Law And More

Quinn Emanuel $185 Million Fee - Belief in Protestant Ethic Seems So Schoolgirlish

Quinn Emanuel figures it has "earned" a $185 million fee in its legal work for health insurers who hadn't been paid by the Obama Administration. That number has been calculated on the basis of results. The law firm's work resulted in the insurers receiving $3.7 billion. 

The issue involved, reports Bloomberg Law, is that in terms of hours the fee would come to Quinn Emanuel's earning $18,500 an hour. There are those who object, including litigation funders. 

However, the fee only represents 5% of the results, note supporters of Quinn Emanuel.

At its core, this dispute is not really about high fees charged by elite law firms. That is so boring. The marketplace, including its dynamics during COVID-19, takes care of that. 

It gets down to questioning the Protestant Ethic. That had been woven into a system of beliefs by Max Weber. Essentially the meme is: Work hard. 

Such an ideology - actually almost a religion - dominated Americana since Puritan times. Hard work was valued in itself. Ironically, it still is. Those who sinned or stumbled professionally were advised to "Work Hard." That was the path to salvation.

Currently, that adage is still being touted, in some circles.

Many help-wanted ads on Craigslist, for example, indicate the need for a "hard worker." Yeah, an eye-roll. Professionals who want to get ahead in an organization sense that employer doesn't understand how success happens, is sustained and scaled. 

For players, the Protestant Ethic seems downright misleading. It's obvious that it can be even counterproductive. Looking for the way not to have to work hard can be the real path to wealth - as well as power and influence.

Through inventing the Mac, then the iPhone, Steve Jobs eliminated the need for lots of old-fashioned kinds of work. 

Before that, Ronald Reagan's branding was about not working hard. He came across as confident, a quality needed in a leader.

I landed a communications contract (one hat I wear) by pitching to the prospect a shortcut to boosting rankings on search engines. No, we weren't going to work hard together.

Mouthing platitudes about hard work can seem downright schoolgirlish. Even small business owners, at least those still in business in coronavirus times, understand that the game is about results - the bigger the better, the sooner the better. It's not about hours the workforce plows into a project.

The Emanuel Quinn fee controversy can be a flashpoint in law firm billing. The billable hour can be tossed. It could be replaced by performance-based metrics. 

More generally, parents, teachers, and guidance counselors who tell youth to work hard will have no credibility. As a sometimes career coach, I advise the over-50 unemployed/underemployed I guide to ditch their own hard-work ethos. It's all about what they can accomplish for an employer.

The pitch should be: This is what I can do for you - better and faster than those others competing for work. 

One professional in the real estate loop, after two years searching for a better job, reframed his marketing to just that: Promised results, supported by documentation of those created for other employers over the years. Those were his new marketing materials. Immediately, he received an interview. A prospective employer flew him to its headquarters and hired him on the spot. 

Sour grapes: Too long I worked hard at a doctoral degree that wasn't marketable. Early in the game the savvy owner at a business where I worked part-time recommended I pull the plug. Get a job in media or at a public relations agency, he counseled. I didn't. I assumed my unusually intense hard work would land me one of the few jobs in the field. I limped away from that disaster getting it that betting on the right horse, not hard work, is the key career fundamental. 

Coaching, lecturing, and writing/ghostwriting thought leadership content on human resources and careers.  

For individual coaching – sliding scale fees. Complimentary initial consultation. The special area of expertise is the displaced over-50 professional. Please contact Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com.

Reality Check for Law Firm Manpower - Corporate CEOs Abandon Hope for Quick Recovery

Call it the end of magical thinking.

The current severity of the pandemic and the possibility it could circle back a second time have made corporate chief executive officers admit that recovery won't happen in a matter of months.

The Wall Street Journal reports that their current mindset is that the bounce-back from COVID-19 could require years.

The implications are broad-based.

For example, some corporations such as GM, to preserve cash for the long haul, have eliminated dividends for shareholders. Of course, that kind of initiative could worsen the financial situation on Main Street. The U.S. economy is 70% consumer-driven.

To navigate all that, corporations are being forced to change. It's back to the drawing board both for cost-efficiency and for growth.

That can be bad news for law firms. The financial distress of clients and prospects directly affects their business - and, in turn, their management of manpower.

Over and over again, watcher of the business of law firms Hugh Simons has hammered that really hard times are coming when it comes to law firm employment.

Already, Bloomberg Law documented that for the JD Class of 2020 there have been not only delayed start dates but rescinded offers.

Abovethelaw has begun receiving insider tips from law firms where actual layoffs, not just pay cuts and furloughs, are happening. Those include Bryan Cave. 

And aging lawyers have contacted me for complimentary consultations on how to frame a career transition.

If knocked out of the box, lawyers over-50 are realistic about not being able to land another position practicing law. The hiring will be for laterals who are still working and have a brandname and/or a book of business. Yes, in an old-line sector like law firms, there remains a stigma about unemployment.

The obvious recommendation is for lawyers at all levels to anticipate being cut loose. That could be through being shamed out of the job, forced retirement, buyouts, stealth layoffs, or an announced reduction in force.

The time is now for all lawyers to research how to leverage their education, experience, and skills to sectors in which a good living can be made.

Over decades, the proven guide is "What Color Is Your Parachute?" Annually there is a new edition. Those are available in the public library and used from Amazon.

The sustained meme of that bible on job search and career change is this: The professional hired is not necessarily the most qualified. The success comes from being the best at how to  find a job or navigating career change.

The being-hired game doesn't operate on the fundamentals of a meritocracy. The dynamics boil downs to superior skills in that whole continuum of chasing after work. 

Based on insights from "What Color Is Your Parachute?" lawyers should analyse the marketability of various backgrounds. Then they put together trial resumes and cover letters. Yes, multiple. Simultaneously, role play interviews with those trusted on a network.

In addition, they have to get over the potential blow to self-esteem of taking on survival jobs or gigs. It really is true: Nothing gets a job like a job. A crazy-seeming job can be the bridge to a new career path. The leasing agent for an apartment complex can wind up in the real estate firm's corporate headquarters. 

In outplacement, if the law firm provides that useful benefit, it's imperative to be aggressive about seeking guidance on a job search in a glutted labor market.  

Meanwhile, investigate building or enhancing social branding. Employers factor that in. So do potential clients. 

On LinkedIn, displaced general counsel from Salary.com Colin Levy has created fresh personal branding. His example is encouraging other lawyers, unemployed and employed, to also go social. Through that, Levy is picking up contract work. This tactic may or may not land a full-time job practicing law. But is is a solid platform for career change. 

Coaching, lecturing, and writing/ghostwriting thought leadership content on human resources and careers.  

For individual coaching – sliding scale fees. Complimentary initial consultation. The special area of expertise is the displaced over-50 professional. Please contact Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com.

The New Normal in Time of COVID-19: Forced Retirement

There is a confluences of forces.

One is that the aging, always targeted for the ax, are finding themselves shown the door more often during COVID-19. That's just the way it is. The route could be accepting a package, being on the list for a reduction in force, harassed into resigning, or a stealth layoff, that is being terminated for supposedly performance reasons. 

The other is the fear of returning to a communal work situation in which the risk of COVID-19 is high. 

The result, observes Alicia Munnell in MarketWatch, has been a significant increase in early retirements, that is, leaving a career or long-term work situation sooner than intended.

According to the findings on the Current Population Survey, in April 2020 - only one month into COVID-19 - there had been a 7% uptick in the number of those who had been employed and suddenly fell into the retirement category. For those between 55 and 64, the percentage was less but still significant enough to get on the radar.

Overall, the feeling about this development is: blindsided.

Because of the shock, there could be a rush into pessimism.

At the top of the list is assuming that the only way to continue to make ends meet is to apply for Social Security early. Usually, that's at age 62. Long term, that means a reduction in the monthly benefit.

The reality is that being knocked out of the career box doesn't mean the end of the ability to earn income from work per se. There is always work. Here, free to download, is my bible on that Download Outwitting ageism.

That stopgap can be the bridge to a new career path. For example, an in-house lawyer, who had been a communications client, had been forced into early retirement. He spotted an ad about being a residential leasing manager. Eventually he became licensed as a real estate agent. He made the contacts to sell at the high end. 

Another bit of pessimism is the mindset that relocation to where the cost of living is lower comes with shame. Those who thrive, despite the reversal of fortune, frame that as the unique opportunity to start over again. Also, many, to their surprise, discover it is a relief to leave their former life, embedded with careerism, behind.

There is also the predictable syndrome of regret - that is, replaying the past. It consists of the If-Onlys. When I lectured at the New York State Bar Association to displaced lawyers over-50, most were replaying their earlier decisions. The pattern was the magical thinking that if they hadn't done X, Y, that is, their termination, wouldn't have happened. Sure, it's important to learn from what could have been ineffective behavior.

However, nothing will change the past. What has helped some of my coaching clients in shaking off that preoccupation with the past is studying forms of Buddhism. Several schools recommend not perceiving the past - or any entity - as good or bad. It just is.

There are plenty of resources out there to navigate this new kind of rite of passage: early retirement.

Since the 1970s, for instance, "What Color Is Your Parachute?" has been a game-changer for those who need to market themselves to land work. Its tenet is that the person who is hired or gets the account is not necessarily the most qualified. Most often the winners are those who are best at presenting themselves in the labor market.

The search for income from work is a game. That game keeps mutating. Currently, my clients who are hired use the direct approach. In all their marketing materials, ranging from the cover letter/resume to the interview, they state and back up with data what they can accomplish for that employer or prospect for their business. Essentially, the pitch is: Here is what I can do for you.

Coaching, lecturing, and writing/ghostwriting thought leadership content on human resources and careers.  

For individual coaching – sliding scale fees. Complimentary initial consultation. The special area of expertise is the displaced over-50 professional. Please contact Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com.

40-Something Lawyers, Displaced/Anticipating Layoffs - Downward Mobility Doesn't Have to Be Permanent

"[Those] born in 1980 … have more debt, less predictable income, and less reliable access to health care." - Lora Kelley, "I Am The Portrait of Downward Mobility," The New York Times, April 17, 2020.

Lawyers who are 40-something could be hurled into permanent downward mobility by the global implosion of the legal sector, triggered by COVID-19. Precedent is there: Many of the associates knocked out of the box in 2008 - 2009 never regained their professional footing. When the recovery came, law firms hired laterals and new graduates. 

But the good news is that downward mobility doesn't have to be permanent. 

The story in media outlets is how quickly the global legal sector had been turned upside down. For example, Bloomberg just published an update on that abrupt end to more than a decade of recovery:

"The legal world is being ravaged by the economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic, as lawyers are furloughed, forced to take pay cuts or unable to find work."

Things aren't going to get better, not any time soon. BusinessInsider reports on how four indicators signal a severe economic downturn. They are:

•  Retail sales - down 8.7% in March
•  Industrial production - down 5.4% in March
•  Jobless claims - 5.2 million filed in week ending April 11
•  Housing starts - down 22.3%.

Lawyers and others such as public relations representatives in professional services displaced in 2008 - 2009 created best practices for bouncing back.

They were the ones who responded to their situation quickly, pragmatically, and strategically. Those who were stuck in trying to replicate the past stayed stuck. Most of them continue on the slide into downward mobility.

Here is what those I coached and who were back in the money found out and implemented:

•  Yes, try to remain on the former career path but also experiment with others. Develop that multi-dimensional focus even before losing the job. Having a plan puts you in a position of strength when negotiating severance. 
•  Work, any kind, is better than no work. If financially possible, delay unemployment to pick up work. It may or may not be in your field of expertise. When not working the very ability to conduct yourself in a work setting atrophies. That's why employers hesitate to hire anyone out of work for an extended period of time.
•  Income is everything. Debt is to be avoided. A survival job prevents swelling the balances on credit cards. Moreover, that just-in-time job can open up ideas about another way to earn a good living. One lawyer grabbed a job as security guard in an urban big box. Quickly he moved into supervision. Eventually he made it to a headquarters position in loss prevention at another retailer. 
•  Study the help-wanted in myriad categories on Craigslist to discern where the demand is. Figure out how your experience, skills, and education could be reconfigured to apply for them. It's all about how you reposition and repackage yourself. You may start at the bottom. So? Have confidence you can play the game to rise in any food chain. 
•  Forget your ego. This isn't about you. It's about learning new games. When you were learning soccer your focus was on the game, not yourself. Turning inward is career suicide. 
•  Close doors. After you decide to leave behind practicing law, cut those ties which won't be useful in your new journey. One senior associate knocked out the box formed an alumni group for other associates let go by that BigLaw firm. They all wound up stuck. In order for new doors to open, other ones have to be shut. 
• Get in and get out fast. X career path isn't panning out for you, not on any level. Be fast about finding other kind of space to land in. Trust your instincts. Don't heed what "everybody" says. Blind faith in experts is totally 20th century.

The emerging definition of "success" is the capability to spot opportunity and pounce on it - when down and out. 

In the 21st century there will be serial down-and-outs. Earning a good living is no longer linear.

Intuitive psychic readings and coaching for your career and job search. Transition a special area of expertise. Complimentary 5-minute reading. Sliding scale billing. 12 years experience. Please contact janegenova374@gmail.com for appointment.

 

In The Year of COVID-19: Voodoo, Gratitude, Social as Suicide, Making a Living

There are 12 coronavirus hotspots in the U.S.

Ohio, where I have been based since I fled New York Metro's high cost of living, is not one of them. Not yet. Maybe not ever.

But, overall, the mindset here is one of inevitability. Yes, many of us will probably become infected with COVID-19. We just hope that our individual case won't be severe or, nonono, fatal.

Will ours be treatable at home? The medical bills could be the tipping point in trying to grab onto financial security. 

So, it's another day in The Year of COVID-19.

Turning to Zen, Magic, and More.

Position and package this as the intersection of science and the paranormal. Researchers explain the role of thought processes in providing health benefits. Those range from optimism to the belief that X intervention will have Y effect (even if a placebo is involved).

In 2003, after I had lost my nest egg, business, and mind, the universe smiled on me. It directed me to Amy Karnilowicz, based in West Hartford, Connecticut, Her specialty is cognitive therapy. She guided me to focus on my thought processes. Not yesterday. Not my mother. Within four months I was back. 

Zen does the same thing. It helps make humans aware of how their minds operate, empowering them to wrestle those demons to the ground. From 2012 until 2014, I meditated at the New Haven Zen Center in New Haven, Connecticut. There, I gained the wisdom and strength to depart the New York Metro area which was no longer a good fit for me. 

Magic is, well, magical. More recently, in Toledo, Ohio, I wandered into Once in a Blue Moon, 4348 Monroe Street. I was stuck. American Buddhist nun Pema Chodron, even in her 80s, admits she too gets stuck.

There, at Once in a Blue Moon, Shadow counseled me with a tarot reading. Raven helped me select stones to "wake up" my energy. Within days I had navigated out of stuck into creating platforms for The Next. I am reimagining my businesses for this new era. 

The "more" is ritual. I light white candles. I burn incense. I get on my knees and surrender myself to the universe.

If I contract a fatal case of COVID-19 what I do know is that I will pass on to another dimension with inner peace.

Saluting the front lines. 

Kroger, at least not here on W. Alexis, hasn't put up plexiglass to protect the check-out workers. Let's tell them that we appreciate their serving us in these precarious times.  

Movement in the direction of someone experienced as a threat. 

Yesterday was unseasonably warm. A neighbor was sitting out in front of her door. As I walked my dog in her direction, she hurried inside.

Coincidence?

Maybe. 

More likely, it's that each of us has become The Enemy. The courtyard of the residential complex is empty. Social is suicide. Neighbors rush to their cars. 

Since the virus can linger on our shoe we won't be allowed to cross thresholds. 

Just making ends meet.

Careerism could be taking it on the chin. In operating my boutiques the shift is to being able to bring in enough revenue to be able to pay my bills. The old-line Manhattan careerism is going poof. And not just with me. I chat online with my colleagues and even clients. The meme is: Working is about making a living. 

What used to be considered The Weekend will soon start. But, with working at home, shut down from the world, being the new normal the concept of The Weekend is becoming an anachronism.

Those in our professional loop know we are at home and will contact us.

However, I am determined to take the time to be out there in the almost-deserted Home Depot parking lot re-learning how to ride a motorcycle.

The tough nut to crack is to lean into the turn. Each time I ride I am able, though, to add five more miles onto what I am comfortable going at. When will I be ready for prime time, that is, actually riding on the street? Decades ago, with my Honda 90, that took a month. Now, as the Ok, Boomer, all bets are off if I will be able to be on the road this summer. 

Smart global ghostwriting, with SEO and social networking know-how. Emergencies welcome. Complimentary consultation (pressure-free) janegenova374@gmail.com.

Hedge Funds in 2019 - Not a Good Year, But Steve Cohen Is Back (sort of)

During 2019, investing in the stock market generally had been a better bet than participating in a hedge fund. 

According to Hedge Fund Research, reports the New York Post, the average return was about 8.5% versus 30% for the S&P 500.  More than 500 hedge funds liquidated. And less than 500 new ones were launched - a long-time low. 

But there had been some bright spots.

One-time major player when he headed SAC Steve Cohen has had a comeback - sort of. That was with his Point 72. The gain during 2019 was at about 13%. But that is significantly lower than the gain of SAC in 2013. That was 20.1%.

Cohen launched 72 when he was allowed back into the game of having outside investors. Legal powerhouse David Boies negotiated that with the SEC.

That was at the time when former employees of SAC had been sentenced to prison for insider trading. Cohen never got nailed personally, although then-U.S. Attorney Preet Baharara sure did try. The financial and business media ran with that Moby Dick kind of saga. 

But, Cohen's 2019 performance is, well, peanuts compared to that of other comeback Bill Ackman. His Pershing Square had a gain of about 50%. Until those numbers came out, Akman had been considered "done." 

Reflection: Don't write off any player as "finished." If they had the smarts to make it big they frequently have the smarts to make it back.

Smart global ghostwriting, with niche social networking know-know. Emergencies welcome. Complimentary consultation (pressure-free) janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

JD Class of 2020 - Exactly the Right Tone for Job Search (and career)

Tone is everything.

Trial lawyers and transactional negotiators have that down cold.

Especially effective are all the communications, in all formats and in all mediums, by law firm Sanford Heisler Sharp. On LinkedIn, for example, those lawyers are always there but never off-key. 

Those in the JD Class of 2020 need that same intuitive grasp of the exactly the right tone in a job search - and then making the transition to practicing law. 

Obviously, the Pelton holiday commercial "The Gift That Gives Back" failed to have the right tone. So far, there have been 15,000 dislikes on YouTube. BusinessInsider reports that its stock lost $1.5 billion in a handful of days.

How can you prevent the wrong tone? Being tone-deaf can put the kibosh on everything from a cover letter for a job to how the lunch interview goes.

Here are 3 tips:

•  Grab hold of the mindset of Eminem's iconic song "Lose Yourself." It's all about being in the moment, totally tuned into the people, the context, and the mood. As Eminem hammers, you just have one shot. Depending on who the expert is, it's documented that judgments get made about what you're all out in anywhere from 60 seconds to the upper limit of four minutes. Usually there is no coming back from a bad impression. In a job search, it's all about the needs of the employer. No, it's not about you. 
• Mirror. The most successful salespeople observe everything about the prospect, ranging from where their building is located in Manhattan to the organizational culture. Then they custom-make their everything, ranging from what they wear to how they pace their pitch, to those key points of identity. The best don't overdo it. That is, they continue to maintain their unique sense of self.
•  Be open. Everything changes. The wildly optimistic tone of the WeWork and Uber used to attract investors. Now, given their failure to make a profit, the tone of that rhetoric scares investors. A major part of high social intelligence is never entering a context with a set "script." Instead there is a rapid scanning of what is before putting anything out there. BTW, intimate relationships often go kaput when the parties stop scanning.

What about general role models for tone?

Among the most useful currently is psychiatrist on "Chicago Med" Dr. Daniel Charles, played by Oliver Platt. His effectiveness during crisis is his mission of custom-making a solution for every whatever. There are no formulaic approaches. In short, he is "there" for the human beings who have lost their ways.

Earlier it had been the late Steve Jobs. His theatrical MO essentially was, yes, "Lose Yourself." That covered all aspects of marketing, be it designing products for real people or winning over wary security analysts. 

The takeaway: In a job search and later becoming an employee, make the mantra "This is not about me."

Smart global ghostwriting, with social networking know-know. Emergencies welcome. Complimentary consultation (pressure-free) janegenova374@gmail.com.

Displaced Older Lawyers, Legal Staff - 4 Ways to Stop Shooting Yourself in the Foot

"I look younger than I am."

"On my resume I lopped all work but the last seven years. Same thing on the cover letters."

"My LinkedIn Profile receives lots of visitors."

That's what those over-45 whom I coach tell me. But they are seeking career counseling sessions from me because they can't get comparable jobs after being laid off, can only land low-paid jobs, or have had no offers for even gig hustles.

They have plenty of company in their unawareness how age bias happens in 2019. And, yes, it can kick in as young as 40-something. 

That blind spot usually is associated with the internet. They have no idea how the internet has put the kibosh on their ability to remain employed in a way that they can make ends meet. The reality, of course, is that more than half those over-50 will be forced out and only one of 10 of them will be hired at jobs which are in the same compensation ballpark.

Here are the four ways the internet has become an obstacle in the search for work for older professionals:

•  Plastered all over the internet is one's age. All employers have to do is key in the name of the applicant. Up will pop various items, some of which contain the exact age. Those age items are up-to-date. 
•  Lack of participation in social networks can make the applicant seem not only part of the has-been gens. It can create the perception of being out of touch. More applications require a listing of social networks.
•  Wrong tone and content on social networks. The applicant can come across as ancient. 
•  Small number of followers, likes, shares, and comments on social networks and social media. If the position involves the ability to engage, then that kind of data can send a red flag the applicant is clueless about getting, holding, and scaling attention. 

The good news is that there are also four ways to transcend these obstacles:

• Be open. Employers are searching for not the perfect fit to the posted job description. Instead they need a hire who can get done what has to get done. Pick up what that is. Then show how you can accomplish that better than other applicants. Here, free to download, is my book on exiting comfort zones. 
•  Embrace the career truism that nothing gets you a job like a job. Here, free to click open, is my guide on how to start over in the search for work Download Outwitting ageism. One unemployed former in-house lawyer restarted his career with a loss-prevention gig in retail. Eventually he wound up in the corporate office overseeing that function. 
•  Develop tenacity. The most successful sales professionals truly believe that every "no" brings them closer to a "yes." That's because they analyze every aspect of what they did or didn't do on that sales call. Based on their findings, they do course correction on their MO.
•  Don't tell your "sad story." We are our stories. One former administrative assistant I coached kept ranting how she was terminated, probably because of age. I told her to stop that. Her new narrative was that she was excited about pursuing a career shift. Within three weeks she accepted an offer as the dispatcher for a large trucking company. 

Coaching, lecturing, and writing/ghostwriting thought leadership content on aging.

 

For individual coaching – sliding scale fees. Complimentary initial consultation. The displaced over-50 get back to work. Please contact Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Grammar Nazi Takes on Law.com Article "Hear Ye, Hear Ye!"

Posted on Law.com is the article whose headline begins "Hear Ye, Hear Ye!" 

Fine.

But, as you will see here (if a correction has not already taken place) is a grammatical error in the subhead.

The subject is plural, so the verb should also be plural. Instead the verb is single, that is, "is."

The correct verb would be the plural "are."

At 11:07 P.M., New York Time, the subhead appears this way:

"An influx of outside funding and a growing focus on hands-on learning is fueling the increase."

With the grammatical error corrected, it would read:

"An influx of outside funding and a growing focus on hand-on learning are fueling the increase."

Petty? Maybe. 

Am I being a Grammar Nazi? Yes. It's a thankless mission but someone has to do it.

Think about it: An error such as that on a resume and/or a cover letter could get the job application tossed. With the current glut of talent, employers look for simple ways to rule out applicants.

Unique global ghostwriting, with social networking know-know. Emergencies welcome. Complimentary consultation (pressure-free) janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Experience Caps, Price Point, The Dilenschneider Group's Championing Deep Expertise

In the age-discrimination lawsuit "Kleber v. Carefusion Corp" the plaintiff contended age bias in hiring came via an experience cap.

The Carefusion help-wanted was structured to require 3 to 7 years of work experience as a lawyer. No more than that.

Here is a copy of the complaint.

Dale Kleber, age 58 at the time, had plenty more experience than that. However, he still applied for the position. Eventually, Carefusion hired a 29 year old applicant.

The question arose: Was an experience cap leveraged as a stealth tool to discourage the aging from applying for certain jobs?

Well, Kleber's specific challenge didn't pan out.

As Bloomberg Law reports, the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the plaintiff.

Here is a copy of that decision.

The Seventh Circuit, 8 to 4, stated that experience caps didn't constitute a type of disparate impact theory. That is, it wasn't a form of seemingly neutral policy that operated as a type of bias against a protected class.

However, some experts warned employers there could be more Kleber-like experience cap lawsuits. Likely, there will be.

Meanwhile, more and more help-wanted specify experience caps and those Google Forms applicants fill out as part of the job search process explicitly ask the number of years working in X or Y niche. That could be managing Price Per Click (PPC) advertising.

Pragmatism rules that applicants would size up what the "right" number of years is and then play in that very specific sandbox. Yes, redo the past to fit with the present.

Otherwise, there may be no access to the toys in that sandbox, ranging from a weekly pay check to benefits. 

But, the present is not so much about raw age bias, is it. 

Instead it's more about price point. Unless a business has a clear and powerful point of differentiation, it can be caught in competing via price. The best briefing on that is "Blue Ocean Strategy" by W. Chan Kim. Here it can be ordered from Amazon.

To keep the price-to-the-consumer/B-to-B market low, employers seek out workers with just enough experience to do the task well so that they can be paid as low compensation as possible.

The new college graduate who had an internship at a marketing firm specializing with PPC would look a lot more attractive to the budget of the employer than an applicant with 6 years experience. Sure, the newbie will probably fly the coop after 2 years but those 2 years could be very profitable for the business.

More and more help-wanted ads indicate that new college graduates are preferred. Since the 90-yar-old could just be graduating college, that phrasing gets employers off the hook on age bias.

In addition, there has emerged a new human resources model - Burn & Earn. It is described in "Disrupted" by Dan Lyons. Here that hilarious book can be ordered from Amazon. Essentially the game is about bringing in a bunch of enthusiastic newbies, training them to do A but not B, make a bundle, and expect them to keep exiting. Repeat. 

Interesting, though, there is a business, based in Manhattan and Chicago, which seems to champion deep expertise. That's the public affairs firm The Dilenschneider Group. On its website it has a section listing its major players and their years of experience. Here you can click it open.

Listed, for example, are:

•  Fred Bona - 40 years
•  Bob Dilenschneider - 30 years
•  Art Gormley - 30 years.

In the fast-moving world of communications, that's counter-trend.

After all, the sandbox, more and more in a digital universe, is custom-made for digital natives. Clients and prospects know the importance of everything from online influencers to local search engine optimization (SEO). So the new toys in the sandbox include everything from help paying off student loans to free food. 

The question is if businesses such as The Dilenschneider Group which position and package long years of experience as a plus have created the unique edge? Or, are they at a new kind of disadvantage? More importantly, does that give the business leverage with price point? 

As those issues are being duked out in the court of law, the hunt for work, and business branding, as early as the age 40 those needing income are finding doors slammed shut because of bias. Here is the article I published on that. If there is a severe economic downturn, that could worsen, of course. Because of their relatively high compensation, the aging usually have a target on their backs. 

Here is my book, free to click open, on how to navigate around all that Download Outwitting ageism. And here, also free, is one on being able to change. Addiction to any comfort zone can mean professional death. 

Full Disclosure: In my early 40s, Corporate America purged itself of middle-aged middle managers. I had to reimage myself as an entrepreneur. Having gotten the hang of how to change, I plan to stay working 60 hours a week until I am 80. Then, I will re-evaluate.

Readers are invited to submit thoughtful commentaries on this issue. Please include content, identity of author, photo, and contact information. Appropriate articles, up to 700 words, will be posted on Law and More. Please send to janegenova374@gmail.com.