Law And More

Google and Social Justice

Yesterday was BigMonday for Google. There were two developments - oriented toward social justice, reports The Hill.

One was the decision by Google's NetPAC to halt donations to all in Congress who opposed the certification of election results. That was an unambiguous move. Some other companies have simply backed off on all donations, indicating it will review the entire matter. There was no singling out particular far-right loyalists. 

The other development was the announcement by employees around the world of the formation of a new global union alliance. It is called Alpha Global. Its mission is to hold Google accountable. So far, there are members from 10 countries.

Tech workers are highly marketable. They are in a position of strength to push their employers to change current policies and procedures. 

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Winston B. Sitton - Good Samaritan Sharing on Facebook, How to Murder, Get Away with It

On Facebook, a woman shared that her former lover was harassing her.

To the rescue came "Good Samaritan" lawyer Winston B. Sitton of Nashville, Tennessee. He gave explicit logistical and legal guidance on how she could murder that man and get away with it, reports the New York Post.

Essentially, he instructed her to lure the man to her home. Then, after killing him, contend he barged in and she had assumed her life was in mortal danger. He explained the legalities. Then he recommended she delete her post. Otherwise the murder could be classified as premeditated.

The TN Supreme Court was not impressed with Sitton's generous outreach. Earlier he had not been remorseful before the Board of Professional Responsibility. He positioned and packaged his advice as sort of dark humor. The Board suspended his law license for several months. That wasn't the first time that had happened. In 2018, it had also been suspended for failure to pay professional taxes.

The TN Supreme Court did not assess the Board's suspension as long enough. It slapped on Sitton a four-year one. One year would be an active suspension. The other three probationary in which he would undergo professional ethics training.

Obviously, lawyers should steer clear of any behavior, even in jest, that could be interpreted as potentially aiding a crime. Licensing is serious business. 

Will this true story wind up an episode on one or more of the growing number of true-crime programs? It could have the tone of go-figure. In this era of lockdown, those shows have become quite popular.

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COVID & Snitch Culture - Boston College Embraces Reporting Pandemic-Preventive Infractions

In the old neighborhood - and the ethos in film "A Bronx Tale" - snitching was verboten. There was even the saying, "The snitch winds up in the ditch." And the kid tattletaling in school back then wound up with gum in his or her hair. Or worse.

That code was like a religion. 

Now, such a value system may be breaking down. Daily Mail reports that Boston College has opted to encourage members of that academic community to report on those not observing measures to prevent COVID. That seems to be positioned and packaged as a "duty," associated with  a system of cherished values.

Of course, Boston College is not alone in making prevention a collective responsibility. And, disclosing the names of those not conforming has become beyond acceptable. In some circles, it's considered the right thing to do.

Long term, that old-time bias against snitching could collapse as part of our society. Future generations might be puzzled why the boy in "A Bronx Tale" sided with the gangster, not law enforcement.  The moral guidelines some had acquired in the urban neighborhoods of yesterday might evolve into kinds of crimes against the people.

A one-time kid who grew up on the mean streets of pre-gentrified Jersey City, New Jersey, I feel my value system being blown away. 

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Puzzling - Respected Aon In-house Counsel/Former Jones Day Partner Mark Herrmann Uses Phrase "That Lunatic Joe Biden"

"With Trump out of office, Congress can pass a few laws purportedly to rein in that lunatic Joe Biden." - Mark Herrmann, "Predictions for 2021," Abovethelaw.com, January 4, 2021. 

We all have our political opinions. But, if we are professionals (as opposed to paid journalists) we usually keep them private. That's self-protective. 

So, it was puzzling to read in Abovethelaw yesterday that its weekly columnist Mark Herrmann explicitly referred to president-elect Joe Biden as "that lunatic Joe Biden." This is a prominent lawyer making that public statement. I assess it as irrelevant that he approaches his column as a what could be called "private citizen." After all, Herrmann is actually a working stiff, like many of the rest of the world. Indirectly, like all employees, he does represent his employer.

Currently, Herrmann is employed as in-house counsel at Aon. Previously, he had been a partner at elite law firm Jones Day. His book "The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law" remains a best-seller on Amazon (rank of 106,485).

Clearly, this is a player who has a vested interest in protecting his brand. Or, should have. Referring to a president-elect, especially at a time when there is a struggle to unify the nation, seems beyond risk-taking. It's downright reckless.

The full-time journalists on Abovethelaw such as Joe Patrice have the "license" to shoot from the hip - or, more accurately, the lip. Those who are employed in other professional fields should know not to cross the line from thought leader to something quite different. Words do do damage. 

Even though I am self-employed, I understand how much of a reputational third rail politics can be. 

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The Old-Neighborhood Ethos of Snitch Winds Up In Ditch Still Applies (metaphorically) to Linda Tripp

 InternGate whistleblower Linda Tripp (1949 - 2020) will never be forgiven. Not even in this era when we recognize that all human beings have flaws, sometimes serious ones. Meanwhile, the universe has come to smile on the man at the center of the scandal - Bill Clinton.

In The New York Times, Irina Aleksander tries to humanize Tripp. However, she admits Tripp's legacy essentially will remain that of a miscreant.

Aleksander, for example, provides background on Tripp's childhood - a mode of analysis which had become standard on hit crime shows such as "Criminal Minds." Her father was a bully who abandoned the family. That was after abusing both Tripp and her mother. With no family money for college she was on her own. But she made it all the way to a good secure job in public service. 

So? Many others have Dickensian childhoods. Yet, they don't violate the fundamental human contract of not deceiving and ratting out those they convince are their friends. Such an ethos was how it went in "the old neighborhood." That "the old neighborhood" represents any aspect of our lives which shaped our deepest values. The term metaphorically captures what makes us believe in our notion of a society. 

According to the old neighborhood values, the snitch wound up in the ditch. Usually, it was a broken windshield. For kids, it was gum in their hair and a bloody nose. Worse, though, it would be if the mob such as from "The Sopranos" had been involved.

The popular film "A Bronx Tale" recounts how nine-year-old Calogero doesn't identify gangster Sunny to the police as a murderer. The unique bond forms. Those bonds, the audience seems to agree, transcend traditional types of law enforcement and "justice." Emotional ties are precious.

Baby Boomers might recall an office culture, during the boom times, when no one leveled being a tattle-tale in order to get ahead. Instead, we went to night school and acquired the M.B.A. Currently, though, whatever one says or one does can be disclosed in a negative manner to the brass (even if the brass is too overwhelmed to even want to hear all that). No doubt that reinforces the antipathy toward rat Tripp.

So, Tripp will remain in the history of American politics as Unforgiven. After all, she could have feigned friendship with any of us. Then recorded what we confided. She could have also given us dangerous advice. It was she who guided Monica Lewinsky not to dry-clean the blue Gap dress. Had Lewinsky not been able to provide so much evidence, she might not have suffered as much as she had. Ken Starr would have had less to go on.

Unlike Tripp, there is some forgiveness - along with smirks - for Lewinsky.

Where are we now with all this? The Tripp saga reminds us to reach back into those experiences which were so formative in our lives. It's there we should ferret out the values we want to be judged by.

Mine had been on the mean streets of pre-gentrified Jersey City, New Jersey in the 1950s. When local police and even the FBI swung by, we knew to look dumb. On the stoops of tenements, we stopped our games and stood mute. That meant we stood together. Years later during the college ethics course, internally I rolled my eyes. Those were not the old neighborhood rules of morality.

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Play-Out of Shakespearean Comedy: Rudy Giuliani Diagnosed with COVID-19, Taken to Hospital

Beneath the frothy plot lines, the comedies of William Shakespeare were dark.

Following them was the anticipation of a play-out of a tragedy. 

Today's developments mirrored that pattern.

The respected prosecutor, mayor and practicing lawyer Rudy Giuliani had become a kind of court jester in the Administration of Donald Trump.

His antics seemed to provide distraction from what that Administration was up to. 

During the COVID-19 panic, he took on the ridiculous role of going maskless. That fits with the Administration's ethos of supporting individual rights over society's need to protect itself from infection  from the virus through masks and social distance.

Well, as in the Shakespearean comedies, the fool gets his comeuppance. Mediaite reports that Giuliani has been diagnosed with COVID-19. He had been taken to Georgetown University Medical Center.

Reflection: How many of those in America send get-well wishes to Giuliani? At age 76, he is in a high-risk category. There is fear that he spread the virus to many others.

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5 of The Many Lessons Learned - Distressed Boies Schiller

The once-unthinkable is out there: Law firm Boies Schiller seems wobbly (think rumored cash flow problems) and could collapse. 

When Dewey & LeBoeuf was on its downward trajectory, there were myriad articles about lessons which should be learned from what would be a gigantic thud in the law-firm sector.

It's no longer premature to speculate about what lessons can be learned from the distress Boies Schiller seems to be in. 

Here are 5, of the many:

The court of public opinion can take precedence over what is done to be a fierce advocate for a client. There is a line not to be crossed.

The fallout from how David Boies sought to defend Harvey Weinstein has been brutal and sustained. Here The New Yorker exposes his strategy and tactics.

And his aggressive behavior on behalf of Theranos and its founder Elizabeth Holmes will be even more obvious when "U.S. v. Elizabeth Holmes" goes to trial next March (which COVID-19 will likely delay yet again). Meanwhile we have the book "Bad Blood" to get the full details of Boies' strong-arm tactics with The Wall Street Journal.

Even in a prestigious firm the divine right of kings is less and less acceptable. The founders of the firm demanded a cut of the revenue. That was perceived by some of the help as a kind of tax imposed. Way back when England's King George III tried that with the American colonists. They broke away, as have 60 Boies Schiller partners just in 2020.

Official and unofficial law firm policies will have to become less despotic. A new generation of lawyers has entered BigLaw. Like their fellow Millennials they are focused on changing the culture. Their edge is that they have technology down cold, which the leadership doesn't. That tech savvy can be weaponized. If they remain unhappy with the organizational culture, they can band together and launch competitive boutique law firms. 

Compromise is often necessary, even when one is holding a strong hand. There was the possibility of a merger with Cadwalader. But that might never have gotten off the ground because the media has it that Boies Schiller was unwilling to share financial details. Also founder Jonathan Schiller mandated his name be part of the title for the new entity created. 

That merger could have saved the legacy of the major players at Boies Schiller. Now, all could be lost. Power brokers have to understand when to hold and when to fold. 

Make succession planning a priority. Without a clear succession plan for when the founder steps back, no one can feel secure about the law-firm brand or the terms and conditions of their employment.

What Boies fooled around with didn't have traction. He is 79 years old. The big gun in that loop - Nick Gravante - has left. 

Admittedly, even careful succession planning doesn't always guarantee the continuation of success. The classic example of that had been GE. Jack Welch bet on the wrong horse to succeed him.

In short, the transition in leadership is always a tricky time. Handled badly or in a misguided manner, it could be the tipping point for the decline of the business. 

Branding should transcend the founding fathers/mothers and the high-profile players. From the get-go, it's demoralizing to have what might be considered a "cabal" dominate the media headlines. And, some speculate the media is the most powerful entity in the world. Its reach is beyond that of wealth or government. In addition, there's too much risk to have the reputation of a business so totally tied to one leader or a small group.

It's a fundamental in public relations not to feature any one person in most kinds of messaging. That person could soon be in prison for embezzling or some other brand-eroding activity. 

The more sustainable positioning and packaging are the models established by Joe Andrew at Dentons and Brad Karp at Paul Weiss. They are only one among many. Their law-firm's identity is not tied to them. 

There are many other factors involved in the present troubles of Boies Schiller.

The real takeaway here is the old adage: Nothing fails like success. Every one in a law firm has to be hyper-aware of what is changing and what could change.

A reminder of how fragile businesses are is the seminal book from the early 1980s  "In Search of Excellence" by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman. It focuses on how many companies that had been major players had failed. Ironically, some of the businesses those two management consultants praised, such as Wang Laboratories, had also gone kaput.

To paraphrase that line from William Shakespeare's history play "Henry IV" - Uneasy lies the fate of the business which wears the crown.

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Law.com Makes It Explicit & Public: Boies Schiller Could Collapse

"Nick Gravante's stunning departure from the firm he helped lead through a messy transition has put Boies Schiller Flexner's future in doubt, industry experts and sources close to the firm say." - Dylan Jackson, Law.com, December 4, 2020.

The death watch has begun.

That, of course, could hasten the collapse of Boies Schiller since clients could phase out or even bolt. New business would be difficult to attract. Talent will hesitate to even interview with the firm.

Meanwhile, as with the impending end of law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf, the media outfits are supercharged. If the end does come, there will be a New Yorker kind of autopsy as had been penned by James Stewart for Dewey & LeBoeuf. Meanwhile, there are hopes that those still working at Boies Schiller, both lawyers and staff, will leak to Abovethelaw and other media properties about what is happening and how dark is the mood.

Yes, Boies Schiller could pull out of the death spiral. Here are my 4 recommendations.

But, with the rumors of cash flow problems, bookmakers are unlikely to be betting on a turnaround, then a transformation.

For example, it would be difficult to find a merger partner. There is that famous quip from Lee Iacocca at a dinner for security analysts. Finally, his team was making progress in a turnaround for distressed Chrysler. One security analyst asked Iacocca why hadn't he sought out a merger. He answered: The girls don't dance with you when you're teetering on bankruptcy. 

However, as crisis experts know, this kind of development opens the door for big brandnames to be made.

There will be the journalist with the internal sources at Boies Shiller who chronicles the final days and how the firm got there.

There will be the law firms such as Paul Weiss which could poach the last remaining tigers still roaming around the firm.

There will be the lawyer who, like reformer Martin Luther in 1517, posts a declaration about what is so wrong in defense law practices.

There will be the associate at Boies Schiller who gets the book contract to publish a tell-all. That could become unofficial required reading at law schools. 

Yes, let the good times roll. Stars were made during the downward trajectory of Dewey & LeBoeuf. Among them had been David Lat at Abovethelaw. He didn't miss a move. Incidentally, page views on this blog soared.

Crisis is the mother of unusual success. 

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Saving Boies Schiller - 4 Strategies for Reputation Restoration

Bloomberg Law analyzed the pickle prestigious litigation firm Boies Schiller is in.

Some might conclude all seems to be lost. And a death watch should be launched. The keywords associated with that could be guaranteed clickbait.

But, as with just about any entity in this era of reputation restoration, Boies Schiller can be saved. 

Here are 4 strategies:

Co-founder David Boies confess his sins. He can admit there were times when he was a bit too aggressive in how he advocated for his client. Those hours meeting with The Wall Street Journal editorial board about client Theranos had been one of them. As an "amend," Boies can establish a foundation which assists defense lawyers with ethical decisions about client representation. Simultaneously, he can showcase how the members of the plaintiff bar have become too clever by far. Notice the nuclear verdicts they are achieving. Sure, publish a book. 

Pull off lateral transfers.  Currently, one of the most powerful branding tools is successfully poaching key players from other law firms. Those prominent lawyers can create a new practice or enhance a practice already in existence. Boies Schiller wants to remain a litigation firm so it should poach high-profile personalities from that niche in the AmLaw 100. At Paul Weiss, chairman Brad Krap pulled off big media bangs with the lateral coups he accomplished. Some of those such as Karen Dunn had been from Boies Schiller.

Launch a needed pro bono initiative. There is that adage: Do well by doing good. At powerhouse Dentons global chairperson Joe Andrew has become the champion of The Little Guy. Here is his iconic opinion-editorial, published in The Hill. The outreach by Boise Schiller partners can be on behalf of small landlords in danger of bankruptcy because tenants aren't paying the rent.

Hire an innovative fast-results public relations firm. This situation requires fresh bold thinking. There is also urgency. Partners at Boies Schiller can pitch in the funds to finance this kind of investment in breakthrough moves on reputation restoration.

At stake, of course, is David Boies' legacy in litigation. He could go down as a "Bad Guy."

The story history writes is the players' responsibility to shape while still alive. Everything sends a message and it's up to David Boies  to be transmitting the ones which reimagine his professional branding.

Meanwhile, for now, the Karps and Andrews types of leaders are playing nicely in the influence sandbox. Within Boies Schiller and other troubled law firms, an internal committee could be set up to monitor their strategies and tactics, and integrate those which fit organically.

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Looping into Relationships, Ensnared Forever - Ranging from Bill Clinton to Doug Band

"Clinton has largely retreated from public life, though not necessarily by choice. Democrats are abandoning him as the media uncovers new details about his ties to Epstein and Maxwell." - Gabriel Sherman, "Confessions of a ClintonWorld Exile," Vanity Fair, December 2, 2020. 

Essentially Sherman's article is about how the ambitious loop into relationship webs which later ensnare them.

They are fully aware of the old adage that things happen through people. And it was through people that those who became players (and usually wealthy along the way) got what they needed and wanted. Then, as in a dark Edgar Allan Poe ironic tale, they couldn't extricate themselves. 

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton has imprinted on him the convictions and the alleged sins of Jeffrey Epstein and the allegations regarding Ghislaine Maxwell.

But to become a permanent albatross the relationships don't have to represent reaching up or be horizonal. They can be with those who put themselves into a service position for gain. Clinton also had the misfortune to have as his multi-purpose assistant Doug Band. 

Of course, whatever form the relationship takes, resentments, jealousies and downright revulsions will develop - and fester. Then. come the outpourings of nasty observations, content of private conservations and even photos. Band vomited up most of that.

But, on the other hand, Band has no chance of finding a way out of the own maze he brilliantly created. Busy Bee Chelsea Clinton is also doing her own kind of verbal purging about Band. 

At the end of the day, everyone in Clintonworld comes across as a rogue character. So much so that ambition seems a curse.

In addition, we also know it can be a killer. In the legal profession, it might have been a background element in the suicide of Gabe MacConaill and drug overdose of Peter Munson. 

The syndrome is universal. As a career coach, I bear witness to so much suffering triggered by ambition. Both achieved or not. 

Yet, those lacking ambition are labeled "losers." That now applies equally to females. 

The same negative branding attaches to those unskilled in networking. 

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