Law And More

Ft Hood - Of course there'd be copycats, but THIS SOON?

A copycat shooting a la Fort Hood incident was expected.  Only not this soon.  Talk about speeded-up sense of time.  In Orlando. Florida, at least eight are wounded, maybe more.  The gunman is still on the loose.

Nidah Hasan - Can his family sue?

If the shooting spree hadn't been so tragic at Fort Hood, there would be plenty of psychiatrist jokes.  There would also be the cliches about emotional cripples entering the helping professions to help themselves - and rarely achieving that goal.

Nidal Hasan, though, was a psychiatrist put in extreme circumstances.  Those are laid bare in the current edition of ROLLING STONE.  Christopher Smith chronicles how emotionally battered soldiers return from war.  The military tends to throw pills at them.  They don't heal.  As a result, Fort Carson saw 11 murders. 

Suing the government is not easy.  But there must be a way for families of the victims at Ford Hood and Fort Carson to file a class action lawsuit for lack of appropriate psychiatric care.  Those families can include the human beings who loved Hasan.  He too seems to have suffered from the psychic brutality of wars which the military couldn't or didn't address.  Deja Vu Viet Nam?

Veterans Day is next week.

RI Loses Another Key Industry

What was Rhode Island Governor Don Carcieri thinking?  Today he signed legislation making indoor prostitution illegal.  Through a loophole, RI was the only state in addition to Nevada that had this industry that attracts tourists and pours money into the local economy.

Had the Governor a mindset of an entrepreneurial chief executive of a state he would have not signed that bill.  Instead he would have pushed and pushed hard to also make outdoor prostitution legal.  Indoor and outdoor, prostitution is an important link in the underground economy which is supporting more of the above-ground economy in these frugal times.

When doing my doctoral work at the University of Michigan I informally studied prostitutes and drink hustlers in Spain and France.  They spent their earnings on plenty of good dinners, upscale dresses, and pedigree pets.

"There's so much talk today about M and A," Brian Shactman, CNBC

Corporations, particularly in the tech sector, are flush with cash.  They are starting to eye Merger & Acquisition targets.  For example, Google is rumored to be interested in taking over THE NEW YORK TIMES.

NewsBusters quotes CNBC anchor Brian Shactman as observing, "There's so much talk today about M and A."  M and A is the kind of lucrative business law firms love.  If M and A resumes, BigLaw could start hiring again, at least in M and A.

CIT Bankruptcy - Skadden, Arps gets to handle that

Delphi's head Steve Miller hit the nail on the head when he described bankruptcy as messy - and expensive. Lots of that cost will be legal fees.  So Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom picked up a wonderful assignment.  Today, CIT Group filed for Chapter 11 in Manhattan federal court.  Skadden, Arps will represent it. 

But, the business could have been better.  As Michael J. de la Merced explains in THE NEW YORK TIMES, the filing is "under a so-called prepackaged bankruptcy plan that will enable it to emerge from court protection by the end of the year, under the control of its debtholders."  More inherent complexity would have been the ideal assignment for any law firm.

However, no one knows if the prepackaged plan will go smoothly.  How much business that will actually mean for Skadden, Arps is, of course, actually a question mark.

Elton John - Should he contact Bill Marler?

Elton John has had to postpone a number of concerts.  Among those have been three in the U.S. with Billy Joel.

In addition to the flu, Rocket Man has a wicked E-Coli infection.  Did the latter happen via something he ate?  Increasingly, E-Coli is being caused by foods, everything from spinach to ground beef. 

Elton John might want to contact food-borne-disease expert Bill Marler.  Marler, a partner at Marler Clark Law Firm, investigates and files litigation about alleged cases of sickness and death due to food. He also tells leaders, including Inside the Beltway, how to prevent E-Coli  Download Testimonywaxmanfoodsafety Download TestimonyEnergy. 

Marler has a global reach, e.g. is educating Chinese businesses, attorneys, and government about the U.S. product liability system.  In fact, today he's on his way to Beijing to a food conference, November 4-5.

Elton John can put his best people on this, including reading Marler's blog. What a public service if Elton John becomes Planet Earth's evangelist for the safety of the global food supply chain.

Full disclosure:  About a year ago I did some freelance digital writing/editing for Marler Clark.

OSHA to Employers: Keep your employees safe

OSHA is one federal agency that can't be accused of being asleep at the wheel or perhaps a bit too cozy with business.

Yesterday, it slammed BP with an $87 million fine.  That was related to the 2005 death of 15 employees at its Texas refinery facility.

This message on employee safety will resonate.

Drinker Biddle: Associate Lite didn't seem to work

We are suspicious when Drinker Biddle had announced what we might call the Associate Lite Plan.  For the first six months of their time with the company, newbie JDs would function and be treated as apprentices.  Think Abe Lincoln.  Because they were Associate Lites they would also be compensated at less than normal first-year associate compensation.  That Associate Lite number was a lite $105,000. Paying off those loans quickly wasn't going to happen. 

We all had a hunch that this was less in the interest of developing associates more efficiently and serving clients more effectively.  Instead this seemed to be a signal that Drinker Biddle might be trying to simply cut costs or needing to cut costs without sending out negative signals.

Today in Abovethelaw.com, Elie Mystal confirms our hunch.  Something was rotten in the state of business at Drinker Biddle.  Although the firm did not confirm it, a number of leakers report that 22 associates have been laid off.  Most of the cuts, says Mystal, were at the Chicago office.  The wild card here is that Drinker Biddle had a 68% offer rate to the summers of 2009.  Maybe it spotted some stars?  Maybe it wants to give Associate Lite more time?

For Halloween, in honor of all this ambiguity, JDs around America might dress as 3/4ths a Drinker Biddle Associate. 

Foley Hoag: War is peace, isn't it?

A classic dynamic out of "1984" or what's called the "war is peace" strategy.  Foley Hoag announced today, reports Elie Mystal in Abovethelaw.com, that it is significantly cutting salaries for first through fourth year associates.  The reason? In part, says Foley Hoag, it is "to help associate development."

This is one to watch.  The stars, who don't perceive themselves as requiring development, are likely ringing up head-hunters.  The non-stars, who are stuck, will making leaking from Foley Hoag a gusher.

Question: If a client proposes a fee cut to assist with my development in communications, should I take that offer at face value? 

Naughty, Naughty - US Chamber Sues Yes Men

The tort-reforming US Chamber of Commerce is suing the Yes Men.  Naughty Naughty.  The Yes Men had staged a fake press conference at which it was announced that the US Chamber reversed its anti-green stance.

The lawsuit contends that the Yes Men misrepresented the US Chamber's logo, created a fraudulent website, and conducted that media conference.