Law And More

Sins of the Father - Legacy (and earning power) of Gordon Caplan

In both the courts of public opinion and the court of law Gordon Caplan is allegedly in big trouble.

The nation tends to view him as an arrogant wealthy guy who assumed he could buy what others have to work hard to get. The legal community is probably ripped that he throws shade on all lawyers. 

His legal mess could result in an irreversible loss of high income. His financial future depends on how his legal situation plays out. Not only could his job blow up. He could have to surrender his license to practice law. Also, will there be jail time? Inmate jobs pay peanuts.

All this brings back the biblical notion of how the sins of the father haunt future generations. In "Genesis," Adam screwed up. Look at the struggle we his children still deal with. Yes, because of his sin, it has been Paradise Lost.

Caplan's daughter is a sitting duck for bullying, on social media such as Instagram and in-person. Her own children, if she retains hope of better days, can also be doomed. Members of the media don't let stories go. They re-visit the situation obsessively. 

Perhaps this saga is a medieval morality tale. Embedded in it is a warning that the universe mandates humans stay in the box. Wandering beyond the box can bring down tragedy for the children.

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. 

Buddhism - Accessible, No or Low Cost, and Won't Prevent Admission to the Bar

Psychotherapy, even with good medical insurance, is expensive. My co-pay would be $45 a session.

And, as Olga Khazan reports in The Atlantic, 60% of counties in the U.S. don't have even one psychiatrist.

So, no surprise, in this era of extreme stress associated with earning a living and coping with so much change, Buddhism is catching on. Khazan notes that four in ten of us have tried meditation.

Participating in some form of Buddhism currently is very accessible and conveniently located. If there isn't a temple per se in the area, Buddhist oriented meditation and discussions are available at a yoga studio, meet-up, or local public library.

Also it is low-cost or no cost. At the Shambhala Buddhist temple in Tucson, Arizona, there was no fee when I had attended meditation practices and discussions. Donations were welcome, though, and most of us pitched in a buck every time we swung by.

The beauty of Buddhism for law students and lawyers is that, unlike seeking professional mental health treatment, there is no stigma. Having participated in meditation practices won't get anyone rejected for admission to the bar. A psychiatric diagnosis could. 

We who try out Buddhism keep coming back because what it provides works. By that I mean, we do calm down. We learn to process matters that pass through our brains in a different manner. And, most of the tactics are those we can carry away and use anywhere at any time in our lives.

For example, on my trip from AZ to Ohio the motel, two hours behind me, notified me that I had left my attache case, with my laptop and wallet, in the room. I pulled over the car and meditated. I got it that this was a setback, not the end of the world. The four hours added onto the trip were just four hours added onto the trip. One tenet of one school of Buddhism is that what is just is. It is neither good nor bad.

I have a hunch that Buddhist fundamentals such as not attaching to outcomes reach us because they are new to us. Most of us grew up with the tenets of Christianity or the Jewish faith. Unfortunately, much of that evolved into mere platitudes. 

In 2012, I began studying at the zen school of Buddhism in New Haven, Connecticut. There was also no fee.

Maybe there is no direct cause and effect relationship but soon enough I had the insight that I had "aged" out of doing business in the New York Metro area. I reconfigured my two enterprises to telecommuting ones and relocated to the more affordable, less age-biased AZ. In addition, I was able to phase out of antidepressants. And, there has been no need to pony up the money for appointments with mental-health professionals. 

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. 

Priest, Nun Sexual Misconduct - There Is No Statute of Limitations on Sin

In the communications industry and among those savvy about perception management a common verdict on Pope Francis' conference on sexual misconduct is: Publicity Stunt. 

Then there are those less harsh. They express disappointment that the global meeting hadn't hashed out concrete reforms. Here is coverage in MarketWatch.

If the institution to Roman Catholicism was an ordinary organization - instead of one considered "special" - long before the conference there would have been demand for comprehensive punishment for those found guilty of sex abuse of children. They include both priests and what is now being labeled "pedophile nuns." 

Losing their job or even been exiled from their religious communities is not enough.

There is no statute of limitations on sin. The ones who committed the heinous acts and the administration involved in cover-ups should be denied all means of financial supports. Punishment in the 21st century is the financial hit. 

You bet, no safe houses or old-age homes where they can bunk at no cost. It's ridiculous that an analogue of the witness protection program should be provided to them.

Also, there should be no pensions to fund a comfortable post-work life.

And there ought to be no payout for benefits such as accrued sick time.

Homelessness would be the beginning of a penance for sin.  

When we Everywoman and Everyman embraced the sacrament of Reconciliation (which used to be called "confession") we were assigned a penance. What meaningful penance have the priests and nuns sex abusers received? 

Also, think about this: Perhaps those misfit Puritans were on the right track to instill sexual control. They used public shaming. 

It could have sent a powerful message to priests and nuns around the world had the Vatican put on display the miscreants. Also, it could have accelerated the healing of victims.

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. 

Former Enron Head Jeff Skilling Leaves Prison, 2 Years Early - Should a Nation Forgive?

When Enron collapsed in 2001, diverse constituencies suffered where it hurts the most - in the pocketbook.

After all, we live in the system of (brutal) capitalism.

About 5,600 employees lost jobs. And because they couldn't shake off the Enron stink, they found it difficult to find comparable positions.

$2 billion was lost in employee pension funds.

Stockholders, who hadn't bailed out when something seemed very wrong at the energy corporation, lost it all. A colleague, retired military, saw his $300,000 nest egg vanish. A coincidence? He died soon after.

And, we in executive communications watched our market vanish. After the accounting fraud at Enron, corporate leaders put their heads down. No longer were they contacting us for bylined articles to be published in the business media or for presentations to be delivered at prestigious forums such as the World Economic Forum.

So, we followed with great glee the long trial of former Enron chief executive officer Jeff Skilling. He had left the company a few months before the accounting fraud was unmasked. And, soon after he did he unloaded his stock. He came out whole.

He received a 24-year sentence, later reduced to 14 years when he agreed to donate $40 million of his assets to Enron victims.

In 2011, while serving time his son John died. Either it was from an accidental overdose or a suicide. However, there wasn't a whole lot of sympathy for the father.

Like Bernie Madoff, who also lost a son to suicide (and one to cancer), he had inflicted a severe financial wound on too many people. It took years for executive communications to bounce back. To exit my own dark hole of financial collapse, I had to struggle to put together a new career. That was social media. 

Yesterday, as the media reports, Skilling was released from prison, two years early.

Much of America believes in the possibility of spiritual redemption. That applied to Watergate lawyer, also known like Skilling as an "evil genius," Chuck Colson. In prison he discovered his calling to minister to souls. When he died he was hailed as one of the good guys.

Has Skilling embraced his sinfulness and did he seek salvation? Somehow, when it comes to this particular player, most of us don't give a damn. 

In some spiritual groups, there is special guidance to members who have a deep resentment against another human being. It's recommended: Pray that the person gets what he or she deserves.

Most buy in because of the open-ended aspect of the prayer. So, perhaps, we who had been financially shattered by Skilling should ask the higher power or the universe that he gets what he deserves.

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. 

Roman Catholic Scandal Widens, Includes Nuns' "Nasty Habits"

The next wave of exposes of "nasty habits" by Roman Catholic nuns likely will be the alleged emotional abuse.

Currently, the shock is localized within the force field of alleged sexual abuse.

Women such as Mary Dispenza and Cait Finnegan have come forward to tell their stories of alleged sexual misconduct by nuns. Here the influential New York Post captures those narratives.

However, that is the tip of the iceberg. 

There were many more of us who somehow gave off the signal that we could be undermined in our sense of self and wouldn't do anything about it. At least not at the time. Now, an earnest lawyer should troll for those kinds of plaintiffs for a class action lawsuit contending the deliberate infliction of emotional abuse. 

When I arrived on the campus of the Sister of Charity all-female college Seton Hill, Greensburg, Pennsylvania in 1963, my little life experienced a major shift. It went from not-so-hot to being on high alert for the cutting phrase, the note in the mailbox, or dirty look from nuns. 

No surprise, because of those "nasty habits" I evolved into a target.

Decades later, classmates from that time allegedly took right up where the nuns had left off. Here and here are examples of that default.

Question: How do we, who count ourselves as victims of nasty habits, snatch in the sign that abuse is not only expected but welcome? 

Answer: We grab onto the courage to take a leap into self-love. And, we begin telling our stories.

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 Need @gmail.com. 

L. Lin Wood, Burke Ramsey's Libel Lawyer, Represents Nick Sandmann (Also RunSwitch PR Parachutes in)

The family of Nick Sandmann could become financially quite comfortable.

As the controversy surrounding their son's interaction with Native American Nathan Phillips escalated, in parachutes respected libel lawyer L. Lin Wood. Among the clients he won big money for had been Burke Ramsey against CBS.

Also, in parachuted public relations firm RunSwitch PR. What goes on in the court of public opinion is as important or even more important than the machinations in the court of law. 

Here are more details from the New York Post. 

If he doesn't become a media pariah, Sandmann could also have a lucrative future being on the front lines of the conservative movement. He has become a familiar face. And it is a youthful one. Singlehandedly the Sandmann brand can gain new credibility for the right. Currently, the brand is being tarnished. Think today's arrest of Roger Stone.

The mantra of the right could be: The kid stays in the picture.

In addition, Sandmann could become spokesperson for the beleaguered Vatican and U.S. Roman Catholicism.

Get amazing results through out of box communications strategies/content. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com. I help, not sell.

BigLaw - Are Partners Seeking BigInfluence Chasing Wrong Entity?

The current Gilded Age has created a myth: Chasing wealth will bring BigInfluence.

That's mostly wrong.

Sure, moneybags Michael Bloomberg could run for U.S. president (and afford to finance all that himself).

But it will be Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who will have the more profound impact on just about every system, and not only in the U.S.

Her secret sauce is that she doesn't chase wealth. Probably never will.

After all, the freedom to be BigInfluence really comes from having nothing to lose.

Remember how rumpled-look Ralph Nader brought in the consumer movement via the courts, Nader Raiders, and a bookouting the unsafety of GM cars.

Nader didn't give a damn about money for himself. He cared about having consumers spend their own money wisely - for safe products. 

Matt Drudge established his BigInfluence conservative site Drudge Report in a studio apartment. He may have money now but he is likely more focused on his digital reach than his lifestyle.

Meanwhile, Arianna Huffington, who quite enjoyed and still enjoys the good life, is a fading presence. Her HuffPost, which she invented to compete with Drudge Report, has become yesterday. Huffington's recent shot at getting back onto the radar has been the sleep movement. Good metaphor for where she is.

In 2003, I stopped chasing money.

In fact, I took a vow of poverty.

Those reading my blog posts describing my lifestyle as a type of medieval monk corrected that term. They indicated I had adopted a mindset of renunciation. Today that's called radical saving or minimalism.

Since then, I had four years (2005-2008) as a kind of celeb pontificating about the legal concept of public nuisance.

Yeah, I really had acquired enough BigInfluence to get ordinary people thinking about public nuisance. Here is my recent article on the subject, published in Odwyerpr.com.  

BigInfluence has a long tail.

In May 2014, I perceived that four former college classmates had done me very wrong. I shared that with my followers around the world. Here is that chronicle and pain, insight, and residual PTSD.

Later it was even more satisfying to shake off the rest of that miserable past at a all-women's Roman Catholic College with my post, which went viral and still is taking on steady traffic, "Pedophile Nuns & The Fat Girl from Jersey City."

However, not chasing wealth can be monetized (although you will never be rich.)

Once I opted out of being an obedient scribe for the ConservativeElite, I adopted an out of the box mindset and style for communications.

Enough marketers saw the value in taking that path less traveled. There has been a steady stream of assignments for risk-takers who have a product, services, cause, or themselves to sell.

Of course, there will always be those chasing money. They will assume they are the movers and shakers.

Their public relations staff will arrange photo ops for them as Davos Man and Davos Woman at the World Economic Forum.

Smirk Smirk.

Ocasio-Cortez is The Disruption.

Not since Steve Jobs gave the world a user-friendly personal computing apparatus will human beings again gain such new options about every facet of their work and personal lives.

Takeaway: Take the money or go for the impact.

Get amazing results through out of box communications strategies/content. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com. I help, not sell.

Pedophile Nuns - Latest Chapter in Roman Catholic Church Alleged Sexual Misconduct

Those of us who has attended Catholic school are not surprised by media reports of what is being labeled "pedophile nuns." Those "brides of Christ" had enormous power over students back in the 20th century. 

CBS focuses on the alleged sexual abuse of Trish Cahill.

At the age of 15 she confided to Sister Eileen Shaw alleged sexual misconduct by a priest who was also her uncle. Part the alleged way Shaw comforted her included alcohol and instructions on how to have sex with a woman.

Eventually, Cahill reported the situation to the Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth. The Church settled with Cahill out of court for $70,000.

So far, almost 20 others have stepped forward to contend they were also sexually abused by nuns. I have a hunch this is the beginning of yet another major scandal associated with Catholicism.

Among the current lawsuits is "Joseph McLean, et al. v. US Conference of Catholic Bishops." The litigation leverages the argument that the Catholic Church caused a public nuisance. 

But, sexual abuse was only the tip of the iceberg related to how nuns allegedly used their power to damage young people.

In 1963, I arrived at all-women's Catholic college - Seton Hill, Greensburg, Pennsylvania. It was founded by the Sisters of Charity and named after now-Catholic saint Mother Elizabeth Seton. 

I was one of those classmates who were sitting ducks for allegedly being tormented by the nuns.

From the mean streets of Jersey City, New Jersey (pre-gentrification), I was the first in my immigrant family to become college-educated.

My mother was a cleaning lady at my public high school.

My father out started out making his living cleaning railroad cars.

In addition, I was already battling clinical depression, an eating disorder, and sub-zero self-esteem. In 1970, I had a nervous breakdown.

One day soon after arrival at Seton Hill I was pulled out of the Freshman Composition class by the head of the English department. That was Sister Miriam Joseph Murphy.

She reamed me out for talking too much after a reading on campus by a local poet. Murphy kept hammering that I had ruined things for everyone there and that Seton Hill professor - JoAnne Boyle who later became  a Seton Hill president - had baked cookies for the special event.

Talking too much and homemade cookies ... Even though I hadn't had a college education yet my mind questioned the connection with my behavior and the cookies. 

When the verbal flogging was over, I went to my dorm room sobbing. To this day, I wonder what prevented me from jumping from that fourth-story window. 

That hurt, as usual, hardened into rage. Too many opportunities in my life had been derailed by  extreme anger. 

Since 2013, I have been leveraging mindfulness to manage it. Underneath rage is always hurt.

Over Thanksgiving 2017, I traveled to the Seton Hill graveyard housing nuns and the institution's presidents. I had to verify that those who had broken me were indeed dead

Had I come from a privileged background with a father who was a lawyer I would have been informed that I could have sued for alleged intentional infliction of emotional abuse. That I didn't find out about until I attended Harvard Law School around 1985.

BTW, The Horror replicated itself in a different manner in 2014. Here is that story. And here is the story of the public nuisance type Christmas letter.

Mindfulness impresses on those meditating the importance of forgiveness. I am a long way from ready for that. 

Out of the Box Communications = Unexpected Results

Complimentary Consultation janegenova374@gmail.com – I help, not sell.

 

Lawyers - The Tragedy of Answered Prayers (like making partner)

"More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones." - Saint Teresa of Avila

So universal is that phenomenon that author Truman Capote used the concept of answered prayers for his last (unfinished) novel.

And, according a recent article in Abovethelaw by Jordan Rothman, being made partner can be included in those tragedies generated by answered prayers.

According to Rothman, partnership in a law firm is not the BigPrize law students and junior lawyers envision. The reality is that all the sacrifices involved in that achievement might not have an adequate pay-off. 

To begin with, the money probably is not enough for the good life. Aside from BigLaw, partnership could pay less than an associate receives in a Cravath. 

But even in BigLaw, the money may be disappointing. Non-equity partners don't have the access to the compensation which equity partners do. Also the status, power, and influence will probably be much less than the equity folks have, hold, and flaunt. 

But making it into the equity circle is not without its burdens. 

Equity partners first have to invest their own money in the law firm. For that they may have to borrow. In addition, as happened when Dewey LeBoeuf collapsed, equity partners are responsible for debt. 

Many of us who follow legal media and the cases taken on by David Sanford are aware of the growing number of enraged partners, particularly women. They are filing lawsuits for alleged injustices. The poster child for that had been Kerrie Campbell. During the litigation she was pushed out of the law firm. Eventually that lawsuit had been settled. She went on to set up her own shop.

Beyond the profession of law, we bear witness to myriad other instances of answered prayers delivering heartache. The classic play-outs are the stars who can't handle their celebrity status. 

Many spiritual programs and religions recommend praying for guidance, not imploring the universe or a deity for something specific. 

A new year's resolution might be to be open to possibility instead of committing to a concrete goal.

Attention is the currency of the 21^st century. Jane Genova helps you get it for products, services, points of view, causes, branding, careers after-50, and college admission.

In addition, this blog welcomes sponsored content.

Free consultation janegenova374@gmail.com

 

 

Heaven: If It Exists, Will Lawyers Be Allowed In? (George H.W. Bush Wasn't a Lawyer)

A Christian, George H.W. Bush had a firm belief in an afterlife.

What seemed to ease his transition from living to the dying process was his conviction that he would join his wife Barbara in heaven. It worked. According to close friends, he had a peaceful death. 

But that was Bush. That's not the majority of us who have veered off from formal religions and are left to sort through old-line myths about the Next.

Also, there is antipathy about the character of lawyers. If heaven exists, they have to be wondering if they will get passed the gatekeepers, on the first try. Or will they have to file motion after motion?

So, there's the book "Heavens on Earth: The Scientific Search for the Afterlife, Immortality, and Utopia." The author is Michael Schermer, columnist for Scientific American. Here the book can be ordered from Amazon.

From the get-go, Shermer shows he doesn't buy Christian mythology. For example, he observes that no one has returned from the dead to tip us off about the Next. Obviously, he rules out Jesus Christ's. According to religious ideology, Jesus came back to life post his death on the cross. 

However, Shermer does point out that 74 percent of Americans believe in heaven (Source: Pew Forum). The rub, of course, is that no one will have this confirmed until death. So, both during this best time of the year and more routine days and nights, we have to live on with no proven-out answer - only our little individual mindset.

Oh, there have been scientific studies. But, science has lost our allegiance. Remember what "they" said about taking antidepressants forever if we had had one clinical depression. Smirk smirk. And what about the firm faith in psychoanalysis? Analysts such as David W. Harder were positioned and packaged for the so-called sophisticated as the Secular Shamans. 

Consequently, what's Next remains a mystery. The upside of that is that we can unleash our imaginations to play out the kind of existence we can enjoy after how difficult life has become on earth.

I envision being in a field surrounded by all my pet children who have died.

We have no time commitments. We just are, together.

There is no more clinical depression. No more earnest therapists like David W. Harder. 

No former college classmates who caused us so much pain.

No more disappointments about client assignments we anticipated which didn't come through.

And, no more regrets.

Those, in my realm of make-believe, are days of heaven. I have much to look forward to. That hope will keep me going. 

Attention is the currency of the 21^st century. Jane Genova helps you get it for products, services, points of view, causes, branding, careers after-50, and college admission.

In addition, this blog welcomes sponsored content.

Free consultation janegenova374@gmail.com