interestingly, one of her judicial colleagues lauded the book in the American Bankruptcy Institute Journal, calling it a courtroom drama with a “Texas flavor” and a surprise ending. “The book,” Judge Harlin Hale wrote, “truly has something for every insolvency professional!” I think I might have to buy Hedging Death!
Article in the Wall Street Journal, July 31, 2023, p.1, 10. www.wsj.com by Erin Mulvaney at erin.mulvaney@wsj.com
Since the Pandemic and daylight savings time changes, we have been having to get up early to take the dog out before we are overwhelmed by visitors and heat. I have never been an early bird (except during Conference registration, of course). But now I understand that early birds are preferred. See “America Is Becoming a Nation of Early Birds” by Rachel Wolfe. This is a shock to someone like me who has always been a night owl. Did the pandemic cause us to change our body clocks? Now it seems that parties are beginning at 5 p.m. Some Broadway shows begin at 8 instead of 7, and apparently there has been a decline in attendance at late night events, restaurants are closing earlier. There seems to be a new appreciation for a full nights’ sleep. Oh well… Sleep tight!
Robert Louis Stevenson had spent the night in his sickbed enveloped by a nightmare. Illness plagued Stevenson his whole life, and he’d suffered especially after he and his wife, Fanny, moved to Dorset on the English seaside in 1884. William Brodie was a tradesman by day, but by night he was a housebreaker and thief. Brodie was Stevenson’s inspiration for The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Brodie
We sure have had more and more mergers lately. Of course that’s nothing new. Now the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are releasing a draft update of the Merger Guidelines (Draft Guidelines), which describe and guide the agencies’ review of mergers and acquisitions to determine compliance with federal antitrust laws. The goal of this update is to better reflect how the agencies determine a merger’s effect on competition in the modern economy and evaluate proposed mergers under the law. The public is invited to provide comments to the Draft Guidelines at www.regulations.gov/docket/FTC-2023-0043 for a period of 60 days. The deadline is Sept. 18. The agencies will use the public comments to evaluate and update the draft before finalizing the Guidelines. For a detailed fact sheet on the Draft Guidelines, visit www.justice.gov/atr/d9/2023-draft-merger-guidelines.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-and-ftc-seek-comment-draft-merger-guidelines
Technology is everywhere! Even for horse-drawn carriages in downtown Charleston! I was surprised to learn that there are an average of 40,000 carriage rides a year between Charleston’s four carriage companies, and it makes sense that horses when they have to go, they go, causing clean up problems. Enter Daniel Riccio, director of Livability and Tourism with GPS monitors that carriage drivers can wear with clickers to mark the spot needing cleanup.
0 Comments