Law And More

Okay, Henri Is Here, But All the Other Stuff Still Overwhelms Us (and, omg, hold the cliches about labor relations this Labor Day)

HERE'S HENRI... LATEST..
Weakens to tropical storm...
Northeasterners hunker down...
'Extremely worrisome'...
Storm surge threat...
RI in crosshairs...
Half CT could lose power...
NYC Sees Historic Rain...
Streets, subways flood...
Concert to celebrate end of virus cancelled...
Trains, flights canceled...
ADVISORY...

- Headlines from Drudge Report, August 22, 2021

There's no telling with media. Why do the most influential outlets choose one story to ride and ride and ride and pull others off the front page?

For some reason, media such as the Drudge Report got a bee in their bonnets to play out big storm Henri. Like, are we supposed to set up GoFundMe accounts for those getting drenched in the Hamptons?

Maybe the media is piggybacking on the climate-change meme. Maybe it's that they're giving readers a break from the other current horrors, ranging from the COVID mutations to the global economic recovery's becoming wobbly. What will the stock market do tomorrow to our retirement funds ...

Meanwhile, amid the horror there are moments of smug satisfaction. Use them or lose them.

At the top of the list is the memory of Morgan Stanley's Chief Legal Officer Eric Grossman seemingly bullying (but with the velvet-glove rhetoric of "encourage") law firms to high-tail back to the office full-time.

In The Wall Street Journal article about that and more Grossman didn't comment. Yeah, he ducked.

Remember that platitude that most alleged bullies are really cowards? 

In that same article what was amazing was that law-firm chairpersons such as Akin Gump's Kim Koopersmith and Paul Weiss' Brad Karp took on that Grossman divine-right-of-kings stuff. Their office policy was not going to be in sync with that. You bet, both emerged as heroes of these crazy times. Bloomberg Law should create an award for them. 

Incidentally, JPMorgan Chase head Jamie Dimon also came off looking bad with his office pontification. (In addition, Dimon didn't come off looking so hot in the book "The Cult of We" by Eliot Brown and Maureen Farrell. It ranks 4,906 on Amazon.)

Smirk. The reality is this, of course: The Delta variant and more of those projected to circle around this fall and winter have made the whole matter of returning to the office an eye-roller. Even with initial jabs, boosters, masks, and social distancing, businesses might opt for "an abundance of caution" and not try that. Not now. Not for a long time. Maybe never again. The Wall Street Journal speculates the shut-out could last up to two years. I put that as optomistic.

Anyway McKinsey & Co. warns of serious mental distress among workers when The Big Return does occur. In addition, Bloomberg Law projects lots of ADA lawsuits when the rubber meets the road on employer mandates to get back into the office. 

The next story that is positioned and packaged as big could be scheduled for around Labor Day. Of course, most workers won't be in the offices. But their shifting values will be analyzed. Yet again and again. As if the current labor-relations movement is new.

Actually, it dates back to 2007. That's when gay associate Aaron Charney sued his employer Sullivan & Cromwell for alleged bias. The Wall Street Journal ran the headline "Are Aaron Charney's Big-Law Firm Days Over."

Turns out they weren't. Not only did Charney get a settlement. He landed another job in an elite law firm. Yes, Charney might be anointed the father of the current workers-rights movement. And employment-rights powerhouse Sanford Heiseler has been busy since. 

Come on, already cliche are The Great Resignation, Work-Life Balance, and Downshifting to a minimalist lifestyle. However, we probably can expect more of that around Labor Day. Looping in on all that Manhattan pubic relations player Bob Dilenschneider will likely publish as he does every national holiday an inspirational commentary. Are we supposed to do backflips and headstands about, if Dilenschneider tells us, how ennobling work is? We have been doing work ever since Adam and Eve had, as lawyers would put it, made an error of judgment. 

But the real story could be this: Will media lose its power? The news has been so unhinging and presented in such a biased manner and with so much blaming that more and more are saying they're no longer following it. Disonnecting from news is already happening in Australia.

For what's taking place on planet earth we might glance in the distance for smoke signals. 

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Does Office Reopening Post-COVID Merit Celebration? Wilson Sonsini Thinks So

Weird? After a killer epidemic? And so much ambivalence about doing work in a formal office setting.

Well, as Abovethelaw reports, Wilson Sonsini has pushed its official office reopening to October 25th. But the workforce is not required to come to office until 2022. Sounds standard. For instance, Paul Weiss left open-ended the return to the office and it indicated it would provide 30 days notice for that. 

What's odd is that the Wilson Sonsini reopening will include "celebratory events." One would have assumed that after such a global tragedy re-entry would be low-key and full of gravitas.

But, it is what it is.

Maybe I can get in touch with its head Larry Sonsini and pitch my psychic reading services as entertainment. To avoid being sued we in the paranormal niche (as a side gig) classify sharing our guidance as fun stuff. Otherwise we would need a license, malpractice insurance, and the verbal caution of a lawyer. Imagine a psychic that sounded like a lawyer? No, you can't.

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No One Knows What the Hell Is Going On - You Have to Be Your Own Psychic

Can't you envision all the law-firm chairpersons rounding up the heads of committees X and Y to discuss scenarios. Yeah, if the emerging variants go into the winter. Should masks be mandated, even with vaccinations. What about an outbreak of COVID in the office. How pissed off are clients since we're not back in the office. 

Of course, you can't look to them for information or insight. They pretend to be in charge of that. But probably aren't. Part of being a successful lawyer is truly believing that one is right. All the time. 

So, to feel a sense of being in-touch with what is and what could unfold, you can try out being your own source of information and insight. That is, your own psychic. 

You had the ability as a child. All children are psychic , that is, have the extrasensory ability to reach beyond the concrete. Then it's socialized out of them. Soon they're relying on the experts for how to experience the world. The phrase for that is this: becoming a closed system.

Here are 5 steps on how to circle back to those powers. And, you bet, be your guide for navigating these confusing times. 

First of all, lift the fear out of you about sensing what you already sense but can't explain why you feel it. Loop in, instead. It might require the prerequisite of telling the force field beyond the normal boundaries of time and space: I'm ready. That's called: surrender.

Secondly, snatch a bit of another dimension into your usual existence. Simply lighting several candles can do it. Stare at the flames until your mind stills. With a deep breath, suck in a problem such as "becoming a partner." Then let out that breath slowly with the mantra "Clear thinking, don't know."

Soon you can strengthen your intuitive muscle to the point that you won't need the flame. That will be internalized. 

Three, instead of experiencing your world the usual way, tune totally into the energy. Open up to what vibrations are being given off. They could be coming from people or a plant or your cat. Trust what you are taking in as what you're "reading" right. That will provide plenty of answers about decisions you need to make 0r for you to pause on making them right now.

Four, project. What do you "see" in your being? Picture yourself sitting or not sitting in a formal office in October. How does it look, feel, smell, and sound. Some master psychics recommend putting that on paper. As you gain more confidence in your reach beyond normal cognition your visualizations will be more in sync with what is or will be. 

And, five, develop what some call "spirit guides." They could be a cherished pet who has passed over or a presence you feel around you. Ask them to help you help yourself in finding what you need to know. 

Me? My psychic ability comes from my family from Eastern Europe. I strengthened that through workshops in Salem, MA and Tucson, AZ. I have worked as a professional intuitive reader. Two hours a day I meditate. That facilitates slipping into a trance on-demand. 

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Millennial Lawyers, Do You Text Your Psychic about How Trial Will Go? (this has come a long way since "Law & Order")

One industry not hurt during COVID and the resulting economic upheaval has been the psychic niche, documents IBIS World.

Acceptance of it has come a long way since "Law & Order" (before it ended in 2010) had an episode quite skeptical about such an ability. 

It currently is a $2.2 billion industry and growing at almost 3% annually. However, all human beings have inner psychic powers and if they are able to reach inside themselves they can be their own psychics. 

Essentially, psychic services provide access to phenomena which aren't "visible." Those could range from actual fortune-telling to simply an intuitive read of where someone is spiritually and emotionally. Given so much uncertainty and stress since March 2020, more and more have sought out psychics.

The usual fee could range from $19 for 15 minutes phone reading through Psychic Interactive to $40 for a 20-minute in-person reading at Angelica of the Angels, Salem, Massachusetts. But there are also psychics who charge per hour as much as lawyers.

Technology will be the growth platform for this industry. Youth can text their psychics with a question or an observation they want verified. Likely that will be packaged as a kind of subscription service with X number of contacts allowed each month.

Who consults psychics? Usually it's a person in distress. The joke among psychics is that no one loops in if feeling great.

During the first round of COVID I did intuitive psychic readings for a large commercial service. The distress was focused on the businesses of the self-employed and if jobs were coming back. There was no interest in personal growth, relationships or health. 

One way to be able to do your own psychic readings is make meditation a daily practice. That releases you from the confines of habitual thought patterns. Now that I am meditating two hours a day I can shift into a trance on-demand to search for the insight I myself need.

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Andrew Yang Concedes - Lacked New York City Genetic Coding, Should Have Channeled Ed Koch

He came across as naive about what it takes to stand toe-to-toe with forces like Andrew Cuomo and the politics of Albany. (Scott Springer introduced that label during a television debate.)

He had a knowlege deficit about New York City. For instance he was clueless about 50-a. That's the law which once allowed to be kept confidential police's disciplinary records.

And he had not immersed himself in the nuts and bolts of the influential LGBTQ community. Yes, he managed to alienate the Stonewall Democratic Club. 

And, omg, he used languge like "collaborative relationhip." What real New Yorker talks like that! We all have the taxi-driver limited vocabulary wired in.

That was Andrew Yang, former candidate for Mayor of New York City. This evening he conceded. 

He simply lacked the genetic coding of New York and couldn't pull off genetic reengineering. 

Things might have turned out differently had he selected the late Mayor Ed Koch as a model to simuate.

Koch had been totally plain-speaking, pushing the envelope to brash. He had power down cold. He knew New York City in and out and he knew he had to know that and more. The more was what was developing. And long before diversity had been fashionable he had the gift for getting along with everyone.

An example of the Koch Brand:  Harvard had invited homeless Joyce Brown aka Billie Boggs to speak about how she had won her civil liberties. That is, her right to stay out of psychiatric institutions and live on the streets. The New York Civil Liberties Union supported her.

Koch knew how this would end and how it did end. Not long after her celebrity run she wound up incoherent at the Port of Authority, with a small amount of heroin. In addition, she resumed defecating on the street.

Reflection observed: Experience is a brutal teacher. But we learn, by god, we learn.

Hopefully Yang has learned not to run for local or national office. He seems like an okay guy but probably he doesn't see himself that way.

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Demand Is (way) Down - So?

"Demand has faltered in ways the legal industry hasn't seen since the Great Recession, but industry analysts warn against reading too much into it just yet." - Andrew Maloney, Law.com, November 16, 2020.

So?

The Law.com article itself warns against forecasting whatever based on the current downward trajectory of demand. As is well known, for a number of law firms Profits Per Partner had still increased. That was primarily because of a boost in pricing. 

On a pragmatic basis, declining demand only matters if one's own law firm is experiencing that. Then immediately there should be a "reverse engineering" of all the assumptions and moving parts. Next, the course correction should be implemented.

If your own law firm isn't experiencing a falloff in business, then that provides bragging rights. Your marketing/PR teams will help you position and package that development as story snippets you can share with all constituents.

But, more importantly, haven't we learned over and over again not to take forecasts too seriously. Remember the 2016 Election? Remember the 2020 Election and the forecasts by media?

In the 1960s, the government projected a shortage of college humanities professors. To meet that need it created the NDEA IV Fellowship. I was among those awarded that free ticket to earn a doctorate in English Literature and Linguistics. The government was wrong. We became The Lost Generation of Scholars.

Those in the most primitive form of forecasting - psychics - educate clients that they have the power to outwit destiny. Since, for example, they are aware they will lose their job they can make it their business to prevent that from happening. 

If demand continues to decline, some firms will probably go out of business. Those are the ones which really struggled when the first round of COVID-19 was at its worse. The founder of Morgan & Morgan - John Morgan - reported that there were times when he was in a fetal position.

As for the forecasting industry itself, there is the possibility that demand for its projections will also decline. 

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Don't Use that Language Around Here: "The Retirement Dream"

In giving relocation advice to those about to retire, MarketWatch hammers the importance of, well, not retiring. At least, not completely.

Even for a financially comfortable couple, there is a recommendation to grab part-time work and back off from touching the nest egg.

High healthcare expenses may bite them in their pocketbook in the future.

Work is increasingly the necessary hedge.

Overall The Retirement Dream of extreme pleasure and no work can keep you stuck. That's because of 3 realities.

One, you can doom yourself to living on a fixed income. That's the platform for worrying since just about everything, from the cost of housing to that of groceries, is going up. Yes, there is work out there. Here, free to read, is my bible on how to land, hold and move on to better work Download Outwitting ageism.

Two, you socially isolate yourself. Work, from the days of ringing up purchases at CVS in high school to the career-path jobs, is where you have access to God's Plenty.

Isolation triggers more isolation.

When I visited former college acquaintance Kathleen Huebner in an Oro Valley, Arizona retirement community too many residents experienced "shrunk boundaries." They preferred, for example, to celebrate holidays in the development's dining rooms rather than the affordable restaurants beyond that box.

And, three, the ability to work, if you need to (and, surprise surprise, so many need to), can atrophy. In the old days parents mandated their offspring get a job, any job, in order to kick off the go-to-work socialization process.

When I coached displaced lawyers who had lived off severance and savings I noticed that when the money ran out they had difficulty interviewing for even survival jobs such as security guard.

Being without work for too long also resulted in their failure to nail down a position back practicing law. They had put themselves outside the work loop by not working. In addition the adage is on the money: Nothing gets you a job like a job. While doing a job you are maintaining the eager-beaver worker persona.

Once some retirees are stuck, the condition may harder into ossification. They are even fearful, like a number of those in Oro Valley, to venture out and try to amuse themselves in another sandbox. If there is a low-cost tour to X, they pile on the excuses why they have to stay in their box with the worn-out toys.

Takeaway: Structure The Retirement Dream with porous boundaries. That full-time, part-time or gig assignment can wind up being a fresh career path. You might find out you have unexpected talents and skills. Welcome, Late Bloomers.

All the answers are within you. Get unstuck to gain access to all the insight. Intuitive Career Readings (intuitivereadings123@gmail.com) invites you to a 3-minute complimentary session.

 

Stuck - Maybe That Term Applies to Many of Those Hanging in at SmallLaw/Solo Practices

Just as predicted, the coming of LegalZoom reduced business for B2C lawyers. Then it got worse. LegalZoom itself expanded into B2B. Then it got much much worse. Along with LegalZoom have been myriad other low-cost online legal services. Some are general, some have niches such as Nolo in estate planning.

Among the best, along with Nolo, reports the New York Post :

Yes, LegalZoom is still up there in ratings.

BizFilings

RocketLawyers

Legal Nature

Legal Match.

As a result, lawyers still trying to make a good living in SmallLaw/Solo practices might have gotten stuck with so much demand being taken care of online. When I asked the PNC banker in Youngstown, Ohio where I could find a lawyer to do my will, her smirked. Essentially, he said, they are lined up all along the main drag.

But, it's so hard to embrace that reality of being surplus supply and to even think about a Next.

However, the new radical frugalism triggered by COVID-19 hard times might make it necessary to take a peek into the abyss. From what the New York Post writes about LegalZoom I will probably use it for my LLC. 

All the answers are within you. Get unstuck to gain access to all the insight. Intuitive Career Readings (intuitivereadings123@gmail.com) invites you to a 3-minute complimentary session.

 

Demoted Equity Partners/Forced Out Nonequity Ones - What Story Are You Telling Yourself

We are the stories we tell, including those we tell ourselves.

The professional reality documented by the Altman Weil transition survey is that many partners are not busy enough. In numbers that's 31% of equity partners and 51% of non-equity ones. Depending on the law firm, billable hours have declined 10% to 20%. As Kathryn Rubino reports in Abovethelaw, the equity ones are being demoted to nonequity and the nonequity ones are being forced out. 

The human element in this development is the future of the affected partners. How rosy that future is depends so much on the stories they are telling themselves and telling others about this transition.

They can and must shape those narratives in a way that they build a platform to the Next. That Next could be how they position and package themselves in their own or another law firm. Or if they are no longer employed it could be how to prepare themselves for either continuing to earn income or to retire/semiretire.

That should be the good news.

But it rarely happens that way.

Change often triggers those in the loop to become stuck. They tell the wrong stories. And the narratives take over. 

Partners are welcome to a 3-minute complimentary consultation with IntuitiveCareerReadings to check if they are on the way to Stuck (please contact for appointment at intuitivereadings123@gmail.com.)

All the answers are within you. Get unstuck to gain access to all the insight. Intuitive Career Readings (intuitivereadings123@gmail.com) invites you to a 3-minute complimentary session.

 

Thud of Dewey Leboeuf Collapse Resonates - When Human Beings Get Stuck

Blame it on systems theory.

Organizations and careers come to be thought of as living, breathing entities. When they stop functioning well, they are said to be "stuck." Consultants parachute in to get them unstuck. 

Most applied systems theory.

Not enough told those paying the consulting bill that is the human beings who operate those organizations or put together careers who are the sources of the stuckness. 

Sure there are external factors. The economy. New technologies making what-is obsolete. Shifting consumer tastes. Age bias. Personal problems. 

But why some organizations and careers derail and some don't amid those conditions is usually because of this: One or more human beings got stuck. The most brilliant marketing communications won't cut it, not for long. Stuck has a way to keep stuck. What's needed is to get unstuck. 

When that is impossible, then an unstuck pro has to come in.

That's why, in the early 1990s, IBM has to cut loose chief executive officer John Akers. A first that conservative corporation. It brought in the outsider with no preconceptions. That was Lou Gerstner Jr.

Before that, nearly bankrupt Chrysler brought in Lee Iacocca. He had nothing to lose after being fired from Ford. So, he wasn't dragging in "oughts" like dog turds on his shoe.

And, I have a hunch after he also got the boot from Apple Steve Jobs got himself untangled from what was holding him back. 

Aren't symbols of unstuck Joe Andrew at Dentons and Brad Karp at Paul, Weiss? 

In The New Yorker, James Stewart chronicled how human beings first got Dewey Leboeuf stuck. Then no one could get it unstuck. The thud from that collapse is resonating through these scary times. 

If your legal-sector organization, private sector or nonprofit, is sputtering or your career is stalled, including in joblessness, that's about you. 

The good news is that, since all the answers are inside you, you can get yourself unstuck.

That is, if you can embrace that you are off the game.

How can you assess that?

Ask yourself 4 questions?

• Are the stories you're telling yourself about your professional performance full of blame or praise? Both are red flags. You shouldn't be engrossed in so much self-talk.
• Are the stories you're telling others falling short of any authentic connecting? That means you're not exchanging the information and insights you need for your organization and career. There's a reason for that.
• Do you regret your setbacks? Shame on you. They are your teachers.
• Are you asking others for "permission" to do this or that? Obviously, you've lost your confidence.

Unfortunately, most of those for whom I've done communications assignments couldn't manage to unglue themselves from hardened mindsets and behavior patterns.

However, what they noticed was that the intuitive observations I made about them, not the organization or careers, was what got things moving again. That's because they got moving again.

They requested more intuitive career readings and less communications strategy.

That's how IntuitiveCareerReadings had been born during The Great Recession. The New York State Bar Association invited me to lecture displaced lawyers. Odwyerpr.com published my articles. My target market back then was the over-50. 

Then there was a recovery. And more of a margin for error.

IntuitiveCareerReadings became a side dish on the menu of services.

Now, it's the main dish. And it seems like the only dish. Demand has surged with the wildness of 2020. All generations are asking for me to take a peek to check out if they are stuck. However, the over-50 are experiencing more of a challenge landing, holding, and moving on to better work than in The Great Recession. 

For a complimentary 3-minutes, please make an appointment at intuitivereadings123@gmail.com. You might not need any more than those 3 minutes to start the unstuck. 

All the answers are within you.

From now on, this blog is getting unstuck from its traditional content. I am transforming it into a platform for helping professionals help themselves in their jobs, entrepreneurship and career paths.