First, a photo from a fabulous series from Hong Kong-based creative duo graphicairlines on NeochaEDGE. I like seeing how art and everyday life overlap:
Second, a brilliant comment on creativity from Caitie Whelan, Co-Founder of The Merasi School:
The best ideas are like taffy: they should only be consumed after rigorous pulling, stretching and challenging. The ideas behind social movements rarely emerge fully baked and ready for publication — rather, they are born from countless, often painful hours of sculpting and re-sculpting. When I first started forming some thoughts about education in India into a more coherent idea of a school for a community of lower-caste musicians, I became convinced that I was sitting on a goldmine, largely because my intentions were so good. [more]
Third, a thought-provoking response to our discussion about creativity in Chinese legal work, from Doug, writing on China Law Blog.
The most interesting bits of law are the ones where creativity is needed since these are the ones that are not settled. In China, I would think there would be plenty of situations where the law is not settled and plenty of cases where the law is vague enough that a good (and creative) legal argument could be made on both sides.
The capability for creativity and the wisdom to know when not to use it is what a good lawyer needs. In negotiations, for example, a creative interpretation that has a slim chance of sticking might be good negotiating leverage. Most routine cases, e.g. contract law involve putting together a very clear agreement that covers all eventualities with cases that have tested all the language – this is not very creative nor should it be. When a client wants to take some legal risk (or has already taken some and is in a tight spot) then trying to figure out untested legal avenues and creative solutions within the law might be just what is needed – anything on appeal almost always includes this as appeal courts deal with non-routine applications of law (well, and dumb errors by lower courts).
-Leslie
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