Car Talk With Jose Astigarraga!

It's bad enough the CEOs of the big three American automakers have to travel from Detroit to DC in their own crappy cars and will therefore break down and need a lift somewhere near Akron, but now the always dapper Jose Astigarraga has taken to using disparaging American car metaphors to describe the plight of big firms:

Jose Astigarraga, chairman of the 18-attorney litigation firm Astigarraga Davis in Miami, said the difference between boutiques and big law firms essentially boils down to the difference between driving a Lincoln Town Car and a Ferrari.

“When you’re in the Lincoln Town Car and you go over a bump in the road, you don’t really feel it that much,” he said. “In turn, boutiques are the Ferrari. When you hit a bump, you really feel it. But you can also turn on a dime, which you can’t do in the Town Car.”

Not content with merely one car metaphor, Jose continued:

“You’ve always got to keep your eye on the road ahead,” he said. “You don’t want to miss a turn.”

Dismayed at the reporter's seeming inability to grasp what he was trying to say, Astigarraga concluded, "look -- another difference is that the Lincoln Town Car is elderly, decrepit, poorly built, about to be bankrupt and made of twigs and fat cat union spitballs, while the Ferrari is the pinnacle of European taste, power, sophistication, and elegance, and is quite obviously superior in every possible respect. Let me spell it out for you - what I'm saying is that big firms are like the decayed American auto industry, and small boutiques are like the best made performance vehicle on the planet. Are you getting my drift yet?"

I kid Jose, I kid -- given the recent shake ups at the big firms, you have to admit he makes a very good point.