Law And More

Alcoholics Anonymous Makes It from June 10, 1935 to June 10, 2020, Despite Movements Against It

In some locations around the world, members of 12-step fellowship Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) are meeting again in-person.

At those meetings today they may have celebrated the 85th anniversary of the founding of that self-help organization by a stockbroker and a medical doctor. Because they were there at an AA meeting, they were probably still embracing the fundamentals of the program. 

Since it was officially kicked off on June 19, 1935, AA has been credited with saving millions of lives. Part of that was due to the comprehensiveness of how it approached sobriety. Part of it was also because it was, for a long time, the only game in town. Until then, alcoholics were considered hopeless. 

The fellowship took off globally. Tourists would make it their business to check around for where the closest AA meeting was and take a cab there. Usually a member would give them a ride back to their hotels. AA is truly a fellowship, with lots of acts of generosity.

Then emerged criticisms of AA.

The most well-known is its relatively low success rate. Addiction specialists put that at between 8% and 12%.

Meanwhile, other modes of treatment have evolved. 

In addition, some perceive the organization as a religion. That's because of its emphasis on a higher power.

There is also an outcry against so many courts delivering sentences entailing several AA meetings a week. The attendance has to be verified by the meeting's facilitator. 

The anti-AA movement really caught fire in 2015. That's when The Atlantic published Gabrielle Glaser's critique of the program. The title was "The Irrationality of Alcoholics Anonymous."

Membership, which peaked in 2001, has been declining. 

But it is unlikely that AA will go poof. It is well organized. Those who find it helpful pitch in with non-paid service work. Given that alcohol abuse remains a major problem in civilization the well-meaning will steer the troubled into AA. In addition, as Glaser pointed out in her article, the fellowship is welcoming and new members are made to feel like they truly belong.

Since alcohol kills, those who sense they have a problem might find it convenient to swing by an AA meeting. There are plenty of them, in plenty of formats: speaker, discussion, step, closed, and open. Open ones may be most appropriate. Information about where and when they meet is available on the internet. Just key in "AA meetings." 

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As Lawyers Know, Employers Can Terminate Workers for Far Less Than Alleged Behavior of Colinford Mattis

At prominent law firm Pryor Cashman, the Executive Committee is reviewing the allegations about furloughed associate Colinford Mattis.

But, already, his profile has been taken down from the Pryor Cashman's website. Things don't look good, do they? On his own LinkedIn profile, Mattis still lists that law firm as his employer, though. 

Mattis' situation is out of the ordinary, of course. He has been accused of being in the loop of tossing a Molotov Cocktail during a George Floyd protest. But, the reality is that it takes a lot less for employees in the private sector to be terminated from their jobs for how they behave on their own time. In a legal sense, they are always tethered to the jobs, at least in the private sector.

MarketWatch reports:

"Private employers are well within their rights to terminate workers for their off-duty conduct ..."

Underlying this is the concept of employment at will. With the exception of Montana, MarketWatch points out, employers can end the employment of any worker for any reason.

In the private sector, there are no First Amendment rights. Workers can not only be "held back" in their careers by what they say off-duty. They can be fired.

Not that employers like to fire. They tend to not want to end how someone makes a living. 

However, in this era of public relations - every organization is a brand - employers are pushed to protect their reputation.

If an employee's off-duty behavior is throwing a shade on that, then employers might terminate. Consider the recent termination by Franklin Templeton of Amy Cooper. Her alleged actions in Central Park could send the message that the company condones racism. It didn't take long for the investment firm to ax her. One day the media reported it was reviewing the whatever. The next day the media announced it was a done deal and she had been fired.

That employees should be cautious about how they comport themselves in public, including on social networks and in social media, when off the job is hardly new.

Ever since youth embraced Facebook (they have long fled to Instagram, then TikTok) career experts have warned them about how they positioned and packaged themselves out there. The typical warning was not to post photos from an Animal House kind of party. Also on the list was not to threaten violence. Employers could interpret a metaphorical expression of rage literally.

That is a reality too many highly educated don't get.

Here's the deal: Going to work is a game onto itself, with its own formal and informal rules. That's why in a more simple time, parents encouraged their teenage children to work part-time. That experience socialized those who weren't quite adults yet  on how to conduct themselves in that unique context.

Unfortunately, when parents began to push their children to excel academically, there has been less opportunity for that kind of socialization. Part-time work is perceived as interfering with scholastic obligations.

By time all that education is completed it can be very difficult for the now-adults to adjust to what it takes to be paid for work. That old-line rite of passage from a student mindset to a professional identity has become increasingly complex.

As a result, there are too many new-hire interactional mistakes. Those errors can impede a career significantly. The classic example have been the associates who didn't connect the dots on how to navigate the power structure of a law firm. Within a year, they could be out. With that "on their record," good luck landing another plum job.

Incidentally, the old adage keeps playing out: In college, the "C" students become the bosses of the "A" students. One reason why is that the "C" students develop a deep understanding of how the world really operates. Meanwhile, the "A" students are booking it, oblivious to what it really takes to succeed in contexts beyond academia.    

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"Davitashvili v. GrubHub" - Alleged Antitrust in No Price Competition Clause

"Food delivery apps such as GrubHub and Uber Eats are using 'unlawful' contracts to bolster their grip on the market for meal deliveries and drive up prices for consumers, according to a new civil antitrust suit filed in Manhattan federal court." - Tom McParland, Law.com.

The lawsuit is "Davitashili, et al. v. GrubHub, et al." Here is a copy of the complaint. The plaintiffs are represented by Gregory Frank of Frank law firm. According to Superlawyer, Frank is a force in the antitrust category.

Essentially, those dining businesses served by the delivery apps contend that the "no price competition clauses" prevent their ability to increase market share through price. The delivery services mandate that a uniform price is charged. That applies even though the order did not originate on their digital platforms. 

In normal commerce, a standard tactic to get the competitive edge is to provide a variety of price discounts. Those could, for example, attract new customers and motivate existing customers to purchase more as well as boost more brand loyalty.

In the court of public opinion, this particular lawsuit is bound to resonate with Everyman/Everywoman. The restaurant industry, decimated by COVID-19 shutdowns, is the only source of employment by so many ordinary people. Unless the sector can bounce back those people could wind up homeless. 

In addition, the class action contends that the apps' policies are increasing prices for consumers. In a sense, those consumers are a captive market. They have no choice but to order food in. They may, for instance, be in a high-risk health category and are unable to shop for food - a necessity of life - outside their apartments or houses at a grocery store.

The brands' apps are bound to take a hit. 

"Davistashili v. GrubHub" is only one of a growing number of class action lawsuits related to the disruption caused by COVID-19. Others have been filed against Six Flags and Southwest Airlines. Law.com covers those. 

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Post-COVID-19: No Time-Travel Back to the Pre-COVID-19 Whatever

Today is Easter.

That Christian holiday has been a symbol of renewal.

The message is one of rebirth. 

But, the reality of COVID-19 is loss, not renewal. At least not right now.

For example, the pandemic is making so many kinds of jobs obsolete. 

It is no platitude that a large number of lines of work that have been knocked out of the box during shelter-in-place will never come back.

Take, for example, the 25,000 furloughed by AMC Entertainment. Those jobs are associated with going out to the movies.

It doesn't take an expert on consumer behavior to predict that the habit of buying movie tickets and overpriced popcorn could be over. Recently, AMC began talking with law firm Weil Gotshal & Manges about a possible Chapter 11 bankruptcy. 

So, there's lots to reflect on about the future of work. And, how Universal Basic Income (UBI) makes sense. That can prevent local, state, national, and global unrest.

Meanwhile, in the present, we have to navigate today, sheltering-in-place, not knowing if this week we will still have jobs and assignments, how our investment portfolio will do, and if we will be infected with COVID-19. 

There is nothing to go back to. 

Even those without a lot of sophistication get it that pre-coronavirus is a time in civilization that's there's no going back to whatever. 

The good news about that is the now is a platform to create a new start in our personal and professional lives. More and more of us are recognizing: We have nothing to lose and that's the opportunity to try out new things. 

Eccentric behavior is less an outlier.

Take car ownership. According to Nerd Wallet, the average annual cost of car ownership is $8,469. Before this version of hard times, only those in major metro areas like Manhattan and outliers went without actually owning a car.

That was then.

It's possible to get around without buying or leasing a car.

The options include a combination of these:

• Taking public transit which has imposed social distancing
• Ride-hailing low-cost services such as Uber and Lyft
• Having the necessities, such as food, delivered to the door
• Bicycles
• Growing kinds of scooters
• Motorcycles
• The new cool of walking.

On September 31, 2019, I donated my car to Kars4Kids. Since then I save about $350 monthly. That freed me up to only accept assignments for my two boutiques where the chemistry and compensation are a good fit.

Fraying of the social fabric.

There is the one neighbor whose routines become our anti-social preoccupation. Mine is the grandmother whose two grandchildren come over every day since schools have closed. They arrive quite early. My hunch is that they are sleeping over, on a long-term basis. 

Those guests to this residential complex, allowed by law to visit, don't modulate their voices. Their motor skills haven't developed to the point of walking lightly.

Since one of my communications special expertise is legal matters, I get it that essentially I have to live with this.

Others don't or don't accept neighbors' annoying rituals.

Therefore, the law of the street - Tony Soprano values - can take hold. It's in our self-interest to figure out how not to get on other folks' nerves. We could be the ones targeted "to be taught a lesson."

Doing at least one good deed frees us from being trapped in ourselves.

It goes back to the classic prayer of St. Francis Assisi. The prayer seeks to understand versus seeking to be understood. The mission is to achieve the gift of self-forgetting.

The payoff from self-forgetting is being lifted out of the hell of floating anxiety. That's because our fellowman's needs happen in the moment.

Even before this crisis, I was able to navigate the difficulties of the Christmas season by noticing what was happening outside me. An elderly neighbor was eating her meals on wheels cold. I priced microwaves, found a new one that was being sold at discount at a local pawn shop, and with a ho-ho-ho made her quality of life just a little better.

Make room for meltdowns. 

The Puritans allowed no slack for emotional regrouping. Forget that.

There are Mondays (it seems to be the cruelest day of all) when I walk the dog, respond to email related to my business, blog, and go back to bed. Usually a two-hour time-out will do it. I arise from my bed, able to plug back into COVID-19 times.

As we start a new week, accept the opportunity that we can restart the week or day at any time. Yes, we can shake off the horror of what overwhelmed us a minute ago.

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In The Year of COVID-19: Voodoo, Gratitude, Social as Suicide, Making a Living

There are 12 coronavirus hotspots in the U.S.

Ohio, where I have been based since I fled New York Metro's high cost of living, is not one of them. Not yet. Maybe not ever.

But, overall, the mindset here is one of inevitability. Yes, many of us will probably become infected with COVID-19. We just hope that our individual case won't be severe or, nonono, fatal.

Will ours be treatable at home? The medical bills could be the tipping point in trying to grab onto financial security. 

So, it's another day in The Year of COVID-19.

Turning to Zen, Magic, and More.

Position and package this as the intersection of science and the paranormal. Researchers explain the role of thought processes in providing health benefits. Those range from optimism to the belief that X intervention will have Y effect (even if a placebo is involved).

In 2003, after I had lost my nest egg, business, and mind, the universe smiled on me. It directed me to Amy Karnilowicz, based in West Hartford, Connecticut, Her specialty is cognitive therapy. She guided me to focus on my thought processes. Not yesterday. Not my mother. Within four months I was back. 

Zen does the same thing. It helps make humans aware of how their minds operate, empowering them to wrestle those demons to the ground. From 2012 until 2014, I meditated at the New Haven Zen Center in New Haven, Connecticut. There, I gained the wisdom and strength to depart the New York Metro area which was no longer a good fit for me. 

Magic is, well, magical. More recently, in Toledo, Ohio, I wandered into Once in a Blue Moon, 4348 Monroe Street. I was stuck. American Buddhist nun Pema Chodron, even in her 80s, admits she too gets stuck.

There, at Once in a Blue Moon, Shadow counseled me with a tarot reading. Raven helped me select stones to "wake up" my energy. Within days I had navigated out of stuck into creating platforms for The Next. I am reimagining my businesses for this new era. 

The "more" is ritual. I light white candles. I burn incense. I get on my knees and surrender myself to the universe.

If I contract a fatal case of COVID-19 what I do know is that I will pass on to another dimension with inner peace.

Saluting the front lines. 

Kroger, at least not here on W. Alexis, hasn't put up plexiglass to protect the check-out workers. Let's tell them that we appreciate their serving us in these precarious times.  

Movement in the direction of someone experienced as a threat. 

Yesterday was unseasonably warm. A neighbor was sitting out in front of her door. As I walked my dog in her direction, she hurried inside.

Coincidence?

Maybe. 

More likely, it's that each of us has become The Enemy. The courtyard of the residential complex is empty. Social is suicide. Neighbors rush to their cars. 

Since the virus can linger on our shoe we won't be allowed to cross thresholds. 

Just making ends meet.

Careerism could be taking it on the chin. In operating my boutiques the shift is to being able to bring in enough revenue to be able to pay my bills. The old-line Manhattan careerism is going poof. And not just with me. I chat online with my colleagues and even clients. The meme is: Working is about making a living. 

What used to be considered The Weekend will soon start. But, with working at home, shut down from the world, being the new normal the concept of The Weekend is becoming an anachronism.

Those in our professional loop know we are at home and will contact us.

However, I am determined to take the time to be out there in the almost-deserted Home Depot parking lot re-learning how to ride a motorcycle.

The tough nut to crack is to lean into the turn. Each time I ride I am able, though, to add five more miles onto what I am comfortable going at. When will I be ready for prime time, that is, actually riding on the street? Decades ago, with my Honda 90, that took a month. Now, as the Ok, Boomer, all bets are off if I will be able to be on the road this summer. 

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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.

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Ohio COVID-19 Update - Sit-Down Dining Shut Down, Including in Bars

The quick response of Ohio to the late onset of COVID-19 illnesses in the state could provide a model for future management of healthcare crises. The initial cases had been diagnosed in the Cleveland metro area. The incidences occurred significantly later than those on the coasts. 

The latest move has been to shut down all sit-down dining facilities, including in bars, within a few hours this evening. If the restaurant or bar stocked up on booze for St. Patrick Day's festivities can return that merchandise (if purchased within 30 days). However, allowed are take-out and delivery services. Servers could be redeployed in delivery. 

Meanwhile, today Lucas County, including the major city of Toledo, announced there had been a first presumptive case. The victim is a man in his 70s who had recently returned from a visit to Europe.

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National Credit Union Adminisration Inspector General Report about Michael McKenna and Lara Daly-Sims

On November 19, 2019, the general counsel at the National Credit Union Administration - Michael McKenna - retired abruptly.

Now, those in the legal sector know why.

Law.com covers that amazing saga. Essentially it was a story about two lawyers having a good time during office hours. The nature of the fun, many lawyers would agree, was inappropriate for those in leadership positions in an organization.

After questions had been raised about McKenna, along with the deputy general counsel Lara Daly-Sims, the Credit Union conducted an investigation by its Office of Inspector General. That report was released to the public last week. Here is a copy.

McKenna had been found to have used marijuana. He also drank to excess during office hours. Both he and Daly-Sims, again during office hours, went to strip clubs seven times in 22 months. 

The report also indicated that there were irregularities in Daly-Sims' time sheets. She resigned on January 10, 2020. She is currently a partner at Chapman and Cutler. She is represented by law firm Kator, Parks.

In response to what has gone down. the Credit Union is establishing an ethics function. 

It will also need competent public relations to restore its branding, 

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Law Firms Hosting Super Bowl LIV Parties

Sure, law-firm managing directors, order those gourmet dishes which scream WELLNESS.

That's appropriate for Ok, Boomer too aware of the numbers on all those medical tests. 

But guests coming over for your Super Bowl LIV expect large bowls of Doritos - and other salty snack.

As this sponsored content on BusinessInsider by Frito-Lay documents, sales of the salty stuff for this Sunday will total $500 million+. 

The fun is overdoing it on the snacks not labeled as "healthy." A food hangover is likely.

That's exactly why Super Bowl Monday has to be declared a national holiday. Folks should not have to go to work. Put your best lobbyists on that. 

Meanwhile those ripped open large Doritos bags are a symbol of the triumph of extreme pleasure over the Wellness Nags. 

Reflection: The availability of salty snacks throughout the law firm could reduce the incidences of mental illness among lawyers as well as staff. 

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Before Harland Sanders Became The Colonel He Had Practiced Law (quite successfully)

There was a time - and it wasn't that long ago - when it was easier and less expensive to "try on" careers.

And that was exactly what Harland Sanders, born in 1890, did. Later, when one career path worked out amazingly well, Kentucky governor Flem Sampson gave him the title "Colonel." 

Among Sanders' experiments was practicing law.

As we learn from Adam Chandler's new book "Drive-Thru Dreams," Sanders learned law from a correspondence course. An advocate for justice, he succeeded in getting favorable settlements for blacks injured in train accidents. He also made it his mission to reduce the court practice of pushing defendants to accept any settlement. 

Practicing law ended when he wound up beating up a client in the courtroom. The reason: The clients hadn't ponied up payment. Sanders had a temper. Lawyers who understand their worth can have empathy for Sanders' frustration.

Then Sanders went on to careers in these industries: ferryboats, insurance, trade association leadership, tires, and gas stations. It was in the latter that he returned to his boyhood skill of cooking. After his father had died when he was six years old, his mother went out to work as the breadwinner. Harland had to take over running the household. At top of the list of duties had been meal preparation. 

Essentially Sanders grew up in an era dominated by Car Everything. Last summer, the Toledo Museum of Art conducted the exhibition "Life is a Highway: Art & American Car Culture." Traveling by auto became a distinct form of Americana. Sanders "got it" that he could expand the usual gas station business with hospitality services. Those included lodging and, yes, food. He was 40-something.

His success with his signature fried chicken came from three sources.

One was technology. He applied a pressure-cooker method to speed up the preparation time. Travelers were tired and hungry, therefore impatient about waiting. 

The second was theatrics. Soon enough the white suit evolved into the recognized branding for KFC. There too he experimented. Sanders as human brand logo had started with a black suit.

And, third was just-the-right timing. As Chandler documents, fast food was becoming the American way of eating. Actually it was a ritual which unified the diversity of people across the U.S. 

But, his more general success with the myriad ways of making a living that he tried on primarily was due to his hustle, extreme confidence, and ability to shake off what didn't pan out as expected.

Should there be another nasty downtown and the 10,000 lawyer jobs predicted to be lost go poof, displaced lawyers should immerse themselves in the Sanders' template for positioning and packaging failure as platform for big success. 

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