Forbes magazine prints a list, once a year, of the highest earning dead celebrities.  The list was topped for last year by Michael Jackson who earned $160 million, which is quite ironic, given his debt problems while he was still alive.  Elvis Presley earned $55 million and took second spot and amongst the other big earners are Bob Marley, Marilyn Monroe, John Lennon and Theodor Geisel.  For those of you who are asking who Theodor Geisel is, he is Dr Seuss.

With the Rand’s recent strength, and international petrol prices fairly stable, we are looking at another drop in the petrol price in early November.  At the moment, we are looking at an approximate drop of 23c/litre for petrol and 10c/litre for diesel.  That is always good news, although one does forget that some of the money involved in the petrol price, apart from the general taxes, which goes to the Government, is actually money that is paid to the Road Accident Fund.  That money at least provides everybody with coverage if they are injured in an accident.  There are however too many general taxes that have been included in the petrol price to the extent that most people would not realise that the basic fuel price per litre at the moment is R7,24 for 95 unleaded petrol, but by the time all the taxes and mark-ups have been added on, we pay R13,30.

The Road Accident Fund frequently advertise that people will be better off if they go to the Road Accident Fund themselves and save on the lawyer’s fees.  They don’t mention that you will then be seeing their experts, and that you will never have the benefit of experts who may well be more sympathetic to plaintiffs than many of the experts who work for the Road Accident Fund.  They don’t mention the cases where their claims handlers have offered R35 000,00 to clients of ours, who had a brain injury, and who we have taken to court and who we have got R1,2 million for the client at court.  

I just thought though, when reading through medico legal reports on the weekend - which I do most weekends - that I would give some key examples of an actual case, and how the experts that work for the Road Accident Fund would describe the same injury.  In short our client was, as a result of the accident, rendered a partial paraplegic.  Our experts say that not only does he now have sexual dysfunction, neurogenic bladder and occasional bowel incontinence, but that his life has been totally devastated by this accident and “there is no prospect whatsoever of any further meaningful recovery.”  That is what our orthopaedic surgeon had to say.  The orthopaedic surgeon that works for the Road Accident Fund goes out of his way to detail how our client had previously hurt his left wrist and as a result had lost a job before.  In other words, he is really not that much worse off now that he is partially paralysed, because he had already lost his job before for a an injury to his left wrist.  

When it comes to his work options – has his life been devastated?  No, the expert who works for the Road Accident Fund says, “His work options have been further curtailed by the injuries sustained in the accident but he is suitable for certain types of sedentary and light physical work.”  The expert describes the impact of the client’s partial paralysis as being “a disruption of the claimant’s lifestyle.”  He says however it is very positive because he can now walk with the aid of crutches, and he does not have to sit in a wheelchair anymore and “his mobility can be improved by further treatment.”  That is just a routine example of what the specialists who work for the Road Accident Fund would generally say.  Being partially paralysed is just a disruption of your life.  Walking with crutches is better than using a wheelchair and gosh, you had a sore wrist in the first place, so now being partially paralysed cannot really ruin your life.  That is what we sort out in court, that is where we get results and that is why the Road Accident Fund cannot, and should not, be doing claims both for and against people.  They cannot possibly achieve appropriate results if they use doctors that are so biased against claimants that being paralysed is a mere disruption of your life!  

There is major building works going on at the intersection of Republic Street and Bram Fischer Street, where DSTV are building new offices across the road.  It seems that DSTV and MultiChoice own half of Randburg already, and it is somewhat of a surprise that they have not moved their offices, many years ago, to another area where perhaps they could have built a bigger campus.  On the other hand, one guesses that the technology and equipment that has been built in that area would make it incredibly expensive for them ever to move.  

You know it is a major building project when you see that it is being built by a company like Group Five, because companies like that don’t do “small” R20 million projects.  I see a big hike ahead in the monthly subscription though!  With unlimited Internet streaming, as well as the ability to very cheaply hire a DNS which indicates that you are surfing the Internet from another country, they will increasingly however be in competition with Apple TV as well as Netflix, because although those are overseas services, one can in fact obtain them in South Africa by establishing an overseas account and using a DNS service.

It is never too late to start saving, but the later you need it, the more of a miracle you will require!  One of my staff members told me recently that she has just started an investment with Satrix Unit Trusts on a monthly basis.  I think that is a great investment, because the costs are low, but I did point out to her that she is investing at a time when the market is fairly high.  In other words, it has more than doubled over the last five years and when one has regard to the earnings of the average company, the PE rate is extremely high.  

In short, there is not much value in the market now, but on the other hand, if your plan is to invest on a monthly basis, it is really not going to affect you because when the market does go down, you are going to be able to buy more units and it would be better to start now than to have yet another excuse – i.e. the market is too high – and put off starting savings for a few more years.  People always talk about the miracle of compound interest, but compound interest does not help you very much if you only start saving at 45 which is why I started with my very first month’s salary, and have always disciplined myself that at least 10% of what I earn each month has to be put away for retirement.  If you are starting later, you actually need to put away a lot more than 10%.  People will always have excuses, and a lot of people are obviously planning on depending on their children paying for them one day, but that is a certain way to a very uncomfortable and impoverished retirement.

This is a new space movie, starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.  It is beautifully shot, especially when watched in 3D, and terrifying.  It does not have aliens, it is not futuristic or science fiction from that point of view, but it is just a disaster movie set in space.  Apparently, scientists were called in to make sure that all of the technical aspects were correct – in other words, nothing is far-fetched or impossible and it is a superb and gripping movie.  If you have any interest in space or enjoy edge of the seat thriller type movies, you would love this one.  You have to see it though in 3D, that is the way it has been shot, that is the way it is intended to be seen and it is worth the extra money that 3D costs.  Sandra Bullock certainly gives the performance of her lifetime, and it is no wonder that the movie has achieved exceptional high ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, as well as huge box office success so far, being the No 1 movie in America for a few weeks already.  

I love to think about the adverts for Johannesburg being a world class city, after whenever it has rained.  The city comes to a standstill, half of the traffic lights don’t work, and a 45 minute journey becomes a 1 hour 45 minute journey.  I wonder if that is part of being a world class city?  The worst part is that after it has rained the entire Sunday, and most of the traffic lights had been out from Sunday morning, that the Municipality cannot get staff to the affected intersections, and get those robots fixed by Monday morning, let alone Monday afternoon.  Surely, one of the first points in building a world class city is to make sure that your transport systems work, and that people can get to work in a reasonable amount of time with a minimum of inconvenience and faulty infrastructure?  Until we get things like that right, we can only be a third rate city.

The Road Accident Fund frequently advertise that people will be better off if they go to the Road Accident Fund themselves and save on the lawyer’s fees.  They don’t mention that you will then be seeing their experts, and that you will never have the benefit of experts who may well be more sympathetic to plaintiffs than many of the experts who work for the Road Accident Fund.  They don’t mention the cases where their claims handlers have offered R35 000,00 to clients of ours, who had a brain injury, and who we have taken to court and who we have got R1,2 million for the client at court.  

I just thought though, when reading through medico legal reports on the weekend - which I do most weekends - that I would give some key examples of an actual case, and how the experts that work for the Road Accident Fund would describe the same injury.  In short our client was, as a result of the accident, rendered a partial paraplegic.  Our experts say that not only does he now have sexual dysfunction, neurogenic bladder and occasional bowel incontinence, but that his life has been totally devastated by this accident and “there is no prospect whatsoever of any further meaningful recovery.”  That is what our orthopaedic surgeon had to say.  The orthopaedic surgeon that works for the Road Accident Fund goes out of his way to detail how our client had previously hurt his left wrist and as a result had lost a job before.  In other words, he is really not that much worse off now that he is partially paralysed, because he had already lost his job before for a an injury to his left wrist.  

When it comes to his work options – has his life been devastated?  No, the expert who works for the Road Accident Fund says, “His work options have been further curtailed by the injuries sustained in the accident but he is suitable for certain types of sedentary and light physical work.”  The expert describes the impact of the client’s partial paralysis as being “a disruption of the claimant’s lifestyle.”  He says however it is very positive because he can now walk with the aid of crutches, and he does not have to sit in a wheelchair anymore and “his mobility can be improved by further treatment.”  That is just a routine example of what the specialists who work for the Road Accident Fund would generally say.  Being partially paralysed is just a disruption of your life.  Walking with crutches is better than using a wheelchair and gosh, you had a sore wrist in the first place, so now being partially paralysed cannot really ruin your life.  That is what we sort out in court, that is where we get results and that is why the Road Accident Fund cannot, and should not, be doing claims both for and against people.  They cannot possibly achieve appropriate results if they use doctors that are so biased against claimants that being paralysed is a mere disruption of your life!  

When party and party fees were first introduced, they pretty much covered, as I understand, all legal costs of the winning party.  That was important, because the whole purpose of party and party fees was that if you won your case you get costs back from the other side on the party and party scale.  

Over time however, those fees have fallen further and further behind and fortunately there is going to be an increase of the party and party fees in November.  The rate at which one used to get one’s fees back was R400,00 per hour on 21 October 1996.  That figure, if it was adjusted for inflation, would be R1 149,52 now, and the party and party rate is about to be increased, from R800,00 (showing you how much it has fallen behind) to R940,00 per hour.  That means it will still only be 82% of the inflation adjusted tariff of 1996, and by 1996 we had already fallen behind inflation.  The unfortunate impact is that it means that legal services become more and more expensive for the winning party, because even when they win, they get back much less of their costs than they would have decades ago.  It makes it harder for such people to elect to take on a case, because they have to look at the amount involved and as to whether or not what they will end up paying their attorney and not recovering will make the case worthwhile.  The one thing that is clear is that it cannot be attorneys who are to blame.  The costs of an attorney’s business are going to increase to at least inflation, if not more, and it is not their fault that sadly the party and party tariff has lagged so far behind inflation over the decades.

There is a new legal organisation in town, it is called the South African Attorneys Association and it is largely to give a voice to attorneys who are not members of either BLA or NADEL.  They have been in the news recently for their criticism of certain aspects of the Legal Practice Bill, a Bill which affects all attorneys and the independence of the profession – which is after all crucial in a democratic society.  You can visit the website for the Association at www.saattorneysassociation.co.za.  The website has developments with the Legal Practice Bill as well as information about the Financial Intelligence Centre and says that it is also dedicated to nominating attorneys to take up positions as Judges in the various Courts of South Africa and allows you to suggest attorneys to join.

Most South Africans don’t appreciate that there are two places named Washington in America, one is a state on the West Coast and one is a City, the political capital, which most people know.  Washington state has as its largest city, Seattle.  Washington D.C. actually stands for Washington, District of Columbia and strangely enough, it is not a State of America.  A number of States donated land towards the capital, and it is an independent district, not part of any state of the United States and one where Congress makes the final political decisions.  

It is a beautiful city and of course it is very much in the news now, as it is most of the year, given that whatever happens in America affects the world, and it is America’s political capital.  Right now the Congress, controlled by the Republicans, is holding the President and the Senate which is controlled by the Democrats, to ransom, saying that until such time as President Obama changes his Medicare laws, they will not approve a raising of the American debt ceiling, which is necessary for America to honour its bills.  If the matter is not resolved soon, it will no doubt throw the world’s economy into more turmoil and it basically boils down to a fight between a President, who does not want to be threatened, and a party, namely the Republican Party, who want to use everything in their power to stop what they call Obama care being implemented.  We will all have to hope that they come to a settlement shortly, so that economies around the world are not plagued by even more uncertainty, if America does not honour its bills.

I am one of those who were lucky enough to spend my late teens and early twenties going through the dramatic changes in South Africa, day by day.  I love to try and be positive, but I must say that there is so much negativity at the moment that one cannot help but feel that South Africa needs a broader group of people to start demanding change.  

Last week’s Financial Mail had two articles which made very interesting, but worrying reading.  One was by Alec Hogg, where he relays a discussion that he had with the former CEO of the JSE, Russell Loubser.  He said Russell Loubser described what is currently happening in South Africa as a malady called drift.  Drift is a slow movement away from the place you wanted to be, to an unintended destination, according to Alec’s article.  As Alec goes on to point out, our unemployment crisis has got worse because of an inability to challenge destructive laws – the very same laws that employees love to defend in blogs and comments – and that often attract comments from people who have been dismissed from their companies.  

The very same laws that are almost unprecedented in any other country in the world, and the very same laws and collective action that have now led to the managing director of BMW advising that a new model of BMW, which was to be produced in Pretoria for the entire world, will no longer be produced in South Africa.  BMW decided, as a result of the some of the strikes they endured last year, and the attitude of the Trade Unions, that this project would be better suited to another country.  Thousands of jobs that could have been created here are now lost forever.  

The reaction was immediate – the Trade Unions criticised BMW saying it was blackmail!  Unfortunately, they forget that there was no “or” to the statement – BMW never said if this changes. or that changes, they will stay.  They simply, and sadly, reported that they cannot make the plant in South Africa and as some pointed out on financial radio shows, they should actually be applauded for at least telling us the truth – how many companies, rather than upset politicians, simply don’t announce those decisions at all!  The sad truth is, as a country, we are drifting and we are sliding further and further away from the ideals of 1994, as is our economy, as is unemployment and as is our currency and until the people stand up and say enough, and implement the kinds of changes that businesses want, as well as tackle the corruption and other decay, we will continue to drift.

Having had the opportunity of seeing the No 1 and No 2 DJ’s in the world, playing 48 hours apart, it is quite noticeable that the type of music that is now popular is once again the Trance-style but generally with singing.  Trance songs of a decade or so ago did not typically have vocals, whereas now they do, and even Tiesto has changed to that style.  I think there is quite a lot of pressure on any DJ who is paid $200 000 for a 2 hour show to perform and make the mixing of one record into another seem like it is a whole lot more complicated than it is (beat counting and mixing in not terribly hard – music taste in another subject) and as a result Tiesto, for example, probably does a lot more posing around and gesticulation than he might have done some years ago.  

Calvin Harris plays up a lot less but he is playing largely songs that he has produced and created in collaboration with some of the top female pop artists in the world, like Rihanna, and is perhaps a lot less showy.  In a telling sign he is the DJ that Hakassan has chosen for the New Year’s Eve party and I have to say it is quite removed from the music I used to like, but I probably prefer the music he plays to that of Tiesto.  There is no doubt that both of them however are huge stars and it was only when we left Las Vegas that we saw billboards of a much smaller size for other very famous DJ’s such as Armin van Buuren.  For now Calvin Harris and Tiesto rule the world when it comes to Dj’ing – and Las vegas too.

We lost another member of staff this week, when one of our drivers, Abey Segooga, passed away after a sudden illness. I wish all the other drivers I employ could be like Abey, who was not only totally honest, but also always smiling, positive and with wonderful approach to life.

He had fantastic manners, he always stop to find out about my family and my children and whenever time he told me he wanted to retire, I told him that my Gran died within six months of retiring, and retiring worries me! I I told him that I didn’t think the government pension was a great thing to live on, and as long as he had the energy to keep working, he was welcome to stay at the firm. One could never be in bad mood speaking to Abey and in that way we could all certainly learn from him.

Rest in peace Abey, you were a good man and you will be missed.

I was very impressed with the Yelp application on the iPhone, using it recently while overseas to locate reviews of businesses and restaurants in the area.  You can set your filters to only show restaurants that are nearby you, for example, and have a certain star rating or filter according to price.  It is really using crowd sourcing at its best where you get the wisdom of many others giving their opinions.  Its business model relies on advertising, something that it is apparently struggling with, but the beauty of the system is that, having located a restaurant that you like you can then use the application to make a booking.  

Want a table for two at 8.30?   Put in the query, it comes back 15 seconds later that a table is available, book it and you will receive an e-mail confirming the booking.  The e-mail probably arrives within 30 seconds.  When you arrive at the restaurant your name is already reflected on their computerised booking system and it is simply a fantastic way of making bookings and arrangements.

Sir Alex Ferguson retired after 26 seasons as the manager of Manchester United.  He had an unprecedented record of success, taking over the managerial job at a time when Manchester United were expected to be demoted from the top division and leading them to a record number of successes over the years.  Manchester United of course is now an unbelievable brand name, thanks very much to the success of the Club during his leadership.  A lot of his theories, detailed in a recent management article, relate to any business and for example, he has always believed in getting talent young, training them, helping them move on and when they get too expensive for him he would sell them or allow them to go.  

He does not believe in tolerating the superstar ego and believes that there is always a new superstar waiting in the wings, who will step up at the right time.  He also makes it very clear in the article that he is the boss and Manchester United was prepared, over the years, to let any player who challenged the balance of power in the Club, or his leadership, go straight away.  In one particular season they showed their leading goal scorer the door because he got too full of himself and that was disruptive to the team.  That of course is true of business as well and in many ways, because he did not actually coach the team on the field during their practices, he was more of a business and people manager than a coach – which is another reason why the key to his success relates to any other field as well.

Hakassan nightclub, which opened in April this year in Las Vegas, holds a number of records.  It is the biggest nightclub in America.  It is 8 000m² and holds 7 000 people on a busy night – which appears to be most nights.  It is also the most expensive Nightclub every built, coming in at over $100 million.  It also pays DJ’s the highest amounts ever, blowing away the market with $200 000,00 gigs – that is R2 million for mixing songs together for two hours!  It has the number one and two DJ’s in the world currently playing on the same weekends.  A lot of that money is obviously being spent on the décor and the layout, but the sound system is of course absolutely amazing, and the lighting extremely sophisticated and on a level, as you can imagine at that cost, which is literally R1000 million, something that one has never experienced in South Africa or indeed London for that matter either.

Hakassan came to my attention when I read an article about it in a business magazine, Forbes, but there is no doubt that word is going to spread of this super club.  How long it will last, paying those sort of salaries to DJ’s, is another question, but based on the long queues of people, still trying to get into a full Nightclub just before 2 am on a Sunday morning, it has a good two or three years in it.  Attention to detail is everything, and from the staff, who seem to have to be models or close to it before getting a job, to their uniforms, which are choreographed differently on different nights according to which DJ is playing, it is an unbelievable clubbing experience for anybody who gets a chance to travel almost to the other side of the world!

I was reading a very interesting article in the latest edition of Harvard Business Review about knowledge-based workers.  Essentially, it said that in a knowledge-based firm, quite a few of the workers will resist passing down what they know for fear that the company will replace them.  In other words, they like to try and ensure that only they know certain things, and do not share that knowledge with other employees.  They never outright refuse to share that knowledge, but they will just come up with one excuse after another and as the magazine puts it, they will just never “find the time” to train others properly.  

The article, by Roger Martin, suggests that the answer is to organise workers around projects, so they deal with specific aspects of the business and also to train them so that they can be nimble, and move to other departments if need be.  Of course, they say that you should also do everything you can, where possible, to try and encourage employees to share knowledge, and that one of the ways that bosses get round the employees who will not share knowledge, is by having a staff manual!  I must say I found it extremely interesting, because to a large extent de Broglio Inc is set up around dealing with various aspects of cases as projects, with attorneys overseeing them and dealing with the litigation, and different departments dealing with different stages or projects within the case and I like to believe that the vast majority of the staff members are nimble enough, at a day or two’s notice, to move into another department or tackle a new project.  

I recently once again tried my luck with the latest version of the voice dictation software, Dragon Naturally Speaking Version 12.  I think I was inspired by the capabilities of my iPhone, when it comes to dictating SMS’s, for example, and thought that by now the software has probably come along and is much better.  

I was not disappointed, although I must say that I am dictating this blog article, and after not more than 20 minutes of training, I was able to read an extract from my blog, and in a 1 minute time test, 115 words were reproduced perfectly.  I can only imagine that it will get better with more training – and you might be asking why does it need to get better than 115 words reproduced perfectly?  There appears to be a difference between reading something, clearly and eloquently to the computer, which has already been written, and dictating with the usual pauses and a few words mumbled, and that is where the problems tend to come in.  I think that will improve with training and I am certainly using it everyday, but it is more suited for me in doing a personal e-mail reply to a friend, for example, than a legal document as I struggle with all the paragraphs, sub-paragraphs and other formatting that one needs to introduce.  

In short, it is very helpful late at night when I might not wish to type something, but can do a reply or a note in a long paragraph format.  I can certainly say however that it is by far the best experience I’ve ever had with voice dictation software, and one can only imagine the leaps and bounds which will be made over the next 5 years.

I like to keep up with international legal developments and to that end I read quite a lot of legal literature, and in particular the American law journal, the ABA Journal.  What I find particularly interesting in the Journal, aside from all of the articles, are the advertisements and it is quite clear that in America there is far more emphasis on software and various computer programs to assist attorneys than there is in South Africa.  The programs that are advertised also appear to be clearly more sophisticated than South African systems, largely being based in the cloud and allowing one to manage clients, files and timekeeping.  Software also assists with their discovery process – which is far more sophisticated than ours, and often involves computers electronically searching through thousands of pages of records, looking for certain key phrases or terms to come up.  In other words, the entire job is not left to human beings and much of the discovery process is certainly electronic.  

I am particularly interested in technology because at de Broglio Inc we have spent a lot of money on ensuring that we have custom designed software that allows us, within about 5 seconds, to access any client’s file and to immediately be able to see the status of the matter and access the file electronically.  It also allows us to update our clients, update medical specialists with whom we work, as well as medical aids and advocates and it is certainly one of a number of factors that helps put us ahead of the competition.  There can be no doubt that attorneys who stay in the dark ages, and rely on having staff running around trying to find a file, and then getting the filing up to date before they are in a position to update clients, or others, will fall further behind.

I was recently sent a link by the designers of a new website called “Roadhogs” You can find it at www.roadhogs.co.za and it is all about reporting bad drivers.  Generally, they utilise a photograph, although one has to wonder how the driver of the other car is taking them, together with a description of what has happened in the accident.  Recent reports include the vehicle YDG 680 GP driving in Roodepoort, where the person was allegedly on the phone the whole way and the comment is, “My dear … You might think you are the Stig, but I can assure you you are not … hands free kits are available for around R500,00 … Get one!”  Undoubtedly some people who are reported are going to be reported incorrectly, and there is always that danger with sites like this, but I do believe that promoting good driving and reporting bad driving is essential to try and reduce the absolute carnage we have on our roads.  

It was interesting to see, with the new Apple iPhone launch, that the new phones will include devices to measure the number of steps that you take. That is going to compete directly with companies like Jawbone and their product Up, which I use. On the other hand, it’s much easier to have a band around your wrist, then it is to carry your phone everywhere with you, and the wristband can also measure your sleep.

I think it’s incredibly motivating, and the cost is worth it for individuals who like statistics, and finding motivating. For example, Up can tell me that last week I moved an average of 8164 steps per day with my most steps, and that’s usually quite consistent, being on Sunday. One tends to be able to exercise and walk around for more on weekends and during the day and it can also tell you for example, for how long one remains idle – that’s generally when I’m sitting at my desk and sometimes it’s for as long as two hours 30 minutes before I move again. Knowing all of that would be totally irrelevant to some people, but to those who are trying to exercise and be in shape, it’s a little bit of extra motivation to try and add a few more steps whenever they can and get their bodies moving more.

This is a saying I enjoy, because it is quite often when you try to help people, perhaps to an extent that you would not normally, that almost invariably there is a complaint or a problem. In another context, a motorist charged with obstruction of justice for flashing his headlights to other motorists in America to indicate a police speed trap, has come up with a novel defence.

He says that the act of flashing headlights is a form of protected speech and that he is simply getting punished because the government does not like the message he is communicating. It will be an interesting case to follow, particularly in South Africa, for those who use Twitter and have seen the alerts from @PigSpotter for example, and this American State will have to decide whether it is allowed or not. In the State of Florida, for example, you cannot be prosecuted for flashing your headlights but in other States you can be.