Law And More

Pryor Cashman and Colinford Mattis

Colinford Mattis is innocent until proven guilty - or if he takes a plea. He had been arrested and released on bail for allegedly being in the loop of tossing a Molotov Cocktail during a George Floyd protest.

Therefore, law firm Pryor Cashman made the right move. Instead of outright firing the associate who had been on furlough since April, it, reports Law.com, suspended him without pay. Earlier it had removed his attorney profile from its website.

Mattis' own LinkedIn profile still lists Pryor Cashman as his employer. On LinkedIn, he positions himself as problem-solver by nature, lawyer by training. 

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You Could "Be Lathamed" - Only With an Abundance of Compassion

In Law.com, The Young Lawyer Editorial Board holds out hope that law firms will continue to avoid layoffs in order to prevent negative publicity. Yeah, protect the branding. 

Still resonating in the collective memory bank is when Latham & Watkins cut loose 440 lawyers and staff in one day. That had been during The Great Recession.

Surely, goes the commentary in Law.com, no law firm wants to be associated with doing-a-Latham. Back then, there was the gallows humor about "to be Lathamed."

Such a mindset prevailed in the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis. Employers were going to do the right thing, remember.

That noble gesture is crumbling throughout myriad sectors. And expect it to crumble in law.

Last March, giant player in public relations Edelman promised no-layoffs. Instead it would swallow reduced profits.

This week it announced that it is laying off 390. It did that with an abundance of compassion. Such a tone is embedded in the messaging about the brutal reductions of force now kicking in.

In addition, there have been rescinded offers of work, as by Google.

In addition, Microsoft News reassigned editorial tasks to the robots. About 50 contract workers were cut loose. 

Darkness is falling fast.

So, young lawyers have to be prepared psychologically, financially, and in terms of The Next Professional Step if they lose their jobs.

There's no taking refuge in magical thinking about what employers will do to preserve their brand. Financial survival is mandating ignoring any damage to the brand by a reduction in force and simply pruning the manpower.

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Legal Issues of What Is "College Experience," Is It Contractually Guaranteed?

" … do institutions of higher learning technically owe their students a so-called life experience? A wave of litigation sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic press the question." - Dave Kostiuk, Law.com, June 2, 2020.

For the 2019 - 2020 academic year, Harvard College bills tuition at $47,730, the student service fee at $2,989, and the student activity fee at $200.

After Harvard stopped providing in-person classes and access to the campus, what kicked in there as well as other universities and colleges have been class action lawsuits. Essentially the plaintiffs want a partial or full return of tuition for the time period they were subjected to Zoom instruction and couldn't use the campus gym. They contend breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and conversion.

Among the law firms for the plaintiffs is Bursor & Fisher, which has filed eight class action lawsuits, including against Harvard. 

In the loop for the defense are law firms ranging from Cooley to Quinn Emanuel.

Obviously, elite universities with big endowments have the financial resources to fight the lawsuits and operate after a settlement or a plaintiff win. But less prestigious and smaller ones don't. A bigger matter for financial survival, though, is whether students will enroll for the fall semester - that is, if universities and college open for a fall semester. 

Meanwhile, legal experts, reports EducationDive, don't view this kind of class action litigation as very promising for the plaintiffs.

To begin with, the class may be difficult to certify.

Secondly, most contractual material related to providing education doesn't have provisions covering in-person instruction.

And, third, given that lack, lawyers will turn to other documents. Those also might not have terms and conditions or language referring to the guarantee of in-person education.

However, this issue continues to raise major questions about what the service of higher education actually provides. And, at what price. The litigation is the tip of the iceberg in the ongoing disruption in the higher education space. 

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Only Delaying the Inevitable - Governors Ron Desantis, Andrew Cuomo

According to the Congressional Budget Office, a recovery from the economic fallout from COVID-19 will not kick in for decade.

No, things, especially unemployment, don't look like they will move on an upward trajectory any time soon. 

Evidence of that is the now-iconic article in The New York Times by David Gelles that professionals who had lost their well-paying jobs aren't landing new ones. Their careers are "in limbo." Their future earning power could be dinged forever. And even that reduced compensation might not start up for months or years. In the glutted communications labor market, giant public relations firm Edelman just cut 390 jobs. Good luck finding comparable jobs - or contract assignments. 

This economic downturn could be an unemployment one. The stock market, in contrast, is holding up. 

So, it doesn't mean much that governors such as Ron Desantis in Florida and Andrew Cuomo in New York have extended various moratoriums about folks' being able to keep a roof over their heads.

Law.com reports that Desantis has moved to July 1st protection against foreclosures and evictions for residents of Florida. Those affected will still have to pay the funds due. This policy is not forgiveness. In addition, come on, who expects any kind of economic miracle facilitating the ability to pony up that money by July 1st.

Realistically, the best that can often be worked out by then  is relocating with relatives or to a location on planet earth where living is really cheap. Alabama? Mexico? Ecuador? 

Meanwhile, those to whom money is due - landlords in New York - have filed a lawsuit against Cuomo for extending the ban on evictions until August 19th. They contend the mandate is a violation of their contract and due process rights. Ownership of rental property is a business. Not a charity. That business has its own bills to pay. If the rent doesn't come in the bills don't get paid - at least not on time. 

During the COVID-19 economic crisis so much state-level policy seems poorly thought-out. Shouldn't the focus be on boosting employment so that the mortgage and rent can be paid? States could be establishing kinds of public work jobs. 

In the near future, massive homelessness could occur. Here in politically conservative Ohio, property managers have sent out notices that payment of rent is expected, on the date due. Otherwise, interest will be tacked on. Of course, it's obvious what will happen if, eventually, the rent isn't paid. COVID-19 doesn't change the reality that the economic system in America is capitalism.

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JD Class of 2019, Strong Employment Out of the Gate - But Careers Could Be Blown Up by Coronavirus Fallout

According to the American Bar Association, the JD Class of 2019 had an 81% employment rate, reports Law.com.

Two factors made that class one of the most successful in years for landing jobs requiring bar passage within 10 months after graduation. One was a high bar exam pass rate. The other was that the number of graduates was lower than traditional. Of course, that prevented extreme glut of job-searchers.

But, warns Law.com, this strong professional start can be derailed because of the fallout from COVID-19. Daily, Abovehthelaw chronicles law firm layoffs, furloughs, and pay cuts. In addition, solos are struggling. Many prospects didn't even realize that law firm offices were open. Also, the business of all law firms has been affected by the closing of courts. 

So, hovering over this success story are dark clouds. 

Meanwhile, the JD Class of 2020 is already witnessing the darkening employment situation. Those who have received offers have frequently had the start date pushed into the future. That could be way out there like February 2021. There is also the possibility of rescinded overs. 

Those who don't have offers should be very worried. Last month, the Labor Department reported that in April the sector had lost 65,000 jobs.

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Colinford Mattis, Whom Federal Prosecutors Labeled Not a "Rational Person" - Time Travel Back to the Counterculture

Why do human beings do what they do? Even they might not understand that. Years of Freudian analysis might not unlock those mysteries either.

So, it's mostly speculation (as well as projection of one's own point of view) to provide an explanation for the alleged behavior of professionals such as lawyer Colinford Mattis. He has been accused of being in the loop of the tossing of a Molotov Cocktail during a George Floyd protest in New York.

Abovethelaw reports that during his bail hearing federal prosecutors tried to put the kibosh on that, contending that he had not demonstrated himself to be a "rational person." However, Mattis was released on $250K bond.

Federal prosecutors might have a very limited understanding of human nature.

Also, few or any of them might have experienced the dynamics of the Counterculture.

In myriad ways, that disruptive period in America mirrored current times.

Those, just like Mattis, who had so much going for them, derailed. Take scholar Angela Davis, who wound up in jail for a year. Later she was acquitted. When folks speculated how she had gotten in that pickle, some concluded that Davis seemed to become tired.

Maybe Mattis, furloughed from his law firm job at the time, also got tired. In addition, he is a person of color like Davis. Perhaps he had jumped through too many hoops. They ranged from getting an Ivy education at Princeton to landing and then losing, at least temporarily, a job in an elite law firm.

Those of us who joined the Counterculture on university campuses like Ann Arbor, Michigan, also were a tired bunch. The ethos of that era is depicted as heady. But it wasn't usually. More often it was filled with questioning and wondering how we had gotten to live the lives we were living. We graduate students were a very unhappy bunch.

My interim solution was to leave the doctoral program. I knocked around in Barcelona, Spain. After I assumed I had healed I returned to an America in which the job market in my field, as in that of Mattis, had collapsed. For several years so many of my generation struggled to find a way to make a living on our own terms. 

Currently, as an economic depression settles in, the strivers are again tired. If exhaustion, combined with deep disappointment, becomes standard again, then there will be more kinds of behavior like the alleged acts of Mattis. During the Counterculture we former career hard-chargers were dropping like flies. No longer could we hang on to the meme of success at all costs.

That same kind of reflection should be taking place currently. Some of those who are losing jobs may never land comparable ones - and after jumping through so many hoops.

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Yes, Be Very Worried - Reed Smith Cuts About 20 Lawyers,10 Professional Staffers in London

Austerity measures have moved on into actual layoffs for Reed Smith, reports Law.com.

In its London office of 360 lawyers, Reed Smith has had a reduction in force. Fewer than 20 lawyers and 10 professional staff members have been terminated.

The wariness about the financial impacts of COVID-19 on the global sector has hardened into anxiety. No longer is there the optimism about a V-shaped recovery, that is, a short-lived downturn and then a rapid uptick.

In fact, the Congressional Budget office estimates the economic fallouts from COVID-19 will hang around for a decade. 

So many once powerful sectors are being affected.

In public relations, a high-growth industry until now, iconic Edelman announced it was laying off 390 people. In March, it promised not to do that. Instead it would swallow zero profits. But, finally it had to cave, reports Kevin McCauley at Odwyerpr.com.

Google rescinds offers to contract workers because of its own advertising slump.

And Microsoft News decided to go with a shift to robots. It laid off about 50 of its human editors. 

The overarching fear is that those knocked out of the box will never be able to find comparable kinds of work. Instead they will be marginalized in what they hustle to make ends meet.

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