Uncategorized – Burns the Attorney, Inc.

July 20, 2023

Say Yes to No

I’m a firm believer in saying yes and generally being positive about things; have done for years. For example, if a client has a technically gnarly project, saying “Oh, that looks super hard” and then explaining how much work it is going to be or, worse, even hinting that you might fail, is not a good idea for your business. Instead, saying “Oh, that looks super hard…I love a challenge! I’m sure my team and I will find a solution!” will engender confidence in your client. Later, when you hand them a big estimate, they’ll remember you as the creative who said they could do it, increasing your chances of winning the project even with big numbers. So saying yes is a great thing for your business… except when it isn’t.

How often have you heard a (potential) client send you a contract and say “Everyone agrees to this” or “Oh, sure, the doc says you are assigning us your copyrights and that you can’t use the work, but we’ll let you use it” or “It’s industry standard to have a 90-day payment period,” or “You have to indemnify us against any claim that arises when you’re shooting for us, not just those related to your work or employees–no one ever makes an issue of that” etc. ? A bunch, I’ll bet and I bet you’ve often accepted those terms, trusting your client. Then, later…well, as Marlon Brando in Guys and Dolls says,“Daddy, I got cider in my ear!”

The sad truth is that, whenever someone in a financial transaction with you says one thing but the paperwork says another, they have an ulterior motive and it ain’t good for you. Hearing anything like “oh, don’t worry…” or “You’re the only person who has ever asked…” is your signal that you absolutely must go with what the papers say. Always. Your clients, no matter how nice, are not on your side. They can’t be—they are negotiating for their best deal, not yours. You can like them, but don’t ever trust their word over what is on the page.

The terms they are insisting on are good…good for them, that is, and so they do use them. If they didn’t, the terms would not be there. Always. So, if they are saying “oh, we never do this thing the contract says we can do” and they won’t take it out, then you know they want to do exactly what they claim they never do, and will do exactly that if they can.

Relatedly, if your client/buyer tells you “my way or the highway,” waste no time in politely taking the second option. As the current writers’ and actors’ strikes confirm, bullying and fear-mongering is pervasive in the creative industries. All of them. Threats about not getting work are just manipulative bullshit. You didn’t have the gig but then lose it by saying “no”; nope, they just wanted to scare you into accepting a bad deal. Walk away. Use the time to get a better client.

Don’t bother trying to fix them or teach them the errors of their ways. You can’t control what your clients/buyers do and you’ll drive yourself mad if you try. But, you can control what you do.

The first thing is to know where your boundaries are. You can negotiate lots of things, but you should always know what lines you will not cross and respect those limits. No one will respect them if you don’t. You can and I think MUST set your own limits; and you should do it before any negotiations so that you know what they are. Write them out like a list if that helps: will never sell copyrights; will only indemnify for my own actions; will not lower my price without getting something (besides just getting the gig) in return; etc.

Once you have your limits defined, then you can respond rationally to whatever demands are made. So, for example, if a client insists on owning your copyrights created for the project, you can say “No” if your line is ownership, or, if you’re willing to sell at the right price, say “Not at this price—if you want full ownership, that will cost $X.” Don’t explain, don’t rationalize, and don’t be suckered in by them. Stick to your own boundaries. For example, “I hear you, but I won’t sell my copyrights for this price–you need to either pay more or get a license instead.” If they ask “Why?” you can simply say that this is how you run your business. Period.

You can use your boundary list for contract negotiations of all kinds: time to pay, deposits, usage license terms, indemnification clauses, you name it. When you do that, you are taking good care of your business: You set your limits. You have control.

Saying “no” to bad terms and bad deals does not make you a jerk, it makes you a smart businessperson. And, although standing up for your rights and doing what is best for you and your business is not always easy, it is vital. The other side is surely going to stand up for theirs.

July 7, 2023

Drop Your Ego and Raise Your Usage Fees

I have written before about the importance of separating your fees and costs/expenses on your invoices (actually, on all your paperwork) so I’m not going to go into that again, but I will once again nag you to make your license fees the largest number of your fees, if at all possible. Why? Because there is a new (tentative) ruling in the CCB that shows how low license fees can hurt you.

In this case, a photographer made the work as a part of a large shoot for a client. His original bill was well into the six figures, yay! However, as the Board notes:

During the shoot, Hursey shot approximately forty-two scenes, with a scene consisting of multiple versions of the same setting and activity with minor differences. Hearing Tr. at 39:00 – 39: 57. In the present case, the scene consisted of a family at a picnic with a pastoral background. Evidence Doc B (Dkt. 17). Hursey was paid $185,524.45 in total for the shoot, but most of that amount was reimbursement for costs and payment for his time, while $17,500 was for an unlimited license to use all of the photographs taken over the course of the shoot.
Proposed Default Determination, at p.3 (bold added)

An unlimited license should definitely be the largest number on your paperwork–it is HUGE usage! Let’s conservatively estimate that in this project, the photographer provided finals of 3 variations of 42 scenes, or a total of 126 images (it was likely much more, of course), $17500 divided by 126 is a whopping $138.89 per photo licensed. That’s insane.

Photographers and other creatives have got to stop billing their Creative Fee as if it is the most important thing. That is just your ego talking–a bigger Creative Fee means YOU are somehow worth more…. **HURL**! It’s short-sighted, at best.

Worse, using time as the basis of your Creative Fee makes you into the equivalent of a wage slave and insults your professionalism. It doesn’t matter if it takes you 30 minutes or 3 days to create your work–it is your TALENT and ABILITIES that count. If you have 30 years of experience and can make the difficult shot in an hour where a newer photographer would take all day, why should you be penalized for that?! So, stop billing as if time and your ego matter. Instead, think long term: you can re-license for more if you bill more for usage from the start! And it will help you if you ever get ripped off. Bill a reasonable Creative Fee, not time-based, and bill a large (but reasonable) Usage License Fee.

On the good side in the case cited above, the photographer has an online calculator for his stock licenses and that provided a number of $1000.70 for the same use as the infringer made of the photograph (still too low, in my opinion, but better). The Board relied on that number and awarded $3000 for the infringement here. Id. at 9. Whew. I mean, I think that is still way too low an award but it’s a hell of a lot better than 3 times $138.89. If the photographer here did not have published rates as he did, the court would very likely have awarded him $750, the minimum statutory damages available.

Respect your work by billing its worth. Your future self will thank you.

May 24, 2023

Buddh-ish: Stress

Today is the first of the new series I mentioned in my last post and the topic is stress. This is a huge problem for lawyers and creatives. These days, pretty much everyone I know has some issues with it, thanks especially to the pandemic and Trump years.

Stress can be a good thing–it helps us do well in athletics, for example, but even there only if it isn’t too great. Chronic stress can be a big negative to our health, both mental and physical.

The folks over at the Greater Good Center have published a quiz to help us evaluate our stress–that quiz is embedded below. After you finish, they offer suggestions for coping.

The really great thing about the Greater Good folks is that they do science-based work. While there are lots of references to things like mindfulness (a very Buddhist-y thing), they don’t offer woo-woo but rather evidence-based ideas. There are concrete things to do which, if you’re anything like me, makes all the difference in the world. I mean, it’s one thing to say “lighten up” but it’s much more effective for me if someone suggests something active like “write in your journal at least 3 good things that happened to you today.”

So, if you’re feeling stressed, I’d like to suggest you take the quiz and try some of the options suggested. Tailor them to your own life and try some things just to see if they help. I know, for me, meditating every morning as well as taking the time to do about 10 minutes of breathing exercises (I do it with deep stretches) make all the difference in my day. I can go back to these tools every time I feel the stress crank up, too.

As always, I hope this helps.

May 11, 2023

New Series for Creatives and Lawyers: Buddh-ish

As many of you know or may have noticed from this site, I’m a lawyer and a (bad) Buddhist. Some people think this is contradictory, but really, it’s not. My Buddhist practices enhance my lawyering skills.

Now, I say “(bad) Buddhist” because I’ve never formally “taken refuge” (formally taken vows) and consider myself secular and still struggle greatly with the idea of reincarnation; but I have to say that studying Buddhism and practicing as I do has made my life, including my work as a lawyer, immeasurably better.

For example, in lawyering I have to deal with people who get nasty, who lie, and who generally would have made the 30-year-old me react by verbally ripping them to shreds in very personal attacks. Now, I don’t take their behaviors personally but instead take a more objective view of it all. Those people are experiencing their own suffering and striking out–like a reactive dog. That doesn’t mean I let them walk over me/my clients, not at all, but I do stick to the law and the facts rather than attacking the people themselves. Oddly, this often has the additional result of frustrating the hell out of the opposition as I don’t rise to their bait and works as a sort of intellectual jiu-jitsu making them stumble. More often than not, their further attacks just make me laugh to myself at the absurdity of their actions while I stay on-point and get the job done for my client.

In an example from my personal life, I’m pretty sure I would not have gotten through the medical stuff I just went through (I’m actually not fully healed yet, but well on my way) without a strong meditation practice. It doesn’t make pain magically disappear or anything like that, but it does help to remind me that all things are impermanent, including pain and fear, and learning to focus on the breath helps when relaxation is much needed. I suspect that I got off the heavy meds a lot sooner for it, but that’s just a guess.

Anyway, in an effort to help others, in some posts this year (and maybe longer) I’m going to pay less attention to the law and more to some Buddhist and Buddhist-adjacent topics and tools. I’m calling the series Buddh-ish, because I’m a goofball and like the linguistic shorthand. The point of all this is not to convert anyone (any Buddhist who tries to convert someone to Buddhism is doing it wrong, IMO) but rather to offer up some of the tools/practices I’ve used and have found helpful so that you can try them out for yourself if you choose. None of it requires changing your own religious/spiritual beliefs and all if it is offered with the best of intentions.

The first post will go up in the next few days. Until then, I’ll leave you with what I say at the end of every meditation:

May all beings be happy;
May all beings be healthy;
May all beings live with ease and in safety;
May all beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.

April 5, 2023April 5, 2023

Life Happens

There is an old saying that life happens while you’re busy making other plans. I have found this to be profoundly true, generally. It’s a good Buddhist reminder to stay present, but it’s even better at reminding us that no matter how carefully we plan our lives, things will arise that will demand our attention, no matter what plans we have made otherwise. I am currently experiencing one of those moments.

For some time, years actually, I’ve been having some minor medical issues that I have been ascribing to aging and how our bodies are imperfect. Things would flare up now and again and I would treat myself better, then things would go back to a relative normal. Until a few months ago when the things got much more annoying. No amount of breathing, stretching, changes in diet, meditation, laying off running, etc., were working. The pain was ratcheting up and my sleep was getting disturbed, even more than the usual caused by our animals in bed. I virtually never take so much as an Advil, and suddenly I was taking them on the regular. My quality of life took a slow nosedive and, finally, I ended up at my doc’s office. He sent me for a surgical consultation; and, well, next week, I will be getting surgery.

It’s outpatient, but still kind of gnarly and I’m not looking forward to the immediate post-op recovery phase. I don’t like taking meds generally and certainly not strong pain meds which, by all accounts, I will need. I don’t like being reliant on others, not being permitted to drive, and not being permitted to work (pain meds and lawyering do not mix!). But the procedures have a very high success rate, the pain meds will be a short-term thing (hopefully only a couple/few days), and, once fully recovered (which will take time), I should be good as new.

So, what does this have to do with lawyering besides the fact that I will have to take a few days off? Well, not to be morbid but there is a teeny chance I could never wake up or something could go wrong and I, like the cobbler’s son, didn’t have proper shoes. That is, like most of us, I didn’t have some very important legal things taken care of.

I have had my will, a durable power of attorney, and a medical power of attorney completed and sitting on my desk for more than 6 months, waiting to be executed. In California, all of these docs need to be signed in front of and attested to by two disinterested witnesses (that is, people who have no financial incentive like being an inheritor) and it was a minor hassle to get that accomplished. So, the docs just sat there on my desk, waiting to be executed. This impending procedure got me off my ass and, last week, I called two neighbors who agreed to be my witnesses and executed the docs.

Now, like I said, it is very unlikely that any of those docs will be needed soon, but I can go into my procedure knowing that my chosen person will be able to make decisions, if necessary, rather than having a certain pushy relative try to step in and do, most likely, exactly not what I would want; and that my assets won’t go to anyone I don’t want to get them. I can now, generally, sleep at night knowing that I won’t be making my loved ones’ lives more difficult if I get incapacitated or die at any time.

Far too many of us haven’t made plans for our incapacity or death, and we really need to. It’s terrible to love someone and not be able to do what they want, because you don’t have the legal authority. Worse yet, imagine being subject to the medical decisions of your QAnon-kool-aid-drinking parent or sibling because you’re not legally married (making that spouse probably legally able to step in) or you don’t have a proper doc naming a person you trust! Yikes!

So, if you don’t have all your docs in order, including updating them if you have new kids or a new partner since previous drafting, do it now. Trust me, you’ll sleep better.

February 15, 2023

A Rant

Business is hard. To paraphrase a favorite movie, anyone who says otherwise is selling something. Business is work and doing the stuff you don’t want to do. Business is hiring accountants and lawyers and making pitches to potential clients and doing research and paperwork and making trips to Costco.

Oh, and making your art, too. More on that in a bit.

It’s sacrifice and frustration. It’s making tough choices like to take what may be a cashflow hit now (like by saying no to a shitty, lowballing client) for the possibility of a long-term gain. It means having to say “no” to a lot more than you ever imagined, like to buying you or your kids stuff because you need to pay your over-priced health insurance.

It means having to smile to clients who are driving you nuts.

But, don’t forget, you chose this path.
Stop and think just how great that is. You are Here, as the sign says.

No matter how tough it gets, no matter how much you struggle in your business and to make your art, you are here and doing it. No matter how psychotic the client demands, how long the hours, how much you miss your life partner because you’ve been locked in post for the past week, or how frustrating the airlines are being about your gear, it beats the hell out of the Alternative, as my father used to say before the Alternative caught up to him at 92.

Take a moment to remember those who have inspired you and then honor them by recognizing that we’re all here temporarily and need to embrace the fantastic opportunity that presents. Play your music a little louder, do the drudge work with a better attitude, and push your art more.

About that last bit… are you playing it safe? Are you making the work you have been told you ought to make, that clients want to see, that won’t scare off potential clients? Then do us all a favor and quit now.

No one will pay more for your art than the next person’s “content” unless you believe in its value and, most of all, you make something original. If you feel like “anyone could have done this” about your work, you are probably right. Moreover, it’s not worth anything. So why are you wasting your time? Worse, why are you wasting everyone else’s? Why are you making the people who love you suffer more because you don’t have a regular job with normal hours and vacation days? Stop pretending to be a creative professional and whining about the state of the industry while doing what not only hurts you, but what directly causes the industry’s downfall.

Harsh? Maybe. In the words of the fabulous Margo Channing: fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night.

Look, if you feel like your work could be made by anyone, then you aren’t working hard enough to make your art. I don’t know what you are doing, but it’s not being an artist. A poseur, an influencer, a faker, maybe, but sure as hell not an artist.

If that’s you, quit now, because that “play it safe” attitude is bullshit, especially today. You are only contributing to the illusion that anyone (or, in the case of AI, anyTHING) can be a creator. You are lowering the perceived value of creativity by flooding the market with even more shit work. Those creative pros who are busting their asses making really creative work are having to fight harder than ever to get seen, not to mention dollars for their efforts, because people like you make artists look like lazy, spoiled children who don’t work hard and simply luck out when they actually make something more. Like artistic nepo-babies.

In case you didn’t know, making art is hard damn work. Art requires more. More effort. More bravery. More of you. You need to put yourself out there to make the work. You should be spent, having given a part of you in the making. If it really is totally easy for you, you aren’t trying hard enough.

But, damn, y’all are sure whining about how no one wants to hire you or pay you enough. Funny how you can’t seem to accept that if you are phoning it in, you are a big part of the problem.

Put the pieces together and the equation is simple: you won’t get work playing it safe because safe work is shit and no one wants to hire someone who makes shit, no matter how nice you are; so, you might as well make the stuff you have in your soul, the stuff you hide from everyone, even quite probably yourself, the stuff that lots of people might actively hate or at least not understand, the stuff that is real.

Here’s your new mantra:
You don’t need everyone’s approval.
You don’t need anyone’s approval.
You don’t need to be liked.
You just need to make the work, your work, your real work; and bill its value rather than some lowball rate or, worse, for the “exposure.”

You make your real art? Then no one can touch you.

January 25, 2023

10 Commandments for Commercial Photographers*

The 10 items below are written primarily for photographers but, really, the ideas apply to all commercial artists, whatever your speciality.

Understand and accept that you will make mistakes. You are going to forget a battery or mess up a setting or forget to double-dog confirm that one stylist or something. None of this is terminal, even if it is hard now. You’re a creative problem-solver–you’ll find a way through it.
You are not your images. If you show your work to someone and they don’t like it, don’t take it personally. Art is subjective. Just because your work isn’t right for them doesn’t mean you suck.
No matter how much you know, someone else will always know more. Always be learning and be willing to learn. Take classes. Listen to clients. Be open to other ideas.
Don’t get stuck on the final. You may know exactly what image you want to make, but if you stop there or hyper-focus on making only that image, you may miss out on an even better image. Play.
Treat people who know less than you with respect, kindness, and patience. Your corporate “suit” client, let’s call him “Bob,” may offer up the lamest idea in the universe on a shoot. Be kind to him–he is trying. Be kind to your assistants and crew too while you are at it. You are not a god (read #1 again) but just another human being like those around you, even if you have talent in an area they don’t. Don’t be an egotistical jerk.
The only constant in the world is change. “While we’re here, can we just shoot…” or “I just found out we need the model to be blonde” and the like are opportunities, not difficulties–if you choose to look at them that way. Same for market changes and technology changes. Be open to change.
The only true authority stems from knowledge, not from position. You can’t force a client to respect you, but you can earn that respect by demonstrating your professionalism compassionately and openly at every opportunity.
Advocate for what you believe, but accept defeat graciously. They client may say they want your look, but sometimes the boss of the client’s boss’ boss wants it how they want it and that is just that. Pitch your ideas, advocate for them passionately, then let go when it won’t change a thing. When that happens, just make the best work you can within your client’s parameters and, when it’s done, move on and cash the check in peace.
Reach out. You can’t expect people to know about you and your work just because you have a social media presence. You need to get out there and meet people. The more you put yourself out there to the world, the greater the chance you’ll connect with someone who really wants to work with you.
It’s art–not a tumor. If your work feels like, well, work, I mean like drudgery/work, then you might want to think about another career. You need to love what it is you are doing–making images needs to be a joy, a release, a passion–it needs to be the fun part. The rest of business is generally not fun (bookkeeping, insurance, taxes, etc.); making the work should be joyful. If you don’t absolutely love it, you need to try to re-find that fun/passion/joy. Otherwise, you might as well do something that has a regular paycheck and benefits like health insurance.

(* I originally wrote the first version of this in 2008–I’ve updated it here but the original has held up very well, almost 15 years later)

December 19, 2022

Ho Ho Holy Crap, Where Did the Year Go?!?

Blue heeler unhappily wearing fabric antlers with a bell dangling off the right one. — Mongo no like antlers

The other day, on NPR, they ran a story about people who are studying how we (humans) experience time and one of the commonalities is that the pandemic affected that. For most people, it was a slowing of time–a day felt like many more than 24 hours, a week more like a month, et cetera. But as things have opened up, for many people time has started to fly.

I am definitely one of those people. In short, while 2020 and 2021 slogged, 2022 has flown by. I can’t believe the end-of-the-year holidays are upon us already.

My usual plans for the end of the year got bumped when my partner got Covid just days before Thanksgiving. Then, despite mask wearing and his isolation, he still gave it to me, forcing me to isolate for the week after Thanksgiving. Luckily, we both came through with only mild (me) to moderate (him) symptoms (thanks to the vaccines), but it has forced a change in our usual holiday activities.

Anyway, here we are. This year, I incorporated my law practice, got some new clients (thank you!), got threatened with a lawsuit for daring to send a demand letter to someone (ugh), started writing for the Architectural Photography Almanac, quit Twitter and moved to Mastodon, and handled many matters for my clients. It was, overall, a good year.

In thanks to all of you who permit me to do what I am passionate about and, as is my custom, I have made donations to a couple of charities rather than sending you tchotchkes as thank-you gifts. This year, I made a single donation to the NPPA’s fund and committed to a monthly contribution to the Souther Poverty Law Center. Both organizations do much good in a difficult world.

Thank you, all of you, my clients past, present, and future, for permitting me to serve you. I hope I may do so for some time to come.

Here’s to a wonderful 2023 for us all.

November 5, 2022January 11, 2023

Flipping the Bird

In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m no longer on Twitter. I dumped the bird site as soon as Musk closed the deal. I switched to a couple of different platforms, but it looks like I’m settling on Mastodon.

It’s been interesting over the past week as I build a whole new network of people, but I’m actually enjoying it. I miss some of the folk I was following, but there are a lot of artists and academics and generally really interesting and thoughtful folk on Mastodon. I feel like it’s a higher IQ version of a platform, sort of.

One of the best things about Mastodon is that not only are there no ads, there are no algorithms. Huzzah! My feed is chronological and I see, depending on my settings, either the people I follow (the home timeline), the people who are also on the same “instance” (think server, in my case, that’s @legal.social)(the local timeline), or people who are people who are followed by those whom I follow, regardless of server (the federated timeline). I’m not fed what some ones and zeros think I should see. I am not fed at all. No one is.

I also happen to like that there are a lot of non-Americans on Mastodon. Tons of Europeans (especially Germans). This is great because it helps one to see other perspectives on all sorts of issues. I also like it because I’m a linguistics nut and the more languages the better.

Anyway, the point is that I will be tooting (what posting is called) mostly on Mastodon (see link above to find me), and posting longer format stuff here.

September 21, 2022

Next Steps at the CCB

As you may remember, back in late July I filed my first CCB case. Since then, I’ve filed two more, each for different clients. Today, I received notice that a claim had passed its initial review and could be served on the respondent–it is for the first case I filed.

So, what happens is that you get three emails from the CCB informing you that something has been filed in your case. Each email includes a link to an item filed. The first says that a Notice of Compliance and Direction to Serve had been filed; the second that the Service Packet had been, and the third that the Waiver of Service had been. The last two note that they are “restricted”–that is, the public cannot get access to those items. I could, of course, after logging in. When you get those emails, make sure to download copies of everything and add them to your folder for the case.

The Notice provides you with your instructions. It’s a one-page document explaining that your claim has passed its initial review and that you now have to serve the respondent(s)–that is, the people you are suing. You have 90 days to serve all respondents in your case. It also explains what service is, how to do it, what needs to be served (a notice, the entire claim with its exhibits, and an opt-out form), and also explains that you can ask the respondents to waive service and includes a link to the CCB Handbook where it explains service and waiving service.

There is a second page with the Notice: the Proof of Service form. That form must be filled out and filed with the CCB within 7 days of the completion of service.

The Service Packet includes a Notice of Official Government Proceeding, which explains that the respondent is being sued in the CCB and for what reason, and it provides instructions for the respondent. the Packet also includes the claim itself, including all the exhibits (if any). Finally, it includes a Form to Opt Out of Copyright Claims Board Proceeding which, duh, a respondent may use to opt out (or it may opt out online).

The Waiver of Service is optional, but it makes sense for both sides to waive formal service so download it, too. That filing includes a one-page Request to Waive Service of Notice of an Official Government Proceeding and a one-page Waiver of Service form. The Request must be filled out by you (or your attorney if you’re represented) and signed by you (or your attorney). You then send the completed and signed Request, a copy of the Waiver form, and a copy of the entire Service Packet to each respondent for that matter. You must also provide a self-adressed and stamped envelope for the return of the waiver form. DO NOT INCLUDE ANYTHING ELSE–that is, no nasty letters or even polite settlement offers–just send the forms (and SASE) as described. The CCB makes a big deal out of not including other stuff so follow its instructions–you don’t want to screw up service, even if it’s not formal service.

By the way, I highly encourage using the USPS Priority Mail system for this, in part because it is trackable and it can be a big pile of pages which you can send for a flat fee.

Now, for my matter, I also emailed everything to opposing counsel. That step is not required but since I knew the respondent was represented I did that out of courtesy. The email simply stated that the case had been filed and the documents were attached and were being sent via the USPS as well.

Respondents have 30 days to waive service if they choose. If you don’t hear from them by the end of that period, you should move forward with formal service. There are companies that will do that for you, if you need to do that. If the respondent here doesn’t waive service, I’ll explain about that when it happens. If it does waive service, then I will file that completed Waiver form with the CCB and then the Respondent will have 60 days to opt out if it chooses. If it does not opt out, then we’ll get a Scheduling Order from the CCB which will include the date the respondent’s answer to the claim is due.

But first things first… let’s see if the respondent waives service. It might also choose to re-open settlement negotiations in earnest, and it is possible the matter could settle before going much further. We’ll see!