Law And More

Apollo Continues Pivot into Sustainability - Focus on Transition to Non-Fossil Sources of Energy and Game Theory

Recently, Apollo Global Management had announced it was creating the function of Chief Sustainability Officer.

The mission has been to review all investments in terms of its compliance with ESG criteria for Environment, Social and Governance principles. This Law and More article analyses the rewards and risks of that move.

On Friday, October 22nd, the financial giant expanded its reach and branding in sustainability. As it details in its press release it has bet big money on the energy transition to non-fossil sources. Here is the financialese:

"Apollo (NYSE: APO) today announced that funds managed by its affiliates (the “Apollo Funds”) have agreed to invest $824 million in a convertible equity portfolio financing agreement with NextEra Energy Partners, LP (NYSE: NEP) in a 2.5 GW renewable energy generation portfolio (the “Portfolio”). The Apollo Funds committed to the investment as part of the sale of 50% of the Portfolio from NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE) to NextEra Energy Partners."

That portfolio contains 13 utility-scale wind and solar assets. Of those, three facilitate battery storage. 

The transaction had been handled by law firms Allen & Overy and Paul Weiss. 

What does this mean?

Well. to begin with, it's a kind of what's called "virtue signaling." That is, the message is: We are on the right side of global values. Salvation for mankind entails the battery's replacing gasoline.

In addition, Apollo is leveraging its influence to confirm the importance of energy transition. That includes how investors should make their choices. Yes, investors, non-fossil fuels are the horse to bet on.

And, Apollo is positioning and packaging itself as being in the front lines of a business philosophy that goes by the umbrella term "ESG." Apollo publishes an annual report "The Apollo ESG Effect." Here you can read it. 

The stars are aligned that Apollo will impact the energy sector in a major way.

In the global corridors of influence what moves the dial on getting things done are the connections among the movers and shakers. Journalist Hedrick Smith explained those dynamics in his book "The Power Game."

It is interesting to note in Apollo's journey toward being the player in sustainability its long-time legal counsel has been law firm Paul Weiss. Yes, that firm oversaw this most recent transaction. 

The Paul Weiss Chairperson Brad Karp has been a first-mover in the law firm sector's embrace of ESG values. For example, it established the first ESG practice.

Also, on personal level, Karp has mobilized collective action throughout law firms to support causes associated with ESG values. They include push-back against suppression of voters' rights. Those initiatives reinforced Paul Weiss' presence for being a force field in social justice. That fits nicely where Apollo is heading. 

It also can be useful to observe that Apollo's actions may be based on a version of game theory. The genius John Nash brought the erudite discipline mainstream. Recently I have created material for a client on the implications of game theory for the crypto market. 

Essentially, game theory strategy is about optimizing outcomes through ensuring cooperation among those in the loop. That seems to be underlying how Apollo is going about sustainability. The self-interest of all the players is brilliantly locked in. 

Game theory is becoming an increasingly useful lens for assessing investing initiatives. Meanwhile, green is good. It's in the public interest. 

Feedspot selected Law and More as one of The Top 100 Legal Blogs.

Marketing communications. It’s about results. Not quantity. Not clickbait. Not even influence. Together we will get those results. Clients range from American Express to industrial accounts. Fees customized for your unique budget. Complimentary consultation - janegenova374@gmail.com.

Best 6 Halloween Costumes for Law Firm Junior Lawyers

Halloween might be the most enjoyable holiday in Americana.

For most, it can be celebrated in a relative-free zone. No drunken embittered Uncle Bob. 

It's also the unique opportunity to comment through a costume, just like "SNL," on the way of the world. 

Just as much fun is to shop for a costume for one's four-legged soulmate. He or she will need one for the mandatory party at the vet. No show? Damned to be judged as a bad pet parent.

So, here we go with the best 6 costumes for law firm junior lawyers.

Michael Scott (played by Steve Carell) from "The Office." There has been such a dustup about returning to the office.

Unlike the leadership at PwC, the brass at so many large law firms are mandating a return to the office. Some, like Baker & Hosteller, are even nudging back associates into the office before the official reopening date. 

And maybe associates are too young to recall Jeremy Blackman's "Anonymous Lawyer" priceless satiric post. It was about the partner who gleefully announced hot chocolate will be served in the kitchen during certain hours, as long as the cold weather persists. Meanwhile, associates are dragging out of office post-all-nighter. Well, Kirkland & Ellis folds into its reopening announcement the notice of free eats. Like, who have time to eat. Anyway, it can make one sleepy.

Yeah, let them eat cake.

Elizabeth Holmes and Sunny Balwani. The costume should be dated for when Cupid was still shooting arrows. Those texts from that time, read during the trial of "US v Elizabeth Holmes," showcase the Theranos founder's poetic ethos.

In prison, former Donald Trump lawyer Michael Cohen penned his best-selling book "Disloyal." If she is convicted and could serve up to 20 years Holmes can produce books of poetry. Maybe even teach poetry workshops. 

Class of 2024, Carrying "Hire me" sign. 55% of law school IL classes are overenrolled. Do the math. It will be tough, maybe even impossible, to land that first job.

Could there be another Lost Generation of JDs, as had played out in 2008 -2009? Not unthinkable.  

The Regulatory Sandbox. Recently in Arizona's regulatory sandbox, LegalZoom had been approved as an Alternate Business Structure. It will not only be permitted to provide legal services in the state. It also can hire lawyers as employees. Before that it could only operate with contract lawyers.

So this is the new non-law firm law firm. Maybe there should be a contest open to marketing communications players like myself to name this new entity. 

Karen Dunn, Best Poach done recently. Pulled off by Paul Weiss. And poaching is what brings the unique kind of prestige to a law firm. Media outlets make it big news, like they're announcing an award.

Those law firms which have been raided will lay low. It's a: Mirror, Mirror on the wall, I'm the most shameful of them all.

The law, like most lines of work, is a gossipy profession. There is endless speculation why the law firm lost a star or a group of stars.

Recently Dunn won for Uber, in an antitrust case brought by the Boston Taxi Conglomerate, its biggest legal victory so far. 

The young Tony Soprano, played in "The Many Saints of Newark" by Michael Gandolfini."  The genius of that portrayal was capturing the pain.

Remember the middle-aged Tony had been in psychotherapy. Yeah, that mother of his. 

Michael is, yes, James Gandolfini's actual son. He was with the father when he died. That pain could serve him well in his artistic career. There is an anecdote floating around that Jon Hamm had been hired to play Don Draper in "Mad Men" because those screening actors saw the pain in his eyes. 

Feedspot selected Law and More as one of The Top 100 Legal Blogs.

Place your sponsored content on Law and More which is syndicated and has links from brandname media centers ranging from Bloomberg Law to Slate. Please contact janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

"Vanessa Bryant v County of Los Angeles, et at." - Grief Is So Hard

"Vanessa Bryant is being asked to undergo 'a physician-ran test on her mental state' to assess and 'evaluate' the extent of her alleged emotional distress regarding the Kobe Bryant helicopter crash images." - Daily Mail, October 17, 2021.

Essentially the defendants are attempting to discern if Bryant's suffering is the result of the original trauma of the death of her husband and daughter or is primarily related to what she contended in her lawsuit "Vanessa Bryant v County of Los Angeles, et al."

She claims that the photos of the dead had been distributed among law enforcement. As a result, she is accusing those in authority loop of negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and the invasion of her husband's right to privacy.

Previously, she had refused a psychiatric evaluation requested by the plaintiff. Also, as many know, psychiatry does involve subjectivity. On the popular series "Chicago Med," the respected psychiatrist Dr. Charles admits that the science is an imperfect one. He is a humble man and and equally humble member of the healing profession.

Also, grief is a complex force field. How can even a trained expert separate out its parts?

During the first week of January, just a few weeks after my four-legged son LOV and I arrived in Arizona from the midwest, he could no longer hold up in his battle with congestive heart failure. One overcast Sunday morning I allowed the vet to let LOV go.

To today I am overwhelmed with sadness. And there isn't a day that I live that I don't remember a joy we had shared together. 

My pain of loss is my pain. Bryant's pain of loss is her pain. But understanding it may be beyond the imperfect science of psychiatry. 

This blog passes along wishes for strength for the Bryant family.

 

Yesterday - The Chase After That, From "Mad Men" Kodak Carousel Pitch to Gen Z Fashion

The hunger for what was.

On "Mad Men," Don Draper captured that in his presentation for the Kodak carousel.

His specific pitch was the pain and confusion of transitioning from childhood to teenage years. So, there is the reaching back to the known. Here is that iconic pitch.

Now, in real life, reports Axios, Gen Z is experiencing that same pull force. TikTok is in sync with that. Yesterday's brandnames and fashions are, for example, back again. 

What youth most crave is the slower pace of a very different time.

Maybe they're onto something big. And they're not alone. In an interview with Bloomberg Law, it was the chairperson of elite law firm Paul Weiss Brad Karp who put it this way:

“'We have to push the brakes in today’s world to deal with the mental health and emotional stability of our community,' he said. 'It is probably the most important single issue I’ve grappled with during the pandemic.'”

The slow movement is, of course, not new. It originated in Italy in 1989. The meme is that faster isn't necessarily better.

One major way it has seeped into Americana had been through the embrace of eastern philosophy, especially Buddhism. Its central practice - meditation - slows down humans' "monkey mind" so that its workings can be observed. Those in that kind of trance get it: So, that's how I'm thinking and why I'm going wrong.

Every Thursday evening, the Tucson, Arizona Shambhala Buddhist Center provides a no-cost reading of text (often from the writings of American Buddhist nun Pema Chodron), a 20-minute meditation session, discussion, and another five minutes of meditation. Then there is a chant for the well-being of all sentient creatures.

Marketers are no slouches when it comes to leveraging trends into platforms for promotions. Expect plenty of yesterday to be featured during this holiday selling season. 

Feedspot selected Law and More as one of The Top 100 Legal Blogs.

Place your sponsored content on Law and More which is syndicated and has links from brandname media centers ranging from Bloomberg Law to Slate. Please contact janegenova374@gmail.com.

Mental Illness & Racism in Diagnosis - "Chicago Med"

Producer Dick Wolf achieved success by configuring the plots of his television franchises "ripped from the headlines."

Well, there aren't enough headlines about assigning the diagnosis of schizophrenia more often to blacks than to non-blacks. On the Wolf series "Chicago Med," that was played out. The young black had been misdiagnosed and therefore not effectively treated. Dr. Charles took the time to evaluate the situation. The new diagnosis was bipolar. That has a more promising prognosis and carries less stigma.

The good news is that this issue is getting more attention. The New York Times published an article on how frequently blacks in nursing homes are assigned that label. 

With good reason, blacks and their loved ones shouldn't trust the mental health system in America. 

Feedspot selected Law and More as one of The Top 100 Legal Blogs.

Place your sponsored content on Law and More which is syndicated and has links from brandname media centers ranging from Bloomberg Law to Slate. Please contact janegenova374@gmail.com.

Corporations Woke to the Profits in Social Justice, Hammers Vivek Ramaswamy: But That Is Money Hard-Earned

Vivek Ramaswamy's manifesto against business' supposed embrace of social justice, published in August, is a best-seller. The book is "Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America's Social Justice Scam." On Amazon, it ranks 705. 

Right from the get-go Ramaswamy, a successful entrrepreneur and first-generation American, is persuasive. He provides an example that resonates. It's Coca-Cola.

Lawyers will vividly recall how the chief legal officer there created a radical initiative for increasing diversity. That imposed quotas on outside law firms for having minorities on the account and docked those which didn't conform. Coca-Cola also took a stand against voter suppression in Georgia. In addition, it implemented anti-racisim training for employees.

Ramaswamy assesses all that as a kind of protective coloring that allows it to actually do "bad things" and make big profits. In the chapter "The Goldman Rule," he writes:

"Coca-Cola fuels an epidemic of diabetes and obesity among black Americans through the products it sells. The hard business decision for the company to debate is whether to change the ingredients in a bottle of Coke."

This approach to doing business is called "Stakeholder Capitalism." Another term for that is ESG (Environmental Social Governance). But the real game, he contends is: "pretend like you care about something other than profit and power, precisely to get more of each."

Those buying his book give it an almost "5" rating out of a possible "5." And the author is receiving glowing reviews from thought leaders such as Glenn Greenwald, journalist and constitutional lawyer, Ambassador Nikki Haley, Bill Ackman who founded hedge fund Pershing Square, and N. Gregory Mankiw of the Harvard Economics Department. 

So, "Woke, Inc." has touched a nerve. But what Ramaswamy doesn't get is that already there have been severe questionings of the tenets of Stakeholder Capitalism or ESG and various forms of push-back. Trying to make a buck off it doesn't go all that smoothly.  

The now-classic example has been the unraveling of Allbirds. Incidentally, it's yet to make a profit and is racking up large losses.

Among Allbirds' Woke efforts had been in governance. It gave permission to its board of directors to factor in other stakeholders, not just shareholders. Its marketing platform was sustainability-centric. For its IPO it established a sustainability framework which could be a model for others to leverage in their IPOs.

Then came the lawsuit seeking class action certification "Patrica Dwyer, et al.  v Allbirds" challening the claims. Here is a copy of the complaint. Allbirds has modified much of the sustainability material for its IPO filing. Media outlets have turned on it.

The raw reality is that many corporations are struggling to navigate the legal, public relations, stock price, employee activism, political, and community challenges associated with stakeholder capitalism. If they are making money from ESG, it's well-earned.

In response to the pickles corporations can get into during this era of stakeholder capitalism, most large law firms have established special ESG practices to guide them. The first of the law firms to anticipate the chaos had been Paul Weiss. Way back in April 2020 it had custom-made an ESG practice. 

Last August, a sign of these confusing times, Reuters Legal presented a case study of a corporation mired in ESG troubles and had law firms size up the situation and respond.

And Coca-Cola actually lost money on how it positioned and packaged its social activism outreach. Forbes reports that both those supporting and those opposing its middle-of-the-road stance on Georgia's voting law, threatened to boycott the corporation. The latter actually went through with that. Also, there was plenty of bad media.

Place your sponsored content here on this syndicated site. Affordable rates. Please contact janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

The Tragedy of Parent Plus Loans - Under the Radar, Until Now

Parent Plus loans. There has been the play out of this American debt tragedy, mostly inflicted on aging parents, throughout America.

Until recently, this story hadn't been featured in influential media. Now, that is changing. 

Parent Plus educational loans are available to parents and graduate students. Unlike undergraduate loans there is no limit on the amount that can be borrowed. There is also no determination of the ability to pay back the amount borrowed, in addition to the interest which will inevitably pile up. And the interest rate is higher than on a number of other educational loans.

Insider had recently featured the pickle Robert Pemberton, 64, is in. He will probably work into his 80s and still not be able to pay off the $265,000 in educational loan debt. He took out the Parent Plus loans to help fund college for his two children. Meanwhile, the meter keeps running on the interest. Down on his luck, the last we heard of him he was employed in a very low-paying situation.

Now The Wall Street Journal goes there again into Parent Plus territory. It features Trina Saverin, age 53, with $231,000 in Parent Plus debt. She took out those loans for her two children's college education and her own Master degree. The WSJ notes:

"Some of the wealthiest U.S. colleges [such as Baylor] are steering parents into no-limit federal loans to cover rising tuition, leaving many poor and middle-class families with debt they can’t repay."

That's allegedly how Baylor could become a brandname institution of higher education. 

Given the hype about the importance of a college degree and the love parents have for their children, it's a piece of cake to have parents loop into this educational loan program.

The dangers associated with taking on such debt keep increasing in this era of such volatility in the work world - and in life. When Pemberton signed up for the loans he had a six-figure job. Then there was a merger and that high earning power went kaput. In addition, medical bills for his wife increased his financial woes. 

The recent media coverage of this growing debt problem may provide warning to parents who are well-intentioned about "helping out" their offspring with college costs. Or they might consider it a good idea to finance an advanced degree later in life for their own professional upward mobility or a career change with Parent Plus loan funds.

Obviously, these articles are also a nudge to Congress to investigate the practices associated with Parent Plus lending.

Intuitive guidance about your career. Drop your story line and open to extreme possibility. Sliding Scale Fees. Please make an appointment for a complimentary consultation at janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Social Security COLA for 2022 - Not Aligned with Estimates for Inflation in Rent, Food

"Next year’s cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, will be 5.9%, the Social Security Administration said Wednesday. The increase will translate to an addition of $92 to retirees’ average monthly benefit next year, bringing the amount to $1,657." - The Wall Street Journal, October 13, 2021.

This is the largest increase in 40 years. But, given inflation in necessities such as rent and groceries, it won't go far. The estimates are that rent is expected to surge 10% in 2022 and food 8%.

Already, Sierra Vista, Arizona, which attracts the retired and semiretired, is being rocked by both. In Sierra Carmichael apartment complex overall rents went up across the board by $50 a month and pet rent by 50%. Many renters are on fixed incomes.

At the local Walmart, walk around the food sections and the price increases look like funny money. On a number of items such as frozen grilled diced chicken the price tag is a buck more. 

One way of coping is to keep working. Few can actually afford to retire. That's because of such long life spans. The fear is running out of money.

Another is to return to work. According the Federal Reserve, one-third of retirees have bounced back into the workforce. It's mostly because of angst about having ends meet. 

Should you feel rusty about your job-search skills or jittery about age bias, here is my guide on how to get, hold, and move on to better work, no matter your age. It's free to download Download Outwitting ageism.

Intuitive guidance about your career. Drop your story line and open to extreme possibility. Sliding Scale Fees. Please make an appointment for a complimentary consultation at janegenova374@gmail.com.

Baby Boomer Partners - Yeah, You Started This Hustle-Culture Mess in Legal Sector

Our parents simply went to work. Some even were in white-collar jobs like accounting or middle management. Then they came home each evening and that was that. No bringing work home. Instead they turned on the evening news.

On the popular televsion series of the 1950s "Father Knows Best" employee in the insurance industry Jim Anderson was home for dinner every night. And he was "there." He listened to everyone's problems and shared their joys. 

Then we baby boomers came along.

Low-cost college education and the opportunities of the post-war economy unleashed in us intense ambition. Law school tuition was relative peanuts. There was a shot at making it big and we went for it.

Along the way The Career Advice industry emerged to guide our every move.

Yes, it's all political. Work is only a defensive move.

Here's how to comport yourself if you sense the boss will be fired.

Dress like those do in the position you're heading toward.

We were our work.

Parents, both males and females, weren't home for dinner. There was a struggle to hire and retain the best nannies. Remember on "A Million Little Things" how Katherine, when offered partnership, asked to be allowed to go home to have dinner with her son and then return to the office. No dice, the partners said. 

Single women without children like myself were what employers wanted. We could hop on a plane without notice to solve a problem in the plant in Canada or Mexico. 

And born was what LinkedIn News calls "The Hustle Culture."

Even though many of us currentlyy are beyond normal retirement age we are still our work. We can't shake that our professional identify is the primary one. If there is mandatory retirement age at the law firm, lateral to another one. 

Those of our colleagues forced to retire and who can't put a Work Next together usually wither. I have observed that when I visited former college acquaintance Kathleen Huebner in Oro Valley, Arizona. Although she had had a succesful career she opted to retire in one of those retirement communities. Mostly what I had heard was those gushing about their previous careers. There was no there in the present. 

Now, The Hustle Culture, which we made glam, is being vilified. It's been fingered for everything from burnout to an inability to connect on a deep level. It could also trigger The Massive Attrition among associates. They don't want part of what we made the right thing to do.

In my coaching those over-50 the focus is on simply easing up, even a little, on the compulsion to keep achieving. There is no expectation of being totally liberated from an ethos which anointed work as sacred. The irony is that those letting go even just a bit become more successful. Essentially they drop the story line of past whatever and immerse themselves in the now.

As for younger generations, they are a fragmented bunch.

Some Gen Zers have decided work will be just a part of their lives and on their terms. Those include operating remotely.

Then there are the strivers captured in "Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life." It's by former Yale Professor William Dersiewicz. That subculture within youth is trapped in a constant hustle. They fear making a mistake or getting a bad grade. Therefore, they freeze into cartoon characters chasing what they have been told are the rules for success.

The good news is that hustle can be tamed. The silver lining in the pandemic was that, with one's life on the line, there was reflection about how that life was being lived. What has resulted is a deep rethinking about work. Insider reports that recently in one month five million workers quit. They refused to do The Hustle.

Since you started The Hustle, you can be in the front lines for reducing its influence. The first step is to humanize how you work. Be kind to associates and staff. Find satisfaction in serving clients, not just in winning. And, forgive yourself if you didn't make it as big as you envisioned. Doing this is in the public interest. America seems on the verge of a collective emotional meltdown.

Intuitive guidance about your career. Drop your story line and open to extreme possibility. Sliding Scale Fees. Please make an appointment for a complimentary consultation at janegenova374@gmail.com.

"Patrick Blumenthal v Goldman Sachs" Settled - Wall Street Culture Could Have Gone on Trial (but youth would have still flocked to jobs there)

The saga of the lawsuit "Patrick Blumenthal v Goldman Sachs" raised the issue of toxic workplace cultures to a whole new level. In particular, the ugly underbelly of what allegedly is standard on Wall Street has been turned up to the light. Here is a copy of the complaint. 

The cliche seemingly has played out: The barbarians have gone beyond the gate. They have moved in. They have taken over the land. They are the ones making the rules.

Although, as Bloomberg Law reports, the lawsuit has been settled, from the time it had been filed by intern Blumenthal it showcased how really brutal the hazing rituals allegedly can be. Those are beyond "Animal House" adolescent behavior. 

In the process, contended Blumenthal in his lawsuit, he had been not only emotionally abused. Also, in an after-hours corporate informal social event he had been attacked by a higher-up. As a result he claimed he had suffered a brain bleed. Currently there are still medical problems from that.

Drinking, Blumenthal pointed out, had been considered a kind of job requirement. He did not welcome that. He contends he was bullied into consuming way too much. 

In its defense - the defendant was planning to file a motion to dismiss - Goldman Sachs argued that the alleged incident occurred in an after-work outside event. Therefore, compensation for any claimed injury should come from state workers compensation.

That kind of toxic ethos also has been captured in the recent expose of Wall Street "The Caesars Palace Coup" by Sjueet Indap and Max Frume. Essentially, the Wall Street movers and shakers come across in that book as members of a very unique subculture. In that box just about anything goes. Their Wall Street law firms such as Kirkland & Ellis are paid the big bucks to keep them from crossing the lines to illegal behavior and to defend them if they are accused of going too far. 

Ironically, the authors want to showcase those sets of norms as bad. However, the wild aggressiveness, determination, strategic thinking, and bravado are appealing. It's the setting for extreme wealth, power, and influence. Those constitute the American Dream on steroids.  

Given that "Blumenthal v Goldman Sachs" has been high-profile, Wall Street has likely been struggling to tame the excesses of what goes on in that box. But, it is what it is. Don't expect change. 

Maybe you don't want your kid working there. But so many kids do compete to jump the competitive hoops to be hired. The whole ambiance is heady. One can become a billionaire. And famous. 

That is analogous to chasing a job as an associate in Big Law. The realities of that tough up-or-out environment are well-known. The corridors of life are full of broken professionals who can't recover from not making it to partner. Marriages frequently go kaput. Mental illness seems to be associated with the territory.

However, currently 55% of law schools are overenrolled. Many of those who will be the JD Class of 2024 envision being hired by Big Law. That's the way it is. 

Intuitive readings about your career. Drop your story line and open to extreme possibility. Sliding Scale Fees. Please make an appointment for a complimentary consultation at janegenova374@gmail.com.