Law And More

Those 1 in 10 who never pass bar

We know them.  They are the lost souls who never passed the bar, although they earned the JD.  Their pain is palpable.  And their underachievement continues to replicate itself whatever they do.  Fortunately, for them, the good news from research by Jane Yakowitz is that the worst is over by time they are 35.  However, they never catch up to lawyers who did pass the bar.  They do outstrip the earnings of college graduates in general.

My hunch is that failing the bar seems to them so end of the world after that big investment in law school that they can't get their arms around it.  Given how aggressive and competitive the field of law is there are bound to be few former classmates who will help them get on the other side of this trauma.

UPDATE:

Abovethelaw.com reports the results of the Massachusetts bar were mailed out in time for Halloween.  One who was notified of failure noted that it was a terrrible trick or treat, given three years of study and spending $100,000.

Back in court, this decade with a three-piece suit

Court will become much more formal again.  Men have embraced elegance and that includes the three-piece suit.  The dress code at premium brand law firms will require the three-piecers, even for shorter men on whom those will look like monkey suits.

Of course, this wardrobe requirement will further eat into the pay off of student loans for associates.

JDs, sunk costs, and opportunism

JDs or most other professional investments we make rarely have linear pay offs.  That's not how the game went even years ago in a more controlled economy.  About 500 graduated from Harvard Law School annually.  Yet not that many made it to the top or even developed brand-names.  Today, in a volatile economy, the return on investment [ROI] is even more uncertain.

What has been always true in careers is that the ability to spot, pounce on, and exploit opportunity mattered more than anything else.  Frequently that meant tossing The Plan.  It's now a cliche that those with the big accomplishments and ongoing options don't take The Plan seriously at all.  Mark Zuckerberg, an outsider who was lucky to be admitted to Harvard, left.  Jones Day's partner Mark Herrmann was viewed as a lifer but went on to Aon.  Creators of "The Good Wife" and "Mad Men" departed from just about every formula in television.

My The Plan in doing this law blog was to attract marketing communications from law firms.  Turns out, at least for me, the money isn't there.  Also, father forgive me, but I had been experiencing those kinds of clients as lacking in emotional intelligence [here's my ebook on boosting EI Download CUsersjasneDocumentsjg.] 

The opportunity turned out to be in the career side of the legal profession.  Slowly but surely, it broadened into blogging and lecturing about general career issues in myriad disciplines as well as coaching those hitting walls in getting jobs.  Most recently, I have been a contract blogger for AOL Jobs.  My lecture on transitions at the New York State Bar Association has been published in VITAL SPEECHES OF THE DAY Download NYSBAtalkinVITALSPEECHESOFDAY.  And coaching assignments are coming from around the world.

Had I stuck with The Plan, I would have made peanuts, continued to be what I perceived as treated without proper respect for my expertise, and not been open to what could happen.  Incidentally, what could happen now that I allowed X,Y, Z to occur, could be a flourishing of my niche in marcom for law firms.  Only this time I would be in the catbird seat to determine the terms and conditions for law firms and me to work together.

To paraphrase Steve Jobs's iconic commencement speech at Stanford, stay open, stay hungry, and don't be so unhinged by a past failure not to be willing to revist the niche as new kind of opportunity.

Petit Murders: Christianity might save Steven Hayes

Those following the penalty phase of the trial of convicted Petit murderer Steven Hayes know that the defense has tried every strategy and tactic.  Most are probably doomed to failure. 

The judge tossed the motion that the death penalty would cost tax payers too much, contending the issue before the jury was moral and legal, not monetary.  Testimony that Hayes was this likable, funny, hard working guy who fell under the spell of his partner in crime was undermined by other testimony documenting that in prison he threatened to kill an officer since he had nothing to lose.

However the one argument which may work relies on the reality that Christianity is woven into all our institutions, including the legal one.  We believe that redemption is possible and that even the worst sinner should not be denied that possibility.  In the New Testament, Judas's sin was one of despair.  He did not believe in his own salvation.  Supposedly Son of Sam found his higher self in prison as did one time train wreck Malcolm X.

It's from Hayes's brother Matthew that the defense gets it ammo.  Matthew wrote that his brother should be allowed to find redemption.  He cast that state of affairs mostly as something the Hayes family deserved.  Now those words are being highlighted in court as well as in the media.

Who can deny any sinner the possibility of being touched by Christ?  If the defense has that these resonate in closing arguments, it just might have saved Hayes from death.

"Hereafter" - Marie LeLay shoulda got that leave in writing, considered sex harassment suit

Those with legal mindsets were likely puzzled as they viewed Clint Eastwood's new film "Hereafter." 

The worldly television anchor in France Marie LeLay falls apart after dying and then being revived during a tsunami.  She allows her superior/lover to talk her into taking a leave a absence.  Then when she needs to return to work, he tells her there could be difficulty getting her old job back.  She also has a hunch he's sleeping with her replacement.  Incidentally, when the two were on holiday, she left the safety of the hotel to buy his childrem proper, that is non airport gifts.  That puts her in the path of the tsunami.

Tears run down her cheeks.  Luckily the book she decided to write on her near death experience gets published, gets readers, and gets her hooked up with a new soul mate.  But those tears could have been prevented if she had put the terms and conditions for her leave in writing, reviewed by her own legal team, and filed a lawsuit for sexual harassment.

Workers of the world, except maybe in America, have united.  Paris is burning.  UK labor isn't taking crap.  No need for tears any more.  What isn't settled in the streets, gets addressed through contracts and lawsuits.  Shame on you, Marie LeLay.

 

Lawyers in search of SEO - Need a lot more than that

Some lawyers are currently posting help-wanted ads for experts in search engine optimization [SEO.]  Of course, they are coming to the Internet long long after SEO was assumed to be the way to develop new business.

When the Internet was a marketing tool for early adopters, sure, those adept at SEO got high rankings on search engines.  Likely plenty of browsers came their way.  But, then as well as now, high rankings on search engines don't necessarily mean more business. It might simply mean more activity.  And activity consumes resources, with not necessarily adding to revenue.  I know.  Lawyers confided to me: Many of those browsers didn't turn into buyers.  That's because early adopters frequently didn't know how to process a sales call toward a close. There's an art to the close. 

Today, the Internet is a mature commercial medium.  There are plenty of law firms which are able to get relatively high rankings on search engines, that is on the first two pages of Google and Yahoo.  In addition, shoppers for legal services have gotten wind of the glut in providers of those services.  Usually they will take the time now to comparison shop.  You bet, they have complimentary consultations with several lawyers. No fools, they stockpile the knowledge they pick up.

Therefore, lawyers in search of SEO may be betting too much on one horse.  That is a small component of new business development and getting smaller all the time.  That's exactly why lawyers in the know are back to custom making seminars for in person presentations at corporations, think tanks, and chambers of commerce.

Here is the text of a seminar I delivered on multi-channel marketing for ExecSense for legal players, large and small, self-employed and employed by law firms Download Rainmaking.  Smart successful firms, ranging from Marler Clark on the plaintiff side to Jones Day on the defense, have never defaulted into one method.

Whew! Good we know that

Who isn't trying to figure out how to play in the new sandbox called "career," "job" or simply "making a living?" 

Well, last Wednesday at Rider University in New Jersey public relations counsel Bob Dilenschneider opined, "We need to stop being a nation of whiners and finger-pointers.  We have to stop blaming everyone but ourselves."  I wonder how much insight the students at RIder University, some of who might be considering law school, derived?

Reflection: Paris is burning.  Why isn't there more labor unrest in America?

Whistle-Blower: New Occupation Established by SEC

In a sense the SEC is launching a new occupational class.  It's the job of whistle-blower.  The federal agency has set up more than $400 million to compensate those who turn in the scam artists like Uncle Bernie Madoff. Someone with insider information could begin to make a nice living this way.

Kids can be sued for, well, acting like kids

Parents, who are the ones who are sued, can't allow their kids to behave like kids any more.  New York State Supreme Court Justice Paul Wooten ruled that the parents of Juliet Bretman can be sued for an accident caused by their four year old daugheter, reports Alan Feuer in THE NEW YORK TIMES.

Four years old at the time of the accident, Breitman was racing her bicycle, which had training wheels, on a sidewalk in Manhattan.  Her mother was overseeing her.  The child struck an 87-year-old women whose injuries led to her death three weeks later.

Although a child of four cannot be legally charged with negligence, her parents can.  The estate of the dead woman initially sued the child, her companion, and the mother for acting negligently.

Alcoholism by another name: Would lawyers be more receptive to treatment

The problem is in the name: alcoholism.  It carries a stigma.  It's clinical.  And, according to 12-step dogma it means you can't drink again, at least not safely.

If it were simply referred to as "a problem with drinking," all that baggage would be dropped.  Lawyers who suffer with this problem in greater numbers than the general population would be more receptive to treatment. There would be fewer career plateaus and crashes, fewer embezzled clients, and, yes, a likely reduction in the suicide rate which is also unusually high among lawyers.

There's precedent for this and lawyers like precedent.  Therapists worth their salt never enter this space with clients using the A word.  They question if the person suspects there might just be a problem with drinking.  Sure, the client will belly up to that.  Therapists then suggest trying to control alcohol intake, the amount, where, and when.  That can work.  Clients become more aware and manage their drinking.

If it doesn't work, then therapists recommend some of those common programs for dealing with the problem.  There is no need to embrace the A as a condition, disease, or whatever.  Everything is framed as a drinking problem.

Friends should encourage friends with a drinking problem to address the problem, not some theory that he or she is afflicted with a disease.