Law And More

Quinn Emanuel $185 Million Fee - Belief in Protestant Ethic Seems So Schoolgirlish

Quinn Emanuel figures it has "earned" a $185 million fee in its legal work for health insurers who hadn't been paid by the Obama Administration. That number has been calculated on the basis of results. The law firm's work resulted in the insurers receiving $3.7 billion. 

The issue involved, reports Bloomberg Law, is that in terms of hours the fee would come to Quinn Emanuel's earning $18,500 an hour. There are those who object, including litigation funders. 

However, the fee only represents 5% of the results, note supporters of Quinn Emanuel.

At its core, this dispute is not really about high fees charged by elite law firms. That is so boring. The marketplace, including its dynamics during COVID-19, takes care of that. 

It gets down to questioning the Protestant Ethic. That had been woven into a system of beliefs by Max Weber. Essentially the meme is: Work hard. 

Such an ideology - actually almost a religion - dominated Americana since Puritan times. Hard work was valued in itself. Ironically, it still is. Those who sinned or stumbled professionally were advised to "Work Hard." That was the path to salvation.

Currently, that adage is still being touted, in some circles.

Many help-wanted ads on Craigslist, for example, indicate the need for a "hard worker." Yeah, an eye-roll. Professionals who want to get ahead in an organization sense that employer doesn't understand how success happens, is sustained and scaled. 

For players, the Protestant Ethic seems downright misleading. It's obvious that it can be even counterproductive. Looking for the way not to have to work hard can be the real path to wealth - as well as power and influence.

Through inventing the Mac, then the iPhone, Steve Jobs eliminated the need for lots of old-fashioned kinds of work. 

Before that, Ronald Reagan's branding was about not working hard. He came across as confident, a quality needed in a leader.

I landed a communications contract (one hat I wear) by pitching to the prospect a shortcut to boosting rankings on search engines. No, we weren't going to work hard together.

Mouthing platitudes about hard work can seem downright schoolgirlish. Even small business owners, at least those still in business in coronavirus times, understand that the game is about results - the bigger the better, the sooner the better. It's not about hours the workforce plows into a project.

The Emanuel Quinn fee controversy can be a flashpoint in law firm billing. The billable hour can be tossed. It could be replaced by performance-based metrics. 

More generally, parents, teachers, and guidance counselors who tell youth to work hard will have no credibility. As a sometimes career coach, I advise the over-50 unemployed/underemployed I guide to ditch their own hard-work ethos. It's all about what they can accomplish for an employer.

The pitch should be: This is what I can do for you - better and faster than those others competing for work. 

One professional in the real estate loop, after two years searching for a better job, reframed his marketing to just that: Promised results, supported by documentation of those created for other employers over the years. Those were his new marketing materials. Immediately, he received an interview. A prospective employer flew him to its headquarters and hired him on the spot. 

Sour grapes: Too long I worked hard at a doctoral degree that wasn't marketable. Early in the game the savvy owner at a business where I worked part-time recommended I pull the plug. Get a job in media or at a public relations agency, he counseled. I didn't. I assumed my unusually intense hard work would land me one of the few jobs in the field. I limped away from that disaster getting it that betting on the right horse, not hard work, is the key career fundamental. 

Coaching, lecturing, and writing/ghostwriting thought leadership content on human resources and careers.  

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Populism v. Science - PR Giant Hill + Knowlton Parachutes in to Assist World Health Organization (WHO)

Populism has shaken the faith societies once had in science.

The standard course in higher education globally had been the introduction to the scientific method. Evolution was assumed to be a fact. 

The break-down of confidence in science is happening at the worst of times: during  the surge of the coronavirus in myriad nations.

On July 6th, U.S. President Donald Trump announced he's considering cutting ties with the World Health Organization (WHO).

No newsflash, then, giant public relations agency Hill + Knowlton is assisting WHO in establishing establish trust in its messaging about science and well as public health.

In Odwyerpr.com, Kevin McCauley reports Hill + Knowlton is focusing on influencer identification, messaging testing, and development of campaigns. For this it's receiving a $135k fee.

How successful Hill + Knowlton is can save lives - perhaps millions of them. COVID-19 seems to be just getting started.

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America's Romance with Contract Killing - From "Have Gun, Will Travel" Through "The Godfather" to Fascination with Accusations about Steven Williams

America had been founded by a bunch of misfits.

They were outliers in the proper ways of the old country. Most couldn't make a living, never mind just not fit in.

Their oddball mindsets and behavior had been documented by psychologist John D. Gartner in the best-seller "The Hypomanic Edge." It was that out of the box ethos, showed Gartner, which helped created the most powerful economy in the world.

So, it's no surprise that the cult of the criminal has taken hold. The criminal as outlier.

A subcategory of that is the contract killer.

On network television during its golden age there had been from 1957 through 1963 the western "Have Gun, Will Travel."

In "The Godfather," contract killers were a necessary moving part of keeping the family business going.

And, now, reports Daily Mail, there could be the possible phenomenon of a 25-year-old in Philadelphia: Steven Williams. Allegedly he could have been contracted to murder four or more people. 

Not that a nation where the vestiges of Puritanism still dominate condones contract killing. It is wrong to take a life (even, some believe, by the state).

But …

Contract killers can make a good buck. That's important in capitalism. Success tends to be measured in money.

In addition, contract killers require a very different kind of mindset than is socialized in Americana. That fascinates.

That's why programming such as "Criminal Minds" which explores aberrant thinking is so engaging. On that series, which is no longer producing new episodes, David Rossi's books on deviant behavior are best-sellers. Youth is drawn to join the FBI because of Rossi's publications. Serial killers read them to find out more about themselves. 

No surprise either, watchers of the legal sector spend lots of time analyzing why ultra successful law partners go rogue. That includes everything from embezzling to sexual misconduct. Why didn't they simply treasure and protect their conventional success?

Likely, real-life researchers of criminal brain wiring, much like the fictional Rossi, are already working on how to interview Williams. So much can be learned. New brandnames can be made.

Conventional thinking is not only boring. As Gartner hammers in the book: It doesn't get a society or individuals very far financially. A popular current show on network television is dark comedy "Good Girls." There traditional Detroit housewives go rogue. Their lives become interesting. They can pay their bills. 

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James Bennett - No Time to Be Sounding Like a Lawyer (especially a tone-deaf one)

There is that age-old adage: It's not what happens to you. It's how you handle it.

According to reports about the publication of the Senator Tom Cotton (R-AK) opinion-editorial in The New York Times, editorial page editor James Bennett did not actually read it.

However, it was on his watch that it had been put on that precious media "real estate" - the NYT editorial page.

Internally at the newspaper and externally on social media, there had been intense backlash.

Those opposing perceived it downright wrong for the NYT to give Cotton a platform for supporting the Trump Administration's sending in troops during the George Floyd protests.

In response, Bennett published a defense in the NYT. Here you can read it.

The tone is that of a lawyer - one who is out of touch with those he or she is attempting to persuade. That is, it its tone-deaf. Juries can wind up "punishing" that lawyer's client. No, they implicitly push back, don't use that tone with us.

The content represents, as in a brief submitted to a judge, a pile on of logical arguments. 

This is a time when the nation's heart is broken. Hope is at a low. 

Perhaps Bennett hadn't been listening in his college Freshman Composition class. What we adjunct professors taught back then was this: We hammered the fundamentals of aligning tone and content with that unique audience and in that particular moment. Timing is everything.

What should Bennett have said?

He could have caved to human fallibility.

That myopia is the central meme in so many Shakespearean dramas. The tragedy of "King Lear" is that the king doesn't even recognize how he set in play his own misery. Instead, on the heath he rants that he is more sinned against than sinning. 

Most of time, most humans are very wrong or partly wrong. Religions and spiritual philosophies from way back when open humans to this reality.

Bennett could have just positioned and packaged himself as yet another fallible human. Then, he could have engaged in the standard mea culpa for any errors in judgment.

In the court of public opinion and the court of law, the remorseful are considered worthy of forgiveness. A recent classic case had been CollegeAdmissionsGate miscreant Felicity Huffman. She has a future in her profession. 

None of that happened in what might go down in history as BennettGate. As Axios reports, Bennett has resigned. Before this crisis, he might have moved on to being the next executive editor at NYT.

Now, if he is wise - which he hadn't seemed to be before - he will lay low. Then he will contract with a top public relations firm for reputation restoration. 

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Pope Francis Imposing Financial Oversight on Procurement at Vatican

"The Vatican published new procurement rules intended to prevent corruption …" - Francis X. Roca, The Wall Street Journal, June 1, 2020.

With increasing scrutiny on all aspects of how the Roman Catholic Church operates, its leader - Pope Francis - has evolved into a kind of Chief Compliance Officer.

Recently he issued rules regulating both vendors and those inside the Vatican doing the purchasing. In addition to deterring criminal activity in transactions, they are intended to add that all-important attribute of transparency.

Among the provisions are:

Barring bids from those with a record for criminal activity or a legal shadow hanging over their heads.

Putting a centralized panel in charge of most transactions

Forbidding nepotism. Those with family ties to the Vatican cannot particulate in the pitching process.

For centuries, the Roman Catholic Church had been among the most powerful and enduring global brands. Currently, it continues to lose market share worldwide. A major driver for that "fall from grace" have been the scandals involving both priests and nuns. They have been convicted of sexual abuse of minors. In some instances, the higher ups in Roman Catholicism have been accused of "cover ups."

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McKinsey Takes a Look at Law Firms in Era of COVID-19 + Branding Perspectives from Front Lines of Public Relations

"U.S. law firms tend to weather better downturns than the U.S. economy does, but the current downturn may be unprecedented." - Article by McKinsey Covid-19: Implications for Law Firms, May 2, 2020.

McKinsey, as with myriad other "experts" on sector economic trends, admits the current multi-dimensional challenges of COVID-19 are new. Therefore, the past might not be prologue. Uncertainty is the name of the game. And, every law firm should be prepared to change and keep changing how it does business.

A year from now, we may conclude McKinsey was on the money in its observations and recommendations or as out-of-focus as so many others, including the law firms themselves. As for the latter, too many law firms are indicating in their tone and content that this economic ordeal will be short-term. 

Following are McKinsey takeaways:

• The world of law firms is no monolith. Some will do better than others in this downturn. Those not so tightly tied to global financial markets, such as regional firms, have a better shot at doing well. Some practices, of course, are positioned to hold up. They include not only bankruptcy, restructuring, and COVID-19 litigation. There will also continue to be the usual disputes and the demand for investigative work.
• Related will the pressure on pricing and how services are delivered. Expect that with corporate clients procurement will get into the act. 
• Get personal with clients. Yes, they welcome hand-holding of all kinds. Ask how they are feeling about the whatevers. Reach out to them in fresh ways, not just through email. 
• Make messaging targeted and relevant. The timing, tone, and content should be directly related to that particular client. No generic email blasts. 
• Develop new channels of commercial messaging. Marketing always keep changing. That is especially the situation in this crisis. 

There are also the more general observations and guidance from the trenches of public relations. Increasingly, the power of the court of public opinion is re-shaping the play out of legalities. 

In PR Week, Surekha Ragavan focuses on overall branding in The Time of COVID-19. The number-one message is: Don't go dark. B2B and B2C are both looking at you in different ways, wondering who you are right now. 

Be out there. But do it right. "Sins" in tone or language will be unforgivable. Nerves are too raw. Hope is too fragile.

How to do it right? Here are Ragavan's tips:

• Shift from putting out there a service or product to positioning and packaging what you do as problem-solving. This is a wonderful time to develop a fresh mission statement. Essentially that's how employment law powerhouse Sanford Heisler Sharp has branded itself.
• Modify logo to symbolize solidarity in this catastrophe. 
• Figure out how to use technology in provocative ways. Fresh messaging requires fresh delivery systems.
• Do good. Here I would salute Paul, Weiss as an early adopter in pro-bono outreach. Its chairperson Brad Karp spotted how lost would be the victims of COVID-19 in finding where to get help. Through tapping into his huge network of legal talent, beyond his own law firm, Karp created the Paul, Weiss Coronavirus Relief Center. 

What I would add is this: The tendency is that when there is a threat to your business, you tend to turn inward. Then comes the tragic mistake of marketing communications and interactions that are self-involved. Over and over I am reminding clients and prospects that marketing and sales "aren't about you." They're about diagnosing and connecting with the prospects' needs and wants.

That's not new, of course.

It's always been marketing and sales 101.

Jesus Christ, who's among the most effective salespersons of all time, didn't pitch himself. He picked up that human beings were hungering for another way to live their lives. His message of Christianity provided just that.

For centuries the Christianity brand had been at the top of list of what connected with diverse "target markets."

The Time of COVID-19 is an extraordinary opportunity to differentiate your law firm brand. 

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Weiss Serota Partner Tony Recio Does 3+ Year Buddhist Retreat, Returns to Pandemic, Netflix as New TV, and Polarized Politics

From September 30, 2016 until February 23, 2020, Weiss Serota law partner Tony Recio spent in silence at a Buddhist retreat.

The setting had been Wappingers Falls, New York.

And his fellow monastics were nine other human beings seeking enlightenment.

The process was an ordeal. Only six out of the 10 made it through.

As Law.com reports, when Recio left that stable refuge from the world he encountered a pandemic, television transformed into Netflix, and politics as the great divide. 

Those who have studied Buddhism might be surprised that a lawyer has embraced that gentle philosophy. After all, most of the legal system is adversarial. Actually, Recio was the only lawyer participating in the retreat. 

But Recio leverages what he has learned from Buddhism to problem solve in law. His mantra is: Less reactivity, more perspective. He has found unique success from not taking on the persona of the super-aggressive lawyer. 

Full Disclosure: Since 2012, I have been studying Buddhism and related schools of mindfulness. 

Connect the dots in a fresh way.

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Post-COVID-19: No Time-Travel Back to the Pre-COVID-19 Whatever

Today is Easter.

That Christian holiday has been a symbol of renewal.

The message is one of rebirth. 

But, the reality of COVID-19 is loss, not renewal. At least not right now.

For example, the pandemic is making so many kinds of jobs obsolete. 

It is no platitude that a large number of lines of work that have been knocked out of the box during shelter-in-place will never come back.

Take, for example, the 25,000 furloughed by AMC Entertainment. Those jobs are associated with going out to the movies.

It doesn't take an expert on consumer behavior to predict that the habit of buying movie tickets and overpriced popcorn could be over. Recently, AMC began talking with law firm Weil Gotshal & Manges about a possible Chapter 11 bankruptcy. 

So, there's lots to reflect on about the future of work. And, how Universal Basic Income (UBI) makes sense. That can prevent local, state, national, and global unrest.

Meanwhile, in the present, we have to navigate today, sheltering-in-place, not knowing if this week we will still have jobs and assignments, how our investment portfolio will do, and if we will be infected with COVID-19. 

There is nothing to go back to. 

Even those without a lot of sophistication get it that pre-coronavirus is a time in civilization that's there's no going back to whatever. 

The good news about that is the now is a platform to create a new start in our personal and professional lives. More and more of us are recognizing: We have nothing to lose and that's the opportunity to try out new things. 

Eccentric behavior is less an outlier.

Take car ownership. According to Nerd Wallet, the average annual cost of car ownership is $8,469. Before this version of hard times, only those in major metro areas like Manhattan and outliers went without actually owning a car.

That was then.

It's possible to get around without buying or leasing a car.

The options include a combination of these:

• Taking public transit which has imposed social distancing
• Ride-hailing low-cost services such as Uber and Lyft
• Having the necessities, such as food, delivered to the door
• Bicycles
• Growing kinds of scooters
• Motorcycles
• The new cool of walking.

On September 31, 2019, I donated my car to Kars4Kids. Since then I save about $350 monthly. That freed me up to only accept assignments for my two boutiques where the chemistry and compensation are a good fit.

Fraying of the social fabric.

There is the one neighbor whose routines become our anti-social preoccupation. Mine is the grandmother whose two grandchildren come over every day since schools have closed. They arrive quite early. My hunch is that they are sleeping over, on a long-term basis. 

Those guests to this residential complex, allowed by law to visit, don't modulate their voices. Their motor skills haven't developed to the point of walking lightly.

Since one of my communications special expertise is legal matters, I get it that essentially I have to live with this.

Others don't or don't accept neighbors' annoying rituals.

Therefore, the law of the street - Tony Soprano values - can take hold. It's in our self-interest to figure out how not to get on other folks' nerves. We could be the ones targeted "to be taught a lesson."

Doing at least one good deed frees us from being trapped in ourselves.

It goes back to the classic prayer of St. Francis Assisi. The prayer seeks to understand versus seeking to be understood. The mission is to achieve the gift of self-forgetting.

The payoff from self-forgetting is being lifted out of the hell of floating anxiety. That's because our fellowman's needs happen in the moment.

Even before this crisis, I was able to navigate the difficulties of the Christmas season by noticing what was happening outside me. An elderly neighbor was eating her meals on wheels cold. I priced microwaves, found a new one that was being sold at discount at a local pawn shop, and with a ho-ho-ho made her quality of life just a little better.

Make room for meltdowns. 

The Puritans allowed no slack for emotional regrouping. Forget that.

There are Mondays (it seems to be the cruelest day of all) when I walk the dog, respond to email related to my business, blog, and go back to bed. Usually a two-hour time-out will do it. I arise from my bed, able to plug back into COVID-19 times.

As we start a new week, accept the opportunity that we can restart the week or day at any time. Yes, we can shake off the horror of what overwhelmed us a minute ago.

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Rod Blagojevich, et al. - Is U.S. President Donald Trump Delivering Justice or Building Political Capital?

The most influential section from Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" is the depiction of the Pardoner. That Roman Catholic clergy peddles forgiveness of sins, via indulgences, for a price. 

Chaucer penned his classic in the middle ages. Later, in 1517, Martin Luther questioned that practice of indulgences in the 95 theses he nailed to the church door.

Now, the issue of pardons again arises. The question is if the U.S. President Donald Trump is delivering his version of justice in commuting sentences and granting pardons? Or is he more focused on building political capital in an election year?

As media outlets reports, the latest sentence shortening is for disgraced Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. He had been sentenced to 14 years, essentially for public corruption. Among his crimes had been trying to sell the vacated seat of Barack Obama. 

Trump had known Blagojevich from his appearance on the celebrity apprentice show. At the time, that politico, with his Kennedy kind of mop of hair, was golden. 

In IL, parts of which remain machine territory, Blagojevich can be an asset for getting out the vote for Trump. After all, much of the Midwest hasn't bounced back economically the way the coasts have. Blagojevich can talk up the overall economic boom, the records on the Dow, and how 4 More Years can bring new prosperity to the heartland. Voters just shouldn't give up before the miracle. They should give the current administration 4 More Years.

Simultaneously, Blagojevich can get a fresh start in an industry associated with the Trump business empire. It is guaranteed he will be loyal. 

Full Disclosure: Even in Catholic grade school I recognized my extreme sinfulness. I invested my allowance in the purchase of indulgences. 

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"Brian Dux, et al. v. G. Michael Bugarin, et. al" - Reverse Kind of Lawsuit in Catholic Clergy Abuse Scandal

Back in 2002, the Boston Globe broke the story of the sexual abuse of young boys by Roman Catholic priests and the church's cover-ups.

Since then, there have been criminal arrests and imprisonments, lawsuits, big settlement payouts, and even bankruptcies filed by Catholic Church jurisdictions burdened by the funds going out and less money coming in as a result of the scandal. In prison, one of the priests outed by the Boston Globe - John Geoghan - was murdered by inmates. 

Law firm Jones Day has been in the loop defending players in the Roman Catholic Church. 

Now this: A lawsuit has been filed by 20 parish members at the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin in the Detroit metro area. It represents a new "wrinkle" in this continuing saga.

The litigation contends, reports USA Today, fraud by two church leaders who ousted a priest accused of sexually abusing two boys years ago. Because the priest was removed, they suffered emotional distress as a result of the loss. The request is for $20 million in damages.

The lawsuit is "Brian Dux, et al. v. G. Michael Burgarin et. al." The title defendant is a monsignor in charge of sex abuse accusations. The other defendant is the head of the archdiocese of Detroit. Here is a copy of the complaint.

The priest is Eduard Perrone. 

The lawyer for the plaintiffs is Christopher Kolomjec. He is a former Special Assistant U.S. attorney and Marine Corps. Judge Advocate.

The litigation is a response to what is perceived as hysteria resulting from the ongoing allegations of priest sexual misconduct. The details of the accusations are familiar: Those allegedly abused decades ago step forward in the current time, after therapy and great suffering. This represents an aspect of their healing process.

The motivation for the removal of Perrone, claim the plaintiffs, is really the Church's dislike of his conservative views and its fear of negative media coverage. 

In a sense, this is a play-out of the Roman Catholic Church's ongoing strategy for reducing the damage from lawsuits and bad press. Only it allegedly took a different form in this Detroit metro area parish. Instead of seeking the truth the Church, according to the litigation, protected itself by getting rid of the priest.

As many Catholics know, there can be a strong feeling of community in a particular parish. After all, the priest and the members of the congregation continually come together to celebrate the Sacraments, ranging from First Communions to Marriages. During the days in the early 20th century when immigrants from Europe were coming to America, the Roman Catholic Church provided both emotional support and concrete help. The parish school was the tool for socializing their children to the American Way of life. 

This kind of unusual lawsuit can trigger another round of crisis communications by the Roman Catholic Church. The reach could extend all the way to Vatican. Will Pope Francis come to feel it's necessary to make a statement and perhaps take action?

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