In the Same Boat

Talk about empathising with your client. A Wisconsin lawyer was arrested by police for drunken driving after he went to the station to pick up his client - who had been arrested for the same offence! The lawyer, who once prosecuted drunken drivers for the Madison city attorney’s office, had been out earlier when he had a couple of drinks and then went to bed. He said police called around about 2 am asking him to pick up his client, which he did, certain his blood-alcohol concentration had by then fallen below 0.08 per cent, the legal limit for drunken driving in Wisconsin. ‘I didn’t think I was intoxicated, and I was wrong,’ he said.

Mind Your Language

Soon you may not be pardoned for your French in Shanghai. China’s financial centre is considering passing a law against using swear words in public - a sign of just how far the city has moved from its profane 19th century dockside origins. Newspapers and a government spokesman said the ban could be included in a law targeting spitting, littering, smoking, jaywalking and other behaviour deemed disruptive or anti-social. The law, now being considered by the city council, needs to address swearing because it has been shown to cause simple arguments to escalate into violence. However, a spokesman for the city government’s Office of Spiritual Civilization Construction, who declined to be named, did express doubts as to how they would punish people who use bad language, even if the law is passed.

Sex, Lies and Attorneys

Giving new meaning to the notion of identifying with one’s client, a lawyer who defended New York’s self-proclaimed ‘king of all pimps’ on prostitution charges is alleged by prosecutors to have taken over his client’s Manhattan escort service called `NY Confidential’ and running it himself. Paul Bergrin, a former US army major and federal prosecutor who became a highly paid defence lawyer, has been charged with operating a brothel and laundering its profits through fake companies. The client allegedly paid Bergrin in cash and free prostitutes in return for laundering the brothel proceeds, but later claimed Bergrin went further than he intended by taking over the business behind his back and even reincorporating it under his own name.

Sleeping on the Job?

The French already enjoy a 35-hour work week and generous vacation. Now the health minister wants to look into whether workers should be allowed to sleep on the job. France launched plans to spend US$9 million this year to improve public awareness about sleeping troubles as about one in three French people suffer from them. ‘Why not a nap at work? It can’t be a taboo subject,’ Health Minister Xavier Bertrand is quoted as having said. He has called for further studies and said he would promote on-the-job naps if they prove useful.