Law And More

Dementia: 21st Century AIDS, With Huge Legal Issues

The grim film "Dallas Buyers Club" depicts a time when AIDS was a new epidemic in the late 20th century, with only a few experimental treatments and certainly no cure.  The legal issues hammered in the movie were primarily about the legality of certain drugs in the U.S.  The establishment came off looking pretty bad and the rogue seller of drugs unapproved in the U.S. as a folk hero.  That was then.

The 21st century epidemic is dementia.  According to Alzheimer's Disease International (ADI), by 2050 there will be 135 million cases worldwide. Currently there are about 44 million.  Here is the coverage in Reuters. The legal issues are huge.  It's unlikely any institution will come off looking good.  Likely the nearest thing to a hero will be simply the person who is candid about the horror of this disease so little is known about. 

Those of us who live in senior housing bump into the legalities all too often.  Last week I gave a woman I thought only was suffering from minor memory loss a ride to a special musical event. It would last to at least 10:30 P.M..  We agreed I would pick her up at 10:15 P.M.  

Then she called me at 9:20 P.M., furious.  She ranted that the event was over and where was I.  I got it: She was senile.  Had she wandered off and froze to death or been robbed and murdered, a lot of legal questions could have been raised.  

As for me, was I negligent allowing her to be out there without supervision?  Should I have "known better?"

As for others, is any family member taking advantage of her financially? Who's monitoring her financial affairs or who should be? Was the residential complex remiss in not mandating she relocate to assisted living? Should the aides who assist her have reported her deteriorating condition to her family and demanded immediate action?  And once in custodial care, what should be the standard procedures to ensure safety of the client?

It's human to want to err on the side of enabling the human being as full a life as possible. But that could get society into a real legal mess. Because of fear of legal liability those with dementia could find themselves with very limited lifestyles.  Meanwhile, the pain of losing their ability to sort out what's going on in the world is etched in their face.  When I picked up my neighbor she looked as if she had had a major anxiety attack. Of course, I am in terror of signs that I also may be losing my marbles. 

"Hunger Games - Catching Fire" - Useful game-theory refresher for lawyers

Game theory was all the rage when media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, 82, studied at Oxford.  The guy has survived every public relations and business (think death of newspapers) crisis so far.  

So does Katniss Everdeen in "Hunger Games - Catching Fire." Bypassing her youthful default to emotion, she approaches simple survival and revolution through the kind of strategic mindset of game-theory players.  

Essentially, that system of thinking mandates you create your strategies based on what you have good evidence to believe opponents are doing.  Say, you're applying for a job.  You present yourself and your edge framed to demonstrate why you are a better choice that the competition.  Of course, brandname lawyers leverage game theory all the time.  Lackluster performers stick to points of law in isolation.

The ultimate smart move in game theory is to conceal your strategy.  That's exactly what Everdeen learns to do.  The not-so-surprising ending reveals that the Panem's chief gamesman Plutarch Heavensbee had revolution as his hidden agenda.  

In this media era and the craving for celebrity, it's tempting to be transparent, gushing about your game plan.  But outcomes, at least the Big Bang ones, come through stealth.  The moves should be so Machiavellian that even game theory experts can't deconstruct them.  That applies to the whole enchilada, ranging from getting a job to winning for clients. 

Sports: Should a law school stage a mock trial of fans who create iconic frauds like Lance Armstrong?

There have been mock trials put together at law schools about historic figures. For example, should Jesus Christ have been condemned to be hung on the cross?  Now, with the release of the documentary "The Armstrong Lie," it might be the right time to determine our collective guilt in creating sports figures who feel they have license to cheat in extraordinary ways. 

St. Lance, the miracle biker who also beat back cancer, couldn't have existed without those of us who bought into an identity that was bigger than any human being.  Among the other defendants should be the sponsors who had invested millions in what turned out to be a fraud. Yeah, we should  have known.  There's nothing wrong with honoring athletic talent.  But it is crazy to make a myth of any simple human being. 

The Julian Assage Depicted in "The Fifth Estate" - A type lawyers know well

The dark side of all leadership is that, well, power tends to take its toll on the human being.  Like the character Julian Assage depicted in "The Fifth Estate" leaders can veer off into eccentric excess and worse. That's why they so often wind up seeking assistance from a lawyer.  We more ordinary folks tend to keep our hold about how far we can go in our behavior.

And, sure enough, the law pounced on Assage.  He has been accused of alleged sexual misconduct.  To duck all that he is holed up in an embassy in London. That is bound to get old.  He may well seek up a team of lawyers to address his legal problems. Then he can return full time to being a leader. 

"Captain Phillips" - The movie and the lawsuits (by the crew)

This weekend some of us enjoyed the film "Captain Phillips." It depicted the ordeal of the cargo ship Alabama when under pirate attack.  The captain, who was taken hostage in a life boat by pirates from Somali, was rescued by crack-shot Navy seals.  

Interestingly, in the film there is grousing by some of the crew.  They tell Captain Phillips they are just simple worker bees and have no mandate to put their lives in danger like the military does.  Well, a number of those crew members are suing Maesk Line and Waterman Steamship Corporation, reports Paul M. Barrett in BLOOMBERG BUSINESS WEEK. Here is that article.

Essentially they contend in lawsuits in Alabama and Texas that the captain had been warned to not sail within 600 miles of Somali because of the threat of piracy. But to save time he sailed closer and the worst happened.  The plaintiffs cite the negligence of the captain, the ship company, and the ship operator.  

The trial begins in December.  A diverse assortment of media might be covering it. Will THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER be there?

"Gravity" - Odd voodoo of survival, lessons for lawyers who are drifting

The film "Gravity" is a box office smash.  And in THE NEW YORKER, David Denby has good things to say about it.  The visuals of drifting in space are spectacular.  And the wise-ass big-hearted character - astronaut Matt Kowalski - is a delight.

But the reason this movie might have grabbed us by the throat is that so many of us have been or are still navigating brutal experiences of survival.  Folks in the legal sector know that well.  "Gravity" provides insight into the odd voodoo of survival.

For example, it is strange that it is the inexperienced and emotionally broken Dr. Ryan Stone is the only one who should make it back to earth.  Our bets were on Kowalski.  After losing her four-year-old daughter to a freak accident in the school yard, she has been drifting.

Stone becomes a metaphor for how, beneath hopelessness and even not knowing much about the terrain, human beings can make it out of drift. Sometimes that might involve a little mysticism.  For example, the dead Kowalski arrives to give her a stern pep talk when she is drifting into a bottom.

The message here, of course, is that it isn't what is happening. It's how we are handling it.   

"Salinger" - Documentary shows power of nervous breakdown to re-configure the pieces

Being a soldier and intelligence officer during World War II was the most formative experience in the career of J.D. Salinger.  That's what the new documentary "Salinger" opines.  Part of that experience was a brutal nervous breakdown for which Salinger had been hospitalized.

During his meltdown and recovery, some of the pieces of Salinger's psyche seemed to be re-configured. Not only for his fiction but how he was going to position himself for being a major brandname in the arts.  The rest is history.  Not only did Salinger achieve fame and wealth.  He operated his professional life on his own terms. Some see his supposed repulsiveness as a brilliant Machiavellian strategy.

Since some displaced lawyers and unemployed newbie JDs are approaching or in the midst of breakdowns, they might also luck out like Salinger.  That meltdown can remix everything in new ways.  Finally they could succeed on their own terms.

"Salinger" is worth seeing for the insights about how to engineer success.  

"Blue Jasmine" - Unlike Bernie, Hal used charm

Performance art is everything in pulling off a con.  There's no one best act.  Bernie was aloof, hard to get to, reluctant to take on new clients.  Hal, in "Blue Jasmine," leverages charm.  He props that up with an enviable life style and a trophy wife on who he hangs jewels. 

But there's no correlation with the style and resilience.  In the slammer, the media report that Bernie has settled in well. He has made friends.  Because of the audaciousness of his crimes he has status.

Hal found a rope and hung himself in his cell. Had he toughed it out he could have been a global expert on how investors can prevent being fleeced by someone like himself. 

"Elysium" - Obamacare didn't do much for folks in LA

In sci-fi film "Elysium" the 1% have the state-of-the-art medical care that's available in 2159.  Meanwhile on earth, including where the action is set in Los Angeles, residents deal with 20th century medicine in overcrowded facilities. Their children wind up suffering with maladies that can be cured instantly.  Elysium is a space station above planet earth. 

The refreshing part of the film is that all the leading characters are corrupt.  What makes some of them the bad guys is that they deny desperate parents access to Elysium where their children could be made whole. Those who desperately board space ships to trespass are murdered or deported back to earth.  

The thief played by Matt Damon dies blowing the elite up and making the space colony's medical facilities available to everyone, including a friend from childhood. But we have a hunch that won't last for long.  A new elite will always form and they will want to ensure they have what the non-elite don't.  In the film, despite what Obamacare is supposed to accomplish, the status symbol is perfect health.

Lawyers & Abused Children: Recyle that experience into art

It's the financial publication BARRON's which highlights how the meme of childhood abuse can be recycled into art.  Gene Epstein recounts how Charles Dickens, who himself was an abused child, created the iconic character David Copperfield from that kind of unique suffering.  There have also been musicals like "Annie."

Some lawyers have a front seat on observing the tragedy of the abused child.  That could partly account for the clinical depression lawyers suffer.  There's the opportunity to recycle that experience into some form of art.  A documentary?  Novel?  Nonfiction book, including self-published? Dramatic monologue, like "The Belle of Amherst?" Or, even a blog?

Tragedy is a use it or lose it commodity.  It was not until my life collapsed in 2003 that I began to capture the negative as useful copy.  The blogging and ebooks I produced were the platforms on which I re-started my professional life.