Law And More

"Ma"- Pain, Pre-Digital, Then a Crime Spree

Back in an Ohio high school, Sue Ann - who goes by nickname Ma - had been withdrawn and naive. She was also one of the few blacks. Of course, she craved to belong.

The mean kids set her up to give oral sex to popular Ben. Then, as a group almost like a Greek Chorus, they laughed about it. That was in person, in the high school corridor. Today it would be through Instagram. 

The film "Ma" chronicles how Sue Ann enacts revenge on those former classmates. That plot starts out with their children, whom she allows to party in her basement.

Bit by bit she becomes increasingly unstable and hostile. That ranges from murdering Ben and his girlfriend Mercedes to drugging and sewing the lips of a smart-mouthed teenager who told her she needed a man. 

Critics note that "Ma" could have been a great film. The plot line and acting don't take advantage of possibilities. But what resonates is the message that those years between childhood and becoming an actual adult are difficult. There are those, like Ma, who never shake off the pain. 

Some entrepreneur with a deep understanding of human nature can invent an app that allows teenagers to sort out in real time and all the time what's happening in their little lives. It would be voice-activated like Alexa, be a damn good listener, and provide sophisticated forms of compassion and guidance. In addition, it would be guaranteed for confidentiality. 

Another kind of help would be allowing students to bring their dogs to school. 

My own descent into hell began not in high school. It was in an all-woman's small Roman Catholic College, not far from where "Ma" is set. Here is that dark psychological drama.

Three years ago, I returned to the scene of the crime to try to sort out all that. I didn't expect it to work. But it did. Unfortunately, too many real-life therapists are unimaginative about what could and does heal. Apps could be lots more creative. 

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The Pickle The Puritans Created - Naive to Predict Solutions

It's now a way overdone story that investing in obtaining a JD from a law school too frequently yields a lousy return on investment (ROI).

The only thing added on has been the increasing amount of student loan debt. Currently, it's at almost $113,000.

What could be a grabber, though, will be the size of JDs cuts in the coming recession. One forecast is 10,000.

But, what isn't overdone is that the number of folks entering law and other professional/graduate degree programs with unpromising ROIs is going up.

Take journalism.

The coverage of the number of buyouts and layoffs, of course, had been overdone. For a while. Now those developments rarely even make headlines in the media which is still around.

Late last week the Youngtown, Ohio metro area's daily newspaper Vindicator announced it was shutting down totally in August 2019. Like, so? 

Yet, in Bloomberg News, Gerry Smith reports:

"Journalism schools say enrollment is up, despite dark headlines about the industry ..."

The employment situation for journalists is likely to sour even more. The reasons the field is imploding include:

• Can't scout up enough digital subscribers. (The exception has been The New York Times.)
• Buyouts have eroded quality. Audiences fled.
• Digital natives have the bad habit of hiring to grow, then shifting abruptly to making a profit so the labor is laid off.
• The industry has become concentrated in three locations: New York, LA, and D.C. Journalists based elsewhere are out of luck. And it takes good luck to be able to afford to bunk in those cities.
• Few reputable brandnames are in hiring mode. LA Times is an outlier on that. It added 100 journalists.

In graduate education overall, the dynamics are just as off reality.

In Inside Higher Education, Nick Roll reports:

"Enrollment in graduate school is up ..."

Yet, many master's degrees aren't very marketable. The worst for ROI are:

Counseling

Social Work

Music

Education

Library and Information Science

History

Fine Arts

Biology Architecture

Human Resources Management.

When it comes to the supposed gold standard in advanced degrees - the Ph.D. - the marketability situation is catastrophic. According to Isaiah Hankel on LinkedIn, 60% of all those with the Ph.D. are unemployed. In the life sciences, 80% are. 

Of course, the pragmatic takeaway is: Consumer beware.

But the wrench in those works is that ever since the Puritans established Harvard in 1636, education has been both a religion (blind faith required) and BigBusiness (those making a good buck in it have the mental horsepower to outsmart those determined to dismantle the whole edifice).

For years, activists have proclaimed that higher education is a bubble and that bubble would soon burst. Meanwhile, AdmissionGate took place in 2019.

Full Disclosure: My Ph.D. studies led to five years of struggle before I landed in a career path. Directly, that had nothing to do my education. 

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

SCOTUS Docket for 2019 - 2020 Term - 13 Cases, Including Review of Bridget Kelly (Bridgegate) Conviction

Those of us who sensed Chris Christie aide Bridget Kelly got a raw deal in court regarding "Bridgegate" have our faith restored in the U.S. legal system.

As Marcia Coyle reports in Law.com, Kelly's conviction is one of the 13 petitions the U.S. Supreme Court has chosen to review for the 2019 - 2020 term. She is challenging both the conviction and the 13-month sentence.

The Kelly petition is "Kelly v. United States."

Here is a copy of the Petition for a Writ of Certiorari. 

Here is the history of that petition at SCOTUS.

Kelly is being represented by a Jones Day team including partner Yaakov Roth. The United Sates is being represented by deputy U.S. solicitor general Jeffrey Wall.

Jones Day is known to have a unique feel from what persuades The Nine. Annually they hire a large number of former SCOTUS clerks, paying them sign-up bonuses of up to $300,000. That insider perspective is, though, priceless.

As many recall, Kelly was among the seeming "fall guys" for the artificially created traffic jam on the Fort Lee ramp on the George Washington Bridge. The motivation was political retaliation.

Some contend that it was her boss Chris Christie who ordered it. After all, she at the time was an aide - with a big title. Those who understand how organizations, including political ones, operate wondered how any employee, even one with an impressive title, would take it upon herself to orchestrate such chaos without approval from the very top.

What the Jones Day team is asking, reports Law, is:

" ... whether a public official can 'defraud' the government of its property by advancing a 'public policy reason' for an official decision that is not her subjective 'real reason' for making the decision."

There was particular sympathy for Kelly from females who, like her, came of professional age as a seemingly "good Catholic girl." We were socialized to be other-directed, focused on making superiors and other forms of power look good. Those frequently included husbands. Also we worked unusually hard. In that selflessness we might have compulsively managed to cross the line from the ethical/legal to what the powers that be ordered or indirectly indicated would please them. 

The other dockets selected for review are:

"Department of Homeland Security v. Regents, University of California." (This represents a consolidation of three cases.)

"Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue."

"Opati v. Sudan." 

"Thole v. U.S. Bank N.A."

"GE Energy Power Conversion v. Oukokumpu Stainless." 

"Romag Fastners v. Fossil."

"Lucky Brand Dungarees v. Marcel Fashions."

"Rodgriguez v. FDIC."

Two associated with the original "Carpenter v. Murphy." 

The implications of SCOTUS' decisions for each review are huge.

However, the decision, the written majority opinion, and any written minority dissents in "Kelly v. U.S." could impact not only Kelly but also the future career of Christie.

In the book "Kushner Inc.," Vicky Ward reports that Christie eventually was shut out of a major high-profile role in the Trump Administration. That could have been retaliation from the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner for the prosecutorial role Christie had played in sending dad to prison. Here it can ordered from Amazon.

Currently, Christie doesn't seem to have a lot going for him. Likely as part of a comeback strategy, in January, he published "Let Me Finish." Here it can ordered from Amazon. It ranks okay on Amazon -  in the 9,000s. But folks may be paying attention to that book to get the supposed dirt on the Trump Administration players. So, overall, Christie's positioning and packaging does not appear to be solid. 

If the SCOTUS decision goes Kelly's way, her career path, in contrast, has no limits. She can be the new kind of female superhero of our times. Flawed and sinning, but determined and resilient. 

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Anti-Semitic - Lite and Not So Lite

In 2018, according to the Anti Defamation League, there were 1,879 incidents of anti-Semitic incidents in the U.S.

France24 reports that, here in the America and other locations around the world, some Jewish communities are arming themselves, in response. The debate goes on if the members of the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Jewish house of worship had been armed fewer would have been died in the massacre.

Those concerns are about violent forms of bias against Jews.

There are also the lite kind. Emotionally and socially they can be just as unsettling.

Once I relocated from the New York Metro area in April 2014, I have been subjected to what I call "Anti-Semitic Lite." That has occurred as far west as Arizona and only 500 miles from Manhattan here in the Midwest.

I am not Jewish. Not in religion. Not culturally.

But the New York accent (actually it's 1950s Jersey City, New Jersey per-gentrification), Eastern European stocky body style and facial features, and business mindset have become markers for a Jewish identity. 

Some of the unpleasantness takes the form of being "interrogated" about supposed Jewish family values.

In Tucson, AZ, a next door neighbor began to quiz me why Jewish parents "pushed" their children so much. When I told him I didn't know since I wasn't Jewish, he just smirked. He assumed I was trying to "pass for Christian." The reality is that I am not a Christian either. Since the end of the 1990s, I have been studying Buddhism.

Another play-out of the bias is isolation. Social groups tend not to let me in, at least not fully. I feel on the fringes.

A third is, yes, fear. Neighbors get drunk and the resentments can come pouring out. Will my car get keyed or scrawled on my door "Jew, get out?"

Of course, one solution could be bouncing back to the New York Metro area where I blend right in. Twice in the past three years I have returned there. Twice I had to conclude that is all behind me. It takes "real money" to live there. That applies even to my hometown Jersey City. A studio apartment can run almost $3,000 a month. You bet, you can't go home again.

Is my fate to become The Wandering Jew, even though I am not Jewish?

In the fall, I am relocating to an out-of-the-box U.S. town on the border of Mexico. When I checked it out in 2015, the vibes were inclusive.  Already I have let an organization there know that I am eager to do volunteer work. The head said to swing by when I settle in.

What gnaws at me, though is the question: Will I really be able to settle in?

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

Lousy Week for Medical Doctors - Arrest of William Husel, Major Expose in Boston Magazine

In Ohio, a medical doctor looking like the earnest boy next door - William Husel - is arrested. He is charged with 25 counts of murder for allegedly administering fatal doses of fentanyl. 

Much further east, in New England, Boston Magazine publishes a scathing expose. The subhead reads:

"Sexual misconduct, sloppy - sometimes catastrophic - mistakes, and a medical board that's been known to look the other way. Local physicians keep getting away with bad medicine, but you may never know who they are until it's too late."

The author of the article Michael Damiano depicts a profession in which there is little accountability. What is typical is that medical doctors who are disciplined at one hospital simply hop to another. Or, if the situation is that serious they leave the state and get set up in medical practice in another.

This in not unique to Massachusetts. Nationwide as few as 10% of medical mistakes are reported. In Massachusetts, the state medical board received in one year 211 complaints. Only 11 medical doctors were disciplined. 

According to data from the National Practitioner Data Bank, 200 medical doctors in Massachusetts had been in the loop for at least 5 malpractice incidents. None of them had lost their license to practice medicine.

Reflection: Now, when neighbors say they have great trust in their medical doctor, we will consider them downright naive. Yes, do that signature smirk of teenagers.

Trust may never be restored.

One solution is to pull out all stops to remain healthy. 

If that fails, consult with a local shaman.

In southwestern Arizona, a faith healer eliminated the crippling pain in my left hand and wrist.

A group of faith healers prayed over me for 3 sessions. That was for the clinical depression the insurance companies and I had paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars to treat. That group of shamans didn't promise total relief. For the rest they trained me in deep meditation.

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Leslie Van Houten - Of Course, CA Gov Gavin Newson Didn't Approve Parole

Is it cruel to have convicted Manson Family murderer Leslie Van Houten to keep hoping for parole? 

Of course, it is. No one who understands the dynamics of public opinion ever anticipated than any of her three attempts at parole would succeed. 

No surprise, California governor Gavin Newson turned down the most recent request. Here are more details from the media.

Baby Boomers recall living through the mass murders in CA. Those, along with severe recession happening, probably were primary factors in ending the 1960s counterculture. No longer were Americans opening themselves to the ethos of love. The nation turned inward, including in reflection about old-fashioned values.

No newly elected official, such as Newson, could take the public relations risk of releasing from prison one of the actual killers. 

In addition to the horror embedded in the collective memory bank about the Manson gang there is the fear that humane treatment of Van Houten could result in "Another Jack Abbott." Liberal influencer Norman Mailer campaigned to have Abbott let out of prison. Soon after that happened Abbott committed a murder.

The Abbott saga raised the question which still percolates through the American value system: Do human beings really change? America is a Christian nation believing in redemption of the soul. But from experiences such as that of Abbott there is skepticism if a leopard can change its spots. Or, that, hell, it even wants to.

Van Houten will die in prison. If she lets go of hope that will sooner than later. Hope is what sustains life. Perhaps her lawyer Rich Pfeiffer wants her to continue living. That could be why he is assisting with the filings for parole. Any experienced lawyer, that is one who gets the intersection of public opinion and law, recognizes the hopelessness of Van Houten's mission to return to a life on the outside.

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Legal Concept of "Public Nuisance" On Trial in Oklahoma Lawsuit Against Johnson & Johnson for Alleged Opioid Epidemic

Beginning tomorrow, Johnson & Johnson will face off in court with the Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter.

Among what will be on trial is the legal concept of public nuisance as applied to the opioid epidemic.

In other states, where public nuisance has been alleged in the opioid crisis, the lawsuits brought by the AGs were settled. That's exactly what Mike DeWine did in Ohio, then went on to be elected governor.

Those AGs, dating back to Sheldon Whitehouse in the Rhode Island lead paint class action, who configure public nuisance lawsuits essentially have been hailed heroes. Whitehouse is now in the U.S. Senate. His career had already catapulted into the big time by time the RI Supreme Court eventually tossed the case. 

Yes, in terms of public affairs, public nuisance is a strong card to play. Most recently it was used successfully in a bench trial against former lead paint companies such as Sherwin-Williams in Santa Clara, California. Law firm Jones Day represented Sherwin-Williams. The appeals didn't pan out. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to review the conviction. 

In OK, this will be the first time that a public nuisance lawsuit involving opioids has gone to trial. Hunter has precedents on his side in using the concept of public nuisance. 

But Johnson & Johnson, reports Sara Randazzo in The Wall Street Journal, contends that the legal concept of public nuisance is more often used in property disputes. Not products.

However, legal scholars are aware that public nuisance applied to a product had been leveraged way back when in the iconic state AG campaign against BigTobacco. The alleged victims of the public nuisance were children. The result was the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement of 1998.

Here is my analysis of that and other issues associated with public nuisance.

Currently, public nuisance is being argued in the filing of lawsuits related to lead paint in Pennsylvania. Among the defendants is Sherwin-Williams. Here is the coverage from Forbes.

Obviously, the success of that pattern of litigation in CA is triggering more lawsuits. There's no predicting how many more municipalities in how many more states and how many plaintiff lawyers will also file class action lead paint public nuisance lawsuits. 

So, J&J is, as the cliche goes, barking up the wrong legal tree. 

Specifically, notes Randazzo:

"Oklahoma is set to argue that Johnson & Johnson's alleged deceptive marketing campaign created a 'public nuisance' that will cost the state as much as $17.5 billion to abate ..."

In addition to the pharma industry, other business sectors will be closely following the trial.

Those with a target on their backs for public nuisance range from energy to autos.

Also, lawsuits have been filed against the Roman Catholic Church for allegedly creating a public nuisance through the alleged cover ups of clergy sexual misconduct.

Here is my article published on O'Dwyer PR about public nuisance concerns which public relations firms have to consider if they have clients caught up in this web. 

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Lawyers/Law Students - Faith Can Be an Option

The Christian market segment is huge.

So, it's no surprise that "Breakthrough" is doing well at the box office and delivering an inspiring message to audiences. 

This is good news for Disney Studios. This is its first 20th Century Fox film release since it acquired that company.

The film is based on a true story. It first appeared in book form - "The Impossible."

Three teenage boys in St. Louis, Missouri, are warned not to venture out on the ice. With the usual bravado of youth, they go further out on the lake, which they assume is frozen.

All three fall in. Two make it back to the surface.

The third - John Smith - has been under the water 15 minutes. The rescuer Tommy Shine is about to give up. Then he hears a voice, he assumes to be that of his supervisor, to go back. He does. He locates Smith and brings him to the surface.

Tommy's fellow rescuer didn't hear the voice. The supervisor denies giving that command.

At the hospital, after strenuous efforts, the medical team gives up.

The medical doctor tells the mother Joyce to take all the time she needs to say goodbye.

Instead she prays.

A pulse returns.

John is transferred to a medical facility specializing in trauma, including drownings.

Joyce keeps praying.

The liberal minister, with whom she previously clashed, becomes a rock of support, on every level.

The media encourages others to join the prayer loop. 

Long story short, it's turns out to be the kind of case never before described in medical journals. John recovers - fully. No damage to his brain or motor skills. 

Along the way in this journey of recovery John knocks the chip off his shoulder.

He had been abandoned by his Guatemalan mother and adopted by Joyce and Brian at age eight months. They are loving parents.

Unable to shake off his sense of not being wanted, John had been snarling at his adopted mother. He resents his teachers. Only his love of basketball holds him together.

All that becomes ancient history when he opens his eyes and sees the love in Joyce's eyes. He will grow up to become a minister and coach basketball.

One possible takeaway from "Breakthrough" is to not rule out the source of power humans really can't understand. Prayer helped make John the only person on record to fully bounce back after being under water for 15 minutes. The medical doctor with special expertise in drowning victims can't explain it. 

Another message is that no matter how intense our inner suffering we are here for a purpose. Finding it can lift what is weighing us down. John does find the purpose Joyce has been telling him for years that he has. 

A third is not pray with a specific outcome in mind. Turn that over to the higher power. Once Joyce did that, John's condition began heading in a positive direction. 

"Breakthrough" is inspirational. Yes, make it your mission to open yourself to the experience of witnessing how faith can operate in human lives. Bring Kleenex. 

And, no, lawyers and law students don't have to be doomed to extreme cynicism. It is possible to shift into a different belief system. 

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

Lawyers Stuck with Intrusive Traumatic Memories - What Neuroscience Has Discovered (and monks always knew)

Forgetting is what we victims of PTSD yearn for. Not fear, as with those who carry the Alzheimer's gene. Here and here are at the top of the list of what I hope to strategically forget.

On this front, Axios hammers there is good news from neuroscientists. Here is that special report, hot off the press an hour ago. In a nutshell, we stuck in past trauma can get the hang of bringing up memories and inputting new information that override the hardened memories.

Quanta Magazine is among the growing number of publications explaining what neuroscientists have been discovering about what's called "actively forgetting." Here it notes:

"One form of active forgetting that scientists formally identified in 2017 is called intrinsic forgetting. It involves a certain subset of cells in the brain ... that degrade the engrams in memory cells."

Essentially, this is a process. What neuroscientists speculate about it is that it could constitute the decay of the links among neurons which imprint the memory. 

Actually, this is not new.

In 2003, I began an amazing journey of cognitive therapy with Amy Karnilowicz in West Hartford, Connecticut. Our objective had been to reframe how I perceived the world and created ways of reimagining my behavior. Yes, together we were rewiring my brain. 

And, for centuries, Buddhist monks have been helping the suffering through meditation which also rewires the brain.

That ability of the brain to change, sometimes radically, is called "neuroplasticity."

Around mid 2012 I began training in mindfulness at the Zen Center in New Haven, Connecticut. I might or might have rewired my brain.

But by early 2014 I was on the I-95 ramp heading west out of the pricey New York Metro area. I had the insight and courage to start over again - both my business and my life when over-60. Aside from one speedbump, I have been thriving. 

Buddhist teachers also provide exercises such as "cutting the cord" to reduce the distraction of intrusive negative memories.

But there are those traumas I haven't been able to shake. My career coach wisely told me not to discuss them with others. So, that has stopped. However, the pain from the flashbacks is still disabling. 

Neuroscience is offering hope that we can parachute out of most of that into a more Hallmark type of daily thought processes. I am alert for notices of clinical trials in my area. The journalist still in me will find a way to report on them.

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Ian Samuel - Lost, Yes, But Time Will Tell If He Will Be "Found"

One of the most direct paths to becoming lost in life is to experience early success.

That might be how Ian Samuel wound up resigning from his associate professor position at Indiana Law School. That followed a Title IX misconduct investigation. Here are more details from Tony Mauro at Law.com.

Samuel, still now a young man, had been a clerk to the late U.S. Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia.

He was an associate at the elite law firm Jones Day.

He had lectured at Harvard Law School.

And he was part of the successful initiative to convince law firms not to impose mandatory arbitration agreements on summer associates.

That was then.

Following the Title IX investigation he decided not to push to hold on to his teaching job at Indiana Law School.

He made the public statement that he had engaged in antisocial conduct such as excessive drinking in public places and not treating people right. In fact, he sums up where he wound up as "an ugly man."

Critics of his mea culpa observe that the tone and content are narcissistic. There doesn't seem to be any emotional or spiritual connection to the possible harm done others. 

So, only time will tell if Samuel can evolve into "Found." 

There are many examples of former miscreants who were able to get right with their humanity.

Labeled the "Evil Genius" of the Richard Nixon White House, lawyer Chuck Colson had a jailhouse conversion. After his release he ministered to the spiritual needs of ex-cons. Obituaries in establishment media positioned and packaged him as a kind of saint. 

In the "New Testament," Saul used to persecute Christians. Then he had a psychic shift and became Paul, in the front lines of preaching the teachings of Jesus Christ. 

On the other hand, there are those who seem incapable and/or unwilling to explore a less toxic existence. There is no need to list names.

I had dedicated my 2009 dark comedy - the novel "The Fat Guy From Greenwich" - to all those who wound up in Lost and Found.

It resonated.

For a while it was #60 on Amazon.

I let it go out of print when I no longer needed that mirror. In 2014, I took the I-95 ramp out of the careerist Gold Coast of Connecticut and went in search of a different path. The jury is still out if I have found it.

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.