Welcome to my weekly review of interesting events in law, literature and film …

1.     Lawsuit of the Week: Hatchet Job

The photo above is Caleb McGillvray aka “Kai the Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker” which, by appearances alone, seems plausible. He was convicted of murdering a New Jersey attorney in 2019.

This is Taylor Hazlewood. He is a respiratory therapist. He is not a hatchet-wielding hitchhiker. But his favorite childhood book was Hatchet, a wilderness survival novel by Gary Paulsen.

Hazlewood posed with a hatchet in homage to the book and posted the photo on Instagram.

Netflix then used the photo to promote a documentary about McGillvray. The documentary was released in January 2023. Hazlewood, unaware that his photo was being used to brand him as an axe murderer, started to receive text messages from his friends and family.

“Bro, wtf are you in that?”

“Wtf? Explain please.”

“Yeah man it makes it seem like you need a vibe check.”

Suffice it to say, the texts and comments were not only injurious to the English language, they were, according to a lawsuit filed by Hazlewood in Dallas District Court, damaging to Hazlewood’s reputation. Not sure whether a “vibe check” would qualify as special damages but I will monitor the case and bring you further developments.

2.     Legal article of the Week

The Big Law firms are starting to announce their 2024 salaries. They range from $225,000 for the most recent law school graduates to $435,000 for graduates from the Class of 2016. This does not include bonuses. If you’re a fan of indentured servitude, not a bad living.

3.     Non-Legal Article of the week

The Year in New Yorker Photography

4.     Book recommendation of the week

“Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology” by Chris Miller.

One of the best books I have read, business or otherwise, examines the history of semiconductors (“chips”) from their serendipitous invention through the present day. I discovered many alarming facts. The scarcity of materials, labor, and technology has forced strange bedfellows in the global supply chain.

A handful of companies dominate market share in their respective applications. Taiwan Semiconductor has 57% of the semiconductor foundry market. However, their manufacturing facility sits on a geological and geopolitical fault. ASLM, a Dutch company, has an 80% market share in the Extreme Ultra Violet technology that enables the printing of miniature circuits. It is a financially and technologically robust industry amid a failing world order. Read it.

5.     Movie clip of the week

The locker room speech by Al Pacino in “Any Given Sunday” is one of the best monologues in cinema. Check it out.

“We’re in hell right now.”