It’s official. James Spader’s uber-intense character, Robert California, is going to be the new big boss on The Office. My colleague, Kristin Gray, excitedly revealed this news in her post two weeks ago. Kristin, its seems, was a fan of Spader’s character on Boston Legal, which I applaud her for admitting on the Internet.

For me, it’s Spader’s role in Wall Street as Roger Barnes, son (nephew?) of the senior partner at a corporate law firm. Barnes is very instructive to my law practice today. It was Barnes who put it in Bud Fox’s head that there was a treasure trove of confidential information in his colleagues’ law offices. Fox bought into a janitorial firm to gain after-hours access to Barnes’ firm — access he used for insider stock trading.