Law And More

Anna Sorokin aka Anna Devey, Prison Blogger, Has Promising Future - Deep Understanding of America's Success Ethos

Some people just got an instinct for success. 

Obviously, make-believe heiress Anna Sorokin aka Anna Devey is among them.

Sure, she wound up in prison for her attempted con of securing a multi-million-dollar loan and actually living the good life without paying the bill.

But in October she obtained parole and could be released next month. That will dovetail with the release of a Netflix film about her amazing life. For that she had been paid about one-hundred-thousand bucks. However, the law mandates the funds circle back to the victims she hoodwinked.

In the process of the Netflix undertaking, of course, she has strengthened her brandname. America, founded by a bunch of misfits who couldn't cut it in the old country, loves its outliers.

Her touch, this time on the legal side, will remain magic. The American Way is supposedly boyscoutish/girlscoutish. But the reality is that most who who made it big knew their way around the official rules. Those who stayed big did that within the parameters of the U.S. legal system - sometimes with the help of prominent lawyers.

Likely Sorokin has learned much about all that in a short time. Also, she has acquired the resources to operate within the system. Although born outside the United States, Sorokin had a deep understanding of its complex success ethos.

Of course, in prison she was no slouch when it came to creating a platform for her future. She launched a personal blog, reports Daily Mail. It's called "Anna Devey Diaries." That name, in itself, has become a powerful kind of trademark.  In it, she complains about the lack of luxury items such as gourmet salad dressing. Likely, when on the outside, she will start a podcast. Here is my article, published in Odwyerpr.com, on how that medium is doing in 2021 and how to make yours noticed.

It's not unthinkable that Sorokin could be invited to deliver a Ted Talk on making it big in America. 

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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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Ethos of "It's a Wonderful Life" - What If I Had Become a Contract Coach with Heidrick & Struggles ...

It could have been.

But it wasn't.

I am indeed blessed, just as in the holiday move classic "It's a Wonderful Life." 

What would my little life have been had the Heidrick & Struggles partner heading global coaching and the in-house lawyer not communicated with me in such a puzzling way? Here is a snippet of that Pottersville kind of story.

I could have been a contract coach with Heidrick & Struggles. If I had been treated in that weird way when just applying to be a vendor, heavens knows what would have gone down had I actually become a vendor. 

An angel earned his/her wings that infamous morning I withdrew my application for assignments and cancelled the interview. 

Meanwhile, Heidrick & Struggles seems to have to do its own redemptive work to do this holiday season and beyond.

In its Q3 2020  earnings report about its net loss of $26.2 million it fingers restructuring costs as one reason for that. Yes, there seems to be a need for transformation. Its overall Beat the Market Rank, it received 1.8 out of 5 stars. Another angel has a plum opportunity to also earn his/her weeks. 

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The Right to the Best Defense an Entity Can Afford - Concept in Play as Controversy Shakes BigLaw

"It looks like Donald Trump’s presidency could be ending the same way it began: kicking up controversy for the law firms that represent him and his interests, and raising broader philosophical questions about the reputational and professional risks for firms who take on divisive clients and cases." - Zack Needles, Law.com, November 15, 2020.

Jones Day and Porter Wright aren't the first law firms attacked because of representing a controversial client.

Many recall how Boies Schiller had been vilified for representing Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and for how it was representing Harvey Weinstein.

Decades before that, the fictional Tom Hagen from "The Godfather," who represented the Corleone interests, was viewed by many as a corrupt character. One wonders if that dissuaded some college students from opting for law school. 

The probability is high that such aggressive push-back targeted at law firms and lawyers representing controversial clients will become standard. No longer will it be an aberration. At least for some time. Everything is cyclical, of course.

Law firms which, unlike Porter Wright and Boies Schiller, which stick with representing alleged pariahs will have to create fresh public relations strategies and tactics for managing their reputations. It's not enough to contend every entity has the right to the best defense it can afford. The creaking under the floorboards rejecting that is being listened to. And, come on, law is a man-made institution. It is open to almost total disruption. So much for the Federalist Society. So much for Platonism.

When all law firms will begin taking the controversy realities seriously is when they eat into their business. As many have observed, practicing law has shifted from a genteel profession to a brutal business. Essentially, whatever impacts the business of law is what gets the attention of the leadership.

This is an amazing opportunity for out of the box public relations agencies to take out a blank piece of paper and devise new best business practices for law firms to navigate controversy. Big brandnames can be made in PR.

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Staging - Expected

What made news and perhaps motivated compassion among jurors was the unique bit of staging in the Mary Winkler murder trial.

That "preacher's wife" was being tried for murdering her husband and the father of their three children. 

One of the defense attorneys Steve Farese had created a display in the courtroom. It was a tableau featuring the wig and platform shoes Mary had been forced to don during sex with her husband.

The visual impact of the staging was, you bet, amazing. After all, this involved a member of the clergy, a small southern community and a self-effacing woman. 

Essentially, Mary got off with a light sentence. She also went on to regain custody of her children. The world doesn't seem to view her harshly.

Farese's sense of staging seemed to influence not only the court of law but also the court of public opinion.

But Farese's genius was about how he staged. Not that he staged. Actually, it's expected in law. Pop culture, especially television fictional legal programming, has featured myriad versions of it.

That device of visual dramatics goes back to the saga of King Solomon. With sword drawn, he triggered the peaceful resolution of a dispute about a baby.

The challenge of the how has become more intense.

After all, jurors have been bombarded for decades in all mediums with clever lawyer dramatics. Classic had been how Perry Mason triggered spontaneous confessions in the courtroom. Some remember how on "Boston Legal" Denny Crane featured a bullseye on his butt. 

In real life, in the O.J. Simpson murder trial there was the theatrics of the glove.

Currently, lawyers have to come up with what will engage but not be perceived as raw manipulation.

Therefore, the legal world awaits how defense lawyers in the criminal trial of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes will set the whole scene.

How will the defendant dress and style her hair? 

If they are going with a psychiatric defense, how will they coach her to comport herself? 

Meanwhile, will the prosecution feature the supposed technology in the middle of the courtroom? 

A possible new variable for that particular trial is if it will take place via Zoom. That could require lawyers to confer with online-presentation experts. Zoom can distort.

In careers, the analogue to that kind of courtroom staging is personal branding. Yes, it's also expected. Don't play out those dynamics and you can be knocked out of the box because, obviously, you don't get the game. In itself, that designates you are possible trouble.

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That Amazing Steve Bannon - Arrested/Charged with 2 Criminal Counts (each could result in 20-yr sentence)

Prosecution, just like the law firm game, is played with a record of high profile cases as well as wins and losses.

Currently, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Audrey Strauss is involved in what could be The Big Game. 

The Wall Street Journal reporter Corinne Ramey informs us that the amazing conservative presence - Steve Bannon - has been arrested in that jurisdiction.

Along with others, he is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy for money laundering. That allegedly was all done when online fundraising for the cause "We Build the Wall." About $25 million had been donated. Each count carries with it a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. 

If the term "renaissance man" weren't totally mid-20th century, it would be applied to Bannon. In his professional life, he has taken on myriad roles. They have included:

Donald Trump's White House Chief Strategist

Navel Officer

Investment Banker

Political Strategist

Media executive (Breitbart News)

Film-maker.

To those could be added: Federal prison inmate.

Bannon's signature (like Roger Ailes' obesity) has been his unkempt appearance. After he and Trump had a falling-out, the U.S. President referred to him as "Sloppy Steve."

Despite it or because of it he has been able to be a brandname mover and shaker.

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Olivia de Havilland, Legal Trailblazer, Dies at Age 104

As the world knows: Today, Olivia de Havilland passed gently into the night of natural causes in her residence in Paris, France.

She was 104 years old. Here is a backgrounder on her life and career.

Her sister Joan Fontaine, also a Hollywood big name, died at age 96. Family genes structured for longevity.

The Olivia de Havilland brand is most associated with her dramatic performances. They include the now-controversial "Gone with the Wind." Along the way, she picked up two Academy Awards.

But her legacy in the legal sector is quite different.

She was a trailblazer in using the law to reduce the power of Hollywood studios. Yes, she instituted a kind of power outage.

In 1943, she filed a lawsuit against Warner Brothers. It was confining her to ingenue roles. No fool, she got it that she wouldn't be an ingenue forever. Warner's management of her was keeping her career on a short runway.

In 1944, the court ruled that after seven years - calendar ones - the contract was fulfilled. That freed the actress to seek out roles at other studios.

Of course, Warner Brothers tried to blackball her in the industry. Obviously that didn't have the career-killing results Warner expected. Her career, though, like most in Hollywood, had its ups and downs. The universe wasn't always smiling on her. 

In this time of renamings, a law school should take on the new moniker of "The Olivia de Havilland School of Game-Changing Law."

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Stephen Glass Goes to Law School & Other Odd Stuff Associated with Plagiarism

BuzzFeed News is now the object of the buzz.

Its senior reporter on the tech desk Ryan Broderick has been fired. It's alleged he committed forms of plagiarism in 11 articles, reports The Wall Street Journal. Essentially, that consisted of using other media outfits' material without attribution. Those included HuffPost.

This development is news. But it's not necessarily a black eye for BuzzFeed News.

There has to be a degree of trust between editors and reporters. When BuzzFeed became aware of the alleged plagiarism, it investigated. It took action. It made public its findings.

One of the most high profile situations of reporter misconduct has been that of Stephen Glass at The New Republic. That saga even became a film.

Part of the reason for the long shelf life of that kind of fabrication is that Glass went on to attend and complete law school. Of course, given the character requirements of state bar associations, he was not admitted to the bar. Therefore, he can't practice law. 

Because the legal profession is so highly regulated it seems bizarre that Glass would opt to start a new career by going to law school. 

Could it be that usually plagiarism results from what might be thought of as a "loose wire." The classic example had been Jayson Blair's antics at The New York Times. 

Other times it results because of extreme pressures. The reporter or the columnist simply caves to lifting someone else's material to keep up with the workload. Digital has speeded up the game.

Also, in media currently, metrics are recorded and displayed in real time. When I was a columnist for AOL the bulletin board tracked page views, comments, and so on. No question, that ups the pressure game. 

An irony in all this, especially because the U.S. is the global headquarters for capitalism, is that overall media jobs pay peanuts. At least compared to those doing tech or on Wall Street. There's a big tradeoff in money for a byline or influence. 

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Will Katherine Make It as Solo Lawyer? - We Might Find That Out

How will Katherine's solo legal practice - and marriage - play out on "A Million Little Things."

We might just find that out. There could be a 2020 - 2021 network televisions season. 

Yes, television production will be starting up again in California on June 12th. In addition, the film and music industries will also resume operating. 

Vulture reports that the state's governor Gavin Newsom is allowing that. Before that announcement, some assumed there would only be reruns for fall. The fate of the three good girls gone rogue, as the FBI zeroes in again, would have been in limbo. So would Dr. Charles' relationship with his long-estranged daughter. 

However, everything is contingent. If cases of coronavirus surge again, this plan could be derailed. Meanwhile, the Alliance of Motor Picture and Television Producers presented to Newsom a white paper on how to maintain health and safety protocols while in production. 

Of course, all the niches of the entertainment business are encountering a changed world. With shelter-in-place ending will we be doing so much screen time? Who's going to pop for a ticket to actually go to a movie theatre? Times are so hard. Music? How much are we willing to pay for it?

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The Third Rail of Socioeconomic Differences: Growing Up with Roaches

Tears flowed today.

The world attended the George Floyd Memorial. Some did that in-person in Minneapolis. Others through the extensive coverage on sophisticated media such as PBS.

Among the speakers was political activist Al Sharpton. His message cut through socioeconomic differences - not just racial bias. He used the metaphor of cockroaches to describe his mission of tracking down what thrives in darkness. 

Only those of us who grew up in urban areas, most of them poverty-ridden before gentrification, emotionally bonded with that metaphor. As Sharpton pointed out, the entitled Hollywood types could never identify what it was to share one's living space with roaches.

In roach-infested tenements like mine in Jersey City, New Jersey, there was always the fear that one of the would piggyback on our school clothes into the classroom. The bullies would have a field day mocking the unfortunate kid. Vividly, I remember one little girl who had a roach on her First Communion veil. Somehow I can't imagine she ever recovered from that public trauma. 

Food not locked in the refrigerator had to be kept in tightly locked jars. Meals required total alertness, with frequent visual scans, to prevent roaches from joining in. The DIY extermination rituals didn't work for long. 

Floyd was one of us - the roach people. From the get-go, we had to fight to maintain any sense of human dignity. Of course, cockroaches undermined that.

No, that was not the situation only for people of color. My immigrant Italian family, not exactly pale WASPS, experienced disrespect just about everywhere. No surprise the meme of respect dominates the iconic film "The Godfather."

In crying for Floyd we the roach people also cried for what we had endured. Often I wondered if I wouldn't have wound up hating myself if my ancestors remained in Italy.

The ability to love myself came through years of recusing abused animals. We connect with animals via our minds. Theirs chronicled lots of four-legged versions of roach stories. They also sent me constant messages that I was a good person. In addition, a force for good.

George Floyd, like Jesus Christ, died for all of us. May his legacy, as with Christianity, bring love and hope to humanity.

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