Law And More

Landlord Nation - Post-COVID-19 New World Order Can End Housing Insecurity

"Eventually the rent will be due …" - Mary Cunningham, Fellow at Urban Institute, April 7, 2020. Here is her study.

According to Cunningham's research, about 11 million low-income people in the U.S. won't be able to pay their rent on a sustained basis. As a progressive think tank, the Urban Institute advocates policies addressing what now goes by the label "housing insecurity." If no policy action is taken, homelessness can surge.

The unemployment triggered by COVID-19 has worsened housing insecurity. But the situation has been around ever since the cost of renting kept going up, often more quickly than wages in a geographic area. 

For instance, a study by Clever found that 1960, rental expense rose 72% or 2.7 times faster than household income. 

Even anecdotal evidence shows that America seems to have become Landlord Nation. Since fewer people can afford to own their homes, there are more renters. That has transformed the overall shelter situation into a landlord market. In many states there is no cap on the percentage that monthly rent can be boosted at lease-renewal time. In too many rental complexes, the sheriff arrives and he/she doesn't ring twice. The eviction notice is posted. 

From the get-go with the industrious Puritans, America has been about success. Because of Landlord nation, that concept is being retrofitted to denote the simple ability to pay the rent. That's unambiguous. Rent can be paid on time or not paid. 

When there is no need for special negotiations with the property manager, those people are often perceived as solid citizens. When there have to be frequent pleas for extensions and a history of late payments, those leasing can find themselves being informally classified as "trouble." If they are eventually evicted there can be a sigh of relief in the complex.  Those "troublemakers" are gone.

A positive side effect and part of the new order of COVID-19 could be a surge of initiatives for affordable housing - or making what is already in the housing stock more affordable. 

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Reflections on Whistleblowing as Linda Tripp Reportedly Is on Deathbed

Whistleblowing is not necessarily an act of supreme courage, driven by a sense of what's right. 

It could represent strategic grenade-throwing as had been the case with conservative Linda Tripp. Now that she is reportedly on the death bed, overdue is a comprehensive review of all whistleblowing. 

To begin with, it shouldn't be positioned and packaged as an instinctive noble act, analogous to jumping in the path of a train to rescue a child who had fallen onto the tracks.

Instead, it's represents a complex decision with both anticipated and unexpected consequences. 

Some "of a certain age" will recall Sharron Watkins who was the internal whistleblower at Enron. She informed the head Ken Lay of the strange accounting. Along the way to being saluted as a hero she had to contract legal help, was isolated, had her job responsibilities reduced, and later hit walls in being hired for work post-Enron.

Had she known the full extent of the consequences she might have done what most did back then and still do: Keep quiet and look for another job. Since then, of course, laws have been passed to protect and even reward whistleblowers. That kicked off with Sarbanes-Oxley.

More recently has been the whistleblowing by Susan Fowler. It focused on alleged sexual misconduct and other inappropriate workplace behavior at her former employer Uber. She did that in a now-famous blog post. It's contended that the outing of what was allegedly going down at Uber brought down its head Travis Kalanick. 

Like myriad whistleblowers, Fowler has been saluted.

But, interestingly her book Whistleblower, published February 18, 2020, has not caught fire. On Amazon, at least today at 3:40 P.M. ET it ranks 41,839 in terms of hard copies and 60,413 in terms of Kindle. It only has 53 reader reviews. Essentially it is a memoir.

In contrast, Demi Moore's memoir "Inside Out," although published way back on September 24, 2019, ranks on Amazon at 1,751. It has 2401 reader reviews. 

Some things just don't hang right about whistleblowing. In reading Fowler's book I wondered if she had been naïve in what she expected in the workplace, how she handled it, and her decision to later blow the whistle after she had secured other employment.

Meanwhile, although it isn't fashionable to speak ill of the dead, when Tripp dies, many probably will. That trend started in 2018 when the family of Kathleen Dehmlow published a negative paid obituary. 

UPDATE:

Linda Tripp died today. The New York Post provides details.

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Lateral Market - Wrong Hiring Could Sink Leadership's Credibility During COVID-19

What's obvious is that in many law firms partners are suffering.

There have been delays and cuts on draw.

Also, as is well known, there are myriad tactics to force partners out.

In turn, those partners know that there is a currently a target on their back if they are not pulling in the billable hours and new business.

So, in general, the law firm environment is not welcoming to the risk of hiring a high-priced lateral.

Often the expectation on the brandname's part is for a guaranteed lucrative compensation for a number of years. Few law firms can afford to take on that kind of financial commitment in The Time of Coronavirus.

Yes, as Roy Strom points out in Bloomberg, there have been some high-profile lateral hires. The one which has received the most attention has been Wilkie Farr & Gallagher hiring former Jenner & Block chairman Craig Martin (along with five partners). That was to establish a Chicago office. 

Aside from that, most lateral hiring presents a risk for both the financials of a the law firm and the branding/careers of the leadership. If the ROI for the hire doesn't pan out, the trouble so many law firms are encountering right now can be worsened exponentially. 

Another obstacle is that the hiring process has to be virtual. Nuances of chemistry might not be able to be picked up. So those in charge of hiring are, in essence, flying blind on the social fundamentals of the deal. In-person, it would be immediately obvious through vibrations if X or Y could fit with the culture and work effectively with others in that practice.

The deals which had been started before the world economic slowdown, then COVID-19 have closed or will be closing. But not many new ones have been put in play.

One elephant in the room about the lateral market is what David Lat will encounter when fully recovered from his near-death experience with COVID-15.

That has been a major media event, even being featured on "Nightline." Several months ago, Lat took the leap from his career in media to joining Lateral Link as a recruiter and managing director of its New York office. 

Before that, Lat's brand had been that he had founded the out-of-the-box legal news site Abovethelaw.com. Its edge was its sources. Junior lawyers and law students continually sent along anonymous tips. Therefore the site could break news. Within that niche, Lat became a star.

That was then.

One wonders how he can develop a brand in lateral recruiting when:

1) The publicity for his battle with COVID-19 hammers his media background, that is, as founder of ATL. A hardened brand identity can interfere with the launch of a new one. Incidentally, multiple branding identities have presented problems for those with side hustles. Here is my article published on what I labeled "mutt branding."

2) He is missing out on the dynamics of the changing legal market because, as "Nightline" communicated, his road to recovery is slow. Chronicling his saga in the media may or may not be a plus. Future prospects and others in the loop may or may not perceive this development as what they want to be associated with. 

3) On a dime, the lateral market has changed. When Lat parachuted in, it was strong. Now it isn't. And now is what brings in the income to pay the bills.

Meanwhile, right now covering the legal sector is a boom business for both journalists and bloggers. There is so much material that it is difficult to choose what to include in the day's wrap-up. One especially useful source has been Pin Hawk Law Firm Marketing Brief. It is published by Joseph Lamport. 

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For Whom The Moving Van Comes: It Comes For Thee (over-50 staff, lawyers, law professors)

Relocation for the over-50 has become increasingly an issue. And an urgent one. That's especially the situation for aging legal staff, lawyers, and (highly paid) law professors. Everything law is in play. 

Even before the current COVID-19 unemployment crisis research documented that the aging worker can bet on losing that good job and, even worse, not landing a replacement which pays comparable compensation. Currently, that probability has increased exponentially.

The bottom line: Those aging living in pricey metro areas and suburbs likely can't afford that lifestyle any more. Relocation is a have-to. That applies:

If you throw in the towel and retire

Decide to semi-retire

Resolve to keep working by establishing a new identity where aging bias isn't so severe such as in Arizona

Launch a business geared to another geographical location. It could be all you need is another $35k. And you can live well.

For you, that relocation, after the decision is made to do it, might seem like a simple transaction: Sell the house or fulfill the lease, pack or sell the material belongings, and go. Enjoy the adventure, right. 

That's not the way it plays out. The process is complex. And, believe me, not an adventure.

My relocation, which finally ended with my move to Toledo, Ohio, has been a strange journey.

That kicked in during April 2014. The writing was on the wall: It was impossible to make ends meet in the New York Metro area. Simultaneously it was increasingly possible to operate my two boutiques remotely. They were and are communications and coaching services. 

I chose Tucson, Arizona. The trip there, the apartment, and the establishment of telecommuting businesses all went according to plan. My fixed expenses dropped more than a half. Emotionally and spiritually it was a relief to be away from the careerism of the Northeast Corridor.

Then a very strange thing developed.

The past, by way of former college classmate Kathleen Huebner, became an unwanted presence.

It arrived in the positioning and packaging labeled "concern." My my. There is that old-fashioned adage that advice is criticism delivered in a velvet glove. 

Perhaps Huebner et al., who had been a mover and shaker in the field of vision impairment, had regretted retirement and buying a house in a retirement development.

Perhaps Huebner and the rest had a festering resentment against me. In itself that's a major reason to duck creatures reaching back from the past. 

Or maybe they were just bored. 

That shouldn't have derailed the relocation train. But it did.

Huebner was the only person I knew in the Tucson metro area. Made vulnerable by the move, I was excessively shaken. Lesson learned: Be totally protective of yourself when parachuting into a new geographical location and lifestyle. You have been stripped of your usual defenses. 

The next lesson learned during this unusual journey is that none of us, at least once over-5o, is as flexible as we assume in our heads to be.

Within 6 months of the transition to southwest AZ, I was homesick for east. But at the same time I couldn't afford The East I had known.

Internet research turned up that I could get back to 4 seasons at an affordable price (and leave the ghost of Huebner behind) in Youngstown, Ohio. Nice try, but, as the cliché goes, no cigar. In Youngstown, there was not enough to do and even less so once the economy tanked after GM shuttered the Lordstown plant.

The lesson learned there was this: Be willing to tweak a decision.

OH was okay. But not Youngstown.

I did, though, hang out there too long, not willing to admit there needed to be one more uprooting.

Since September 2019, I have been based in Toledo, OH. It's perfect. Even more affordable than Tucson and Youngstown, with a world-class museum, several top universities within an hour, and people so much like the ones I had to leave in 2014.

What I am celebrating this month is plenty. Here are just a few things on the Hurrah List:

•  I got out. "Everyone said" I would lose my earning capability if I left the New York Metro area. Yet, I was able to bypass the oppressive opinion of everyone. Yesyesyes, the answers are all within ourselves.
•  I had the insight and strength to ditch Huebner and the rest of the members of the Class of 1967 who were indeed so eager to help me out. There doesn't have to be any loyalty to those who had been in our little lives at a very different time. Maybe the college diplomas should have a disclaimer: These people can be hazardous to your growth. 
•  I surrendered to the reality of aging that adjustment is a tough nut to crack.
•  I forgave myself for errors of judgment along the way. Self-forgiveness is everything. Among the monsters of the mind is regret. Don't go near that hell.
•  I paid off all debt, piled funds into an investment portfolio, and rolled back my medical-test number to "healthy." 
•  It was smart to drive back to New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut twice. I had to get it that all that had changed, without me. Those locations were no longer "home." At least, no longer mine. 
•  Somehow, an inner peace I hadn't experienced since childhood took hold of me. As Don Draper from "Mad Men" articulated in the Kodak pitch, the transition from being a child to an almost-adult is fraught with pain. So many of us, like me, hadn't shaken the pain. The strange trauma of relocation made it necessary to take the leap into who I was now. The pain lifted. 

In the new Post-COVID-19 world order, the moving van will cometh for more and more of us. What we need to put it in is the willingness to develop a fresh understanding of who we can become and what we need to start on the next phase of the journey. It's not what we expect. 

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Law Firm Staff and Other Endangered Species - Universal Basic Income, Retraining, Rethinking All Modes of Instruction

Yes, lives are being lost. So are jobs.

But, the preoccupation is with the longer-term impact of COVID-19 on global and U.S. employment security. 

The UN, reports BusinessInsider, predicts that in Q2, globally 195 million full-time jobs will go poof. 

As we know from other disruptive economic times, some of those jobs may not come back. Will new kinds replace them? Maybe not, in this era of Artificial Intelligence.

So, let's look at implications. 

Universal Basic Income (UBI) provides commonsense financial and social solutions. 

There can be myriad ways of understanding UBI. In this time of disappearing jobs UBI can indicate providing guaranteed income, much like Social Security, to those who opt out of doing what provides income. There are no strings with UBI. 

But the vision for UBI is that those receiving the regular payments will focus on artistic pursuits, volunteering, and organized public works such as building habitats for the low income. 

UBI can prevent social unrest.

Retraining those in hardest-hit sectors such as retail, hospitality, and law-firm staff.

No one has to be a McKinsey management consultant to recognize that in the Post-COVID-19 world order businesses will restructure to (hopefully) prevent another collapse. Since manpower is usually the highest expense the types and numbers of employees and contract workers will be reviewed. 

Those knocked out of the box were probably already an endangered species because of technology. Just look at the self-check-outs in retail, online transactions in hospitality, and remote practice of law.

Retraining can be a national initiative. That will be labeled as making a living "just-in-time." There will be no messaging that the new path will be a permanent one.

Higher education has to conduct a come-to-jesus review about what it is providing its consumers for so much money. 

The tip of the iceberg is the debate about if and how much tuition should be refunded because of the shift from in-person to online instruction. The bigger issue is: What exactly are consumers of higher education receiving?

With students forced to leave campus, the traditional "college experience" as a rite of passage could lose its hold on the nation.

Soon enough what could come down is the assumption that a college degree is necessary for success in the work world. A strengthened public school K-12 system can eliminate the need for much of what is provided in college. The rest can be delivered as-needed.

Much of that can be learned online. Since 2008, most of concepts and technology I needed and still need to master for operating my two communications I picked up online. In the past three weeks I got down cold how to ride and maintain my new motorcycle through instructional videos on YouTube.

As those macro matters are considered and debated, on the individual level we should follow the advice of journalist Ana Marie Cox. On social networks she tells each one of us to pat our selves on the back for getting through yet another day of the Year of COVID-19.

UPDATE:

BusinessInsider reports that Spain is establishing permanent basic income.

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May Rent - Myth that Blue Collars Are Working

It could be through the financial help of his mother who is telecommuting from home for a law firm that Rafael Nunez will be able to pay his May rent. That's even though his girlfriend will also be chipping in.

So much of the media attention has been on getting through the April rent. 

But May rent is now on the list of angst items. 

The strange wrinkle in this Nunez saga is that he's an essential worker.

Actually he's in the category of what might be considered the Blue Collar Elite: plumbing. The assumption is that he would be thriving, while one-third or more of the workforce is suffering. 

But that, it turns out is a myth, reports MarketWatch.

Blue collar essential workers like Nunez don't have enough assignments at the company where he is employed. The usual jobs involve handling the plumbing tasks for custom houses and apartments. Also, through his skills he has access to side hustles. 

The reality is that in this health/economic crisis demand has fallen off. 

There will be less joking that the unemployed/underemployed Ph.D. in English Literature or lawyer should have trained to be a plumber or some other skilled trade.

That latter includes servicing automobiles. A neighbor whose line of work is repairing cars at a dealership feels lucky to hold onto his job, even though his hours have been reduced. Because of the stay-at-home mandate fewer folks are using their cars and those using them are doing that less. The odds are that not so much will go wrong with those vehicles.

Many such as Henry Kissinger are projecting a new world order post-COVID-19. The Wall Street Journal featured Kissinger's thought leadership commentary on the end of what was. 

That new world order could mean the end of standard clichés about work. The future of work - blue collar, white collar, full-time with benefits, and gig - is in play.

Some of those knocked out of the box during the pandemic and some who never got in (as with those holding doctorates in the humanities and some members of the JD Class of 2020) may never work again or enter the workforce. 

Meanwhile, pontificating about what's related to work will make those arrogant no-nothings be labeled as pre-COVID-19. No one can anticipate, not fulling, what work will be available, how it will be done, where it will be done, and how much it will pay. 

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Norton Rose Fulbright Positions International Cost-Cutting as "Pre-emptive"

What's on the balance might not be as important to branding and new business development as how that is positioned and packaged.

This is the era of extreme public relations.

The brand is the message.

And the message is the business. 

So, it's expected that Norton Rose Fulbright puts its cost-cutting in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia as "pre-emptive measures." Law.com reports that they include:

Outreach to staff for reduction of hours/pay for a year. That would entail a 20% cut in compensation. If enough opt in, the program will be effective April 20th.

Deferred partner distributions.

Deferred salary raises.

Deferred bonuses.

Because of technology, staff functions have become increasingly threatened. With remote work becoming standard many of those positions could become downright obsolete. If staff accept NRF's proposal, they know they have jobs for at least a year.

Deferrals send a message of optimism. Underlying that arrangement is the expectation that the financial threats will lessen and business as usual will return.

However, thought thinkers such as Henry Kissinger are projecting a whole new order of things post-COVID-19. The Wall Street Journal published Kissinger's manifesto.

The play-out of a whole new order should be no surprise.

Human beings are the ones who shape institutions. Those human beings have been forever changed by this pandemic. It's common sense that this generation of leaders, managers, workers, parents, and consumers will trigger an upheaval in the status quo.

That's what the Ok, boomers can now understand about their grandparents who had lived through being able to enter the U.S. at Ellis Island, the Spanish Flu, and The Great Depression. That generation, whacked three times, traveled with darkness. 

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Is Cutting Your Fee/Price Patriotic? - Honeywell Requests 30% Reductions from Some Vendors

Save the economy.

That's the subhead on the U.S. campaign to save the lives of those infected with the novel coronavirus.

So, price/fee cuts could be positioned and packaged as downright patriotic. You bet, they are in the public interest. 

If corporations such as Honeywell play it smart they can orchestrate initiatives for extreme reductions in whatever from vendors.

Already, reports MarketWatch, Honeywell has requested that some of its suppliers cut prices by as much as 30%. In addition, it is asking for extended payment terms. 

Meanwhile, law firms such as Venable, are struggling to save lawyer jobs through pay cuts. At Venable, the interesting wrinkle on that is that the cuts are sliding scale. Interestingly, Venable states such a measure is "proactive." That is, it is sending the message that it isn't acting because of any financial distress but because of an abundance of caution. 

Branding, sales, attractiveness as a merger partner, the ability to attract talent - all of these depend on how businesses, including those in the legal loop, are messaging during this global economic crisis. 

What is in the public interest has become the loudest voice in the room.

Saving the economy is in the public interest.

Saving companies is in the public interest.

Saving the jobs of lawyers is in the public interest. 

As the old saying goes, crisis is opportunity. Organizations can gain high brand equity by doing what's in the public interest and communicating that in a way that engages. For many law firms, the latter is a tough nut to crack. They tend to turn inward and focus on themselves. The communications come across as self-serving. 

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Transition to Post-COVID-19 World Order: For Whom the Bell Tolls

"The reality is that world will never be the same after the coronavirus." - Henry Kissinger, The Wall Street Journal, April 3, 2020. 

In parts of the world, such as the United States, the coronavirus hasn't yet peaked. But thought leaders already are communicating the urgent need for nations as well as individuals to prepare for The Next. That post-COVID-19 world order will be a new one. 

Henry Kissinger is just one among many who are warning about the need for fresh mindsets, policies, and actions once the dust settles. A popular article in The Atlantic is by science journalist Ed Yong. He anticipates the shift to be so profound that babies born during the pandemic will be entering such as different global, national, and local culture that they should be called "Generation C."

What Kissinger advocates includes:

•  New techniques and technologies to anticipate and manage infections
•  What it takes to heal the world economy
•  Protecting the principles of the liberal world order. 

In the legal sector, the shift in values is already happening. Unlike the kneejerk large reductions-in-force of 2008 - 2009, the majority of large and midsize firms are pulling out all stops to prevent layoffs. They range from delaying the partner draws to pay cuts across the board.

Because of the extreme suffering triggered by COVID-19, finally there could be a softening of capitalism. 

Currently, law firms can enhance their Brandnames not so much by wins for clients.

Instead, their leadership can emerge as the new kinds of Global Good Guys through embracing and practicing the values articulated by John Donne in 1624.

Back then, Donne published his iconic poem "No Man Is an Island." The takeaway line is:

" ... Never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

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Clark Hill - The New Usual is Optimistic Positioning & Packaging of Cost-Cutting

Am Law 200 firm Clark Hill joins the myriad other players with its cost-cutting announcement.

In the spirit and language of the new usual it positions and packages that with optimism. The initiatives are delivered in a wrapper labeled "temporary." Most sensible people have given up on the magical thinking that COVID-19 will go poof and disappear any time soon and that its impacts will be, well, temporary.

Thought leader The Atlantic is jam-packed with commentary on the post-coronavirus world order. Here is just one of the articles. In it, Ed Yong sees the shift as so profound that babies born during the pandemic will live in a world so different that they should be anointed "Generation C." 

Abovethelaw covers the measures Clark Hill has taken. They include:

•  Furloughs 
•  Pay reductions
•  Freeze on discretionary spending
•  Suspension of the employer contribution to 401k.

Instead of those initiatives being lifted, the odds are that to them will be added more drastic mandates for cost-control. Time will not be kind to many law firms.

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