Law And More

OH AG Office - Cordray Building His Team, Avoiding Dann Mistakes

In the COLUMBUS DISPATCH, James Nash reports that Ohio Attorney General - elect Richard Cordray has been building his new team with professionals who are not likely to cause scandal.  An unusually large number of the previous Attorney General Marc Dann's appointments flamed out early in that administration. 

Nash provides the list of names of those Cordray has already vetted and selected.

Inaugural Oath - Will God Phrase Be Deleted before Inauguration

For fourth months I sat through the daily opening of the Rhode Island lead paint trial.  Each opening including a God phrase.  I wondered how that got by in this era when references to God in official contexts were being challenged - and often won.

California atheist Michael Newdow has been wondering the same thing about the use of the phrase "so help me God" in the Inaugural Oath, as administered by the U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice.  But Newdow has gone beyond wondering. 

As Tony Mauro reports in LEGAL TIMES, Newdow "has gone to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking an injunction to prevent Chief Justice John Roberts Jr., as well as the congressional sponsors of the Jan. 20 inaugural and several other defendants, for inserting the words 'so help me God' into the oath."

This is an interesting one to watch.

The UnBranding of MD Offices - BigPharma's voluntary moratorium

Our doctors's offices might be returning to the protected sanctuaries they were intended to be.  No more of those pens, tongue depressors, staplers, paperweights and more with the logos of pharmaceutical companies.

In THE NEW YORK TIMES, Natasha Singer reports, BigPharma has agreed to a voluntary moratorium on providing medical doctors with free items with drug company logos. The guidelines for this were created by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. 

Given the outcry against the alleged web of relationships between doctors and BigPharma, this move is probably overdue.  Although it seems more symbolic than reformist, it could lead the way to preventing questions of conflict of interest.

Irony - Sweet Caroline turns Kennedy legacy sour

Geneticists may be scratching their heads:  How come so little of Jack and Jackie's designer DNA was passed on to daughter Caroline.  Sweet Caroline's performance  in her mini-campaign for Hillary's Senate seat displayed an utter lack of all those qualities which made her parents iconic.  Caroline killed us with boredom.

The irony here is that the girl-grown-up who we still thought of as Sweet Caroline was the Kennedy who turned the legacy irreversibly sour.  What Kennedy can we take seriously now, except in terms of a fading brandname?

China & Melamine - Four could face death penalty

Because of melamine contamination, China has both a domestic and a global problem.  Internally, six children died and almost 300,000 were sickened by melamine in baby formula.  That contamination also extended to Chinese dairy exports, reports THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.  That triggered product recalls in a number of nations.  Brand China took it on the chin and it could be a long time before it's a trusted vendor in the global supply chain.

To avoid an uprising inside China and to start to rebuild the credibility of Brand China, the country's government is taking the legal implications seriously - at least for that country.  China usually likes to avoid resolving crises such as the deaths of school children during the earthquake through court action.  But it couldn't duck it with melamine.

First there was put together terms of a financial settlement between China's Dairy Industry Association and families of the victims.  Actual lawsuits, though, were not allowed to be filed. Yesterday, nine suspects went on trial for their roles in this contamination, which was intended to create the illusion of more protein in a product that actually existed.  Four of those on trial face the death penalty.

U.S. attorneys are watching how China might be being forced to adopt a more sophisticated legal system.  Courageous Chinese attorneys have been educating the victims's families about product liability.  But in this particular instance, that stopped short of evolving into individual or class-action lawsuits.  Should there be another food-contamination crisis in China, the domestic attorneys might have the opportunity to make that great leap forward.

The CEO: Is this job being made obsolete

In the networked enterprise, there shouldn't be a need for a chief executive officer.  So goes the thinking and the organizational restructuring at CISCO.  In the December - January edition of FAST COMPANY, CISCO's current CEO John Chambers opines, "You won't have to depend on the CEO anymore."

And Chambers isn't a radical voice in the wilderness. In the November - December issue of CHIEF EXECUTIVE, executive search expert Thomas J. Neff, head of Spencer Stuart U.S., has an article titled "Do CEOs Still Matter?"  No newsflash, since his revenue comes from recruiting CEOs, Neff argues that the position still creates value.

Digital technology, along with proven-out ways to operate businesses in a decentralized manner, could render the CEO slot as much an anachronism as many middle-management jobs.  Yet, the media keep focusing on peripheral issues such as CEO compensation and, get this, the indignity of CEOs having to travel coach on commercial airplanes. 

The media would show more insight and courage if they took on the bigger matter of decentralized organizations and what that could mean for the traditional C-level, including the CEO.  One of the most effective and enduring organizations -Alcoholics Anonymous- has not centralized or permanent leadership.  As with business, BigLaw might also investigate going flat.

2009 - Orrick describes as "radically changed business environment"

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe is calling it.  The firm, as it announced freezing associate salaries, referred to 2009 as a "radically changed business environment." 

The frozen salaries will help Orrick "adapt" to the volatility and uncertainty of the global economy, reports Nate Raymond in THE AMERICAN LAWYER.  However, since the firm is sticking to the plan of paying out 2008 bonuses in February, one has to wonder if this announcement is more symbolic than intended as a cost-control measure.  Could Orrick be telling the members of the firm as well as clients and prospects that law is a business. 

In speaking with partners at defense-law firms, they view the industry as slow to embrace that it is a business, must be operated as a business, and associates entering it have to recognize it is as a high-risk venture.  Few will make partner. But along the way they are well-compensated for taking this risk. And those associates who don't reach the promised land will pick up excellent training that they could apply to positions, legal and non-legal, outside of BigLaw. 

Along with those already in law who are denial about these business realities, most students in law school are also.  Research could be done on why law students persist in their optimism and idealism about a career path in the business of law.

Marc "Animal House" Dann Denies Wrongdoing

Last week Ohio Inspector General Thomas P. Charles filed a report that claimed former state Attorney General Marc Dann committed about two dozen acts of wrongdoing. Dann denies any guilt. 

Among those alleged illegal activities, says Chris Rizo of LEGAL NEWSLINE, is that "Dann created a corporation that solicited more than $195,000 in unreported donations ... and all but about $8,000 was spent, including $12,000 that went to his [Dann's] wife's business, Zesty Dishes." 

Some of these allegations, if proved, can result in jail time for Dann.  Everyone has a right to defend himself.  And that's exactly what Dann is up to.  Our only interest in him is that he filed the statewide lead paint public nuisance lawsuit.  One of the defendants is Sherwin-Williams, based in Cleveland, OH and a major employer in the state.

Inside the Beltway: Invasion of the Worker Bees

Working Inside the Beltway in the Obama Administration will probably be no different than working for BigLaw. Think Serial All-Nighters.  That's essentially how Michelle Cottle describes the worker bees who have been chosen to do the heavy lifting for Barack Obama. 

In her  article in the current edition of THE NEW REPUBLIC, Cottle contrasts the early-to-bed Bushies to the grinds coming to D.C.  Among them are Pete Rouse whose private life extends to two cats, Janet Napolitano whose idea of relaxing after a 20-hour day is going through legislative bills and Peter Orszag who shoots off those emails beginning before dawn.

The staging couldn't be better for Obama to appear that he never breaks a sweat, except in the gym and on the basketball court.  He can be as in-command, relaxed, and classy as JFK. 

Madoff: Was this our crazy uncle

It could play in a court room: The insanity defense for Uncle Bernie.  Actually, it might be the only plausible defense for a guy who bilked friends and strangers alike out of something in the ballpark of $50 billion.

No newsflash, that's the strategy Bernard Madoff's attorneys are seriously considering. The great theatre will come from how those lawyers coach him to comport himself during the trial.