Law And More

Leg Up

Laura Ellsworth is Jones Day Managing Partner in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania branch.  There are many of us who observed her performance during the Rhode Island lead paint public nuisance litigation on the subject of IQ. The RI Supreme Court eventually tossed that lawsuit.  

In addition, we observed Ellsworth fighting the good fight post-litigation for the plaintiff to reimburse the defendants, including her client Sherwin-Williams, for certain administrative expenses when the Special Master was prematurely assessing remediation costs.  Her side won that one too.  That nicely opened the door for defendants to request reimbursement of other expenses they incurred during the nine years of that awful litigation.

No question, Ellsworth is a top-of-the-line legal strategist and courtroom trial attorney.  But she may also have a leg up on other lawyers in another way.  She has great legs.  Perhaps she is aware of this asset.  In the dead of winter she delivered her presentation on IQ and wore open-backed high-heel shoes.  Throughout her testimony, plaintiff witness Dr. Patricia Nolan wore sensible shoes.  She also wore a non-feathered hairdo.  Defense attorneys did not hesitate to hammer her. 

Good legs, that is, long ones in which the calf muscle shows in contours when high heels are worn can and do assist a woman's career.  It was Princess Di's long legs which caught the eye of Prince Charles.  And, as JoAnne Lipman admits in her THE NEW YORK TIMES piece, it was her own legs which caught the eyes of those in the Manhattan media who could help her.  She positions that good fortune as a terrible flaw in our culture. On Gawker, Foster Kamer takes her on about that rant.

Both my sisters the late Camille Klinga and the still-going-strong Anne Murga have had good legs.  The former's were long enough, at least for an Italian-American.  The latter's were attractive, although not long.  That gift from nature served them well.  All my career I longed for the opportunity to trade 20 points or more of my supposed genius IQ for 10 more inches of leg.  That would bring me to 5'10", plus I could pile on more height with those 6" heels.  That would give me a long career runway in which I wouldn't have to work so hard, be so imaginative, and get so upset when the gals with the great legs get the plum assignments.

Not having a leg up led to my first novel "The Fat Guy From Greenwich."  The victim is female and five feet.  Here are the first two chapters Download FGFGchapters1,2.  The book will be published in early winter.

Father of American Pragmatism Was a Woman - More Female Lawyers Might Heed Her

White-trash Helen Gurley Brown put together a unique but simple form of pragmatism - and one which more female attorneys might heed.  It was based on assessing and improving a bit on our strengths and then leveraging them against others's weaknesses. Ideology had no place in it. The rules must be followed exactly.  Rielle Hunter didn't.  She fell in love with John Edwards, instead of just using his vulnerability and narcissism for power over him and perhaps some needed money. Jackie Kennedy Onassis was a more astute player.  She seemed to never fall in love.  She always achieved her goal: More money, a temporary fix for her insecurity. 

In ATLANTIC, Caitlin Flanagan deconstructs this system of going after what we want, getting it, and never looking back.   Brown actually invented it for the working classes. But, as we see with Jackie O, it's universally applicable.  Female attorneys who study The Brown Method might become clearer about what they really want and then have the singlemindedness - hold the ideology - to go for it.  It could be partner, work/balance, making a difference, or even revenge.  The Brown System allows for myriad goals, without judgment. 

What seems to hold back intelligent, educated women such as those who embrace the legal profession is the lack of pragmatism.  Females might be hardwired to be distracted by what society, well-intentioned mothers/mentors, and our hormones tell us is "right." After all, we're responsible for the next generation.  Brown gives us permission to bypass all that biological ought, carve out our strategy, and methodically and unemotionally execute it.

The Constitution Needs Popularizer like Carl Sagan

David Souter seems to be taking on the role of preserver of the U.S. Constitution and its mandate for an independent judiciary.  Today, the retired Supreme Court Justice decried in a speech at the ABA that fewer and fewer understand the basic concepts of how the branches of government work, why they operate that way, the embedded ambiguity, and why it's important to respect and defend that structure.  Unlike current generations, his had all that down cold by ninth grade.

Most of us know Souter is right and is heading off ignoring the strengths in our system and therefore rendering it vulnerable to those with ideological and profit agendas.  When I was in the New Haven Public Library, college and even graduate students there couldn't tell me where generally the books on the constitution might be.  That didn't bother them a bit. 

Could a book on the constitution morph into a best-seller?  You bet.  That could and would happen if the subject finds its popularizer the way science, with its astronomy niche, found Carl Sagan.  Who would have assumed that science could be rendered accessible and compelling?  So can the constitution.  Incidentally, I was monitoring in a courtroom a discussion among plaintiff and defense attorneys with a judge, without the jury.  The issue was nexus.  I was captivated.  Some law students asked me if the dialogue was worth observing.  I gushed yes. In about four minutes they cleared out.

When Life Intervenes ... Tragedy at LA Law School

I and the readers of this blog join with the rest of the legal community to express sadness about the murder of Lily Burk. 

The daughter of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck partner Deborah Drooz, Burk was abducted near the campus of Southwestern Law School in the Los Angeles area.  At the time she was running an errand for her mother, a summer adjunct at the law school.  Her beaten body was found the next day.  A suspect has been arrested.

Those of us who still have our lives intact and our love ones safe need to be grateful.  We can aso share our strength and hope with others.

Jeffrey Toobin et al. made cottage industry of unmasking US SC mystique

The selling of information and gossip about the U.S. Supreme Court probably peaked when Congress over-rode the High Court's ruling in Ledbetter.  The power is not there, we saw played out, or wasn't what it used to be.  Deconstructing power is what makes for a marketable read.

So, Jeffrey Toobin et al. [Woodward] probably have to find a new cottage industry.  After reading Toobin's "The Nine," I concluded that was enough insight I needed into the operations, kindnesses, and self-absorption of that institution.  It's speculated that the confirmation hearings on the U.S. SC candidate will no longer be of great interest to the American public.  Again, we know, there are ways around those Nine. 

What can Toobin develop in the way of a new enterprise?  Employment law.  There's a revolution going on.  I don't want to miss one aspect of it.

We're the Chinese Gen - Jobless American Everyman/Everywoman, Flag down a plane and get to Beijing

Likely the exodus of the U.S. Creative and Professional Classes to China will begin with us print-media folks. After that, lawyers, medical doctors, business executives will all be flagging down a plane to seek out work in that fast-growing economy. 

Evidence of that?  Legal hustler Bill Marler of Marler Clark, which specializes in food-borne diseases, has been in Beijing several times recently providing presentations on the U.S. system of strict product liability law.  Probably no coincidence, Marler was right in the thick of things during the milk contamination crisis.  On his blog, Marler frequently compares the two legal systems.

Media developments aren't a level playing playing field. As Evan Osnos explains in his article "The Forbidden Zone" in the July 20, 2009 edition of THE NEW YORKER, whereas print has peaked and is on its way to dead in the U.S., it's just emerging in China - and rapidly growing in influence and power.  One example is CAIJING, headed by the politically savvy Hu Shuli.  She have developed a sixth sense about how far and deep to push a story and if and when to publish it.

Next could be opportunities for those who understand both law and how to be a change agent.  After the infant-formula crisis, all eyes have turned to how business in China is regulated and when crimes are allegedly committed, how the suspects are tried and punished.  China has the death penalty for white-collar crimes.

How to get a toe in the water?  The easiest way is to go to Craigslist and analyze the listings in all categories for China.  The money isn't great but the experience could be priceless. Let's face it: Our next boss, client, customer will be Chinese.  In fact, already the lion's share of my communications assignments are coming from outside the U.S.

Baby, It's Cold Outside: HLS warned students in spring

Career services at Harvard Law School flagged students last Spring about the chill in the market.  Since then, of course, things have kept deteriorating. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, for instance, canceled the 2010 summer program.  Associate salaries have been cut.  New hires's start date deferred.  And, although the pace of layoffs has slowed, they could pick up again in the fall.

HLS's advice to students essentially represents common sense.  As Rachel Breitman reports in THE AMERICAN LAWYER, students are being told to "cast a wider net" geographically, including internationally.  However, legal recruiters warn them not to apply where they don't want to wind up practicing law.

Trend watchers predict that the demand for unseasoned lawyers will not improve when the economy recovers but continue to decline.  Clients are balking at both having new associates manning their accounts and paying for that.  In this Catch-22 situation - if you don't have experience you can't get a job and few firms will provide that experience any more- only the clever, well-connected, and tightly niche-oriented might be able to land entry-level positions.

"I'd try to find a 'hook,'" Max, in FROM THE BREADLINE Interview on Job-Hunting

Max is not his real name.  In her interview with an attorney who had been unemployed for four months, Roxana St. Thomas masks his identity.  Despite how widespread joblessness is, particularly in the legal profession, this lawyer who's currently employed felt shame about being out of work.  This interview, which appears on "Notes from the Breadline" in Abovethelaw.com, captures not only the range of emotions job-hunters cycle through but also explains effective tactics.

Max seems to be the Everyman/Everywoman of the Economic Depression of '08-'09.  In addition to the shame, he mirrors our magical thinking that "this is it, this is going to end this nightmare," the frustration with the slowness of the process, shock about how hard it is, the ego-involvement which blinded him to figuring out what was on employers's minds and how to tune in, and the hurt of being treated unprofessionally.  Max bears witness to our own pain.  Although self-employed, I endured all of this and haven't emerged un-scarred.  Yeah, it really is the end of professional innnocence.

Through trial and error, Max discovers that in order to get the attention from those with the power to give him work and that the attention be the right kind, he'd "try to find a 'hook' of some kind - an article, a recent decision or development I could mention in a note." No discovery could be more useful, both to job-hunters and new-business developers. 

In selling, of all kinds, the hook has become imperative.  There is no such entity any more of the "cold call" or even the "warmed-over" call.  There are only good, better, and best hooks.  I never approach a prospect, remind a client I'm still here, blog/tweet, pitch media for a placement or request a favor without a hook.  Learning that has been the most important rite of passage for me in economic survival.

The art of The Hook involves matching what those we're approaching perceive as valuable with what we can provide.  A useful analogy is Santa Clause depositing the age-appropriate longed-for gifts in the right houses on his route.  

As with all crafts, with The Hook there is a practice curve.  Getting it all wrong is humiliating and a confidence-setback.  Fortunately, the marketplace is increasingly decentralized.  The wrong hook I might have used with X Public Relations firm doesn't finish me off.  For about six months, I just need to keep my distance from the scene of the catastrophe and those in that network.

Either my The Hook is improving and/or the economy is unfreezing.  But there's been a dramatic pick-up in new business.

GM's Shareholders R Us - All Our Eyes Turn to Julie Roehm

It's a governance issue.  A textbook case from The Corporate Library.  Also, it's potentially a class-action lawsuit matter. After all, the lion's share of GM shareholders are the American taxpayers.  So, the company, newly emerged from bankruptcy, better:

• Take smart risks [In Black-Swan economy, the lethal risk is no risk]

• Tell us about every one of them [Transparency]

• Do immediate course correction [Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Kanter has lots of insight about that in "Confidence: How Winning Streaks & Losing Streaks Begin & End"] and then inform us immediately regarding that [Transparency, again.]

No fool, or more accurately no longer a fool, GM knows all this.  So does every other player, major and minor, in the global auto industry.  Market share, profitability, brand-power are again all in play.  With GM a presence, everything can change.  Executives and their boards at Toyota, Hyundai, Ford et al. are likely huddled around their conference rooms re-thinking strategy and tactics. 

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German marketing professor Manfred Bruhn issued a manifesto in 2006.  In his book "Guide to Integrated Communication," Bruhn said competition among global companies is not about products or services.  It's about marketing communications."

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An expatriate from the auto industry [both a GM, Chrysler alumnus], I have a hunch the name Julie Roehm is coming up a lot in auto headquarters around the world. Roehm is the marketing wizard who helped staid Detroit cast a spell on the youth market segment.  She made, for example, the Ford Focus cool.

Will a global bidding war break out to get Roehm as a consultant or full-time?  A much-smarter-now GM might be among those Roehm suitors.

A Guy & A Gimmick - New York Story for those 4,015 lawyers axed so far in 2009

The way LAW SHUCKS tallies the bodies, 4,015 lawyers have been cut so far in 2009.  And, although as John Bringardner reports in LEGAL BLOG WATCH the number of layoffs is lessening recently, many more attorneys will lose their jobs before the business of law can align itself with current realities.

The time for denial is over.  Making a living, including getting a job or starting a business not practicing law, calls for nonlinear approaches.  Here in the New York Metro area we call that "a gimmick."

When he was 38, Long Island resident Robert Suchan was down-and-out.  He knew he had nothing to lose.  So he got himself a Tupperware kit and a big dress, big shoes, big eyelashes and a big yenta personality.  Today he is the top-selling Tupperware party-giver.  And what a party he gives.  One attendee observed, "It's like bringing Off Broadway right into my living room.

Suchan does five parties a week.  He's booked way into 2010.