Law And More

New Year's Eve: That might be tipping point for checking out 12-step programs

The evidence is only anecdotal: The heaviest influx of new members to 12-step program is in early January.  The holidays, especially New Year's Eve festivities, are usually the tipping point. I can testify to that.  One man I encountered at a beginner's table was canary yellow.  Trying to reach out, I said, "You're new, welcome."  He asked, "How did you know?"

The good news is the physical and emotional bottom generated by the holidays can be the beginning of hope.  Most substance abusers had lost that, along with themselves, years before they decided to check out 12-step programs.

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), which started in the late 1930s, is a well-organized program, with meetings around the world and when going around it such as in cruise ships.  To find out where and when those meetings are, just get on the Internet and key in "Alcoholics Anonymous."  Soon enough there will be listings of meetings to click on.  Many towns also have live call centers to contact for information about meetings or to just talk.  They are manned by recovered substance abusers. The phone numbers are listed in the phone book and frequently on the web.  

Those timid about meetings in their own town can take refuge across borders.  There are central Connecticut residents who drove to Warwick, Rhode Island for their first several meetings.  When they decided to risk encountering folks they knew in CT, they eventually told us about their early travels. 

The best way to slide in and nose around?  Actually there are two.  One is to locate beginner meetings.  At them are all the immediate tools the newcomer needs, ranging from information literature to access to a temporary sponsor, if such human help seems useful.  Everything in the program is a suggestion, not a mandate.  The second way to get a handle on recovery is the speaker meeting.  There someone with at least three months sober talks about (i.e. gives testimony) about how it was, what the bottom was, and how it is now.  Identifying with those speakers is what helps those on the fence recognize that they too might journey on a very different path from their present one if they try out a 12-step program.

For those involved with the problems of the substance abuser there are Alanon meetings, also based on the 12 steps.  Through those groups they find out how they got into the pickle of dealing with a substance abuser in the first place.

Waking up in great physical and emotional pain Tuesday morning could be the substance abuser's lucky day.  Hopefully, that won't be in jail.

Peter Lanza: The ethical thing to do

Readers of this blog salute Peter Lanza for doing the ethical thing - something that wasn't required by law.  As THE NEW YORK POST reports, Lanza, although not the custodial parent, took charge of his son Adam Lanza's body and what would be done with the remains.

This man could have walked away from the whole situation back into his life with his second wife.  But he didn't.  His sense of responsibility is an inspiration to all those who suffer from what might be called "second hand tragedy." 

Newtown, CT Survivor: First legal action filed with Claims Commissioner

What we had expected to happen has happened: The first legal action has been filed with the Connecticut Claims Commissioner J. Paul Vance Jr. on behalf of a child survivor of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.  Now that situation will be put under the legal microscope.

In REUTERS, Mary Ellen Godin reports that New Haven, CT lawyer Irv Pinsky has taken that first step in eventually filing a lawsuit against the state.  The Commissioner's office must approve the complaint.

Essentially the contention is that the girl, whose identity is concealed, suffered emotional damage.  The defendants are the CT Board of Education, Department of Education, and the Education Commissioner.  They, the complaint alleges, did not take the appropriate steps to protect children from this harm.

The filing asks for $100 million.  The upside of a lawsuit is that society learns a great deal about how a tragedy might have been prevented. The downside is that the integrity of the community can be tarnished if the legal moves are perceived as raw greed.

Marijana Bego: Of course, it isn't "just money"

"It's just money," the obtuse will tell those in the midst of serious financial problems.  

Obviously this perspective didn't help, they find out when they hear that person offed themselves.  In America it very rarely is "just money."  If it were the person could file for bankruptcy and start over.

In a 100-page manifesto, Marijana Bego told the world it was certainly wasn't "just money" when she was going to jump off the roof of the building which housed her art gallery Bego-Ezair.   As THE NEW YORK POST reports, Bego was distressed that she saw herself a failure in business as well as her love life.  She felt she had nothing to show for having lived all the years she did.  She was middle aged. 

When I listen to displaced lawyers I can hear the same despair about being a failure.  They look to the lawyers who have succeeded and compare themselves.  Some even mention the word "suicide." Most are in therapy. 

Professionals who came to America from England say that the great aspect of America is that you can fail and still start over in contrast to England where you fail and you're finished.  However, we in America know that it's not that simple.  Fail in America and you are the one who will not let yourself start over again.  Suicide seems the more realistic option.

Hillary Clinton's Blood Clot: Sometimes we just get plain bored with conspiracy cut-and-paste jobs

Well, well, well.  NEW YORK Magazine leads the conga line of those who are wondering what the folks who dutifully attend to the conspiracy cut-and-paste jobs will do now that the news is Hillary Clinton is hospitalized with a blood clot.  That clot is supposedly from the alleged concussion she suffered when she had her so-called fall.

As all the conspiracy talk had been gathering momentum when the concussion was first announced many of us Baby Boomers were simply bored.  We have been going through this since John F. Kennedy was shot.  We are tired.  And everyone has a right to spin.

Lorene Schaefer: Plaintiff in gender class action suit against GE in 2007

Today, attorney Lorene Schaefer, former general counsel at GE Transporation, operates an employment mediation firm in the Atlanta Metro Area. 

Back in 2007, she had been pioneer in the kinds of employment lawsuits which are now commonplace.  On behalf of 1,500 to 1,700 GE female employees she was the lead plaintiff in a class action suit against the company.  It was settled in 2009, on a confidential basis.

Back in 2007, her suit, because it involved GE, received plenty of media attention.  But the employment lawsuit which made almost daily headlines in the general, business, and legal media was that of Aaron Charney against his law firm Sullivan & Cromwell for discrimination against gays.  He was an associate and everyone predicted this was a career-destroying move.  But, no, Sullivan & Cromwell settled, Charney went on to buy a pricey condo in Manhattan, and get another good job practicing law. 

Some speculate that the fact that he landed on his feet encouraged other associates and even partners to file employment suits against their law firms.  They have become frequent news on Abovethelaw.com, which has unique insider sources to delight readers with details of these suits.   

Today, relations between employers and employees are fraught with discontent.  A recent survey by the ManpowerGroup found that 86% of employees plan to look for other jobs in 2013, with only 5% hanging in.  Big names can be made in the field of human resources for those who can provide a fresh approach to how owners, management, and labor can work together productively for their mutual benefit.  The newest issue to emerge is the use of robots.  That has become a global concern as more than a million robots could be installed at Foxconn, manufacturer of the iPhone in China, reports THE NEW YORK TIMES.  

Jean Harris: Symbol of the unliberated generation of educated women in America

Pumped up on the diet pills he prescribed for her, elite school headmistress Jean Harris pumped bullets into her cheating celebrity lover The Scarsdale Doctor.  Her upper class manners didn't help her in the court of law or the court of public opinion. 

But as time passed and she dropped her airs in the joint and helped her fellow inmates get their GEDs, Bang-Bang Jean seemed worth analyzing, with a bit of compassion.

What we educated Baby Boomer women saw was one of us born too soon.  A member of the Silent Generation, just like our mothers, she defined herself through a man.  Also, like many of our mothers, she picked badly.  The Scarsdale Doctor was a cad.

Now, at age 89, whatever growth Harris experienced in prison and afterwards on the outside when she was granted early release because of two heart attacks, is done.  May she rest in peace.  We thank her for showing us that we were on the right path in deciding to become our own person, not an extension of a man.

Connecticut: Feral cats v songbirds

Maybe because we Americans root for the underdog many of us cheer on the efforts of homeless A.K.A. feral cats to survive.  On the other hand there are also many of us who view those cats as a menace in general since they can carry diseases and as a threat specifically to songbirds which become their lunch. 

That collision of points of view has been profiled in the cover story of THE NEW HAVEN ADVOCATE (not online) by Gregory Hladky.  Here in Connecticut we might be unique in having a program which tries to resolve the conflict without putting the cats to sleep.  Volunteers trap the ferals, then bring them to a vet to be neutered and vaccinated.  The cats are brought back to their colonies, usually behind a dumpster or among abandoned cars.  Even with that care they usually live about half of the 15-year lifespan of cats who are domestic pets.

The question is what will the powers that be in Connecticut, as well as other states, decide to do about the "feral problem."  When humans don't feed them, they serve a community purpose by hunting mice and other rodents.   Despite our good intentions, feeding wild animals reduces their ability to make it out there.

For about a decade I served as a volunteer in Fairfield County, Connecticut in the trapping projects.  It really did keep down the population in that new kittens weren't added and the colonies didn't allow in other strays.  Therefore, what some perceive as a problem was well under control.

Train Platforms: Legally reframing them as public nuisance, murder weapon, etc.

Rail transportation, both for humans and goods, has been a symbol of many positive things in America.  Those range from cost-efficiency to power networking on routes along the Northeast corridor.  Regarding the latter, the elite have learned to take the rails not the plane in hope of sitting next to Henry Kissinger or Greta Van Susteren.

Recently, though, riding the rails has also taken on the negative symbol of being vulnerable to being pushed onto the tracks while waiting.  The lastest incident has happened in the Sunnyside section of Queens, New York, where reports Bloomberg, a middle aged man died that way.  The person of interest is a young Hispanic female.

Legally, waiting platforms for long distance trains as well as subways and tubes (as they are called in New Jersey) have to be reframed to create a category or several categories for the potential hazard and liability they could represent.  Those range from attractive nuisance to murder weapon.

Successful lawyers transcend standard interpretations of the law.  Individuals and law firms can develop brandnames which convert into new business by focusing on this emerging legal challenge and how owners and operators of rail systems can protect themselves from lawsuits as well as horrific publicity.

Raj Rajaratnam: Has to cough up $1.45 million in civil suit by SEC (So?)

For financial players like Raj Rajaratnam had been as head of Galleon, $1.45 million doesn't represent a lot of money.  That's what he now will have to pay up in a civil suit filed by the SEC.  That's why it's puzzling that this is even a story in THE NEW YORK POST.

Last Sunday in THE NEW YORK TIMES article on hedge fund high flyer Stephen A. Cohen, it was mentioned that on just one day his firm lost $1 billion. Had Rajaratnam had to pay up around $10 billion, maybe that would entitle it to become a story in a major tabloid.