Law And More

Cate Edwards: Key player in legal melodrama

Cate Edwards might take the stand for the defense Wednesday, reports POLITICO.  That could be the best strategy which the defense has come up with. 

Throughout the trial, even though she is aware of her father's faults and the hurt he caused her mother, she sits behind him.  If he goes to prison she will have to further disrupt her life, which now includes a husband, to help rear her young brother and sister.  And there will always be the love child hovering over the her life.

It has to impress the jury that this woman can integrate all this complexity and be there for her father, just as she was for her dying mother Elizabeth.  Her testimony could be a tipping point for the jury.  They might just decide her father was a weak man, but not a criminal.

Dewey & LeBoeuf: Lawyers who won't land on their feet easily or maybe never

When a professional services firm tanks there will be winners and losers among the leadership and rank and file.  The winners are those who find better employment situations, which could include their own business.  The losers might linger in the marketplace for a while or they may never find work again in their former field.  The 1000 lawyers who had been part of Dewey & LeBoeuf are among both the winners and the losers, reports Christine Simmons in THE NEW YORK LAW JOURNAL.

The winners tend to be senior partners who are rainmakers and are in a practice that is in demand.  Usually they exit with a group so all members of that group, ranging from other partners to associates, are okay. 

The losers include seasoned associates who are expensive and so not likely to be hired for the routine tasks that need to get done.  Another vulnerable group are service partners who do the work the rainmaker brings in.  If the rainmaker goes and leaves the service partners behind, the latter may never work again since they are expensive.  Another victim could be someone who had been part of a group who isn't invited to join that group at another firm. As many already know, the longer one is unemployed the less employable the professional becomes. 

In the New York area, notes Simmons, the Dewey lawyers who already took jobs and are being considered for jobs have disrupted the marketplace.  Firms which would have been been hiring associates or laterals simply aren't.  They had or have a wider pool to choose from.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn Pushes Back: Sues Diallo for "malicious and wanton" false accusations

There's the iconic scene in film "Bonnie and Clyde" when the police are chasing the bank robbers.  Abruptly, Bonnie and Clyde turn around their cars and start chasing the police.  The police gun up their cars and race to get away.

Something similar is happening in the year-old melodrama of she-said/he-said alleged attempted rape of a chamber maid by a former world leader.  The criminal charges filed by Nafissatou Diallo against Dominique Strauss-Kahn had been tossed by Cyrus Vance Jr. for lack of evidence.  But Diallo filed a civil suit.  Bloomberg reports that in response DSK has countersued, accusing Diallo of "malicious and wanton" false accusations.  He requests $1 million in damages. 

DSK may be a womanizer.  But that does not mean he had ever broken any laws, including what might have happened in that hotel room a year ago.  Those of us who followed this story might be rejoicing that he is pushing back. 

JPMorgan Chase: Chasing the story

As we know fromDewey & LeBoeuf, when the dominoes start falling, it's hard to keep up with the story.  On Abovethelaw.com one  evening David Lat had to keep bringing developments up to date.

The same kind of momentum has begun - and early - in the crisis escalating at JPMorgan Chase.  First there was the announcement of the London Whale with the $2 billion loss.  Then a few heads rolled.  Now, Bloomberg reports that the feds are all over the place, with possible criminal prosecutions in mind.  Already, the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI have begun an investigation of the trading loss.  Also, the SEC and the group in charge of derivatives trading the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are looking into the bank's trading practices.

To keep on top of this story will be consuming.  Of course, the question on lots of minds is the same one that preoccupied the world post-Enron: Will the smartest kids in the class, that is those at the top, wind up in the slammer?  Ken Lay ducked that by dying.  Jeff Skilling is still doing time, despite winning an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to review his sentence.  His son had committed suicide.

What tragedies, professsional and personal, will overtake the brights at JPMorgan Chase?  However, just because an institution loses a ton of money that doesn't mean crimes have been committed.  So far, arrogance in itself isn't against the law.

George Freeman: NYT journalists petition Sulzberger to rehire this former assistant general counsel

How much clout do writers have?  The world of media will soon find out.  About 60 THE NEW YORK TIMES journalists have petitioned publisher Arthur Sulzberger to consider rehiring assistant general counsel George Freeman, reports CAPITAL NEW YORK.  Unlike JPMorgan Chase's chief executive officer Jamie Dimon, Freeman is receiving a lot of high profile support.

However, his layoff was no surprise.  One of his functions had been overseeing the Regional Media Group which had been sold.  He had assisted with issues such as First Amendment and libel law.

The lesson here for all professionals is to make friends outside one's discipline.  Freeman had bonded with many in the newsroom.

JPMorgan Chase: What did Jamie Dimon know and when did he know it?

Reformers, regulators, and politicos are all out there chastising the financial system in general and, right now, JPMorgan Chase in particular for excessive risky behavior.  But that could just be the beginning of Jamie Dimon's troubles.

THE NEW YORK TIMES reports that sources contend that Dimon was aware of the over-the-top risk-taking. After all, for a while, it did boost profits.  Some hint that whatever happened might have involved breaking the law.  If legal action is pursued, then the question will be asked, as in Watergate, what did Dimon know and when did he know it. 

The mob is angry. They would love to see Dimon in the slammer. 

"The Good Wife" - Will law firm run out of money?

The season for "The Good Wife" ends with the question if the law firm will go bankrupt.  If it does Diane, Will, Alicia, and even Cary, who rejoined it, will be out on the street in a terrible market for lawyers.

The bad guy in this is Louis Canning, along with his lawyer Patti Nyholm.  His clients want the firm out of business because it has filed a number of class action suits. First Canning tries a gigantic lawsuit.  When that doesn't work, he and Patti steal one of the firm's major clients.  This is at a time when a balloon payment is due.  The episode ends with Diane and Will intending to call the client the next day.

Meanwhile the enigma on the show Kalinda sits by the door of her apartment with a gun. It could be her husband, who she tells Alicia is dangerous.  As the seasons fades out, the door is about to open.  Before this Kalinda asks Will for money since she says she has to leave town.

On a lighter note there are signs that Alicia and Peter could get back together. He is the one who puts the kibosh on the lawsuit by saying on the record that he and Alicia are separated.  With that out, he could lose the race for governor.  He buys their former house and is having pizza with Grace and Zack.  They ask Alicia to stay and join them.  She lingers by the door.  We won't know until next season if she decides to have pizza back in the old house.

(This episode aired April 29th.) 

Dewey & LeBoeuf: Bankruptcy expert Bruce Bennett goes to Jones Day

Bankruptcy is the sweet spot in legal practice.  So it's another big blow to Dewey & LeBoeuf that its bankruptcy expert Bruce Bennett from the LA office is going to Jones Day.  AM LAW DAILY reports that Bennett's group will probably move with him.

Jones Day is known for its unique organizational culture.  As I explain here in this post, which Abovethelaw.com linked to today, Jones Day is built on the love of law.  Practicing law to it seems analogous to being a monk in medieval times.  Members of the firm toil selflessly in pursuit of justice for clients.  No wonder it is among the few law firms which still have clients for the long term.

Dewey & LeBoeuf, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs: When employers screw up, employees carry tarnished legacy

In THE NEW YORK TIMES, Peter Lattman deconstructs where blame should go for the fall of the house of Dewey & LeBoeuf.  But the search for supposed causal agents won't be much help for the employees cut loose into a tough job market.  Those now unemployed should be very scared.

In addition to being one of many many experienced, talented people looking for work, they probably now carry the burden of the tarnished image of their employer.  After all, their resume doesn't carry the name of an organization with an aura.

Enron employees, and more recently mortgage bankers, learned the hard way that the sins of one's employer are a burden which the job hunter might carry for years.  Those with the power to hire, for full time or assignments, will wonder and likely ask why the employee didn't pick up on the trouble and get out sooner.  It's unfair. But it's reality.  Employees must work on a cover story, try it out on several interviews, and then leverage the one which seems to neutralize the situation most.

Economic Game-changer: Dollar stores v community

In Chester, Vermont, those dollar stores have been cast as the bad guy, reports THE NEW YORK TIMES.  And some members of the community intend to leverage the state's Act 250 and go to Vermont Superior Court to keep the devils out.

That's the story in Vermont where tourism is big business and dollar stores just don't fit into the visual ethos of New England.  However, that's not the story in many other parts of America where the bad economy has been a game-changer and the rock-bottom prices at dollar stores are the only way families can make it.  Many of them have traded down from the big boxes to purchase 50 fluid ounces of private label dish detergent for a buck. 

Dollar stores also provide jobs, lots of them.  In one of the two dollar-stores at the North Haven, Connecticut shopping center on Universal Drive, the heavy traffic from opening to closing demands plenty of staff, ranging from the managers to cashiers to stockers.  For some this is a second job, just to make ends meet.  One cashier also is in a manager training program at a fast food restaurant.  Another one, a recent college graduate, tried to be independent and have her own apartment.  Financial reality forced her to move back with her parents.  It's an alert bunch of workers.  When I purchased a green stuffed animal, the cashier remarked, "Oh, that's the last of them."

In Vermont, reports THE NEW YORK TIMES, the dollar stores are willing to cave to demands about their facades and practices such as not having shopping carts outside the store. Come to think of it, in the North Haven, Connecticut dollar store, shopping carts remain inside and shoppers bring around their cars to stuff every bit of them with the bargains.

Here is an analysis of dollar stores from an investor point of view, which has been published by Motley Fool.