Law And More

Harvard Puts Out Welcome Mat: Kevin Cao steps over it

The story has gone viral.  Virginia high school senior Kevin Cao has turned down Harvard for the University of Virginia, reports Steve Annear in BOSTON Magazine. 

Harvard received 35,023 applications and admitted 2,029 or 5.8%.  Cao was one of them But when he went to visit campus he didn't like the better-than-thou attitude of students and alumni.  He sensed the competition would be cut-throat.  And someone tipped him off he would be lonely.

He put down all the reasons why he was stepping over the welcome mat and posted that on Facebook and Google docs.  Of course, no one was going to miss out on reading that.

Time will tell if Cao applies to Harvard Law School, if he will be accepted.  In four years, who knows - the legal sector could have bounced back and the kid all-grown-up wants in.

Louis Scarcella, et al. - Beware of star performers

Sure there are unusual talents.  Take Michael Jordan.  Then throw in raw push, the kind Joseph P. Kennedy had.  Then there is luck, like Bill and Hillary Clinton teaming up together when law students.  Some or all of that put together will produce star performers.  Just about everyone is their cheerleaders.

More often, though, we should beware of professionals whose track record is way out of the ordinary.  They could be artifically creating that performance.  Take Lance Armstrong, that highly productive crowd at the former Galleon Hedge Fund, and that wunderkind academic researcher in social psychology Diederik Stapel. 

To that list may or may not be added retired Brooklyn, New York detective Louis Scarella.  As the headline reads in THE NEW YORK TIMES, "Doubts About Detective Haunt 50 Murder Cases." In cowboy fashion, he broke the rules. But because it seemed that he always got the bad guys locked up, he was considered a star performer.  Now those convictions are being reviewed by the Office of District Attorney Charles J. Hynes.  Already one has been overturned after David Ranta was in prison 23 years for supposedly murdering a rabbi.

 

 

Malpractice Lawsuits Are Sexy: But good care can be compelling legal topic

As an ambitious legal blogger, I know that describing a malpractice medical suit will get me traffic.  That entertains in two ways.  One is showcasing alleged human (or robotic) error.  The other pull force is the cheering for the alleged victim and wishing them a great damage award.

But, after so many national tragedies, there is a growing audience for stories about caring.  First, the lack of caring lead-in. When I got on Medicare I was thrilled. But not for long.  I called medical office after medical office in the New Haven, Connecticut metro area.  The only one which "was taking new patients" was where I would never be seen by a doctor in two years.  Those who did examine and "counsel" me were smug know-it-alls, including smirks.  Medicine a la 1950s.

Then, I checked out the Hartford Metro area, only an hour's ride away.  The Hartford Healthcare Medical Group welcomed me into the system.  I was even going to be seen by a doctor - Judy Chiu.  The medical director is Dr. Spencer Erman. 

Shock.  Dr. Chiu listened.  She provided research to back up my contention that I might not genetically take after the side of my family killed off young by cancer.  After all, here I was in my late 60s, fat but quite healthy.  Dr. Chiu also presented options to me for traditional tests and treatment.  Another shock.  The eating program we discussed is knocking off some of the weight.  Almost unbearable lightness of being.  I could be here blogging at age 150, and model-skinny.

Let's help our healthcare providers through these changing times in medicine.  Maybe lawyers, both plaintiff and defense, can educate them how to be self-protective when it comes to the possibility of malpractice suits.  Caring might be the most important best practice.

One for Preet Bharara: What did Bloomberg News reporters know, when did they know it, and did they trade on information

Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. 

That's an observation from a play by William Shakespeare.  The royal figures, in terms of wealth and power, associated with Bloomberg terminal and Bloomberg News probably didn't sleep so hot last night. 

As we all know, News Corp's the NEW YORK POST broke the story that Bloomberg News reporters were observing traders' activity on the terminals. Now that the shock is over, we look at implications.  Over in his office, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara and his team must be considering the issue: What did those Bloomberg News reporters know, when did they know it, did they trade on any of that information on their own or someone else's account, and did gains result?

If there is cause to investigate that issue, Bharara can bag prey bigger than would be SAC hedge fund founder Steve Cohen for alleged insider trading.  This could open a whole new phase in Bharara's career. 

Bloomberg Terminals, Mind of the Trader, and Hypercompetitive News Business

In what could be a huge scandal on Wall Street - bigger than the JP Morgan Chase trading loss - we now know there was no firewall between Bloomberg terminals and Bloomerg News reporters. 

Competitor Thomas Reuters could begin eating Bloomberg terminal's lunch.  That goes for $20,000 a year for each Bloomberg terminal. Currently there are 315,000 terminals around the world, reports THE NEW YORK TIMES, which is among the media covering this amazing story.

The NEW YORK POST, owned by News Corp, broke the story that Bloomberg News reporters were monitoring the activity of subscribers who logged onto the Bloomberg terminals.  THE NEW YORK TIMES explains that those reporters could track

" ... when the subscriber had last logged on, chat information between subscribers and customer service representatives, and weekly statistics on how often they used a particular function."

Those functions include, notes THE NEW YORK TIMES, the news wire, corporate bond trades or an equities index.  Such information could provide the 2,400 Bloomberg journalists with early warning about what could be going down.  Therefore, they could begin investigating what, for example, might be ahead in transactions in a particular trading area.

Given how brandnames get made, it's likely some elected federal official, regulator, head of a trade association, or member of NGOs will demand a full investigation.  Not only could a competitor to Bloomberg terminals get the business, the Bloomberg News function could take a major hit to credibility.  The question on many issues for the reporters could be: What did they know and when did they know it.  Timing is everything in the trading world. 

The good news for Wall Street is that this scandal could take the heat off the investment banking industry.

Michael Arrington, TechCrunch Founder, Sues Jenn Allen: Facebook, twitter posts as evidence

In what could turn out to be a huge lawsuit in terms of media attention and the questions it raises about posting on social networks, TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington sued former girlfriend Jenn Allen.

As BUSINESS INSIDER reports, Arrington, one of the biggest names in tech coverage, has accused Allen of defamation and false publication.  Here, thanks to VALLEYWAG, is a copy of the complaint.

On social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, Allen stated that Arrington had allegedly done things to her as serious as rape and as ambiguous as emotional abuse.  When she made those claims, given Arrington's powerful brandname and wealth, they received considerable coverage in both business and tech media.  Now that a lawsuit has been filed, the legal media will probably jump in too.

On trial, of course, is what one can post on social networks and not be vulnerable to legal action.  If Arrington's suit doesn't get tossed, this kind of complaint could send a chill through social networks.  Those used to posting without much thought to the legal implications could become quite circumspect.  The impact on the popularity of Facebook and Twitter could be huge.

Apps Educating Consumer about Law: Latham & Watkins doing good, in hopes of doing well

Major law firms such as Latham & Watkins, O'Melveny & Myers, and Baker & McKenzie have put a new wrinkle in the old branding tactic of educating consumers. 

Instead of publishing a detailed article on some topic useful to consumers, those law firms have developed free mobile apps providing information about niche legal areas, reports Julia Love of  THE RECORDER.  Such sharing of information and insight could generate a halo effect for their brand.  And that can build the kind of trust which brings in the new client and prevents churn.

These law firms have the advantage of never committing the error of "giving away the store" through this kind of outreach.  Law, unlike my field of communications, is too complex and ambiguous a field for B2B prospects to assume they can go it alone.

"Think Like a Lawyer" Column Can Mirror "Think Like a Doctor" Section in THE NEW YORK TIMES

The "Think Like a Doctor" section in the Well vertical of THE NEW YORK TIMES invites readers to participate in coming up with the right diagnosis.  In medicine, unlike law, there are still right answers or so those in that line of work believe.

Most recently out of the 300 sleuths who responded to a medical mystery, it was an actual medical doctor - Matthew Bevers - who connected the dots. But it could just have well been a 19-year-old biology major and that would have increased the pull force of "Think Like a Doctor."

A BigLaw firm could retrofit this tactic for its own marketing.  "Think Like a Lawyer" could present a simulation of a real in-the-news business legal situation, with some guiding points-of-law fundamentals.  Businesspeople would receive personal invitations to participate.  Because law frequently intersects with public policy, public relations, and other disciplines, this would be right up the alley of most executives.

"Think Like a Lawyer" would be positioned as a mission to educate executives about legal principles so that they can be more astute at choosing the right lawyer and assessing strategies.  Regarding the latter, they can opt for the more cost-efficient route, slashing billing. 

Also, this is a game.  And games with no right answer are the most fun of all.  Of course, executives would want to be part of this cool thing to do.  In addition, those constructing superior approaches would be featured in the law firm newsletter, a press release, video interview put on YouTube, and an exclusive interview with a respected business media property such as THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

Law-firm branding never got better than that. And what corporation wouldn't want to be represented by this public-spirited high-profile firm?  About those executives whose efforts don't win?  They will be given membership in the "Think Like a Lawyer" Top Legal Sleuths.  In their own newsletters, podcasts, and interviews with media those executives can discuss why they took the approach they did to the case and what the judges were missing in not selecting their entry as among the winners.  Smart exectives with guts know that controversy sells and this can well develop into a major one. 

 

Fall of the House of Howard Kurtz: Lessons for Legal Sector

In the end, it was media star Howard Kurtz' hyperactive professional style and lack of caring (including empathy) that did his career in, observes POLITICO. His game was unsustainable. There are lessons here for the legal sector in the fall of the house of Howard Kurtz.

The media personality's most recent high-profile error was failing to read down to the eighth paragraph of the SI Jason Collins' coming out article.  Had he done that he wouldn't have tried for a cheap shot at Collins (gotcha journalism) by contending, wrongly, that he did not reveal his long-term relationship, including an engagement, with a woman.  His attack style was devoid of human feeling.  His game seemed amoral.

For those in the legal sector who suffer in the ways that Abovethelaw.com captures daily the Kurtz methodology seems brutally familiar.  It became unsustainable as likely will much of how BigLaw operates.  For instance, hyperactive growth resulted in the bankruptcy of Dewey LeBoeuf and could have triggered the alleged overbilling at DLA Piper.  Bad treatment of human beings seems embedded in the organizational cultures.  If Charles Dickens were around he would probably profile one of those and have a happy "Christmas Carol" ending in which the Managing Partner tells everyone to go early Christmas eve, be with their families, and shut off their smartphones.  

The human reality is that human beings get mad, they get even, and then they gloat about helping do in a person or an institution.  The odds are it will be the human beings, not the slow growth in revenues, which will blow up the legal sector.

 

Legal Sector: Should law schools, prospective employers test for high Emotional Intelligence?

The importance of that LSAT score may fade as the one which tests for Emotional Intelligence (EI) gains in importance.  The distressed legal sector might have to identify and leverage players with high EI to bring it back to success which is sustainable.

In business, MBA programs and prospective employers, reports Melissa Korn in THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence test is already being administered.  Although there are no right answers, those who will be or are stars tend to pick the same ones. 

For example, one question asks how the person comes up with ideas.  The possible answers range from reading to one's own thoughts to talking with friends.  This is a critical area since this is the era of ideas.  One workable one can turn around a career or law firm.  And, ideas, of course, are free.  My idea to reinvent my social media boutique as a ghostwriting/speechwriting one led to record billings last month.  The only investment required was the sweat equity to revamp marketing materials such as LinkedIn and scramble to build a portfolio with client-bylined work which was published in brandname media such as FOX BUSINESS and AMERICAN BANKER.

The power of high EI is nothing new.  Only the terminology is.  When Baby Boomer me was in graduate school pursuing academic excellence, a wise mentor counseled me that it was the "C" students who wound up the bosses of the "A" students.  That's obviously because the "C" folks were on the offense developing social skills, including operating positions of leadership, while we "A" grinds were playing defense by trying avoid not getting a bad grade. 

Yes, there are lawyers who do well even though they have low EI.  However, they and their law firms could likely do a lot better if they figured out the human side of the business of law.