Law And More

CyberCrime - Insuring Against The Risk

"Estimates of the cost of cyber crime to businesses worldwide range from around US445 billion to US$2 trillion a year ... Lloyds insurance market in London is positioning itself to become the global hub for cyber insurance ..." - Stuart Poole-Robb, "Here's why the cyber insurance industry is worth 55.6 billion pounds," in ITproportal." Here is the article.

The documentary film "CitizenFour" showed how easy it is for those who know their way about tech to hack into just about any system. Yet, believe it or not, some are still struggling with the decision whether or not to insure against this risk by purchasing cybersecurity insurance. Or hire a Chief Information Security Officers. Here and here I had published articles on those subjects in Payment Week.

My hunch is that both issues will be embraced by activist shareholders and put under the umbrella of what's being called "Information Governance."

"Citizen Four" - Snowden Documentary Deters Whistleblowing

The documentary "Citizen Four" about Edward Snowden lacks any glamour attached to whistleblowing.

What's palpable is that the supposed hero in this saga of leaking information about the extent of government electronic monitoring begins tensing when consquences begin happening. Those can be severe.

When the international lawyers working pro bono for Snowden discuss the case, they aren't optimistic. The U.S. government, for example, accuses Snowden of violating the Espionage Act of 1917. That is almost impossible to defend against. 

At age 29, Snowden could spend the rest of his life in Russia. Sure, his long-time girfriend eventually joins him. But that's probably not where he expected to live out his life and continue developing and applying his professional skills. 

When I bought my ticket to "Citizen Four" this evening I braced myself for evangelism about the need for more whistleblowers. That's not what the film's message was. More it was a chronicle of U.S. spying on citizens and competitors and how dangerous it is to stand up against that. 

Bruce Jenner's Fatal Accident - Do We Need Citizens Against Distracted Driving?

Can engaging with one's smartphone become as intoxicating as boozing? Maybe. Some are opining that Bruce Jenner might have been using his smartphone at the time of crash. His phone records are reported to being investigated.

Initially, the speculation was that his car crashed into one driven by an aging woman under the pressure of trying to outrun the media. Those of us who recently saw film "Nightcrawler" can understand the relentlessness of those chasing the possibility of a story which will make it to prime-time television.

If the primary cause is found to be the loss of control triggered by texting, though, this certainly won't be the first time that has happened. More often, the texter is the one killed in the accident.

It might be time for alert Americans to organize a Citizens Against Distracted Driving.

Valentine's Day - Best Expressions Of Affection For Lawyers, Law Students in 2015

Styles in expressing sentiment shift, just as does the marketability of experience, skills and talents in various lines of work.

In 2015, you might get the biggest bang for your investment of time, energy, hope and money by these kinds of Valentine's outreach and concrete gifts.  

All-expenses paid for attending Legal Tech in 2016.  Better yet, help your lover prepare a talk on Information Governance (IG) to be delivered at the conference.

You might start with reviewing what the Federal Trade Commission reports on the state of connected devices. Here is that document. With luck, perhaps there could be a job down the line in compliance within the IG function.

Copy of Peter Thiel's book "Zero to One." It's at 227 on Amazon.com, so forget trying to check it out of the school or public library. What's key in the book is the mandate to discover what those in a market segment need before they recognize they need it. Sort of like creating the next fax. That wasn't on anyone's wish list until there was buzz about what this innovation could accomplish. Here you can put a rush order for it at Amazon.com.

A ticket to the 150-minute film "Mr. Turner." The story provides permission for talent to be as selfish and careless with other human beings as their whims demand. Still in the Eisenhower era of conventional emotions, America demands even the most gifted to comport themselves as caring people. This is the ultimate gift for your beloved. He or she doesn't even have to be loyal to you any more, if a genius in a niche.

Long, lazy dinner at McDonald's. That provides an opportunity to observe what is wrong with the branding. Several articles can be published. Those credentials can be circulated in the high-growth public relations industry for a possible job or contract in the food or entertainment division. No, that doesn't need to be accepted at The Wall Street Journal. LinkedIn allows non-influentials to post articles. And, come on, by now every lawyer and law student should have a blog, Twitter account, and Facebook page. 

As the recommendations demonstrate, romance can mean focusing on your lover's career needs. Raw emotion is so pre-Crash of 2007 in the legal sector. 

"Son Of A Gun" - Prison Isn't Cool In Australia, Either

In the Australian film "Son of a Gun," teenager JR is sent to a prison in that nation for a minor offense. His sentence is 6 months. They tell him in intake that if he keeps his nose clean that could be reduced to 3 months. 

Naive, he immediately puts himself at risk by trying to protect an emotionally retarded young inmate. The latter is being bullied by gang members.

Public enemy #1 Brendan Lynch clues JR in: Mind your own business. In exchange for Lynch's wisdom, which boils down to protection, JR will have to help the notorious criminal break out of prison.

What's clear is that this is a deal JR can't refuse. This prison in Australia is filled with violence, as entrenched and brutal as what we hear about in America's lock-ups. No, at least from what's depicted in this film, the Australian approach to incarceration isn't any more progressive than the American one. 

Brendan saves JR from a gang rape and more. We witness a man being tossed over the railing and killed. The blood streams from his head. The emotionally stunted man-child attempts suicide. 

JR is successful in orchestrating the break-out from a helicopter. He ends up rich and gets the girl. But in between intake at prison and that happy ending he hardens into a criminal strategist and sees way too much. In fact, what happened in prison was sort of the Happy Valley compared to what he has to learn to survive after helping Brendan. 

 

Cheyenne Phillips: Her Future Could Be Bright

In the Bonnie and Clyde saga, it's the Bonnie - Cheyenne Phillips - who captures our attention.

In fact, Phillips could attract a good lawyer to settle her legal mess. Given the high profile of the petty-ante crime spree, lawyers might be willing to defend Phillips pro bono or for a very affordable fee. Once that's resolved, her future could be bright.

To begin with she has presence, including physical beauty.

Secondly, although 13, she navigated the world as if she were 19 and people bought into that.

Third, she is an unusual risk-taker. That's a value we admire. That is particularly the situation as the world can't be trusted to stay the same for more than a nanosecond.

Fourth, to the huddled masses yearning to be free, she's a role model of what they could morph into, if they are willing to take the consequences.

Among those chasing her with offers could be marketers of naughty products and services; start-ups which can use her focus and drive; cosmetics companies; modeling agencies; film-makers; book publishers; media outlets which would pay for the story; elite boarding schools which want her as a student to pass on survival skills to the pampered privileged; and therapy centers which could use a made-for-media success story. 

What could derail Phillips' promising career journey is if she is truly a self-destruct. We know them. They are no complex non-conformist like Steve Jobs. Instead they have the genius to screw up everything, right down to a one-car funeral. I hope Phillips can hold it together and not be overtaken by her dark side. She created this big break for herself and should take full advantage of it. 

 

"Whiplash" - Yes, Driven Lawyers, You Can Succeed, Despite Yourself, Sadistic Superiors

'Tis the weekend for compulsive movie-going or binge-watching of episodes of "Breaking Bad." Lawyers who opt for the film "Whiplash"at indie theatres will receive an upbeat takeaway message. And that's they can succeed, despite their destructive drive and sadistic superiors. 

Essentially, the plot tracks an over-the-top ambitious jazz student whose mother abandoned him and his father. The latter started out a writer but defaulted to teaching high school. Of course, the surrounding factors are accelerators to an already scary drive. During the process of going for it the boy Andrew Neiman even drops his lovely girlfriend. 

As usual, there is a key obstacle. That's the malevolent presence of the conductor of a prestigious in-house jazz band Terence Fletcher. No ordinary villain, Terence is complex in his values and Machiavellianisms. So much so that he might be clueless about who he really is. At the end of the film, we don't know if he feels check-mated or is pleased that the boy outwits him and overcomes his own worst self. 

Well, as frequently happens in a tale of chasing the gold, Andrew cracks up. That's after another former student hangs himself. Of course, when this is brought to the school's attention, Terence gets canned. But he is not finished having fun with Andrew, especially since he knows Andrew was the one who testified against him. Those statements were supposed to be confidential. As lawyers know, they so rarely are. 

Yet, it's Andrew's talent which saves it all. He manages to play his way passionately out of a very public trap set by Terence. Likely the unconditional love of his father provides the centering he needs to pull that off. Unlike the son, the father isn't wounded.

Since the event in which he plays like a genius is prestigious, he will probably be noticed by those in jazz who can open doors. He no longer needs Terence. And in the future he will know how to handle other kinds of evil creatures. 

Reflection: One's inner darkness and the forces of outer darkness don't have to do in a lawyer determined to make it big. He or she can do just that. What would help is to have the unconditional love of another human being. One who is solid.

David Boies: The Positioning And Packaging Of "The Interview" As Patriotic Must-See

David Boies has been exhibiting odd behavior lately. When he began representing hacked Sony, he oversaw a mass communication to establishment media like The New York Times. It was an order not to publish hacked material. Just about every legal expert rolled their eyes. Hadn't Boies heard of the First Amendment!

Now, as Joe Patrice brings to our attention on Abovethelaw.com, Boies has been at it again. Patrice takes an excerpt - which you can read here - from Boies' appearance on "Meet the Press." Essentially he positions and packages "The Interview" as a patriotic must-see. Duh. Is the analogy here how we were all supposed to run out shopping and catch a plane post-9/11 to push back against terrorism? 

Boies, like Ted Olson, is in his 70s. But unlike Boies, Olson doesn't seem to be engaged in any puzzling behavior. At least not any that the media have been catching. 

Reflection: Has Boies' brandname led him to become overconfident in the moves he makes to represent his clients?

Rubenstein Communications Represents Sony Pictures

"Sony Pictures Entertainment is leaning on Rubenstein Communications as it faces the unprecedented cyber attack and publication of its internal communications and intellectual property." -  Greg Hazley in Odwyerpr.com. Here is the coverage.

Attacked from all sides, Sony Pictures needs a heavyweight in public relations.

Ironically, though, one of its key problems it caused itself. Through the Boies, Schiller & Flexner law firm it retained, it sent a high-handed letter to brandname media such as The New York Times and Bloomberg that they had no right to continue publishing the hacked email. Many legal experts either dercried that or rolled their eyes since it violated the First Amendments. 

David Boies Represents Sony In Email Hack - Warns Media, They Are "Stolen Information"

Brandname lawyer David Boies has framed the hacked Sony email as "stolen property." Bill Hutchinson at the New York Daily News obtained the warning letter Boies sent to media. 

Essentially it says that Sony does not approve of the media's use of the emails and requests that they destroy them.

Does that mean that the content of some of the emails will no longer be published? Time will tell. Likely media are consulting with their own in-house counsel and the law firms which represent them.