Law And More

"Law Office of Chris Sanchez v. Kocaoglan" - Litigation about Social Network Reviews and More

Filed on August 19, 2019, in County Court of Hidalgo County, Texas, lawsuit "Law Office of Chris Sanchez v. Kocagoglan" can establish fear about posting negative reviews on social networks. Here is a copy of that complaint.

As Law.com reports, lawyer Chris Sanchez contends the statements posted on his own Facebook page and Google about his law firm by his former client constitute defamation and libel. The poster had been Trevor Kocaoglan. He was allegedly joined in the postings by his boss Pablo Trejo. Both are defendants in the lawsuit.

The story starts out with Kacaoglan having Sanchez represent him in a legal matter associated with a fire in his vehicle. The relationship soured and Sanchez terminated representing him. The lawyer claims the client harassed him verbally in person and on the phone, also sending 50 phishing emails. Kocaoglan contends it essentially was the other way around. 

Sanchez is requesting damages, lost profits, attorney fees, and more. 

The defendants contend their statements on social are protected by the Texas Citizens Participation Act. That is intended to prevent Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation. 

This is not the first high-profile bit of litigation associated with negative comments on social about a business. DeLand Animal Hospital sued former customer Thomas Lloyd who had posted negatives on Yelp. However, leadership at DeLand contends it was not the review itself that precipitated the complaint. Instead it had been an alleged smear campaign organized by the defendant. 

These kinds of push-back lawsuits demonstrate the power of online reviews. According to Pew research, 82% of consumers read online reviews sometimes and 40% all the time. 

Increasingly, customers/clients who seem satisfied with their transactions are being asked by the business to "leave a positive review on Google." 

Given the influence of online reviews, more legal action can be expected against those who are perceived as making false statements about a business.

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EI Inside the Law Firm - How Long Can Rainmakers Ignore That Internally?

Obviously, law firm rainmakers know how to leverage EI - Emotional Intelligence - to sell services and keep clients happy. 

The problem comes, observes Law.com, when rainmakers don't extend that skill set to how they interact people inside the firm. This is common. 

As a result, the fallout from team members could range from flight of talent to suppression of good ideas. 

Those who have worked in organizations have often experienced that disconnect.

Leadership has great interactional success with external constituencies, be they shareholders, customers/clients, or members of the media. Internally they are saddled with nicknames like "Attila the Hun" or "Dragon Lady." They are oblivious to how they are affecting colleagues, subordinates, and rank and file. That lousy treatment is documented on Glassdoor. 

At the very least, those anonymous employee evaluations on Glassdoor could discourage the best and brightest from applying for jobs.

But there is a much more dire scenario.

During the next recession, the consequences of alienating team members can bite those Attila the Huns and Dragon Ladies in the results. That's when those types get pushed out. In blunt terms, the troops turn on them at the worst of times.

Internally, those who have been oppressed get it that they have an opening to "get" that leader. A familiar tactic is leaking to the media. The coverage throws an unwanted spotlight on the leader. The leader is thrown off his or her game. That agitation invites more media leaks. Doing that could become a sport. In the legal sector, that leaking could be to Abovethelaw. 

There will be many other ways of revenge. For instance, the numbers are down, the leaders' jobs are on the line, and the team frequently uses passive resistance. They withhold ideas. They drag their feet on performing tasks. They spread fake gossip. They get those they know to post negative items about the leader on social networks. There is a collective consciousness that the leader is being watched, the job is vulnerable, and there is glee at doing what it takes to hurry the monster out the door. 

According to psychologist Dan Goleman, who brought mainstream the importance of EI in 1995, the capability consists of four traits:

Self-Awareness

Self-Management

Social Awareness

Relationship Insight. 

Can law firms save themselves by coaching rainmakers on how to transform their behavior internally? This could be the best preparation for navigating the next downturn.

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Reputation Laundering - The Genius, Money, and Morality

Despite the Sixth Amendment - the right to a defense - superlawyers such as David Boies have been criticized for pulling out all stops assisting their clients.

Forever will resonate Jason Farrow's outing of this in The New Yorker. However, the reality is this: Boies' law firm continues to be in demand. Unlike the warrior in the film "John Wick 3," Boies has not had imposed on him an "excommunicado."

But the legal defense is only a part, perhaps a relatively small one, in the parallel universe that those with significant resources can operate. 

Before, during, and after that win in the court of law could come what John Naughton The Guardian essentially labels as "reputation laundering." The analysis fingers the MIT Media Lab as the platform for the attempt to restore Jeffrey Epstein's brand. 

Rebranding, just like many defenses in the court of law, requires strategic genius, money, and its own kind of morality. The latter mirrors capitalism's notion of paying for a service.

In reputation laundering that payment is usually high. Over the years, Epstein donated large sums to the MIT Media Lab and motivated those on his global network to also contribute.

According to current norms, society now demands that process be transparent.

Had the MIT Lab disclosed in detail those financial windfalls, perhaps members of the media, including Ronan Farrow again in The New Yorker, wouldn't have this issue to cover.

Actually, it's an ideal one for the ambitious media. More recently, Harvard has also been outed as accepting Epstein's contributions and appointing him as a "fellow" (a kind of professor) in the psychology department. At a time when many have become weary of national politics, this particular story has legs.

The U.S. Constitution guarantees the defense.

But there is no constitutional guarantee that the influential institutions in society will continue to allow reputation laundering. Businesses, such as public relations firms, could be, yes, be stamped with an "excommunicado" decree if they accept a rebranding assignment for what is perceived as a questionable cause or an enemy of the people. 

The Verge is among the communications sources which reported that disgraced media tycoon Roger Ailes was planning a comeback. After his non-compete provision with Fox News ended, he, assisted with venture capitalist Peter Thiel's funding, was envisioning a rival to Fox. That would be another kind of conservative cable network. 

Likely, a moving part in that would have had to be reputation restoration. Could Ailes' long-time personal public relations representative Bob Dilenschneider been assigned that project? Could that mission of reinvention be pulled off?

Many Ailes watchers never counted him out to time travel to an undiscovered planet of accomplishment. What seems unthinkable simply might be conceived within a framework lacking imagination and push.

It was before prison that the Nixon Administration lawyer Chuck Colson seemed to begin to self-launder his reputation. He found and shared spirituality. When he died the obituaries hailed his contribution to humanity. 

What could be crossing the minds of those not perched on the top rungs of the socio-economic ladder in America is deep resentment. They assume that they are locked out of the shot at reputation laundering. On the agenda for ending inequality could be tutorials on the art of rebranding.

But that hostility may arise from a lack of a capacity to envision what's possible. In reality, nobodies pull off every day overcoming how they initially are perceived and treated.

The warm and fuzzy term for that is "The American Dream." Like Colson, it was in prison that Malcom X laundered his reputation. The transition was from street thug to respected leader.

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Insider Trader Raj Rajaratnam Back Living on Manhattan's Upper East Side - Recalling Best of Preet Baharara's Times

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Baharara was having the best of times. He had pulled in a conviction for insider trading for head of the Galleon Group Raj Rajaratnam. Along with that high profile courtroom win was nailing the former head of prestigious management consulting firm McKinsey Rajat Gupta. 

That was then. 

Now, after being fired by the then-new U.S. president Donald Trump, Baharara no longer has his law enforcement superhero branding. He does, though, have a large and devoted following on social. 

A ghost from those big days has returned in the headlines. And it's the headlines which are everything during this era when some contend the media is the most powerful institution in the world. 

That's Raj.

As the New York Post reports, he had been released early from his 11-year sentence for good behavior. That was six weeks ago.

Usually he would have had to serve the rest of his sentence in a halfway house. However, because of the "First Step Act," which Kim Kardasian helped pass, he can do that anywhere. The law allows those over-60 or with a health condition to skip the halfway house.

Raj is back on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

That's where the 2019 version of the Gilded Age is being lived. There are those who are critical of that.

After all, Raj scammed about $70 million. But the tragedy associated with his Machiavellianism was that Gupta had wound up in the loop. Many revered Gupta for having overcome early adversity in India, taking care of his siblings there, and, after achieving professional success in the U.S., becoming a man of good deeds.

Incidentally, Baharara's golden age never did include his being able to arrest SAC head Steve Cohen. Some of Cohen's employees got nailed for insider trading but personally the law wasn't able to touch Cohen in a way that he would do prison time. Currently, he's back operating a hedge fund Point72 Asset Management. But he hasn't been able to recapture the high ROI magic of SAC. Recently Point72 had an exodus of major players. 

Currently there are new alleged bad guys members of the media are giving lots of ink to and new crime stoppers. Those on the playing field have changed so much since Baharara's best of times. In fact, it is difficult to conjure back up how that experience felt back then.

For some it was a Camelot, that brief interlude when the public felt safe those who didn't obey the law would be caught and punished. Now, there are only ghosts. 

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"County of Summit, Ohio et al. v. Purdue et al." - Public Nuisance Stays, Rules Judge Polster

Any corporation facing litigation alleging public nuisance or which could be a target for that kind of lawsuit should feel the blast of arctic air going through the business community. At the top of the list could be the former lead paint manufacturers/marketers such as Sherwin-Williams. 

In "County of Summit, Ohio et al. v. Purdue et al." U.S. District judge ruled that public nuisance stays in the trial. Here is a copy of that complaint. 

Settlement talks between Purdue and the state attorneys general in the loop broke down over the weekend. Unless something changes, the opioid public nuisance lawsuit will proceed to the courtroom as a jury trial on October 21, 2019. Here are details about that summary judgement from Law.com

Most of OH is a lousy venue for that litigation. The defense could have a challenge finding objective jurors. The state has been devastated by deaths related to alleged opioid addiction. Part of that human tragedy is that children have been left without their parents. Frequently opioid use is a family affair.

Public nuisance first became a power tool of state attorneys general when BigTobacco had been targeted. Eventually that was settled through the Master Agreement in 1998. 

Later it was leveled by the combination of state attorneys general and plaintiff lawyers operating on a contingency basis against corporations which had been in the residential lead paint loop. The first win for the plaintiff had been in a bench trial in California. From that verdict, the contingency plaintiff lawyers will receive 17%.

As expected, that success generated similar public nuisance lawsuits. Pennsylvania has already parachuted in with lawsuits against Sherwin-Williams. And Massachusetts is being encouraged to also do so.

Public nuisance has also been applied to diverse legal situations ranging from how utilities do their energy to how the Roman Catholic Church allegedly managed the contentions about clergy sexual misconduct.

Clearly, from the 20th century days which produced a windfall settlement from BigTobacco to today, public nuisance has evolved into a multi-dimensional legal concept.

Large corporations might think about it as the monster emerging from the deep. Meanwhile, all organizations should factor into their crisis communications accusations that they are causing a public nuisance.

The wrong rhetorical moves could position and package them in the court of public opinion as the enemy of the people.

Meanwhile the careers of political figures who point the finger could go on a rapid upward trajectory. It has been the current U.S. senator Sheldon Whitehouse who had put the first major lead paint lawsuit in play in Rhode Island. At the time he was the attorney general.

You bet, Purdue et al. don't want public nuisance in the courtroom and in the media. But things didn't go their way on that one. 

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MidMarket Law Firms & Billable Hour - No Absolutes

Law.com presents the pros and cons of midmarket law firms using the billable hour. 

On the plus side is that they can bid lower billable hour rates to snatch business away new business and clients from BigLaw.

In addition, they can turn that project work into a long term client relationship by not only bidding lower. They can complete the assignment with high quality with fewer hours billed than probably would have occurred with BigLaw. That's the Hours/Efficiency strategy. 

On the negative side, they are competing for business and for reducing client churn with other midsize firms and specialty boutiques. The competition using a flat project rate or alternate fee arrangements could put the player sticking with the billable hour out of business. 

The classic book on positioning and packaging "Blue Ocean Strategy" offers hope of escaping the pricing wars. What it recommends is a clear differentiation of the brand, what it does, and how it does that. That creates a new window of opportunity. That is, the business presents itself as itself versus entering the bloody waters of price competition. 

Among law firms which appear to have created their own kind of blue oceans are Jones Day and Sanford Heisler Sharp. That's at least for now. But everything can and often does change. 

The turbulence in the blue ocean gets stirred up when the competition adopts that same kind of differentiation. The water soon fills with blood, sharks head that way. The business can go into a panic mode and that in itself can attract more shark activity.

Reflection: The marketing mix requires continual measuring, assessments, and course correction. 

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(Allegedly) For Love of Money - MIT Media Lab Scandal Can Put All University Fundraising Under Extreme Scrutiny

With a brand like "MIT," many might assume that its Media Lab could fundraise without any problems - not logistical, not ethical, not legal, and not in terms of media coverage.

Wrong. 

In yet another The New Yorker expose, Ronan Farrow describes a very different situation. The MIT Media Lab seemed to be under the same pressures to raise funds as many other supposed good causes. 

This scandal - and it is a scandal - might go down in academic history as "For Love of Money." It can also be a game-changer.

In comparison, AdmissionsGate could seem like small potatoes in disclosing corruption in institutions of higher education. That's because this gets to the heart of what might be considered the leaders in academia's number-one role. And that's non-stop fundraising. That part of the job description might be as brutal as what politicos have to engage in.

This scandal could impose new transparency for all fundraising in higher education. It could also destroy the aura of academic branding.

Essentially, Jeffrey Epstein had been in the MIT Media Lab fundraising loop. That was both as a direct donor and as a liaison pulling in other deep pockets as donors such as Bill Gates.

This was despite the fact that MIT Media Lab was aware of Epstein's criminal conviction and his classification as a pedophile.

Also, it appears from the article that the MIT Lab went through considerable lengths to conceal the Epstein association. For instance, on a list of participants for a meeting, others' names were listed in full. But only Epstein's initials had been provided.

Plus, the actual amount of his direct and indirect fundraising was also allegedly concealed. 

The immediate results of Farrow's investigative reporting, published September 6, 2019, have been swift.

As other media outfits headline, the director of the MIT Media Lab Joichi Ito has resigned from both that position and from being a MIT professor.

In addition MIT's president Rafael Reif has ordered a full independent investigation by an outside law firm. Many recall, during the Roger Ailes allegations about sexual misconduct, Fox conducted an investigation in that way. That became the template: Scandal, parachute in prominent law firm to uncover the facts.

Also, the funds raised will be contributed to charities serving victims of sexual misconduct.

Since 1636, when the Puritans established Harvard, elite educational institutions have had profound power in America. Can this second major scandal taking place within those centers of learning and research undo that power.

Will the impacts seep all the way into the must-attend-the-most-elite-university addiction as well as the more general pressure that an undergraduate degree is a necessity for professional success?

There could be the unthinkable: Credentials from prestige institutions of higher learning and research could carry a stink. Oh, he/she attended MIT. Excommunicado (the concept from popular film "John Wick 3.")

In short, will For the Love of Money function as a tipping point for the academic bubble to begin to burst? Could applications for all programs and funding of all kinds become negatively affected? In addition, will many of those wonderfully interesting secure academic jobs go poof? 

Interestingly, in the state where the MIT Media Lab is located - Massachusetts - already it has been documented that colleges are shuttering. Here are more details from Boston Magazine. 

Reflection: Could those locked into academia become as irrelevant and unmarketable as blacksmiths when the Ford era overtook America?

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The Career Wisdom of Becoming Guest of the State - Felicity Huffman et al.

For seasoned players in the branding game, a prison stay can kick off reputation restoration.

Examples of that range from jailbirds Watergate lawyer Chuck Colson to private school head Jean Harris.

So, Felicity Huffman could be making a public relations wrong move in trying to duck being a guest of the state. Instead of an all-out high profile campaign for no prison time (which ordinary people would turn on her for) she should request a stiff sentence. Immediately the career magic would begin blossoming again. The sound of her name will cast spells. 

A seemingly nice human being, Huffman could thrive in prison. One-on-one she could help fellow inmates with everything from advice (learned the hard way) about parenting to genius makeup tricks. On a macro level, she could launch a new program tutoring about transforming pain into game-changers. 

Upon release (probably with reduction of the sentence for good behavior) Huffman can start a foundation for mothers in prison. For the rest of her life she could be its chief fundraiser. Then her family can take over.

Prison time can be the unique opportunity to reconfigure career strategies. It took a stay behind bars for the Malcolm X to emerge. Previously, that unchanneled force of rage had been a street thug. 

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The Death of Like - Probably No Big Deal for Legal Sector (and other players in professional services)

The optics of likes on social networks - powerful stuff. Both for positive and negative reasons.

On the positive side, the number of likes clue in, for example, consumers if that new face cream is worth trying. The influencer endorsing the face cream is likely earning a king's ransom. That digital player could be a 19-year-old student at New York University, with a beauty site on Instagram as a side hustle.

On the negative side, observing so many likes on the posts of friends, enemies, colleagues, and competitors can erode emotional well-being. There is speculation of a correlation between low-likes and mental meltdowns, including the decision to commit suicide.

In response to the negative force field created by the like phenomenon, Instagram, along with its parent Facebook, is experimenting in seven countries with eliminating the like feature. Tech is under attack, including on the state level, reports The Wall Street Journal. It makes good business sense to be proactive on the like issue. 

For influencers, the implications of The Death of Like are huge. When those on the internet don't see that Beauty Expert X has hundreds of thousands of likes, why should they take her or his word on a topical to help scars fade? Also, the lack of likes can lower the rankings on search engines.

However, not all influence is based on likes. There are those without a lot social network activity, including likes, shares, and retweets, who have enough reach to be considered a player in their fields. Among them are members of the legal media. 

In addition, many on social networks who don't receive much overall attention can still leverage that presence to develop new business. What they do post attracts the eyeballs of the right market segments.

In fields such as professional services, marketing is not a numbers game. It's more about laser-like targeting, with the right message. That's the situation in law. If the eyeballs travel to the law firm's website it will take on-point lawyer profiles to trigger the Call To Action - that is, clicking on for complimentary consultation. 

In general, though, the elimination of likes will trigger a shakeup in the influencer niche. That will affect both those doing the infuencing and those paying to have their products and services showcased.

Not getting results from your marketing communications? Complimentary consultation – janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Iowa Lawyer Katherine Sears Has Side Hustle as Prostitute (legal in Nevada) - And, a Mission

America's Puritan roots go deep.

Prostitution, despite being legal in Nevada, continues to be a taboo subject - and not a respected way to earn a living. However, when all the moving parts are operating smoothly and on the right side of the law box, the profession can be lucrative. 

Iowa lawyer Katherine Sears has made it a cause to disrupt conventional notions of what being a sex worker is all about. She is convinced that establishing a career path in prostitution should be a right.

Her approach to her mission is hands-ons.

As KCCI reports, she travels from her home to Nevada to work in a brothel. She usually spends three weeks there, before returning home for a week.

During those three weeks she grosses about $55,000. Yes, solo lawyers and those in SmallLaw might review that side hustle. In the event of a severe economic downturn, laid-off lawyers and staff might consider reskilling for this way of earning income. Of course, males can also operate legally in NV as sex workers. 

Sears began to travel this path three years ago when she was 27. Her perception is that sex work is fun work. She complies with state health mandates such as regular testing for sexually transmitted diseases.

Will this mission bump up against the comprehensive ideology of #MeToo? That's likely. Some on the front lines of #MeToo might view sex work as exploitative. 

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