Law And More

Heaven: If It Exists, Will Lawyers Be Allowed In? (George H.W. Bush Wasn't a Lawyer)

A Christian, George H.W. Bush had a firm belief in an afterlife.

What seemed to ease his transition from living to the dying process was his conviction that he would join his wife Barbara in heaven. It worked. According to close friends, he had a peaceful death. 

But that was Bush. That's not the majority of us who have veered off from formal religions and are left to sort through old-line myths about the Next.

Also, there is antipathy about the character of lawyers. If heaven exists, they have to be wondering if they will get passed the gatekeepers, on the first try. Or will they have to file motion after motion?

So, there's the book "Heavens on Earth: The Scientific Search for the Afterlife, Immortality, and Utopia." The author is Michael Schermer, columnist for Scientific American. Here the book can be ordered from Amazon.

From the get-go, Shermer shows he doesn't buy Christian mythology. For example, he observes that no one has returned from the dead to tip us off about the Next. Obviously, he rules out Jesus Christ's. According to religious ideology, Jesus came back to life post his death on the cross. 

However, Shermer does point out that 74 percent of Americans believe in heaven (Source: Pew Forum). The rub, of course, is that no one will have this confirmed until death. So, both during this best time of the year and more routine days and nights, we have to live on with no proven-out answer - only our little individual mindset.

Oh, there have been scientific studies. But, science has lost our allegiance. Remember what "they" said about taking antidepressants forever if we had had one clinical depression. Smirk smirk. And what about the firm faith in psychoanalysis? Analysts such as David W. Harder were positioned and packaged for the so-called sophisticated as the Secular Shamans. 

Consequently, what's Next remains a mystery. The upside of that is that we can unleash our imaginations to play out the kind of existence we can enjoy after how difficult life has become on earth.

I envision being in a field surrounded by all my pet children who have died.

We have no time commitments. We just are, together.

There is no more clinical depression. No more earnest therapists like David W. Harder. 

No former college classmates who caused us so much pain.

No more disappointments about client assignments we anticipated which didn't come through.

And, no more regrets.

Those, in my realm of make-believe, are days of heaven. I have much to look forward to. That hope will keep me going. 

Attention is the currency of the 21^st century. Jane Genova helps you get it for products, services, points of view, causes, branding, careers after-50, and college admission.

In addition, this blog welcomes sponsored content.

Free consultation janegenova374@gmail.com

 

Monday, Monday - Will the Barbarians Be at the Gate?

Timing is everything.

The 125,000 protestors in France know that this best time of the year also can be the big revenue producer for retail, the hospitality industry, and transportation. Their power to disrupt that is making them heard. 

Many other financially stressed out people in developed nations are observing that during our winter of discontent. 

The question is: Will this uprising spread to America?

Baby boomers recall the perfect timing in 1967. It was a very hot summer. Civil rights were evolving into a mainstream meme. The counterculture was catching on university campuses.

Urban areas went up in flames. 

Currently that frustration can lead to violence again in America - this time beyond the urban areas. The Norman Rockwell-like towns can also erupt.

Think about Lordstown, Ohio. A decision by GM to put in a new product or a purchasing deal by Tesla could save that community from economic death. But the possibilities don't prevent sleepless nights, self-medicating stress through alcohol and drugs, domestic violence, and suicide.

Yes, economically vulnerable communities could erupt into collective pushing-backs which turn ugly. Those could be motivated by scared individuals.

Monday Monday - will the stock market continue its plunge. More of us will stop even checking how much value our portfolios have lost.

Who in the northeast can sell their houses for what they used to be worth?

Job creation has slowed. Of course, fear of a recession is palpable. And no one knows how severe it could be. It's no longer unthinkable to imagine one worse than the 2008 downturn.

Inflation is back, especially in rent. 

And the economic inequality gap seems to keep widening.

The average Joe or Madison could join forces and mutate into the barbarians at the gate.

There are still 16 days left to disrupt the holiday season. 

For many of us, no, this doesn't feel like the best time of the year. 

Attention is the currency of the 21^st century. Jane Genova helps you get it for products, services, points of view, causes, branding, careers after-50, and college admission.

In addition, this blog welcomes sponsored content.

Free consultation janegenova374@gmail.com

November 2018 Jobs Report - Legal Services Loses 2,400 Jobs (what can be read in?)

The November 2018 report from the Department of Labor about general job creation was, to some, disappointing. More than the 155,000 jobs created had been expected. 

But, the one for legal services should be downright scary.

That sector lost 2,400 jobs from the prior month. Here are more details from Scott Flaherty at Law.com.

There is a saying: Surges in associate compensation usually come just before a severe downturn in the legal industry. 

We have certainly witnessed that surge in annual salary and in bonuses.

Now could be starting what has been termed the "bursting of the bubble."

On SEO for Lawyers, in this article Luke Cicilano explains why 2018 is the setting for the continuation of the irreversible decline in the overall demand for legal services. 

I had speculated if the planned reduction in force and office closings by Thomson Reuters is that corporation's strategy for preparing for the downsizing of the industry it serves. Here is that article. 

Likely the elite large firms and the brandname boutiques like Boies Schiller will hold up for the near future. But the rest could find it necessary to reconfigure for the kind of dynamics which media, both establishment and digital native, have been experiencing.

To survive and to attempt to scale, despite everything, law firms will have to learn to market differently.

At the top of the list will be promoting fee based on performance, procedural efficiency, and the embrace of social values. A useful model to study is that of plaintiff firms. They have always been more responsive to the realities of the marketplace than have defense lawyers.

An example of that is how they spotted the potential in applying traditional public nuisance law to seemingly unrelated matters. Here is my recent article on that published in Odwyerpr.com. 

Litigation Communications

Making points of law, policy issues, and politics accessible and engaging for the public, media, investors, and more. Complimentary consultation. Please contact janegenova374@gmail.com.

Legal Marketers - The New Versions of Willy Lomans

The world of business had changed. Willy Loman hadn't changed with it. He assumed gladhanding would close the deal. The resulting despair and suicide are chronicled in the Arthur Miller's drama "The Death of a Salesman." 

That same phenomenon is overtaking sales today. The 21st century version of that could be called digital gladhanding. Those trying to promote products, services, brands, causes or themselves monopolize social networks. On the front lines are legal marketers. They could be representing law firms of all sizes. Also they could simply be solos representing themselves. 

On those platforms they compulsively post likes, retweets, shares, and comments. Their objective is to get attention. However, usually they become perceived as pests.

The internet has changed.

When communicating on it had been very new, the supposed experts presented case studies how the likers landed jobs, new business, and interviews with media because they were highly visible. Also, it was noted that investing in leaving well-thought-out comments could and did get the eye of those who mattered.

Incidentally, it was through that that some bloggers got hired at Gawker. That was a hot media property before lawyer Charles Harder got in the loop and won a $140 million jury verdict for the plaintiff in "Hogan v. Gawker."

That was then. 

Now, all those likes and more can be as annoying as the pop-up ads. Most of us can differentiate from a like or a comment from those who are sincere and those hustling us for something, anything. 

The emerging mindset among professionals such as myself is: Leave us alone. The exception is if you want to conduct business with us. Then we are totally open to conversation starters. 

Takeaway: In this era of internet over-communication, no, you don't want to be among the digital gladhanders. That tarnishes your legal brand.

Attention is the currency of the 21^st century. Jane Genova helps you get it for products, services, points of view, causes, branding, careers after-50, and college admission.

In addition, this blog welcomes sponsored content.

Free consultation janegenova374@gmail.com

Good Luck, American Tort Reform Association

Filing a lawsuit sends a message about a point of view or cause.

It can make the plaintiff a celebrity, as with law associate Aaron Charney. That's fun.

And it can be lucrative, as through a verdict or settlement. 

So, the American Tort Reform Association, as well as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is barking up the wrong tree in trying to reconfigure that national pastime in the U.S. 

Currently, it is focusing, reports Amanda Bronstad on Law.com, on supposedly unfair venues for conducting trials. Recently that had been Florida, which had been number-one in that category.

Many recall it was there in which a jury awarded Hulk Hogan a $140 million verdict in the lawsuit against Gawker. That represented a kind of SuperBowl in litigation. 

Now Florida is number-two. Number-one is California. 

Meanwhile, any one of us can participate in litigation through pro se. That is, we file our own papers and conduct our own legal activities. Many courts currently bend over backward to assist pro se litigants. Also the internet provides so much information and insight about legal procedures.

The number of lawsuits should surge. It's the American Way.

Litigation Communications

Making points of law, policy issues, and politics accessible and engaging for the public, media, investors, and more. Complimentary consultation. Please contact janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

When Public Relations Firms Have Public Nuisance Defendants as Clients - The 5 Do-Nows

Here is the article I published today on Odwyerpr.com on how public relations firms have to manage clients' public nuisance litigation.

Being sued for creating a public nuisance automatically brands defendants the bad guys.

Litigation Communications

Making points of law, policy issues, and politics accessible and engaging for the public, media, investors, and more. Complimentary consultation. Please contact janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Holiday Season 2018 - "A Christmas Carol" W/O the Psychic Shift

It had been GM chief executive officer Charles Erwin Wilson who observed that was good for GM was good for the country - and vice versa.

That may or may not have been true in the middle of the 20th century.

Currently, it certainly doesn't seem to be on the money in the second decade of the 21st century.

Recently, GM announced the shuttering of plants. About 16,000 will lose their jobs.

It contends it is focused on finding other jobs for the displaced employees in other parts of the corporation. And, as The Hill documents, GM's lobbyists and public relations representatives are cranking out the GM story, that is, why this disruption is necessary for the future of GM. By extension, of course, the message is that it's good for the country. 

But, what may be the reality is that what is good for GM may not be good for the country.

Communities such as the Youngstown, Ohio Metro area will be unhinged economically and socially. The local news highlighted how after a plant closing in Dayton, OH the region eventually was reborn. But, before that occurred there was widespread misery, ranging from housing foreclosures to suicides. Moreover, Youngstown hasn't yet bounced back from the demise of the steel industry. Predicting a rebirth post-Lordstown shut-down seems a stretch.

In addition, GM's actions will worsen the breakdown of trust between management and the workforce.

And, if GM is allowed to go along with its layoff plan that could embolden other corporations to do the same. They figure they can do whatever they want. 

Obviously, raw capitalism has become even more powerful than politics. That is, democracy.

GM head Mary Barra seems to just be going through the motions of addressing the concerns of elected officials, ranging from U.S. president Donald Trump to U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown. Probably she doesn't have to give a damn. 

Or, maybe she does.

For years the tech industry had taken the haughty attitude that it is above just about everything. And it got away with that. Now-collapsed Theranos endured much longer than is usual for a smoke-and-mirrors operation. Recently, though, the backlash against tech is picking up momentum. Next year that could harden into a multi-dimensional sustained attack. Tech could lose forever its "special" status.

If elected officials, et al. are smart they will figure out how to demonstrate to GM that what it does has to be good for the country. 

Meanwhile, Berra seems to be the Ebenezer Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol" who isn't open to a psychic shift in values. The country could suffer greatly. 

Attention is the currency of the 21^st century. Jane Genova helps you get it for products, services, points of view, causes, branding, careers after-50, and college admission.

In addition, this blog welcomes sponsored content.

Free consultation janegenova374@gmail.com

 

FIRE - Grabbing Hold of Dream, Again

FIRE - Financial Independence, Retire Early - doesn't necessarily mean stopping work.

Instead, for those of us who still love what we do professionally it can mean having choice in what assignments we do and for what clients.

This morning I rolled my eyes.

A former client who had treated without respect in the past tried to foist on me an urgent assignment.

Of course, I didn't have to accept it.

See, I didn't need the money.

Not that I'm wealthy. It's that I have "enough." At least, for now. If that amount ceases to be adequate, then I will have to lower the criteria for assignments I find acceptable. No big deal.

Even with FIRE, there is no settling in. We play it by ear. 

Since October, the numbers in my portfolio were erratic. Mostly on a downward trajectory. I held off even on swinging by discount retailers like Goodwill. Obviously, my financial wiggle room was smaller.

Starting at the end of last week, the numbers surged upward. Also, I was tested as an "intuitive," passed, and have been hired to provide psychic guidance to those over-50 in their struggle with ageism. The compensation is less than my communications work but it's a side hustle which does plenty of good.

So, the financial wiggle room has widened. 

Today I bought a winter coat and five sweaters at Goodwill for $26.00. A few years ago, that bill at Talbots likely would have been more than $2,000. 

Goodwill, at least in my experience, charges less than consignment shops, yet carries brandnames, including the Talbots one. 

Goodwill has more selection that the Salvation Army thrift shops.

And it offers both a rewards program and senior citizen discounts. 

Six months ago I shifted from JCPenney hair salon to GreatClips in Austintown, Ohio. The trick in that is having a referral to a good stylist at those discount hair services. Through the grapevine I found my way to Hannah. The monthly styling bill is half. 

I downsized from an iPhone to one with only the features I need. The initial price of the phone itself and the monthly fee are significantly less. I cut an additional five bucks from the bill by prepaying monthly with a credit card. 

For the future I have even bigger plans for radical saving.

At the end of August I will relocate to a small U.S. town on the border on Mexico. The internet service is fine. Therefore, no limits on my telecommuting communications assignments. 

Crossing that border will reduce the money I traditionally invest in dental procedures. Yes, I have one of those million-dollar mouths, including myriad crowns.

Even with the best kinds of dental insurance, dental tourism to Mexico results in saving about a half what I pony up in the U.S.

The apartment I called about in that town reduces monthly rent a third. Its location gives me access to amazing day trips to California and New Mexico, as well as, of course, Mexico.

By bunking in motels and pensions I also can penetrate Latin and South America and cross the ocean to Spain where I had lived and worked in in my youth.

Can I become a travel writer?

That's an emerging dream.

And, dreams become possible again with FIRE.

My last dream was in the late 1970s.

I was stuck in the tiny town of Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Then state senator James R. Kelley had fired me as a research assistant, just as he had fired the previous research assistant. He also had fired the secretary.

It was a bottom.

At a bottom, you can look down or you can look up.

Up I saw I had nothing to lose by trying to become a professional writer. Within four years I was a ghostwriter/speechwriter for executives at Chevron.

Decades later, when I was blogging the Rhode Island lead paint public nuisance class action trial, I had the opportunity to post on that worst of times with Kelley. Here it is. Smirk smirk. I hadn't even dared dreamed of achieving my version of "justice."

A disbarred lawyer I assisted with his promotional materials for a guitar coaching business also has grabbed back hold of a dream. It was one he had had in high school.

He had envisioned himself as a high school music teacher.

By sophomore year in college, "they" convinced him that a smart guy like him had to become a lawyer. No surprise, he self-destructed. 

A displaced housewife I intuitively coached moved out of Greenwich, Connecticut. She is leveraging her divorce settlement to fund her dream to, as she puts it, "make trouble." I predict she will run for elected office in Jersey City, New Jersey. Since that's my home town I will campaign for her pro bono. 

Meanwhile, colleagues ask me what I will do with all the money I will earn if I land a possible lucrative book ghostwriting assignment. It may or may not come through.

Answer: Squeeze every penny.

Attention is the currency of the 21^st century. Jane Genova helps you get it for products, services, points of view, causes, branding, careers after-50, and college admission.

In addition, this blog welcomes sponsored content.

Free consultation janegenova374@gmail.com

 

Emile Ratelband - Legally, He Will Have to Remain Age 69, Rules Dutch Court

Dutch motivational speaker, 69, Emile Ratelband went to court for an unusual complaint.

He stated that his birth date, widely available online and elsewhere, was limiting his opportunities for employment and for scoring on Tinder.

His request was for permission to legally change the date of his birth so that he would be classified as 49. He argued that age had become as fluid as gender identity.

The Dutch court didn't agree. In turning down his request it indicated that associated with one's official age came rights such as to vote and obligations such as attending school. In addition, years of records would be altered. Here are more details from the Herald-Whig. 

Ratelband indicates he will appeal the decision.

Another approach to eliminating age discrimination is the same as eliminating mentioning race in media coverage. At one time, baby boomers recall, race was frequently cited in media reporting. Then, that was banned.

The same restriction can be imposed on mentioning age. Currently, of course, one's age is plastered across the internet. It is also regularly included in media reports. Ratelband is on the money: Ageism hurts careers. Here is my article on that form of discrimination or lack of diversity published on Odwyerpr.com. 

Age should become irrelevant. Even in medical matters it is becoming less of a predictable variable. One medical doctor asked me if I had all my original body parts - such as my own knees and hips. I answered "yes." The doctor was visibly surprised. She shouldn't have been. 

Attention is the currency of the 21^st century. Jane Genova helps you get it for products, services, points of view, causes, branding, careers after-50, and college admission.

In addition, this blog welcomes sponsored content.

Free consultation janegenova374@gmail.com

 

Kate Spade, Gabriel MacConaill, Scott Stearney - Suicide as New Normal at Top of Food Chain

"Rattled."

That's the way the 20,000 sailors who had been under the late Vice Admiral Scott Stearney's command are being described as. He had committed suicide last week in his home in Bahraini, where he was stationed.

Although no foul play is suspected, the U.S. Navy's Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), along with the Bahraini Ministry of the Interior, will be investigating. Here are more details from the Daily Mail. 

However, suicide has become the new normal among high achievers who are Americans. Stearney is an American. Overall in the U.S. the suicide rate has increased 33% in the past 20 years. Here is more on that from USA Today.

Recently, in the legal sector brandname bankruptcy law partner Gabriel MacConaill took his own life. Along his emotional downward trajectory, he wife suggested he should go the emergency room for help. He replied that such a formal request for assistance with a mental health issue would ruin his career. 

The reality is that in high-powered careers a façade of being totally in control must be maintained. That's just the way it is. Vulnerability invites attack. Superiors, clients, stockholders, and the media demand an in-charge persona. 

And that is probably a major factor in making suicide the new normal among those at the top of their professions. There is no option for them to admit: Right now, I just can't handle this. Not too long ago, designer Kate Spade also took her life. Admitting she could be "losing it" could have tarnished her brand. To her it likely made sense to end her life rather than hurt her baby, that is, the brand she had created. 

Is the solution to motivate leaders and managers to seek out professional help? Probably not. Sure, health records are supposedly confidential but the system could be hacked or an insider could be paid to leak information. 

Perhaps what high achievers have to do until mental health crises become acceptable is to continually evaluate what tasks and people they can deal with. And which they should delegate to others or develop a cover story to ditch. 

The new bottom line in careers might be stated: You must take care of yourself and only you know what you need.

Attention is the currency of the 21^st century. Jane Genova helps you get it for products, services, points of view, causes, branding, careers after-50, and college admission.

In addition, this blog welcomes sponsored content.

Free consultation janegenova374@gmail.com