Law And More

Brian Schroeder - Sounds like a recruit for FOBs [Friends of Bill]

The spell that seemingly fell over Brian Schroeder, Harvard Law School alumni, seems to be cast by demon booze.  Alcohol seemed to change his personality from associate at a Manhattan law firm to vicious, disrespectful arsonist.  FOBs [Friends of Bill] might invite him to a 12-step meeting.

Legal Mystery

Which defense lawyer or lawyers came up with the strategy and/or pushed it not to present a case at the Rhode island lead paint public nuisance trial II?

The Dirty Little Secret: Money or Power

Sure, it's possible for a cunning/talented player to achieve and hold onto both: Money and power.  Just look at Michael Moore and Matt Drudge.  But, then again, think about how neither started out with wealth or probably even having it as a goal.  My theory is that in 2009, it's necessary to choose one and if the other happens, that's an unintended consequence.

Cases in point:  Sarah Palin will have to strategically decide if she is going to go after money or power.  In seeming to attempt to acquire both she could lose both.  She's emblematic of too many conservatives who are losing power because they also want to hold on to their wealth. 

Nothing wrong with watching the money but in the emerging influence game the focus can't be on the money.  It has to embrace the risk-taking necessary to be heard, to be taken seriously, and to reach beyond one's own network.  Special interests representing the monied - e.g. the U.S. Chamber of Commerce - are having the stuffings beat out of them by those who don't care much about wealth, e.g. the environmentalists, the humor crowd, and those who have nothing to lose because they already lost just about everything.  Regarding the latter, there's an old police adage that the most dangerous person in a situation is the one who just doesn't care.

Former Wonkette Ana Marie Cox, who endures beyond the first web wave, earned about $20,000 in her first job and it didn't provide benefits.  She still doesn't seem to care all that much about money.  On Twitter,she has more than 1.2 million followers.  And many of us followers are flaming THE ECONOMIST and its acquisition CQ for laying off her husband.  Now, that's power.

Law, as mature industry, needs its Cirque du Soleil

Cirque du Soleil is recession-proof and its founder is one of the most wealthy business people.  That's because it took a mature category - the circus - and put something new there.  It didn't just make it more efficient, something that law-firm consultants have been recommending [see Abovethelaw.com's coverage of the NALP Conference.]

This concept of exiting the bloody competition of mature industries like law and putting out there something fresh and unique went mainstream in 2005.  That was with the breakthrough book "Blue Ocean Strategy: How to create uncontested market space and make the competition irrelevant."  Management consultants W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne were the authors.  A sign of how ossified the legal business is, five years later there remains little but bloody competition.  Yeah, some attorneys are fleeing BigBox Skadden but it remains to be seen if a type of Crique du Soleil will eventually happen.

Can the legal profession, with its history of prestige, WASPy code of decorum [Download SavingSoulsJaneGenova], opportunity to make a comfortable living [for more than that, better to have entered investment banking, at least back then], and lack of imagination, remake the space it is stuck in? 

My hunch is that it hasn't suffered enough, at least not enough across-the-board.  That's what it took for Hillary Clinton [heathcare-reform disaster, losing presidential bid], Steve Jobs [run out of his own company], Andrew Cuomo [out there in political wilderness] and Larry Summers [booted out of Harvard] to dare to become unstuck. Can a 180 be set in play and executed without a bottom?  It ain't gonna happen Download Geezerguts.

The good news is that a bottom is perceptual.  When an organization or individual declares "basta" [Italian for "enough"] and won't endure that kind of commercial pain, it can unleash its Midas Touch.  

Yeah, it is THAT bad - Coming back from jobless wilderness is all about tone

Yeah, it is THAT bad.  Thompson Hine just added 12 more associate positions to the body count, along with salary cuts.  And, Anna Prior at THE WALL STREET JOURNAL instructs us how to prepare for "an extended period of joblessness."  No one dares to predict when this economic crisis will end. In fact, a growing number of the Fortune 500 have eliminated quarterly earnings estimates because of the uncertainty, explains global advisory firm The Dilenschneider Group in its trend report Download WorldinCrisisLookstoaNewEra.

So, how can those in the jobless wilderness find a way back to working?  It seems to be boiling down to tone.  Those who have or get down cold the only effective tone - self-assured but humble - are bouncing back from unemployment as well as hanging on to their jobs and businesses.  Tone has become everything because the wrong tone scares/annoys those who sign the checks at a time when they can't handle any more on their professional plate than is already there. 

This isn't new.  Executive coach Marshall Goldstein has been preaching this message to the brass for decades.  The sin that keeps those who fall from grace or are about to in that professional desert, writes Goldstein in his 2007 book "What Got You Here Won't Get you There" is this: "Being perceived as arrogant, inattentive, rude and unfoundedly omniscient."  In the mid 1930s, granddaddy of public speaking Dale Carnegie codified that same universal truth in "How to Win Friends and Influence People."  Incidentally, Carnegie learned this as most of us currently are.  That is, through failure.

How to adjust tone to the times?  Here are some recommendations from the e-book that's had more than a million downloads Download SavingSoulsJaneGenova:

• Do a 180 - shifting attention from ourselves to the needs and wants of prospects, clients, customers, employers, first-line supervisor.  Tip: Make them believe what we are providing will make them whole - and feel safe.

• Reframe a "no" into "something more to learn about pitching."  This is a Learn-and-Earn economy.  Our tone will reflect this hunger to use all experience as a teacher. 

• Slow down.  This is the era of slow success.  That's primarily because we all have to invest more time, energy, and out-of-the-box thinking into going after whatever.  The speeded-up scare others who are also finding they gotta take it slow.

• Communicate gratitude, such as "I really appreciate your giving me this 10 minutes to let you know about our NetBook."  Maybe the mantra of 2009 might be: A grateful soul will never go hungry.

For those of us who might require some remedial work in Emotional Intelligence [EI], here is an e-book which also has received more than a million downloads Download CUsersjasneDocumentsjg.

The Patron Saint of Tonal Change is Andrew Cuomo, current Attorney General of the state of New York.  

"Positioning/Packaging Law" - That's how we will now refer to "legal writing"

Face it, the very term "legal writing" and its low status in all food chains telegraph to law schools not to bother too much with it.  The result is that students frequently emerge with their JD, unable to organize and word an effective motion or a transactional document.

In the LEGAL BLOG WATCH, Carolyn Elefant has a second post on this problem and it's the second time she fingers digital communications as eroding the quality and importance of legal writing.  I strongly disagree and so would a number of communications experts who use digital tools. 

In fact, in his public relations handbook coming out in March, published by the American Management Association, communicatons expert Bob Dilenschneider correlates writing skill with ability to attract links and have messages resonate on the web.  In an exclusive pre-publication interview with Dilenschneider, he returned to old-fashioned definition of writing as a manifestation of thought.  When we are thinking strategically, we will organize the content of the manuscript well, select the most persuasive arguments, and use language to make a point.

Then why is writing devalued in law school?  Answer: As a stand-alone discipline it has a non-image - as opposed to the discipline of, say, case strategy or argumentation.  If we renamed the entity in terms of marketing language such as "positioning" and/or "packaging" law, its value would increase.  And at the end of the day, that's exactly what writing is: The positioning and packaging of aspects of law.  With the exception of trial attorneys, most of law happens in writing.

There's more.  Writing needs to be redefined in terms of money.  Law is a business in a capitalist society.  What counts is signaled by how much is its value in monetary terms.  The writing seminar should be premium-priced.  After all, writing can make or break an argument.  Moreover, sloppy writing can result in malpractice.  In law school, law firms, government, and professional associations there should be presitigous monetary awards for effective legal writing.  Fellowships should be available for seasoned attorneys to study advanced legal writing as well as writing approaches in comparative legal systems.

Third, it's not been outed yet that the prominent brandnames in law are adept writers or those shrewd enough to use adept ghostwriters.  We praise their legal minds.  What we are really saluting is their ability to present those thoughts in print or digital form. 

How to start writing well? Start thinking more. 

Books that will help?  Two of the best are "The Elements of Style" by William Strunk and E.B. White and "The Elements of Copywriting" by   Gary Blake and Robert W. Bly.

Useful models?  Motions, holdings and so on which have become iconic.

10 Stupid Job-Seeking Tips from THE NATIONAL LAW JOURNAL

Has the upheaval in the once-staid legal profession caused THE NATIONAL LAW JOURNAL to be struck stupid?  It seems that way.

In the article "10 Resolutions of Job-Seeking Success," William Chamberlain provides uber platitudes in THE NATIONAL LAW JOURNAL [subscription required but clip available on Law.com.]  Do you really want to read them? Oh, okay, here are the 10 stupid tips:

1. Be persistent
2. Be creative
3. Be optimistic
4. Be patient
5. Be flexible
6. Be a good listener
7. Help others with (non-legal) issues in their lives
8. Use your analytical problem-solving skills
9. Establish and maintain connections
10. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, take care of yourself.

All this leaves us with a question: Was this a joke?

The Dreier Affair - "We are all insane," Dr. Reid, "Criminal Minds"

"We are all insane."  That's Dr. Spencer Reid's voice-over on "Criminal Minds." He's quoting some philosopher.  The Dreier Affair confirms that observation, doesn't it. 

No question, the astounding tale of alleged impersonation, alleged pawning of bogus securities to two hedge funds, etc. will soon be a book and a film.  Which first is the only issue.

That's nothing new.  Even before the Masters of the Universe really acted up, there were multiple books and movies.

What might be new is that this respected lawyer's activities might have provided the tipping point for us to conclude that, yes, we are all insane, only in different ways and with different timing.  Just too many people with seemingly too much to lose have unraveled just a little before Marc S. Dreier seemed to.  Those might include:

• Eliot Spitzer, former New York Gov
• Marc Dann, former Ohio Attorney General
• Motley Rice attorneys Jack McConnell, Bob McConnell and Fidelma Fitzpatrick who contended in THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL, after the RI Supreme Court overturned the verdict against the defendants, that a grave injustice had occurred.  Just read the RI SC ruling Download Statev.LeadIndustriesAssoc.,Inc.
• John McCain, calling off his campaign for a few days to attend to the national interest.
• Robert Lutz, GM top design guru, asserting on CNBC that his boss Rick Wagoner is a "sacrificial lamb."  Who believes him?  Who cares?

• Sam Zell, who bought a newspaper.

Observation: Given that we are all insane, isn't the bar associations's concern about mental illness among applicants irrelevant?  Perhaps that concern should be reframed to: How insane?

Vant to be/work alone - Try putting that on law school/law firm app

The dirty little secret in this gregarious U.S. of A. and our team-oriented jobs is that there is a type - usually a highly creative, productive one - who is geared to be and work alone.  But just try putting that on a law school or law firm app.  Only a star such as Greta Garbo could get away admitting that need and to demand it.

It's an old book - published in 1988 - that explains this type, how we came to be [part genetic, part childhood experiences], and the game-changing results we produce when, yeah, left alone in life and work. The book is "Solitude."  It's by British psychiatrist Anthony Storr. 

Chapter I "The Significant of Human Relationships" starts out documenting that this force-fitting us into groups and even meaningful one-on-one pairings is relatively new.  It wasn't always that way.  In fact, Storr points out, "Earlier generations would not have rated human relationships so highly."  That's because they were too busy trying to survive.  Relationships were only of value in a pragmatic sense, e.g. the tribe as necessary protection against predators, marriage as division of labor.

And soon enough, as this global downturn deepens, we may be there again. The good news may be that as long as we don't behave too weird and we produce outstanding results for our employers, clients, or customers, we will be let off the relating hook.  Those who pay us will be in too much of a sweat to stick with conventional notions of how professionals should comport themselves.

If this good news doesn't occur?  Then we have to earn the right to be left alone.  I served some hard time in the Fortune 500 learning communications skills and how organizations operate.  It was only then that I could say good-bye to meetings, lunches, and teaming and open my own shop.  Every day I thank the universe I don't have to hear about co-workers's weekends and the manager's pressures.

Squire Sanders, et al. - What if you're among those advised to "explore opportunities elsewhere?"

There's an opportunity or maybe even plenty of them in this mandate to "explore opportunities elsewhere." 

The trick, just like the pony Ronald Reagan always assumed was concealed in the manure, is to believe there is something there and to struggle till we find it.  That might be what I, who has been booted out of my share of full-time jobs and consulting assignments, can recommend to the associates axed at Squire Sanders as well as at Brown Rudnick Berlack Israels and Mayer Brown this week.

The reality is brutal and that's why we'll do lots of things to avoid it: If we got the ax when others didn't, that's could be red flag that being in that space wasn't good for our employer - and, more importantly, for us.  Instead of peering into that "horror" or "heart of darkness," we frequently become determined to "do it right" the next time. 

That means we tend to force-fit ourselves into another bad situation or at least one in which we ain't going to thrive.  When I got the boot in the first round of layoffs at Kraft in 1987, I realized I should look at that. What I came up with was that I was not a corporate player.  Obviously I couldn't hold on in an organization.  I decided to open my own shop.  Good.  I did well very well in consulting

But the "exploring other opportunities" was not far enough, at least not for me.  I couldn't travel all the way into my private hell - and probably the hell I might have been causing organizations - to question the nature of the work I was doing.  It was executive communications and for years in full time gigs and in consulting it paid a king's ransom. I had a Victorian mansion on the Gold Coast of Connecticut and a beach house on the Jersey Shore.  Not too shabby for a working-class kid from Jersey City.

When I went the distance I accepted that I needed more professionally than doing executive communications.  It could be something I used to earn money - and satisfaction - part of the time, not 80 hours or more a week.  I wanted, I needed more.  It took until 2003 to put my heart, soul and bills to be paid around that.  Here's that story, just-in-time for all the other confused creatures who should feel lost, at least temporarily.  It's free and over 750,000 have downloaded this e-book Download Geezerguts.

The pony was there.  Had I been willing to shovel enough personal and professional manure, I would have found it in 1987.  You, of course, can start in on that now.  What keeps us from digging?  That's so old:  Fear, of not getting what we want or think we should want or losing what we have or think we should have.  The great news for this fresh batch of forced out is that the world of work is upside down now.  Changing ourselves and changing our professional situations are the emerging zeitgeist vs. the road we were discouraged from taking.

The happy and lucrative ending to my story: Professionally, I've never done better.  Personally, my three cats and I, which I accept is about as best I can do in putting together relationships, enjoy a deepening sense of connection.