Law And More

COVID-19 Creates Unique Opportunities for Branding Fixes: Philip Morris International

Maker of Marlboro - Philip Morris International - is doing right by its workforce.

MarketWatch reports that it's not only not laying off any worker.

In addition, there will be no "haircuts" on salary. That's even for employees operating remotely who can't perform all the usual job functions there will be no reductions in pay. For workers who are taking on the risk of doing their jobs in-person there will be awards.

Since Philip Morris International is in the tobacco sector it's a target for all sorts of public-interest attacks and for controversies. From a pragmatic public relations point of view, this is a brilliant workforce policy, orchestrated just right, and at exactly the right time.

The old-fashioned response to that would be to belt out "For he's a jolly good fellow."

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Shook Hardy & Bacon Positions Steep Compensation Cuts as "Prudent Anticipatory Measures"

Yet another law has announced deep reductions in compensation and framed them in positive terms. 

For Shook Hardy & Bacon, the initiatives are positioned and packaged as "prudent anticipatory measures."

Abovethelaw reports these steps taken by Shook:

For this week's draw, equity partners will have a 90% reduction. After that the cut will be 75%.

Income partners will have a 50% cut. Later that could be modified.

Associates will have a 25% reduction.

Professional staff will have  20% decrease.

Staff whose functions are attached to certain locations will be put on temporary furlough.

Those at Shook who are "overextended" financially could find themselves in personal financial distress. 

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Lateral Market - Wrong Hiring Could Sink Leadership's Credibility During COVID-19

What's obvious is that in many law firms partners are suffering.

There have been delays and cuts on draw.

Also, as is well known, there are myriad tactics to force partners out.

In turn, those partners know that there is a currently a target on their back if they are not pulling in the billable hours and new business.

So, in general, the law firm environment is not welcoming to the risk of hiring a high-priced lateral.

Often the expectation on the brandname's part is for a guaranteed lucrative compensation for a number of years. Few law firms can afford to take on that kind of financial commitment in The Time of Coronavirus.

Yes, as Roy Strom points out in Bloomberg, there have been some high-profile lateral hires. The one which has received the most attention has been Wilkie Farr & Gallagher hiring former Jenner & Block chairman Craig Martin (along with five partners). That was to establish a Chicago office. 

Aside from that, most lateral hiring presents a risk for both the financials of a the law firm and the branding/careers of the leadership. If the ROI for the hire doesn't pan out, the trouble so many law firms are encountering right now can be worsened exponentially. 

Another obstacle is that the hiring process has to be virtual. Nuances of chemistry might not be able to be picked up. So those in charge of hiring are, in essence, flying blind on the social fundamentals of the deal. In-person, it would be immediately obvious through vibrations if X or Y could fit with the culture and work effectively with others in that practice.

The deals which had been started before the world economic slowdown, then COVID-19 have closed or will be closing. But not many new ones have been put in play.

One elephant in the room about the lateral market is what David Lat will encounter when fully recovered from his near-death experience with COVID-15.

That has been a major media event, even being featured on "Nightline." Several months ago, Lat took the leap from his career in media to joining Lateral Link as a recruiter and managing director of its New York office. 

Before that, Lat's brand had been that he had founded the out-of-the-box legal news site Abovethelaw.com. Its edge was its sources. Junior lawyers and law students continually sent along anonymous tips. Therefore the site could break news. Within that niche, Lat became a star.

That was then.

One wonders how he can develop a brand in lateral recruiting when:

1) The publicity for his battle with COVID-19 hammers his media background, that is, as founder of ATL. A hardened brand identity can interfere with the launch of a new one. Incidentally, multiple branding identities have presented problems for those with side hustles. Here is my article published on what I labeled "mutt branding."

2) He is missing out on the dynamics of the changing legal market because, as "Nightline" communicated, his road to recovery is slow. Chronicling his saga in the media may or may not be a plus. Future prospects and others in the loop may or may not perceive this development as what they want to be associated with. 

3) On a dime, the lateral market has changed. When Lat parachuted in, it was strong. Now it isn't. And now is what brings in the income to pay the bills.

Meanwhile, right now covering the legal sector is a boom business for both journalists and bloggers. There is so much material that it is difficult to choose what to include in the day's wrap-up. One especially useful source has been Pin Hawk Law Firm Marketing Brief. It is published by Joseph Lamport. 

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Legal Marketers/Brandname Lawyers - Assessing ROI on Blogging In Challenging Financial Times

Thank you readers for sticking with my communications blog since April 2005. 

The communications blog came into being this way. I had read in The New York Times Magazine about the influence of Gawker blogger Ana Marie Cox. She was its "Wonkette."

Heck, I thought, I can do that. And that I did.

As an early adopter, fame and riches came fast. The first major assignment was blogging a major class action state trial. The exposure generated many other legal-oriented assignments.

Like everything, the world of digital influence mutated. Blogging, which essentially is long-form, became a mature medium.

That brings me to the number-one issue associated with blogging.

Legal marketers and brandname lawyers ask: Does all the work it requires generate enough of a return on investment? Or, should marketers and thought leaders in these challenging times in the legal sector opt for other kinds of tools?

Here's what I have experienced:

Google rewards long-form. Blogging is a long-form platform. Here is my article published on recent changes in Google search. 

Blog posts are useful links to attach on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. The trick is to put a catchy headline on the social network. That will motivate readers to click on your link. Getting attention, in general, has become a dog fight. You have to have down cold what will attract eyeballs and make it their self-interest to return for more.

Connecticut lawyer Norm Pattis (Fotis Dulos defense) is a master of this. I recommend to clients that they study this model and adopt it for their own brand voice. Here is Pattis' blog.

The blogging game is about outbound and inbound links. In itself, that dynamic is a wonderful networking tool. Through blogging, without leaving my home office for networking, I have put together an amazing list of contacts.

Organizations hiring talent give a plus to those with blogs. That sends the signal that you know your way around digital and how to build a community. The court of public opinion often has more impact than the court of law. Clients and prospects know this. Among what they know is digital influence is everything. 

In addition, just being out there on a blog is a relatively low-cost new business development tool. In good economic times and bad, my communications blog brings in about 30% of new assignments. 

Another question legal marketers and brandname lawyers ask me is this: Would I be starting a blog in 2020?

The answer is "yes."

But it would be for a very narrow niche such as protecting a brand during a recall. That establishes a clear identity amid the communications glut.

Incidentally, the genius in that specific type of crisis is kglobal partner Gene Grabowski. The strategies and tactics he applied during the Blue Bell ice cream recall have become best practices. PR Week presents them. Grabowski has handled over 150 recalls. Defense lawyers in food contamination should beware of Grabowski's approaches to that specific form of personal injury. 

For the blog I launched in 2020, I would use the WordPress platform (that hadn't been available in 2005). And I would leverage that WordPress platform as a possible build-out. If the blog took off, then I could add on the platform a newsletter. For law firms and solo lawyers, newsletters can be a power marketing tool. 

In essence, blogging is like any other medium. It's what you do with it that generates the ROI. In itself, any medium is a blank check. At best, it could be hot, as blogging had initially been, for a brief time. Then the burden of generating ROI from it is on you. 

My other syndicated blog is Law and More.

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Temporary Doesn't Exist in The New World Order - Disney Executives Balk about Pay Cuts Having No End Date

The Mouse-Makers aren't happy. 

The one exception at Disney is former Chief Executive Officer, now Executive Chairman Bob Iger. He gave up his $3 million salary to help furloughed employees at the entertainment empire.

However, at the levels of Vice President, Senior Vice President, and Executive Vice President, reports Daily Mail, some executives are balking about the kinds of pay cuts they have come to embrace as of March 30th. They range from 5% to 20%.

Here are the problems:

1) They don't perceive the cuts as voluntary. Some felt there was pressure to participate in this supposed equality of sacrifice.  

2) The new contracts for the pay cuts have no end date. That is, they are instituted as "temporary." But the reality is that business is entering a whole new order. It's unlikely any enterprise, no matter how large or small, will be circling back to an earlier time. Therefore, executives are left in limbo about their future compensation.

Already, thought leaders are issuing long-form manifestos about the emerging new order Post-COVID-19. The one with the most influence right now had been penned by Henry Kissinger for The Wall Street Journal. 

What that means is that business can't exhale "when this is all over." It will have to reimagine itself for the new order.

One wonders if the legal sector will be the setting for a gigantic disruption. Compensation in BigLaw, including for entry-level associates with no or little experience, has been trending higher and higher. The current pay cuts could be the beginning of the end of all that. 

Meanwhile, the once-heady entertainment sector is in shambles. The lenders for AMC hired Gibson Dunn for restructuring. 

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Norton Rose Fulbright Positions International Cost-Cutting as "Pre-emptive"

What's on the balance might not be as important to branding and new business development as how that is positioned and packaged.

This is the era of extreme public relations.

The brand is the message.

And the message is the business. 

So, it's expected that Norton Rose Fulbright puts its cost-cutting in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia as "pre-emptive measures." Law.com reports that they include:

Outreach to staff for reduction of hours/pay for a year. That would entail a 20% cut in compensation. If enough opt in, the program will be effective April 20th.

Deferred partner distributions.

Deferred salary raises.

Deferred bonuses.

Because of technology, staff functions have become increasingly threatened. With remote work becoming standard many of those positions could become downright obsolete. If staff accept NRF's proposal, they know they have jobs for at least a year.

Deferrals send a message of optimism. Underlying that arrangement is the expectation that the financial threats will lessen and business as usual will return.

However, thought thinkers such as Henry Kissinger are projecting a whole new order of things post-COVID-19. The Wall Street Journal published Kissinger's manifesto.

The play-out of a whole new order should be no surprise.

Human beings are the ones who shape institutions. Those human beings have been forever changed by this pandemic. It's common sense that this generation of leaders, managers, workers, parents, and consumers will trigger an upheaval in the status quo.

That's what the Ok, boomers can now understand about their grandparents who had lived through being able to enter the U.S. at Ellis Island, the Spanish Flu, and The Great Depression. That generation, whacked three times, traveled with darkness. 

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Is Cutting Your Fee/Price Patriotic? - Honeywell Requests 30% Reductions from Some Vendors

Save the economy.

That's the subhead on the U.S. campaign to save the lives of those infected with the novel coronavirus.

So, price/fee cuts could be positioned and packaged as downright patriotic. You bet, they are in the public interest. 

If corporations such as Honeywell play it smart they can orchestrate initiatives for extreme reductions in whatever from vendors.

Already, reports MarketWatch, Honeywell has requested that some of its suppliers cut prices by as much as 30%. In addition, it is asking for extended payment terms. 

Meanwhile, law firms such as Venable, are struggling to save lawyer jobs through pay cuts. At Venable, the interesting wrinkle on that is that the cuts are sliding scale. Interestingly, Venable states such a measure is "proactive." That is, it is sending the message that it isn't acting because of any financial distress but because of an abundance of caution. 

Branding, sales, attractiveness as a merger partner, the ability to attract talent - all of these depend on how businesses, including those in the legal loop, are messaging during this global economic crisis. 

What is in the public interest has become the loudest voice in the room.

Saving the economy is in the public interest.

Saving companies is in the public interest.

Saving the jobs of lawyers is in the public interest. 

As the old saying goes, crisis is opportunity. Organizations can gain high brand equity by doing what's in the public interest and communicating that in a way that engages. For many law firms, the latter is a tough nut to crack. They tend to turn inward and focus on themselves. The communications come across as self-serving. 

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Boston-Based Lawyers Working from Home, With Pay Cut - Fantasies of Relocating to Suburbs

Boston may be losing its cool. Especially with Millennials

In fact, in Boston Magazine, Sofia Rivera reports that relocating to the suburbs is becoming an attractive idea. There could even be an exodus of young married and families "this (COVID-19) is all over."

That could include lawyers, based in Boston, who are currently working from home, had a pay cut, and developed more confidence in the sustained value of property versus the volatility of stocks.

Being stuck in the house, seemingly forever, has been triggering a psychic shift in some who assumed that Boston was the only place to live.

Here is some of the new thinking, points out Rivera:

Home has become haven. Since that's what's dawning on people, why not have a "real" home. That means more space and a yard.

Can't afford private schools any more, so how about good public schools in the suburbs? It could come to it that not even partners can afford to enroll all the offspring in private schools.

Property as an asset seems a better bet than stocks. Many have lost 30% of the value of their stock portfolios.

The commute will create time to decompress and maybe a boundary between home and work. It may be up to professionals themselves to figure out how to reduce stress. And not wait for employer-sponsored programs.

Brand Boston could become a victim of COVID-19.

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Transition to Post-COVID-19 World Order: For Whom the Bell Tolls

"The reality is that world will never be the same after the coronavirus." - Henry Kissinger, The Wall Street Journal, April 3, 2020. 

In parts of the world, such as the United States, the coronavirus hasn't yet peaked. But thought leaders already are communicating the urgent need for nations as well as individuals to prepare for The Next. That post-COVID-19 world order will be a new one. 

Henry Kissinger is just one among many who are warning about the need for fresh mindsets, policies, and actions once the dust settles. A popular article in The Atlantic is by science journalist Ed Yong. He anticipates the shift to be so profound that babies born during the pandemic will be entering such as different global, national, and local culture that they should be called "Generation C."

What Kissinger advocates includes:

•  New techniques and technologies to anticipate and manage infections
•  What it takes to heal the world economy
•  Protecting the principles of the liberal world order. 

In the legal sector, the shift in values is already happening. Unlike the kneejerk large reductions-in-force of 2008 - 2009, the majority of large and midsize firms are pulling out all stops to prevent layoffs. They range from delaying the partner draws to pay cuts across the board.

Because of the extreme suffering triggered by COVID-19, finally there could be a softening of capitalism. 

Currently, law firms can enhance their Brandnames not so much by wins for clients.

Instead, their leadership can emerge as the new kinds of Global Good Guys through embracing and practicing the values articulated by John Donne in 1624.

Back then, Donne published his iconic poem "No Man Is an Island." The takeaway line is:

" ... Never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

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Boies Schiller - 3 More Partners Leave

They are in good financial shape.

That's the message the leadership at Boies Schiller is sending out to the media. Proof of that is this: Unlike myriad other law firms, Boies Schiller plans no layoffs, no furloughs, no haircuts for partners, and no salary cuts for the rest of employees. 

On the other hand, reports Law.com, there have been three more partners defections. That brings the number to 16 since the start of 2020. According to Boies Schiller some of the exits were initiated by it. That is, it asked the partners to find employment elsewhere.

The most recent departures have been from the LA and DC offices. They are:

Stacey Grigsby to Covington & Burling

Christopher Renner to Davis Wright

Michael Schafler to Cohen Williams.

Once a golden brand, Boies Schiller has been taking hits.

Among the biggest had been the expose by Ronan Farrow on how the firm was representing Harvey Weinstein. Here is that iconic article in The New Yorker. 

On a lighter note has been the dog fight the firm's founder David Boies has gotten himself into with brandname lawyer Alan Dershowitz.

In his book "Guilt By Accusation," Dershowitz asserts that in being both a board member and legal counsel at Theranos Boies had a conflict of interest. Theranos has collapsed. Its founder Elizabeth Holmes has been accused by the feds of massive fraud. 

Meanwhile, in the legal sector, new power brandnames are being established to replace the old guard.

Among them is Brad Karp - chairman at Paul Weiss. He had been an early adopter of pro bono outreach to those suffering because of COVID-19. That is the Paul Weiss Coronavirus Relief Center. In his own words, Karp describes that grassroots initiative by lawyers who worked around the clock, with no pay. Here it is.

Overall, the intense efforts by law firms to prevent layoffs could indicate a softening of traditional capitalism. 

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