Law And More

Legal Journalists - 5 Best Practices for Dishing the Dirt

The gossip industry is the ultimate cockroach. It - that is, the industry per se - survives whatever. 

However, individual players and media outlets in the dish-the-dirt space get elbowed out all the time by changes in tone, distribution systems, the budget, upstart competition, loss of sources, and more.

Reporter Gabriel Sherman owned the Fox News head Roger Ailes territory. Then Ailes died. Sherman is dishing on Trump but there's a glut of those kinds of journalists. Currently, of course, Michael Wolff is the alpha dog on Everything Trump.

At one time, the National Enquirer was a must-read. Thursdays, gossip book author and Vanity Fair legal columnist - Dominick Dunne - went to the supermarket to pick it up. Now, no one waiting on the check-out line at Walmart even flips through it. 

The Wall Street Journal Law Blog was hot. Then it was not.  The brass discontinued it. Perhaps the more in-your-face Abovethelaw stole its thunder. As William Shakespeare hammered in his dramas: The crowd is fickle.

To be successful in the gossip business, here are the best practices:

• Do whatever it takes to motivate insiders to be your sources. When I was blogging the Rhode Island lead paint litigation back in 2005-2006, I quickly learned that sources will get in contact when they become aware that you make it your business to position and package the dirt for max attention. That means your narrative has to be provocative. 
• Understand why human beings betray employers, colleagues, and even relatives. The usual feeling sets are need for revenge, envy, and sense of power.
• The facts are the dots which have to be connected. Don't just say that X had been arrested last night for alleged wife-beating. Provide background information on the legalities involved. Research how similar brushes with the law hurt careers.
• Project future scenarios. The wilder the speculation, the more attention the dirt will attract. 
• Monitor the competition, established and emerging. What changes should you be noticing and incorporating in your own stuff?

Incidentally, gossip has a serious function in all social systems. Those range from the neighborhood in downtown Jersey City, New Jersey to the C-Suite in IBM.

For example, negative gossip about the worker who puts in so much face time indicates that there is a norm among the rank and file against excessive ass-kissing.  An insightful read on all that is Joseph Epstein's "Gossip." Here you can order it from Amazon.

Irritated with your communications results? Complimentary consultation. No pressure. Please contact Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com.

Partner to Associate, "Let's Break Open Diet Cokes, Discuss Your Future with Firm"

If Jeremy Blachman were still posting his blog "Anonymous Lawyer," he might have featured how out of touch partners are doing the unthinkable.

They are inviting associates into their offices for a chat. There they break open some Diet Cokes.

Law firm employees who would have read that would have smirked. 

Diet Cokes are, well, as yesterday as Danny Crane from "Boston Legal."

In The Wall Street Journal, Cara Lombardo reports that Coca-Cola is attempting to boost the Diet Coke "franchise" by adding 4 new flavors. 

The smarter tactic would be to milk that old-line brand for all its remaining value and then dump it. Diet Coke has become the symbol of over-the-hill generations.

I know.

To a Buddhist workshop in Eastern Ohio I offered to bring some beverages. Among them was a 2-liter bottle of Diet Coke. Those attending the tutorial on detaching were primarily Millennials, with a few from iGen. I am a Baby Boomer.

The tension about the Diet Coke was palpable. That is not only not the beverage of youth. It represents, at least to them,unhealthy ingredients. This is the era of wellness. During the entire workshop I felt off my game.

No, never again will I bring Diet Coke to a social gathering.

I will never again order it when dining outside.

And I will never offer it to a guest in my home, no matter what generation he or she belongs to.

The Diet Coke brand had stayed too long.

Place your sponsored content (short and long form) and links on this site. Affordable fees. Strategic guidance/ghostwriting also available. For complimentary consultation, please contact Jane Genova (janegenova374@gmail.com).

Dog Poop - Landlord-Tenant Dispute

Plenty of space, including two walk-in closets and a walk-in pantry.

Affordable. Even with the monthly dog rent and including all utilities (yes, they throw in heating) the rent for a one-bedroom the second year leasing here is $633.000. Peanuts.

Near main highways such as 11N, 680, and 80. 

Can walk to stores such as Marc's.

Neighbors are friendly and helpful. The man upstairs digs out my car. Another rocked my car off the ice. 

That's life at Hillbrook Apartments, South Raccoon Road, Austintown, Ohio.

Part of it.

However, it is looking (literally) increasingly likely that I will have to banish myself from Paradise. That's because the dog feces keep piling up. 

When I first moved into the complex in early September 2016, only the dog park in the G section had been dominated with poop that hadn't been cleaned up.

Now, it's everywhere. Even on top of the snow there are the poops of both giant and tiny dogs.

Of course, that's a health hazard.

Of course, I can no longer invite guests to visit.

Of course, I now have to meet with prospects and clients in Starbucks.

And, of course, I am sliding into a clinical depression. I grew up in the hood. This brings back flashbacks.

In my support group I discuss this reversal of fortune. I had assumed that I would be happy on South Raccoon Road until it was time for assisted living in Arizona (where the quality is high and the fee manageable).

Since I live in a basement apartment I now am hit not only with horrific brown sights but also the smells.

I put up signs. They were torn down.

So, I went to onsite property management.

I also called the owner - GMS Management Co. (216-7666-6000) - on 4645 Richmond Road in Cleveland, OH. 

An activist type in my building has a more aggressive agenda. I let her know to count me in.

Therefore, yes, the problem could be solved. My lease has seven more months to run. This still could be my forever home.

But, I am not betting on it.

Last week I drove to rural areas outside Pittsburgh and reviewed apartment complexes. They were more affordable than Hillbrook. At one, the basic rent for a one-bedroom, before other charges such as pet rent are added, was about $400.00 a month. The journalist in me interviewed some residents. They were content. 

Soon I will drive north toward Lake Erie and check out the apartment complexes about 15 minutes from Cleveland. They too are mighty affordable. The basic rent is under $500.00.  Some include heat - very important in OH winters - in the rent. That's the only utility I am concerned about.

No, I am not happy about being "forced" to move.

The fees involved in a move are not cheap.

The inconvenience is massive.

You bet, I am hoping to wake up as the snow is melting and see no piles of brown, large and small.

The funds saved from not having to move will be put toward a vacation for my four-legged child - LOV - and myself to the Atlantic Ocean. We will watch the waves come in and memories of dog poop will recede into the whatever. 

Place your sponsored content (short and long form) and links on this site. Affordable fees. Strategic guidance/ghostwriting also available. For complimentary consultation, please contact Jane Genova (janegenova374@gmail.com).

 

Post Gender Lawsuit, Looking at Ogletree Deakens through Glassdoor

On Glassdoor, Ogletree Deakens receives a relatively high rating for a prominent law firm: 3.8.

For Dentons, for example, it is 3.

For Boies Schiller Flexner it is 2.9.

After all, employees at many brandname law firms resent the extreme long hours and the difficulty advancing. 

But that's not the only reason the bullish endorsement by employees at Ogletree has become interesting.

Another factor is that recently nonequity shareholder - Dawn Knepper - filed a gender discrimination lawsuit. It is seeking class certification.

Members of the media quickly made the litigation high-profile. Here is my own analysis of that filing. And, here is a copy of the complaint.

So, how do Ogletree employees view their employer when they have an opportunity to post an anonymous review? So far, there have been 104 reviews.

There are the usual positive comments about the many smart lawyers, the stimulating work, and the feeling of satisfaction that comes with working at a brandname law firm. One shareholder salutes the openness at the firm.

There are also the usual negative comments about the lack of work/life balance. Also, as at many other prominent law firms, members of the staff perceive themselves as unappreciated, underpaid, and overworked.

No surprise, associates assess it is as increasingly difficult to become a shareholder. That seems universal in an industry in which demand remains flat and growth is stagnant. Here is lawyer-journalist Joe Patrice's analysis for the outlook for 2018 on the influential Abovethelaw.com.

For two negative posts, which were Ogletree-specific, a representative of management responded. One response started out:

"I am sorry your experience is different than the firm's values and culture intends [sic]."

It then goes on to direct the employee to share the concern with Human Resources.

Management at Dechert also left comments on Glassdoor for the employees to bring the complaints to higher-ups. Here is my most recent commentary on Dechert, through the Glassdoor. 

Employees at Ogletree also observe  the "blame game" going on among departments. Associates perceive that the practice of discounting in order to land more business can burn people out. There is a wish that non-shareholders will get the opportunity to review shareholders. 

How will the gender lawsuit impact the internal and the external perceptions of Ogletree?

Only time will tell.

Much will depend how the members of the media position and package Ogletree's responses to the litigation. What goes down in the court of public opinion can significantly influence what legal decisions both sides might make.

One wonders if Aaron Charney would have made out so well when he sued employer Sullivan & Cromwell in 2007 if the story hadn't caught fire in the media? Here is how New York Magazine covered the saga. 

Here is how lawyer-journalist Kathryn Rubino covered Knepper's litigation for Abovethelaw.com.

Place your sponsored content (short and long form) and links on this site. Affordable fees. Strategic guidance/ghostwriting also available. For complimentary consultation, please contact Jane Genova (janegenova374@gmail.com).

 

Lawyers and Digital Networking

Everyday, many of us professionals, including lawyers, face the now-exhausting task of networking online.

One way we do that is through clicking on Likes and figuring out a comment to post which shows thought has been put into it.

As the sites on the internet continue to grow in number, that Best Practice for networking should be one we collectively question. 

It would be career suicide to unilaterally just stop liking and commenting. 

In addition, we have to input from others what their return on investment has been from this kind of networking.

What we know for sure, of course, is that both the professionals' digital identity and offline identity are shaped by how many likes and comments are posted to their content.

For example, it's obvious Preet Bharara is thriving, despite being fired as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York by U.S. President Donald Trump. There is always heavy input from those following him on Twitter. 

On the other hand, what's also obvious is that some early adopters of social media no longer are getting a lot of attention online. Consequently, we wonder if they are on a downward trajectory. Perhaps they no longer understand what digital content will resonate. 

As an interim measure, I have purged plenty of contacts on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Liking/commenting on their content didn't yield me any positive ROI. That move has move has downsized the pool of players with whom I must continue to network. 

For the longer term, those with the most online influence could do thought leadership long form about the raw realities of networking in digital times.

Place your sponsored content (short and long form) and links on this site. Affordable fees. Strategic guidance/ghostwriting also available. For complimentary consultation, please contact Jane Genova (janegenova374@gmail.com).

When Thinking/Talking Like a Lawyer Hits a Wall ...

Both real-life payouts in litigation ("Hogan v. Gawker") and pop-culture ("Law & Order SVU") teach the need to think/talk like a lawyer.

In this Internet era, here's the good news: Many of those fundamentals can be acquired without attending law school.

You just have to key in, for example, "implied contract," to determine your legal grounds for demanding payment for services you rendered without a formal written contract. Here is a detailed briefing on that by Nolo. 

However, as prominent lawyer and book author - Mark Herrmann - explains on Abovethelaw.com, that might not be adequate to expose an alleged wrong and seek a remedy. Here is his column today hammering the importance of what is traditionally called "media protection."

Media protection is not bullet-proof. But it has a track record for being powerful in achieving what you want to out, obtaining justice for what you perceive as a wrong done you, and not being murdered or losing your career.

Most recently, the iconic play-out of that was the large settlement former on-air Fox News personality - Gretchen Carlson - received for alleged sexual harassment by the cable network's late head - Roger Ailes.

As someone who had long been a media player, Carlson understood how to get her story picked up by journalists and social media influencers.

In the process, she not only became wealthy. She carved out a new career path. In addition to publishing brisk-selling book "Be Fierce," she has, for instance, acquired power as voluntary head of the Miss America competition. 

Former Uber engineer - Susan Fowler - also has had outstanding results, personally and professionally, for discussing the company's alleged sexual misconduct in her blog. Along the way, she was protected from tech-industry blackballing through establishing a media presence which keeps resonating.

A much more mundane example of the importance of media protection is taking on small businesses in order to simply be paid for services rendered.

It was becoming obvious that a government contractor and the middleman on the account were likely not going to pay. I attempted to solve that by thinking/talking like a lawyer.

That didn't bring the check in the mail.

Next I turned it over to an official debt collection firm which does use legal tools. No results.

Then I blogged about the situation, using my three syndicated blogs and Twitter. Here is one of those posts.

It is reckless to assume a cause-effect relationship when we don't have the facts.

However, it might have been more than a happy coincidence that hours after I leveraged social media and a social network, the company handling the collection notified me that the invoice had been paid in full.

I will never know if using media had been tipping point. And, I don't care. The issue is the money.

Because I had objectively described my situation in the court of public opinion, I did not anticipate any blackballing for asserting what I perceived to be my legal right. So far, it doesn't seem to have happened.

The takeaway is that individuals seeking justice and advocacy organizations should consider investing in the resources media, establishment and social, can provide. In the long run, that might be less expensive and more effective than taking legal action. 

Place your sponsored content (short and long form) and links on this site. Affordable fees. Strategic guidance/ghostwriting also available. For complimentary consultation, please contact Jane Genova (janegenova374@gmail.com).

 

Placing Sponsored Content on Abovethelaw, No Longer Pushing to get on "cover of Rolling Stone"

The world of print is over.

The book "Sticky Fingers" by Joe Hagan reminds us of the days when both celebrities and wannabes dreamed about being "on the cover of Rolling Stone."

They would be seen in newsstands around the world, and throughout Manhattan's Grand Central.

It was a different time. Yet, one we aren't ready to let go of.  Not yet.

That biography of Jann Wenner, founder of Rolling Stone, ranks 592 on Amazon. Each of its 511 pages of text brings back some aspect of an era when publishers and editors, not influencers on social media, had the power.

In addition, Hagan delivers a comprehensive profile of Wenner. Think of Hagan as the David Rossi ("Criminal Minds") of media personalities, instead of serial killers. We gain amazing insight into how ambition takes over a human being and what that person will do to keep feeding it fresh meat. 

That was then. Currently, Rolling Stone is for sale. It had been experiencing financial challenges. And its branding never really recovered from the sloppy journalism of the "Jackie" rape story.

On the Hive, the digital part of Vanity Fair, Joe Pompeo wrote yesterday how potential buyers are kicking the tires at the Rolling Stone.

Vanity Fair is owned by Conde Nast, which itself is in trouble. Sources claim it lost $100 million and could be conducting layoffs. The outsized media player Graydon Carter retired from overseeing Vanity Fair. And, ultimately, some deep pocket could acquire Conde Nast.

But digital publications have also lost a lot of their power. Gawker pushed the boundaries too far and "Hogan v. Gawker" put it out of business. Buzzfeed and Mashable are struggling. 

Where power has flowed is to:

• The undergraduate at a Manhattan university who has more than 85,000 followers on her Instagram fashion site.
• Former BigLaw associate who rants on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn Updates. His day job is heading up a legal digital publication but that's not the juice supplying the megawatt influence.
• Syndicated blogger who can make global think tanks blink (and call a meeting to address this "problem").

The good news is that no longer are an infrastructure and ongoing funding required to get, hold, and grow attention.

The bad news is that the game Wenner played has been mothballed.

Members of Generation Z likely will never understand the wild yearning to be on the cover of the Rolling Stone. Their jobs will probably be about purchasing the right space for their clients' sponsored content for digital sites like Abovethelaw.com.  

Get a second opinion about your marketing and advocacy communications. No pressure. No charge. Please contact Jane Genova, janegenova374@gmail.com or @genova_jane.

 

Legal Marketers - Add Insider, formerly BusinessInsider, to List of Placements for Sponsored Content

BusinessInsider, co-founded by former Wall Street player Henry Blodget, has become a must-read, at least among business people.

Blodget wants to expand that to a broader audience. One objective is to attract more purchasers of sponsored content, that is those native ads which are inserted among the articles by actual journalists.

So, BusinessInsider, reports The Wall Street Journal, is rebranding as Insider. That rebranded entity will cover everything from lifestyles to coffee. With an improving economy, that seems like a smart move.

Sponsored content is a lucrative niche for content producers. Abovethelaw, one of the few financially thriving all-digital sites, has plenty of native advising. That includes placements from brandname businesses associated with the legal sector. Meanwhile, Buzzfeed and Mashable are struggling.

For my three award-winning syndicated blogs, I have a continual flow of purchasers of space. That adds to the royalties I receive from syndication.

Blogs may represent a mature medium in the digital world. But they could turn out to be where the money can be earned, at least on a sustained basis.

After Google indicated it rewarded long-form content, more companies and individuals decided to invest in sponsored content. Those placements can generate more influence and trigger more responses to Calls to Action than short takes on Twitter and Instagram.

Place your sponsored content and links on this syndicated site. High Google Rankings. Brandname inbound links. Contact janegenova374@gmail.com for complimentary consultation.

             

November 2017 Jobs Report - Stagnant Wages Will Sustain Employee/Indendent Contractor Push-Back

On the surface, the November 2017 jobs report seems like a two-chickens-in-every-pot story.

After all, the tentative Department of Labor numbers for 228,000 new jobs beat the estimate for  200,000 jobs. Here is CNBC coverage.

But stagnant wages remain an irritant to the workforce, both traditional employees and independent contractors.

Therefore, the odds are good that employment lawyers will continue to be busy. So will government agencies in the loop, as well as accounts receivable collection firms. In addition, bartenders during this holiday season and beyond will hear plenty. That embittered word of mouth can damage the organizations' brands.

Unlike the early and mid part of the 20th century, there is no longer an informal social contract which kept relations between owners/managers and the workforce relatively tame. For lifetime employment with excellent benefits, employees traded off extreme loyalty.

Seeking legal remedies was not in that mindset for most of the workforce. Have a beef, including about salary? Start the search for another job. 

Of course, that blew up in the early 1980s. GE's head Jack Welch made it his mission to downsize manpower. Myriad full time jobs were eliminated. Tasks were increasingly carried out by just-in-time workers, usually without employment security or benefits. During the famous Chrysler turnaround that was how the Lee Iacocca team lowered the breakeven point. 

Long story short: Loyalty is no longer an embedded value in the world of work. 

As the CNBC report notes, there is high turnover because of the stuck compensation patterns. 

But, what employment lawyers, as well as government agencies, know is that employees are losing the fear to their reputations which used to be associated with launching formal grievances against employers or those assigning them contract work.

Even in rigid sectors such as BigLaw, there have been lawsuits filed about alleged discrimination in compensation. At Abovethelaw, lawyer-journalist Kathryn Rubino has been covering those developments as they relate to alleged gender issues. Here is one of her posts.

Interestingly way back in January 2007, Aaron Charney contended there was discrimination based on his gay identity at his BigLaw firm. He filed a lawsuit. Shocker then: He didn't wind up burning any bridges. He not only landed what was assumed to be a large settlement. He was hired by another large law firm. Now he is employed as an in-house lawyer.

What are employees' and independent contractors' options for resolving disputes?

As for the level of compensation itself and how and when it is paid, that usually is governed by both federal and state law. The niche in labor law is known as "Wage and Hour." The territory covered is broad.

Because of the high cost of lawyers, both employees and independent contractors find it common sense to approach disputes with a class-action legal approach. Not easy since the class, as in "Dukes v. Walmart," has to be certified. SCOTUS didn't do that.

But, law firms will tend to accept the potential class action lawsuit on a contingency basis. 

As for individual actions, usually the last stop is to hire a lawyer.

Remedies can come through the EEOC, state labor departments, and small claims courts. In the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania metro area, requests for payment in small claims court can be in the $10,000 bracket. That's not small. Filing fees are low, of course.

There are also collection agencies. They have in-place procedures for affordable litigation if the compensation dispute isn't resolved through routine tactics. Mine was settled the day before the case was to be heard in court.

The rub is that the commission for any intervention by those accounts receivable firms ranges from 30% to 70%. Also, their own terms and conditions for mailing the check could be 30 days from when the account was paid.

Instead of or in addition to formal ways to push-back, disgruntled employees and independent contractors can also leverage social media. The challenge is to have enough knowledge about defamation and libel to prevent being sued. Here is a Nolo backgrounder on that.

On the other hand, the organizations which pay fairly and on-time can generate extreme loyalty and performance that exceeds expectations. The good news is that, as the economy is improving, those kinds of smart players are becoming common.

My clients in professional services are among them. We usually develop a seamless partnership. Recently, I pulled serial all-nighters for researching and ghostwriting content on reductions-in-force in developed and developing economies. 

The Scrooges?

Usually I provide a cover story not to accept the assignment or find a legal exit route when demands don't correlate with compensation. Yesterday I did just that with an advisors' publication whose revenue stream is sponsored content. 

Get a second opinion about your marketing and advocacy communications. No pressure. No charge. Please contact Jane Genova, janegenova374@gmail.com or @genova_jane.

 

Companies Attacked on Social Media - Not So Fast Declaring a "Crisis" Or Hiring Lawyers

Too many businesses are accepting an organized outburst of anger on social media as a "crisis." They fear damage to sales and to their brand. 

Likely, though, they have been gamed.

The reality, research by Engagement Labs found, is that rage might be mere sound and fury. It rarely represents the constituencies companies must be concerned about. Here are the details on this research and the larger issue of impacts of social media.

Remember that social media remains a relatively new phenomenon. So much of its dynamics we don't understand. In addition, the law hasn't caught up to the technology.

Those who are sophisticated about how to leverage social media for maximum attention frequently will have little or no impact on the business and reputation of a company. 

A prime example, cited by experts, was Donald Trump's social media supposed push-back against Nordstrom. It had dropped Ivanka's merchandise. At that time, the retailer's sales and brand weren't damaged.

It can be counterproductive for companies to immediately transition into a crisis mode.  Also, they can look foolish. 

Yes, what is said by others about companies can get attention. But attention doesn't necessarily, in itself, affect the actual business.

In a seminal op-ed, partner at kglobal Gene Grabowski presented the reality that the sustained negative exposure Uber has been receiving likely won't be a business issue per se.

That's because it provides its customers with the unique user experience (UX). In one package Uber combines:

• Convenience
• Affordability
• Reliability
• Ease of conducting transactions - no credit cards, no cash. 

Here you can read Grabowski's thought leadership piece. In public affairs, he is known as the "crisis czar." Therefore, he has insight about what is a crisis to be managed and what is noise that shouldn't distract. 

For about four years, those commenting on now-gone Gawker harassed me. They even invented a fictional version of me who supposedly posted material.

There were grounds to sue. However, pursuing litigation would have been a distraction.

Instead, now and then, I would make humorous allusions to that campaign on my blogs. During those four years my communications boutique scaled.

Get a second opinion about your marketing and advocacy communications. No pressure. No charge. Please contact Jane Genova, janegenova374@gmail.com or @genova_jane.