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Revealed Autopsy Destroys 'Gentle Giant' Michael Brown 'Hands Up, Don't Shoot' Story
A new autopsy report revealed to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has now put the final nail in the coffin of the Michael Brown "Gentle Giant" narrative. Proponents of prosecuting Officer Darren Wilson of the Ferguson Police Department over his shooting of Brown have claimed that Wilson shot Brown while he was running away, his hands up. In actuality, the autopsy report suggests that Brown did indeed attempt to take Wilson's gun, that Wilson shot him in the hand over it, and that Brown charged Wilson with his hands down.
In other words, every element of the original narrative pushed by the media, leftist politicians, and protesters was a lie.
Here's what the autopsy report shows.
Wilson's Narrative. The autopsy fully states Officer Wilson's story:
The deceased and another individual were walking down the middle of the Canfield. Officer D. WILSON DSN-609, of the Ferguson Police Department observed the two individuals, he requested that they get out of the roadway.
The deceased became belligerent towards Officer WILSON. As Officer WILSON attempted to exit out of his patrol vehicle the deceased pushed his door shut and began to struggle with Officer WILSON, during the struggle the Officers [sic] weapon was unholstered. The weapon discharged during the struggle.
The deceased then ran down the roadway. Officer WILSON then began to chase the deceased. As he was giving chase to the deceased, the deceased turned around and ran towards Officer WILSON. Officer WILSON had his service weapon drawn, as the deceased began to run towards him, he discharged his service weapon several times.
That narrative was supported by sources close to Wilson, who told the Post-Dispatch that Wilson said the "incredibly strong" teen punched him (the autopsy says that Brown was 6'5″ and 289 lbs.), pushed his gun against his hip, and tried to grab the trigger. That prompted the rest of the events.
Altercation At The Car. St. Louis medical examiner Dr. Michael Graham said that the autopsy showed "that there was a significant altercation at the car." That's because the autopsy contained the following information regarding the microscopic examination report of the exterior of the police vehicle:
Sections of the tissue fragment from the "exterior surface of the police officer's motor vehicle" are consistent with a fragment of skin overlying soft (connective) tissue.
That means that Brown sustained a wound before leaving the scene of the car. Sources told the Post-Dispatch Brown's blood was found inside the car and on Wilson's gun.
Reaching For The Gun. Dr. Judy Melinek of San Francisco told the Post-Dispatch that the autopsy "supports the fact that this guy is reaching for the gun, if he has gunpowder particulate material in the wound."
The autopsy states of the wounds:
There is a gunshot entrance wound of the vertex of the scalp. There is a gunshot entrance wound of the central forehead. There is a gunshot exit wound of the right jaw. There is a gunshot entrance wound of the upper right chest. There is a gunshot entrance wound of the lateral right chest. There is a gunshot entrance wound of the upper ventral right arm. There is a gunshot exit wound of the upper dorsal median ventral right forearm. There is a tangential (graze) gunshot wound of the right bicep. There is a tangential (graze) gunshot wound near the ventral surface of the right thumb.
The thumb wound showed matter "consistent with products that are discharged from the barrel of a firearm." The report says:
There is darkly pigmented foreign particulate matter present on the superficial surface of the stratum corneum and also embedded within the stratum corneum of the skin fragments.
Brown's backers have pointed to the fact that the autopsy states there was no "powder stipple," but Melinek points out that if the shot was fired from within an inch, there would be no powder stipple.
No Hands Up. All gunshot wounds were from the front – there were no gunshot entrance wounds from behind. Most importantly, the gunshot wound to the upper ventral right arm is described this way:
The path of this shot is slightly upward, backward and leftward. The track of this bullet has been traced to pass via the skin, soft tissue to exit the skin of the upper dorsal right arm.
In other words, the hands could not have been up at the time of this shot. As the Post-Dispatch points out, quoting Melinek, the shot "traveled from the back of the arm to the inner arm, which means Brown's palms could not have been facing Wilson, as some witnesses have said….That trajectory shows Brown probably was not taking a standard surrender position with arms above the shoulders and palms out when he was hit, she said."
There is not a single shred of physical evidence backing the original media narrative of the Michael Brown killing. But that won't matter to the thousands who plan to go off the deep end should the state not ignore that lack of evidence and prosecute Wilson to the full extent of the non-law.
Ben Shapiro is Senior Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the new book, The People vs. Barack Obama: The Criminal Case Against The Obama Administration (Threshold Editions, June 10, 2014). He is also Editor-in-Chief of TruthRevolt.org. Follow Ben Shapiro on Twitter @benshapiro.
PoliticsBen ShapiroFerguson
Donald Trump Bids Farewell: 'I Took On the Toughest Battles'


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Emma Major
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Emma Major did her first degree in English Literature at Queens' College, Cambridge, where she was elected a Foundation Scholar in 1993. She came to York because of its interdisciplinary MA and exceptional scholars, and then stayed on for a PhD at the Department of English and Centre for Eighteenth-Century Studies. She has taught at the Universities of York, Leeds, and Sheffield Hallam, where she was Senior Lecturer 2006-8 before returning to York.
Since the publication of her book Madam Britannia: Women, Church, and Nation 1712-1812 (Oxford UP, 2011), she has written two chapters for edited collections: an essay on Catherine Talbot, and another on religion and national identity in 1688. She has ongoing interests in debates in the 1680s and 1690s, and in Charlotte Yonge and Margaret Oliphant. She is currently working on two monographs, one on Anna Laetitia Barbauld and concepts of the public, and the other on religion, rebellion, and nation in the 1840s.
In addition to her published reviews for scholarly and literary publications, she has peer-reviewed projects for the AHRC, Routledge, and Ashgate. She regularly peer-reviews articles on a wide range of topics in the period 1600-1950 for international scholarly journals. She is a member of the Advisory Board for the AHRC funded project Elizabeth Montagu and the Bluestocking Circle.
Emma Major's research interests lie in debates about gender, nation, Christianity, and class. Since the publication of her book Madam Britannia: Women, Church, and Nation 1712-1812 (Oxford UP, 2011), she has written two chapters for edited collections: an essay on Catherine Talbot, and another on religion and national identity in 1688. She has ongoing interests in debates in the 1680s and 1690s, and in Charlotte Yonge and Margaret Oliphant. She is currently working on two monographs, one on Anna Laetitia Barbauld and concepts of the public, and the other on religion, rebellion, and nation in the 1840s.
She has supervised MA and PhD dissertations by students in English, History, and History of Art, on a broad range of topics and writers, from The Tatler and The Spectator, Samuel Richardson, and Eliza Haywood, to the Oxford movement, Mrs Humphry Ward, and Gerard Manley Hopkins. Two of her doctoral students recently successfully completed PhDs: one on female Quaker readers 1885-1925, and the other on Henry Fielding's early work. She enjoys co-supervising with colleagues from English, History of Art, and History, and welcomes interdisciplinary projects.
Dr Emma Major
YO10 5DD
Tel: work +44 (0)1904 324974
emma.major@york.ac.uk

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


VALLEJO, Calif. – Abhishek Dosi has been named chief executive officer at Sutter Solano Medical Center, effective April 3, 2017.
Dosi served in various capacities for the past decade at Sutter Health's California Pacific Medical Center's Pacific campus in San Francisco. Since 2015, Dosi served as California Pacific Medical Center's Vice President, Specialty Services and Site Administrator. He oversaw the hospital's successful organ transplantation services, gastroenterology services, imaging services, cardiovascular services, diabetes services, respiratory therapy, and food and nutrition services.
Dosi's health care career began at California Pacific Medical Center in 2007 as an administrative fellow and he quickly worked his way up at the hospital, learning the ins and outs of every aspect of hospital operations. Over the course of his CPMC career, he led all tertiary specialty services, support services, real estate and construction functions and outpatient programs, including ophthalmology, dialysis and electrophysiology.
Dosi was named a "40 Under 40" leader by the San Francisco Business Times in 2014. He is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives, the De Marillac Academy President's Development Council and the University of Illinois Alumni Association. He is a past member of the Washington University Health Administration Program Alumni Board.
He holds a bachelor of science in community health from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a master's in health administration from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mo.
Dosi replaces John Boyd, who recently was named Sutter Health's Executive for Mental Health Services.


Woodstock Farm is a country home estate created by Cyrus Lester Gates, a prominent Fairhaven parks and public works leader and philanthropist. The farm was built between 1905 and 1925, partly as a family home and partly as a showpiece on scenic Chuckanut Drive. The City of Bellingham acquired Woodstock Farm in 2004.
Woodstock Farm is just a few miles from my home and I go there often. I created this piece that will be used for promotional and fundraising purposes. My original file has 100 different layers in Photoshop. I saw this technique used by a photographer I follow, Niall Benvie. He calls it a Deconstructed Landscape. This approach gives the viewer a feel of many different aspects of a place as opposed to one single grand landscape shot. Although it was very time consuming to put together, I have many other places I would love to showcase like this.
You can find more information about Woodstock Farm here.
You can read more about Niall Benvie's Deconstructed Landscapes here.
30 May	This entry was published on May 30, 2012 at 09:13. It's filed under Birds, Flowers, Nature, Pacific Northwest, Whatcom County, Woodland and tagged Arbutus, Bellingham City Park, Chuckanut Bay, Chuckanut Drive, Douglas Fir, farm, history, inspiration, natural history, Pacific Madrone, Whatcom County, woodland.	Bookmark the permalink.	Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.
I like the deconstructed view, and the interesting presentation, although I guess I would like the landscape as well to get the whole picture. So neat to know so many places are so close to be able to visit and learn.
I love this! A reminder to slow down and notice the details in life. Miss you, Susa!


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Tracy Stevens, VP of Product and Design at MyCase, talks about cloud based practice management software and product design.
In this episode of Law Technology Now, host Bob Ambrogi talks to Tracy Stevens, VP of Product and Design at MyCase, about cloud based practice management software, product design, and what sets MyCase apart from the competition. They also discuss MyCase's client portal and why this technology is valuable to lawyers.
Tracy Stevens is the vice president of Product and Design at MyCase, where she works directly with the development teams to ensure that they're building software that will delight customers.
Laurence Colletti: Hello listeners. It's Laurence Colletti, Executive Producer of Legal Talk Network. I want to tell you about one of our more hilarious, yet still very informative podcast called Thinking Like a Lawyer.
Twice a month host Elie Mystal and Joe Patrice from Above the Law dive into what it's like to see the world from a lawyer's perspective. Meaning they jabber on about politics, current events, this, that, and the other, sometimes with the guests, and sometimes not, but if you are looking for a filterless podcast, check it out, Thinking Like a Lawyer on our website at HYPERLINK "http://www.legaltalknetwork.com" legaltalknetwork.com, in iTunes, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Monica Bay: Hello. I am Monica Bay.
Bob Ambrogi: And I am Bob Ambrogi.
Monica Bay: We have been writing about law and technology for more than 30 years.
Bob Ambrogi: That's right. During that time we witnessed many changes and innovations.
Monica Bay: Technology is improving the practice of law, helping lawyers deliver their services faster and cheaper.
Bob Ambrogi: Which benefits not only lawyers and their clients, but everyone.
Monica Bay: And moves us closer to the goal of access to justice for all.
Bob Ambrogi: Tune in every month as we explore new legal technology and the people behind the tech.
Monica Bay: Here on Law Technology Now.
Bob Ambrogi: Welcome to Law Technology Now. This is Bob Ambrogi and I am speaking today with Tracy Stevens, Vice President of Product and Design at MyCase. Welcome to the show Tracy.
Tracy Stevens: Thank you so much for having me.
Bob Ambrogi: And I am actually here in the MyCase offices in San Diego today so this is a special treat for me.
Tracy, just for those listeners who might not know what MyCase is let's start there, tell us what MyCase is.
Tracy Stevens: Sure. MyCase is a legal practice management software. It's cloud-based and it really just helps lawyers manage their practice and does everything from time tracking to case management, billing and communication with their clients.
Bob Ambrogi: And you are the Vice President of Product and Design, what does that mean? What do you do here?
Tracy Stevens: I have the best job of anyone here. What we are responsible for is basically understanding our customers and figuring out what we want to build into the product, prioritizing the things that we work on and working with the developers to make sure that we are delivering things that are really important to our customers in a way that's going to delight them and make their jobs a lot easier.
Bob Ambrogi: Well, I hope we can talk a little bit more about that as this interview goes on, but let's talk a little bit more about you, how did you come to be at MyCase and what did you do, what's your background, what did you do before you were here?
Tracy Stevens: So I came to MyCase, it was really serendipity. I had someone that I used to work for at another company who was a friend of the guy who was the general manager of MyCase at the time and they talked about looking for a product person in San Diego. So we have our product and design and dev team located in San Diego, the rest of the company; our sales, marketing, and support are in Santa Barbara.
MyCase was founded in San Diego and when they were looking to fill that product role, he reached out to my friend and he said hey, if you are looking for a product person in San Diego, you might want to talk to Tracy, and we talked and really hit it off. We had a lot in common in terms of our product philosophy and all of those things and so it was really a good match.
Bob Ambrogi: What is that — when you talk about a product philosophy, what are you talking about, what kinds of philosophy do you bring to products in general?
Tracy Stevens: Well, I think again it's an alignment with AppFolio, who now is our parent company and how MyCase was founded, but just a really strong focus on the customers and AppFolio has one of its corporate values that says listening to customers is in our DNA. And I just think that's so important in terms of having a really strong product and having the ability to focus on customers as kind of the foundation to that.
And it's one of those things, I have been doing product management for almost 20 years now, and to be honest, I was getting a little cynical about companies and the ability to really do it the way that you think that it should be done. There's always a lot of other pressures and influences and motivations that happen inside companies and I was wondering am I just being idealistic and then this opportunity came around. And I have been here, it will be two years in September and the honeymoon is not over yet. I am really enjoying it here. It's a great company.
Bob Ambrogi: Good. So this whole area of cloud-based practice management is still relatively new. I mean the first of these products only came along I want to say five, six years ago. I think Clio and Rocket Matter were the first two in this space and MyCase was very soon after that, once it came along very quickly after that.
But I think a lot of lawyers are still on the fence about using a practice management platform or maybe uncertain about why they even should. When you talk to lawyers, what do you tell them about why this kind of application is important to them and why they should use it?
Tracy Stevens: I think you are right. I think people just start working the way they work and it's really hard to think about how doing something a different way is going to help you or make things easier for you. And so we often just talk. I mean really the easiest way is to show. You can talk and talk and talk, but I think lawyers like other consumers, they have had enough of being talked to and talked at and it's easier to just demonstrate to them, kind of let me show you what we mean.
And I think seeing the integration between all of the different pieces of the product and the way that it creates less rework for them to have to do something in one program and then transfer some of the information over to this other program and keep moving information around, to have things work seamlessly amongst the different sets of functionality really just saves a lot of time. It reduces errors. It gives a lot of opportunity to have a better interaction with their clients and to be more responsive to their clients.
The benefit of it is really different for every person, depending on the type of practice they have, how they run their practice, the type of engagement they want to have with their clients. We see people using different pieces of the product in very different ways to drive different results in their business.
And so one of the things that we really try to do when someone says they might be interested in the software is to give them a demo, a very tailored demo based on their own needs of their firm, because that's where they are going to see the value. There's so much in the product and not every piece is as relevant to everyone depending on what they are trying to get done.
Bob Ambrogi: Again, as I just said, there are other companies in this space obviously and sometimes it seems like there's a new one springing up every other week. There have been a lot of companies coming into this area. So what's your kind of elevator pitch for why MyCase over any of the other products in this space?
Tracy Stevens: Right. So I won't even argue with you. I agree that there's a lot of competitors and there are new ones springing up and the reason that new ones are springing up is because there's a lot of opportunity in this space. There's a lot of needs that our customers have of things they are trying to get done and they are looking for solutions to help them to be more competitive, to be more efficient. And most of the competitors, the ones you mentioned and some of the others, I think it is a pretty level playing field in terms of this idea of kind of check the box.
Everybody has to have this long list of functionality and just to be a player, you have to check the box and show that you do these certain things. And to a large extent you are right, I think a lot of customers in this space view the products as substitutes for one another.
And so what I would say about MyCase specifically is that there's a few things; one is that the way the software works together. We get a lot of comments about the ease of use of the software. Especially customers that have come from other software, they say MyCase is a lot more intuitive, it's a lot easier to use, it's a lot easier for me to figure out how to get up and running and be successful with it. So we take a lot of pride in that.
We also get a lot of feedback about our Client Portal. I think customers are looking for ways to better interact with their clients and whether you are trying to expand geographically into other areas and using the Client Portal as a way to do that or you are trying to be more efficient or you are just trying to provide a complement to really great hands-on high touch service, the Client Portal can meet those needs. And so that's kind of a feature where I think we do stand out amongst our competitors right now.
Bob Ambrogi: So start with that, because again there may be some listeners who haven't ever worked with a Client Portal or don't know what that is.
Tracy Stevens: Oh right, right. So a Client Portal is a secure communication vehicle for you and your clients. You can invite them to the portal and then it gives them a safe, secure place to log in and see the details of their case, whatever details you want to share. So not everything gets shared with them, you share on a one-off basis, if you want to share an event with them, if you want to share a document with them. There is a messaging app.
And so it becomes a centralized place where all the information about their case exists. They can access it 24 hours a day. With the messaging tool, it helps them feel like they can engage with you when it's convenient for them and customers can respond when it's convenient for them to do so. And so it really simplifies and keeps everything in one space which makes it easier for everyone to interact with each other in that engagement.
Bob Ambrogi: And the security is a key to that as well. I mean, there has been a lot of — just an ABA Ethics Opinion recently on the steps that lawyers have to take to ensure the security of their client, confidentiality of their client, communications rather and being able to go through a portal kind of alleviates a lot of those problems, because you don't have to worry about whether to encrypt email and whether to encrypt attachment and that kind of thing.
Tracy Stevens: Exactly, exactly. And we have had a number of people reach out to us both customers and prospects after that. I don't know if it's called a ruling or just an opinion.
Bob Ambrogi: Yeah, an opinion, it was an opinion.
Tracy Stevens: Yeah, yeah, what the technical term is. But yeah, we had a number of customers reach out to us to understand that better and to understand if the Client Portal would be something that could help them with that, and we have seen usage amongst our own customers really take off. We have done a lot of improvements to the Client Portal over the last six to eight months and I think it's a pretty great experience.
Bob Ambrogi: I was going to ask you about that. I have actually heard, not from you and not from MyCase, but I have heard some other practice management companies that I have spoken to say it can be hard to get lawyers to use the portal or to want to use that feature of it that even the lawyers themselves, let alone the clients, don't necessarily understand the value of it. Have you seen that at all?
Tracy Stevens: Yeah, for sure. And I take blame for that, because I feel like if we haven't done a great job of helping our customers understand the portal and what their clients will experience, obviously the portal is going to be a big reflection of them and their firms, and if we haven't done a good job of helping them understand what that is, then shame on us. And so that's where a lot of our focus has been and helping to educate our own customers about what the portal is, how they use it.
I was just on a customer visit last week with two of my coworkers, where they said they wouldn't want to use the portal because they didn't want to share everything about the case with the client. And so we had to tell them, well, it doesn't automatically share everything about the case, you choose what you want to share with them.
We have gotten a lot of feedback about the portals. It's a bit of a black box. I don't know what my client is going to see, so we have done a lot of work to help them at each stage understand like what the client experience is going to be, what the client is going to see in that process. And so there is still a lot more work to do, but the good news about having a lot of customer interactions and really understanding, we reach out — we have an entire team here who is focused exclusively on the Client Portal, may talk everyday to customers, and so the more we learn about how our customers are using it and finding value, the easier it is for us to turn around and help demonstrate that value to customers who aren't using it or poor prospects.
Bob Ambrogi: So in 2015 the parent company AppFolio, which owns MyCase, went through a public offering. It was unusual in the legal area, although AppFolio was not a — their other products are outside I guess the legal industry, although they probably kind of crossover into them in some ways to deal with property management, real estate management, but it was still unusual to have any kind of a legal startup or legal tech company being involved in an IPO of any kind, because it just hasn't happened much in the legal area.
I am wondering if you think that the fact that AppFolio is a publicly traded company brings any value to the end customer. I mean do your customers get any benefit from the fact that this is owned by a public company as opposed to any other kind of company?
Tracy Stevens: Oh, absolutely. I mean I believe so because this is — one of the things, if you look at the ABA Tech Survey and you look at the reasons that customers in a space cite when they say they are evaluating companies, they talk about the reputation of the company and the stability of the company.
I think anytime you are talking about cloud-based providers, there is that sense of who are these guys and who has my data and are they going to be around for the long-term. And so I think I can't speak for our customers in that way, but what it would say to me is that this is a more stable company, it's a well-capitalized company, it's a company that's going to be around and it's a company that I can trust and partner with, because we are going to grow and evolve together.
Bob Ambrogi: One of the things that kind of spurred this interview was a column I wrote, I think at Above The Law about kind of urging tech companies to take a holistic approach to product design and to think more about the workflow, think about how their products fit into a lawyer's overall workflow.
Niki Black, who works for MyCase, what's her title, she has got a wonderful title?
Bob Ambrogi: Technology Evangelist, okay, yeah. That's the title I want. She wrote a column kind of taking issue with my column. I don't think we actually disagreed all that much, I think maybe I wasn't all that clear in my first column, because she seemed to think that I was suggesting that there was some advantage to approaches taken by other companies.
I mean within this practice management area, different companies have taken different approaches to how they build out the features of their platforms. Clio, for example, not to talk about the competitors, but Clio has pursued an approach of doing a lot of integrations with third party vendors so that they have a sort of core set of features, but if you want credit card payment processing or any of a number of other things, you end up doing it through a third party integration.
It seems like MyCase has taken an approach of more focusing on building it rather than buying it, so to speak, and you have integrated credit card processing, you have your own e-payment system, I mean just an one example.
So what is sort of — how do you view what your approach is to building a practice management application versus how like a Clio might do it or something else? I mean what is your overall kind of philosophy about how to approach this? It's a long-winded question.
Tracy Stevens: Yeah. There is a lot in there. I was trying to think of like where do I want to start with that.
So I would say I kind of had two fundamental thoughts or reactions to what you just said. One is that I don't start by thinking about integrations or not integrations, I start thinking about important customer problems and then how do we solve those problems, how we want to solve them.
And part of my bias I guess in how we solve those problems is that I believe that all else being equal our customers do want a single, all-in-one platform rather than having to piece together a variety of third party tools and applications. So I think the key phrase there, all else being equal. So it really depends on what the problem is and is there a solution that's kind of predominantly used today or is this something that we would be creating something to solve.
So there is a lot of different factors at play, but our feeling is if we can do something well, our customers would rather see it as a holistic product, because as Niki pointed out, we learn a lot of things about these integrations that you don't see in the marketing materials. And at Legaltech and at TECHSHOW I have had people talk to me. I have had vendors who are integrated with some of our competitors tell me about the problems with those integrations.
And I don't need to go into detail in that here, that's not my intention, but the issue is integrations are tough to do well, and what I learned that I didn't know before is that integrations that aren't done very well can actually increase the risk to the customers, because there is data that could get lost, there is things that don't transfer in the way that you think they should and other issues.
There was one vendor in fact that told me of all the customers that use both products, only 10% actually use the integration, and I thought that was startling.
So my feeling is we want to figure out important things and we want to solve those things really well, and that if we can solve them on a single platform, that's what our customers would prefer, because they don't want to have to deal with piecing it together, wondering if it worked, wondering what happens when one updates and does the other one update. When something goes wrong who do I call, that again is something that we pride ourselves on.
We have great customer service and customer success. When people need support we give them one number to call and we want to be able to take care of those things. So we don't want to put our customers in a situation where we are saying, you need to call them and they are saying, no, you need to call MyCase. We really want to make sure we are delivering a solution that meets their needs.
So we do have some integrations and we do have a philosophy of, if that's the way to solve the problem, we are not opposed to it, but I don't believe our customers want just easier ways to integrate with 12 different pieces of software.
Bob Ambrogi: Yeah. And I don't know why actually Niki read my — I certainly did not mean that I was promoting integrations over taking a cohesive and comprehensive approach, because obviously from a user point of view the more everything is in the same platform, the better off you are.
And then there's also the price issue, which is something else I have written about actually, but when you are doing these integrations for the most part you are having to pay not just for your monthly subscription to the practice management platform, but you are paying for your monthly subscription to whatever it might be out there that you are integrating with. So those can start to add up.
And again, I have used the example before of the e-payment processing, but I think you are one of the few platforms where that's just part of your subscription price. You are not paying extra to be able to offer e-payments. I mean you pay the processing fees or whatever, but you are not having to pay an extra subscription to another company, whereas I think almost all the other companies are doing it through external subscriptions.
Tracy Stevens: Right. And I think that's a great example, because building a payments platform is tough and it's an investment. We are making a big investment in our payments platform because we believe getting paid is a very important problem to our customers and that by building it right into the product, it gives us a lot of flexibility with things that we can do. Like what we have done recently around payment reminder functionality and there's a lot of things that we are talking about related to payments that we think we are going to get a disproportionate benefit by owning that platform and being able to deliver more value to our customers and not being reliant on a third party and whether or not that's in their product roadmap to deliver that functionality to our customers.
So that's a great example of something where it's very important so we want to own that, we don't want to outsource that.
Bob Ambrogi: Yeah. So what is your process for designing that product roadmap and for thinking about what enhancements to be focusing your attention on?
Tracy Stevens: It is more art than science I will tell you that and there's a lot of different factors that go into it. Like I say for the most part, it's really understanding what's important to our customers. I mean it sounds simple and it sounds — I am laughing because I am thinking back to a conversation we had at Legaltech. I think where you said everybody says that, so how are you guys different.
Bob Ambrogi: Did I say that; I was just thinking that again.
Tracy Stevens: The way that I assume that we are different is because we are talking to our customers every single day. We read every single piece of feedback they send us, we reach out to them, and I have got some great examples; I don't know if we will have time to share them, but I think we surprise customers by the fact that they will send us a piece of feedback and within 24 hours we are calling them back to get more information.
They say we are in beta right now on some new mobile apps and if they give us a piece of feedback on the mobile app and then the product manager of the mobile app calls them back and says, hey, we are doing that in the next release of the beta, can I sign you up for the beta, and they are blown away.
Or someone that was just talking about how we didn't have a great process to request payments into the trust account and we were just about to roll it out, so the product manager called her back and she was like, oh my gosh, this is perfect, this is amazing. This is what I have been waiting for. Those are the types of things that I think really let our customers know that we are investing in this product, that the product is evolving, that they are a part of how the product evolves.
There are more formal processes that we use for really making sure we understand our customers and we are delivering solutions that are going to really meet their needs, but for the most part I think just having a really good sense of what's important and what's going to bring the most value to those customers is kind of how we decide what we are going to do.
Bob Ambrogi: So can you tell us maybe some recent enhancements you have delivered or anything coming down the pike that you can talk about at this point.
Tracy Stevens: Yeah, absolutely. Like I have said, we have had a team that's dedicated to the Client Portal. We have made a ton of enhancements there. We have improved the look and the feel of all the communications that go out to clients, again because we know that it's really important to them to be a good representation of their firm.
We have given them a lot more transparency to what customers are doing in the portal. So they can see, did somebody view the invoice, did somebody view the document and make sure that these things that they are sharing with their clients, that their clients are actually engaging. So there's been a lot of movement on that front.
There's been a lot of movement on the payments front, which we have already talked about. There have been a lot of just smaller enhancements as a way to kind of say, hey, we heard you, we are listening, functionality around multiple timers or some sorting functionality.
I feel like there's so much and I am probably forgetting some of the big ones. Like I said, the mobile apps are coming.
Bob Ambrogi: When is the mobile app coming?
Tracy Stevens: Well, we are in beta right now. We keep adding. We add additional customers to the beta with each release and the goal is eventually to try to have as many of the customers that are currently using the apps in the beta and kind of using the beta as their primary mobile application, and what we are expecting right now is probably the fall of this year.
Bob Ambrogi: You mentioned you have been in product management I think for 20 years, I think you said. I am just curious, in designing products for lawyers versus designing product for, do I want to say normal people, other people, the rest of the world, is there anything specific that surprised you I guess about working in the legal space that you hadn't seen in product design in other areas that you had worked in before?
Tracy Stevens: I have two things that immediately came to mind. I think one is, no, nothing that surprised me in terms of I hadn't seen before. I think one of the things that was a pleasant surprise was the fact that lawyers are so busy and they bill at very high rates and so I figured it would be more difficult to have interactions with them, meaningful interactions with them, frequent interactions with them. I have found the complete opposite.
Our customers and prospects I find are so generous with their time when they feel like they are listened to, when they feel like they are influencing the direction of the product, I found them to be like unbelievably willing and generous to give feedback, which has been great.
We have so many teams here that are each reaching out to customers for different circumstances, to get feedback, to get insights, to do qualitative interviews, to review prototypes, and we have never had difficulty getting that feedback, which is great.
One of the things that I think is challenging is that especially for a lot of people who don't use software or they are new to some of these practice management capabilities is lawyers are very set in their ways. They have very specific ways they want things done and they want the software to work exactly the way that their practice works today, and so sometimes it's difficult to kind of show them a way that might work better for them if it's not the way that works today.
So I think in general we try to recognize that it's not a one-size-fits-all. Things completely vary, not just by practice size or the type of work that you do, but just the way your firm works or the way you work as an individual. And so we try to build things in a way that allow that customizable approach, but there are certain things where it just doesn't meet everybody's needs, but if they could have a little bit more open-mindedness to a new way, there might be a better way for them to get something done.
Bob Ambrogi: Tracy, is there anything else coming down the pipeline?
Tracy Stevens: Yeah, so we talked about a lot of the improvements that we have done to the Client Portal, to make that a better experience and also help our customers understand what their clients are experiencing. But one of the really exciting things is that we have actually done a full redesign of the Client Portal that's going to be starting beta test next month and will also be launching sometime this fall. It's designed completely with the client in mind and based on the things that they are trying to get done and the most common tasks that are done in the portal.
And it's also completely mobile responsive and so it will work on any smartphone, tablet or computer that our customers' clients are trying to use, which should make it a much more seamless experience for them and get them to engage with the portal more often.
Bob Ambrogi: So the client will be able to access the portal directly from iPhone or wherever.
Tracy Stevens: Yeah, and they can do that now, but it just was an experience that wasn't designed for it. So there's a lot of like pinching and scrolling that happens in the current experience that won't have to happen in the mobile responsive experience. It will look great on all devices.
Bob Ambrogi: Great. We are just about out of time. Was there anything else you were really hoping I was going to ask you about that you wanted to talk about that we haven't talked about. I would give you the last chance here.
Tracy Stevens: Well, that's a good question. I don't think so. I think you and I have had some chance to talk at different events and it was just really exciting for me to have you in and be able to show you a little bit more about what we have going on here.
I am super excited about some things coming down the road and it's nice to know that you are getting a little bit of — more detailed insight into that than we have had a chance to share in the past.
Bob Ambrogi: Yeah. Well, it's really fun to be here. It's fun to see your offices. It's a very cool looking place here. It looks like a startup, very cool.
Well, Tracy, thanks a lot. Thanks for being my guest on the show.
Tracy Stevens: Thank you for having me.
Bob Ambrogi: We have been talking with Tracy Stevens, Vice President of Product and Design at MyCase. That concludes this show. Stay tuned for another program of Law Technology Now. Thanks for listening.
Outro: If you would like more information about what you have heard today, please visit HYPERLINK "http://www.legaltalknetwork.com" legaltalknetwork.com, subscribe via iTunes and RSS, find us on Twitter and Facebook or download our free Legal Talk Network App in Google Play and iTunes.
The views expressed by the participants of this program are their own and do not represent the views of nor are they endorsed by Legal Talk Network, its officers, directors, employees, agents, representatives shareholders, and subsidiaries. None of the content should be considered legal advice. As always, consult a lawyer.


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Семён Соломо́нович Юшке́вич (, Одесса, Херсонская губерния, Российская империя — 12 июля 1927, Париж, Франция) — русский писатель, драматург. Представитель так называемой «русско-еврейской литературы».

Член московской литературной группы «Среда».

Биография
Родился в Одессе в семье мелкого коммерсанта Соломона Моисеевича Юшкевича (1839—1895) и Анны (Этель) Григорьевны Юшкевич (в девичестве Волошиной, ?—1917), в которой был одним из четырнадцати детей, некоторые из которых умерли в детстве. Семья жила на Военном спуске в доме Ковалевского, потом на Приморской улице в доме Стуарта. Учился в казённом еврейском начальном училище, затем — во второй гимназии, которую оставил не закончив. Получив домашнее образование и свидетельство об окончании прогимназии, был принят в аптекарские ученики. В это же время начал писать рассказы. В 17-летнем возрасте женился, оставил родительский дом и ачал работать помощником провизора. Прежде чем начать свою писательскую карьеру, изучал в Париже медицину, окончил медицинский факультет Сорбоннского университета. Первая повесть опубликована в 1897. Жил в Париже в 1902 году, работал хористом, массажистом и т. д.

После публикации повести из жизни еврейской бедноты «Распад», вышедшей в 1902 году в журнале «Восход», Юшкевич стал известным в России писателем. Вернулся в 1902 г. в Одессу, но после Кишинёвского погрома выехал с семьей в Берлин, где продолжал литературную деятельность. Приобретает широкую популярность в Российской империи драматическими произведениями, поставленными во многих известных театрах. В 1917-1918 годах вместе с братом Павлом организует издание рус. «Южной универсальной библиотеки»: получилось 52 книги, в мягких переплетах, карманного формата, И. Бунина, А. Толстого, Тэффи, Р. Киплинга, Г. Уэллса, Г. де Мопассана, А. Франса и др.

С 1920 года в эмиграции. Сначала в Румынии (Бельцы, Кишинёв, Яссы, Бухарест), затем во Франции, а в 1921 году — в США. 1922 вернулся в Германию, а с 1924 года жил в Париже.

Семья
 Брат — Павел Соломонович Юшкевич, философ. Племянник — Адольф Павлович Юшкевич, историк математики.
 Брат — Михаил Самойлович Юшкевич (1866, Одесса — после 1934, Ницца), врач; в эмиграции стал литератором, автор волшебных сказок для детей и взрослых, вошедших в сборник «Новый Гептамерон: Приключения волшебного мальчика, семь сказок» (Волшебный мальчик на Зелёной горе; Путешествие Волшебного мальчика на конец света; Волшебный мальчик на том свете; Ветка олеандра. В царстве теней; Мраморные люди; Перламутровый ящичек; Париж: Книгоиздательство Я. Поволоцкий, 1933. — 139 с.).
 Сестра — Елизавета Соломоновна Малая, дантист. Племянник — Илья Григорьевич Малый (1909—1982), экономист и статистик, доктор экономических наук, профессор.
 Первая жена (с 1885 года) — Полина Финкельштейн, умерла от осложнений после родов сына Павла (1887—?).
 Вторая жена (с 1901 года) — Анастасия Соломоновна Зейлингер (младшая сестра жены его брата Михаила Софьи Зейлингер). Её отцу Залману Исеровичу Зейлингеру и брату мужа, доктору Михаилу Самойловичу Юшкевичу, принадлежал четырёхэтажный дом на Малой Арнаутской улице, № 38 (угол Ремесленной, № 49, дом Юшкевича—Зейлингера).
 Дочери — Нина Юшкевич (1920—1998), артистка балета и педагог; Наталья Юшкевич (1903—?), певица (лирическое сопрано).

Творчество
В конце 1880-х годов начал печататься в газете «Одесский листок». Настоящим литературным дебютом Семена Юшкевича можно считать публикацию в 1897 году его рассказа «Портной. Из еврейского быта», который был напечатан в «Русском богатстве», а позже (1899) вышел отдельным изданием в Одессе. В 1895 году он написал повесть из жизни еврейской бедноты «Распад» (вышла 1902 году в журнале «Восход» в Санкт-Петербурге). Новую известность ему принесла повесть «Лёвка Гем». Юшкевич также писал романы, такие как «Леон Дрей». Постоянный автор издательства «Знание», где вышло три его собрания сочинений. Печатался в «Русском Богатстве», «Восходе», «Мире Божьем», «Журнале для всех» и других.

Юшкевич писал для театра, в том числе пьесу «Король» (1906). Его пьеса «Miserere» (1910) была поставлена Московским Художественным театром.

Стиль Юшкевича реалистичен, размышления героев и длинные диалоги насыщены лексикой и интонациями столь хорошо известного Юшкевичу одесского говора.

При жизни Юшкевича в Петрограде был издан 15-томный сборник его сочинений.

Два произведения, «Еврейское Счастье» и «Автомобиль», были переизданы в 2004 году.

Сочинения

 Король. Пьеса // Сборник «Знания», 1906
 В городе, 1906
 Комедия брака, 1910
 Голуби, 1913
 Miserere, 1910
 Автомобиль, 1923
 Голубиное царство, 4-е изд. — 1923
 Посмертные произведения, 1927
 Семь дней // «Современные записки», № 31, 1927 и отд. изд. — Paris, 1933

Примечания

Ссылки

 Нелли Портнова «Уроки Семёна Юшкевича»

 https://web.archive.org/web/20071216105811/http://www.odessitclub.org/kiosk/yushkevich.htm
 Юшкевич Семён Соломонович: Собрание сочинений
 Петр Нилус «Краткая повесть о жизни Семёна Юшкевича»
 Белла Верникова «Пришедший из забытья. Писатель и драматург Семен Юшкевич»

Русские писатели по алфавиту
Писатели России по алфавиту
Персоналии:Одесса:Литература
Русские писатели XX века
Писатели России XX века
Выпускники Одесской 2-й гимназии
Выпускники Парижского университета
Похороненные на кладбище Баньё

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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New refit plan for Broadkill
State regulators have loosened some environmental restrictions for a federal widening of vulnerable Broadkill Beach, ...
New refit plan for Broadkill State regulators have loosened some environmental restrictions for a federal widening of vulnerable Broadkill Beach, ... Check out this story on delawareonline.com: http://delonline.us/1bXnMiv
The News Journal Published 11:50 p.m. ET Dec. 20, 2013
Sand continues to erode away after being trucked into Broadkill Beach to replenish the dune line. A larger replenishment will be delayed and redesigned after a first round of bidding drew no proposals. (Photo: CHUCK SNYDER/SPECIAL TO THE NEWS JOURNAL)Buy Photo
State regulators have loosened some environmental restrictions for a federal widening of vulnerable Broadkill Beach, after a more-traditional Army Corps of Engineers contract offer failed to attract any bidders earlier this year.
Revised permit terms include an allowance for dredging and beach replenishment work at Broadkill through the spring of 2015, at a time when Delaware Bay shorelines are normally closed to dredging to protect spawning horseshoe crabs.
Completion could come as late as early spring of 2016, some two years later than hoped, set amid worries that the next coastal storm could spell disaster for some bayside homeowners..
"What we're trying to do is balance the benefits with some impact [on horseshoe crabs], and trying to minimize the potential impact from the project," said David Small, Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control deputy secretary. He added that contract terms may include provisions for relocating crabs that come ashore during critical periods.
David Carter, conservation chairman for Delaware Audubon, called DNREC's approach "deeply concerning" and "highly irresponsible" because of ties between horseshoe crab spawning and the migratory, endangered red knot shorebird. Although Broadkill is not considered a major crab spawning destination, each year's egg-laying helps the troubled population, Carter said.
"To dredge through the season will smother a large part of the population," Carter said. "Also, the fine sand will likely reduce spawning even further," as the beach work proceeds.
Carter also questioned approval for "economic loading," or overfilling, of hopper vessels used to ferry scooped up sand from the deepened channel to Broadkill. The practice allows hauling of more wet sand per trip, but will also increase turbidity in bay waters along the route as loads drain and free sediments escape.
Broadkill Beach, east of Milton, is the state's largest unincorporated bayside community and among its wealthiest, with hundreds of homes bracketed by the Delaware Bay on the east and marshland associated with Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge to the west.
Although wide beach stretches remain in parts of the community, storms have chewed other areas dangerously close to homes, with some properties regularly surrounded by water at high tides or during storms. Marshland flooding from areas to the north at times covers or closes the community's only public access road.
State officials have warned that longterm climate change, sea-level rise and worsening storms already threaten all communities along the Delaware Bay and Delaware River, including parts of the City of Wilmington.
The original state and Corps plan at Broadkill called for dredge crews to deliver sand from a long stretch of the ongoing Delaware River main channel deepening to the community's bayfront. There it would be spread along a 15,000 foot stretch, creating a 100-foot wide buffer up to 8 feet above the water, topped at its landside edge by an 8-foot-high protective dune.
Workers would have had as little as 120 days to finish the job under the deepening contract that drew no bids, although DNREC agreed to take on some shoreline chores, including installation of sand fencing and beach grass plantings.
Edward Voigt, spokesman for the Corps of Engineers regional office in Philadelphia, said Thursday that federal officials are waiting for DNREC's approval and plan before moving ahead with a new contract solicitation. Plans currently call for work to start in September or October of 2014, however.
Jim Bailey, president of the Broadkill Beach Preservation Association, said he was unaware of the new terms, but watching closely.
"I knew they were revamping the bid documents, but we haven't received any real projections," Bailey said. "We weren't given any hopes. We were told it wasn't a matter of if, it was a matter of when."
Earlier this year, the chief executive officer of the nation's largest dredging company said that under the original tight, wintertime project deadline, "there was significantly more risk put on the dredger."
"There is dredging capacity, but I think there will be certain people that will shy away from Northeast work that probably gets a bit late in the fall and has to be done in the winter. It's rougher out there," Jon Berger, Great Lakes Dock & Dredge Co. chief executive officer, said in a transcript of a quarterly earnings conference with analysts shortly after the failed bid solicitation.
Bailey said that residents are simply "crossing our fingers and hoping."
"We've only been working on this project for 20 years," Bailey said. "There's no sense jumping up and down about it."
A report issued in 2010 concluded that more than $16 million would be needed just to maintain the state's seven recognized bay beach communities from Dover south for a 10 year period.
Officials later said that price tag significantly understimates the current cost of sand placement.
Broadkill's project, now estimated to cost $14.3 million if completed without help from the deepening project, calls for a signficantly wider and tougher beach than the state's 10-year proposal.
Completion would provide the community with federal assurance for regular beach maintenance and storm repairs for 50 years, an arrangement matching those issued to Delaware's Atlantic coastal resort beaches.
Corps and DNREC officials developed the plan for "beneficial re-use" of main channel deepening sand at Broadkill at a time when the federal agency was working to shore up public and state support for the deepening, originally authorized by Congress in 1992.
More than half the 103-mile channel deepening between Philadelphia and the Atlantic is complete. The project was developed to lower the channel bottom to 45 feet from its current 40-foot depth.
Voigt said federal officials hope to have the entire deepening complete by 2017.
Read or Share this story: http://delonline.us/1bXnMiv


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Facebook's David Marcus: Libra is 'absolutely not' in jeopardy
Brian Cheung
Yahoo Finance 15 October 2019
The head of Facebook's blockchain project says development of the Libra project will get tougher, but insisted that the departure of seven companies that had originally backed the venture has forced "no change" on the project.
David Marcus, the head of Calibra, told Yahoo Finance in an interview Tuesday that the development of the decentralized blockchain is "absolutely not" in jeopardy after PayPal (PYPL), Visa (V), Mastercard (MA), Stripe, eBay (EBAY), Mercado Pago, and Booking have all decided to leave the project.
"You really have to, as a member, have passion and energy and fortitude to go through this because it's hard," Marcus said. "And it's going to continue being hard. If anything, it's going to get harder before it gets easier."
The ambitious project stems from a white paper unveiled in June detailing plans to build a blockchain that will support a "low-volatility" cryptocurrency called Libra. The currency would be backed by short-term government securities and fiat currency, which users would deposit into the reserve when they exchange their money for units of Libra.
Marcus said he "respect[s]" the seven companies' decisions to leave the project and thanked the companies for having "the courage to look at potentially disrupting themselves."
"But I also understand that they also have a responsibility to their shareholders and to their stakeholders and they were under a lot of pressure," Marcus said, adding that companies outside of the formalized Libra Association council will still be able to offer services on the platform.
On Monday, the Libra Association was formally founded in Geneva, Switzerland with the 21 remaining initial members, including Uber (UBER), Lyft (LYFT), Coinbase, Spotify (SPOT), and Vodafone. Facebook (FB) is spearheading Libra's development (via its subsidiary, Calibra) but has said decisions regarding the blockchain will be made by the association at large.
Facebook's blockchain lead David Marcus. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
In addition to announcing its board of directors (which includes Marcus, in addition to representatives from Andreessen Horowitz, Kiva Microfunds, PayU, and Xapo Holdings), the group on Monday announced that over 1,500 "entities" have indicated interest in joining the group.
The association said 180 entities already met the preliminary membership criteria.
Marcus said now that the association is formal, the next steps will be creating finding "more diversity" in its membership. Per the white paper, the goal is to have about 100 members of the association by its target launch in the first half of 2020.
Marcus said regulatory matters have not been behind the seven departures from the project, despite commentary from U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin assuming that "some of the partners got concerned and dropped out" over rules like anti-money laundering standards.
"We're fleshing out all of the regulatory requirements and oversight required for this to operate but nothing has changed," Marcus said.
Marcus said the target launch date in the first half of 2020 is "an ambitious timeline that becomes an external forcing function for everyone." But he reiterated, as he did to lawmakers in testimony earlier this year, that the project will take its time and wait until it gets regulatory approval before launch.
"We've learned a great deal from this process," Marcus said.
Brian Cheung is a reporter covering the banking industry and the intersection of finance and policy for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter @bcheungz.
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Prior to co-founding Eloqui with David Booth, Deborah was an award-winning film and television director. She founded the only female owned production company in the San Francisco Bay Area– Focal Point Productions, which she ran for 15 years.
Deborah directed luminaries including Wendie Malick, Rita Moreno, Danny Glover, and Angela Lansbury.
Deborah coaches female executives on presentation and communication skills. She preps authors, CEO's and executives before media tours, and works with celebrity and on-air talent at major television studios. Deborah is frequently engaged prior to national sales meetings or product launches as a keynote speaker or coach, and for leadership development training.
Eloqui trains companies to deliver with style and passion. Their clients include TD Ameritrade, Amgen, Mattel, Samsung Chemical, Hyundai Hata and Fisher-Price, as well as law, financial and insurance firms. Deborah coaches individuals to identify their strengths, utilize their authentic voice and drive business.
Eloqui also serves non-profits, especially around fund raising. From the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, the Arthritis Foundation to Ability First, Deborah trains the CEO and senior management teams as well as the volunteers. Her latest non-profit client is THORN, founded by Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher. Demi also calls on Deborah for coaching with her public appearances.
Deborah leads a business group in Calabasas. She was received a "Consultant of the Year" award by the San Fernando Valley Business Journal. When not working, Deborah travels, does photography, hikes in the mountains, and makes jewelry.
Deborah and her partner David wrote: Own the Room: Business Presentations that Persuade, Engage, and Get Results. It was published by McGraw-Hill and is now it's in third printing. It is considered a business bestseller.
In December of 2016, Deborah's book for women: Out Front: How Women Can Become Engaging, Memorable and Fearless Speakers will be published by BenBella Books.
You can find Deborah on LinkedIn.


Asserting there is 'no scandal' in the Rafale deal, Dassault Aviation, makers of the fighter jet, Wednesday said it was also in the race for 110 aircraft for the Indian Air Force, for which the government had floated an RFI last year.
The RFI (Request for Information) or initial tender for the deal was issued by IAF in April 6 2018, the first mega procurement initiative for fighter jets.
This was after the government scrapped the process to acquire 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) around six years ago.
"There is no scandal in the Rafale deal. We are going to deliver 36 aircraft. If the Government of India wants more aircraft, we will be pleased to deliver.
There is also an RFI for 110 aircraft and we are in the race because we feel Rafale is the best aircraft and we have our footprint here in India. So we feel confident here in India," Dassault Aviation CEO Eric Trappier told reporters here.
Asked why Dassault had partnered Reliance despite that company's lack of experience in making defence equipment, Trappier said: "Yes. But I have the experience. I am transferring this know-how and experience to the Indian team.
The Indian team has been appointed by a new company Dassault Reliance Aerospace Limited (DARL). They are good for India and the company. So where is the problem?"
The deal had raised a political row with Congress relentlessly accusing the Narendra Modi-led government of extending the benefit to industrialist Anil Ambani owned Reliance by firming up an overpriced deal of Rafale jets.
The opposition has been keeping the pot boiling over the deal and made it their electoral campaign for the coming 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
India had signed a deal with France in 2016 for 36 Rafale fighter jets.
Asked the reasons for Dassault going ahead with partnering Reliance despite that company's financial problems, Trappier said, "They have their own matters, but we are working together.
Our teams, both Indian and French, are working well. So I have no worry for the time being."
Trappier also said they chose Reliance as he wanted to be in charge of the industrial process in the company that manufactures parts of the French aircraft in India.
"I invested my money to have facilities here in India and I found partners," he added.
On Rahul Gandhi's charge that Rafale prices were escalated during NDA rule compared to UPA rule, Trappier said both nations made a rebate of about nine per cent compared to the original pricing.
The CAG report saying that the Rafale pricing was 2.8 per cent cheaper during NDA rule compared to UPA's showed that the pricing was better, Trappier said.
Also, the Supreme Court had said that the deal was totally transparent and hence he was 'very much pleased' with these two observations.
To a query, Trappier said it was sad that politics has taken a front seat in the Rafale deal. Instead, discussions should have been around the importance of having the fighter aircraft for India's defence needs, he said.
"Rafale has high performance capacity. The air force officials have examined the aircraft. This fighter will be one of the backbones of the defence of this country," he said.


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Asset recovery column: Recognition of an individual debtor's insolvency proceeding – beware the perils
Ed Davis, Leyza Blanco and Juan Mendoza
Shareholders Edward Davis Jr and Leyza Blanco, and attorney Juan Mendoza from Sequor Law in Miami discuss the things to watch out for when seeking recognition of an individual debtor's foreign insolvency proceedings in the US.
Recognition of a foreign insolvency proceeding in the United States allows the use of an arsenal of asset recovery weapons for a cross-border practitioner, including the opportunity to obtain discovery relating to the financial condition of the debtor, and to commence actions to collect property and liquidate claims. This arsenal may be particularly effective in situations where an individual debtor flees the jurisdiction of his or her pending bankruptcy case to the United States.
Such a change of circumstances may disturb the debtor's ties with the jurisdiction of the pending insolvency, however, and alter the foreign trustee's ability to obtain recognition of the foreign insolvency in the United States. This column discusses the nuances a practitioner must consider when pursuing recognition of an individual debtor's foreign insolvency under Chapter 15.
To obtain recognition of a "foreign main proceeding" under Chapter 15 – the United States' analogue to the Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency – a foreign representative of the foreign insolvency proceeding must show, among other things, that the foreign proceeding is pending in the country where the debtor has his or her centre of main interests (COMI). An individual debtor's COMI is defined as the debtor's "habitual residence". The foreign representative may also obtain recognition of the foreign proceeding as a foreign non-main proceeding if the debtor has an "establishment" in the country where the foreign proceeding is pending. "Establishment" is defined as a place of operations where a debtor carries out non-transitory economic activity.
As the determination of an individual debtor's COMI or establishment is a fact-intensive inquiry, the operative date for the determination of COMI or establishment could be pivotal in obtaining recognition. US courts are split on the operative date for the determination of the COMI. Some courts have noted that the operative date to determine the COMI is the date on which the Chapter 15 petition was filed. However, several US courts have held that the operative date for determining a debtor's COMI or establishment is the date on which the foreign insolvency commenced.
Though this split of authority is yet to be specifically addressed in the text of Chapter 15, UNCITRAL's revision to the Guide to Enactment and Interpretation of the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency in 2013 clarified that the date of the commencement of the foreign proceeding is the operative date to determine the COMI. It would be up to the US Congress to pass an amendment to Chapter 15 to conform it to this development, which to date remains an open issue for US courts.
In a situation where an individual debtor moves to the United States after the commencement of the initial insolvency proceeding and establishes residence and financial ties in the US, the determination of the COMI or establishment – and possibility of recognising the foreign insolvency proceeding – is a function of whether the operative date for the determination of COMI or establishment is the date of the filing of the initial proceeding or the Chapter 15 proceeding.
If the operative date were the commencement of the foreign proceeding, as clarified by the Guide to the Model Law, the individual debtor's habitual residence would likely be located in the foreign jurisdiction. This would likely result in the finding that the debtor's COMI or establishment was the jurisdiction of the foreign proceeding. The opposite is true if the operative date is the date of the Chapter 15 filing, as the individual debtor may have developed close ties to the United States, such as changing address, opening new bank accounts and establishing other signs of permanency.
Once the operative date is established, the court must analyse the debtor's circumstances to determine the debtor's COMI or establishment. As habitual residence is not defined by the bankruptcy statute, it raises yet another level of uncertainty. Though there is no definition for the term habitual residence, courts seem to equate habitual residence with domicile, a concept typically used in the bankruptcy context in the analysis of venue and exemptions to discharge.
Like domicile, habitual residence refers to both an individual debtor's physical presence, or residency, and the debtor's intent to remain at that residence. The former consideration may seem like a straightforward one since it is hard to dispute a debtor's physical presence. Yet situations arise where a debtor travels between two separate countries, which makes the analysis of physical presence more difficult.
The latter consideration of intent requires an inquiry relating to the debtor's state of mind, which involves both objective and subjective considerations. To assist with the analysis of the debtor's state of mind, courts consider the location of a debtor's family, the debtor's reasons for moving, the length and continuity of the debtor's residence, the stability and continuity of the debtor's employment, and apparent intentions to remain at his or her residence. Courts also consider documents filed with governmental agencies, such as immigration documents, to discern whether a debtor intended to remain in a certain place.
As every individual has different circumstances, the factual scenarios regarding the debtor's habitual residence are endless. Consider the following examples: a businessperson who travels between offices in different countries with family in both countries; a couple that move to the United States on an investor visa but leave their children in their home country; and a person with no family who moves to the United States as a permanent resident but is incarcerated for a significant period. Each scenario would entail a unique analysis regarding the debtor's state of mind.
A Florida decision displays the factual complexity that may complicate an individual debtor's Chapter 15 COMI analysis. In Richardson, the court analysed the habitual residence of an individual debtor who was in the process of moving to Florida from the UK under an investor visa, shortly after the commencement of an insolvency proceeding against him in the UK.
Analysing the debtor's COMI as of the commencement of the UK insolvency proceeding, the bankruptcy court noted that as of that date, the debtor no longer owned a home in the UK or operated a business in the UK, but retained his UK passport, UK pension account, UK email address, and immediate and extended family in the UK. Importantly, the court emphasised the debtor's investor visa documentation, which contained a sworn statement that he fully intended to return to Great Britain upon the expiration of his visa term. Accordingly, the court held that the UK was the debtor's habitual residence and COMI, and granted recognition of the debtor's UK insolvency proceeding.
Practitioners must be aware of the uncertainty in the case law with respect to the operative date for the determination of an individual debtor's COMI or establishment, and the lack of uniformity presently employed by US courts in assessing an individual debtor's habitual residence. Most importantly, practitioners must be prepared to make factual assessments of the debtor's circumstances and face challenges presented by such factors required to prove an individual debtor's habitual residence.
Guide to Enactment and Interpretation of the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency (2013 revision), section 141.
In re Richardson, Case No. 9:14-bk-04875-FMD, DE 120 (Bankr. M.D. Fla. 1 June 2016).
In re Loy, 380 B.R. 154 (Bankr. E.D. Va. 2007).
In re Ran, 607 F.3d 1017 (5th Cir. 2010).
In re Kemsley, 489 B.R. 346 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 2012).
United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency, 10, U.N. Gen. Assembly, UNCITRAL 30th Sess., U.N. Doc. A/CN.9/442 (1997), available at www.uncitral.org/uncitral/en/commission/sessions/30th.html.
https://www.sequorlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/L08zbS8tME0zWnJTbS9YanJqbXNrblMzTWptLzR5ejUvUGxsdHp0a0py.png 300 300 Jacques Hart https://sequorlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/SequorLogo_rgb-RedIcon.png Jacques Hart2019-03-27 15:57:132019-04-12 16:03:37Asset recovery column: Recognition of an individual debtor's insolvency proceeding – beware the perils
German filmmaker's estate files Florida Chapter 15
Funds in a Florida bank account belonging to the late German filmmaker and Federico Fellini collaborator Gideon Bachmann are at the centre of a new Chapter 15 application, two years after he died seemingly bankrupt in Germany.
Peter Jost, a partner at Jost Rechtsanwälte in Stuttgart, applied to the Tampa division of the US Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida for recognition as foreign representative of Bachmann's estate on 13 March.
Represented by Sequor Law, Jost is seeking US$495,000 held in two Bank of America accounts in Bachmann's name to pay off debts Bachmann owed to eight creditors at his death.
In the Chapter 15 application, under which Bachmann is referred to by his birth name of Hans Werner Bachmann, Jost says the filmmaker's creditors have US$12,617 in claims against him, an amount easily exceeded by the amount in the Bank of America account.
Bachmann, who died in Karlsruhe, a city in the south west German region of Baden-Württemberg, on 24 November 2016 at the age of 89, was born to a Jewish family in Germany in 1927 before emigrating to Tel Aviv in 1936 after the rise of the Nazi party.
He initially worked as a journalist for Haaretz, returning to Germany in 1947 to document concentration camps left by the Nazi regime.
The following year he began to study under the celebrated Dadaist film director Hans Richter in New York, moving in the 1960s to Italy, where he was a close friend of Federico Fellini, even creating a documentary film about the Italian director, Ciao, Federico!, in 1970. He also performed in a number of Fellini's films.
His film output also included Underground New York, a 1967 portrait of the underground film movement in which he was a player, which featured rare films of Andy Warhol, Shirley Clarke and Allen Ginsberg. That moved him to direct A Camera Is Not a Molotov Cocktail in 1977, in which he explained his belief that film's purpose was not to "convince the unconvinced" but to provide solidarity for people of shared views.
He also performed in films, including for Fellini and his own 1983 film Peppermint Peace.
He returned to Germany in 1996, and in his latter years worked as a film critic for a US radio programme, also establishing and editing periodical magazine Cinemages.
The District Court of Karlsruhe appointed Jost as liquidator over Bachmann's estate in November 2018, two years after his death.
In the US Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida
Chief Judge Michael Williamson
Counsel to Jost
Partner Gregory Grossman and attorney Amanda Finley in Miami
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March 2019 Quarterly Newsletter
https://www.sequorlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/SequorLogo.png 150 150 Jacques Hart https://sequorlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/SequorLogo_rgb-RedIcon.png Jacques Hart2019-03-19 16:58:232019-03-22 21:36:19March 2019 Quarterly Newsletter
How cryptocurrency assets are becoming a new battleground in divorce disputes
By Kelly Anne Smith
Fighting over money is one thing; dealing with bitcoin and other types of cryptocurrency in a divorce is an entirely different story.
As cryptocurrency has surged in popularity, it's become much more common for investors to carry shares in the largely unregulated market. For married couples looking to part ways, this means dealing with cryptocurrency as an asset could make for a difficult and lengthy divorce process.
Considering regulations and standards on digital currencies such as bitcoin are still being weighed by governments and financial regulators across the world, could the future of hiding assets during a nasty divorce be lying in its hands?
The role cryptocurrency is beginning to play in divorces
Cryptocurrency is virtual currency; it lives online and is traded on a blockchain, an encrypted ledger detailing transactions. Since each transaction is associated with a public and private key, it's possible for each transaction to be traced back to a single individual.
Cryptocurrency has been around for about a decade, but it became more mainstream around 2017 when bitcoin skyrocketed to a price of $20,000 per coin and caught the public eye, before giving back much of its value in the time since.
In 2018, only 5 percent of the American population held cryptocurrency, according to a survey by the Global Blockchain Business Council. An additional 21 percent of respondents, however, said they were considering adding it to their portfolio.
As cryptocurrency grows in popularity, lawyers all over the world are beginning to face divorce cases with high-value disputes over these digital assets.
Jacqueline Newman, a New York-based matrimonial law attorney, represents all different types of clients, including those divorcing with cryptocurrency. She asks all of her clients to fill out a statement of net worth — a comprehensive document detailing income, assets and debt of each party. She says her forms now ask parties to include cryptocurrency, too.
"It hasn't gotten to the point where the court forms include it yet, but we have asked on ours and people list it under their general assets," Newman says.
Hiding assets: Is cryptocurrency a new way to do it?
Since bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are largely unregulated and encrypted, some might think it's a perfect place to anonymously stash away funds.
But that's not necessarily the case.
Mark DiMichael, CPA, certified Financial Forensics accountant and fraud examiner, specializes in cryptocurrency. In one recent case, a husband didn't report $100,000-plus in cryptocurrency assets on his statement of net worth. During the discovery process, DiMichael closely analyzed his bank statements and was able to trace the crypto transactions through a crypto-trading platform.
DiMichael warns, however, that cases can get more complicated. The more knowledgeable someone is in crypto, the bigger the threat they pose to successfully hiding the assets.
Although he hasn't worked on a large number of cases involving cryptocurrency so far, DiMichael gives the example of a cybersecurity expert exchanging cash for bitcoin as payment. By conducting the transaction in person, there would be no "proof" of the transaction occurring — making the asset-hiding much more difficult to reveal to the court.
"It's really hard to trace if the individual knows what they're doing," DiMichael says. "An expert is going to know not to leave any evidence on their computer, and it can be much more difficult to subpoena."
The future of spouses hiding money in crypto should be seen as a threat
Edward Davis, a Miami-based asset-recovery attorney and founding shareholder of Sequor Law, says cases of financial infidelity involving crypto are only going to become more frequent in the coming years.
In 15 to 20 years, Davis expects people with large sums of money to turn toward cryptocurrency as a way to hide their assets.
"It's a real threat," Davis says. "It's not going to come up in the average divorce of Joe versus Mary where they both have regular jobs and are a middle class family. But the wealthy and uber-wealthy who have access to this are going to use it to hide their value."
Matrimonial attorneys interviewed for this story say there aren't currently any specific laws regarding cryptocurrency protection during a divorce process. Davis says these laws to protect consumers from fraudulent crypto activity are likely coming, but they will be slow to implement.
"The legal infrastructure and regulatory infrastructure for this stuff is way behind," Davis says. "If you look at some of the people sitting in Congress — some of them are in their 70s and 80s — they have no idea what this is. They don't even know what Snapchat is. You're talking about a generational change [that] is going to [have to] happen before people are confronting this kind of issue."
Another issue for getting a hand on regulating crypto, Davis says, is that there's a wide misunderstanding of how blockchain technology works.
"Whenever something new comes along, everyone tends to minimize it," Davis says. "Predicting technology is a very hard thing. People who are intimidated or scared or don't understand technology tend to minimize it."
How the financial and divorce industries are adjusting to this rising trend
As interest and commonality surrounding crypto continues to increase, experts in the legal field are having to quickly educate themselves on the asset to keep up. Some experts say there isn't enough being done to inform and train legal counsel on the inner workings of the asset.
Most of what DiMichael knows about crypto is self-taught. In 2018, DiMichael published "A Forensic Guide to Finding Cryptocurrency in Divorce Litigation." He created the guide after his own research found there weren't many resources available on the matter.
"I've seen some courses for it, but I think there should be more training," DiMichael says. "Uncovering crypto is fairly complicated, and that can be even harder for someone not trained in crypto."
Most accountants don't understand cryptocurrency, DiMichael adds. More complicated divorce cases involving cryptocurrency can be a lengthy and complicated process — and for an accountant learning everything on the fly, this can mean longer hours and a higher bill for the client. DiMichael says that he currently charges $435 per hour.
Davis hasn't worked directly on a case recovering cryptocurrency assets yet, but he has noticed an upswing in industry-related conversations in the past two years. Lawyers, who he says aren't technology-savvy by nature, should pay close attention to cryptocurrency and educate themselves on how to manage it in court cases.
"The main concern about crypto is how little we understand it and how dangerous it is because it's an unregulated, untethered currency," Davis says. "This is a real threat and one we have to think about."
https://www.sequorlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Bankrate.png 300 300 Jacques Hart https://sequorlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/SequorLogo_rgb-RedIcon.png Jacques Hart2019-03-10 15:57:432019-03-13 16:03:34How cryptocurrency assets are becoming a new battleground in divorce disputes