Law And More

Revolving Door Not Well-Oiled Machine - Not Only Former Trump Lawyers Struggle Through, So Did Obama AG Loretta Lynch

Much of media coverage has focused on how being part of the Trump Administration has made it difficult for some lawyers to find good jobs.

For instance, Bloomberg Law points out those who have not landed on their feet, at least not yet. Those include William Barr, Jeffrey Rosen, Robert Lighthizer and Pat Cipollone.

Others just have part-time jobs or assignments.

And there are those who took private sector positions who might have preferred the heady experience of being in an elite law firm.

But the story not told often enough are the ones like that of former Attorney General in the Obama Administration - Loretta Lynch.

As Bloomberg Law documents, it took her 17 months to be hired by prominent law firm Paul Weiss. There she is a partner. The usual time to recycle into The Next for former administration lawyers is about six months.

Like lawyers from the Trump Administration, Lynch wound up carrying some heavy baggage.

The most high profile was her meeting with former U.S. President Bill Clinton on the tarmac in Phoenix, Arizona. At the time his wife Hillary Clinton was under investigation for using her private email account.  The New York Times certainly took note of that. Recently that saga grew legs again with the apparent suicide of Christopher Sign who had broken the story of the meeting. Lynch's name was back in the headlines - literally.

Like posts on the internet, that part of Lynch's career may never be able to be buried.

Currently, she could be picking up new baggage. At Paul Weiss she is leading the defense team for the giant Black bias lawsuit "Christine Crawford, et al. v. McDonald's. Here is a copy of the complaint.

The arguments the Lynch team has made include that the franchise contract contains no promise of success and that the corporation has no incentive to create systemic discrimination that would reduce its own earnings. Those seeem solid. The case might lack merit.

Meanwhile, the plaintiffs allege that McDonald's essentially put them on a financial suicide mission. As Mike Snider reports in USA Today, they contend:

" ... that the company steered them to operate restaurants in 'economically depressed,' communities and 'dangerous locations.' These store locations had high rent and operating costs and were likely to generate lower sales than comparable ones elsewhere ..."

That cost structure, the plaintiffs claim, involved higher than average insurance and security expenses. From 1988 through 2018, they operated 200 stores. Overall, that alleged systemic discrimination against Blacks triggered bankruptcy decisions. Meanwhile, they contend, McDonald's gained from its access to consumers in those neighborhoods.

As a woman of color, Lynch's role defending the fast food giant against 52 former Black franchisees can be perceived as not-right. However, it could also be interpreted as a testament to the rightness of McDonald's business transactions with those franchise owners. Look, people could think, even a woman of color is arguing against the allegation of bias against Blacks.

Serving as a lawyer in an any administration, as Lynch's career shows, can be both high-reward and high-risk. No one can predict what the lawyer will choose to do, not do or be "encouraged" to do to be a team player. 

Will the examples of the struggles of those lawyers discourage other lawyers from public service in an administration?

Probably not.

Power and influence cast spells. There is the unique voodoo of being a player in any administration.

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Amy Chua aka Tiger Mom Blew Crisis-Management Fundamentals: Stop the Arrogance, Lay Low

"[Amy] Chua ..  was investigated by a fact finder, hired by the law school, who looked into claims that she had abused her power over the clerkship process, made inappropriate comments, and engaged in 'excessive drinking' with students ... This was all secret until this April, when the Yale Daily News reported that Chua would no longer be teaching a small group.. " Irin Carmon, New York Magazine, June 7, 2021.

The old adage is: It's not what happens to you. It's how you handle. Both in her ongoing relationship with her employer Yale and with the media Chua has pushed up against the fundamentals of crisis management. They are to ditch the superior persona and to seek refuge under the radar.

Her stumbles included putting out there a 67-page communication containing supportive whatevers. It has always been the reality that less is more. That's more so today when public narratives are delivered in snippets. We in public relations scratch our heads about Chua's approach to outreach. You bet, straight from "Hamlet" - "The lady does protest too much, methinks."

Now, as Chua tells Carmon: "I am done." 

She may well be. New York Magazine, although it had seen more influential times, still gets attention. The seasoned in the communications loop have to wonder why she agreed to participating in this article. It does not help her. Not that it is an ambush one. However, she is not portrayed as a sympathetic character and she herself prevents any empathy touchpoints in how she herself presents herself.

In addition to the continual erosion of her power there is now a question of her place in the legal sector. She admits that law was never really her passion.

This is an era is which our careers must be purpose-driven.

The stigma about not earning what a law partner does is off if one's legal path has a mission.

That also is exactly the situation in the sandbox I play in. It's okay now to be "only" a writer if that is an authentic vocation. In it, I have been expected to have taken a vow of poverty. That freedom from material want allows me to angle reality in provocative ways that awake enlightenment,. 

Can Chau be saved? Of course.

That's the magic of the reputation-restoration niche. The field is growing. Frequently I receive calls from that area of expertise to modify or delete what I have posted on Law and More. Anyone can come back. Chau should shift her focus to a come-back versus her current defensive posturing.

Yes, place your paid sponsored content on this blog. Affordable rates. Please contact Jane Genova at janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Employer Power Going Poof, From Apple to Law Firms

Father, forgive me, work has become work. It's no longer my religion.

"Erosion of employer power." That's how The New York Times journalist Neil Irwin describes the seismic shift in working. In response, employers are getting it that they have to provide employees not only with more money but a higher quality of life. But they still have to a long way to go on the learning curve about how to navigate this new era. Bluntly put: Employees have the upper hand.

The reality has just played out at Apple. When the head Tim Cook foisted on employees a hybrid arrangement of three days back in the office, the workforce has revolted.

In the elite circle of large amazingly prosperous law firms the leadership has been raising entry-level salaries and paying non-seasonal bonuses. As in a growing number of fields, there is a shortage a talent. All this at law firms could come to a time when those tactics are no longer effective. The talent will exit to settings which meet their needs for what's beyond the big bucks. As at Apple, a trigger issue could be the terms and conditions of the Post-COVID where-work-will-be-done. 

Underlying this trend could be a current heretical breakaway form the ethos of work as a religion. Way back in 2019 - before burnout became standard - in The Atlantic Derek Thompson picked up on how workism wasn't paying off in "transcendence" for the college-educated.  Instead it was either simply a career or for those who didn't enjoy their jobs a necessity for paying the bills. 

Without the aura of a vocation, work could be approached on more of a business-like basis. This could mirror the dynamics of the coming of unionism in American labor.

Instead, though, unlike unionism it would be not about a fair wage, job security or employee safety. Instead it could include an expectation of the kinds of professional experiences workers recognize as essential for marketability and upward mobility.

That could take the form of demanding the employer provide X or Y developmental opportunities. Willis Towers Watson envisions the end of careers and the coming of professional life as continuing to upgrade a portfolio of skills and experiences.

For example, at law firms, junior lawyers need to have client interaction, currently restricted to partners. That's a prerequisite for learning how to present strategies to clients/prospects and bringing in new business. In my field of communications it would be access to the complex assignments in branding. 

It is premature to project that Post-COVID would be Post-Work. Too many in all generations have been socialized to "need" work, especially emotionally and as a way to fund the good life.

Right now, some law schools are overbooked in enrollments for fall semester. That's despite the prospect for $160,00 student loan debt and a glutted job market in 2024. New college graduates are willing to jump through so many hoops to get a shot at a career on Wall Street. 

But, if Universal Basic Income evolves into providing more than just enough to get by, there might be a growing number of takers. Meanwhile, since automation had accelerated during COVID it's not far into the future that values have to reconfigured to create atheists who don't associate working with a spiritual high.

Yes, place your paid sponsored content on this blog. Affordable rates. Please contact Jane Genova at janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

That Critical and Extremely Stressful Matter of Resumes - A-J Aronstein Is Way Too Flip

What lawyers or law students aren't continually on the alert for new insight about effective resumes? That is, those which get the attention of employers and trigger an interview.

After all, like most other entities in business, the moving parts of the search for jobs and assignments keep changing. 

Therefore, if you are readers of The New York Times you are bound to click open the opinion piece by A-J Aronstein headlined: "I Have Read Thousands of Resumes, And I Have Some Advice." That seems like a must-read, right? As a coach, you bet, I made zeroing in my business. 

Aronstein is the Dean of Barnard College's Career Center. So, the assumption is likely that he knows what he's talking about.

However, those clicking it on might conclude this: He may indeed know plenty about resumes. But he doesn't seem to be using the premier real estate space provided to him by The New York Times to share the kind of "insider information" which could transform a mediocre or downright outdated resume into a winner. 

Too much of Aronstein's focus is on the history of the resume. Leonardo da Vinci is attributed as the inventor. Much is said about him.

So?

It was change-agent editor and savior of publications such as The New Yorker - Tina Brown - who supposedly told an author: Less past, more present in the article. That was years ago. Today in an era in which COVID has accelerated paradigm shifts that is even more the expectation of constituencies ranging from target markets to lovers. Part of the current popularity of Eastern philosophies such as Buddhism are the tools they provide to pivot the mind into the now.

Okay, scattered through the Aronstein essay are bits and pieces of guidance. But ambitious strivers worth their salt already have those already down cold. That is, use bullet points and strong verbs. Yes, those pursuing resumes tend to give each one about six seconds. 

Most of the rest of the verbiage is not only disappointing but annoying in tone and content. Here is an excerpt:

"Résumés do violence to language. They are poetry, inverted. You must dry the joy from the bones of words; drain the human sauce; leave a labored husk printed on eggshell." 

And, yet again, job hunters and gig workers have their hopes dashed about uncovering advice that's genuinely helpful. Hunting for work is, even in the emerging recovery, stressful. Therefore, a version of a "bait and switch" is downright unforgivable. Maybe the headline even constitutes a form of "false labeling." Little of what Aronstein dishes up is "advice." Instead it's his verbal journey through territory he finds fascinating on a macro level. 

There you are a member of the JD Class of 2021 or an associate who didn't make partner. Despite the strong market in some niches of the legal sector, you still don't have a job. "Poetry, inverted" is not helpful. 

What hunters for work - any and all kinds - need is this: Smart straight-from-the-shoulder guidance on what sells this week. And the concrete course-correction essential to repositioning and repackaging yourself to send this message: This is what I can do for you, better, faster and more affordably than all the other applicants.

Small changes can trigger big success in your career and your business communications. Swing by for a complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

Having Trump Administration on a Resume: Liability, At Least Currently (reputational restoration will take time)

The recent errors of judgment made by the U.S. President Donald Trump will likely negatively impact the careers of those in his Administration.

Those consequences probably will include their ability to land the next job.

That's the latest fallout from the Wednesday domestic terror attack which Daniel Lippman focuses on in Politico.

Sure, there is the magic of top public relations initiatives. But, the extent of such reputational restoration will take time. Meanwhile, many wage-earners in the Administration figure they better just stay put, instead of resigning, in order to qualify more easily for unemployment. Their period of joblessness could be long.

What's labeled "guilt by association" is a tragedy that occurs all too often in a job situation.

The classic case is that your boss gets fired. The setting becomes the Night of the Long Knives. They are pointed at those perceived to be the boss' loyalists.

I know.

That happened to me during my first corporate job. It was in an old-line petroleum company. What saved my job per se was that an executive for whom I had already ghostwritten opinion-editorials spoke well of me at a meeting.

However, my career was over at that corporation. The stigma would stick. Internally, I couldn't shake off all that. Everything I did from then on was what I perceived would make me more marketable to another employer. Within two years of coming aboard that energy corporation I was gone. The story has a happy ending. The next position paid better. 

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It's Happening All the Time: Retired, Can't Make Ends Meet, Have to Return to Work, Clueless How

The new pattern among retirees is this:

You exhale. Great to be finished with all that goes along with earning a living. Even if you loved playing in legal sandboxes, the pressure got to be too over the top. 

Adjusting to a daily life without work can be challenging. But you did it. You even forced yourself to develop hobbies and enjoy them.

Life is good, until you find it harder and harder to make ends meets.

Then you're not making ends meet.

There's the Ah-Ha Moment. You have to return to work. However, you are clueless how to go about it.

One such retiree tells that story to MarketWatch.

In my coaching I am hearing about it more and more frequently.

The Federal Reserve confirms that one-third of retirees bounce back into working. Either that's as an employee or as self-employed. The major reasons are both financial necessity and boredom. 

There is no one "best way" to circle back to working.

Here are the seven recommendations I make to those I coach who are over-50. Some were blessed and did a FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early). Others didn't have the financial resources to stop working until they were in their late 60s. Others sat on the beach and really didn't enjoy it because they had been forced out of their career before they were ready to pack it in. Eventually, all found themselves short on money.

The Seven:

• Stop the "too much money" from going out. That's immediate. There are many small expenses you delete from your life. They range from purchasing the brand instead of the generic to subscribing to this and that. The bigger items include struggling to maintain a house. If the real estate market is up in your neighborhood, sell the house. Then, relocate to where you can cut big chunks out of your budget. When I packed it in the New York Metro area for southwestern Arizona in 2014, I reduced my fixed expenses by 50%. My two boutiques generated increased revenues because, no longer so worried about money, I could sell in a more relaxed manner. 

 

• Get a job or gig assignment. Anything. You need to be re-socialized on how to go to work. That's a must-do before you go after a job or gig assignment that is a good fit for you. Right off the bat, employers can pick up on someone who's been without work for too long. Here is a free read on re-entry Download Outwitting ageism. 

 

• Research on the internet the new templates for resumes and cover letters in your particular field. Like everything else the models for those change.

 

• Study help-wanted ads on job boards for two things. One, to discern what skills and experience those hiring need. And, two, notice the language they use to describe what they're searching for. Language also keeps changing. Use outdated language and you will tag yourself as "old." 

 

• Role play how to interview. Essentially you will do that in real time. That's why you should grab as many interviews as you can. You must get back up to speed on how you present yourself. Ask a trusted friend who hasn't left the workforce to help you continue to fine-tune everything from facial expressions to body language to the actual sale pitches.

 

• Get it that you don't have the luxury to become discouraged. If nothing is happening "reverse engineer" every aspect of what your thinking and doing in your search for work. Experiment with modifying each one of those. The weak link, for example, could be the kinds of work you are going after. Those doors may be closed to you. 

 

• Look at a job or assignment you hate as not your "last job." Rather, it's the bridge to a better job or assignment. The new game is not linear. That's exactly what Willis Towers Watson posits about the future of work. And that future is already underway. 

If you need a professional nudge to return to work, I'm here for you. Contact me for a complimentary consultation. If you sense a bit of coaching can help, there are sliding scale fees. I'm Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com. 

 

Heidrick & Struggles - Uber's "Third Way" as Future of Work

Thanks to Prop 22, the gig economy triumphed in California on Election 2020.

Uber's heavy investment in having Prop 22 passed paid off. That exempts ride-hailing services, along with food delivery, from CA AB5. As of January 2020, that law mandates employers reclassify contract workers as employees. That designation brings with it the traditional rights, benefits and protections of being an employee. 

But that high-profile win is no longer the story. The New York Times reports that in the process of framing Prop 22, Uber established a hybrid social contract between those hiring and those doing the tasks. Uber calls its the "Third Way." Simultaneously, it provides workers with the flexibility of being a contractor and with some benefits. For those who support the gig economy, that represents the best of two worlds. 

Increasingly, it's thinkable that the Third Way model could be the platform on which The Future of Work plays out.

The job as we have known it as well as careers could become anachronisms. For instance, Wallis Towers Watson writes off career paths as yesterday, being replaced by a a portfolio of broad nonlinear experiences.  What we pitch to those who can hire us will not align with the tone and content of the typical resume. 

That's why it's a big deal how search/executive development firm Heidrick & Struggles approaches its vendor relations. After all, its mission is to recruit and shape the talent who will be the front lines of The Future of Work.  

It was pre the passage of CA Prop 22 that I applied to Heidrick & Struggles for a contract assignment in coaching. No, I had no idea about a Third Way. Now I do.

That's why my disturbing experiences with a Heidrick & Struggles partner and a junior lawyer should be factored in to the fresh narratives emerging about the gig economy. Here is my account of that trauma. A documentary on how those in the talent box seem to treat gig economy players is overdue.

The Future of Work is now. Ghostwriting on those issues and coaching for job search, transition, personal branding, re-entry after recovery and reputation restoration. Sliding scale fees. Complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

Displaced Staff in Legal Sector - Picking Up a Certification Can Be the Way to Land on Your Feet

The human tragedy in the legal sector is the elimination of staff jobs. WFH has accelerated the inevitable: hollowing out the administrative functions. For a while it had been obvious that robotic automation would hit those niches hard. Well, now it has.

It's not likely that former staff will find the same kinds of jobs or the same kind of compensation.

So, like so many others knocked out of their job box, you displaced staff have to think differently about earning a good living.

That line of thought should include the certification route. 

Having a certificate in a certain field used to be an edge. That tended to reassure employers that this person could do the job, such as be proficient in PPC (Pay Per Click). 

Now, with high uncertainty facing all businesses, those doing the hiring for jobs and even gig assignments toss applications with no certifications of the skills needed. Nonono, they don't want to hear that you pick up software quickly or that you can leverage your overall knowledge of legalities to the real estate business.

You might have already noticed that more help-wanted ads and application forms are asking about or requiring certifications. 

Increasingly certifications are becoming the price of entry. 

Suppose a side hustle for you has been landscaping. All your neighbors have used your services. You were even interviewed on a podcast about landscaping. So, you feel confident about replying to a help-wanted for someone to manage the landscaping for the hospital. Well, expect to be asked about your certification. Here U.S. News & World Report covers some popular certifications, including landscaping.

The silver lining in certifications should be obvious. Those of you who are determined to remain employable don't have to hunker down and do four years of college or circle back to academia for a pricey advanced degree. 

Where training is available is just about everywhere. That ranges from the brick and motor community college or trade school, often with online options, to stand-alone online instruction and testing. 

Some provide training that is free. However, there probably will be a fee to take the exam. 

Those that are self-study versus involving actual classroom instruction are less expensive. 

In-person training plus the exam in a niche in IT can cost between $5,000 and $11,000. The IT field has its own specialized publication - Certification Magazine.

Those I coach ask me: Is it possible to get in the door without certification?

Sure, I answer. Try it. Then, if no response to your applications or you never receive a job offer, then research certification programs for your line of work - or a field you want to enter.

In your research, demand documentation of the program's track record in jobs and rate of compensation. 

Ask for names of former students you can informally interview.

Also, contact the Better Business Bureau and other sources of information about complaints. 

When certified, position and package it as an asset in your cover letters, resumes and interviews. 

The Future of Work is now. Ghostwriting on those issues and coaching for job search, transition, personal branding, re-entry after recovery and reputation restoration. Sliding scale fees. Complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

The Civil War in BigLaw - Dead Wringer for Global Generational Tensions

Media outfits, ranging from establishment Bloomberg Law to advocacy-oriented Abovethelaw, have picked up on the new conflict in BigLaw.

It's showcased in the sustained coverage of which law firms are awarding COVID-19 Appreciation Bonuses and which aren't. 

There is also the questioning of why and how BigLaw firms are representing controversial clients. Out the window is the fundamental that the accused deserve a defense. 

Essentially, it's a civil war.

On one side are the partners.

They control wealth and power - as well as the careers of non-partners. In addition, they could be pulling down annually five-million-plus dollars. That's more than the total compensation for the global general counsel at McDonald's in 2019.

On the other side are the associates and law students who represent cultural change.

Their position of strength (whether they admit it or not) is that within the large law firm they have, relatively speaking, little to lose. The odds are against making partner. Maybe they don't even want that anymore. They could be just playing the game for the experience. Also, their current compensation or what their future compensation as an associate is, compared with partners, peanuts.

Incidentally, the saga of Aaron Charney proved that lawyers can burn bridges and not only land on their feet. They can come out ahead financially. After settling with his former BigLaw employer for alleged sex-orientation bias, Charney could afford a condo in Manhattan. That's in addition to another plum job in BigLaw. 

Meanwhile, in the push-back process associates and law students are learning marketable skills. Those include organizing, looping in allies, assessing and implementing messaging tools and creating brandnames for themselves. About the latter, presence is almost everything in professional life.

Former U.S. President Barack Obama put together a personal brand as a community organizer.

Those kinds of abilities open the door to career paths in politics, leadership in nonprofits, the C-suite in non-traditional corporations and maverick law firms.

That squaring-off between partners and associates mirrors the global upheaval among generations. On an individual level climate change activist Greta Thunberg represents that. Between nations that played out when youth in Hong Kong opposed being controlled by the old guard in China. 

Not that such a conflict is new. There is a vivid visual memory of high noon in 1989 in China's Tiannanmen Square. Years earlier, there was the counterculture movement, symbolized by the British Invasion, that is, the Beatles. In America, that cultural disruption affected institutions ranging from the nuclear family to the academic-industrial complex. 

So?

It makes sense that the career-guidance departments in the T-14 law schools should develop a non-credit seminar titled "Reimagining the Law Firm."

At Harvard Law School, Assistant Dean for Career Services - Mark Webber - might consider piloting such an initiative.

The business reality is this: The law firm will mutate. It's in the self-interest of future lawyers to be thought leaders and/or actual foot soldiers in this civil war. During wars, names are made. Career mobility is extraordinary. To leverage that platitude: A war is a terrible thing to waste. 

Place your paid sponsored content on this blog. Here are 6 tips for search engine optimization (SEO) in 2020. Contact janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Law School Deans, Beware - America Could Be Breaking "Habit" of Higher Education

"Overall, undergraduate populations shrank by 4%, and first-year student counts fell by 16.1%, according to new data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center." - Melissa Korn, The Wall Street Journal, October 15th, 2020.

The fear among educators is that those deciding against attending college this year might not opt back in, when COVID-19 ends and the economy recovers. That is, the "habit" of higher education might be in the process of being broken. That trend, of course, can extend to attending law school. 

Usually, youth flocks to higher education during economic downturns.

What has been getting plenty of attention is the research by the Georgetown University Center for Education and the Workforce. 

Essentially the surprising finding was this: The less education, the higher the starting salary. For example, right out of the gate, those with associate degrees from community colleges earned $800 more a month than the median compensation of those receiving Master's degrees. Another eye-opener was that a degree from an Ivy doesn't necessarily result in a higher ROI than one from a state school.

The mindset about higher education in America could be shifting from The More Education The Better to Invest in The Least Amount of Higher Education as Possible. 

This is not new. The December 27, 2016 edition of The Economist threw shade on the doctoral degree. Not only may it not yield a satisfactory ROI. As the article points out, most of those matriculating are unhappy. Who doesn't know a Ph.D. who is employed for peanuts and no job security as adjunct professors?

Yes, some degrees at some prestigious universities provide a linear path to the overall good life. It was noted that Amy Coney Barrett was the only nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court who had not received a degree from an institution like Harvard Law School or Yale Law School. 

However, if Barrett gets to the High Court that pattern too could be in the process of being broken. The AmLaw 100 might look beyond the T-14 for recruiting. 

What is obvious in the help-wanted ads on Craigslist is this: Employers are more focused on documented experience and the existence of certifications than on degrees. It is well known that many corporations in BigTech no longer require the BA or the BS to apply for a job. 

That habit of the more education the better began with the GI Bill of 1944. By time our generation, born after World War II, was in high school, the "must" was already in-place to "go to college." Those in other tracks in high school, such as shop and secretarial, carried the Scarlet Lettering "NC," that is, Not College. 

Last night, my apartment flooded. The maintenance crew had to pull out all stops to have a plumber agree to come fix the underlying problem. He finally did at 10 P.M. I assume the property complex is paying him a king's ransom. Unlike so many of us white collars, he and other members of his trade can determine the terms and conditions of how they make a very good living.

Full Disclosure: My Ph.D. in linguistics and literation from an Ivy was not only not marketable. It was a liability. Unethical but necessary: I left it off my resume to be able to be hired so I could try out non-academic career paths. That took five long years.

The Future of Work. Ghostwriting on those issues and coaching for job search, transition, personal branding, re-entry after recovery and reputation restoration. Sliding scale fees. Complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com).