Law And More

Law School Admissions - Require Video of Applicant Selling

At its core, much of law is about selling. 

That goes all the way to Moses' inability to get the Chosen People to accept The Ten Commandments. The guy was self-righteous, into himself, and quick to anger. 

On the other hand, Jesus Christ was a master of the sale. So many of those he encountered embraced new norms of behavior.

So, it seems shortsighted that those in law school admissions haven't required a video of applicants selling something - a product, service, idea, or cause.

Sure, cognitive skills are important. Without them, it would be impossible to absorb the material necessary to pass the bar exam. Without passage, there is no license to practice law. And those hiring for positions not directly involving practicing law usually prefer to have a member of a bar fill them.

But, skills in persuasion are what win in negotiations, trials, developing new business, applying for jobs, and more.

Points of law are rarely absolute. Much depends on how they are positioned and packaged and if those "buying" like the person "selling."

I observed that being played out in the second iconic Rhode Island lead paint class action public nuisance trial. The jurors let homeboy John Tarantino's client - ARCO - off the hook. They convicted the three out of town white shoe lawyers's clients.

Reflection: Should the selling video replace the personal essay in the application process? Of course. How people sell tells much about them. 

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

 

Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes Wins One in Court Pre-Trial Hearing

Steve Jobs wannabe Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is still in black.

Only at the pre-trial court hearing it wasn't the signature black turtleneck.

It was a basic black dress and black blazer. And, at age 35, she's still attractive.

Some conjecture that it had been her youthful blonde good looks which lured big establishment names such as Henry Kissinger to the Theranos board of directors. At one point superlawyer David Boies had represented her.

Her trial on 11 counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud will begin on July 28, 2020, in San Jose, California. Here is a summary of those counts by the Department of Justice. And, here is a copy of the actual indictment. 

The contention is that she and the startup's number-two Sunny Balwani deliberately misled investors, regulators, and the public about a technology which didn't exist. Balwani, who had also been her lover, was in court but arrived separately. In a television interview he argued that Theranos represented a business failure, not a fraud. If convicted, both face decades in prison.

But meanwhile, she did win one in court. She requested that the Food and Drug Administration speed up the process of turning over documents to her legal team. It claims that would require 6 months. No way, ruled federal judge Edward Davila. He gave the regulatory agency 75 days. Here are more details from the media.

By the time of the trial, most of the tech world could be in the reputational toilet. Regulators, media, the stock market, consumers, and the public globally could have turned on it. An indication of how bad it could it get is playing out in Europe. New York University marketing professor and internet expert Scott Galloway has been predicting just that. 

My hunch is that it will be difficult for both sides - prosecution and defense - to find objective jury members in the San Jose area. The defense might request a change of venue, which could delay the trial. Delays help defendants. 

In the tabloid media this saga could go down as "The Blonde and The Old White Men." 

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

 

Workers' Rights - Tipping Point Could Be Amazon Prime Day Deals

Around the world, Amazon workers have become a symbol of the exploitative labor conditions associated with online shopping.

Some compare what's going down now to what was standard in the Industrial Age.

In his novels Charles Dickens captured the rawness of that shift from mom and pop home enterprises to the brutality of struggling to earn a living in factories. The factory has evolved into the fulfillment warehouse. The best of times for ecommerce might have become the worst of times for laborers.

Currently, in some regions those employees are protesting. Their plight went high profile through a 2015 article in The New York Times. Here is a copy of that expose.

Meanwhile Amazon is having its Prime Day Deals.

In solidarity with the workers, readers of publications posting on the deals are pushing back on those members of media. They range from Wired to The New York Times. Some of those publications have arrangement to receive commissions when shoppers click on the ads. Here are more details from BusinessInsider. 

The combination of worker protests and reader support of them could be the tipping point for better working conditions at Amazon. 

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

Legal Marketers: What Game Are You Really In?

Not long ago, Axios confirmed the audience fatigue with All Things Trump. In response members of the media had downsized the amount of space focused on covering Donald Trump. 

The phenomenon has been labeled "The Trump Slump." The trend continues. It's obvious that politicos such as AOL are getting more space in media of all kinds. 

And, here is a learning lesson from that: The less media attention the U.S. president received, the more his approval numbers inched up. Not that they are great but clearly they are moving in the right direction during a reelection campaign. Here Megan McArdle notes that in The Washington Post. 

Among her provocative statements is:

"I'm not the first to observe that if the president wants better approval ratings, all he needs to do is shut up."

Essentially, that would mean that he would enact The Quiet Campaign. There is a certain dignity in that, which could win over new kinds of supporters.

In addition, there is less possibility for making the kinds of rhetorical errors which go viral and sink a campaign. As the world knows, Joe Biden has already accomplished enough of those and might have put his run for U.S. president on short time. 

Yes, The Quiet Campaign could result in four more years in the White House for the Trump Administration.

Before political-campaign management became a sophisticated science, that move had been called "laying low." Years ago I was a research assistant for a Pennsylvania state senator. His administration was caught up in a scandal. He laid low and was reelected. 

What is emerging in this era of social is what seems downright counterintuitive: There is not necessarily an absolute correlation between influence via media - ranging from establishment/digital native to social networks/social media - and success.

Influence, shockshock, is not the price of entry or the required currency in all games. For example, there are founders/owners of lucrative online businesses no one has heard of.  

They want it that way. What they are selling are products, not themselves per se. No, they don't want to be thought leaders. They don't want to be in the front lines of launching the next movement. They just want to make a very good living. 

Politics could evolve into a game in which influence through media could become downright irrelevant. The Quiet Campaign could be a standard option. 

U.S. Senators or U.S. Representatives could get reelected for other reasons instead of their many followers on Twitter. At the top of the list is that the voters in their states are totally aware of what they have accomplished both for the state in general and for individuals.

That knowledge comes through direct experience and word of mouth, not the media. In the midterms my vote went for the candidate whose office had given me useful advice when a client stiffed me. You bet, I sang his praises to everyone on my networks here in northeast Ohio. He was reelected.

This trend could apply also to legal marketing and to plaintiffs/defendants. There is speculation that Harvey Weinstein is waging his struggle to be declared guilt-free in the court of opinion, not the court of law. And some observers assess that as totally wrong.

OJ Simpson's criminal trial was won in the court of law. The public opinion part was, in the end, irrelevant to his defense. That's why the expertise of lawyers is so valued - and sells for such a high fee.

Takeaway: Figure out what game you are really playing.

Then ask if influence from any or all forms of media is necessary?

Or is it counterproductive?

In reality, is a backlash coming against politicos, businesspeople, and academics who seem to be "influence junkies?" Could there be a universal "Social Slump?"

The less I play in the influence sandbox, the more revenues for my two boutiques increase. Also, the more comfortable my clients seem to be with me. 

Influence might have been fun. But it could be on the way to being done, at least in some niches. Those could include not only legal marketing but also litigation communications. In the latter, points of law would be hammered, not macro issues such as the public good.

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

 

Ambitious Among iGen - David Lat Majored in English, But That Was Then

There is a niche in thought leadership called the "history of ideas." That's a very narrow one and, most to the point, few can earn their living through studying the field. 

So, despite the brilliance of much of the great literature of the past, what's in it essentially has become irrelevant to what's important to college students now.

At the top of the list of what matters essentially are two things:

• The ability to understand the human condition (that could reduce suicides which is the leading cause of death in U.S.)
•  The competency packages to keep earning a buck to age 90 and beyond.

Predictably, reports Inside Higher Education, BAs with English majors have declined about 20% since 2012.

What has saved Departments of English and the jobs of professors in them is the shift to emphasizing writing skills.

In this visual era, writing is a dying art - but an increasingly necessary one.

Knowing how to write an effective resume, for instance, could save a professional up to $500. That professional can also be his or her own ghostwriter, scriptwriter, and clever Tweeter.

However, you bet, those writing majors should steer clear of even trying to make a living as journalists. Doing an article now and then (for peanuts) for a brandname publication can enhance credentials and bring in enormous satisfaction. But that's it for that.

Few would disagree that Viriginia Woolf produced brilliant literature. Reading all that today, though, does little for us.

Here's what's typical. We pick up "To The Lighthouse."

The world depicted is one of male dominance. Women, even as extraordinary as Mrs. Ramsay, defer to their presence. Or have to pretend to. We have been there many times, through many mediums, haven't we. The latest go-around is via #MeToo, which has already peaked.

In addition, the sentence stylistics in "To The Lighthouse" are convoluted. No way to organize language if you want attention today. And attention is the currency of the 21st century.

Here is the second sentence of Chapter 1 in "To The Lighthouse":

"To her [Mrs. Ramsay] son [James] these words conveyed and extraordinary joy, as if it were settled, the expedition were bound to take place, and the wonder to which he looked forward, for years, and the wonder to which he had looked forward, for years and years it seemed, was, after a night's darkness and a day's sail, within touch."

Given the meme of male authority, often cruel, Mrs. Ramsay's husband and James' father does what he can to destroy that joy.

In pragmatic terms - and isn't high-cost higher education being forced to be pragmatic - the payoff from delving into "To The Lighthouse" isn't a lot. 

The struggle English Departments are having is depicted in the recent novel "The Shakespeare Requirement" by Julie Schumacher. A core issue is: Is it necessary to have "Hamlet" literacy in order to be a good global citizen and a positive force in the labor market? Here that biting piece of fiction can be ordered from Amazon.

Incidentally, it's also irrelevant to torment Baby Boomers with questions about regrets for majoring in English. It was a different time.

Analyzing literary works was satisfying. Yes, it was an exercise in critical thinking. 

Majors met with their professors at home. What a feeling of being special. 

And for those not focused on making big money there were jobs. Those included secure positions in academic departments, publishing, executive communications, journalism, advertising, and more.

Founder of Abovethelaw.com David Lat had majored in English at Harvard. After receiving a law degree from Yale and practicing law for a bit, he returned to editorial for 13 years. Currently he's a headhunter.

But that was then.

Right now English Departments would be smart to rebrand as Communications Studies. What is offered in the curriculum should be broad and provided with concrete stamps of approval such as formal certification. That is in addition to the BA or BS. Employers want to see those certificates on resumes. 

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

WeWork - An IPO Will Be Nice Business for Lawyers But How Will Investors Make Out?

It was a model made famous by Jeff Bezos. He built Amazon and investors did come. That was even though the corporation was not making a profit. Eventually, as the world knows, Amazon did become profitable and a smart investment.

That was then.

Now, some in the investment world are questioning that model.

A test case could be how successful WeWork's IPO will be. Yes, the IPO process generates nice business for lawyers. But how will investors make out?

Last April, the head of its parent company WeCompany Adam Neumann filed the paperwork for the IPO. Under that umbrella, in addition to WeWork are WeLive and WeGrow. 

As BuinessInsider reports, hourly WeWork loses $219,000. In 2018, the loss totaled $1.9 billion.

BusinessInsider indicates that the long-term success of WeWork - that is, the transition to making a profit - depends on three factors.

One is the how the template of long-term leases with short-term occupants will play out during a recession. Of course, a recession is coming. The only issues are when, how severe, and how long. 

The second is if WeWork should be classified as a tech or a real estate business.

And, third, is the leadership of Neumann. Like many of the new entrepreneurs, he is unconventional. That's okay pre-IPO. However, will he be able to embrace the role of the head of a public company and will investors accept that? The stock market can turn on him.

A WeCompany IPO will generate important information about what business models the stock market currently favors. Everything changes. That includes business models.

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

Roger Ailes v. OJ Simpson - Why Some Antiheroes Get into Our Soul & Others Don't

Of course, conservative Drudge Report curated the news that Showtime's "The Loudest Voice in the Room" only attracted 299,000 viewers.

Ailes' former personal public relations representative Bob Dilenschneider is probably breathing a gigantic sigh of relief.

Obviously, those lousy ratings don't bode well for the rest of the Ailes' exposes which will be trotted out. 

That's very different from the non-stop attention showered on another antihero - OJ Simpson. The world can't get enough of him and his saga. When he started tweeting at @OJ_Simpson32, that was big news. The members of the media still are following his tweets and the responses to them.

This raises the issue - one important to all in the promotions loop - why some unsavory characters get into our soul and others aren't sticky.

I have some hunches about that.

To begin with, Ailes isn't likable. OJ is.

It was journalist Hedrick Smith who analyzed in the book "The Power Game" the correlation between likability and influence. That plays out over and over again in the criminals America turns into pop antiheroes and those who never make it into the collective memory bank. We like Ted Bundy. The pontificating crowd castigates that. We could care less. Announce that next deconstruction of Bundy's inner life and, you bet, we will tune in.

Next, trials cement legends.

We are visual creatures and the goings-on in courtrooms represent vivid live theatre. The scenes from the OJ criminal trial are hardwired into our culture.

Ailes died before any of the lawsuits against him were tried. It's unforgivable he denied us watching the camera pan on his forehead for any sweat. 

And, third, as heinous as alleged sexual harassment is, it isn't murder - not in the literal sense.

Of course, long-term abuse can kill the spirit. But, the actual alleged taking of a life is in a class by itself. Among the reasons the novel "Crime and Punishment" has become iconic is because it explores the thinking processes of a murderer.

Not all crimes are created equal. No surprise, "Dateline" specializes in murder, not #MeToo matters.

Reflection: Ailes may not be resting peacefully in his grace knowing that he isn't the big show.

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

 

More Shade Thrown on Conde Nast: "Stefano Tonchi v. Advance Publications"

In a digital era, Conde Nast, whose parent is Advance Publications, can't get it right, as The New York Times finally did (at least for now.)

As part of its turnaround plan, that former publishing paradise, which treated creative talent like royalty, has been selling off titles.

Most recently it unloaded fashion magazine W to Future Media. During that transaction, it terminated "for cause" the long-term editor in chief Stefano Tonchi. His replacement is Sara Moonves (yes, daughter of Les Moonves).

What was the "for cause," is what Tonchi wants to know. He has filed a lawsuit.

In his lawsuit "Stefano Tonchi v. Advance Publications," Tonchi is requesting $1 million and more, including 18 months of health coverage. He contends violation of the employment contract. Here are more details from FashionLaw.

This development throws additional shade on Conde Nast.

Meanwhile, its digital site "Hive" remains fixated with Donald Trump (despite there being a media Trump Slump) and the royals. Some discerning readers yawn. In response more of us are gravitating to Axion. That digital native is among the handful in that niche which is scaling.

Reflection: Will Conde Nast be gone in five years, as had been predicted for The New York Times?

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

 

Showtime's "The Loudest Voice in the Room" - Guilt By Association Different in PR & Law

Tonight at 10 PM New York time, Showtime will broadcast the television interpretation of Gabriel Sherman's "The Loudest Voice in the Room."

That's the biography of now-dead outsized media tycoon Roger Ailes. It's the kind of story of the alleged abuse of power which never wears out. Others want to know, for strategic reasons or simple curiosity, how a human being gets to that place - professionally, emotionally, ethically, and legally. 

Of course, there will be fallout from reminding the world in yet again a big way of Ailes' seeming reign of terror. Over the years there had even been rumors in the grapevine that Fox's head Rupert Murdoch was afraid of Ailes. 

If any of the fallout involves lawyers, they have a convenient push-back: the sixth amendment.

In The New Yorker, Ronan Farrow huffed and puffed to blow away the iconic reputation of Harvey Weinstein's lawyer David Boies. Also, Boies had been prominently in the loop in the legal matters of now-crashed Theranos founded by Elizabeth Holmes. Her trial on 11 criminal counts is scheduled for August 4, 2020. (Boies and Holmes parted ways earlier in a dispute about how to approach a regulatory issue).

As everyone knows, Boies remains in high demand.

The right of all human beings in America to a defense is at the heart of the U.S. Constitution. On July 4th, we will publicly display how proud we are to be a part of all that. Fireworks will be the loudest voice in the nation proclaiming our patriotism. 

In the field of public relations, though, there can be reputational damage from representing alleged miscreants. That's a different game. And it can be a dangerous branding sandbox to play in. 

The sixth amendment doesn't include a right to the favorable positioning and packaging of the situation in the media. 

So, Bob Dilenschneider, who had been Ailes personal public relations representative, and his team, including long-time loyalist Joan Avagliano, might be a bit jittery this summer Sunday.

AdWeek outed that it was Dilenschneider who placed the pricey ad in The New York Times Book Review section for the vanity biography of Ailes - "Off Camera." 

If it looks, reads, and smells like a Machiavellian scheme it well might be just that. The objective, it could be concluded, was to distract attention from Sherman's new release in 2014 "The Loudest Voice in the Room."

The problem was this: The vanity biography "Off Camera" had been published a year before.

Weird then that there would be that kind of expensive ad - a year later. No fools, members of the media investigated and pounced. That resulted in negative publicity for both Ailes (was he afraid of that skinny kid Sherman?) and for Dilenschneider as public affairs strategist (so ham-handed, Bob).

And, of course, it was the best kind of publicity for "The Loudest Voice in the Room." The caper sure did backfire. 

Others who are not lawyers per se could also get a big chunk taken out of their brand tonight. It could reach all the way to the top - Murdoch.

What did he know and when did he know it.

In the past few years Murdoch has had health incidents, ranging from a serious fall to pneumonia. Will any negatives from the Showtime "The Loudest Voice in the Room"  be the tipping point in having him announce his retirement? Shareholders may demand that. 

It will be interesting if the conservative Drudge Report headlines with the social network response to the show and how he frames all that. Matt Drudge is no ideologue. He's a businessperson. And the fallout could be a major story which brings new kinds of traffic to the site. Who knows, for that Drudge might even bring back the flashing blue light.

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

 

Such a Different Time in Media - Remembering Dominick Dunne's Disruptive Approach to Trial Coverage

Vanity Fair, whose parent is the distressed Conde Nast, used to create the curve.

Its print edition, with columnists like Dominick Dunne, selected and then positioned and packaged topics which influenced how the world viewed events.

Among the bigs had been Dunne's coverage of courtroom drama. That began in March 1984. He published on his daughter's murder.

Trials took on the gravitas of a medieval morality play and simultaneously served up juicy gossip. That all peaked with what Dunne did with the O.J. Simpson criminal trial.

That was then.

But Vanity Fair seems stuck back there. Recently, Axios documented the Trump Slump. That is, audiences have gone weary about Trump Anything or Everything. Incidentally, a sign of that is how little coverage of Trump Whatever before, during, and after the Democratic debates. 

Yet, on its "Trending" section of the Hive, Vanity Fair lists three Trump-related articles. One reaches back to the old feud with the now-deceased John McCain.

In addition, Vanity Fair remained fixated on the royals, especially the Fab 4. This is when the world, including the U.S., has the jitters about a downturn. What has become a concern is the once-amazing job creation machine in the U.S. Economists admit there could be a slowdown. In turn, that will flip the switch on confidence in the economy, which could be the tipping point for a recession. How severe it will be has become a central preoccupation. 

In 2017, some recall that Conde Nast lost $120 million. In an attempt to reduce costs it keeps unloading brandname publications. The most recent sale had been W. 

Is this publishing empire unable to save itself? After much trial and error The New York Times figured out that digital subscriptions were the way back into the black. But, it too was being propped up by the Trump Bump. Given the Trump Slump, The New York Times could again be a victim of a disrupted media world.

Meanwhile, Axios, which simplifies the news and has mastered short-form analysis, is scaling. The model Axios has invented is often recommended to communications clients. "This is how to present information and showcase insight about the data" essentially is what is being said.

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