Law And More

New York Corruption: Making of a great musical (starring character named Preet Bharara)

"Corruption, corruption, green shoots of it throughout New York.  Preet Preeet has been a very busy guy." 

Those could be some of the lines from the greatest musical about New York.  As Christians believe, corruption is part of the human condition. Therefore the theme would capture the attention of the elite, the middle class, and even the homeless.  Everyone would want to take a peek at how public leaders have been allegedly been, oh horrors, self interested to the point of breaking the law. There is plenty of material for the playwrites.

THE NEW YORK OBSERVER reports that U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara predicts there will even be more corruption cases pursued then there have been.  Among the alleged miscreants has been New York state senator John Sampson.

I love corruption.  I was brought up on it in Jersey City, New Jersey when Mayor Hague politics still dominated.  Nothing got done directly.  If you wanted your street cleaned on a regular basis you had to implore the parish priest who knew someone who had a nephew working in City Hall.  Favors, money, but probably not sex were given in exchange.  Those were the good old days when things got done.  No one went to jail. 

Wendi Deng: FORBES goes tabloid

Divorces, being the ugly legal and emotional processes they are, usually turn establishment media into sensationalistic gossips.  That kind of tabloid coverage may go over the top in the divorce of the Murdochs.

Already, buttoned-down FORBES has a juicy comprehensive expose on Wendi Deng's gold-digging, sleeping-around, nothing too outrageous for getting attention past.  In that article Eamonn Fingleton goes all the way back to when Deng stole the husband belonging to the couple who helped her get established in the U.S.  No sooner then she married him then she was sleeping with another man.  Apparently (and this is difficult to believe) crafty Murdoch was unaware of this background until after he married Wonder Woman (able to pull off whatever she plotted).  

Fingleton predicts that Deng will not go quietly.  We all know there's a pre-nup.  But he warns, with Deng's track record, Murdoch and his lawyers might be in for a bumpy ride.   

 

Preet Bharara's Former Spokesperson Ellen Davis Now with Sard Verbinnen

Let's cut to the chase.   The public relations firm Sard Verbinnen has been representing SAC for about a decade.  SAC is headed by Steve Cohen who is being dragged in front of the grand jury by U.S. Attorney Preet Baharara.  Lawyers who had been English majors might describe the relationship between Baharara and Cohen as something out of the novel "Moby Dick."

Until recently Baharara's spokesperson has been Ellen Davis. Now, reports BLOOMBERG BUSINESS WEEK, Davis has joined Sard Verbinnen.  However, she will not be involved with any of the public relation firm's business involving SAC.

The worlds of law, media, and public relations should be buzzing right now about this newest development in the most compelling story about suspected insider trading since former pillar of the establishment Rajat Gupta was hauled into court. 

2016: Will it be 2 lawyers, Clinton and Christie?

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is probably the only one who can take on Hillary Clinton in 2016.  And they both took steps which seem to indicate they are seriously contemplating a run.

For example, a slimming Christie now called a special election to fill the now-empty Lautenberg U.S. Senate seat.  It will cost the state taxpayers millions, reports THE NEW YORK TIMES, and ticked off both Democrats and Republicans.  But the risk might be worth it.  He wants to win by a landslide in the general election and that move could ensure it.  A big win can't be ignored by GOP fundraisers who will see that a bet on Christie for 2016 could be money well spent.

Meanwhile, Clinton has bounced back to an energetic healthy self.  In public, she is self-deprecating, making fun of her signature pantsuits.  She is all better from her medical problems.  And there are no longer signs of jet lag from the non-stop traveling of her previous job as U.S. Secretary of State.  Her age can't be used against her, just like Christie's weight can't be used against him either.

Pitting the two smart lawyers turned politicos against each other could be an amazing race.

Harvard Law JDs - Not to worry, Jeffrey Toobin says you will be okay

We all know the game is changing.  And some are fearing that investment in Ivy League academic credentials might not have the kind of payoff it had before the crashes in the legal sector, financial services, and publishing. 

Well, BUSINESS INSIDER reports that at Harvard Law School, THE NEW YORKER columnist and legal book author Jeffrey Toobin assured the students et al. all will be okay.  There is plenty of demand for legal services, especially serving the poor (maybe not what Harvard JDs had at the top of their list) and those from that school are well prepared.

The real issue, and only time will tell, is if graduating from a top law school can really protect one from being knocked out of the box in the legal sector.  It can help get that first job.  But is it enough to ensure one can hold on to well-paying work?  Abovethelaw.com has been reporting again on national layoffs of associates and partners. 

 

Regretful Millennial JDs: Millennial BAs/BSs join you in regret

The education game hasn't worked out for too many Millennial JDs. The regret is palpable.  Now, Wells Fargo documents that one-third of Millennials who only invested in the BA/BS join in that regret, reports FORBES.  Had they to do it over again they would have gone to work instead of college.  The reason is the debt, which 54% identify as their biggest problem and 42% find overwhelming.

Gray Economy: Liberals don't cry for us poor

The tenements where we lived in downtown Jersey City, New Jersey buzzed with economic activity. My uncles sold pink plastic umbrellas and shoes they swiped from the docks. The yenta across the street earned commissions on getting your brother out of prison. 

Officially, though, most of us were so poor that we qualified for free clinic visits at the Jersey City Medical Center and two weeks at the  "fresh air" camp in Butler, NJ run by do-gooders. But we had no trouble ponying up tuition for Catholic school, frilly communion dresses, cash for new cars, lavish weddings, and eventually single-family homes in the suburbs. 

The reason was the underground or gray economy. In THE NEW YORKER,  James Surowiecki estimates it's currently worth about $2 trillion, none of which is taxed or figures in employment figures.

Liberals, don't cry for the poor. We always manage to manage.  And, if the officially jobless Millennials, including recent law graduates, get a hang of how to get work in the gray economy they will not turn out to be the lost generation. The trick is understanding how the networks underground operate and conforming.  Unlike those based on Ivy League credentials, measurable income, and conspicuous consumption, gray networks function via instinct, especially about who to trust.  For example, it's well known the snitch winds up in the ditch.

JDs could quickly get up to speed on earning a good buck doing whatever if they move to marginal urban areas.  Everything in terms of services and products is for sale and nothing has a fixed price. Satisfaction is guaranteed with baseball bats.  What the government loses in tax revenues it could gain in eliminating functions like consumer protection performed now by Richard Cordray.

Rehab: Fairy tale of drunken prince/princess who lives happily ever after

The fairy tale in America is that addiction, ranging from alcohol to food, can be cured through the seemingly progressive but expensive institution of "going to rehab." Pack the prince/princess or oneself off to those 28-day stays and the light will be turned on.  The once-addicted will live happily ever after. The monsters of the mind have been slayed.

That's the mythology.  The reality is presented in the book "Inside Rehab" by Anne M. Fletcher.  The author previously published "Sober For Good."  Her research for this book included staying in more than 10 rehabs.

Essentially, "going to rehab" means bcoming a consumer of a largely unregulated industry whose methodologies are unproven and success rate frequently not measured.  Yet since science and society know so little about the causes and "cures" for the chronic disease of addiction, the industry continues to thrive.  That could be easily changed if Congress, insurance companies, and employers demand transparency about approaches and outcomes.

One theme in "Inside Rehab" is the high relapse rate of rehab alumni, although each stay might cost from $28,000 to $40,000.  Often alumni return to the same rehab several times.  Those of us in 12-step programs, which cost nothing but also have no hard data on outcomes, hear constantly tales of those multiple stays, without results, that is long-term sobriety or being free from all addictive substances.  The tragedy of that is the illusion of help. 

Since lawyers have a higher than average rate of addiction they might, through their trade associations, push to get some answers about this approach which might have promised them and their colleagues a second chance and hasn't yet delivered.

Reputation Rehabilitation: Easier for politicos than lawyers

Former elected leaders Anthony Weiner and Mark Sanford, reports POLITICO, are trying for comebacks. They will probably pull those off.  It is simply easier for politicos to make it back than it is for disgraced lawyers.

Politics requires the ability to raise money and get votes.  End of story.  If the politico who has fallen from grace can do that than that's that.  However, in the field of law, where so many lawyers are getting nailed for embezzlement or not paying their taxes, a license is involved. 

Getting that license in the first place demanded evidence of high character.  For example, former NEW REPUBLIC journalist Stephen Glass, who was found to make up stories, wasn't admitted to the bar in New York or California.  He is appealing the second turn-down.  Those following that chronicle wonder why in the world he studied for law when he knew that in order to practice it he would have to be admitted to the bar.

Disgraced lawyers, especially those who serve prison time, could come back in another line of work.  The classic example of that was former Special Counsel to President Richard Nixon Chuck Colson who received his law degree from George Washington University.  In prison he found spirituality and went on to become a famous religious evangelist.

Given the 24/7 media cycle and the fierce competition for traffic, likes, shares, comments, and tweets, a professional's misdeeds or even stupid moves become public property quickly. That's the new normal.  So, another bit of emerging new normal has been the art of reputation rehabilitation.  The rules for that are different for each line of work.

Alcoholics Anonymous: Membership benefits

Last week at a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous in central Connecticut several lawyers discussed the fraternal benefits of the 12-step recovery program. 

For example, when his father died 18 months ago, members of AA circled the block waiting to get into the funeral home in North Haven, CT.  The other lawyer, now retired, let the group know that the fellowship picked him and carried him, metaphorically, when he had to put his spouse in a nursing home (shades of the French film "Amour.")

As many know, the legal career path has more than the average share of problem drinkers.  Once they find their way into AA they often find more than the tools to stop drinking. The surprise is friendship. 

Membership also has more mundane benefits like networking with unusually successful people.  One lawyer in Greenwich, CT who wanted out of practicing law made the contacts to enter politics as a ghostwriter/speechwriter.  There is also the probability of romance since the crash that comes with alcoholism includes losing a marriage. COSMO used to recommend that single women attend AA meetings in affluent areas like Greenwich to find a deep pocket to spend the rest of her life with. It often worked.

Given that we human beings are social animals, it's to be expected that AA functions much like the Royal Society of the Moose or the Polish Veterans of World War II to help us become whole.