Law And More

Purdue Pharma - Settling Could Give It Negotiating Leverage

Purdue Pharma opted to settle for $270 million with Oklahoma about alleged illegal marketing of opioids.

It could have chosen to go to trial in two months - or to file for bankruptcy. Here are details from Bloomberg.

This particular settlement sends the message to plaintiffs and their lawyers that this could be what they should be aiming for.

Trials are wild cards.

And, in a bankruptcy they could wind up with relative peanuts. 

If that message is effectively communicated, Purdue could gain the upper hand in negotiating settlements.

Sure, public opinion is against the companies in the opioid loop. But the legal system is both complex and slow-moving. There is no guarantee of a win. And even if there is a win that could be appealed for years. Meanwhile, there is no money distributed to the plaintiffs.

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com. 

 

Sandy Hook - Father of Victim Avielle Richman Apparently Commits Suicide

Jeremy Richman's child - Avielle Richman - was fatally gunned down in the Sandy Hook School massacre.

In response Richman launched the Avielle Foundation. The mission was to prevent violence.

But, that outreach and other coping mechanisms may not have been adequate to address effectively Richman's pain. We never know what decision-making doors men and women who take their own lives open and pass through. However, given the scope of the Newtown, Connecticut tragedy, we have to assume that imprinted on Richman profound trauma.

The New York Post reports that Richman died from an apparent suicide this morning. He was age 49. His body was found in front Newtown's Town Hall. 

What should concern anyone who loves those who lost family and friends in massacres is this: The "cluster" suicide phenomenon might have taken hold. Two survivors of the Parkland carnage took their own lives recently. 

This blog passes on deep sympathy to those Jeremy Richman left behind.

Remembering "Cluster" Suicides in Kentucky - Let's Pray That Won't Play Out Among Parkland Survivors

Is suicide contagious?

Some experts contend that.

So, the parents and other loved ones of the Parkland Massacre have much to fear.

The second survivor of that murderous day has committed suicide.

The most recent suicide is a male sophomore of Douglas High School. That occurred yesterday. His identity has not been released.

Earlier college freshman who had lost her best friend in the massacre - Sydney Aiello - also had taken her own life. She had been reported to have experienced "survivor guilt" and been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder.

Here are more details from the media. 

There is such a phenomenon as "cluster suicides."

One example had been the approximately dozen middle aged trial lawyers who took their own lives in Kentucky. Here is the media coverage.

Another example are the student "leapers" at New York University. Here is the media coverage.

Parkland survivors who feel overwhelmed with emotion should recognize they have many resources. Among them is the 24-hour free hotline manned by Samaritans - 212-673-3000. The human beings who answer calls know how to listen, give the person in pain space, and are gentle with making recommendations. 

This blog passes along deep compassion for all those whose loved ones chose suicide. Several members of my family embraced self-deliverance. 

Substance Abuse Standard in American Culture - And, Some, Such as Jeff Adachi, Will Die From It

Maybe it's leveraged as a form of self-medication.

Often, it's simply a source of fun. 

And, there are theories about addiction.

For whatever reasons, what's labeled "substance abuse" has become standard in American culture. The form of the substance can be illegal and legal drugs, alcohol, food, and tobacco. 

Given that, premature deaths have to be expected. That's just that.

The medical examiner ruled the death of San Francisco public defender Jeff Adachi the result of a combination of cocaine and alcohol toxicity.

He had been a superhero as the legal advocate for the wrongly accused. For example, he prevented illegal immigrant Jose Zarate from being convicted of murder. At one time he even ran to be mayor of San Francisco. Here are more details form the LA Times. 

On March 19th, in the lesser known circles of Youngstown, Ohio Metro area recovery fellowships, a 30-year-old beautiful, brilliant, high-energy woman died. Cover stories quickly emerged to protect her family. But everyone knew. Death is commonplace in such niches in society. 

It's naïve to express shock that those with so much going for them will cave to what could take their lives. And along the way eat away at their professional success, nest egg, relationships, sense of self, and health. 

Different eras in the history of mankind have their own kill-offs. During the time of America revolutionary John Adams, it was small pox. When I was a child it was heart disease. After the popularity of substance abuse peaks and is over, it will be something else. 

May Jeff Adachi rest in peace.

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com. 

 

JD Class of 2019, Lawyers W/0 Book of Business, et al. - The End Could Be Near

It is about 20 to 2 PM New York Time. So, yes, the DOW has time to bounce back.

But, right now it has dropped more than 360 points.

And right now, members of the JD Class of 2019 who haven't yet landed jobs, lawyers without a book of business, the over-50 who are targets for layoffs during economic downturns, and those in changing industries such as digital media should be scared.

In the legal sector alone, a recession can eliminate 10,250 jobs. 

The end of the recovery can be near.

There are essentially two triggers for the DOW plunge, explains MarketWatch.

One is that microeconomic data in the U.S. and Europe showed negative signs.

The other is that the yield curve inverted for the first time since 2007. That could signal a recession.

That recession could be severe if consumers do extreme belt-tightening. After all about 70% of GDP growth is generated by consumers.

Precedent shows that consumers can quickly shake off conspicuous consumption. During the global downturn of 2008, women who needed professional attire discovered Goodwill retail and higher end consignment stores. Applications to subsidized housing soared. Parents directed their offspring away from the college of their choice to state ones. 

For several weeks, businesses dealing with job searches have been sending me additional assignments. Their best sources presented the documentation that a recession could be due.

Meanwhile, even if the DOW has another boom soon, we have become scarred by the roller-coaster. Spending, both by businesses and individuals, has become more cautious. Corporations could back off from launching bet the ranch litigation. 

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com. 

Baby-Faced Alleged Grifter Anna Delvey Hasn't Paid Bill to Perkins Coie, Gibson Dunn, and Lowenstein Sandler

Anna Sorokin aka Anna Delvey may be the baby-faced version of Elizabeth Holmes, founder of Theranos. 

The focus of Delvey's trial in New York is the $275,000 she allegedly managed to steal from credit card companies, banks, hotels, and travel firms.

But, the story that has captivated the world as well as Netflix and HBO producers is how she allegedly also bilked major law firms. They had represented her in various transactions such as securing financing for a Park Avenue South rental in Manhattan. 

As Dan Packel reports in Law.com, this 20-something female allegedly has not paid:

Perkins Coie $160,000 

Gibson Dunn $65,000

Lowenstein Sandler $30,000.

She presented herself to law firms as a German heiress.  When the fee hadn't been paid, she told them that she had wired the funds but that they would take several days to clear in New York.

Shame on the law firms. They continued to do work for her instead of nicely saying they would continue on the assignment when the funds did arrive.

Some contend that law firms were so easily tricked because this Delvey character constituted new business they had developed. They were not going to risk losing it. So, magical thinking took over.

New business development is important to each lawyer in the firm. That's because of two reasons. One, it factors into their total compensation. And, two, it will help determine whether they will continue to hold their jobs or be pushed out for not bringing in enough business. 

The irony is that in the 21st century the practice of law had supposedly evolved into a brutal business. No longer was it a profession. Yet, as Packel notes, lawyers still focus mostly on the legal tasks, not the law firm business involved. 

This could change - and fast.

It took getting stiffed for me to transform into Total Business. The two in the non-payment loop were Rodney Burrell of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Romeo Spino, founder of Stratas.

Eventually, because I pulled out all stops, I was paid via Burrell. The tipping point in that happening might have been my blogging about the experience. Here is one of the blog posts. However, the collection agency, of course, took their commission and I remain traumatized until today. 

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com. 

Mergers = Big Business for Law Firms, But Most Fail: Will Disney + 21st Century Fox Become "Iger's Folly"

Mergers create redundancies. That's why employees fear them. The new entity doesn't need two legal departments or two investor relations units.

However, mergers provide high-margin transactional assignments for law firms. And more businesses are engaging in them to scale - or simply survive in a hyper competitive marketplace.

According to Deadline Hollywood, the deal that brings together Disney and 21st Century Fox, though, could result in 4,000 layoffs. 

As yet, the brass at both companies have not meet with employees to explain where and when the manpower cuts will occur. So, although the deal's architect Bob Iger is doing all kinds of positive spin, employees are likely to be mighty anxious.

Actually, Iger himself should be quaking inside.

Depending on who's doing the counting, 50% to 85% of mergers fail. Not often is new value created and along the way the old value can be destroyed. Recall when Compaq merged with HP. Disaster. Things didn't turn out too hot either for the Time Warner and AOL merger. 

It is rare that the planned synergy (1+1 = 3) pans out. Usually it's simply too hard to fuse distinct cultures, political power systems, and even technologies. Meanwhile, the employees in both companies are on the brink of hysteria. This is usually captured in their anonymous comments on Glassdoor.

Given the high cost of the Disney and 21st Century Fox merger, this one will be closely watched by constituencies ranging from management consulting firms to the media. If it doesn't get off the ground it could become known as "Iger's Folly."

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com. 

Grandson of Late Marc Rich - Kai Schachter - Takes His Own Life, at Age 19

Kai Schachter's calling as an artist in London was being heard both there and in the U.S. His art work was being exhibited. That's progress for a 19 year old.

What else he had going for him was this: He was the grandson of the wealthy, influential Denise Rich and her late husband Marc Rich. Some might recall then-U.S. president Bill Clinton issued a pardon for Marc. That was controversial because there was speculation it constituted a pay to get off the hook Machiavellian machination. 

Yet, those edges in life didn't prevent his taking his own life in London. As the Daily Mail reports, there is conjecture he was despondent over a romance which derailed. 

But, no one knows what happens in the decision-making process of a human being who successfully commits suicide.

They don't return to tell us.

Perhaps because of the mystery involved, the deaths can haunt us forever. The first suicide I had to struggle to process was the hanging of a high school classmate. It was his first semester at a Manhattan university. Like Kai, he seemed to have everything going for him. 

In addition, of course, high-profile professional players such as Kate Spade, Gabriel MacConaill, and most recently Alan Krueger also took their own seemingly perfect lives. 

Can researchers drop their rigid mindsets and try out radical hypotheses about the underlying causes and triggers for suicide? So much published in the media for us laypeople had seemed stuffed with platitudes.

Meanwhile, those who feel hope slipping away can contact at any time of the night or day, free, the Samaritans help line - 212-673-3000. The human being who answers listens.

Usually a few minutes into the call those in such pain recognize that they are being acknowledged - and respond. They have something to grab onto, for at least another day.

By the next day they could find their way out of what I have a hunch is an alternate reality. Deep states of clinical depression can precipitate psychosis.

This blog expresses profound sympathy to those who loved Kai Schacter. Several members of my family took their own lives. 

Fox and Jones Day - The Trump Association

Today Disney closes the deal. It is purchasing, for $71.3 billion, 21st Century Fox assets.

And, according to Gabriel Sherman's analysis in Vanity Fair, that means the Lachlan Murdoch era hicks off at Fox News.

Here is the bombshell in Sherman's take: Lachlan, as CEO of Fox, could see his role as getting that television network ready for sale. It could be too small a business entity to operate as a stand-alone. 

Sherman is highly credible. For years he had been the go-to journalist for information and insight on both the founder of Fox News - Roger Ailes - and Fox itself. He had developed a deep pipeline of sources within Fox. Not everyone was a loyal Ailes soldier.

In 2014, Sherman published that negative best-selling Ailes biography "The Loudest Voice in the Room."

That seemed so threatening to those in the Ailes allies loop, that Ailes' personal public relations representative Bob Dilenschneider plowed $15k in publicity, on a supposed stealth basis, for a vanity biography.

Intended as a distraction, the Machiavellian move backfired. When the Dilenschneider caper was outed by the media, both Sherman and his book received even more attention. It was the must-read. However, it contained only a hint of possible sexual misconduct by Ailes. That was to be a whole other story which precipitated the end of Ailes.

Sherman still has unique sources within Fox. What they tell him is that Lachlan might have been waiting until the close of the Disney deal to start reshaping Fox. To do so when the deal was still in play could have attracted the retaliation of Donald Trump. And, according to Sherman, Lachlan, as well as other Murdochs, is not a devoted Trump supporter. 

The reshaping would be in the direction of a reduction of alt-right aka pro-Trump rhetoric from Jeanine Pirro, Sean Hannity, and Lou Dobbs. The Fox brand would become more middle-ground - and appeal to a larger group of potential buyers. 

Meanwhile, though, Lachlan knows the network has to make scale revenues and profits. Advertisers, Sherman tells us, have been complaining about the seemingly too-close Trump association. Money talks. And that advertiser unhappiness could have become the new loudest voice in the room. The voices at Fox supporting Trumpism could become muted.

There is speculation that the shift from hard right to middle will motivate Hannity to leave. Conservative media is big. He is also big. He could find a high-paying home elsewhere. But others such as Pirro and Dobbs could wind up as symbols of a time long passed. Will they be forced out and be unable to land comparable work? They are also aging on air personalities. Age bias is very real in glam professions such as media. 

The Murdochs are very smart. They might be anticipating the end of the Trump Administration and want to duck being crushed by it.

On the other hand, the collapse of Trump Everything could hurt the Jones Day law firm brand. It has become the go-go counsel for so many legal matters involving Trumpism.

Former White House head lawyer Don McGhan, who had been a Jones Day partner, has returned to Jones Day. About a dozen former Jones Day lawyers hold jobs in federal government. That might be labeled "The Jones Daying of U.S. government."

Takeaway: What happens at Fox could be a microcosm about what could shift in the U.S. brand of conservatism. 

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com. 

Keeping It Out of Family Court - coParenter App

Family court not only can be an emotional sinkhole for parents slugging out details of custody. It is expensive. For each motion a parent might pony up $250 to $500.

An app, available on a subscription basis, can reduce the stress and the cost. That's coParenter. One subscription option is just under $200 for a year for both parents to use - and share the cost There are also subscription plans for just one parent. Here is the story on TechCrunch.

What co-founder of coParenter - Hon. Sherrill A. Ellsworth - observed was that about 80% of the matters coming in Family Court didn't require intervention. So, with tech entrepreneur Jonathan Verk, she set out to develop an app which would manage those issues and prevent others from escalating into a matter for family court. 

As some technies already know, coParenter isn't a breakthrough creation. There are other apps in the niche. They range from AppClose to CustodyConnection.

What differentiates coParenter is that the one app is sort of a one-stop shop for managing custody whatevers. In addition, it's programmed to act as a kind of meditator. For example, if the language parents are using seems inflammatory, the app will ask them something along the lines of: Do you really want to use that term? Often human beings aren't aware that they are losing control. 

Among what coParenter facilitates is:

•  Communications
• Documentation
• Expense tracking
• Scheduling, including ability to change the schedule
•  Location based information such as where to pick up and leave off
•  Information sharing about decisions about daily matters such as the child's menu for the day.

The bread and butter business of family lawyers has been threatened before, of course. Increasingly, those in disputes are going it pro se. Only when they hit a legal wall do they turn to lawyers. That has made it necessary for lawyers to create a la carte menus for services. 

However, this app signals all those practicing law how vulnerable a niche may be to technology. 

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com.