Law And More

Two Years After George Floyd's Death, Paul Weiss Partner Ted Wells Jr. Reflects in Forbes

"I was born in 1950 and came of age during the civil rights movement. If somebody had told me at 18 that we would still be fighting in 2022 with such intensity about violence against Black men and women, I’m not sure I would have believed it." - Ted Wells Jr. in Forbes, May 23, 2022.

For the second anniversary of the death of the George Floyd, Forbes featured a collection of reflections by Black leaders on change. Wells' are poignant.

In his youth, the George Floyd moment had been the lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till. At the time, Wells was a little boy but obviously it resonated with him. Till's alleged crime had been whistling at a white women. Those responsible for the lynching had been acquitted by an all-white jury.

In contrast, there have been legal consequences for the members of law enforcement involved directly or indirectly in Floyd's death. However, Wells notes the racially-associated carnage in Buffalo, New York, on May 14th. During the massacre 10 lives were lost.

One day after the Forbes special had been published there was the mass shooting in the Uvalde, Texas school. 19 children and two adults died. It may or may not have been associated with Hispanic issues. 

As for violence in itself, as Bloomberg Law reports, there have been 213 mass shootings in 2022. They are defined as when four or more are injured or killed.

As an optimist, Wells hopes that outrage will lead to change. 

At Paul Weiss, Wells is a partner and the co-chair of the litigation department. In addition, he had been chairman emeritus of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

Paul Weiss, chaired by Brad Karp, is known for its legacy of pushing the envelope on social justice. As a pro-bono initiative recently Paul Weiss won a significant voting rights victory in the North Carolina Voter ID litigation. In a Pivot Podcast, hosted by Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway, Yale Management School guest Jeffrey Sonnenfeld saluted Karp as a "change agent" in  social justice matters.

Since I am a boomer like Wells, I also vividly recall the beginnings of the civil rights movement. For me the "moment" had been the slayings in Mississippi of the Civil Rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney by the Ku Klux Khan. The three were there to try to register Black voters. The outrage mobilized many of us boomers to become active in the movement. I published articles. I produced a play. I fundraised. I engaged in peaceful protest.  At the time I was fired up with hope. Currently, I am not.

Connect with Editor-in-Chief Jane Genova at janegenova374@gmail.com. Now and then she does freelance assignments for law firms such as Paul Weiss and their vendors.

Lordstown Motors, Great Tech Hope of Northeast OH, Not Out of Woods

"Lordstown Motors Corp.’s ability to stay in business for at least another year remains in doubt until it secures more funding and its market value rises, its finance chief [Adam Kroll] said after the electric-truck maker sold its factory to raise cash." - The Wall Street Journal, May 16, 2022.

The gap is about $150 million by the end of this year. It had raised $230 million by selling its production facility to Foxconn. Also, the latter reimbursed it $27 million.

This warning just reinforced an earlier warning about the threat of running out of money. 

Another challenge Lordstown Motors faces is that the EV is crowded. Established players such as Ford already have developed EVs which are getting good reviews. 

On the bright side, the EV startup plans to go beyond producing its planned EV pickup truck. It will develop other products with Foxconn.

Meanwhile, the economic hopes of Northeast Ohio are directly linked to the success of Lordstown Motors. It had been hit hard when GM ended the production of the compact Chevy Cruze. That became a poor seller in the era of SUVs. 

In general, the region never made it back after the collapse of steel. In contrast, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania had diversified its economy to include healthcare, technology, and higher education.

I had lived in Northeast OH for three years. Connect with Editor-in-Chief Jane Genova at janegenova374@gmail.com.

Tender Mercies - That Could Actually Play Out at Sentencing for Lawyer-Activists Pryor Cashman and Colinford Mattis

It's a story that has caused deep pain among those of us who have been political activists. That's the saga of lawyers-activists Pryor Cashman and Colinford Mattis. 

On an experience level too many of us know how "naturally" it could seem for peaceful legal activities to cross the line to the violent illegal.

I bore witness to that frequently during the late 1960s and early 1970s counterculture. Friends lost jobs, careers, and relationships. Some got entangled with the legal system. Others got caught up in other forms of destructive excess. They lost their minds.

To cool off the fires of my own rage against a lot of things, I exited the US and took a job in Barcelona, Spain. After working 14-hour days in the hospitality industry on Calle de San Francisco I conceded that maybe America wasn't so oppressive after all. I circled back to the US to finish my doctorate degree. The lesson I had learned about economic systems had been penalty-free.

Not so fortunate have been lawyer-activist pair Cashman and Mattis. In the heat of the national outrage about the death of George Floyd, they crossed the wrong lines. Those involved a Molotov Cocktail. That was in 2020. More recently the two took a guilty plea for one count of possessing or making a destructive device. That could bring a sentence of 10 years.

But, as the New York Law Journal reports, the government has recommeded to US District Judge Brian Cogan a sentence of 18 to 24 months. The defense is requesting that be done through time already served. The two have been under house arrest.

Not everyone is sympathetic. The Police Benevolent Association oppose that reduced sentence. After all, a police station was what had been targeted.

But, this proposal by government showcases the humanity in the legal system. What human being hasn't become overwrought and entered a perilous emotional force field? Fortunately, for them and for society rarely does that explode into action.

This blog hopes for tender mercies for Cashman and Mattis. They will probably still have to pay the steep price of being disbarred. But perhaps that could be reversed in time. Former Willkie Farr Co-Chairman Gordon Caplan was able to have his license reinstated. 

Connect with Editor-in-Chief Jane Genova at janegenova374@gmail.com.

Lordstown Motors - (a bit of) Hope Restored For Northeastern Ohio

"Wednesday evening, Lordstown (ticker: RIDE) announced the company closed its deal with Hon Hai Precision Industry (2317.Taiwan), which is better known as Foxconn. Lordstown is selling its Ohio plant to Foxconn. Foxconn will operate the facility and build Lordstown’s EVs." - Barron's, May 11, 2022.

This development brings much needed funds to Lordstown Motors. And Northeastern Ohio has its hope restored. At least somewhat.

After GM shuttered the Chevy Cruze plant, which had run on three shifts, the region was economically devastated. Unlike Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Youngstown Metro area didn't diversify after the collapse of the steel industy. In contrast, Pittsburgh nurtured three niches: higher education, tech, and healthcare.

If EV startup Lordstown Motors caught on it could keep creating jobs. However, it has been hit hard with problems, including government scrutiny. In terms of the market, the EV one is crowded. And established auto companies such as Ford have a distinct advantage over a small inexperienced player such as Lordstown Motors.

Time will tell if Lordstown Motors is an economic savior or another disappointment in the Ohio Valley.

Connect with Editor-in-Chief Jane Genova at janegenova374@gmail.com. 

Lordstown Motors - Should Folks in Northeastern Ohio Abandon All Hope of an Economic Resurrection?

Stock price isn't everything. But it's a major tell.  Today EV startup Lordstown Motors' price nosedived 6.44% to 1.67. That's way down from its 52-week high of 15.80. And the drivers don't have much to do with what is killing the stock prices of more established players. 

Axios reports the pessimism surrounding EV startups in general. They are facing the same constraints as the big boys like Ford. Those include:

Frozen supply chains

Materials inflation

Fierce competition

Volatility about stock prices.

But, they lack the resources to absorb the blows and even if they did, where do they wind up? In contrast to Ford, they don't have that kind of production capacity. They also don't have the brandname. Axios gives good marks to the Ford EV F - 150 Lightning Speed.

Overall, Lordstown Motors has been plagued with trouble. Some of it involves government scrutiny. That all represents the possibility of no economic resurrection in Northeastern Ohio. Things there weren't too swift when GM shut down its one-time three-shift Cruze production facility.  In the era of the SUV, the subcompact wasn't selling. The area, unlike Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania had not diversified after the steel industry collapsed. Pittsburgh built niches in healthcare, education, and technology. 

So much hope had been placed on Lordstown Motors. It was high-tech. It was green. It was, unlike the low-demand Cruze, producing a pickup truck. 

Now, here we are. Northeastern Ohio needs a miracle and that probably won't come in the form of Lordstown Motors.

Connect with Editor-in-Chief Jane Genova at janegenova374@gmail.com.

PNC Bank's Saint Joseph Glowacki - Patron Saint of the (brutally) Scammed

Somehow one of the anti-virus scammers got hold of my credit card number. This particular one operated under multiple tradenames. And all of them targeted me. No sooner did I cancel the subscription I had never signed up for then there was another one billed on my credit card. The charges ranged from $88 to $121. Not chump change.

A total mess I trudged into the PNC Bank on 211 S. Carmichael Avenue in Sierra Vista, Arizona. Finishing up a call was Joseph Glowacki, Branch Banker.

He looked up with a sincere expression of concern. 

I poured it all out. Calmly but with great compassion he went over the charges. Yes, I had cancelled the credit card but the new one I had ordered provided an opening for the bad guys.

Together, Joseph, whom I thought of as Saint Joseph, and I engineered a solution. And, this is the stunner: He implemented it for me right there in real time. He connected with the appropriate department heads at the bank. 

PNC Bank should create a Patron Saint of Scammers Award for those on the front lines who bail us out. Joseph Glowacki will be the first recipient. Yes, Name the Award after him.

Connect with Editor-in-Chief Jane Genova at janegenova374@gmail.com

 

The Art of Non-Selling Sales: The Always Be There (second in a series)

Face it, the marketing-selling process consumes expensive resources. So, it’s no wonder that the brandname experts such as McKinsey & Company are full of systems how to approach that  more efficiently as well as effectively. Currently one system is about identifying where clients/customers are on their “purchasing journey,” then get right in there and sell when they’re in the “ready to spend” phase.

EXIT THE COMPETITION OF THE SELLING GAME

But that still gets you locked in the game of selling. For law firms, what we think of as “selling” is becoming increasingly competitive as demand normalizes, M&A is down, and IPOs remain stalled.

Isn’t it smarter to exit selling. Instead, try out non-selling sales. That is a great fit with the reality that Americans hate to be sold to.

THE ALWAYS BE THERE FUNDAMENTAL

This is the second Law and More article on non-selling sales. The first explained the non-selling sales secret of nurturing the strength of weak ties.

Here let’s focus on the second principle for non-selling sales. That’s The Always There Continuum. The Creative Resources Group points out that the traditional sales approach parachutes in most of the resources into the “ready to spend” phase. At the time, the Group hammers, “It may seem rational, but it’s hurting your business.” That’s because clients/customers “feel” the abrupt drop-off in attention. The solution” Establish a consistent level of attention. That is, Always Be There.

A MYSTICAL PULL FORCE

Here is the classic example of how that can play out:

“’I assume he doesn’t sleep,’ says the General Counsel [of a giant financial firm]. ‘Somehow, he’s always available when I call, and he has this great talent for making you feel like you’re the only client he’s working with.’” That’s a quote from SuperLawyers.

The “he” referred to is the iconic rainmaker Brad Karp, chairperson of Paul Weiss. Like former Disney CEO Bob Iger, Karp mystically creates a pull force. They listen. They withhold judgment. They help others to become smarter – or at least feel that way.

Essentially the business comes to them. Of course, there are some logistics. And afterward there is the hard work of delivering what clients/customers expect.

NON-SELLING SALES DURING 2008 -2009 CARNAGE

During the worst of times for law firms – 2008 -2009 – one business development tool which had been effective was directly from the non-selling sales playbooks. Chairpersons and partners picked up the phone. They reached out in a very human way. That was simply asking those on their networks how they were doing. No sneaking in sales pitches. What was palpable was their thereness.

CIRCLING BACK TO DALE CARNEGIE TEACHING AT THE YMCA

None of this is new. It’s been out there in America since Dale Carnegie began teaching a human-resources course at the New York City YMCA in 1912.. Then he packaged those fundamentals in a book: How to Win Friends and Influence People. When I left the Fortune 50 and hung out a shingle I enrolled in a introductory Dale Carnegie course with Michael Francoeur. That was to make the transition from being a corporate player to a human being who was there for others.

Connect with Editor-in-Chief Jane Genova at janegenova374@gmail.com. Now and then she does freelance assignments for professional service firms such as Paul Weiss. She had been a graduate assistant in Dale Carnegie Systems.

The Attention Recession - As America Grows Up, What Robinhood, Netflix, and Abovethelaw Have to Learn

"In the first quarter, Robinhood’s monthly active users fell 10% year-on-year to 15.9 million ... Net funded accounts have held steady, but activity is flatlining: Transaction revenues fell by almost half, and average quarterly revenue per user slumped 61% to $53." - Bloomberg, August 29, 2022.

COOL NEW FORM OF ENTERTAINMENT

Robinhood had been a multi-dimensional business.

Yes, it provided a no-minumum requirement commission-free platform for investment in stocks, options, EFTs, and crypto. That was its mission: democratizing investing.

In addition, though, it conjured up a cool hang-out for those who could take on the role of player in the markets. That became a new kind of entertainment. You could have a lot of fun even though you had only about 200 bucks to invest. 

PILE-ON OF CHANGE

Currently, though, fewer are drawn the Robinhood model. Times have changed. And not only for Robinhood but for many other modes of entertainment.

Fewer are going out to the movies.

Fewer are depending on Netflix for their entertainment. The format for delivering that is out-of-date for how customers want their enterainment packaged and delivered.

In addition, one wonders if financially angst-ridden America will find it entertaining to have fun made of business. That includes the business of law, which could shift from boom to a recessionary environment.

Chief Comedy Site for deriding the culture of law firms - AbovetheLaw - could find itself out of sync with taste. Even law students and junior lawyers might not assess its tone and content a barrel of laughs. Internally at law firms those who still have those well-paying jobs, after layoffs hit, could turn on the leakers to ATL. One more thing: Maybe law itself isn't high comedy. The Morning Feed putting a funny spin on legal developments could become downright offensive. Law students and lawyers need solutions for their career and case-strategy problems. Not joking around. 

THE HUMAN

Entertainment is only one aspect of the absolute need of business to get, hold, and grow attention, of course. Without attention, customers and clients don't know what you're selling. Regulators don't know your side of the story. The media outlets lack information and insight about how you differentiate yourself from the competition. And you wind up losing confidence in yourself.

What has been engaging us has been the human. That actually could be getting more attention than the entertainment provided by Elon Musk's brash antics.

What is interesting us about Twitter are the reports of tears and self-doubt by the leadership. Durring a meeting with colleagues the head of Twitter legal Vijaya Gadde wept when discussing the group's accomplishments. While speaking to all employees Chief Executive Officer Parag Agrawal admitted he wished he had done thing better managing the Musk Everything. 

LinkedIn, which started out as a professional network, has evolved into a personal one for professionals. What attracts the likes, comments, and shares are the human disclosures. Popular poster lawyer Colin Levy received plenty of page views when he shared that he had failed the bar exam the first time around.

ESG is making the digital front page news in the media what workers want. That is the very human side of business. At Salesforce, the story has been about eliminating the NDA concealment provisions related to alleged sexual and discrimination wrongdoing. Here is the Bloomberg coverage.

ALL GROWN UP?

Perhaps America, a very young nation, is growing up.

Investing funds is not entertainment.

Netflix should have kept up with the competition.

Careers in law and the institution of law shouldn't become comedic scripting by Abovethelaw.

Connect with Editor-in-Chief Jane Genova at janegenova374@gmail.com

At Twitter, The Mood Seems to Be Profound Grief - Mirroring Meme from Film "Memory" of Very Very Rich as Untouchable

"'I wish we had done better with lots of things,' [Chief Executive Officer Parag] Agrawal said during the call [an impromptu kind of town meeting with all Twitter employees]." - Insider, April 29, 2022.

Earlier the media reported that the chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde wept at a meeting with her people. She reflected that the future was so uncertain. She also expressed her extreme pride in what they had accomplished.

The mood among both the leadership and rank-and-file at Twitter seems to be grief. The profound kind when something big is about be lost - forever. Decades ago so many Gulf Oil employees - present and past - experienced exactly that when Chevron acquired it. Intuitively we knew Our Family of Orange had been wiped out. 

Although the details are different, what is going on at Twitter and the new film "Memory" could be this: The sense that the very very rich are unstoppable and beyond the norms of society and even justice. 

Already Musk has violated the terms of the purchase agreement. That banned disparaging Twitter. And he's doing just that. Targets have included those in the legal department. Here is Law and More's analysis of that development.

Is any lawyer skilled and bold enough to contend that Musk's behavior has made the contract null and void? And the deal is put on-hold. Given the slow-moving process the law is, Twitter could return to being Twitter.

Connect with Editor-in-Chief Jane Genova at janegenova374@gmail.com.

Lordstown Motors - Will It Suffer Another Extreme Setback?

For Northeast Ohio, Lordstown Motors, which is producing an EV pickup truck, has been something to hang on hope. After GM shuttered the Cruze production plant, economic darkness hung over the region.

Now reports Bloomberg:

"Lordstown Motors Corp. agreed to push back the deadline to sell its Ohio factory to Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd., known as Foxconn, dragging out the closure of the vital partnership and offering no guarantee that it will get done."

The deal had been for $230 million. That was funding Lordstown Motors likely needed to keep going. The holdup consists of the negotiations needed for a contract manufacturing agreement. If those can't be worked out, Lordstown Motors will have to scramble for other sources of funding.

But the funding is just one kind of obstacle. Another is the glutted and highly competitive market for EVs. Can Lordstown Motors find its niche at the right price in that space? 

Connect with Editor-in-Chief at janegenova374@gmail.com