Law And More

Keila Ravelo - Heady Saga of Greed, Addiction Ends in 5-Year Sentence

Keilo Ravelo had been a high flyer.

She enjoyed the good life, including the usual multiple residences.

That's a typical downfall of so many in the legal sector, even administrative assistants. Perhaps they observe their executive clients who have so much wealth. Then they decide they too deserve that lifestyle. 

In addition, Ravelo had an addiction problem. It was prescription drugs.

And that too is commonplace in the downward trajectory of lawyers. During the past decade of my career coaching, many of those who lost their licenses got caught in the cycle of some addiction. One told me that he figured out that booze had given him the grandiosity to assume he would never be caught embezzling. He spent two years in prison. 

Today, U.S. District Judge in New Jersey Kevin McNulty sentenced Ravelo to 5 years in prison and then 2 of supervised release. Here are more details from Law.com.

She is 52 so, given her ingenuity, she can probably put together another career path. The odds are she will start working on that in prison, as Watergate lawyer Chuck Colson had. There he found his calling as a spiritual leader.

Her crime kept her busy. She made up fake litigation invoices billed to her former law firm employers and a client. Eventually that totaled $7.8 million.

From coaching lawyers, I have a hunch she derived enormous satisfaction pulling off that caper for so long.

Many lawyers value their creativity. Some regret going to law school instead of getting an advanced degree in fine arts. Scott Turow balanced all that. He succeeded both in law and becoming a brandname novelist. 

Likely this tale ending in a prison sentence won't deliver a moral lesson. The current ethos seems to be you owe it to yourself to try to outsmart the law. 

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Financial Services Firms - If They Walk, Talk, And Smell Like a Public Nuisance ...

Opioids, energy production, lead paint, and the two barking dogs next dog. All have been alleged to or actually been convicted of creating a public nuisance.

To those categories of products, services, and creatures might be added financial services firms.

Increasingly, they are developing extreme anxiety in all generations, ranging from iGen to Silent.

They are doing that by hammering the message that all of those human beings could run out of money before they run out of years. Here is the typical scare-tactic article published in MarketWatch. 

The reality is this: No one knows the future - not on the macro level and not on the level of the finances of each human being.

Yet, usually with great authority the financial services firms predict millions of dollars will be needed for retirement or semi-retirement. And, even with that kind of nest eggs, the aging could wind up homeless.

Meanwhile, here is life as it is being lived and probably will continued to be lived: Many of those who did not pay much attention to building a nest egg or lost much of it in the two economic downturns in the 21st century essentially are managing to do just fine. There are exceptions of course. But usually their dire poverty or homelessness results from factors other than aging and not having a portfolio of five million dollars.

For 27 months I lived among those who were essentially dependent on Social Security. The setting was southwestern Arizona. 

They had had the financial common sense to relocate from more expensive areas of the U.S.

When they arrived they hunkered down in studio apartments and often got on waiting lists for government subsidized housing for the aging. In the common rooms of those residential complexes were items they didn't need, which they left for others who would find them useful. That sharing reminded me of my counterculture youth. 

I didn't hear a peep of envy from my neighbors about the other half who had paid attention to the nest egg and lived in posh retirement communities in Oro Valley, AZ.

The ethos was being grateful to have enough. That might be called The New Minimalism. There was no hunger for more.

The pilgrims mastered the wonderful bus system in metro regions such as Tucson, Arizona. Cars weren't necessary.

Because age bias is less in areas such as Tucson and Phoenix, they were able to land part-time employment at the local Fry's Supermarket and Home Depot. When I was consulting at the latter, the staff was celebrating a clerk's 80th birthday. 

No one, including myself, has their undies in a bunch that Social Security monthly payment might get cut by about 23% by 2034. The MarketWatch article sternly warns readers that will happen sooner than they think. But, what about not thinking about it, at least not as a form of daily angst ritual!

Yes, the lifestyle in southwestern AZ has become more expensive, very recently. That's because of the influx of those from California who are fleeing that state's high cost of living.

But, those I had spoken with held out the option, if AZ got too pricey, to relocate to Mexico, Ecuador, or Belize. In parts of those nations, it is possible to get by on $700 a month. That's about half the average Social Security monthly payment. 

The above is what I know. I lived it. 

So, if the financial services industry doesn't back off with the statistical theatrics then some of us should find a clever plaintiff law firm. We should play around with the idea of filing a class action lawsuit. In it we would contend that the promotional tactics constitute a public nuisance.

We request two things.

One is injunctive relief: Totally halt the scare tactics.

The other is damages for harm done.

The harm done to us and those who love us has been significant.

Before I realized I was doing jolly fine, I had lost many a night's sleep, gained 50 pounds from antidepressant medications, and, get this, had moved all the way to AZ from Connecticut.

I moved back east, as least as far east as I could afford, when I recovered from the panic triggered by all that marketing material distributed by financial services firms.

Of course, I could run low on money. Any one could. If so, there are myriad expat living options. 

Until we decide whether to sue, let's get the message out that the financial services industry can huff and puff.

But it won't blow away our trust in our ability to financially cope with whatever. 

Attention is the currency of the 21^st century. Jane Genova helps you get it for products, services, points of view, causes, branding, careers after-50, and college admission.

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From Boies, Schiller to Jones Day - The Barbarians Could Be at the Gates

The career of law seems to be more about power than practicing law. 

Yet, what's convenient and cute is that the power part is positioned and packaged as the noble legal fundamental that everyone has the right to a defense.

That's how, for a long time, David Boies, founder of Boies, Schiller, could justify his representation of clients such as Harvey Weinstein. 

Also, there was the time when a partner at Jones Day, Don McGahn could go ahead and represent the campaign of Donald Trump. That bit of well-paid work also was rewarded with the top legal job in the White House.

Thanks to the Brett Kavanaugh win, McGahn exits that position on top. If he wants to return to Jones Day or any other brandname law firm he likely will be welcomed. 

Now, though, assorted constituencies, such as the media and ethics experts, are taking a hard look at the right to a defense argument for agreeing to take on certain seemingly dark accounts.

The latest is Andrew Rice's article in New York Magazine. Before that, of course, had been Ronan Farrow's The New Yorker outing of the use of private investigation help by Boies in the Weinstein scandal about sexual assault.

There will be more. Boies has become a target. He could suffer a great deal. Given how tribes, both legal and celebrity, operate, this stink sticking on him could drive powerful players away. 

Not only could he lose his status in the establishment. His law firm could develop negative branding.

Meanwhile, the rank and file at Boies, Schiller don't seem to be happy campers. On Glassdoor, anonymous employee reviewers give it a "3.1" out of a possible "5." Eventually, the Brandname lawyers at the firm could decide to do a lateral.

Should McGahn bounce back to Jones Day he could find that his firm is also under attack. Like Boies, Schiller is now known to do, Jones Day has habitually accepted controversial accounts. They range from the former manufacturer/marketer of lead paint Sherwin-Williams to the currently distressed Roman Catholic Church in America. 

So far, according to some ranking systems, Jones Day has not suffered. For example, Acritas found it the top brand for two consecutive years.

But, there are signs of serious trouble. On Glassdoor, at its Cleveland, Ohio headquarters, anonymous employees give it a "2.7" out of a possible "5." One assessment advises to "run the other way." 

Also, the lead paint public nuisance issue could mutate into the Next Tobacco or the Next Asbestos. Things don't look terrific in the court of public opinion for Sherwin-Williams. For instance, business media outed that in 1900 there had been an internal memo indicating the hazards of lead. Four years later it published an ad promoting lead paint. 

Jones Day has appealed the Sherwin-Williams' conviction in "Santa Clara v. Arco" to the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS). The schedule to even consider reviewing that has been put on indefinite hold. Of course, Kavanaugh's coming to SCOTUS could pull it to the front of the line. But maybe he won't have the influence at SCOTUS to do that.

If the members of the media and child advocates continue to hammer Sherwin-Williams, other states could decide to form a conga line suing Sherwin-Williams for allegedly creating a public nuisance through lead paint. It could happen that the way Jones Day managed the litigation in Santa Clara could be flamed. That in itself could damage its reputation as a legal powerhouse.

In short, the future of those brandname lawyers and influential law firms representing what is perceived as darkness is in play.

This is the era of public opinion. It can transcend the reach of the law. As the Boies and McGahn types might put it: The barbarians are at the gate.

Full Disclosure: I blogged the Rhode Island lead paint class action public nuisance litigation (11/1/05-2/22/06). Sherwin-Williams and two other defendants were convicted. Later the RI Supreme Court tossed the case. 

Attention is the currency of the 21^st century. Jane Genova helps you get it for products, services, points of view, causes, branding, careers after-50, and college admission.

In addition, this blog welcomes sponsored content.

Free consultation janegenova374@gmail.com

 

Trump White House Does Right Thing: Orders FBI Investigation of Allegations about Kavanaugh

The two major moves in the Kavanaugh nomination for SCOTUS today were:

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to advance the vote to the full Senate.

And, the Trump White House agreed to first conduct an FBI investigation of the allegations about the nominee. The FBI has up to a week to do that. 

Here are more details from USA Today.

Put the two initiatives together, and there you have a way to tame both the GOP and Democrats.

The midterms are coming. The GOP can't afford to be perceived as unconcerned about women's issues.

Meanwhile, even her critics will concede that Christine Ford made a compelling presentation of both the details of the alleged attack and herself at the hearing yesterday. 

Since there will be an investigation by the FBI, Kavanaugh's career could still be totally derailed.

If he goes down so do many others in the loop. They range from former Jones Day partner Don McGahn, now head lawyer in the White House, to Yale Law professor Amy Chau.

In addition, one wonders if, in the worst case scenario, the Trump White House can do a Houdini and wiggle out of this hit to its brand?

Another possible issue: Should the FBI turn up evidence of a sexual assault in Maryland, which has no statute of limitations on such crimes, will Ford press charges? 

Attention is the currency of the 21^st century. Jane Genova helps you get it for products, services, points of view, causes, branding, careers after-50, and college admission.

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Cockroach Power - The (possible) Undoing of Brett Kavanaugh

Urban dwellers know and fear one thing: Once a cockroach or two can be spotted, they can assume there will be more.

Even if they are hyper clean, usually they can't halt the internal menace without calling in professional help. That would be an exterminator.

Cockroach Power is one kind of pressure tactic which famous journalist Hedrick Smith didn't describe in his book "The Power Game." Here it can ordered from Amazon.

But it's certainly operational in the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh for the U.S. Supreme Court. And, if that doesn't pan out, in his later career.

How the dynamic began was the accusation of Christine Ford that Kavanaugh treated her in a sexually inappropriate way when they were in high school. If Kavanaugh doesn't step down before 10:00 A.M. Thursday, that allegation will be investigated in a U.S. Senate hearing.

Then two other women appeared.

Now, reports Joe Tacopino in the New York Post, more recently:

"The anonymous complaint, sent to Sen. Cory Gardiner (R-Colorado), says Kavanaugh was drunk and threw a woman up against a wall in a sexual manner after a social event in Washington D.C. … The Senate Judiciary Committee is looking into [this incident which allegedly] took place in 1998 …"

What has formed and hardened seemingly is a pattern in Kavanaugh's behavior: consumption of excess alcohol and then sexual misconduct.

If that pattern can be proven or, as we in public relations all know, if enough people believe it, Kavanaugh could become undone. 

He could himself back out of the nomination.

The Senate Judiciary Committee could back out of confirming him.

The confirmation could come through but he could become a marked man on the U.S. Supreme Court. Unlike Clarence Thomas, he may not be able to recover his sense of a professional self and his performance will be lackluster. He will leave no legacy at SCOTUS.

Cockroach power not only is a tactic in politics. In any group of human beings, be it a small village in Africa or the accounting department in a Fortune10, once one or two negatives pop up in public, there is bound to be a build-up of suspicion.

The person, procedure, or policy targeted could be in serious trouble.

At that point, professionals have to be called in. They could be executive coaches, public relations experts, or lawyers.

Cockroach power is to be feared. For that very reason many opt out of organizational life (or society and live off the grid) and make their living in ways less vulnerable to that menace.

Attention is the currency of the 21^st century. Jane Genova helps you get it for products, services, points of view, causes, branding, careers after-50, and college admission. Free consultation janegenova374@gmail.com

 

Sweet Jesus, Save Us from All The Good Wives

The Good Wife role has become out-of-date.

The expiration date on its shelf life happened when fictional Alicia stood next to fictional Peter at the kick-off of that popular television series "The Good Wife."

More importantly, politics has become too volatile and downright crazy for anyone to pay attention to what wifey says about hubby.

So, we can only smirk when we bear witness to the tearful affirmation of Ashley Estes Kavanaugh. She lets us know that Brett has not only character but heart. Here are more details from the Daily Mail. 

An analogous situation is the loyalty Julie Chen is demonstrating. In public, she is 100% supportive of her hubby Les Moonves, cast-out of CBC Paradise because of alleged sexual misconduct.

While some might consider it noble of Chen to stick by Moonves, that has nothing to do with much.

Moonves stands alone in the court of law (if it comes to that after the two law firms make their report to the CBS board) and the court of public opinion (he's already focusing on brand rehab).

Let's face it: Marriage means less today than it had when Hillary Clinton stood by her man during his first campaign for the U.S. Presidency - and later during the Lewinsky meltdown. After all, the U.S. President is a man who has been divorced twice. 

Since marriage is no longer sacred, the spousal "endorsement" has lost plenty of its former value.

Takeaway for politics: Leave wifey out of the bad whatever.

Attention is the currency of the 21^st century. Jane Genova helps you get it for products, services, points of view, causes, branding, careers after-50, and college admission. Free consultation janegenova374@gmail.com

Brett Kavanaugh - Deborah Ramirez Is 2nd Women to Step Forward with Allegation of Sexual Misconduct

Another bombshell in the high drama of the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh as a justice for the U.S. Supreme Court.

In The New Yorker, Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer detail the allegation by Deborah Ramirez of sexual misconduct by Kavanaugh. The allegation is supposed to have occurred when they were both freshman at Yale, that is the academic year 1983-1984).

Ramirez contended that at a party, an intoxicated Kavanaugh exposed his penis, then put the penis in her face, and forced her to touch it.

She had been reluctant to step forward. But when she did she requested that the FBI investigate. Those in the loop for voting on the nomination have been aware of this allegation.

Kavanaugh denies it, just as he denies the one by Christine Ford. 

Given that this latest development has been made public, one wonders if some in the leadership of the GOP are putting pressure on Kavanaugh to step down from the nomination. If he does, however, his career is finished. That's just that way it is. 

Also finished is probably the high-powered career of his supporter at Yale Law School Amy Chua. She has been vilified in the media, legal and general. 

There is bound to be lots more career damage associated with this nomination. 

Attention is the currency of the 21^st century. Jane Genova helps you get it for products, services, points of view, causes, branding, careers after-50, and college admission. Free consultation janegenova374@gmail.com

 

The Tribes of the Legal Sector - Of Course, They Will Have to Drive Amy Chau Off the Reservation

"Humans are tribal. We need to belong to groups. We crave bonds and attachments … But the tribal instinct is not just an instinct to belong. It is also an instinct to exclude." - Amy Chua, in book "Political Tribes: Group Instinct and the Fate of Nations."

Once a prominent member of several tribes in the legal sector, Yale Law School professor Amy Chua is being vilified. That includes on her own "reservation" Yale Law School.

As New York Magazine reports, students have positioned and packaged her as a symbol of the institution's alleged complicity in sexual harassment. It was she who advised female students applying for clerkships with Brett Kavanaugh to create the "look" he liked. 

The members of the media, ranging from The Guardian to Abovethelaw, have made the Chua saga the gift that keeps giving. How delicious it is to bear witness to a god tumbling down from the heavens. How the world awaits actually hearing the thump.

So, the question is: Will the tribes, as Chua discusses in her book, exclude her? This is the era of the intense #MeToo movement. Like all movements it operates without nuance. Chua has been designated as one of the bad people.

Common sense indicates her one-time professional allies will distance themselves. Students will not want to enroll in her courses at Yale. Publishers are unlikely to invite her to do another book. 

Off the reservation, Chua will be lacking an identity.

That's a humiliating state of being for any professional.

In fact, that's exactly why aging doctors, lawyers, and Indian Chiefs refuse to retire. They know they will become invisible. In capitalism we are our titles and networks.  

Attention is the currency of the 21^st century. Jane Genova helps you get it for products, services, points of view, causes, branding, careers after-50, and college admission. Free consultation janegenova374@gmail.com

CA Public Nuisance Law - Corporations Lobby SCOTUS to Review (Sherwin-Williams Targeted)

No surprise, there is a comprehensive lobbying effort to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) to review the bench-trial verdict in "People of California v. Arco."

For example, the National Association of Manufacturers filed an amicus brief. 

In that litigation, former lead paint manufacturers/marketers, such as Sherwin-Williams, were convicted of creating a public nuisance. Jones Day represented and is still representing Sherwin-Williams.

The CA appeals court upheld the conviction but reduced the bill for fixing the problem.

The CA Supreme Court refused to review it.

Recently, a complication developed when The Wall Street Journal outed that Sherwin-Williams promoted lead paint in advertising early in the 20th century, even though an internal memo acknowledged the hazard of lead in paint. Here is an analysis of the implications.

Will that, in itself, deter SCOTUS to not review the conviction? 

Interestingly, insiders at Sherwin-Williams have been selling stock. Here is the coverage from SimplyWallST.

Corporations are on the money to fear the dynamics of public nuisance law, not only in CA but throughout the U.S. Already it is being applied to the energy generated by utilities and the marketing of opioids.

Just in the category of lead paint, Sherwin-Williams could face "copy-cat" lawsuits in the rest of CA and in other states which still have housing stock constructed before lead paint had been prohibited by the federal government for residential use at the end of the 1970s.

However, that represents small potatoes.

Just about any product, service, or policy could be targeted as a public nuisance. It is increasingly thinkable that the legal world could experience "another tobacco" or "another asbestos" litigation phenomenon. Yes, the consequences could include bankruptcy for some players, ranging from Sherwin-Williams to BigPharma. 

On the other hand, public nuisance is a tool which can address through litigation many problems in business and society. It can return the U.S. to the heady legal era of civil rights and then consumer rights (about the latter, remember Ralph Nader).

One problem is, of course, ageism in employment. That covers recruiting, hiring, promotions, and terminations. With so many baby boomers and older members of Generation X unable to afford to retire, this has become the issue of America. Unless it is solved there could be surging financial insolvency, mental illness, and even suicides. About the latter, there is bouncing around the concept of "rational suicide" among the aging. 

There have been class action lawsuits alleging age discrimination such as the recent one against IBM, which terminated more than 20,000 employees over-40. That had been filed by Shannon Liss-Riordan. Here are the details from Bloomberg.

The next major lawsuit contending age bias might be configured as an argument that such practices are a public nuisance. What will be sought are both injunctive relief and damages.

Ageism is a diversity issue. Here is how organizations can rebrand as age-neutral. 

Meanwhile, all organizations - private sector, non-profit, government - should be conducting reviews if they could be fingered for creating a public nuisance. 

Full Disclosure: I blogged the Rhode Island class action lead paint public nuisance litigation (11/1/05-2/22/06).

Ghostwriting about legal topics, public policy, and the business of law. Complimentary consultation, negotiable fees. Please contact janegenova374@gmail.com.

Amy Chau, Jed Rubenfeld - Is Yale Law School Power Mafia About to Be Whacked?

Amy Chau aka Tiger Mom and her husband Jed Rubenfeld have had extreme power at Yale Law School.

Now, in almost Shakespearean fashion, both seem destined to be brutally stripped of that power - and elite branding. Framed in less genteel terms, they are a Mafia wife and husband who seem to be on the verge of being whacked.

As The Guardian reports, Chua has been fingered for advising Yale Law female students applying for clerkships with Brett Kavanaugh to "look" a certain way. She even requested that they send her photos of how they planned to dress for the interview. Some students found that so distasteful, even before the #MeToo era, that they decided against continuing with the application. 

Chua is a major supporter of Kavanaugh who is currently in the soup because of allegations of sexual misconduct in his high school days. Chau's advice opens the door to suspicions that, much more recently, he behaved in odd ways when it came to female clerks. 

That Chua would give such recommendations has come back to haunt her. The story is all over the legal world. This semester she is absent from Yale Law School and hospitalized. The reason given is a health problem. Of course, since the members of the media have made her a negative part of the Kavanaugh saga some will likely dig for more information about this absence. 

There is also the other half of this power couple - Jed Rubenfeld. As Elie Mystal reports in Abovethelaw, there is an internal investigation taking place at Yale Law School about alleged inappropriate behavior, particularly with female students. It is being conducted by third party Jenn Dennis. The suspicions Mystal cites are, well, shocking. 

If these two outsized players are routed from their prestigious positions at Yale Law School, some clever lawyer with a creative bent could put together a two-act play on their rise and fall. Everyone along the Northeast Corridor would pay a king's ransom for a ticket. 

It was in Shakespeare's history play Henry IV, Part 2 that we hear the line: Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. 

Meanwhile, the Kavanaugh chaos has thrown shade on the inner workings of Yale Law School. Will a rogue group in Congress demand an investigation of its policies and procedures? And, as a result, will a Yale Law degree lose a lot of its value. Of course, the rankers at U.S. News & World Report might take note of all this. 

Attention is the currency of the 21^st century. Jane Genova helps you get it for products, services, points of view, causes, branding, careers after-50, and college admission. Free consultation janegenova374@gmail.com