Law And More

Elite Law-School Student Activism

Gone, at least in the top tier of the T-14, is the intimidated law school student.

Some at Harvard, Yale, New York University, et al. have taken on the role of activist. 

One of the targets is, surprisingly, what could be their future employer: BigLaw.

Among their objectives is ending the mandatory arbitration policies still in effect at some law firms. Those can protect the practice of sexual misconduct and other forms of power abuse. Because of pressures from myriad sources, a number of law firms have already ditched them. However, since some still maintain that policy, law school activists are still at it. 

Another focus has been a puzzling one. There is an attack on Paul Weiss' representation of ExxonMobil. This is the era of climate change and that energy corporation is cast as a villain.

However, law students should have down cold that every entity in the U.S. has the right to a defense. 

It's one thing for investigative journalist Ronan Farrow to have made an issue of lawyer David Boies' defense of Harvey Weinstein and how he did that. Many recall The New Yorker article "Harvey Weinstein's Army of Spies."

However, it's another thing for those in the actual legal loop to vilify lawyers who take on unpopular clients. 

One of the most interesting legal players currently is Norm Pattis. With great pride and lots of smart media tactics he represented Connecticut pariah Fotis Dulos. The client had been accused of murdering his missing wife Jennifer. Prior to a hearing in which he anticipated his bail would be revoked, Dulos attempted suicide and later died. Pattis pledged to try to continue the courtroom battle to prove the defendant innocent. 

Pattis might pen an op-ed for a major media outlet on the need in this era of extreme political correctness to preserve respect for the right to a defense.

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Federal, State, Local Policy Makers, Here's a Model to Monitor: Luxembourg Makes Public Transportation Free

The ethos of America is the car. That industry created the middle class. And, before people became their wealth, they were their car. Some still are their car.

So, shifting the majority of those in America from their cars to public transportation is and will be a hard sell. Going green is for the other guy.

But, nevertheless, there now is a model for policymakers - national, state, local - to hold up as the gold standard.

As The Guardian reports, Luxembourg is the first country in the world to make its public transportation free. That includes both the bus and the train. The primary objective is to reduce the traffic congestion caused by cars. 

About 40% of households in Luxembourg already use public transportation. This new policy will save each of those households about 100 euros annually. 

However, the elephant in the room on this one is: Will free be enough of an incentive to lure those not using public transportation to opt for that instead of driving cars? 

Where public transportation is expensive, as with the New York City subway and the Metro North commuter line from Connecticut to Manhattan, free could close the deal. But where public transportation does not represent a significant cost burden free might not change traveling habits.

As is well-known, traveling by car provides a cluster of benefits hard to surrender. They include:

•  Not being locked into the schedule of public transit. Go when you want to. 
•  Freedom to vary a route. Tonight it will be the scenic way home, not the highway.
• Not encountering the "regulars" and having to listen to their stories. 
•  Complete privacy. There's no friendly seat-mate making conversation.
•  No rules against food or beverages. Chow down that double burger.
•  Room for all those packages from shopping. 
•  Luxury interiors, for those who can afford all that.

The Luxembourg initiative, though, could encourage other municipalities to pilot a similar program and see what happens.

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Climate Change in the Backyard - Will Realtors Be Sued for Failure to Warn?

Catastrophic scenarios are not only for the 1% who own beach houses in the Hamptons on Long Island, New York. 

In the heartland, ordinary people are getting it: Their homes might be washed away. Only it's not by the ocean but a lake. That starts with their backyard, reports The Wall Street Journal. 

Erosion caused by rising lake levels in the Midwest has become a reality.

Recently ABC local news did a segment on how that is happening in Ohio vacation paradise Geneva on the Lake. Affordable motels by the lake make that location accessible to Everyman and Everywoman.

And not only for time-outs. Ordinary people have cute little single family homes surrounding the lake. A block up is the resort-type paraphernalia like fun food and casual bars. 

It's those who actually buy property near large bodies of water who have much to worry about. Soon enough if they want to sell that asset to retire or relocate to a rental their realtors might be warning prospective buyers about the erosion risks, how much insurance could increase, and what damage might not be covered by any insurance. 

Just like lead paint, there will have to be mandatory disclosures about the history of what the water had been up to. 

Another consequence of climate change is the crashing of retirees' dreams of the golden years by the sea. Already they are being warned about not only the land being swallowed up by water. There are also the wild hurricanes. Financial planners might add value to their services if they guide those heading into retirement about bad bets for relocation.

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Meghan Markle Not Only One with Dysfunctional Family - Lauren Sanchez's Brother Michael Sues Jeff Bezos

Families.

Norman Rockwell and Hallmark symbolized them as the foundation of all that is good in life. 

Meghan Markle may have a different take on that. Her father and sister continue to be media mischief-makers in her life.

Now, it's also a family member who's throwing shade on the romance of Lauren Sanchez with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. 

As the tabloids, including Daily Mail, report. Sanchez's brother Michael is suing Bezos and his security guy Gavin de Becker for defamation. 

In his lawsuit, Michael contends Bezos caused him harm and wants punitive damages. The plaintiff alleges that it had been Bezos and his private investigator who asserted that Michael had been the source of the photos and texts transmitted to the National Enquirer. That material outed the intimate relationship between Lauren and Bezos while the latter was still married.

However, it is reported that the gossip publication paid Michael $200K for all that.

The reality beyond Rockwell/Hallmark is this: The meme of families as the source of suffering goes all the way back to "Genesis" in the bible.

Cain actually offed brother Abel.

And, Joseph had been betrayed by his brothers. 

Yet, commercially the glorification of family ties is still marketable. 

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"Paul Dicesare v. Matthew Horn, Revel Transit" - E-Motor Scooter Industry on Trial

Last July, a New York City bicyclist filed a lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court against a man riding an electric moped (e-motor scooter) and the company renting out that vehicle.

Soon enough, the whole e-motor scooter industry has been put on trial - in the media, among safety activists, and seemingly even dealers who sell those vehicles.

The lawsuit is "Paul Discesare v. Matthew Horn and Revel Transit." Here is a copy of the complaint. The implications are amazing.

As StreetsBlogNYC reports, in June, the plaintiff and the defendant were both attempting to make a left turn from York Street onto Gold. Dicesare contends Matthew Horn, who was on a moped leased from Revel, hit him from behind, injuring him. The police report provides different details. 

Dicesare contends that Revel leases for a $19 fee the e-mopeds but does not require hands-on, in-person training. Yet, the vehicle can travel up to 30 miles an hour and the rider has to navigate the crowded streets of New York City. The terms and conditions of the leasing only mandate a valid driver's license with a clean record. Revel provides $50,000 in liability coverage. 

To participate in this vehicle-sharing program, it's necessary to download the Revel app, which is here. The program also is available in Austin, Texas, Oakland, California, and Washington D.C. According to CrunchBase, "Revel Transit is an shared electric vehicle service that allows users to locate, reserve, and unlock through an app." The company was founded in 2018 and is based in Brooklyn. 

Yesterday, the influential tabloid the New York Post covered this emerging legal niche. Since Dicesare, who is represented by lawyer Daniel Flanzig, filed his lawsuit there have been six more against Revel.

However, the controversy over this sharing app may be just the tip of the iceberg about the safety of e-motor scooters, the legal liability associated with them, and other approaches to what might be thought of as "green travel."

Here is my story, for instance. Recently, I went to a dealer in Toledo, Ohio which sells powersports vehicles, including mopeds. Because I hadn't ridden a moped since graduate school I asked if I could try one out. The owner refused because of liability.

Before my visit to Tucson, Arizona, I called a motorcycle dealer about my test driving one of their e-mopeds. The answer was "no," unless I had been riding one regularly already.

Meanwhile, green activists are advocating alternate modes of transportation to replace the gasoline-powered car. Along with bicycles, of course, are the e-motor scooters.

The growing number of food couriers find the e-moped less expensive than maintaining a car and is faster than a conventional bike.

Another option for them is the e-bike. At least, outside NY state.

Last December, governor Andrew Cuomo vetoed the bill legalizing those e-bikes, along with e-scooters. He cited safety reasons. Here are more details from the New York Post.

E-transport everything, including the green movement, can be damaged by the litigation as well as Cuomo's veto. Along the way, my enthusiasm about green travel has been replaced with fear. Here in OH, e-bikes are legal. But I now wonder how safe I will be navigating traffic. If I conjure up the courage to test out an e-moped, the place I could go would be an official Harley Davidson dealership. It also provides riding lessons.

In my 20s, I had taught myself how to ride a Honda 90 cc. That was in a vacant lot near the boarding house for doctoral students. I went everywhere, without any accident. 

But that was then. Roads in a university town were sharable by multiple types of vehicles and I had the fearlessness of youth. 

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Bluelining - New Kind of Housing Discrimination

It's as simple - and legal - as billing a house, condo, coop, or rental at an extraordinarily high price.

That puts in a play the new kind of discrimination.

That's bluelining.

In The Atlantic, Derek Thompson examines that and its implications.

Only the wealthy can afford to buy or to rent, at least in those zip codes.

Partly for that reason, 300 exit New York City daily and homelessness increases.

Meanwhile, the fear of becoming homeless has become a mainstream anxiety. Yes, in an economy where even graduates of brandname colleges live paycheck to paycheck, darkness, that is losing the roof over one's head, can fall fast. Loss of a job, a big medical bill, or a lousy credit rating can do it.

Of course, the term "bluelining" should enter the rhetoric of Election 2020.

Ironically, those who indirectly or directly created bluelining also have become victims of it, points out Thompson. Those are the assorted types in the real estate loop. Instead of focusing on affordable housing they built lux condos and McMansions, as well as palatial apartment complexes. 

However, half the condos they made happen in Manhattan during the past five years are empty. It's been a perfect storm.

Foreign money to purchase those is drying up as the economies of boom nations slow.

The Treasury folks have cracked down on using real estate purchases as a way to launder money.

And the prices themselves are, well, ridiculous. The ROI on putting money in the stock market could have a better.

The impacts of climate change will intensify the shortage of affordable housing. As the special on "60 Minutes" documented, it's no longer unthinkable that residents will have to consider migrating from a city because flooding becomes the norm. The deluge which happened every 800 years can now occur every year.

A positive unintended consequence is this: Pockets of the midwest can have an economic comeback because they are insulated from the worst of global warming. Unfortunately, a chunk of that could result from the real estate industry which engineers a surge in housing prices and in the average rental. Anticipate homeless to grow in those locations. 

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E-Bikes Not Legal in NY - Gig Workers Lose Out

It's a matter of safety.

That's what New York governor Andrew Cuomo indicated was the reason he vetoed the bill making e-bikes and e-scooters legal in the state. For example, the bill had no provision for helmets being required. Here are more details from Fast Company.

Many in the legislature are pushing back. There is talk of over-riding the veto when law-makers return next year.

Why this is an important matter is that gig workers in the growing delivery business are losing out. They could make better time with less manual energy expended through e-bikes versus traditional bikes. This is how they earn their living.

In addition, e-bikes represent a movement toward green. Others spotting them on the road could get the Ah-Ha moment: Hey, I can get around that way too. Yup, ditch the car or at least use it less.

In essence, e-bikes provide the option of battery-operated motor power supplementing peddle power. The bike facilitates both. 

The New York law, as it stands, is odd.

Here in Ohio, for example, e-bikes require no registration with the Department of Motor Vehicles. You just go to the bike boutiques which carry them, make the purchase, and go on your way. For exercise, you peddle. For timely transportation, you use the battery-operated motor. 

E-bikes usually are more expensive to buy and maintain than traditional bikes. But they are still cheaper than using a car for deliveries. According to NerdWallet, the annual cost of operating a car for 15,000 miles a year is $8,469.

Reflection: Is maintaining a car keeping too many people living from paycheck to paycheck?

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How Green Is the Valley - And GM Branding

There were three shifts.

Then there were two shift.

Soon there was one shift.

And, the announcement came from GM that there would be no shifts at the Lordstown, Ohio plant, just outside Youngstown.  The vehicle produced there - the sedan Cruze - was too slow a seller in the era of the SUV and pickup truck. 

Unlike Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Youngstown Metro area, sometimes called "The Valley," never diversified after the steel industry went kaput. 

Lordstown became a symbol for rust-belt manufacturing decline. Pittsburgh had been for years the symbol of urban reinvention through nurturing industries such as healthcare, technology, and higher education.

But this wasn't the first time Lordstown had been used to send a negative message. Back in the early 1980s, it represented blue-collar blues. The assembly workers no longer exuded gratitude for being lifted into the middle class through auto industry jobs. They berated the kind of work they were doing.

Today, Lordstown transitions into another kind of symbol: Midwest extreme resilience in manufacturing. It might go by the meme: How Green Is the Valley.

As USA Today reports, GM and South Korea's LG Chem announced a $2.3 billion joint venture in Lordstown, OH to produce batteries for electric cars. Eventually that will generate 1,100 new jobs. And lots of favorable environmental PR will come GM's way. Leaders from around the world can tour the plant.

A reason why the partners choose the Youngstown area is the existence of an experienced production workforce with an amazing work ethic.

This initiative could, of course, attract other manufacturing projects. That means even more jobs.

Youngstown could evolve into an industrial hub. The dark side of that is that rents, so low even for the state of OH, could surge upward.

Right now, a 600-square-foot one-bedroom at Hillbrook Apartments, with all utilities included, in nearby Austintown, goes for $580. Peanuts. That could change as soon as the economic development gets traction.

Meanwhile, property owners in the region could experience a windfall profit if they sell to a professional or tradesman parachuting in to work at the battery plant. 

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Global Auto-Industry Lobbyists/Law Firms - The Business Potential

From June 15th through September 15th of this year, the Toledo Museum of Art featured the special exhibit "Life is a Highway: Art & American Car Culture."

That might be the last hurrah for the technological  innovation which transformed everything from transportation to social values (e.g. get in the car and escape whatever).

Increasingly, because of factors ranging from climate change to the expense involved, the car is less and less a symbol of what has been considered "progress" in civilization.

That shift in perception could impact all brands, even the designer ones.

What's obvious is that worldwide, lobbyists for the auto industry and law firms managing its litigation could run into raw headwinds. Of course, those challenges could command premium pricing. It will be interesting to monitor which law firms beef up practices dealing with auto sector.

Yes, the car is being vilified.

A recent radical move which is attracting attention, positive and negative, is the mission of socialist Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo to liberate the city from the oppression of the car. Last summer, as The New York Times reports, the temperature in Paris reached 107 degrees. Some viewed that as a preview of the future in a world getting hotter.

Hidalgo is busy implementing her vision for protecting Paris from further eco damage from cars.

Already dozen of miles of pavement have been dug up to make way for bike paths. In her view of things, the bike culture is good. The car is bad. If she gets her agenda through, cars could be banned from center city. 

Meanwhile, in the larger realm of global finance, there is a growing niche in focusing on investing in climate change. No surprise, Beyond Meat is a closely watched stock. It provides plant-based meat substitutes.

Simultaneously, as BusinessInsider documents based on IMF numbers, the global auto industry is slowing faster than expected. That is triggering major economic threats. The issue is: Can it bounce back. Or, will its demise only be delayed?

In addition, there is the political issue: Can weaning ordinary people from cars reduce overall poverty? In America, CBS reports that 70% see themselves as struggling financially. For a car that travels 15,000 miles annually, Nerd Wallet puts the average cost at almost $8,500 a year.

What lobbyists and law firms pull off in the court of public opinion could blow up the current negative narrative about The Car. That could constitute one of most astounding communications campaigns of these crazy times. 

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California Pushes Back on Auto Makers Siding with Trump Administration on Emissions

California continues to be aggressively green.

As Axios reports, the state government announced that it won't purchase government vehicles from auto makers which have sided with the Trump Administration on emissions.

The state had issued emission standards and, by proxy, mileage requirements which are higher than those imposed by federal law. The Trump Administration has sued and three auto makers have supported that litigation. They are GM, Fiat Chrysler, and Toyota.

Those could be hurt in the pocketbook as well as in their branding. CA can make this stance high profile in the media.

In addition, CA announced that for its government vehicles, with a few exceptions, it will only purchase those which are electric or hybrid.

Since CA has enormous influence this kind of pressure put on the auto industry could spread to other states.

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