Law And More

Again, Loners Take It on the Chin in America - Derek Chauvin Is Labeled That

"Derek Chauvin: A bullying loner ..." Daniel Bates, Daily Mail, April 20, 2021.

Okay, the bullying part we can go with. That's actually becoming unacceptable even in businesses. Deloitte U.K., KPMG U.K. and CBS cut loose the executives accused of being bullies.

But, loner. Come on. That's not only unfair to us loners. It scares parents into struggling to socialize their children who love solitude or are introverted to interact more.

After all, networking has become a kind of religion. In America, in the upper middle classes it kicks in during nursery school - that is, the right nursery school. And, the ambtious go to Yale or Harvard law schools for the network. 

The perception that someone is a loner also is scaring society during this time of mass shootings. The assumption is that he or she is anti-social. So, watch out.

The reality, documents Maria Hakki in iheartintelligence.com, can be quite different. Often loners are loyal friends. That requires lots of social skills. Those range from the ability to listen to empathy.

In The Power of Silence, Riley Cooper points out traits that loners tend to have. They include:

Open-minded

Not seeking validation from others

Mental strength

Highly intuitive

Love of independence

Level-headed (as opposed to the emotional imbalance of many mass shooters).

To the list I would add that we are not usually pests with oversharing and nudging conversations on airplanes. 

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"Another Bernie Madoff" - Now, the Original Is Dead

Among those allegedly doing "Another Bernie Madoff" has been Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes. Her criminal trial kicks in at the end of August. The amazing $65 billion Ponzi scheme Bernie Madoff put together has created new terminology for the global media to refer to outrageous frauds.

Now, at age 82 a few weeks before his 83rd birthday, Bernie is dead. The cause, reports the New York Post, had been kidney disease. 

Many of those who had lost everything or a lot through Bernie had obtained clawbacks.

In human terms, his real crime was against his family. That played out like a Greek tragedy.

One son committed suicide.

Another died relatively early in life from a return of cancer. That could have been triggered by the shame which had befallen the Madoff clan.

Bernie's wife, who had changed her last name to Alpern, had to go on with her life on a tight budget. The media noted that in southwest Connecticut where she lives she shops for discounts on wine.

Of course, there was no sympathy for any of them. The assumption had been: They had to know what Bernie was up to.

The Madoff saga is a wrap. But there will be myriad more over the top schemes to defraud.

After centuries of Christian ideology about the goodness of mankind there is now the embrace of how much darkness is embedded in the human race.

Annually Edelman Public Relations measures trust. Usually the metrics are lousy. However, on ABC evening news, David Muir tries to break through that with the hopefulness of "America Strong."

UPDATE:

Ruth Alpern, formerly Ruth Madoff, is back in the money. Indirectly. As the New York Post reports, she's bunking with her former daughter-in-law in a $3.8 million house in the posh Lucas Point section of Old Greenwich, Connecticut. No longer does she probably have to nose around for bargins on wine.

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Yale Law Professor Amy Chua aka Tiger Mom Needs Guidance in Crisis Management - The Urban Cockroach Phenomenon Dominates Her Brand

As many know, brandname law professor at Yale and iconic expert on parenting (Tiger Mom) Amy Chua had been reprimanded last week by her employer.

Essentially it had been a slap on the wrist: being stripped of the assignment to oversee a group of 1Ls next semester. Small stuff. 

Had Chua been trained in crisis management or had contracted with a public relations firm to position and package that negative development in her branding, she would have done two things. They are fundamentals in reputation restoration. 

The two musts in effective crisis communications are:

• Admit any part in what has been contended or proved to have transpired. The mea culpa humanizes. 

 

• Unless there is a need for continual briefings, lay low. Most negative developments blow over. Someone else or some other organization will be screwing up.

Instead, Chua sprung into a defensive mode. She issued this letter to colleagues. One would have expected someone trained in law - a profession that operates on language and nuance - not to have transmitted such as document.

Among other things, she contends she felt "bullied." In the Zoom meeting she demanded with the Yale Law powers that be she indicates she felt "degraded." 

Of course, as crisis-communications experts worth their salt would say, those moves following her lightweight censure have worsened the situation.

For example, influential Abovethelaw has run with these latest developments. Google loves ATL.

In short, what could be called the urban cockroach phenomenon has taken place. As anyone who has grown up in New York City or Jersey City, New Jersey knows, once one "roach" enters the space, many more will follow. Often it's impossible to "get rid of the roaches."

In this situation, alumni have come forward to refute Chua's defense. Expect more constituenices to creep onto the surface from where they had been in a safe resting state.

Here is the article I published in O'Dwyer Public Relations on how her husband Jed Rubenfeld could restore his own reputation. He had been suspended from teaching at Yale Law for two years. The reason had been alleged sexual misconduct. 

Likely, Chua will also require that kind of process of reputation restoration. Her brand is in play. It could be rescued if she takes the right steps. It could lose its entire equity if she continues making some very bad moves. 

Reflection: As Dan Goleman hammered, cognitive IQ has less to do with success that emotional intelligence.

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Utimate Put-Down Buzzphrase: "Sucking up Too Much Oxygen"

It isn't new. But it has become dominant in the media as a put-down for who's out of favor. Here, for example, is the AP analysis of Donald Trump's loss of power. 

That's the buzzphrase sucking up too much oxygen. 

Way back in 2016, a nasty character in James Patterson's novel "Woman of God" sums up the overdose death of his wife as a positive development because she's no longer sucking up oxygen. 

Since breath is what characterizes human life from birth to death the oxygen reference is very powerful. In this era of extreme opinion and activism, expect to hear it used a lot.

Too bad for lawyers it's not the kind of language that can be used in court. 

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Language: "The Mother of All Recoveries"

Language shapes reality. That's what the ghostwriters for the Bible's Old and New Testament knew. Their content still has profound influence. 

So, terminology being used to refer to the economy - "The Mother of All Recoveries" - can accelerate its rate of growth even more.

That's good for global law firms.

But, it's also good for the BigFour accounting firms which are their growing competition. But they're not paying enough attention to the edges the BigFour have. How much market share the BigFour had taken from BigLaw in 2021 can wind up the story of the year.

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Justice for Ghislaine Maxwell - Family Sets Up Advocacy Website realghislaine.com

"This website has been developed and is maintained by brothers, sisters, family & friends of Ghislaine Maxwell, the people who have known the real Ghislaine all her life, not the fictional one-dimensional character created by the media." 

That is the lead-in to what essentially is the Justice-for-Ghislaine-Maxwell website - realghislaine.com - launched by supporters. It's quite well-done. That includes a professional photo of Ghislaine, personal background material, frequently-asked-questions, two videos by her brother Ian, resources, a link for the media (Justice@realghislaine.com) and a link to court documents.

The case is "U.S. v. Ghislaine Maxwell." 

Interestingly, one bit of material in the Resources section is Alan Dershowitz's book "Guilt by Accusation." On O'Dwyer Public Relations, I reviewed that provocative book. Take a read.

The current meme is advocacy for Ghislaine's appeal of the third time she had been turned down for bail. Of course, there is a description of her inhumane treatment at Metropolitan Detetention Center.

The website will provide updates on legalities, right up to the trial. 

As a communicator in the legal-defense loop, I have created advocacy material. This is worth a look for others in this niche. Study it for what seems effective and what probably isn't moving the dial in the court of global public opinion. Ian alludes to the American legal system.

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Language - Term "The Cravath Scale" No Longer Relevant (but still sticky)

In the style of the one-time Time Magazine weekly reflective essay, at Bloomberg Law Roy Strom loops into language. That's an inspection of the term "The Cravath Scale."

Many recall that had stood for breakthrough compensation. And that set the bar for the law firm industry. 

But, the last time that was reality had been five years ago when it introduced $180,000 for entry-level associates. But a mere two years later Milbank set a new standard at $190,000.

In addition, the Cravath brand has lost some of its allure. Oh, it's no dog. But other stars are twinkling brighter. And for a variety of reasons.

An example is Dentons. With his political background Joe Andrew, its global chairperson, has made it dominate a lot of kinds of brand space. In the midst of the darkest days of COVID, for example, Andrew published a public interest opinion-editorial in The Hill. It explored the hardship of those who had no financial choice but to come into work and be exposed to the virus. We got it. 

In addition, Orrick grabbed attention with its paid time off for workers to "unplug." For some that was more valued than the big bonuses. The current media preoccuption is lawyer burnout.

And, Ropes & Gray has veered away from the pack with its early announcement of a back to the office policy for after Labor Day. Much of the rest of the law firm niche is still struggling with that.

Now that influential Strom has pointed out the bit of fading of the Cravath brand that law firm can contract with a top public relations firm to make it ultra relevant again. Those in reputation management can often bill in the ballpark of a top lawyer. 

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Former Public-Defender Attorney Jami Pellerin - Her Lawsuit Bound to Throw Shade on Lafayette, LA

In a lawsuit filed in Louisiana, former public-defender attorney Jami Pellerin makes claims that are sensationalistic in regard to sexual banter and familiar in terms of gender-related inequity in compensation.

As Daily Mail chronicles, Pellerin had been fired from the job at the 15th Judicial District Indigent Defender's Office in Layayette, LA. She had been employed there from 2017 until 2020.

She contends the termination was the result of her complaining about inappropriate comments from her superior District Public Defender G. Paul Marx. The latter refutes that. He contends the firing resulted from her failure to show up for training. 

Those inappropriate comments Pellerin described as questions about her sex life and her plans to become pregnant. Also, Marx allegedly told her to dress like a "nun" when around inmates. The way she was dressed, she contended he contended, was causing them to masturbate. Maybe the language was ill-chosen but the mandate could have been necessary. 

There was also the issue of compensation. She was hired in at $51,000. The man she replaced had been making $56,000. But, there could have been so many variables associated with the difference in salary.

Lawsuits can throw shade on the organization and all the parties - including the plaintiff - in the loop. This one is bound to unleash darkness in Lafayette. 

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BigFour, Now CBS - Will BigLaw Be Next in Having to Address an Alleged "Hostile Workplace?"

"CBS has parted ways with top executives in its television station group amid an investigation into their conduct ... The executives, Television Stations Group President Peter Dunn and David Friend, its senior vice president of news, were suspended in January after a Los Angeles Times report on allegations the pair had fostered a hostile work environment." - Joe Flint, The Wall Street Journal, April 7, 2021.

The investigation, which is still not over, is being conducted by law firm Proskauer Rose. The CBS Entertainment Group Executive George Cheeks has not indicated what that review has revealed. But, what we do know is that the two executives have been terminated.

Those two terminations follow the steps taken by two BigFour accounting firms in the U.K. in response to the existence of a "toxic" workplace.

At Deloitte U.K., Dimple Agarwal stepped down from her leadership position in diversity. She is still employed at Deloitte U.K., though.

At KPMG U.K.'s chairman, Bill Michael resigned. However, that might not change much. Bloomberg Law observes that the culture of the BigFour is slow to remimagine itself.

And, therefore, despite the terminations and stepping-back at CBS, Deloitte U.K. and KPMG U.K., the leadership at BigLaw might not do much to change the culture. However, given the growing media attention to "hostile workplaces" and "toxic work environments," law firms might have to at least address the contentions that such exist. 

Universally, a beef in BigLaw is about oppressive partners. Often, in the media that's referred to as "bullying." And, it's frequently documented with surveys.

Glassdoor, the platform for posting anonymous employee opinions and ratings, showcases those kinds of complaints.

For instance, for Jones Day, one employee comments, "Management is poor, they will make up things that you supposedly did wrong in order to prevent a salary raise, long hours, bizarre start-finish times with no flexibilty, management exhibits favoritism, have to work nights and weekends ..."

At Paul Weiss, here it is: "I was not motivated to work because I was yelled at and chastised for any mistake that I made. This is usually because upper management yells down the chain to the people they work under, and the cycle keeps going. That is how you learn at Paul Weiss (at least in my department). If you can drink the koolaid and fit in, it's great. You'll need to be intense and able to take criticism well. I don't think I was ever praised ..."

At Willkie Farr, the posting reads: "Some of the more powerful partners in Houston are very difficult to work for and it makes the entire office an unpleasant place to work."

And, at Boies Schiller, here you have the colorful observation: "I've worked here only a few months but this place is toxic. It's the Hunger Games in suits. There's a very prominent Bro culture that undermines the simplest of things."

Sure, BigLaw makes a lot of money for the folks working in it. But so does BigFour Accounting in the U.K. and CBS does in the U.S. Yet, Deloitte U.K., KPMG U.K. and CBS took high-profile steps to disclose unacceptable conditions and move to correct specific instances of it.

BigLaw might find pressure in the court of public opinion to make examples of partners who are perceived as creating a hostile place to work. To make not subject to lawsuits, they might have to hire another law firm to conduct the internal investigation.

Will that change the culture? It could be a start. Meanwhile, Millennial lawyers are introducing their own values to working in the legal sector. If there is no hope of alignment, talented associates know they can go elsewhere. Some have considered the timing right for going solo. 

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Blue Wall of Silence Collapses - Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo Testifies Against Derek Chauvin

The murder trial of Derek Chauvin could be moving the dial on myriad stubborn problmes of American society. 

A sign of that is that the blue wall of science collapses as Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo testified. He stated that the restraint used by his former employee Chauvin violated both department policy and ethics. However, he was not allowed to discuss his firing of Chauvin. 

The iconoclastic move could motivate other law enforcement leaders and members of the rank and file to push out against what they perceive as wrongdoing by insiders.

This issue has been played out in popular televison fictional programming such as "Blue Bloods." Episodes on that series frequently deal with the conflict between loyalty to colleagues doing a tough job and the right thing to do. Recently, "Law & Order SVU" had a segment about the detective who was a serial rapist and the colleagues who avoided absorbing that possibility.

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