Law And More

Reflections on Whistleblowing as Linda Tripp Reportedly Is on Deathbed

Whistleblowing is not necessarily an act of supreme courage, driven by a sense of what's right. 

It could represent strategic grenade-throwing as had been the case with conservative Linda Tripp. Now that she is reportedly on the death bed, overdue is a comprehensive review of all whistleblowing. 

To begin with, it shouldn't be positioned and packaged as an instinctive noble act, analogous to jumping in the path of a train to rescue a child who had fallen onto the tracks.

Instead, it's represents a complex decision with both anticipated and unexpected consequences. 

Some "of a certain age" will recall Sharron Watkins who was the internal whistleblower at Enron. She informed the head Ken Lay of the strange accounting. Along the way to being saluted as a hero she had to contract legal help, was isolated, had her job responsibilities reduced, and later hit walls in being hired for work post-Enron.

Had she known the full extent of the consequences she might have done what most did back then and still do: Keep quiet and look for another job. Since then, of course, laws have been passed to protect and even reward whistleblowers. That kicked off with Sarbanes-Oxley.

More recently has been the whistleblowing by Susan Fowler. It focused on alleged sexual misconduct and other inappropriate workplace behavior at her former employer Uber. She did that in a now-famous blog post. It's contended that the outing of what was allegedly going down at Uber brought down its head Travis Kalanick. 

Like myriad whistleblowers, Fowler has been saluted.

But, interestingly her book Whistleblower, published February 18, 2020, has not caught fire. On Amazon, at least today at 3:40 P.M. ET it ranks 41,839 in terms of hard copies and 60,413 in terms of Kindle. It only has 53 reader reviews. Essentially it is a memoir.

In contrast, Demi Moore's memoir "Inside Out," although published way back on September 24, 2019, ranks on Amazon at 1,751. It has 2401 reader reviews. 

Some things just don't hang right about whistleblowing. In reading Fowler's book I wondered if she had been naïve in what she expected in the workplace, how she handled it, and her decision to later blow the whistle after she had secured other employment.

Meanwhile, although it isn't fashionable to speak ill of the dead, when Tripp dies, many probably will. That trend started in 2018 when the family of Kathleen Dehmlow published a negative paid obituary. 

UPDATE:

Linda Tripp died today. The New York Post provides details.

Place your sponsored content on this blog. Here are 6 tips for search engine optimization (SEO) in 2020. Contact janegenova374@gmail.com.

Law Firm Staff and Other Endangered Species - Universal Basic Income, Retraining, Rethinking All Modes of Instruction

Yes, lives are being lost. So are jobs.

But, the preoccupation is with the longer-term impact of COVID-19 on global and U.S. employment security. 

The UN, reports BusinessInsider, predicts that in Q2, globally 195 million full-time jobs will go poof. 

As we know from other disruptive economic times, some of those jobs may not come back. Will new kinds replace them? Maybe not, in this era of Artificial Intelligence.

So, let's look at implications. 

Universal Basic Income (UBI) provides commonsense financial and social solutions. 

There can be myriad ways of understanding UBI. In this time of disappearing jobs UBI can indicate providing guaranteed income, much like Social Security, to those who opt out of doing what provides income. There are no strings with UBI. 

But the vision for UBI is that those receiving the regular payments will focus on artistic pursuits, volunteering, and organized public works such as building habitats for the low income. 

UBI can prevent social unrest.

Retraining those in hardest-hit sectors such as retail, hospitality, and law-firm staff.

No one has to be a McKinsey management consultant to recognize that in the Post-COVID-19 world order businesses will restructure to (hopefully) prevent another collapse. Since manpower is usually the highest expense the types and numbers of employees and contract workers will be reviewed. 

Those knocked out of the box were probably already an endangered species because of technology. Just look at the self-check-outs in retail, online transactions in hospitality, and remote practice of law.

Retraining can be a national initiative. That will be labeled as making a living "just-in-time." There will be no messaging that the new path will be a permanent one.

Higher education has to conduct a come-to-jesus review about what it is providing its consumers for so much money. 

The tip of the iceberg is the debate about if and how much tuition should be refunded because of the shift from in-person to online instruction. The bigger issue is: What exactly are consumers of higher education receiving?

With students forced to leave campus, the traditional "college experience" as a rite of passage could lose its hold on the nation.

Soon enough what could come down is the assumption that a college degree is necessary for success in the work world. A strengthened public school K-12 system can eliminate the need for much of what is provided in college. The rest can be delivered as-needed.

Much of that can be learned online. Since 2008, most of concepts and technology I needed and still need to master for operating my two communications I picked up online. In the past three weeks I got down cold how to ride and maintain my new motorcycle through instructional videos on YouTube.

As those macro matters are considered and debated, on the individual level we should follow the advice of journalist Ana Marie Cox. On social networks she tells each one of us to pat our selves on the back for getting through yet another day of the Year of COVID-19.

UPDATE:

BusinessInsider reports that Spain is establishing permanent basic income.

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

Marshall Dennehey's Initiative to Prevent Layoffs, Pay Cuts

There must be a universal exhale among the 1,200 employees of Marshall Dennehey.

Abovethelaw reports that Marshall Dennehy's chief executive officer G. Mark Thompson announced that he is trying to prevent layoffs and pay cuts at the law firm. His initiative is to halt, at least until next year, the 4% employer contribution to the 401(k) plan. Since 80% of employees participate in that retirement program, the savings can be significant.

Thompson didn't quantify how much would be saved. He did observe, however, that this cost-efficiency move likely won't be enough in itself to offset what he anticipated to be the decline of revenues in COVID-19 times. 

Given how painful - financially, emotionally, and spiritually - layoffs and pay cuts are, Thompson could go down in the chronicles of the pandemic as one of the superheroes. He cares. That counts so much.

Hopefully, other law firms as well as myriad other organizations will assess this model. It could fit their needs - for now.

No one knows how bad the global pandemic will become.

Unfortunately, since so many are restricted to staying home the monsters of the mind can take over. Those demons can be nudged out with positive thoughts about leaders such as Thompson. Leadership is about putting constituents first. 

Place your sponsored content on this blog. Here are 6 tips for search engine optimization (SEO) in 2020. Contact janegenova374@gmail.com.

Law Firms, If COVID-19 Hangs On Too Long: Equality of Sacrifice

Consultants on the business of law are already playing out what-if scenarios if COVID-19 hangs on and on. And, having been through 2008-2009, law firms are reviewing what should be on the table for surviving the worst of times. 

On Reddit's r/LawSchool, members of the JD Class of 2020 anonymously share their angst. There could be a circling back to the rescinded job offers and the delayed start dates during The Great Recession. Those w/o offers sense they could be staring into hell. By time there's a bounce-back from the carnage of COVID-19, they could be yesterday. Law firms could restrict recruiting to new graduates and brandname laterals.

Given remote operations - which could go on for months and months - staff isn't needed. 

In the past, the response of law firms to financial distress had been brutal. Not only had there been large reductions in force. There had been stealth layoffs. Those terminated were made to believe their performance was subpar. 

This new disease could introduce some humanity. And, doing good can mean doing well.

The model for that was how the Lee Iacocca turnaround team saved the hundreds of thousands of jobs inside and linked to auto company Chrysler. The meme was: the equality of sacrifice. 

Everyone in the loop, ranging from federal government and shareholders to executives/employees and vendors, agreed to suffer somewhat so that that they wouldn't have to suffer the loss of everything if the corporation collapsed. Iacocca's own salary was a buck a year.

In that same spirit in the legal sector in 2020 there has been the Coronavirus Relief Center.

It came into being through the vision of Paul Weiss Chairman Brad Karp. 

The Relief Center, built piece by piece by lawyers pulling all-nighters laboring pro-bono, eliminates the red tape for those caught in the coronavirus crisis. It's a kind of UX system, simplifying and streamlining everything needed to gain access to public assistance. Essentially Karp's mission was for members of the legal community to share in some of  that pain out there. Pain can mean unexpected gain.

How can law firms also embrace the equality of sacrifice?

Already there is chatter of types of across-the-board adjustments to compensation. That's a way of preventing layoffs. In America we are our jobs. 

Those haircuts can take the form of delaying equity partner draws.

There also could be a graduated pay cut, as planned at BuzzFeed. The CEO at BuzzFeed will receive no salary until the crisis is over. His mission is not to lay anyone off. 

For legal staff making $75K or less that pay cut could be X percent of compensation. For associates Y percent. For non-equity partners Z percent.

Even though this is the age of extreme public relations, some law firms don't get how reductions in force tarnish the brand. Clients, prospects, potential merger partners, and lateral talent are spooked. 

Another approach can be investing more resources in cross-training. Why don't associates know how to develop new business?

Sure there are natural salespeople. But the skills involved can be learned. Consultants are hammering that cost-efficiency is not enough. Revenues have to also be maintained or increased to survive an economic downturn. When IBM was tanking and in came outsider Lou Gerstner, the culture became: We all sell. The equality of sacrifice is to share the power that comes from rainmaking in order that the firm remain out of financial distress. 

A third kind of sacrifice is to reimagine billing in order to help distressed clients have a better shot at success through restructuring. Again, that goes back to the old-line wisdom of doing well by doing good. Classic examples are the junior lawyers doing pro bono projects which wind up before SCOTUS. Big brandnames were made. Taking a haircut on a fee can generate lucrative new business.

The genius embedded in the equality of sacrifice concept is that it doesn't feel like a sacrifice. Instead it's experienced as a developmental exercise. Lawyers in the loop of the Coronavirus Relief Center can now leverage that management know-how in their practice of law. Alumni from the Iacocca turnaround were golden.

Place your sponsored content on this blog. Here are 6 tips for search engine optimization (SEO) in 2020. Coaching on SEO and Ghostwriting for sponsored content also available. Sliding scale fees. Please take advantage of a complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Instead of Layoffs - BuzzFeed Model Law Firms Might Consider

Clouds are darkening over the global legal sector.

Robinson Borg, Goldberg Segalla, and Belkin Burden Goldman had already done layoffs. Across the ocean, UK-based Gateley is holding back the interim dividend. That could be a prelude to reducing manpower.

Could law firms consider an alternate to large layoffs?

That would be through pay cuts.

Belkin Burden might have conducted a larger reduction in force had it not also reduced by half the salary of some staff and lawyers. They still have their jobs. 

A version of pay cuts - graduated ones - is being planned by media outfit BuzzFeed.

BuzzFeed is experiencing financial challenges. In the media, the usual play-out in this Time of COVID-19 is that traffic is up but not necessarily revenues. Ad demand is down. 

The leadership at BuzzFeed, including Chief Executive Officer Jonah Peretti, doesn't want to have layoffs. The plan, which needs union approval, reports the Daily Beast, is to implement a graduated system of pay cuts. That would begin in April.

For example, those earning less than $65K would have a 5% cut. For executives, the pay cuts could reach 25%. Peretti indicates he would not accept a salary until the crisis is over.

This model is one other businesses, both in the media and other sectors such as law, could pilot. In addition to saving jobs that could enhance the brand. Reductions in force are not good for branding. Clients and prospects can get spooked.

In addition, losing a job is such a trauma. Some never really recover. Many of the Lost Generation of Displaced Lawyers of 2009 remain the Walking Wounded. 

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

Screw U - Higher Education Not Refunding Full Amount of Room/Board, Tuition

The brand of higher education in the U.S. has received yet another blow.

This time the source is universities' and colleges' refusal to refund the full amount of the fees for room/board and tuition.

Students have been mandated to leave campus during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, those housing and meal contracts have already been paid for.

The instruction is no longer in-person but online. Tuition has already been paid for. Some students contend that form of delivery is not the same as in-person and they shouldn't be billed as much as they had for the "real thing."

As everyone knows, higher education is a big-ticket item. Meanwhile, because of the loss of wealth through the stock market and layoffs, parents are feeling squeezed financially. They could sure use refunds on what they had already paid in for services their children no longer are receiving. And students also have been burdened with student loans to pay those expenses. Bank of America has declared the nation is in a recession. So, it's unlikely students will land part-time or contract work to help with their educational costs. 

The Wall Street Journal chronicles that grim saga. Stanford, for examples, is not kicking back what has been paid in for winter semester. Harvard, Ohio State, and the University of California at San Diego is only refunding a portion of the funds. 

There are all sorts of accounting-type justifications for withholding refunds and not reducing tuition. Among them is that the cost of creating online instruction is expensive so there will be no deals on tuition.

This is playing out even though many institutions of higher education such as Harvard are well-endowed. They could be generous as an act of patriotism in the Time of COVID-19.

Place your sponsored content on this blog. Here are 6 tips for search engine optimization (SEO) in 2020. Coaching on SEO and Ghostwriting for sponsored content also available. Sliding scale fees. Please take advantage of a complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

Print Playboy Passes on to Bunny Heaven

Sixty-six years ago Hugh Hefner made it his mission to liberate America from Puritanism. Both the taboo about pleasure in general and sex more specifically. Aspects of that were against the law. 

Hefner's vehicle for that had been the Playboy ecosystem. That extended from the print magazine Playbook through the exotic recreational clubs. The push-back Hefner got from mainstream Americana provided great public relations for his growing empire.

That was then.

As mores loosened up and porn became ubiquitous there was less of a willingness to pony up the money for the print magazine. However, the overall Playboy brand remains marketable for licensing. 

In 2017 was the last time there was to be a monthly print Playboy. In 2019 it shifted back to quarterly. 

Now, reports the New York Post, the spring edition will be the last. Essentially COVID-19 was the tipping point. It negatively impacted the production of content. 

After that, the brand content will be available digitally. 

However, Hefner never fully achieved his mission. There were those who objected to the SuperBowl halftime show. That involved lots of booty action and pole dancing. The genetic legacy of the Puritans will probably never be flushed out of Americana.

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

Children of Flint - "60 Minutes" Reinforces Message of Lead's Hazards

One narrative has been about how the opioids epidemic distracts attention from the growing menace of alcohol abuse. Severe liver disease related to excessive consumption of alcohol is increasing, especially among the young. 

An emerging narrative should be that the COVID-19 pandemic reduces concern about the dangers of lead in the blood of children. Yet, according to the CDC, 535,000 children or 2.6% of those between ages 1 and 5 have risk-level amounts of blood in their blood. That level has been put at 5 micrograms per deciliter.

Tonight, the influential "60 Minutes" resurrected concern about lead in the blood of children. The specific focus had been the children of Flint. During a budget crunch, the source for the water for Flint was switched from the lake to the river. From then on the water did things like corrode GM auto parts. 

In addition, research documents it damaged the cognitive development of children. Some of that occurred when they were a fetus in the womb. Many of those children will need lifetime remedial services. 

Currently, the Flint water is being sourced back from the lake.

But, also currently, lead remains in much of housing built before the federal government banned the use of lead paint in residential property at the end of the 1970s.

A bench trial in California nailed the former manufacturers/marketers of lead paint. That was a class action lawsuit contending lead paint constituted a public nuisance. CA state courts didn't overturn the conviction. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to review the conviction of the defendants such as Sherwin-Williams.

More recently there had been a win for three individuals in Wisconsin in a jury trial for damage suffered from lead paint when children. The defendants ranged from Sherwin-Williams to DuPont. The jury determined there had been a failure to warn of the hazards.

The Wall Street Journal had published an article documenting that Sherwin-Williams had been aware of the toxicity of lead in paint but promoted it for home use. That occurred more than a century ago. 

Because of the shortage of affordable housing those old structures can't be torn down. If that were the solution to lead paint then many of the residents would wind up homeless.

Therefore, the commonsense approach is to render the lead paint no longer a hazard to children. That takes money. That's the motivation for municipalities and plaintiff lawyers to file more lead paint litigation, both class action and personal injury.

One doesn't need to be a sociologist or urban planner to get it that as the nation slips into an economic downturn there will be a long waiting list for that kind of affordable housing. It's the responsibility of the state and local government to ensure that property, so sought after, provides a roof over families' heads without potentially impeding children's development. 

Place your sponsored content on this blog. Here are 6 tips for search engine optimization (SEO) in 2020. Coaching on SEO and Ghostwriting for sponsored content also available. Sliding scale fees. Please take advantage of a complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

PNC Bank's Odd Security Process - Bank of America Does That Seamlessly

Security. Of course, it's the concern in financial institutions such as PNC Bank.

But how PNC goes about it has been humiliating, traumatic, and time-consuming to its credit-card user like myself.

In comparison, Bank of America goes about security seamlessly. Total UX. 

This isn't my first rodeo of experiencing an odd kind of transaction and extreme stress with PNC.

The first involved lost income from the paperwork for an annuity that was never filed. Yes, never filed, even though I had done the paperwork over and over again several times, and drove the packets to the FedEx office that wasn't nearby.

After I pushed back, both PNC's compliance and investment units settled with me. I told them forget the annuity. I took my money to invest with Edward Jones. 

But shame on me for remaining a credit-card customer.

Today, I found myself on the bucking bronco yet again.

Three times the owner of Point Place PowerSports, Toledo, Ohio, received a decline on my PNC Visa for $1002.78. That was by phone for a Toa motor scooter. If I couldn't pay via phone with a credit card I would have to travel an hour each way to pay with a check.

I was:

Humiliated

Traumatized

Wasting time (both mine and the shop owner's).

Finally I realized I could use my Bank of America MasterCard. That went right through.

A few minutes later I received a text message from Bank of America to confirm that I had made the purchase. All I had to do was key in "Y." That I did.

In addition to riding that emotional bucking bronco with PNC one more time I was going to lose reward points.

Of course, I contacted PNC.

After waiting 10 minutes, I spoke with the front-lines customer service rep.

That would have been belly-laugh time, had I not been irate. 

Essentially she said the procedure was, for security reasons, to decline a purchase of that amount. The burden was on me to then call PNC to 1) state I wanted to make that purchase and 2) have my card unlocked. Nice economy in which you try to buy something and not only can't but your credit card goes into a state of excommunicado. 

I told her, using strong language, that was a stupid policy. I explained Bank of America's.

I asked to speak to the supervisor. The same platitudes. Not attempt to engage. 

I asked for the next level of management.

That was Mary Joiner, Escalation Manager (412-803-0977). What I had been escalated into was another call-center platitude loop. I wonder if she had been reading from a laminated sheet of paper with approved material. 

Joiner said she couldn't do anything about the policy. She, of course, apologized for my frustration. As we know well from crisis communications, mea culpas generate eye-rolls.

I asked for a settlement. Joiner was not open to discussion. Weird. In operating my two boutiques, when a client perceives an injustice has been done, I provide make-goods. It's irrelevant if I share the perception. 

So many rotating payments are tied to that PNC Visa. I can't cancel it, at least not without hours of tedious transactions. But I won't use it again for purchases.

And, this is one for regulatory agencies to look into.

If I were part of the 1%, the leadership of PNC would probably hire a BigLaw firm like Cravath to investigate both its security and customer service processes. But that might come into play any way if enough customers have had it with all that.

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

 

ALERT! Hey, Lawyers, Do Your Children Live in Havard Campus Housing?

One of the most heavily endowed institutions of higher education in the world - Harvard - has not made up its mind whether to refund students' room and board for when they will not be living in campus housing.

Beyond strange. That's what every seasoned lawyer and 2L law student must be thinking. 

And since a number of the students have a BigLaw lawyer in the family, the letters to the administration for clawing back the funds will soon arrive. Along maybe with lawsuits.

In addition, those in marketing and branding must be rolling their eyes about the branding implications of such a hesitation about expenses. Even if the lock-in of funds is contractual, there are the perception issues. 

The Wall Street Journal reports that Harvard, as have myriad other universities, have told students not to return to their campus housing until further notice after they leave for spring break. The students must be out of those facilities by Sunday. Given students' lifestyles it's almost inevitable they will be picking up the virus at a large gathering or in their travels, both domestic and abroad. The Harvard mandate makes sense. 

However, instruction won't stop. The plan is to continue to provide classes on a remote basis. Time will tell how professors master the video technologies and how effective that mode of learning will be. 

Meanwhile, not only those paying the room and board bills could feel the financial hit if Harvard doesn't reimburse those expenses. The communities in which educational facilities are located will also be hit by the departure of students. 

The legal, instructional, and financial implications of COVID - 19 can't be underestimated.

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