Law And More

Legal Marketing When You're Over-50

There is the great divide: The over-50 and all the younger generations.

It will increasingly impact the effectiveness of marketing, even in the highly traditional legal sector.

That's to be kept in mind with a recession seemingly on the way. During it, more than 10,250 slots can be lost.

Here is a case study of sorts from another branch of professional services: public relations. 

For many holidays, The Dilenschneider Group (DGI) creates a commentary.

It is relentlessly upbeat.

Usually it contains a laundry list of what the readers should be grateful for.

That message is published on the bible of public of public relations Odwyerpr.com. 

The founder and head of DGI is Bob Dilenschneider. His background in public relations reaches back to a time when the discipline was separate from marketing. There had been a clear line between the Dilenschneider types and the Don Drapers from "Mad Men."

Now, of course, there isn't. How public relations agencies market themselves reflects on how they might be positioning and packaging their clients' marketing - and even hands-on sales.

Those of us over-50 have to become aware of blind spots in our marketing. Otherwise, those can throw shade on our branding. Obviously how we put ourselves out there is how we are perceived.

There are several negatives associated with the holiday tactic.

One goes all the way back to Harvard marketing professor Ted Levitt. In his signature book "The Marketing Imagination," he admitted that America is ambivalent about marketing. He phrases that as "Marketing and Its Discontents." Yes, the blockbuster American economy had been built on marketing. Simultaneously, there is a deep resentment of commercial messaging. Johnny Carson captured that in his staging of bored pitches for sponsors' products.

It's not only Christmas but also all the holidays that we push back on commercialization. When Dilenschneider zeros in on holiday greetings, that can become counterproductive to the marketing mix.

Another beef is the predictability. DGI doesn't miss a holiday. And the posting is always on Odwyerpr.com. In this era of fast time, tradition can be off-putting. 

That opens the template of the holiday greeting to ridicule.

Easter is coming. The smart-aleck in me wonders: Will DGI instruct us on Holy Thursday via Odwyerpr.com to be grateful for the invention of all those marshmallow chicks?

How could I have managed to live my life without that source of extreme pleasure?

Should I reach beyond the narrow confines of my self-absorbed self and distribute the chicks, along with peanut butter stuffed bunnies, to the less fortunate?

The third issue is larger: Have holidays become so commercially exploited that we have ditched the whole concept? The exception might be Halloween. Even my four-legged son enjoys dressing up for all the parties we are invited to. More and more of us ignore President's Day Mattress sales and specials on SUVs at the car dealership. 

A takeaway about marketing for us over-50 is the need to continually assess if it's hurting our branding and revenues or a liability? A sign of our current times, LinkedIn encourages us to continue to modify our all-important profiles. 

Part of my new marketing strategy is to reposition our enterprises as West Coast firms. At the end of the summer I will relocate them to the border of California. Then, one day at a time, I will measure what marketing tactics are panning out and which to ditch. A useful read on that is Henry Cloud's "Necessary Endings."

Reflection: Are legal marketers running their strategies and tactics by associates? That perspective is a terrible thing to waste.

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com. 

Election 2020 - We Will Probably Be Hearing Lots from Megyn Kelly

Megyn Kelly's strength is sharp-elbowed political rhetoric combat. Not moderating soft-ball talk shows.

So, it was predictable that she could leverage the findings of the Mueller Report as a platform for attempting a comeback. 

In a tweet, she attacked the liberal media for investing too much in the Russia collusion narrative. She indicated that journalism isn't about rooting for outcomes. Here are more details from Daily Mail.

Recently there has been a lot of buzz that Kelly was looking for work back in broadcast political commentary. After all, Election 2020 in already in play.

We may soon be hearing Kelly has been hired. Smart tweeting.

Along the way, she ditched the long curly hair soft look and returned to the hard edged short style. 

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com. 

Self-Made Witness Protection Program - Sell Olivia Jade Giannulli a Kit

Already Olivia Jade Giannulli has lost the accounts of Sephora, TRESemme, and Estee Lauder. 

That was through the alleged fraud her parents - Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli - committed in getting her admitted to college. Ironically, she told her parents she didn't want to go to college. Currently she is no longer in college. 

Now, reports the New York Post, Olivia blames those two parents for messing up her bigtime life. It is for their alleged sins that her career might never gain traction again. 

The college admission scandal is major. Olivia is a symbol of privilege. And not in a positive way. Back in the hood where I grew up she was the kind of rich girl we would wrestle to the ground and stick gum in her hair. 

Until the day she passes from planet earth she will probably not be able to shake that stigma of extreme wealth and a parent-given professional edge.

Olivia would be wise to put together her own version of a witness protection program. She should change her name, relocate to a nation where she can get a work permit or operate a business, and socially keep her head down. Her parents' BigLaw lawyers can sell her an assembly kit for all that. Monica Lewinsky could have had a fresh start had she chose the expat path. 

Olivia = poor little rich girl.

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com. 

 

Mergers = Big Business for Law Firms, But Most Fail: Will Disney + 21st Century Fox Become "Iger's Folly"

Mergers create redundancies. That's why employees fear them. The new entity doesn't need two legal departments or two investor relations units.

However, mergers provide high-margin transactional assignments for law firms. And more businesses are engaging in them to scale - or simply survive in a hyper competitive marketplace.

According to Deadline Hollywood, the deal that brings together Disney and 21st Century Fox, though, could result in 4,000 layoffs. 

As yet, the brass at both companies have not meet with employees to explain where and when the manpower cuts will occur. So, although the deal's architect Bob Iger is doing all kinds of positive spin, employees are likely to be mighty anxious.

Actually, Iger himself should be quaking inside.

Depending on who's doing the counting, 50% to 85% of mergers fail. Not often is new value created and along the way the old value can be destroyed. Recall when Compaq merged with HP. Disaster. Things didn't turn out too hot either for the Time Warner and AOL merger. 

It is rare that the planned synergy (1+1 = 3) pans out. Usually it's simply too hard to fuse distinct cultures, political power systems, and even technologies. Meanwhile, the employees in both companies are on the brink of hysteria. This is usually captured in their anonymous comments on Glassdoor.

Given the high cost of the Disney and 21st Century Fox merger, this one will be closely watched by constituencies ranging from management consulting firms to the media. If it doesn't get off the ground it could become known as "Iger's Folly."

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com. 

Strange Legality: Ghostwriting College Term Papers Okay Because Process Classified as "Transaction"

Morally wrong. That's about all.

So, the FBI probably will not organize stings for ghostwriters who research and put together those growing number of college and graduate/professional school term papers for students who pay up the big bucks. That's because that process is classified as a paid transaction. So, it is perfectly legal. Wealthy insiders always knew that.

Now, the world finds that out through the Daily Mail article on former ghostwriter Jaimie Leigh. In addition to doing term papers she positioned and packaged the kinds of content which helped her clients not only get into college but on boards of directors. 

The reality of the ghostwriting world is much larger than enhancing academic and career credentials. But most of it is totally legit, that is, in the legal sense.

Essentially the game is: Pay some talent to look good. Instead of makeup and hairstyling, ghostwriters use research skills, analysis, strategic planning of content, and word mastery.

That's the source of myriad best-selling books, those opinion-editorials in The Wall Street Journal, erudite white papers produced by brandname management consulting firms, speeches, scripting for videos, blogs, social media, podcast talking points, and even fiction. 

Will the morality ever matter? Likely, not in America. That is, not until its current brand of capitalism grafts on other values.

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com. 

 

We Sit on Juries, We Educate Your Children, We Attend Your AA Meetings

Now we know - that is, the full extent of how the very rich game so many systems, including catapulting their offspring into elite schools. 

In Vanity Fair, William Cohan documents the ethos of the 1% and the few tiers under them.

The mindset is entitlement.

The tool is buying shortcuts to whatever.

When it comes to admission to educational institutions, the assumption is that going through the process the traditional way is for suckers. 

Yes, "they" scorn us mere middle class and below. In their orbits the old-fashioned American values of hard work, determination, creativity that is within the ethical and legal box, and grit could represent raw innocence about how the world really works. To them, that might seem cute. Or another reason to roll their eyes about the world view of the little people.

Of course, for a few weeks or a few months that could discourage us from continuing to try (I took the weekend off from re-doing my marketing communications, figuring the hell with it). But, come on, what choice do we have but to return to hustling.

More importantly, though, will be the subtle and not so subtle forms of backlash against the very rich and those who are quite privileged. 

We sit on juries. Some of those jury members will be involved in trials of alleged tricksters ensnared in the admissions scandal. No question we will be objective. But bits of our hearts have hardened. Justice reflects community values. Our values here in Eastern Ohio are to have no sympathy for the gilded age players. 

We also sell them services and products. As Cohan notes, already vendors charge them more than they do Everyman and Everywoman. 

We encounter them at recovery meetings. No, we won't go the extra mile to help them help themselves. Incidentally, those towns housing the 1% like Greenwich, Connecticut have more than the national average number of meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous. 

And, we teach their children in prep schools, universities, and professional schools such as law. Will instructors and professors struggling to make ends meet grow an unconscious bias?

It's sad that a talent such as F. Scott Fitzgerald so yearned to be one of them. That impossibility could have been what drove him to drink. Yet, part of him knew that, as the line goes in "The Great Gatsby," that they are careless people. 

The probability is low that there will be the analogue of the Russian Revolution here in America. No, we won't be marching into Greenwich, driving the residents out of their mansions, and becoming squatters. 

But, something big has changed since the outing of the exotic admissions scams. There is a target on the backs of those who tell the rest of us to work hard - then smirk about the absurdity of all that.

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com. 

Paul Weiss Had Very Good Year (PEP $5 Million, Gross Revenue Up 10+%) - But Its Legacy Will Be as Game-Changer

Somewhere in the early 21st century practicing law shifted from a profession to a business.

In 2018, the business of the Paul Weiss law firm did very well. Its Profit Per Equity Partner (PEP) increased about 10% to $5.02 million. Gross revenue shot up 10.6% to $1.4 billion. Here are more details from Law.com.

Leadership at the firm attributes the financial success to the focus on 5 core practices. They are:

White collar defense on regulatory matters

Litigation

Public M&A

Restructuring, and

Private equity.

That kind of success enhances the brand, which continues to be a magnet attracting new business and preventing client churn.

So much for the key matter of the business of law.

In addition, there are the juicy tidbits which members of the media roll out to give the firm a presence in the legal gossip mill.

One item had been the speculation that it was Paul Weiss which "finished off" Fox News creator Roger Ailes. When the sexual harassment scandal broke via Gretchen Carlson, the Murdochs called in Paul Weiss to investigate. And that it did. Expert on the machinations of all things Ailes, Gabriel Sherman published an article in New York Magazine in 2016 that the findings of that investigation could be the tipping point in the end of the Ailes era - and career. 

Not only did Ailes go. Also, his network came under scrutiny. His personal public relations counsel had been Bob Dilenschneider of The Dilenschneider Group. Soon enough one of Ailes' major defenders legal analyst Greta Von Susteren was gone. Her next stop at MSNBC didn't last long. 

Therefore, Paul Weiss had been a force of influence in the world of media and its players. 

Likely the leadership of Paul Weiss will be remembered more for how the law firm has been a game-changer rather than financial results. 

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com. 

Crisis Communications - Willkie Farr and Unexpected College Admissions Allegations against Gordon Caplan

Crisis communications planning for law firms is not much different from that done in other types of businesses. 

In Law.com, Dan Packel explains that prominent law firm Willkie Farr had likely followed the fundamentals in its one preparations for a crisis.

As many recall, its co-chair Gordon Caplan was arrested in the college admission sting and released on $500,000 bond. It wasn't long before Willkie Farr made the public announcement, with its public relations vendor, that he had been put on leave and relieved of his management duties. 

Since then, it has been silent, in public. That might be among the recommended steps in its own crisis management plan. 

Well-done crisis plans for law firms, the experts contend notes Packel, should:

•  Contain enough scenarios to cover the unexpected. The allegations about Caplan were certainly unexpected. Plan creators should think creatively. Yes, it's possible that a leader in a law firm would allegedly risk it all to have his daughter admitted to college.
•  Designate who's responsible for what. For instance, what is the role for the outside public relations agency?
•  Provide for how the facts are gathered in an urgent manner. What information must be verified and by whom?
•  As soon as the bare facts are known, make a public statement. Promise to keep up the flow of information as it becomes available.
•  Launch an investigation.

How well Willie Farr manages this threat to its reputation will determine if it can prevent client churn, continue to develop new business, retain top talent, and recruit rainmakers. Meanwhile, the brand could be in play.

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com. 

 

"The Good Parents" - That Real-Life Show Produced College-Student Offpring Needing Lawyers, PR Crisis Counselors

It was a reality show - only played out in real life. That could be titled "The Good Parents."

The wealthy contingent of helicopter parents, with or without their offspring's awareness, allegedly purchased an unethical and illegal edge for admission to a brandname college. Of course, many of those parents are already suffering the consequences of those allegations. There have been arrests and work assignments lost.

But the second shoe to drop is this: consequences for the offspring.

In Vanity Fair, Julie Miller explains the immediate and longer-term implications for those who benefited from this edge, knowingly or unknowingly. The situation is so serious that experts recommend the students get both a lawyer and a public relations crisis counselor. Yes, some could wind up being slapped with an indictment. 

Already, the two daughters of the "Full House" star have dropped out of U.S.C. Experts are pushing for that same move for others. The scenario goes like this: Don't talk to press, drop out, get a menial job like waiter, start over again sometime in the future, and expect to be questioned forever about this scandal. 

Of course, if those offspring want to pursue careers, shade had been thrown on all that. They will remain part of The Lost Generation of Rich Kids from 2019. Salvation could come in the form of taking on professional roles of do-gooders such as social workers in the inner city or building facilities for fresh water in developing nations.

Can the best of the breed of crisis communications experts conjure up sympathy for The Kids? Don't bet on it. Earning a living has been a struggle for all generations. The hostility against the wealthy will escalate if there is a global economic slowdown. 

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com. 

Recession Hedge: Creating Side Hustles Before the RIF

Can a bunch of side hustles equal what used to be a good job in law?

Many lawyers could find that out if global corporate leaders are on the money and a recession is already kicking in.

In studying Q4 2018 financial results and earnings calls with analysts, Gartner concluded that around the world corporations have switched over to how businesses operate during downturns. Also, the Federal Reserve noticed a slowdown. Here are more details from MarketWatch.

Obviously, jobs will be cut. Labor is one of the most expensive items in the law firm.

For those laid off, sure, there can be severance. There are wonderful outplacement services. There is generous unemployment. But, it's unlikely they will find jobs as well-paying. That's just the way it is. 

What helps with the gap in income are side hustles. They can be of all kinds. They don't have to be related to one another. And they can be tried out now, before the reduction-in-force.

Currently Kevin Ha works as a full-time lawyer. Simultaneously, he operates 12 side hustles. They range from delivering food on his bike (great idea since there is no wear and tear on his car) to walking dogs. Here are more details from MarketWatch. He is a smart dude. During the next recession, one forecast is that more than 10,000 lawyers could lose their jobs. Here is the analysis in Law.com.

In Arizona, a location where there is less age bias, I had 3 side hustles. My core income was coming from my communications and coaching business. I evaluated ACT essays, took incoming customer service calls, and sold in a store within a store a brand of consumer electronics.

That additional income lessened my financial angst. It was then no surprise that I pitched more confidently and more business came in more easily. 

Will my business take a hit during a downturn? That depends on the severity.

But I am preparing for that by ramping up my training in the tools used in psychic readings. Several months ago two services specializing in clairvoyance offered me side gigs. At the time I was preoccupied with my core business.

That was a mistake. Never close the door on a side hustle. It could become the main source of income. 

Here is the article I published in Odwyerpr.com on how to position and package side hustles so that they don't tarnish the main professional brand.

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com.