We're pretty sure it won't be boring

Dictionary publishers looking to illustrate the word "outspoken" could do no better than by printing the photograph on the right.

That's not-so-instantly-recognizable attorney Geoff Fieger, the hands-down favorite for the title of "Michigan's Most Controversial Attorney Ever," behind the yellow tape. The image is part of "Fieger: Inside Out," a collection of work being displayed by artist Holly Flory at The Print Gallery & Everything Art in Southfield through Nov. 1.

The gallery is located near 12 Mile Rd. and Northwestern Highway. Call 248-356-5454 for more information.

Judges: Is there a better way to pick them?

The November 2008 election for the Michigan Supreme Court, pitting the presumed Republican candidate, incumbent Chief Justice Clifford Taylor, against a yet-to-be-named Democrat, is shaping up to be a spendfest that may rival the 2000 contest, in which three seats were open on the high court.

A couple of weeks ago, Michigan Supreme Court Justice Robert Young told the Republican faithful at a Mackinac Island conference that it might take $20 million to keep the chief in office. In response, Democratic State Party Chair Mark Brewer promised that his party will do whatever it takes to make sure that doesn't happen. See, Michigan Lawyer: The public should care

Whether the 2008 campaign ads will be just as silly and mind-numbing as in years past - "soft on crime," "anti-family," "lacks experience," "Markman and Taylor and Young, oh my!" (chanted to a Wizard-of-Oz cadence by dancing, animated trees) - remains to be seen.

Reform advocates say the way to end all of this nonsense, and to obtain a judiciary less beholden to special interests, is to switch to an appointment process. At the heart of all such plans is the idea that those seeking a seat on the bench would go through a vetting and winnowing process. Survivors then get the appointments.

This is not a new thought. After the 2000 election, then-Chief Justice Elizabeth Weaver championed an appointment plan featuring non-renewable 14-year terms. See, "CJ Weaver Calls For New Method To Pick Justices" Former State Sen. Ken Sikkema floated the Missouri Plan: appointments followed by retention elections. See, "Wanted: Judicial Selection Changes"

As far back as 1994, responding to news stories of judicial smear campaigns, the late Justice James H. Brickley called for adoption of the Missouri Plan. See, "Appointing judges: A solution to 'low road' campaign tactics"

Now comes a recent study from the University of Chicago Law School that tests the notion that appointed judges are "better" than elected judges and concludes that either way may not make much of a difference.

In "Professionals or Politicians: The Uncertain Empirical Case for an Elected Rather than Appointed Judiciary," by Stephen J. Choi, G. Mitu Gulati and Eric A. Posner, the authors measured judicial independence, productivity and "opinion-quality" to determine whether elected or appointed judges are "better."

The authors say that underlying all the clamor for doing away with judicial elections is "the conventional wisdom among lawyers and scholars that judges should be appointed by elected officials or independent commissions .... The conventional wisdom reflects a deeply rooted conviction that voters are too unsophisticated to evaluate judges and candidates for judicial office."

But the authors note that when "judges use campaign contributions to finance simple-minded television commercials, conflict of interest is layered on public confusion."

Yet, "[i]n a system that uses judicial appointments, nothing forces the appointing official to select judges on the basis of their legal ability; cronyism is very common."

The paper's abstract concludes that the "empirical results do not show appointed judges performing at a higher level than their elected counterparts. Appointed judges write higher quality opinions than elected judges do, but elected judges write many more opinions, and the evidence suggests that the large quantity difference makes up for the small quality difference. In addition, elected judges do not appear less independent than appointed judges. The results suggest that elected judges are more focused on providing service to the voters (that is, they behave like politicians), whereas appointed judges are more focused on their long-term legacy as creators of precedent (that is, they behave like professionals)."

Another form of bankruptcy

They pile up.

More and more keep coming every day.

You know you need to deal with them.

"But what I really need," you think to yourself, "is a fresh start."

We're not talking about a big stack of bills. We're talking about all of that stuff in your e-mail in-box.

We're talking about declaring "e-mail bankruptcy."

Michelle Kessler, in a USA Today article, says that some "prominent techies" are dealing with jam-packed in-boxes "by declaring 'e-mail bankruptcy' - deleting or archiving an entire in-box and starting over."

One guy wiped out a three-year backlog that way.

Drastic stuff, but sometimes desperate situations call for desperate measures.

Kessler writes that Intel, the giant chipmaker, is taking a more measured approach to email overload by declaring "Zero E-mail Fridays." Intel's engineers are being encouraged to pick up the phone instead, or even meet face-to-face with colleagues.

But if a zero e-mail day (or even two) each week doesn't solve your overload problem, the nuclear option of total e-mail bankruptcy may be the answer.

Unless, of course, you're getting this blog fed to you via e-mail. There is such a thing as being overzealous.

We'd prefer that you think of us as an exempt asset, instead.