Law And More

Megawatt Success, Substance Abuse, and All the Verne Troyers

Verne Troyer, who played "Mini-Me" in the "Austin Powers" series, is dead. He was 49 years old.

His bouts with alcohol abuse are well-known. There is some speculation that the cause of death was suicide. Here are more details from Christine Burroni at the New York Post.

With his premature death, Troyer joins other great talents who shouldn't have died so soon. They include Philip Seymour Hoffman, Heath Ledger, River Phoenix, and John Belushi. 

The obvious question is if fame kills human beings? However, the less obvious one is if it requires outlier needs for human beings to do what it takes to become stars? 

Those of us who are familiar with those in recovery understand how "different" many of them are. Before they crashed, they were at the top. And they often get back there.

It may be their talent, fierce drive, high intelligence, and/or business sense which differentiates those substance abusers from more normal people. To keep themselves centered might require artificial help such as boozing, uppers, or downers. That's just the way it is. Bluntly put, that's the price to keep megawatt success going. 

It might be arrogant to grieve for them. They charted the life they wanted - or needed. And that was that. However, we are left without their talent. It's tragic that we no longer will be able to look forward to Hoffman's or Ledger's next film.

This blog hopes those in Troyer's circle of loved ones find the strength to accept his passing. 

From Andrew Bachman to Mark Zuckerberg, What Can Go Very Very Wrong in TechVille

Andrew Bachman is the 30-something son of two suburban Boston medical doctors.

The media packaged him as the Massachusetts version of California's tech wizards. His unique brand of tech entrepreneurship, as the Boston Globe crowed, was the physically fit one. 

In the Babson College dorm he and buddies had launched Tatto. That was an internet marketing company.

Eventually, they sold that for $60 million and became rich. That made him more successful than his physician parents. 

The White House had invited him for a visit.

He taught a course at Babson on entrepreneurship and created a scholarship.

Wiley was going to publish his memoir, which I assisted him in researching and writing. We hunkered down together in his Boston penthouse putting it together. In the garage below were parked his expensive cars. Initially, I toyed with the title of the book that the brand of one of the cars served as his business card. 

He had other enterprises going.

That was then.

Four years ago, the media outlet Techli interviewed Bachman about a possible comeback. And, that is really the central issue of this tech saga of what can go very very wrong. Can a Bachman type return to success? 

Now, as the U.S. Attorney's Office Southern District of New York reports, Bachman is among those who have taken a guilty plea.

Their scam had been orchestrated through Tatto, along with Mobile Messenger. One of those in the loop - Darcy Wedd - received a 10-year sentence on April 3, 2018. Back in 2017, he had been convicted in a two-week jury trial.

Bachman awaits sentencing. Earlier, he had depleted his assets by settling with the FTC for what was at the time still an alleged fraud. Those cars went in the settlement. 

After the Wedd sentencing, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman provided a simplified description of the technically complex fraud. Essentially, he said, Tatto constituted

" .... a large-scale auto-subscribing scheme that forced mobile phone users to pay charges for unsolicited and unwanted text messaging services ... [The defendants'] conduct ultimately netted over $150 million in illegal profits."

So, how do tech hustlers cross that ethical and legal line into criminals? Initially Tatto had been legit. Bachman had and probably still has a good head for business.

In the Techli interview Bachman noted he was talking with a psychotherapist. If he serves time in prison there will be support personnel he can also sort things out with. 

Perhaps already he has gained insight about what led to his catastrophic fall from grace. There's a documentary he can develop on that meme. That could be his Next: To help other techies avoid his ordeal. 

With Facebook in such trouble, seemingly because of its lusting after growth, lessons from the Bachman fall from grace might be currently considered by others in the tech loop.

On April 11th, when Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg testifies before Congress, there could be a paradigm shift in tech. Those who are both ambitious and smart about how the world really works might get it that they have to play by the rules. 

 

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Genius Pool - Not Being Re-Stocked in Legal Sector

"Since 2008, law school applications from people with degrees from top universities has plummeted a staggering 44.9 percent." - Kathryn Rubino, Abovethelaw.com, April 4, 2018. Here is the article.

Alan Dershowitz. Ted Olson. David Boies. Charles Harder. And, the fictional Denny Crane from "Boston Legal."

All of them have dazzled not only the legal sector but laypeople with their strategic brilliance. The fascination with their moves could be preventing the screened-in minds from becoming digital mush.

But they could be the last generation of legal geniuses. As Rubino documents, the pool of legal talent is not being re-stocked with the best and brightest from the next generation.

No fools, youth bore witness to the carnage of 2009. Demand collapsed in the practice of law. As Rubino also had documented, 6,000 lawyers lost their jobs. Here is that article.

Since the end of the golden age of law, the industry has remained flat or has been downsizing, depending on who's doing the assessing of manpower demand. Also, it is increasingly difficult to make partner. Then, the new wrinkle is: It's also increasingly difficult to hold onto that position of partner. No longer is it good enough to do outstanding legal work. Partners must bring in new business.

It must seem so much more attractive to those with lots of options to go to tech or Wall Street.

It's not all that attractive to take the grueling route of preparing to become a lawyer.

That includes keeping up the grades to get into a T-14, preparing for the LSAT or GRE, investing three years and six figures in law school, passing the bar, competing for a good job, hoping to survive the first few years of being an associate, navigating a lateral, pulling out all stops to land partnership, and then struggling to stay in the game.

Those of us who did go to law school, even in the best of times, continue to ask ourselves: Why? There were much easier career paths. 

To bring back the interest of the best and brightest, law schools might pitch to their higher selves.

After all, the law could bring about social justice. In the lobby of law schools, the film "Marshall" should play continuously. 

In coaching the over-50, I am picking up the hunger to return to a strong code of values. That might be filtering down to iGen.

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Jinxed Clients, Cartoonish Cases, Platitudes, and Other Platforms for Extreme Success

"Harvey Weinstein has turned to Juda Engelmayer, president of Herald PR, for spokesperson duties following the April 3 decision of Sitrick & Co. to cut ties with the embattled movie mogul." - Odwyerpr.com, April 5, 2018. Here is the article.

Engelmayer's other clients range from Estates at Alpine to TCI College of Technology.

Taking on the "job no one else would want" could prove a smart move for a player like Engelmayer. If he prevents further reputational erosion or moves the needle a little on reputational restoration, he could attract more tough public relations causes. That's a whole niche in itself. 

The potential is so huge that even public relations experts who are not directly involved with a distressed company or individual can take quantum leaps ahead in enhancing their own brandnames.

The classic example is kglobal partner Gene Grabowski. He published a thought leadership essay on Uber.

Essentially, it argued that, sure, the global public relations attacks on that ride-hailing service were throwing shade on the brand. However, its business continues to grow. That's because it provides consumers with a convenient, reliable, and affordable service. Here is that seminal point of view. 

In the legal sector, Charles Harder became a household name when he took on and won for the plaintiff "Hulk Hogan v. Gawker." To many the whole case seemed cartoonish. The jury didn't agree, awarding Hogan a $140 million verdict. Harder has attracted new business from even the Trump Administration.

In these upside-down times when the old rules no longer apply, new professional brandnames can be developed from simply exiting platitudes.

In journalism, former lawyer Joe Patrice has made his signature on Abovethelaw.com searching for outlier dots and then connecting them in fresh ways. Here is just one example.

Takeaway: Look where the trouble is. Then, figure out how to position and package it to the client's and, more importantly, your own advantage. That was the genius of William Shakespeare.

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Harvey Weinstein No Longer Represented by PR Firm Sitrick

Back in October, the public relations firm Sitrick & Co began represented Harvey Weinstein.

That was then.

As O'DwyerPR reports, Sitrick is no longer involved with that assignment.

No further details were provided. But, given the aggressive buzzmill, more will soon be disclosed.

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Setback for Old Hollywood - Olivia de Havilland's Lawsuit Not Allowed to Move Forward

Olivia de Havilland represented Old Hollywood. And now all that is over. The world can move on to YouTube, Netflix, and porn stars like Stormy Daniels.

The glam of days past sprung back to life in de Havilland's lawsuit against FX and Ryan Murphy. It was focused on how she was depicted in the "Feud." 

The lower court in California had let the litigation move on. More recently, the CA appeals court nixed that. Here are details from the LA Times.

And the entertainment industry is breathing easier. Had the litigation reached trial stage a new precedent could be set about limits on the First Amendment. Creatives would hesitate to depict anyone in a negative manner.

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"Darkest Hour" Hammers What Lawyers Already Have Down Cold: Words Matter

For four weeks in 1940, overwhelmed new British prime minister Winston Churchill used words to save the nation from Hitler.

He had little else. And that is played out in the film "Darkest Hour."

Realistically, it seemed that the odds were against Britain even trying to take on the superior military might of Hitler. At the time, the U.S. was still in a neutral position. The president - FDR - refused to help Churchill out with ships or planes. 

Initially, the other powers that be in Britain advocated negotiating a "peace" with Hitler. Churchill rode the underground to find out if the people agreed. They did not.

His confidence surged in knowing the people wanted no such "peace." Churchill put the words together to convince the power structure that negotiations meant the end of Britain as they had known it. Yes, those words included those now-iconic phrases about "never surrender." 

That was then.

Today, words also matter - a lot. Of course, lawyers have that down cold.

Sure, the theatrics of the glove remain a classic from the O.J. criminal trial. But, it was the ways in which the defense lawyers leveraged words to build arguments that mesmerized television viewers. Did they win over the jurors? That probably will never be known. 

In his defense of "preacher-killer" Mary Winkler, lawyer Steve Farese brilliantly put together the tableau of wig and high heels. Those the preacher mandated Winkler put on for sex. However, it was his sustained verbal eloquence about the more general abuse that resulted in a compassionate jury verdict.

But, Millennials and iGens might not realize that. The meme is that we live in a visual age.

Instagram's soul is the image.

All the how-tos on ecommerce hammer to pile on the photos and videos.

Smartphones store photos, especially of moments. Not a scanned copy of a love letter penned for Valentine's Day.

No surprise, communications practitioner and university professor Mark Misercola showed excerpts of "Darkest Hour" to his classes in New York City. The lesson was to illustrate the link between effective leadership and words.

Of course, Misercola was right. After all, what David Muir on ABC News focuses on are the words the U.S. Senators and inhabitants of the White House are saying. Not visual props.

In my coaching of aging professionals who want to remain in the workforce, so much is about words. The wrong ones can brand them with a scarlet "O" - for "old."

In their resumes and cover letters, for example, employers want to read about "accomplishments," and "edge," not "skills." Also, the terminology on paper and in interviews has to match the current professional lingo. In addition, they have to become linguistically adept in getting to the point faster - in all mediums.

Word stylistics can make or break careers. When Megyn Kelly's rhetoric was combative on Fox News, she was a star. Her attempt to shift to mainstream platitudes on network television is cartoonish.

"Darkest Hour" ends with the Churchill quote:

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts."

We in the front lines of the word game must keep explaining its role in everything from leadership to trial dynamics.

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Partners with Children in College, Fearing Gumming Dog Food

There are 121 million of us over-50.

And that only includes the 76 million Baby Boomers (born between 1945 and 165) and the 45 million Generation X (born between 1965 and 1981).

In addition, there are many members of the Silent Generation and, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, their age group is projected to be among the faster growing part of the labor force. 

Forever, we have been clubbed like baby seals by the media, financial professionals, and the front lines of digital. There's plenty of emotional, social, spiritual, and professional blood on the ice.

It's time we pushed back. That includes law firm partners whose financial planners are scaring the jesus out of you.

After all, the numbers are on our side. It was the sheer numbers of the Baby Boomer gen which blew up Puritan sexual mores and the ethos of family-first.

That brutal club comes down with stern warnings that we will outlive our money. Members of the media feature us in rusty mobile homes making the rounds of dumpsters to collect soda bottles we can trade in for nickels. Not being able to afford dentures, we gum dog food.

The reality, at least currently, is very different. Even for us to whom life has not been kind or the monsters in our mind triggered some very bad decisions.

A disbarred lawyer renting a less-than-600-dollar apartment in Eastern Ohio crows about his new minimalist lifestyle.

Post being a guest of the state he lives on Social Security. He's not sure if he wants to bother supplementing that with doing communications assignments for law firms. The book he's writing about how quickly darkness can fall may or may sell well. About that he's detached.

Before she became legally blind, a former resident in Bella Vista, New Haven, Connecticut subsidized housing took great joy in her $10-an-hour part-time job coaching the aging unemployed in computer skills. Her dead husband had gone through their money.

In 2003, I had lost my nest egg, business, and mind. My story about that has had more than a million downloads. Here you can read it. Funny, it was then that my little life started picking up. Before that, actually, things weren't going too hot, at least not emotionally, socially, and spiritually.

Even those of us who still have children to put through college and had lost a job here and there (mostly due to age bias) are confident about the present and optimistic about the future.

Before he landed his new job on Wall Street, a 60-something hustled paid assignments at the outplacement firm where he had landed after losing his previous one. He considered becoming certified as an executive coach. The next time the ax swings, he plans to sell the house to pay the college tuitions. 

The mascot of our era had been Alfred E. Neuman. His meme had been "What - Me Worry?" Essentially, that's our mindset. 

The ultimate symbol of our push-back will be the smirk. That showcases the residue of the smart-assed adolescents we once had been.

My resurrected inner rebel efficiently managed, in May 2014, Kathleen Huebner and three other ghosts from my Living-in-a-Fog Past. That I consider my number-one achievement in life, at least so far. This coming May I will celebrate the fourth anniversary by spending a week in Mobile, Alabama. There, I plan to semi-retire in eight years. 

Every day I thank the patron saint of aging. That's, I've decided, Clint Eastwood. Hopefully, Pope Francis has him on the list for official canonization. Among the miracles Eastwood accomplished had been the film "The Unforgiven."

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Satisfied clients –

Mark Misercola – Speechwriter

“For the past two years, Jane has helped me age more gracefully by opening my eyes to new opportunities and endeavors that will serve me well  when  I eventually retire. And some – like writing about my passion for collectible cars – I’ve already started on.”

Tara Belsare – Physician

“Jane encourages me to examine aging with depth and wit. She encourages me to write about the process. She has opened my eyes to the fact that I am, in fact aging.”

 

Olivia De Havilland - No Hulk Hogan, But Her Privacy Lawsuit Attention Magnet

Paul Brownfield  at The New York Times is covering Olivia de Havilland's privacy tort against FX and Ryan Murphy Productions. The article itself admits no one expects de Havilland to win even the right for the lawsuit to proceed. On March 20th, the California Court of Appeals will decide that.

Brownfield explains, the complaint:

"  ... alleges unauthorized use of her [de Havilland's] name and likeness to endorse a product - a 'right of publicity' claim ..."

Since there's no video tape of a sex act in-progress and is filed by a star from yesterday, this is no "Hulk Hogan v. Gawker." However, ever since it was filed, it has been an attention magnet.

One obvious reason why is it brings back the Hollywood that used to be. That is gone forever. Not only are box office receipts down. Many have grown weary of the artificial glamour. My hunch is that the Academy Awards will have low viewership.

Current reality, though, has no relationship to the pull force of what's in our memory bank. Both members of the Baby Boomer and X Generations - totaling about 121 million - lived in the era when Hollywood was a real presence in our little lives. 

We especially visually bonded with the exotic roadsters which carried around the stars in films and on actual highways. Often, the divas stepped into the convertible with long fins holding a martini and throwing off a seductive laugh.

On his "carnut" blog, classic car collector Mark Misercola re-captures that ethos. Here is one article.

For Facebook, Misercola, who also is a communications pro and university professor, posts photos of those amazing vehicles associated with what was considered the height of style and class. No surprise, his Facebook page has a huge following and receives plenty of detailed comments. 

Hollywood, like the American Revolutionary War, will always be part of  this country's history. Both were cultural glue. Currently that's lacking. 

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Cinemark Bans Large Bags - American Mindset Tilts Fatalistic

Throughout its 533 movie complexes, Cinemark bans bags larger than 12" x 12" x 6".

The objective, reports Fortune, is to up security.

No, the company isn't focused on ensuring that snacks aren't smuggled in versus purchased at the counter. 

Obviously, the school massacre in Florida has reawakened memories of a similar tragedy during a film playing in Aurora, Colorado.

Clearly, America has become a nation on edge. The copycat threats which have been discovered for other schools indicate that there are many troubled folks out there. After a tragedy such as in FL, balanced human beings struggle to make others feel some sense of safety.

Now we all got it: There is no safety. Cinemark concedes that is the reality. 

Last night on television series "S.W.A.T." there is a happy ending to such a threat. The team foils the scheme of anti-government types to poison the water supply. That was sweet. But, even we fans of the program wonder how much large-scale disaster is preventable. 

The American mindset tilts to fatalistic. Those of us who grew up in the hood assumed we could put together a safe life through education and being able to afford a middle-class neighborhood. We were wrong.

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