Law And More

Fatal Shooting on Set of "Rust" - Alec Baldwin Had Fired Prop Gun

"Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun on the set of his movie Rust that killed one and injured another, according to authorities. During filming in New Mexico Thursday night, according to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office, cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed and director Joel Souza was injured ..." - Mediaite, October 21, 2021.

An investigation is being conducted. As yet, no charges have been filed.

One wonders if there will be litigation about negligence. The prop gun was supposed to be filled with blanks. 

Whatever goes down, Baldwin will likely be traumatized for life. His bravado persona could collapse. We fans could expect Baldwin to present himself in a very different way. 

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Best 6 Halloween Costumes for Law Firm Junior Lawyers

Halloween might be the most enjoyable holiday in Americana.

For most, it can be celebrated in a relative-free zone. No drunken embittered Uncle Bob. 

It's also the unique opportunity to comment through a costume, just like "SNL," on the way of the world. 

Just as much fun is to shop for a costume for one's four-legged soulmate. He or she will need one for the mandatory party at the vet. No show? Damned to be judged as a bad pet parent.

So, here we go with the best 6 costumes for law firm junior lawyers.

Michael Scott (played by Steve Carell) from "The Office." There has been such a dustup about returning to the office.

Unlike the leadership at PwC, the brass at so many large law firms are mandating a return to the office. Some, like Baker & Hosteller, are even nudging back associates into the office before the official reopening date. 

And maybe associates are too young to recall Jeremy Blackman's "Anonymous Lawyer" priceless satiric post. It was about the partner who gleefully announced hot chocolate will be served in the kitchen during certain hours, as long as the cold weather persists. Meanwhile, associates are dragging out of office post-all-nighter. Well, Kirkland & Ellis folds into its reopening announcement the notice of free eats. Like, who have time to eat. Anyway, it can make one sleepy.

Yeah, let them eat cake.

Elizabeth Holmes and Sunny Balwani. The costume should be dated for when Cupid was still shooting arrows. Those texts from that time, read during the trial of "US v Elizabeth Holmes," showcase the Theranos founder's poetic ethos.

In prison, former Donald Trump lawyer Michael Cohen penned his best-selling book "Disloyal." If she is convicted and could serve up to 20 years Holmes can produce books of poetry. Maybe even teach poetry workshops. 

Class of 2024, Carrying "Hire me" sign. 55% of law school IL classes are overenrolled. Do the math. It will be tough, maybe even impossible, to land that first job.

Could there be another Lost Generation of JDs, as had played out in 2008 -2009? Not unthinkable.  

The Regulatory Sandbox. Recently in Arizona's regulatory sandbox, LegalZoom had been approved as an Alternate Business Structure. It will not only be permitted to provide legal services in the state. It also can hire lawyers as employees. Before that it could only operate with contract lawyers.

So this is the new non-law firm law firm. Maybe there should be a contest open to marketing communications players like myself to name this new entity. 

Karen Dunn, Best Poach done recently. Pulled off by Paul Weiss. And poaching is what brings the unique kind of prestige to a law firm. Media outlets make it big news, like they're announcing an award.

Those law firms which have been raided will lay low. It's a: Mirror, Mirror on the wall, I'm the most shameful of them all.

The law, like most lines of work, is a gossipy profession. There is endless speculation why the law firm lost a star or a group of stars.

Recently Dunn won for Uber, in an antitrust case brought by the Boston Taxi Conglomerate, its biggest legal victory so far. 

The young Tony Soprano, played in "The Many Saints of Newark" by Michael Gandolfini."  The genius of that portrayal was capturing the pain.

Remember the middle-aged Tony had been in psychotherapy. Yeah, that mother of his. 

Michael is, yes, James Gandolfini's actual son. He was with the father when he died. That pain could serve him well in his artistic career. There is an anecdote floating around that Jon Hamm had been hired to play Don Draper in "Mad Men" because those screening actors saw the pain in his eyes. 

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Big Law - Some Rashomon Moments

From the time of Jeremy Blackman's satiric blog "Anonymous Lawyer" to current best-seller "The Caesars Palace Coup" Big Law has been vilified. That's the way it has been.

The partners are depicted as feudal lords.

Law firms defending the likes of Harvey Weinstein become fodder in media such as The New Yorker. 

The up and out system which results in only about one out of 10 associates making it to partner is interpreted as a destroyer of souls. There is no type of Greek Chorus chanting: Hey, you knew the deal when you looped in. 

Netflix is having a 10-part series derived from the novel "Partner Track." Negative, of course. 

And media sites such as RollonFriday and Abovethelaw which accept insider leaking from law firms are on side of the angels.

But that dark lens for viewing large law firms is only one. And Big Law isn't doing such as hot job pushing back on it through pro bono assignments, social justice outreach, and public-interest op-eds in The New York Times and The National Law Journal.

What those firms haven't unleashed is The Rashomon Factor.

As the Japanese film "Rashomon" showcased, there are myriad perspectives for interpreting just about everything. In that movie about a murder and a rape, the takeaway is how differently a number of people experienced it.

More recently, the film about flawed justice  in the 14th century "The Last Duel" also uses the Rashomon style. What is claimed to have happened - a rape - and the background events are configured into a variety of scenes of the same events. The story, incidentally, is true. 

Big Law has the resources to conjure up its own engaging Rashomon moments.

Do a 24/7 TikTok video of what goes on in law firms. Sure, block the confidential. And let the world decide if that's so bad. Viewers could be enchanted by the analogue of Tom Brady-type strategic planning and actual plays.

Follow a summer from the law office, back to law school, and back to the law office. Pan in on the struggles. Public opinion can assess the values of that world. The interesting part could be the shaping of a legal mind and resistance. Are humans wired not to think like lawyers? Add on a public interest tutorial on how do just that: Think like a lawyer.

Humor also is back in marketing communications. It's always been a power tool in messaging. Some will recall how presidential candidate Ronald Reagan blew up the age issue with a quip about Walter Mondale's "youth and inexperience." Here is a clip of that game-changer in the campaign.

Perfect would be an action-figure comic book. Let the world become engaged in how a chairperson like Larry Sonsini at Wilson Sonsini protects startups or Brad Karp at Paul Weiss mobilizes thousands of lawyers from law firms throughout America to work free on behalf of the victims of COVID. It's not only a prosecutor such as Jack McCoy from "Law & Order" who fights the good fight. 

And, yes, contract with designers (hopefully on a pro bono basis) to create video games about the weapons defense lawyers carry into combat. Empower players to make genius moves. Selling those games can provide funding for scholarships to law school for diverse students. 

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True Story "The Last Duel" - Legal System Also Flawed in 14th Century (also big risk in contending rape)

"The Last Duel" takes up the soul-wrenching decision of a woman, along with her husband, to disclose her rape by a powerful well-connected man. Here is a video excerpt. 

Yes, that storyline could be the plot line for an episode of "Law & Order SVU."

However, it's set in the 14th century. As often happens in  "SVU," one takeaway is that the price of truth could be too high. So, think carefully about going out there to proclaim the "truth" of what you perceive your experience. Interestingly, the producer uses a Rashomon style screenplay. The audience is presented with different scenarios of what could have happened.

In asserting her claim of rape by squire Jacques Le Gris, Marguerite eventually is responsible for involving her husband Jean de Carrouges in a duel. A true story, that was the last official duel in France. If her husband doesn't win, the law has it that she will be stripped and burned to death. That process could take about 30 minutes of suffering before she died. Right before the duel she questions her decision. 

The husband does win. And Marguerite goes on to live a long happy life with her son. He might have been conceived during the rape. Before that during five years of marriage, she didn't become pregnant. Her husband, a skilled soldier, died a few years after the duel in the Crusades. 

Another meme in this film is that power and religion beliefs can derail justice. The duel wouldn't have had needed to have been if the legal systems hadn't been controlled by the existing power structure. Also, the orthodoxy had been that many legal verdicts  would be handed down by God. It had been religious dogma that if a woman contended rape and her husband couldn't prove that she would be burned alive. 

What the film neutralizes is the current rage over the current legal system. For instance, The Wall Street Journal exposed that many federal judges hadn't recused themselves from presiding over cases in which they had a financial interest. That is prohibited by federal law.

Jusstice was also highly flawed in the 14 century.

Religion complicated that.

English majors might remember The Pardoner in Chauer's "Canterbury Tales." He sold fake indulgences which he promised would erase all sins on one's soul and facilitate a straight trip to heaven. Another pilgrim had been the lawyer who feigned being hyper-busy. That could have attracted new clients with a kind of "false advertising."

In addition to the takeaways, another reason to pop for the movie ticket is that array of stars. They include Ben Affleck.

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Lev Parnas - Alleged "Sopranos" Bravado

“'These men shoveled thousands and thousands of dollars of foreign money to U.S. politicians, laughing about how they were breaking the law along the way,' [Aline] Flodr [Assistant US Attorney] said in the prosecution’s opening statement in the trial [of Lev Parnas, et al. ]'"  - John Gerstein, Politico, October 15, 2021.

That hubris ethos mirrors the confident values of the members Sopranos tribe, especially as they enjoyed themselves at Bada Bing. 

And that could probably what irks the prosecution: scorn for the standard rules of law. Humor is one of the most cruel and effective weapons. That observation goes back to John's Milton epic "Paradise Lost." Satan heaped humor on righteous values. Ouch.

The trial is about Parnas' alleged filtering of $100,000 from Russian businessperson Andrey Muraviev to political candidates as a kind of bribe nudge. It's contended those funds were intended to grease the wheels for Muraviev to establish a cannabis enterprise in the U.S. Parnas is connected to Rudy Giuliani.

Parnas' lawyer is Joseph Bondy who argues that his client did not know the alleged stealth agenda. Of course, ignorance of the law is no excuse.

With "The Many Saints of Newark" in movie theatres, the fascination with the Sopranos hubris is back. That could hover as presence in the courtroom.

Few of us have outgrown our adolescent love of expressing scorn for the rules. And outwitting the system. Even supposedly fully grown up, we admire the bad guys.

It would be wise for Parnas not to smirk during the trial.

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WeWork Founder Adam Neumann Contracted with Brandname Defamation Lawyer Tom Clare

"Tom Clare was recently hired by Neumann to combat suggestions that Neumann engaged in criminal activity during his rollercoaster stint at the co-working giant [WeWork] ... He convinced HBO Max to revise its description of Neumann in an episode of the forthcoming series 'Generation Hustle,' Clare and an HBO Max representative told Bloomberg Law." - Chris Opfer, Bloomberg Law, October 13, 2021.

Clare is a brandname in the defamation space. Among his other clients is Dominion Voting Systems which is suing alleged sources of defamation ranging from Fox to MyPillow founder Mike Lindell.

Since WeWork is giving it another run at an IPO this month, Neumann has become high-profile again. For about 18 months he had been laying low. But, now he's back. And part of the back is the publication of a negative book about him published in July 2021. That's "The Cult of We" by Eliot Brown and Maureen Farrell. On Amazon it ranks high: 8,459.

Allegedly it was Neumann's decisions and behavior which made the original plan for the IPO go kaput. At JPMorgan Chase Jamie Dimon advised him to drop that idea for that present time. Now that it's a go again, if it succeeds in its $9 billion evaluation, Neumann could make big money. That is estimated at about $245 million. 

However, the Neumann brand remains in play. Clare can address the legalities of that. However, more would have to be done on a sustained basis in media relations. 

Like Elizabeth Holmes at Theranos, Neumann had a vision of changing the world. That would be through how his co-working concept would disrupt how people work. 

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Refuge from Corruption (including by federal judges): "No Time To Die"

The new James Bond film "No Time to Die" grossed $56 million in the U.S. during its debut weekend. And, 36% of the tickets had been purchased by us over-45.

That's not a surprise. After all the James Bond franchise is 60 years old. So we came of age with the various James Bonds. But what could be a surprise is our hunger for old-line values. 

This version of Bond, played by Daniel Craig, plays out traditional values of caring, loyalty, ingenuity, and sacrifice. Those used to be aggregated and labeled "character." 

We baby boomers recall filling out our applications to college in which what was required was a paragraph or two on character. Those were to be a key part of our personal essay. We had to provide a specific instance in which we exhibited character even if that had been a difficult situation. 

With the media outlets reporting on so much corruption, including in federal courts, it was uplifting to experience how character shaped Bond's decisions and behavior. 

It might be a useful idea for institutions of higher education to bring back character for the personal essay. Currently the focus is on how the applicant overcame adversity. 

Thank you all those in the loop for "No Time to Die." There still is a sense of goodness in the world. 

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"The Many Saints of Newark" - David Chase Doesn't Romanticize Gangsta Life

Maybe it was the tragic and premature death of James Gandolfini. That could have shortcircuited any infatuation with the power of the mob. In so many minds of the viewers of the HBO "The Sopranos" James was Tony Soprano. We sensed James fought some of the same demons Tony had struggled with.

Therefore, it's predictable that David Chase, creator of the "The Sopranos," would cast darkness on the background of how Tony came to be. His film "The Many Saints of Newark" doesn't romanticize gangsta life.

Pain is at the root of the behavior of the young Tony, portrayed by James' son Michael Gandolfini. His mother couldn't connect. His father is a lightweight criminal who winds up in prison for four years. Also, the young Tony himself leans out of social norms. Even in grade school he's in trouble for running a numbers racket. 

The young Tony's idol and mentor is his uncle Dickie Moltisanti, played by Alessandro Nivola. Dickie had been abused by his father and witnessed his mother also being treated so badly. The rage is palpable. It breaks out and Dickie murders that father and his mistress.

Also, sure there are the big dinners around the big table. But the aura of brotherhood isn't there. It is a fellow made man who offs Dickie. That's for laughing at him when he fell on steps. 

Meanwhile, the mob has to be as worried about competition as any orthodox Fortune 50 corporation. During that turbulent time young Tony is coming of age Blacks are becoming activists. Newark is on fire during the riots of 1967. One Black man who used to work for Dickie sets up his own racket. He also has sex with Dickie's mistress. When she confessed that to Dickie, he drowns her. He is never the same after that.

Rather than fascination with how power is acquired, protected, and grown, we probably experience this film with sadness. Social workers should see "The Many Saints of Newark" to understand how people get lost and maybe cannot be found. Psychotherapy didn't help the adult Tony. 

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Let Us Not Praise Famous Men - The Prominent District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, et al.

"No federal judge in America has heard more patent-infringement lawsuits in the past decade than Rodney Gilstrap ... He also holds another record: Judge Gilstrap has taken on 138 cases since 2011 that involved companies in which he or a family member had a financial interest, more than any other federal judge, a Wall Street Journal investigation shows." - The Wall Street Journal, September 29, 2021.

Like 130 other federal judges, Gilstrap got caught up in the web of comprehensive WSJ investigation of possible conflicts of interest related to the individual's or the family's stock associated with the cases they heard. 

The patent-infringement cases Gilstrap ruled on involved the big time. The corporations ranged from Microsoft to Walmart. It is documented that he oversaw a patent-infringement case against Walt Disney. The plaintiff wound up dropping the lawsuit. At the time, Gilstrap and his family owned $100,001 to $250,000 in Walt Disney stock.

A 1974 federal law prohibits that sort of thing. Yet, the WSJ discovered that between 2010 and 2018, there had been cases 685 in which such a law apparently had been violated.

Clearly, confidence in the legal system of America has been shaken, badly. 

This follows our being unhinged by the reporting earlier, also by the WSJ, that two heads at the Federal Reserve are stepping down. Here is an excerpt from that coverage:

"Mr. [Eric] Rosengren’s decision [to resign] follows the recent disclosure that he traded stocks and other investments related to the real-estate industry last year while also helping to set monetary policy. Disclosure forms for Mr. [Robert] Kaplan showed many millions of dollars in trading in stocks and investments such as stock-market futures and interest-rate funds taking place since he became Dallas Fed president in 2015. While central-bank disclosure forms require officials to provide dates for trading, Mr. Kaplan’s form referred to 'multiple' dates and his bank has declined to provide any transaction dates."

And then there's the once-revered U.S. Supreme Court. The recent Gallup poll found that only 40% approved what SCOTUS was doing. The growing perception is that the majority of justices are leaning into politics and not paying adequate attention to points of law. 

So what other famous institution or famous leader is next to deeply disappoint us?

This holiday season as we take in again "It's a Wonderful Life," we can feel extreme nostalgia for when integrity was embedded in the ethos of America. 

Integrity is no longer what dominates. That's obvious.

But can we bring it back? Or, will America evolve into Pottersville?

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The War on Powerful People - "The Contrarian" Portrays Peter Thiel as Cartoon Villain

In that classic "The Power Game," the late journalist Hedrick Smith defines "power" as the ability to get things done.

At a lecture at the University of Texas Law School Stanford Graduate School of Business Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer hammers that power - getting, holding, and growing it- is necessary for a successful career. The lack of it, Pfeffer found, is the reason why most law careers derail. 

And it is the unique power of a large elite law firm that Paul Weiss Chairperson Brad Karp has leveraged for social-justice initiatves. They range from voter suppression to antisemitism. Probably next to media, Big Law is the most powerful institution in the world. 

Yet people with power are increasingly under vicious attack.

In a sense they are positioned and packaged as cartoon villains. And those who do that profiling of those supposed miscreants shape the analysis as this: a much needed morality tale for America. 

The most recent example of that vilification is venture capitalist Peter Thiel. On September 21, 2021, Bloomberg BusinessWeek journalist Max Chafkin published "The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley's Pursuit of Power." Although its Amazaon ranking is 398 (high), consumer ratings are 2.5 out of a possible 5 (not good).

This supposed really-bad-guy - Thiel - brought us PayPal. That created a simple, convenient, and low-cost way for small- and medium-sized businesses to manage both accounts payable and accounts receivable. 

Anyone who had been tormented by the Nick Denton mob at Gawker is personally grateful to Thiel. Through his $10-million litigation funding of "Hulk Hogan v Gawker," he helped that tabloid go bankrupt.

Until then, every Friday the thugs at Gawker would hold a hearing whether I would be executed or not. Like Thiel, I had ticked off the Gawker power structure.  Following a stay of execution there would be a flood of nasty email informing me that I didn't deserve the mercy. 

And, Thiel's book "Zero to One" has assisted millions of entrepreneurs think productively about how to go about a startup. Among his insights is this: Don't chase doing another Facebook. There is already a Facebook.

Also he shares his lesson in adversity. He had been turned down by two different justices on SCOTUS for clerkships. He was devastated. But a career path in law might have been a lackluster one for him. Also it would have prevented him from experimenting with how technology can change how we do business. "Zero to One," first published in 2014, currently ranks on Amazon at 1,817. 

In The Wall Street Journal Barton Swain essentially classifies "The Contrarian" as a cheap shot. Sure, editorial writer Swain admits thatThiel is a flawed human being. But, aren't we all. That's the Shakespearean meme: Mankind is "cankered in the grain." The Roman Catholic Church calls that "original sin."

But Swain also chronicles what Thiel has accomplished, much of which turned out to be in the public interest. Swain wraps up his "Contrarian" review:

"It is a mystery to me why a certain kind of journalist, having decided a public figure is bad in some way, must treat that public figure as irredeemably malign and the source of limitless evil. Whatever the reasons for this convention, it has the effect of turning complicated stories of human frailty and achievement into petty legal briefs."

It is also interesing to note that Karp, who has expanded the business/brand of Paul Weiss to include social justice, has been roughed up by journalists. 

Actually, defense lawyers, as fictional Denny Crane predicted in "Boston Legal," currently have targets on their backs.

Lance Wade of Williams & Connolly could wind up in the corridor of shame if Elizabeth Holmes is acquitted in "US v Holmes." Yet, that is the duty of a defense lawyer. 

And, horrors, we all know what happens in law schools and the media when lawyers defend old-line energy corporations.

Things could get worse. Netflix is planning a 10-part series "Partner Track." Yes, there has broken out a war on partners. The first shots were fired on the internet with "Anonymous Lawyer" and Abovethelaw. 

The power players on Wall Street also are pulling out arrows from their back. But that's nothing new. Along with their power, they make lots of money. Mankind also has long been ambivalent about wealth. Is it the root of all evil?

Meanwhile, members of the media are planted in the Hamptons determined to photo-snap the Wall Streeters in all their decadence. 

Reflection: Have we circled back to the ethos of yellow journalism? 

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