Alan Rolnick -- Author/Filmmaker

Watch out Jim Grippando -- Sacher Zelman litigator Alan Rolnick is nipping at your heels.

Alan's new book, Landmark Status, just hit the streets and it promises to be a very interesting read. From Amazon's page on the book comes this blurb:

Landmark Status careens madly through a subtropical tangle of legal actions, spirits, spells, kung fu, car wrecks, football, phobias, fetishes, wooden flutes, pet rabbits and vintage aircraft, while the fate of Miami's famed Century Club hangs in the balance. Once a notorious nightspot, the Club just awoke from decades of slumbering decay-thanks to a local building boom. Now everybody's scrambling to bury it under a fabulous high-rise.

Lawyer Benjy Bluestone couldn't care less, but a client owns the Club and seeks his help. It gets easier to say yes when he learns that beautiful broker Delia Torres is involved, even though she represents a developer who's furious to find the Club's been optioned to a rival. Benjy and Delia soon discover her client will stop at nothing to turn that option into "something so ugly the tide won't take it out." Racing the clock, they join forces on the road to Opa-locka, where a violent confrontation threatens to blow the deal sky high.

"Move over, Carl Hiaasen! This brilliantly funny romp through the 'real' Miami will have you howling with laughter and booking your trip to South Beach. You're gonna love it!"

-Michael Levin, author of Soft Target

About the Author
Alan H. Rolnick grew up in a sleepy river town playing baseball and Beatles songs, wishing he lived someplace different. Twenty years of law practice in Miami, whose heart-stopping beauty and self-absorbed chaos challenged him daily to figure out where on earth he was, left no doubt he’d gotten his wish.

Alan's been busy lately. He is also the Executive Producer of a new indie film coming out in October, Canvas.

Congratulations Alan -- we wish you much success with the book and the film!

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SFL Friday -- Nicolas Sarkozy And Me.

Ok, so it's a slow news day, legal news-wise, and I had little to offer besides thoughts on mentoring young lawyers, drunk Brits, teenagers and porn, and of course Alan Rolnick.

In other words, it's pretty much been a regular Friday.

Yet I was saved by an alert reader, who forwarded this fascinating story on how French President Nicolas Sarkozy is on a fabulous new diet:

In the past 10 months, Julie Imperiali, a former dancer and gymnast, has helped Mr Sarkozy to lose almost 4kg (8.8lb) and two trouser sizes.

She was introduced to the President by his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, who has been following her training method for the past four years.

Her so-called Tectonic method focuses on the perineal muscles at the bottom of the pelvis, which she insists improves her clients' posture, body and mind, but also their libido.

It's hard to believe this is an actual news story about the President of France, but hey, like that old Chinese proverb -- we live in interesting times.

Anyways, I am off to catch a few early waves this weekend, where like President Sarkozy I will be studiously working on improving my posture, body, and mind.

Have a great weekend everybody!

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Be A Mentor, You Plebes!

Even if it's just tutoring everyone's favorite newb on the finer points of our practice, it's a good thing to be a mentor to somebody else.

So as we reach the end of National Mentoring Month, take a moment to reflect on who you are helping to become a better attorney -- an associate, an intern, a clerk. My own experience is I became a better attorney, a more idealized version of myself, by helping others in my practice. And I am sure the attorney who mentored me for many years felt the same.

You can read some tributes to mentors from famous people such as Ray Charles, Bill Clinton and Oprah here.

BTW, thank you "Whiplash" Willie Gingrich.

Actually, I also learned a lot from Oliver Wendell Douglas and Lionel Hutz--and boy does that explain a lot.

In other news, Brits drink too much, teenagers learn from porn, and Alan Rolnick fondly remembers Premium Sales.

Try to say that three times fast!

Ahh, good times.

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