Law And More

BigFour Getting Pushback for Toxicity in Workplace - Deloitte People and Purpose Head Dimple Agarwal Steps Down

"Deloitte U.K.'s deputy CEO [Dimple Agarwal] is stepping down amid reports of bullying, news that again focuses an uncomfortable spotlight on the supposedly toxic work culture at the Big Four accounting firms." - Michael Kapoor, Bloomberg Law, March 5, 2021. 

Not so long ago, at KPMG UK chair Bill Michael had announced he would be resigning. He had been outed for informing employees to stop moaning about the pandemic. Here are more details from an earlier article on that by Bloomberg Law.

Agarwal, unlike Michael, will be staying with Deloitte. However, her brandname has taken a hit and her behavior has thrown shade on the brandname of Deloitte. An aspect of what has been interpreted as bullying had been her chastising employees about their responses to what they perceived as too much work. She had been head of People and Purposes. 

What could play out from what's going down in the BigFour is that the best and brightest steer clear of them. Instead they put together their own boutiques and take on the incumbents. 

Meanwhile, it is time to read or reread the expose on global workplaces - "Dying for a Paycheck." It's by, get this, Stanford Business Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer. No, not all business schools are feeder pools for the next generation of bullying capitalists. Pfeffer has taken the cause mobile with podcasting.

Around the world, traditional capitalism is being questioned.

More and more professionals are coming to me for coaching because their physical, emotional and spiritual well-being can no longer hold up in their current career paths. Some are lawyers. Some already self-destructed and lost their law licenses. Some have pivoted to other career paths but admit they miss the power of practicing law.

The tragedy is that what has been outed at Deloitte and KPMG is just the tip of the iceberg. The toxicity is pervasive throughout much of work throughout the world. 

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The Game - What They Failed to Teach You in Day Care (and Law.com has been embracing)

The game is an entity in itself. Not a platform for theory or a methodology for winning.

That's what those responsible for the next generation fail to teach them in daycare and grade school. The result is lost generation after lost generation when it comes to finding, holding and moving on to ways to make a very good living. 

In contrast, the embrace of that hardened reality - the game - is exactly what makes the James Patterson publishing franchise an over-the-top succcess.

The Patterson novel "Pop Goes The Weasel" is a prime example of that.  Geoffrey Shafer, who turns out to be a serial killer, sees his world in terms of a game. In order to identify who the miscreant is and to struggle to outwit the player's mastery, detective Alex Cross has to create a game mindset.

Incidentally, some attribute media tycoon Rupert Murdoch's sustained success to his studying at Oxford when game theory had been a dominant ideology. The context is one-dimensional. It's all the game.

The novel ends with Shafer's survival. He can start a fresh game because international law enforcement assumes he is dead. In the early tech world the version of that was this: Success in a startup allowed one to go on to play the next game. That was what it was supposed to be about. Fame? Wealth? Those aren't what counted.  

Of course, this concept that it's all a game might seem too harsh for a professional class whose nation's ethos had been God, Country and Coca-Cola. 

Well, it is, at least for public consumption. No applicant to law school could champion the game in the personal essay. In America, the court of public opinion is still shaped by those post-WWII values. In the court of law, the jury would turn against lawyers describing reality in terms of a game. Last night's episode of "Law & Order SVU" was intended to be raw because it was dealing with the game of fantasy sex. The rules are clear. But the fallout brutal, for all in the loop. However, the game is legal so it will go on. 

In early education, instead of bringing out the manufactured toys and someone else's games, savvy caretakers and teachers can nudge the next generation to identify what games are going on in the setting. How they can gain leverage. And how to define winning and losing.

All that, of course, would have to be positioned and packaged in the language of management consulting. Words shape thoughts and thoughts can result in action. That's why public relations is a growth industry. Some speculate the economy has become one of scarcity. It takes, well, unique game-playing to get a decent piece of the pie. But, embedded values, at least in the U.S., make such language verboten.

That could be loosening up, though. A sign of changing times is that much of Law.com is making transparent the game. For instance, there is a detailed Go-To list for everything in the game. Here is the Go-To for schools firms favor. 

More career coaches are guiding clients to 1) find their game and 2) ferret out the critical moves 3) be humble enough to do immediate course correction 4) build aggressively on success. Come to think of it, that seems to mirror the strategy and operation of top law firms. 

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Joshua Schiller Arrest For Alleged Domestic Violence Triggers (voluntary) Internal Probe at Boies Schiller

""Boies Schiller Flexner has hired an outside lawyer [the firm is Perry Guha] to look into the domestic violence case against Joshua Schiller, the son of law firm cofounder Jonathan Schiller and one of the leaders of its California operations." - Bloomberg Law, March 3, 2021.

Boies Schiller wants to review underlining facts. At Law.com, Dylan Jackson reports:

" ... Joshua Schiller ... has continued working with clients despite a leave of absence the firm said he took after he was arrested following an alleged domestic violence incident ... according to three sources with knowledge of the firm. The firm 'rejects the claims' that he has not honored his leave of absence."

As many in the legal sector know, on January 14th, in Ross, California Josh had been arrested for alleged domestic violence. His wife Melissa Seibel Schiller had visible bruises. But they were not assessed as serious. 

For his own lawyer, Josh has retained Douglas Horngrad. His objective is to have the charges dropped.

Meanwhile this is more shade thrown on the beleagured Boies Schiller brand. To use the clicle, it's been a perfect storm of negative developments. Those range from partner flight to bad media about how David Boies, the firm's co-founder, represented convicted sex predator Harvey Weinstein.

More negative media coverage directed at David could be coming in July 2021. That's when "U.S. v. Elizabeth Holmes" goes on trial. David had been on Holmes' board of directors at Theranos and simultaneously had represented her as a client. In the book "Guilt by Accusation," lawyer Alan Dershowitz labeled that dual relationship as a conflict of interest. 

Given all the pent-up demand for a juicy trial, "U.S. v. Holmes" could catch world attention. An added attraction is that the defendant is a female. The last time the world came to a trial involving a female was when Ellen Pao had been in a gender bias lawsuit against her former employer Kleiner Perkins. That was "Pao v. Kleiner." Actually the case was weak but the attention was over the top. The defendants were totally acquitted. 

During the past few years the goings-on at and around Boies Schiller has provided absolute schadenfruede in myriad circles. Yes, many recall the BloombergBusinessWeek gush article about David back in 2015.

As poor Julius Caesar found out and William Shakespeare played out: The mob is fickle. 

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Law Firms - Plow More Change-Agent Funding into UBI - Like Canada's New Leaf Project, Stockton, CA's Panned Out

It should start seeming obvious to law firms that Universal Basic Income (UBI) has been moving the dial in reducing poverty and the ugliness it unleashes in a society.

As Annie Lowrey explains in The Atlantic article on the UBI experiment in Stockton, California, the U.S. is atypical in not using some version to help people help themselves. In other nations it's usually is thought of as a "cash transfer." In America, the single w/o children rarely receives the tools to put together a fresh start.

What went on in Stockton updates the findings in Canada. In the New Leaf approach to UBI in Canada, a group of homeless had been given $7,500. No strings. The majority "invested" that in obtaining permanent housing and successfully searching for employment.

The Stockton UBI was shaped as a no-strings (including no drug tests) funding of 125 low-income households with $500 a month. Most of the money was spent on essentials, ranging from food to utilities. Only 1% had been "wasted" on tobacco and alcohol. Some applied the money to paying off debt such as credit card balances.

In terms of seeking and landing work, 12% of the UBI group made that an objective and succeeded. That compares to only 5% in the control group.

Law firms, especially in this year following the exceptional revenues of 2020, are likely focusing on demonstrating their commitment to helping solve problems in society. What could be unusually effective in doing that in a way that generates significant results is through designing and implementing UBI pilot programs. If their footprint is primarily in New York City or D.C., they can do that there. 

In addition, collectively among law firms, just as with Paul Weiss' Coronavirus Relief Center, there can be a well-funded broad effort. The mission could be analogous to Lyndon Johnson's Great Society. Only, anchored in greater realism and with research to testify to the effectiveness.

Among the side effects of UBI could be reduction of violent crime. Not money but its lack could be the root of all evil.

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Crisis Fatigue, Client Push-Back on "Windfall Profits" - The Machiavellianism of Law Firms in 2021

"Big Law had a (mostly) happy story in 2020. Firms and their staff rallied around a previously unimaginable crisis, using urgency and adrenaline to overcome adversity and produce a banner financial year. But how do firms deal with a potentially drained workforce and maintain that level of effort as the urgency wanes?" - Patrick Smith, Law.com, March 1, 2021.

Over the centuries Machiavellianism had taken on a bad rep. But, at its core, it represents enlightened self-interest, played out with skill. So much of law-firm life, at least in the big leagues, is about that. 

And, actually it probably was an Machaivellian ethos which was the underpinning of the extraordinary unified actions from the March dawn of the pandemic to the end of 2020.

Had not all members of the law firm pulled together myriad types of performance could have fallen off the cliff. Massive layoffs of lawyers, at all levels, could have happened. But they didn't.

Instead, the law firms proved Hugh Simmons wrong. He had predicted another 2008 - 2009 in terms of reductions in force of lawyers.

In 2016, Kathryn Rubino at Abovethelaw finally described what being  cast out from Eden had been like for thousands of those lawyers. Many never were able to make it back to practicing law. By time of the recovery, law firms recruited new graduates from law school and laterals with a book of business. No surprise, they were labeled The Last Generation.

But little was lost during the last crisis. In fact, the profit poured in. Many associates received off-season appreciation bonuses. Okay, staff got the boot. However, that was expected, given technology. Also WFH lawyers had to get the hang of fending for themselves in what previously had been administrative tasks. 

Also, along the way, there was a pulling together of myriad law firms to provide help to the victims of COVID-19. Brad Karp, chairman of Paul Weiss, led the unique COVID Relief Center. Other Paul Weiss pro bono initiatiaves were in racial and social justice. There is that old adage: Doing well from doing good. For 2020, Paul Weiss had double-digit growth in revenue.

If law-firm players are as shrewd in Machiavellianism as they should be, they recognize they will have to be even more of that in the transitional 2021. Things are different this year. Everything from firmwide exhaustion to client pushback on the "windfall profits" of 2020. New perspectives must be developed. New behaviors constructed. 

So jarring could that transition be that an out of the box associate might pen (anonymously) a 2021 version of "The Prince." So what if found out. Anonymous Lawyer Jeremy Blackman went on to an amazing new career path. Some might remember how he derided the partners' enthusiastic announcements that hot chocolate would be served on the worst of winter days. 

Small changes can trigger big success in your career and your business communications. Swing by for a complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

Cuomo Administration Hires White-Collar Lawyer Elkan Abramowitz

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Executive Chamber of the Cuomo Administration - that is, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and his closest aides - will be represented by criminal defense lawyer Elkan Abramowitz.

The two legal matters are alleged sexual harassment and the Department of Justice investigation of how nursing homes were overseen and reported on during the pandemic.

As his LinkedIn profile indicates, Abramowitz is a principal at Morvillo Abramowitz Grand Iason and Anello. A number of clients, both corporate and individual, have been brandnames. Yes, this is a celebrity lawyer. His specialities are both criminal and civil legal issues in both federal and state jurisdictions. 

This latest kind of development in the Cuomo Administration crisis usually signals extreme seriousness. It tends to "look bad" to hire a lawyer, especially a celebrity one. Many finding themselves in a pickle try to put that off. But obviously the players in the Executive Chamber loop decided that they had to make that pivot.

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The All-Important Ranking Game - What Law Schools Can Learn From Northeastern

The ranking game in higher education is a primary factor in determing branding, quality of applications, fundraising, prestige of faculty, research grants, alunni support, career paths of new graduates and, of course, tution revenue. Also, obviously, it can result in the loss of jobs by the leadership. That is, if the ranking is disappointing. 

Law schools are brutally aware of the consequences of a low ranking.

They might learn plenty from the approach Northeastern University applied singlemindedly and over the long term to catapult it into the top 100 of undergraduate institutions. Boston Magazine describes in detail how former NU President Richard Freeland designed and implemented that initiative. 

The first step was to focus on one ranking system, not try to improve status in all of them. Freeland chose U.S. News & World Report. 

Next, the focus was on "cracking the cold." That was to analyze what U.S. News & World Report accually factored into assessing the rankings. Not all variables are equal, of course.

Freeland then made it the university's business to improve performance in those categories. It was the approach of extreme focus on a small number of what influenced those doing the measuring. In fact, the university adopted its mantra as "Smaller but Better."

This mode of operation mirrors that of many successful startups. Founders ignore expert advice and the usual must-dos, zeroing in on what will both yield the eventual service or product and attract funding. The heck with everything else. 

NU accomplished what Freeland set out to do. It broke into the 100. Its ranking became 98.

Law schools, where the leadership is willing to be one-dimensional in its goal, can also pull that off. There's no telling what they achieve in a ranking-change.

That goes back to the fundamental that focus is everything. Dan Goleman, famous for bringing mainstream how critical Emotional Intelligence is, published a book on that. It's "Focus," which you can order here from Amazon. 

Small changes can trigger big success in your career and your business communications. Swing by for a complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

Legal Marketers - 2020 Great Year for Book Sales, But Past Isn't Prologue

"Sales volume of print books sold in the United States in 2020 totaled 751 million units, according to NPD’s analysis, accounting for an 8.2 percent year-over-year increase from 2019. NPD reports that these figures account for the best year for print book sales in the U.S. since 2010." - Jon Gingerich, Odwyerpr.com, February 26, 2021.

Top sellers ranged from the inspirational "A Promised Land" by Barack Obama to the expose "Too Much and Never Enough" by Mary Trump. 

The sales driver was COVID-19. Not only were we locked in. There came a tipping point in how much screen time we could or would absorb. We longed to go old-fashioned and read. Sprawl on the couch. However, many public libraries were closed for walk-ins. Books could only be checked out in off-putting ways. So, sure, pop again to buy books. They arrived right at the door. 

However, legal marketers who assume they are savvy about trendwatching shouldn't parachute in to nudging clients to publish a print book. As that adage screams, the past isn't prologue.

When COVID-19 pulls out of town the pent-up demand for activities outside the walls of the home is bound to explode.

According to Deloitte, reports AP, the coming of vaccines has boosted planning for travel.

Bad news for Peloton, gyms could reopen. The message is out: Sitting is the new smoking. In the UK that could be in April 2021. Don't count on gym rats to bring a print book to read during a complex workout.

In "South Bay United Pentecostal Church v. Newsom," SCOTUS ruled the reopening of churches in California, with some guidelines. Religious organizations are social. The congregations will be out and about singing in the choir, doing good works and fundraising in innovative ways. 

Print books could return to being a fading medium.

The circling back to a downward trajectory could be accelerated by podcasting. Talk is easier to do than the intricate systems of the print medium. Also it's more fun. And it can be absorbed in a mobile way.

I published a major article on Odwyerpr.com about podcasting trends in 2021. Sure, Obama has out there a bestseller print book. But recently what has been his media magnet is his Spotify podcast with Bruce Springsteen. It's called "Renegades: Born in the USA." 

There's more than that, though, to marketability.

Also, legal marketers have to persuade clients to be more engaging on social networks, be they LinkedIn or Twitter. That requires thought leadership or going beyond the platitudes, along with catchy headlines. Embed old-fashioned soul in posts. What's sincere has become the new pull force. 

E-books? Glutted territory. 

White papers. They're back. That's because they are data-rich, straightforward and being developed by blockbuster brandnames such as those in management consulting and think tanks. The template is standard. Lean into it, like an old shoe.

 Meanwhile, advocacy platforms such as Abovethelaw keep the tone of legal communications, both internal and external, from excessive arrogance. 

Small changes can trigger big success in your career and your business communications. Swing by for a complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

JD Class of 2021 - Positioning and Packaging Yourself for the Political Ride of Your Career

Games that the law-school career department probably don't teach have to do with the extreme politics of many law firms.

In coaching lawyers knocked out of the box before making partner I hear over and over again this: They had been naive about politics. One confesses to irritating an equity partner. That was it, he figured. I had a hunch he was probably right. 

Law firms are not atypical in this. The only difference from most workplaces are that political sins in law firms are not often forgotten and forgiven. There is no slouching toward salvation for the miscreant. The smart move is to land another job before being forced out.

Come to think of it the importance of high Emotional Intelligence (EI) in law firms could be the secret sauce in Brad Karp's migration to chairman of Paul Weiss. Once there, he has been able to generate a powerhouse brand and over-the-top financial performance in 2020.

So, how can the JD Class of 2021 gear up for the political realities?

First, it is imperative to write in to the job description this: Politics is almost everything. 

Next, get formal training, tutoring or coaching in, yes, how to win friends and influence people. That's the title, of course, of the decades-old best-selling book by human relations thought leader Dale Carnegie. Okay, the Dale Carnegie brand unlike Peloton, is not new. And new brands tend to have more cool than enduring one. 

But the kinds of results the Dale Carnegie approach generate are never understimated, at least by those in the know. In the book "The Manson Women and Me: Monsters, Morality and Murder" author Nikki Meredith documents that. Although it's in negative context, it's now accepted is that Charles Manson developed his seductive skills during a Dale Carneige course in prison. 

Meredith points out in Chapter 11:

"Most of the tenets of Carnegie's approach are fundamental sales techniques - make other people fee important, use showmanship to dramatize your ideas ..."

After my industry collapsed post-9/11, it was a marketing and sales Dale Carnegie seminar, taught by Michael Francoeur (michael_francoeur@dalecarnegie.com), that helped me launch two new enterprises.  Currently, Dale Carnegie has added online instruction and one-on-one coaching. 

Selling is not simply a process for hawking products and services. Essentially it's the presentation of self in everyday life. That is, it's downright survival. 

Because of the pile-on of cognitive material in law school, the JD Class of 2021 might have lost touch with the importance of doing that - and how. For those who never let go of the need to make a living how they present themselves remains part of their core competence.

In the classic book on social intelligence "The Presention of Self in Everyday Life," sociologist Erving Goffman detailed how even the village butcher knew, when he opens his door in the morning to put on a face to meet all the diverse faces out there. 

Before graduation, 3Ls can regain some of that presence know-how by observing successful professionals. Analyze their interactions. Graft on what's a fit. Also, observe those who are flaming out early. Make a list of how they are screwing up politically. Figure out how to avoid those sinkholes. 

Small changes can trigger big success in your career and your business communications. Swing by for a complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

 

Andrew Cuomo's Future In Play - What Public Relations Experts Say

O'Dwyer PR has long been the go-to for information and insight about the communications and marketing industries.

So, it's interesting to check out what public relations experts are predicting for beleagured New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. On its poll, posted February 23, 2021, about 50% think he still has runway in his political career. Another 50% project that he's finished. Yeah, stick a fork in him.

Given how far the art and science of reputation restoration has come, it seems folly to write anyone out of what might be thought of as The Divine Comedy. One day, it's Saint Andrew. Then it's Rid Us of That Dog. 

If masters in brand fixes parachute into the loop, this play-out could take a very suprising turn.

Kevin McCauley is the editor in chief of O'Dwyer PR.

Small changes can trigger big success in your career and your business communications. Swing by for a complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)