Law And More

Lawyers, Law Students, Legal Writers - Our Edge in Life, Work

"I'm a JD from the Class of 2009. Can you spare me enough to learn coding."

The foundation of capitalism is the protection of private property. That means a gigantic infrastructure of law and plenty of litigation.

Given that way of the world lawyers, law student and legal writers have an edge in life and in our work. We might never get wealthy, financially comfortable or even able to keep a roof over our heads.

But we can use our knowledge of law and skills in presenting quasi legal arguments as tools to manage public nuisances, enemies and jerks in our professional lives.  No wonder some landlords don't like to rent to lawyers. 

An organization I shouldn't have hooked up with raised questions about how I approached an assignment. No, I didn't argue. In a transmittal note, in which I included the URL for this blog (it was aware I had attended Harvard Law School), I indicated that the new set of directions should have been provided at the get-go. I requested a kill fee of half the original amount. That was that. I got the original amount.

A neighbor piled on me, in the presence of another person (potential witness) the urgency that I accept Christ into my daily life. Steam is coming out of my ears.  While I plan my push-back, though, I know I have the upper hand. The law is on my side. 

Of course, I still feel foolish having fallen in love with law way back when. Had I not done that I might be rich today. That's because I would never have lost time preparing for the LSAT, relocating to Cambridge to find out I didn't want to study law, and then trying to sort all that out for decades. Instead I would have been ghostwriting compulsively for "captains of industry," as they used to be called.

But, hell, let's salvage what we can from the pickle we got ourselves into.

 

Lobbying - A Game in Transition Presents Opportunities for Well-connected Lawyers

Old-school lobbying is dying.  That could provide an opening for well-connected lawyers who have deep expertise in one issue such as tech policy or defense. As Byron Tau observes in Politico:

"The biggest [lobbying] firms are facing increasing competition from upstarts, breakaways and boutique lobbying shops ... [Lobbying] has become increasingly crowded with public affairs shops, digital firms and grassroots experts all promising different approaches ..." Here is that Politico coverage of how K Street is losing power and revenue. 

One of those approaches is to have down cold one field. Patton Boggs might have been too much of a generalist. Media report that it is attempting to hire one-issue talent who will operate as a one-man band. 

Politco notes that overall lobbying revenues have been plummeting since 2010. Between 2010 and 2011, they were down $220 million.  Between 2011 and 2012 they declined another $20 million. And between 2012 and 2013, they were down another $8 million.

Where there is a world of pain there can be opportunity for those, as Politico has picked up, with "different approaches."

Likely Not For (Most) JD Students - MBA Straight Students Show Up at Gay Job Recruitment Events

One of the popular articles on Bloomberg Business Week is by Cory Weinberg. It captures the desperation in the current job market: Straight MBA students are finding their way into Gay Job Recruitment events. Here is that coverage. 

Hell, any tactic is worth a try. But for most JD students this particular one likely isn't too promising. Sure, there are jobs available within the gay niche. Some of them might pay well. But not as well as those positions in BigLaw.

Essentially BigLaw remains a monolith. Its ethos is conservative. In return for total conformity to its values and behaviors, it provides newbies excellent training, a superior entry-level salary and high-profile assignments. 

Those JD students not interested in BigLaw might check out any gay job fairs. In my profession of communications, there is a surge of opportunities in the gay niche. Those range from editing Out Magazine to creating fundraising materials. You bet, I apply. So far, no assignments. I don't think not being gay has anything to do with that. As in business and law, in communications there's a glut of talent. 

JD Class of '14, Jobless Former Associates, Booted Partners - Is Job Hunting in NY, San Jose or Even Bridgeport, CT the Problem?

Yes, the great compensation for jobs and even contract assignments happens in locations like New York and San Jose.  No wonder so many newbie JDs and displaced associates and partners are determined to hang out there and search for work. 

And while you are doing so, you have to pony up the extreme cost of living. At the top of the list for that is the price for keeping a roof over your head.  

In CityLab, Richard Florida (famous for coining the phrase "the creative class") documents how expensive all that is. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis's Regional Price Parities, as interpreted by Jose Lobo of Arizona State, New York, San Jose and even New York bedroom community Bridgeport, Connecticut are outliers in what housing rips from your pocket. Here is the coverage.

On the one hand, there is a school of thought which mandates that you remain in those kinds of locations to have access to opportunity.  But there is also another emerging line of thought. It is that the stress of struggling to make ends meet can impede your selling skills. Desperate, you don't pitch from a position of strength. 

I know. As an experiment I uprooted myself from my base just outside of Bridgeport to try my luck in the less expensive Southwest.

Here in Tucson, Arizona, my housing costs half what it did in CT. My car insurance is also half. Gasoline is about 60-cents less a gallon. An emergency visit to the vet on a Sunday was $80, not the expected $250.

Without the wolf howling at the door, I have been able to approach marketing and sales in a calm manner. No surprise, the results have been awesome. Finally, after two professional catastrophes in the 21st century, I am financially secure again. That hppened in three months. I arrived here on April 14, 2014.

Yes, I am back to selecting my clients.  I no longer can be bullied into accepting peanuts as a fee. Again, I am trusting my gut instead of frantically researching what the "experts" pontificate about running a business.

Of course, I recognize how difficult it is to give up on the shot at the big big money. However, sometimes a bit more than enough money is quite enough.

Online Consumer Activism - Generates Results Faster than Regulatory Process

In food, the online consumer revolt started with one former corporate lawyer Bethtina Siegel. As a mom of two and a blogger she was able to get the ball rolling on banning Pink Slime or LFTB (lean textured beef) from ground beef products.

Her target was school lunch programs overseen by the Agriculture Department, explains Helena Bottemiller Evich in Politico. Here is that article.

The logistics included a petition, posted on Change.org. It asked the the Agriculture Department to stop including LFTB in school lunches. About 260,000 people signed.  The mission got accomplished. And that was probably faster than any official regulatory agency could have pulled it off. 

Soon enough there were lots more online initiatives directed at food and beverages. Then it spread to other categories such as financial services. 

Should the regulatory infrastructure in the U.S. feel threatened? Not really. It does more than make the rules. It also enforces them. Formal official watchdogs will likely always be needed. 

SCOTUS Birth Control Ruling - NY Trying Way Around That

The U.S. Senate bill to over-rule the U.S. Supreme Court's decision about employer-provided birth control tanked.

That means, at least for now, there will be no Ledbetter-like federal legislation to nullify the ruling. As you may recall, Congress created the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in response to SCOTUS' decision that employees had only a very brief period of time to report wage discrimination. 

Now  there is a different kind of move to push back on Hobby Lobby. It's on the state level.

As Bloomberg reports, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and state Senate Democratic Conference leader leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins are trying something else.

They want legislation which would make it a law for employers to inform employees about contraception coverage benefits. And they can't change that coverage for 90 days. That would be called the Reproductive Rights Disclosure Act.  Here are the details from Bloomberg. 

If that happens both Schneiderman and Stewart-Cousins will be superheroes. The Act could become the model for other state-level legislation to over-ride the SCOTUS decision in Hobby Lobby. 

Women are very important in the midterm elections this fall. 

Dominick Dunne: Father of Courtroom Blogging, Tweeting

Gossipy, theatrical, opinionated, personal. That was how the late Dominick Dunne captured what went on in courtrooms.  Despite the reality that he was an old print guy, he introduced the conventions which would become part of trial blogging and tweeting. 

Before Dunne, courtroom reporting was fairly dry. Intuitively he knew that he could grab and keep eyeballs if he mentioned who sat next to whom, who talked with whom on breaks, and who avoided eye contact with whom. 

He also developed diverse sources. Through them he filled out what was happening in the courtroom. X, for example, would give him background information on the plaintiff which wasn't widely known. He bashed through the supposed code of objectivity by sharing his feelings about the players.  For instance, he noted that he looked into the eyes of the defendant and saw evil. You bet, Dunne took on the role of the Greek Chorus.

No surprise, the media gave his legal-oriented work big play. Vanity Fair assigned him to the high-profile trials. If it hadn't readers would have rebelled. 

For years I had been following Dunne. So, when I blogged the lead paint litigation I already had the template. Gossipy, theatrical, opinionated, personal. 

Corruption: Truly shocked that exists in China Communist Party et al. (e.g. Wall Street)

Many of us may be truly shocked.  The China Communist Party has admitted that there is corruption in the ranks of those 87 million. Some miscreants will do just about anything to get a promotion.  Here is the coverage in Bloomberg Business Week.

And, we were equally shocked to find out in the lawsuit against Goldman Sachs that a boy's club exists.  Horrors. The members go to strip clubs.

There were also the more than 80 nailed for insider trading.  Unbelievable that for a lot of money anyone would give over non-public information that could result in trading gains or preventing losses.

Perhaps we will be less taken aback if we frame corruption the way some in the Manhattan restaurant industry view rats. If those rodets stay in the basement and don't join those diners, things are just fine. Keeping the lid on corruption is about the best we can expect from mankind. Greek tragedy, Shakespeare's histories and "Breaking Bad" played out the shadow side in the best and worst of human kind.

Divorce Lawyers: Satisfied Clients = Magnets For New Business

The syndrome is nicknamed "copycat divorces." The understanding is that divorce is, well, contagious.

The more scientific understanding of that comes from joint research in April 2014 by Brown University, Yale University and the University of California. They found, reports Annie Daly in the New York Post, that people are 75 percent more likely to seek a divorce if at least one person in their circle is divorced. Here is the NYP coverage.

Astute divorce lawyers probably already know this. It's in their self interest to help their clients through the process and come out on the other side satisfied. All the better if they are beaming with new-found happiness. They can become magnets for new business.  It could be a downright closer if lawyers decide to join the social hangouts their divorced clients frequent. 

When in a new situation, such as a divorce, people tend to ask members of their inner circle who have experience with that legal matter, for a referral.  Likely the happily divorced will gush about their lawyer. What an opportunity for lawyers to be right-on-hand as people decide they want some details about the ins-and-outs of divorce.

Stephen Glass Folly: Passion for Law Not Enough

Stephen Glass in not alone in pursuing a career practicing law after a track record for behavior which makes state bars reject them for membership.  As we know, those institutions look for evidence of good character.

For Glass, what prevented him from being admitted to both the New York and California bars was his breach of journalistic ethics at The New Republic. He fabricated about half his stories. Here is one version of his saga.

Of course, miscreants have comebacks all the time. That's even if they had served time in prison. The classic example is Watergate player Chuck Colson. His next career was being a minister.  That worked out spendidly.

The folly of the Glass attempted Next was choosing a path which mandated the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval for solid character. The puzzle is that he invested so much time and money in this. He attended Georgetown Law School and studied for and passed the bar exam in two states. He could have taken paths that made more sense.  Those range from studying coding to becoming a certified career coach helping others who also fell from grace.

This is an issue because others, whose track record mitigates against being permitted into the bar, also become determined that they will practice law. They may or may not persuade the bar to admit them. I know one Millennial who finished his first year. He became fascinated with law during his own encounters with it while abusing substances. Yes, there is a record of that, a long one. Of course, he drags around angst about the bar's giving him the thumbs down like a bad of rotting fruit.

He is good looking, with excellent social skills. He could have gone the sales route. He could have gone for a degree in social work to counsel substance abusers. He could have started a small business. 

Passion for any field, including law, is not enough justification to invest in it if the odds of success are against us. That's plain folly in this era in which education and training are so expensive and there's a glut of talent in most disciplines.