Law And More

Suicide - Legal Sector Has No Monopoly on Inner Suffering

Lawyers tend to be attention magnets.

When they are arrested, for instance, as George Jeffery had been recently, media outlets give that special coverage. 

So, their suicides also are prominent on the radar. For instance, Meghan Tribe just published an article on suicide in the legal sector in Law.com. 

However, as that very article points out, the rate of suicide among lawyers in 11th highest among the professions. Not even in the top 10. The source is the CDC. 

That doesn't mean that suicide is not a serious problem among lawyers. It is. And the number of suicides is now at 18.8 out of 100,000 - compared to the national average of 16.1 out of 100,000.

But many other professionals also seem to have a difficult time staying alive.

Ranging from insurance executives to graphic artists there had been a growing number of successful suicides in the upscale communities of southwestern and central Connecticut. Those were the active kinds. Usually they involved a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head or a jump from a high building.

In addition, there were the passive forms such as dying through reckless driving or ignoring symptoms of diabetes or heart disease. And, of course, isn't substance abuse a type of passive suicide? There's plenty of that in my recovery group. 

In general, the number of actual suicides is increasing. But suicidal ideation is nothing new. As we became less guarded, those from the Class of 1967 disclosed to me how they seriously contemplated jumping from the roof of the dorm. And those were supposedly less pressured times for college students. 

The New Testament positions and packages suicide as a negative. Judas is vilified for killing himself for betraying Jesus Christ.

However, more contemporary ideology is considering, in some situations, suicide as a rational option. Last August, in The New York Times, Paula Span examined rational suicide and the elderly. The choice seemed to make sense to those who were sliding into dementia. Last spring, Australian scientist David Goodall journeyed to Switzerland for assisted suicide. He was 104. He lacked the ability to enjoy his life any more. 

Suicide for a successful 42-year-old lawyer like Gabriel MacConaill may seem anything but rational. And that may be absolutely right. Had he felt he could seek out help without being penalized professionally, he might not have taken his life. But, no one knows that. His inner emotional turmoil might have been untreatable. 

Five members of my extended family took their lives. In only one situation might psychiatric treatment have prevented that. The other four had been in such severe distress for a long time and that suffering seemed to be accelerating. 

Instead of railing against suicide in this profession or that profession, more information should be made widely available on what are the outcomes from diverse treatments. That can awaken hope. 

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Birds of a Feather - Many of Us Don't Like Megyn Kelly and Also Don't Like Her Former Employer Jones Day, Either

There's that old adage: If you want to know who a person really is, observe who he or she associates with.

Yes, birds of feather hang out together.

The scientific term for that phenomenon is "mirror neurons." Human beings influence each other cell by cell.

That's exactly why mom and the nuns at Catholic grade school warned us about "bad companions."

So, it's no newsflash that many of us who dislike Megyn Kelly also dislike her former employer law firm Jones Day. They seem to have attributes in common.

I will leave the comprehensive listing of them for Jones Day to Joe Patrice at Abovethelaw.com. Here is just one of Patrice's myriad negative columns about what has been labeled as Donald Trump's go-to for legal counsel. 

Kelly's tragic flaw seems to be being locked within herself and therefore not being able to connect.

That became immediately obvious in the talk show format on her NBC Sunday night disaster which, as Joe Pompeo reports in Vanity Fair, has been "euthanized."

When she was political firebrand on Fox that wasn't an issue. Tossing rhetorical grenades was the format. It was effective.

Not being able to connect is, of course, bad for building an audience. The ratings for her morning show haven't been too hot.

However, it can also incur professional suicide in her relations with those in the "Today" loop whom she needs to cooperate.

The pile on by members of the "Today" family in response to her blackface mistake provided evidence of the intensity of dislike.

Had they liked her, they could have provided support - and forgiveness. As Hedrick Smith hammered in his classic book "The Power Game," the ability to be liked is a key form of power. John F. Kennedy was a master of that.

Psychologists and executive coaches could spend hours with the media trying to explain how the Megyn Kelly types get that way and if there is hope for change.

But, my experience being a communications strategist and content provider for those players  in high places indicates the prognosis isn't good.

Wealth and success (even if its peak has passed) frequently have hardened their personality contours. If they even admit imperfections, they likely will take the stance of William Shakespeare's King Lear. On the heath, where he has gone mad, Lear rants that he has been more sinned against than sinning.

The blackface stumble could provide NBC the opportunity to buy Kelly out of her contract. That will be, many of us will feel, good riddance.

Then we can devote our full attention to monitoring how Jones Day is faring in the court of public opinion. Often that has greater influence than the court of law.

If Trump keeps making serious mistakes or is accused of crimes the Jones Day brand could be badly tarnished.

Clients might fear guilt by association. Notice has Ted Olson, partner at Gibson, Dunn, backed out of lobbying for Saudi Arabia.

Full Disclosure: I had gone to college with females who mirrored Kelly's attributes and I have done communications assignments for lawyers who seemed to share the Jones Day public persona. The suffering was profound. I still have flashbacks.

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Michelle Rivera, County Attorney, Accused of Public Intoxication in Court Room

Sure, it's not the right thing to do to show up in the courtroom allegedly drunk. And, in that southern Iowa location of Oscelo, public intoxication is also a crime.

But, Michelle Rivera, county attorney there, may land on her feet. That is, voters will decide on November 6th if she will keep her job. That Democrat is running against Republican Adam Ramsay. Lots depends on how voters perceive the alleged inebriated behavior. After all, substance abuse is epidemic in the U.S.

As the New York Post reports, last Thursday Rivera was in the courtroom when a sheriff's deputy noticed she was slurring her words. The deputy demanded one of those breath tests. Rivera refused. She was then arrested and charged with public intoxication.

Afterwards Rivera told voters that she is going to fix the problem. They may believe her. And perhaps they should.

This run-in with the law, along with the humiliation, could motivate Rivera to get and stay sober. Those who understand the disease of alcoholism know that the excessive drinker has to want to stop.

It helps the motivation if there is a lot at stake. She certainly has that.

What I have observed in recovery programs is that those who have experienced success usually have the best track record for stopping drinking and staying stopped. Those without that kind of background tend to struggle to string sober days together and frequently relapse. 

Sure, some folks may be tittering about a county attorney alleging being drunk on the job. However, since consuming alcohol has become so mainstream and ritualistic binge drinking is cool, the odds are they too could wind up in the same kind of pickle. 

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Fictional Denny Crane on "Boston Legal" Played Out Real-Life Sandra Day O'Connor's Dementia Ordeal

From 2004 until late 2008, network television fictional series "Boston Legal" played out what actual human being Sandra Day O'Connor is enduring. That's the loss of a fine legal mind.

More comedy than drama, "Boston Legal" captured the eccentricities of a bunch of winner lawyers in a New England boutique firm.

Each is off in his or her own unique way. That's why even lawyers kept tuning in, despite knowing that the plot twists and turns didn't mirror accurate legal practice. 

The most compelling character had been Denny Crane.

His ego was beyond big.

But with that was a undertow of tragedy. He called his memory lapses his "Mad Cow Disease." Although the disease progressed, he frequently managed to win cases, usually through flamboyant gestures.

However, Crane was aware that he could be slipping totally into the abyss. That's why he asked his best friend at the firm Alan Shore to shoot him if and when he crossed that line.

During the last episode of the series it was obvious that Crane had crossed the line. Devoted fans were spared what the aftermath would be.

That was 10 years ago.

Today, a smart guy like Crane who was also a decent human being wouldn't have asked Shore to do his dirty work. Of course, what Shore would have done would have landed him in legal hot water, perhaps including prison.

Now what is entering the mainstream is the concept of "rational suicide." The subject is especially brought up in what the aging encounter.

At the top of the list of those maladies is the beginning of dementia. While the victims still have the cognitive ability to put together a self-deliverance plan, they can do that. Here is an article on all that in The New York Times section on The New Old Age.

Should the aging want to end their lives but lack the temperament to do it, there is help in other nations. Switzerland is among them.

Last May, 104-year-old scientist David Goodall went there for that purpose. He decided that aging had stolen from him his ability to enjoy life.

In his homeland of Australia, assisted suicide is not yet legal. When it becomes legal in Victoria in June 2019, only those who have six months to live are eligible. Goodall breathed his last listening to Beethoven.

 This blog does not suggest that former SCOTUS justice O'Connor should consider rational suicide. That option does not align with many people's value systems. Hers may be among them.

What this blog post on the agony of progressing dementia does intend to do is this: Raise awareness that even mainstream thinking is looking at suicide as a solution for dementia. The New York Times article explicitly mentions it. 

Last week, a blue-collar delivery man, in his early 60s, and I discussed just that. Several days before, his friend, after being diagnosed with a form of dementia, killed himself with a gun.

No, we didn't form a suicide pact but both committed ourselves to self-deliverance if memories transitioned from expected senior moments to losing major chunks of whatever. Of course, we wouldn't ask each other's help. Friends don't ask friends to kill them.

No, I am not optimistic that the state laws on assisted suicide in the U.S. for non-terminal people will be changed in time to preserve the dignity of members of my baby boomer generation.

On this one, we are on our own. Government won't pitch in and help.

I informed the delivery man I was already saving my pennies for "Suicide Tourism" to Switzerland. 

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Gabriel MacConaill, Sidley Austin Partner Since 2014, Commits Suicide

What is it about high-powered success that seems to be transforming into the killing fields? Or, maybe that's the wrong question. 

Meanwhile, on the East Coast, New Yorkers Stacey Radin (clinical psychologist), Kate Spade (fashion designer), and Anthony Bourdain (chef) took their own lives.

On the West Coast, Gabriel MacConaill, a partner in BigLaw firm Sidley Austin, also committed suicide. Unlike those three on the East Coast it was by a self-inflicted shotgun wound, not hanging. Here are more details from Abovethelaw.com.

The Sidley Austin website provides the facts. In 2005, MacConaill received his JD from the law school at Penn State. He joined Sidley Austin in 2009. In 2014, he became partner. His special area of expertise has been restructuring. He had been involved in Mattress Firm's bankruptcy filing. 

Beyond that, much or all of what is said about the "why" will be speculation.

Human beings, including the person himself or herself, know so little about the pull and push forces going on in an inner life. Of course, there can be factors discussed such as a recent clinical depression or even a sustained history of that condition. But many others also struggle with clinical depression and come out the other side, without committing suicide.

Also some might trot out the statistics that there is a higher rate of suicides in the legal sector than other lines of work. Many recall the cluster of more than a dozen suicides among trial lawyers in Kentucky within a short timeframe.

There are also the platitudes about what the chase to the top of one's industry could cost in emotional, social, and spiritual wear-and-tear. However, the world is jam-packed with high achievers who don't check out. 

The reality is that we know so little and the person committing suicide also knows so little about the unconscious dynamics, thought processes, and lack of impulse control which may be drivers in taking one's own life. 

In the film "A Star Is Born," musician Jackson Main tried suicide when he was in his early teenage years. The ceiling fan, to which he had tied a belt, fell down. Somehow he got through the next years via fame and addiction. Later, after he lost his hold on his career he tried again and succeeded. To attempt to explain the fatal darkness within him would be pure arrogance.

At Johns Hopkins University, Kay Jamison did take on the issue of suicide in her book "Night Falls Fast." She herself had made a serious suicide attempt. However, her book really leaves this enigma intact. 

This blog passes along sympathy to those who loved Gabriel MacConaill. Survivors are the real victims of the decision to commit suicide.

In my extended family, there have been five suicides. There will probably be more. I don't and never will understand all that. Since age 11, I have been plagued with suicidal ideation. But somehow I have maintained the upper hand. Already I have lived on planet earth longer than any member of my family. I am clueless why.

 

"A Star Is Born" - It Makes Addiction Seem, Well, Worth It

The latest remake of "A Star Is Born" can convince the already-troubled that addiction is a small price to pay for success - even if that success peters out.

From the get-go, music star Jackson Maine had a tough go of it.

His mother died when he was born.

His father was a drunk.

His older brother who looked out for him was one of those guys we met in high school who had a sense of direction and determination that we less emotionally and socially didn't. Of course, we couldn't bond. 

In his early teens, Jackson even attempted suicide by hanging but the ceiling fan gave way. He fell to the floor. Later, his hanging himself with a belt in the garage does succeed.

So, the message of the film could be interpreted as: Without booze and pills, Jackson could never had been able to put it together to develop into a performer.

That could be way too seductive to youth whom the universe didn't bless with a loving, non-chaotic start in life. 

Not surprisingly - who hasn't been exposed to the Alcoholics Anonymous mantra - the substances took him over. Another factor was simple aging. The years aren't kind to most of those in the performing arts. We content-providers have it easier and a longer shelf life.

But, along the way, Jackson had it all. That included the authentic love of struggling song-writer/singer Ally. That's more than many of us from difficult backgrounds are able to grab onto from life. Currently, I continue to struggle.

A sort of heretic in a recovery program for alcohol abuse, way back in the early 80s I declared that boozing bought me time. In its predictable way it empowered me to function until I could access the tools I needed to create my own life. Eventually, as with Jackson, its role was counterproductive. I was fortunate. I could and did stop. I stayed stopped. 

So, what do members of law enforcement, the courts, high school guidance counselors, college mental health therapists, recovery experts, researchers, friends, and family tell at-risk youth and kids already in trouble about the dangers embedded in substance abuse?

That's the rub.

How can they replace the "help" which addiction seems to be delivering at the time? Already, youth probably knows that the success rate of traditional program Alcoholics Anonymous is quite low. Here is the iconic The Atlantic article on that. Most courts route substance abusers to that mode of treatment: X amount of meetings a week and have the attendance verification document signed. 

Meanwhile, the whatever which does create and reinforce sobriety is less available in 2018. That includes affording college, being able to pony up the rent to live away from the toxic nuclear family, landing work with a future, and hope. 

Those committed to rescuing youth from despair have to reimagine their message. That could start by analyzing how Jackson could have prevented the start of his addiction or could have found a sustainable way out of it. Love, obviously, was not enough.

In that other new film "Unbroken," that path is giving up the illusion of control and surrendering to some higher force. 

As the uncontained opioid epidemic hammers, traditional approaches aren't effective. The times are different from when the recovery movement has been launched in the 1930s. Yet, there has been no Big Woke.

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Sherwin-Williams - Wide-Open Territory for Public Nuisance Litigation, SCOTUS Won't Review CA Conviction

It's a very dark day for Sherwin-Williams.

And its stock price could eventually reflect that. The shorts could move in.

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review Sherwin-Williams' conviction in the Santa Clara, California public nuisance class action lead paint trial.

That leaves the conviction intact. And that means that the paint company which once manufactured and marketed lead paint is wide open territory for copycat lawsuits - both throughout CA and the rest of the nation.

Those lead paint lawsuits, at the state level, could be, if won, a windfall for government. Both the plaintiff bar and defense lawyers could enjoy a rush of new business. Plaintiff law firms such as Motley Rice can be hired by the prosecution on contingency to assist with the litigation against those sophisticated lawyers from white shoe large law firms such as Jones Day. 

In Bloomberg, Greg Stohr reports:

"The U.S. Supreme Court rejected appeals from Sherwin-Williams [Sherwin-Williams v. California]  and Conagra Brands Inc., leaving intact a ruling that requires them to pay more than $400 million for lead-paint remediation in California."

The carnage extends beyond lead paint. Now so many other industries could be perceived as sitting ducks for public nuisance lawsuits. They include BigPharma for how it marketed opioids. A grim book about that is "Dopesick" by Beth Macy. It is 1,311 on Amazon. Here it can be ordered.

In Ohio, where the opioid epidemic can't be contained, the attorney general had already filed a public nuisance lawsuit about pharmaceutical companies. It's being settled. More states may also take that legal step.

Other industries targeted for public nuisance litigation range from energy (blamed for climate change) to firearms (the theory that guns are primary cause of violence). 

It's interesting to note that business trade associations and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce had been busy bees in composing and submitting amicus briefs. They huffed and they puffed and they couldn't blow public nuisance away.

That says a lot about the power of public nuisance. Even the top court of the land rules not to intervene in a conviction against two major corporations. In addition, it bears witness to the reality that they have to change how they lobby. 

Earlier, the CA appeals court upheld the conviction. And the CA Supreme Court refused to even review it. 

America, despite the intense conservative movement, could be returning to the era of consumer and worker protection. That was when litigation against tobacco and asbestos thrived. At the level of the individual, Ralph Nader mobilized not only the courts but the grassroots through his Nader Raiders. New versions of Naderism can sweep the land, mobilizing Everyman and Everywoman. 

To resurrect the counterculture meme: Power to the People. 

Full Disclosure: I had blogged the Rhode Island lead paint public nuisance class action litigation (2005-2006). Then and now I question the effectiveness of the public relations agencies officially in the loop. Are they operating in the 20th century?

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After-Michael - You Should Have Read Your Insurance Policy Before

In these grim days following Michael, property owners are surveying the damage on their residences.

For many, it's only magical thinking that they can hire a lawyer to override what is stated in their insurance policies.

Unless they have flood damage added on, their standard policies probably won't include coverage for flood damage. And even if they do, expect a high deductible.

In MarketWatch, Jacob Passy explains the bad news. The key clause in insurance policies specifies what caused the flood damage in order to be considered covered.

If high winds caused water to accumulate in the house, then the owner is sitting pretty.

However, if the nearby body of water, be it a river or ocean, is the cause of the flood, owners will have to pony up the funds for repairs on their own.

That's that.

There are those, of course, who did purchase flood insurance. Their mortgage lender might have demanded it. Or, they just considered that wise. That is now available through the government as well as private insurers. However, either way, they likely paid through the nose for that coverage.

Surprisingly, actuarial firm Millman found that for 77% of single-family home owners in Florida, there were lower premiums through private insurers versus the government. 

So, Michael can be teaching a nation struggling with climate change a harsh lesson: The damage done could well be the financial burden of the owner. And it's a waste of time, hope, and maybe even any money spent to have a lawyer parachute in.

The moment of decision may have come: Should human beings live where climate change has already hit and could continue? Or should they make the financial investment to relocate where weather patterns are less severe? Here is a guide from BusinessInsider on the best cities to do that.

Takeaway: Discuss the terms and conditions and pricing of property insurance before making decision to go to a certain geographical location and purchase residential property. 

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Stacey Radin's Suicide By Hanging - Lawyers, Be Aware of CopyCat Phenomenon

Extreme success. A New Yorker. Middle-Aged. And, struggling with clinical depression.

Lawyers, if that profile fits you, your colleagues, and/or your loved ones, then recognize that these are The Hanging Times.

In New York City, there has been the third hanging.

High-profile clinical psychologist, best-selling author of "Brave Girls," and animal-rights activist Stacey Radin took her life yesterday. It was by hanging, just like the recent suicides of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain. Both Spade and Bourdain were middle-aged.

Radin was 52. She reportedly battled clinical depression. Here are more details from The New York Post. 

There seems to be a copycat phenomenon in play. Hanging is a relatively  slow, painful way to die. Also, it's not usual for women to take that route of self-deliverance.

According to the website Lost All Hope, suicide by hanging:

Is effective (leads to death) only 89.5% of the time. That means that a botched job could result in permanent brain or physical injury. In contrast, a gun shot to the head is effective 99%.

The process requires 7 minutes. Those can be a period of both physical (difficulty breathing) and mental (reflection on one's life) agony. In contrast, death by a gun requires only 1.7 minutes.

On a scale of 100, the amount of distress is in the 25.5% slot. When using a gun, that's at 5.5.

Clearly, the method of suicide can provide one of the dots on what might have been the mood at the time this decision was made.

Was the person so lacking in hope at that moment that the act was one of impulse? The mindset could have been: I can't take this one more minute. There's a way I can hang myself right here. In a support group, I have heard that line of thinking often.

Was the person full of self-loathing? In clinical depression there is a tendency to turn on oneself. 

And, was the act, in its theatricality, a kind of rebuke to others? There is the thinking that all suicide is homicide. Those committing it are sending a message to those whom they perceive let them down.

A member of my nuclear family left an unfilled bottle of blood pressure medication on the kitchen table. My sister found her in the nearby bedroom dead of a massive heart attack. Some interpreted that as a passive suicide - and act of rage.

Lawyers in all locations, not only New York City, have to recognize the pull power of the hanging ethos in these chaotic times. It is difficult to hold on to anything - a nest egg in a portfolio. a high-powered job, looks when hitting middle age, trust in relationships, and a doable plan for semi-retirement or retirement.

Recently, I asked a 53-year-old colleague who sensed he was going to be forced out of a job, if he planned to kill himself. Maybe because he was stunned, he answered "yes." I made the appointment for him with a cognitive therapist who specializes in displaced professionals. And, as a coach I am helping him navigate the search for how to make a living. He was on the money: He had been forced out. He blamed both his age and that his boss had been fired. 

Full Disclosure: I have been clinically depressed since age 11. What I have observed is that the mood can become so dark that it shifts into psychosis. It took relocating from the New York Metro area for me to finally get the upper hand in battling this monster. OF COURSE, I had sought out many traditional modes of treatment. I could teach a course at Harvard Medical School on all that and more. 

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Anthony Weiner - He Might Be Catching a Break

In May 2019, Anthony Weiner may be released from federal prison in Devers, Massachusetts.

That would be three months earlier than his 21-month sentence required. The reason is good conduct. Here are more details from the New York Post.

For once in a long time, the former Congressman may be catching a break. The early release isn't definite yet, though. 

His promising career path and well-connected marriage to Hillary Clinton aide Human Abedin had been derailed by his sexing compulsion.

At the time and probably right up to the present, despite so much information out there about addiction, most didn't understand what was going on inside him.

One useful way of trying to make sense of Weiner's inner life is to read Ann Rule's detailed biography of serial killer Ted Bundy. That's "The Stranger Beside Me."

After he had been arrested for murder and was in jail in Colorado, Bundy mastered an escape. He got all the way to Florida and could have created a new identity for himself. Since he had the ability to blend in, he could have pulled that off. At first, he simply enjoyed his freedom. He planned to eventually find work. That's how he could have lived out his new life. Law enforcement might never had caught up with him.

But compulsion overtook Bundy. He returned to killing women. Rule's book is the best description of the dynamics of compulsion I have come across.

Weiner's compulsion didn't involve killing, unless you factor in what he had done to his career and home life. But compulsion it was. 

If he has learned to manage the compulsion in prison enough to override its dynamics Weiner could have a fresh career track in the field of addiction. His story, of course, is very marketable in itself. The lecture circuit would provide immediate income.

Meanwhile, he can study for a certificate in addiction counseling and work in the field.

Where he can render the most public service is by fundraising for research on compulsion. Perhaps there can be developed a pharmaceutical or technology that can eliminate the signals the brain delivers about doing X or Y. 

This blog wishes Weiner a productive new start.

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