Law And More

Rajat Gupta: Mirror for examining our own less interesting screwups

Sure, Rajat Gupta's appeal for a new trial is this week. So, he's back in the news.  THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE has a major feature which presents little new but which gets read.  The article doesn't get past the enigmatic fortress Gupta has build for himself and is able to remain behind a drawbridge that's drawn down and a moat stuffed with alligators. Maybe the media as well as us plain-vanilla gawkers will give up on trying to figure the guy out. 

Instead, we might shift perspectives and ask why his story continues to resonate.  My hunch is that he mirrors our universal tendency to screw up. Only he had the opportunity to do it on grander, more public scale than most of the rest of us.  His downfall, as the cliche goes, is Shakespearean. 

However, his seeming weaknesses are all too familiar.  For example, his hunger for more (he was only a millionaire longing to be a billionaire) made him vulnerable.  Machiavellian Galleon head Raj Rajaratnam moved right in on that. 

Between professional identities, after he left McKinsey, he seemed to get lost.  For us, that starts right after college and we often get stuck in adolescence.  Most of my crimes against myself and society came from that immaturity.

And, he seemed to over-value his education and intelligence  As we see with all the unemployed and underemployed lawyers, Ivy credentials and the gray matter are increasingly worthless in an economy which keeps changing.  Best-selling author Nassim Nicholas Taleb provides insight on exiting that black hole in "Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder."

We need the Guptas because their reversals, even if temporary, provide the platform for doing autopsies on our own screwups.  

"Lou v Ma Laboratories" - Sanford Heisler wins another employment suit, but in different category

Most of us know Sanford Heisler for its wins in gender discrimination lawsuits, such as Novartis.  However, in its recent win in "Lou v. Ma Laboratories" it could have bagged itself even bigger game.  That's because, as the RECORDER reports, the case is about the controversial issue of employee arbitration contracts and how difficult it is to get them tossed. 

Sanford Heisler represented lead plaintiff Michelle Lou who signed the arbitration agreement as she was being fired. U.S. District Judge William Alsup ruled that unenforceable because it was unconscionable under state law.  He noted, says the RECORDER, "The procedural unfairness was severe and the substantive one-sidenesss was heavy-handed."

This was a surprise win since getting out of arbitration agreements has become much more difficult with the ruling in "AT&T Mobility v. Concepion."  The defendant's lawyers are evaluting the options for appeal. 

Given that arbitration agreements are increasingly being imposed on employees and more, when they feel they have been trated unjustly by employers, want out of them, Sanford Heisler could be very busy.  In this niche it could develop an even more powerful brandname than it has in gender discrimination lawsuits.  

Ropes & Gray Settles with Patricia Martone: Age discrimination suits will become more common

The titillating lawsuits by employees of the legal sector filed against law firms usually deal with sex issues. They range from harassment to discrimination because of an alternate orientation.  However, as we all age and as partners are getting forced out, the ones focused on age discrimination could become increasingly compelling.  Even we lay bystanders wonder if the partner became dead wood or did the law firm want a younger version for rainmaking and dealing with clients.

The lawsuit about alleged age discrimination filed by Patricia Martone against Ropes & Gray had been knocking around for about two years.  AM LAW DAILY reports it has been settled, without the attorney fees of either being paid for.  Martone had contended that they were re-assigning her cases to younger males.  Ropes & Gray claimed keeping her on didn't make any economic sense.  It had O'Melveny & Myers investigate her allegation of age discrimination. It did not find any. She was fired in 2010.

Those of us Baby Boomers who are aging and are determined to remain in the work force have continually monitored what it takes to come across as energetic and what new skills are needed to perform tasks in creative and efficient ways. But the bigger challenge, if we want to shift from being on the defensive in an organization, is figuring out how to develop fresh positions of strength. Mine has been fusing social-media expertise with knowledge of financial services. That took about 18 months to figure out. My positioning is now age-irrelevant.  Those hiring me for contract assignments need the work done.

Sex in the Workplace: There, and a mess

In BLOOMBERG BUSINESS WEEK, Liz Ryan admits that there are a lot of both sexual vibrations and acting on them in the workplace.  Those who haven't had an obsessive passion about someone at work can cast the first stone. Yet, we all know that people get fired, demoted, and sued when the passion runs out of control or is misinterpreted.  Also, productivity takes a hit.

TED talks should have the wisest in law, human resources, and psychology focus on this reality.  Maybe my age is showing but I have a hunch that passion might be more contained if we had explicit guidelines about what behavior was going to be permitted in our professional dealings. 

Outrage: Getting hard to keep up with it all

THE ECONOMIST, in its wry fashion, continually chronicles various forms of "outrage" around the world as well as here in the U.S.  The latest account is, of course, the three scandals burdening the Obama Administration. 

However, with the pile on of so much to be outraged about one can hardly keep up. Some of us might just give up on the whole ball of wax.  Jurors might not become moved when a prosecutor or defense lawyer gets worked up about an "outrage."  They might just tune out and focus on when they can legally check their messages on their smartphone.

Danielle Chiesi: Back from Camp Cupcake, in Bronx, NY halfway house

Released early from Camp Cupcake, the federal prison in West Virginia, Danielle Chiesi is now in a halfway house in the Bronx, New York, reports BLOOMBERG.  With the exception of former McKinsey head Rajat Gupta, Chiesi was the most compelling character to be caught up in the insider trading associated with the former Galleon hedge fund. Its leader Raj Rajaratnam remains serving his 11-year sentence.

A stylish former beauty queen Chiesi seemed to lack a sense of self, much like Joan on "Mad Men." From media reports she seemed to be way too eager to please.  One wonders if prison helped her come into her own as a human being.

That City Private Bank Law Firm Group Survey: Partner confidence in demand way down

If there's little demand, things don't look so hot for an industry.  Therefore, there's all the more reason for the best and brightest to re-think going to law school, staying in law school, or after graduating law school hanging around hoping to get a first job or another one after getting terminated. 

AM LAW DAILY provides a grim interpretation of the latest Citi Private Bank Law Firm Group's survey of managing partners.  Overall confidence in such key indicators as profits and revenues is down 2 points since Q4 of 2012. But the scary number is that confidence in demand is down 14 points.  This is at a time when managing partners are more confident about the general economy.

However, things could bounce back. My own industry - executive communications - tanked at the turn of the century.  It was a perfect storm of business leaders going low profile after high-profile Enron became the ultimate symbol of corruption and greed and then the recession following 9/11 made corporate leadership sensitive to budget issues.

Of course, I was thrown off my horse. In retrospect I can discern that I over-reacted in dropping out of that field entirely and throwing myself into social media.  The field is now back, with plenty of pent-up demand. A fall in demand, even a significant one, might be simply a long pause.  I re-configured all my systems about 25 months ago to resume work in ghostwriting and speechwriting. Currently, I am pulling all-nighters to keep up with demand.

Final Bows: Suicides seeking a stage

Around Paris, France, a man took his final bow, much like Adam Lanza, in a school - La Rochefoucaud.  Only, reports THE NEW YORK TIMES, the man committing suicide didn't take anyone with him.  Could he have gotten the idea of staging his suicide in a school from all the gun attacks at U.S. educational institutions which end up with the killer finishing off the job with a bullet to his own head?

This could be a world health crisis.  If researchers can figure out what message the public suicide wants to transmit maybe those final acts, which so traumatize the public, can be prevented.

Gal Power: Bigger than upscale leaning in

Globally, gal power is not an upscale mindset like "leaning in."  Rather it's economic.  Once considered passive workers, young blue-collar girls in Guangdong in China are taking collective action on behalf of everything from compensation to how human beings in the workplace are treated, reports THE ECONOMIST.  Meanwhile, here in the U.S., yet another sex-discrimination lawsuit has been filed by a low-ranking female employee at Merck.  "Kelli Smith v Merck & Company" is about a sales rep (not exactly high in the food chain) who contends was penalized after maternity leave. 

Owners and managers are facing a movement based on money, not on abstractions like self respect. Money can be documented during negotiations and discovery by labor leaders and lawyers.  Women's rights have become a worldwide push for an easier time making a buck.

Steven Fulop Upset in Jersey City - Securities lawyers, New Jersey is no longer a joke

Former Wall Street analyst Steven Fulop won a stunning upset election in Jersey City, New Jersey. He pushed traditional politico Jerramiah Healy out of the mayor's office. That means that Hudson County politics, started by Frank Hague, could be dead.  In its place could be a more business-like way of getting things done.  It used to be, at least when I was growing up, that if you wanted the snow removed you contacted the parish priest who contacted his uncle who knew someone in city hall.

For a while now financial firms have been re-locating from Manhattan to Jersey City. That could accelerate with Fulop's approach and connections. Securities lawyers could find New Jersey no longer a joke.