Law And More

Karenna Gore Arrested Protesting Spectra Energy Pipeline

Daughter of Al Gore, Karenna Gore, has been arrested and arraigned for trespassing and disturbing the peace.

She was among the 23 protesting the construction of Spectra Energy's West Roxbury Lateral Pipeline. She planted herself in a ditch which is part of the building site. That brings back memories of the 1970s counterculture theatre in the street. 

That five-mile pipeline, they are trying to block, will serve to transport natural gas to New England. Winters tend to be brutal in New England. This energy source could lower the cost of heating. One reason I had to relocate from Connecticut was that the Polar Vortex had forced landlords to raise rents. And that was that. Here is the coverage in the New York Post

The company - Houston-based Spectra Energy - expressed a strong negative point of view about the activists' behavior. It noted that in order to remove them from from the site first responders  had to be called away from other urgent activities. It is unusual for those under attack to be so blunt in a public statement. The methodology of public relations might be changing.

One wonder if this particular kind of protest has become dated. Would the activists have been more effective operating on social networks and social media. 

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Jones Day - "No one is happy with compensation," reports Kathryn Rubino, Abovethelaw

As anyone in public relations or psychology can tell you: Leaking from an organization signals deep internal discontent. Happy employees don't leak.

There have been lots of leakers among associates at law firm Jones Day. That's what Kathryn Rubino of Abovethelaw experienced when she invited Jones Day associates to comment on their compensation.

Essentially, reports Rubino, "No one is happy with compensation."

Many feel they are earning below market rate. And some of them have received good performance reviews. The problem is that, unlike many other law firms, Jones Day doesn't give bonuses. Here is Rubino's article.

This isn't the first time dissatisfaction with compensation at Jones Day has been outed. On Glassdoor, associates as well as non-lawyers at the law firm complained that they knew they were below market. Because Jones Day operates like a black box, no one knows what anyone else is earning.

However, the ethos of the firm is high professionalism to the point of almost cultishness. At the Rhode Island lead paint trial, defendant Sherwin-Williams was represented by Mickey Pohl from the Jones Day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania office. Myriad other Jones Day brethren came from other offices to observe how Pohl was doing his magic.

They were so visible that I recommended to The Dilenschneider Group, which was doing public relations for a lead paint trade association, that all those Jones Day lawyers stay away. That is, if there was going to be another trial. There wasn't. Eventually the RI Supreme Court threw out the case. I was blogging the whole enchilada for The Dilenschneider Group.

My take was that what the blue-collar  jurors "saw" were too many middle aged white lawyers in good suits hanging around the courtroom. Obviously, they weren't part of the prosecution. And, of course, the prosecution brought that up in the trial: They said that they were out-gunned by the number and resources of the defense lawyers. The jurors convicted Sherwin-Williams during that second trial.

When Crain's interviewed me about the verdict I put my finger on the how the white-shoe law firms, including Jones Day, played the jury all-wrong. The way I assessed it was that Jones Day lawyers might love the law but they didn't understand the fundamentals of the court of public opinion. It was odd that the defendants' own public relations representatives didn't clue in the lawyers about persona or leverage social media.

And Jones Day's lawyers still don't get public relations. Continually they seem to be putting their branding at risk. Just think about the firm's representing the Make America Great Campaign.  And they keep giving the media opportunities to make fun of them.

Will Jones Day re-think its compensation and other aspects of its organizational culture? If Donald Trump loses it may have to do a reset on myriad things.

 

Cravath $180K Bump - The Media Story

The sustained media coverage of what's called The Cravath $180K Bump has been right up there with the press attention to The Trump Phenomenon. 

Of course, at the heart of the bump story is conflict.

The have-nots now only can measure themselves in reference to the haves. The have-nots are those whose law firms didn't totally match the bump or didn't even enter that space. The organizations usually issued platitudes about serving client interests by maintaining manpower compensation at a "fair" level.

Meanwhile, the haves are enjoying the one concrete marker that they have indeed chosen the right career path. The other significant indicators aren't so glowing. The odds are they are on short term in the firm. After all, the game is up or out. They will work horrific hours. They may not be able to attend their own wedding. And they may realize they don't even like doing law.

The conflict is palpable between the size of their new paycheck and the realities of their everyday life. Soon enough there will be an opinion-editorial posted anonymously in an establishment publication about how the bump didn't bring professional satisfaction or any incentive to halt self-destructive behavior. 

But the real question is: How much longer will the media chase this story? Will it be over when we wake up on July 5th and that's that? There's no way of telling. The creativee folks at Abovethelaw.com are geniuses at finding new angles.  

FBI's List of 10 Most-Wanted Women - Pivot to Fame

Shanika S. Minor is now famous. Isn't that the goal among us? At least in our fantasy lives.

Minor achieved her fame because she has been added to the list of the 10 women most wanted by the FBI.

As USA Today reports, she was annoyed by a neighbor's loud music. That neighbor was 9-months pregnant. At first she invited the woman to a fight. Bur Minor's mother discouraged that. Hours later Minor returned and allegedly fired a round of bullets into the woman's chest.

To get on the list,some of the other women had allegedly hired a hitman for murder, aided a prison escape and committed bank robbery. One did bust out of the slammer and is on the run. 

It seems cartoonish that when I was part of academia, researchers sweated 18-hour days in labs and libraries to achieve even having their name listed fourth on an article in a scholarly or trade journal. 

Kleiner Thrives, Ellen Who?

"Despite twists and turns in recent years that have sometimes rivaled those of a telenovela, and even with its most famous member, John Doerr, no longer a general partner, Kleiner Perkins has raised two new funds totaling $1.4 billion, show newly processed SEC filings." - Connie Loizos, TechCrunch, June 29, 2016. Here is the article.

A billion dollars went to the VC firm's digital growth fund. And 400 million dollars went to a new early-stage fund.

So, what is obvious is that a high-profile lawsuit doesn't necessarily destroy an organization's reputation.

At the time its former employee Ellen Pao filed her gender discrimination complaint - "Pao v. Kleiner" - many feminists were throwing rotten tomatoes at the VC firm. When I posted my doubts about the merits of her case on a blog and then tweeted that, I was depicted as having the mindset of cavewoman.

As the trial went along, Pao's personality became an issue. She seemed to have problems being part of a group. Also the evidence wasn't strong. No surprise, the jury acquitted defendant Kleiner on all counts.

Now, look where Kleiner is. Whole and growing.

As for Pao, she has organized an initiative for more inclusion in the tech sector. Also, she received a book contract to dish the dirt on Silicon Valley.

Will either of those generate enough money for her to resume the high life? It had been contended by some that she used the lawsuit as a kind of hail mary pass to become financially solvent. That conjecture was not allowed to be introduced in the trial. Here is the Vanity Fair expose of the Pao's household's downward financial trajectory. Her husband, Buddy Fletcher, had been experiencing hard economic times. 

On-Demand Alcohol Delivery - Can that reduce number of DUIs?

For those of us who get happily drunk there's the determination to maintain the high. Only we run out of alcohol. We're home. At one time the only way to replenish supply had been for the "hero" in the group to get in the car, drive  to the package store, and bring back the beer, wine, and/or hard stuff.

Too often that resulted in, at the very least, a DUI. There were also worse scenarios.

Now that has become ancient history in communities which are served by companies like Sauce. They provide on-demand alcohol delivery.

Recently DoorDash announced it would pilot that kind of program in Southern California. Its special niche is delivering cuisine so the booze will just be an add-on. Here is the coverage in TechCrunch.

As on-demand alcohol delivery becomes commonplace, this could be one of the most effective solutions for preventing drunk driving. It might be in the self-interest of MADD to endorse the innovation. 

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The Gig Worker and Full Disclosure - This Is Issue for Congress

On Blogging Pro - Jobs, InsideDailyBrief posts a help-wanted for a writer. Here is the ad.

It has become standard to warn those considering applying for an assignment or a job that the process will entail actual work - unpaid.

InsideDailyBrief did not do that. It provides its own application form. Only when the form is about 80% completed is the applicant informed that there an editing project to do. Unpaid. And necessary to do to complete the process.

That entails a long paragraph that has to be edited for flowery language, grammatical mistakes etc. There is no Word Track Changes available on the form. So those deciding to continue with the application probably will have to retype the whole enchilada or indicate long explanations for the edits.

I perceive this as an unethical way to conduct business. At the front end, applicants should be alerted that they will have to invest unpaid actual work in the application.

The opportunity pays $18 an hour. That tends to be on the low side of compensation. Therefore, one wonders if InsideDailyBrief may be exploiting writers at the bottom of the food chain?

UPDATE:

In response to this blogging, the ad is being pulled down. That's what Splashpress Media informed me. 

Yes, we gig workers of the world have a voice.

So, yes, we gig workers of the world should speak up. We are being heard.

"Law & Order" Actor/Director Jace Alexander Faces Up to 7 Years for Child Porn

A brandname in television, Jace Alexander, 51, has entered a guilty plea for child pornography. That included admitting to possessing and promoting it. 

Alexander is best known for being an actor/director in "Law & Order. He faces up to 7 years in prison. Here are the details presented in New York Magazine.