Law And More

BU Trademarks @fckitwontcutit

The fundamental of marketing is to identify and figure out how to appeal to the mindset of the target market. The language is especially important. 

In the serious matter of protecting university students from the coronavirus, the stakes are high in that.  As BusinessInsider documents, across the U.S., young adults are being affected the most by the pandemic. 

So, what is being done?

Boston Magazine reports that the Boston University student-run AdLab and PR Lab came up with a bold experiment. The objective of the campaign is to shake students returning to campus out of their denial about the high contagiousness of COVID-19. It embodies how students think and actually talk.

The meme is: F*ck It Won't Cut It or @fckiwontcutit. The brass in administration has approved it. Yes, BU has trademarked it. 

Of course, this innovation is news in the global distressed industries of advertising and public relations. There is bound to be plenty of chatter.

But the bottom line, as in all marketing, is the question: Does this dog hunt?

Will students dutifully maintain social distancing, wear masks and maintain hand hygiene? Or will BU have the same amount of COVID-19 infections and deaths as campuses not embracing such a cool type of warning?

However, that could all be mere speculation about results. 

The game might never be played or not for long. BU can decide against reopening or shut down campus pronto after opening. After all, many schools at Harvard, including the Law School, have gone total remote in instruction for the fall semester.

Time will tell. But time is not on the side of those vulnerable to the virus. At the top of the list are young adults. Gen Z and the youngest of Millennials could be wiped out.

Place your paid sponsored content on this blog. Here are 6 tips for search engine optimization (SEO) in 2020. Contact janegenova374@gmail.com.

Not the Lawyer You Used to Be - Lifequakes & Story Time

"I don't know who I am."

That's how people in transition usually sum up how they feel. Lawyers who had depended on their work to have an identity usually feel especially dismal when there could be change. Or the change has already happened. Those upheavals range from a stealth layoff to being forced into early retirement. 

But what would be more accurate and what would make moving forward less painful is if they noted "I need a new story."

We are the stories we tell about ourselves.

Both professionally and personally.

Way back when in a less chaotic era we used to call that the "elevator speech." In a sentence or two it summed up what we were about. If it concerned our professional identity, it could help our career. For instance, "I'm Joe and I help big companies sell a lot of products." 

In transition, that identity, once so solid, is shifting. In the interim and then longer term, folks can gain control of the process if they put together a fresh narrative. That tells the world where they are in their careers and personal lives. More importantly, it delivers the message to themselves that they are in-charge.

That's especially needed in what Bruce Feiler, author of "Life Is in the Transitions," has called "lifequakes" or seismic shifts. As MarketWatch reports, Feiler anticipates lifequakes to increase in number and intensity.

So, as folks sense a lifequake coming to rattle their lives to the core, a multi-dimensional tool could be conjuring up a new story.

The partner at a law firm gets it: The firm wants him out. He isn't bringing in enough new business or billing enough hours. The way to emotionally, socially, and professionally manage that experience is to capture it in a story that moves the process forward. An example? "I'm reviewing what could be Next. This is the first time in 30 years I looked up from my desk." 

A former star in public relations contacted me for a complimentary consultation on her career. She wanted another one. So typical she framed that in the narrative embedded in the past, in who she used to be. "At Corporation X, the world knew my name. I made a lot of money. The media quoted me." 

To have a shot at a Next, she had to extricate the story from the past to possibility. During four coaching sessions, she came to manage this lifequake with the story "I fix brands. That could be your personal or social brand. Or the brand of, say, Uber." That got people interested. Even before she had fully established her communications boutique she had business. 

In COVID-19, it's the rare professional, parent or retired who isn't being rattled by a lifequake.

How to start on the new story? 

Accept that what was is no longer. Then be ready to take the first few steps. Get those down in one or two sentences. Let language take charge. It's not what is happening. It's how people manage that whatever. Christians came up with the narrative of how the word was made flesh. 

Coaching, lecturing, and writing/ghostwriting thought leadership content on human resources and careers.  

For individual coaching – sliding scale fees. Complimentary initial consultation. The special area of expertise is the displaced over-50 professional. Please contact Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com.

Ageism in Labor Market Not Just U.S. Bias - Older Workers in U.K. Also Hit Hard During COVID-19

Older workers in the U.K. are, just as in the U.S., targeted for unemployment during the pandemic. 

Forbes reports that the U.K. Office of National Statistics documented that, along with predicting a surge in the overall unemployment numbers in October. This week the U.K. will probably officially declare that it is in a recession.

There are all the usual suspects for this kind of bias. At the top of the list are:

Relatively high compensation for the years of experience

Employer perception of a lack of tech savvy - and no willingness to learn new software packages

Anticipation that outdated skills will be difficult to let go of - or overall inflexibility.

The organization's fear of higher medical costs (at least in the U.S.) associated with aging.

The typical mistake the older forced out workers make as well as self-employed whose businesses collapse is this: Chasing after work in that same career path, with anticipation of the same compensation, and the same status. As a result they could be unemployed for years and drift into involuntary retirement or semiretirement.

The smart move is the willingness to start over from scratch. That could mean investing funds in retraining or becoming certified in a growth area. 

A classic example is the professional who regears for blue-collar work. One man I coached had been forced out of a middle management position in a research corporation.

Eventually he took the leap across socioeconomic classes. He invested about $7K to train to become licensed as a long-distance truck driver. After the first year on the road he had the experience to negotiate for compensation and the preferred route. Because of what he had suffered financially and emotionally when unemployed he never looked back at the context of his previous worklife. When recession hit the trucking industry he regrouped again. That entailed retraining to be an addiction counselor. That's a growth field and he's still at it. 

Experts in the working aged also recommend certification for tech jobs in manufacturing. That can be picked up at the community college in nine months. Tech doesn't necessarily mean a big job in Silicon Valley. A little tech can go a long way. 

Meanwhile, while the older displaced worker is figuring out The Next, the bills have to be paid.

In my coaching I hammer: Grab work, any kind. Not only does a job or gig assignment get you another job or gig assignment. Equally important, the socialization of how to go to work and get ahead there doesn't fade. During unemployment, if it goes on too long, it's inevitable that you're off your game. That will show up in interviews.

Here, free to download, is my book on landing, holding onto, and moving toward better work, no matter your age Download Outwitting ageism.

Will the displaced older workers ever earn what they had in their previous employment? ProPublica documented that will happen to one out of 10.

Also shift the mindset has to be from career to the ability to pay your bills. 

Also, let go of memories of star performance in the former work situation. It's universal: They were hot. Then they were not. Sure, there could be future high-profile accomplishments. But at this stage of earning a living it's become more about simply bringing in income.

Coaching, lecturing, and writing/ghostwriting thought leadership content on human resources and careers.  

For individual coaching – sliding scale fees. Complimentary initial consultation. The special area of expertise is the displaced over-50 professional. Please contact Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

WFH Associates, Law Students, Legal Journalists, and Marketers - Broken Supply Chains (and those could get lots worse)

It happens all the time.

You are working on an urgent assignment at home during the night.

The printer sends the signal "low cartridge."

Very soon, when you press "print," blank sheets come out.

So, you check the internet for opening times for office supply stores as well as chain drug stores which carry e-supplies. Mission accomplished. Tired but relieved you return to the assignment.

That was then.

Such a happy ending rarely if ever plays out in inventory-challenged coronavirus times.

Whether you are shopping for a printer cartridge, the printer itself, an adult bicycle (there are plenty around for kids, new and used), or no-calorie I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray, you might not find it. Yes, you're out of luck, for the time being.

This time, yesterday morning, I was lucky. I frame that as "Tender Mercies."

Three weeks ago I went to Best Buy and several non-office-supply retailers which have an e-section. No Number 65 ink cartridge for the HP Envy series 5055.

I went beyond the city borders.

Finally, I found two of them at an Office Max. I grabbed both. For some reason there hadn't been a limit posted about purchases. In retrospect, I realize I should have purchased all that were on the shelf.

However, I hadn't anticipated that two new assignments would entail so much research that I needed to print out and analyze.

Therefore, I would up yet again in the during-the-night pickle.

I didn't expect anything. But my first stop was Best Buy, whose shelves had been bare last week of replacement ink cartridges.

There it was.

I froze in surprise.

Then I scooped up one.

Why not more?

I was debating whether to ditch the Envy 5055. All this cartridge replacement needed at the wrong time was undoing me.

The selling point the clerk in one of those office-supply stores made about the printer was that it was not only cheap (at that time, three years ago, but isn't really cheap now). Each cartridge would only set me back about $16 a pop. Compare that with other printers whose cartridge replacement run three figures.

The joke? The Number 65 doesn't deliver much ink.

But, for now I am okay. The new assignments involve creative thought. Not research. 

As for shopping for a new printer, I don't anticipate encountering much of a selection brick and mortar. When I was at Best Buy a few weeks ago, there were none in stock and the floor models were not for sale. The only option was to order online.

But for me that really wasn't an option. Recently I had ordered from Amazon. The merchandise was shipped via USPS. Haha. Online I was notified several times that delivery was attempted but no go. I snagged the purchase by directly going to the USPS truck, with my ID, and long face.

Am now totally back to brick and mortar.

Incidentally, more tender mercies.

I finally found a woman's 24-inch bicycle to buy at the nonprofit Toledo Bike, in downtown Toledo. Earlier, I had been to designer bike shops, sports shops like Dick's, big boxes, flea markets, and Nextdoor/Craigslist for-sale sections. My mindset was: A Bike! A Bike! All my discretionary budget for a bike! 

If there is a severe second wave of COVID-19, there will be even more disruption to the supply chain. Stock up now. 

In marketing timing is everything. Complimentary consultation on your marketing communications in COVID-19 time. janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Freelance Glut, Compensation Down - How to Halt Bottom-Feeding

Those in the gig economy, including lawyers doing doc review, have noticed this: Compensation is down. Frequently dramatically. That's how it is. And it extends across almost all the sectors. 

Content-creation assignments in marketing communications, for instance, which used to pay 10-cents a word now offer 2 to 4 cents a word. And, nowhere in sight are assignments posting 20-cents per word.

You got it, it's that brutal law of supply and demand.

Bloomberg Law confirms that reality when so many jobs have vanished, perhaps permanently in Covid-19 time. Actually Bloomberg notes that users of Freelancer.com searching for work have increased 30% and of Upwork 50%.

Incidentally, since Upwork is a global platform, the compensation has always been on the low side. That's because, for example, the freelance legal writer in the U.S. is bidding for assignments along with freelance legal writers in the Philippines and India. The latter can and will bid way lower - and likely get the assignment. 

Those doing the hiring usually don't want or need the assignment done brilliantly. They just want it done. So, they expect to pay peanuts. 

What seasoned gig economy players have already done is stop hunting for assignments on those low-end platforms. They researched where they can connect with more upscale prospects.

Years ago I stopped even checking what was out there on Upwork. I invested search time on more sophisticated platforms in my field ranging from Mediabistro.com to Journalismjobs.com. 

In addition, I followed the advice of "What Color Is Your Parachute?" and pitched cold to those who might need assistance. The response is low but what does come in pays quite well. The book is available free in the public library. There are used copies on Amazon. It's a must-read. 

Also, I put myself out there on social networks. That gets my LinkedIn profile checked out. Work does come in.

Currently, I have managed to strike gold. I can turn down lower-paying assignments.

The past four weeks I have earned more revenue in that kind of time period than I had since before The Great Recession.

A big part of that was that I overhauled every aspect of how I marketed when I recognized how devastating the pandemic would be on the economy. To become more prospect-centered, I re-read "Copywriting Secrets" by Jim Edwards. The meme is that pitching is about the potential client/customer, not about us. The book also stresses the importance of headlines in how we market. 

In addition, I switched my headset to optimistic. Listening to American Buddhist nun Pema Chodron on YouTube saved me from the undertow pulling so many out to despair. Especially helpful has been her lecture on migrating from fear to fearlessness. Fear turns us inward, not outward toward the market. 

Coaching, lecturing, and writing/ghostwriting thought leadership content on human resources and careers.  

For individual coaching – sliding scale fees. Complimentary initial consultation. The special area of expertise is the displaced over-50 professional. Please contact Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com.

The Nelson Family in Elyria, OH - Norman Rockwell Never Lived Here

On Wednesday, reports Daily Mail, the entire Nelson family, including the dog, died.

That included father John Nelson, 44, his wife, 35, and their three children 12, 10, and 6. Yes, also the dog.

Law enforcement suspects that John, who worked in a nearby plastic factory, shot them all to death, then turned the gun on himself. His wife had been employed as a nurse.

This occurred in the bucolic town of Elyria, Ohio.

Its midwest ethos is straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting.

The family seemed cohesive, the daily life structured around the children's activities such as sports and cultural enrichment. 

Of course, the community is "shocked."

However, those of us who dared look beyond the Rockwell kinds of platitudes know that the Rockwell values really never existed.

Not in the Midwest.

Not on the pre-gentrified downtown Jersey City, New Jersey tenements where I came of age.

Not throughout America.

One suspects: Rockwell lived in a fantasy world he positioned and packaged in his own head. He never lived here in reality with the rest of us. 

That reality is well known not only to law enforcement but also to criminal defense lawyers.

On the beautiful Gold Coast of Connecticut, brandname lawyer Norm Pattis represented Fotis Dulos.

Dulos had been a father of five whose wife Jennifer had disappeared. That family saga ended with Dulos' apparent suicide. 

There might be fewer family implosions if the myth of extreme comfort and joy would be ditched. Living in a family structure is often one of the most dangerous settings - physically, emotionally, spiritually, and even financially. About the latter, I have coached so many hog-tied to a dysfunctional system which had held them back in their career performance. They assumed they were their families. 

Coaching, lecturing, and writing/ghostwriting thought leadership content on human resources and careers.  

For individual coaching – sliding scale fees. Complimentary initial consultation. The special area of expertise is the displaced over-50 professional. Please contact Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com.

Lawyers Who Had Been English Majors Will Recall "King Lear" - #Nobodylikesme

At one time it was okay for a student planning to apply to law school to major in English.

That was then.

But many of those former English majors are now partners. They will recall that a meme of William Shakespeare's tragic drama "King Lear" is self pity. Amid the suffering he brought on himself, the king cries out that he is more sinned against than sinning.

That mindset seems to be that of U.S. president Donald Trump.

He laments #Nobody Likes Me.

The context does not seem to an invitation for people to submit feedback. Like, the embedded content isn't a question: Why don't people like me?

Instead it reaches out for reinforcement of the speaker's perception of himself as, well, a wonderful man of the people.

Takeaway: A liberal arts education continues to have value.

In marketing timing is everything. Complimentary consultation on your marketing communications in COVID-19 time. janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Bring On Diploma Privilege - Michigan Online Bar Exam Crashes

The Diploma Privilege movement, reports Law.com, is losing momentum.

That was then.

After the Michigan online bar exam crashed so badly (the vendor is ExamSoft), the Diploma Privilege movement probably is catching fire again. 

Haven't recent graduates of law schools been through enough? 

Shift from in-person to online classes + getting kicked off campus.

No in-person pomp and circumstance they could invite their proud parents to.

A crashed job market (with the possibility of DefLand (delayed start dates becoming rescinded offers). 

And broad differences in how states are handling the bar exam in COVID-19 times.

Unfortunately for them, most bars, the kind where you can enjoy alcoholic beverages and peanuts, are closed. 

Coaching, lecturing, and writing/ghostwriting thought leadership content on human resources and careers.  

For individual coaching – sliding scale fees. Complimentary initial consultation. The special area of expertise is the displaced over-50 professional. Please contact Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com.

Consumer Beware - Non-News Story that New Lawyers Lug Around Average of $160K Student Loan Debt

Odd. It's still being put out there as "news."

Law.com posted an article about a recent American Bar Association survey of 1,000 new law graduates. What was found was this: nothing new. 

Those interviewed were dragging around, like the material possessions of the homeless, an average of $160,000 in student loan debt. That was influencing their decisions about personal rites of passage. No, there weren't going to be many families started or houses bought.

Instead of compassion, the response is more: Consumer beware. Even before the crash of the legal market in 2008 - 2009, advocate for law school students and junior lawyers - Abovethelaw - was issuing Consumer-Beware articles about those considering purchasing a law-school education or already perhaps experiencing Buyers' Remorse. 

Not new and always relevant is that investing in a law school education is a gamble.

Sure, some land the big money and the big brandname like Charles Harder and Brad Karp. Along with the influence and the power. The two are among the game-changers at the top of the legal food chain. What amazing careers. 

But many lawyers struggle to land that first job. Some of them will try to hang out a shingle. When I went to PNC in Youngstown, Ohio to ask the investment consultant to recommend a lawyer for my will, he sort of smirked. The main drag was glutted with them.

In my field of public affairs, the best slots are filled with former lawyers. On the one hand, their legal background is a great fit for highly regulated industries such as financial services and oil. On the other hand, most admit they couldn't make a decent living practicing law. 

Currently, it's assignments from businesspeople, not lawyers, which are paying the decent money. Yes, in many of them I get to leverage my knowledge of the law. But the focus is on business, not law per se. Many of the issues I deal with involve human resources and the changing employment landscape.

In contrast, with a few exceptions, my client experience with lawyers was disappointing in terms of revenue. 

Law.com and other media outlets should ditch the student-loan-burden coverage. The consumers had been warned. ATL is a popular read for the demographic which buys higher education.

Full disclosure: In my 40s and as a second career, I opted to attend Harvard Law School. I had been warned by diverse smart people not to do that. After all, I had a marketable skill - communications - which paid well.

I did it anyway. But not for long. During the 1L I left when there was an opportunity to parachute back into my original career path. No one had needed to say: I told you so. Post that error of judgment, I now listen when they tell me so. If "everyone" is saying something, maybe that something has validity. 

Coaching, lecturing, and writing/ghostwriting thought leadership content on human resources and careers.  

For individual coaching – sliding scale fees. Complimentary initial consultation. The special area of expertise is the displaced over-50 professional. Please contact Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com.

New Lawyers - Your Performance Will Probably Be Lousy, Don't Cringe Years Later (but meanwhile you'll probably be let go)

The start (of anything) usually involves lousy performance.

Yet, American-style capitalism creates the ethos of shame for those whose beginnings were predictably lousy.

Break out of that looping, recommends marketing/sales communications expert Jim Edwards. In his best-seller "Copywriting Secrets" he admits how "bad" his copy had been when he settled into that niche after bouncing around after his formal education. 

According to Edwards, bad is the platform for developing expertise which does generate results and builds great personal branding.  That is, if the player dissects that performance as well as what the competition is doing doing.

Bad could be a necessary step into genius. His initial bad management triggered Steve Jobs' later ability to save Apple and have it positioned and packaged as the go-to for digital technology. Incidentally, Jobs never seemed to be consumed with any regrets about past performance. 

Attend trials in which inexperienced lawyers are representing clients. Even non-lawyers  -educated by "Court TV" and the old-line "Law and Order" -roll their eyes.

But return in a few years and those same lawyers not only have gotten up to speed on sophisticated skills. They have presence. 

Essentially, the game is about: Professionals have to start somewhere. 

Unfortunately, amid the harshness of capitalism and the up or out system of most law firms a bad start could end not with the bang of congratulations: Look at how much you have improved. Instead it usually winds up as a whimper of extreme self-doubt by those ousted. In my coaching we walk through that corridor of shame. 

Instead, along the way newbies can bypass shame. They adopt the joyful mindset: Wow, I learned so much. And careers are about continual learning. 

Reflection: Elite institutions, whether it be a New York City law firm or a university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, are unforgiving. 

Place your paid sponsored content on this blog. Here are 6 tips for search engine optimization (SEO) in 2020. Contact janegenova374@gmail.com.