Law And More

Followers, Page Views, Likes, Comments, Shares - Even C-Span Has to Play the Social Media Game

C-Span is becoming like the rest of us: Hyper-tethered to the ongoing metrics of social media. Politico reports how it is re-thinking much of how it presents content to boost those metrics. 

Some of the pressure has come as a result of cord-cutting. Revenue from cable is less. In addition, in this attention economy C-Span has to keep figuring out how to get, hold onto, and grow the number of eyeballs. What attracts those eyeballs to C-Span is essentially the same of what attracts eyeballs to social networks such as Twitter.

What we can say to the leaders and management at C-Span is: Welcome to the game. It's one of escalating competition. Always there is a fresh presence which sucks up so much of the social media oxygen. If that occurs in one of our niches that could mean our metrics take a hit. If that happens not only can our business be affected negatively. Our confidence can also go south. 

Keeping out numbers up has been added to the must-dos for success. Yes, I check them too often. I also check how my colleagues are making out. I worry about any dip (which is usually temporary) too much. And I rejoice too wildly about a surge. 

There's no ambiguity. For professionals, not only teens, social media impacts our mental health. That's the way it is. Unlikely that will change.

Connect with Editor-in-Chief Jane Genova at janegenova374@gmail.com. 

From Crypto to Leadership - Boring Is So Back

"The crypto shake-out shows boring is back." - Financial Times, May 14, 2022.

The Wall Street Journal confirms that. Folks are bulking with with mundane certificates of deposit again. 

The same dynamic - back to boring - also could take hold in leadership. The over-the-top brash style of Elon Musk - will he or will he not purchase Twitter - has become less attractive. Way too much disruption, so much of it uncessary and not productive, has been unleashed. 

In contrast there had been the brilliant but predicable leadership ethos of former head of Disney Bob Iger. Some speculate with Disney in such turmoil, that calming force might be brought back. 

Queen Elizabeth has always been slow and steady. She has lasted 70 years in that leadership role.

On ABC, David Muir had taken over the Nation's Father role of Walter Cronkite. There for us, rather than caught up in himself. 

Reflection: Have we become wary of entities and professionals who suck up all the oxygen?

Connect with Editor-in-Chief Jane Genova at janegenova374@gmail.com.

Will Crossing the Line (yet again) with NFTs (this time) Make Madonna Relevant (yet again)?

"The 63-year-old singer [Madonna] teamed up with nonfungible token extraordinaire Beeple [Mike Winkelmann] to create a series of X-rated graphics showing her fully nude and giving birth to butterflies, insects and trees. Called 'Mother of Creation,' the NFT collection, which will be sold for charity, also includes a 3D model of Madonna’s vagina ..." - New York Post, May 11, 2022.

Age per se doesn't knock you out of the relevance box.

Clint Eastwood and the late Betty White had reset their careers as they entered old age. Yes, a lot of folks are putting the knock on David Boies as a leader/manager. But at 81, reports Reuters Legal, he is still relevant as a litigator. Recently he won a case he argued before the US Supreme Court. 

What puts the kibosh on relevance for an aging entity, human or institutional, is usually just trying too hard to be, yes, relevant. The second coming of fictional Jack McCoy on the return of "Law & Order" isn't crushing it in  ratings.  Old in digital years Gawker 2.0 keeps trying too hard and keeps being irrelevant. 

Madonna's crossing-the-line NFT collection may be experienced out here as straining. And, we folks are already plum tired from COVID, inflation, and deep hits to our investment accounts. The soft-porn part likely won't phase us. Actually that's traditional Madonna. Back then, that was shocking. And relevant. 

Connect with Editor-in-Chief Jane Genova at janegenova374@gmail.com

"The Good Wife" - Game's On

During the trial, the handicapped lawyer played by Michael J. Fox passes Alicia a note.  It says, "Game's on." 

That could be the theme of tonight's episode of "The Good Wife."  Everything, ranging from law to politics to lesbian romance to teenage angst, is depicted as a raw game in which total self preservation rules. 

The trial is a test case before a class action suit against BigPharma regarding an antidepressant.  Alicia has joined the team in becoming a shrewd aka tricky lawyer.  No more girl scout.  So she is jubilant when BigPharma agrees to settle the whole class action for $35 million.  Then her opponent, who tried to use his disability to impress on the jury the miracle of medication, informs her that BIgPharma was prepared to settle at $90 million but hoped he would get it at $50 million.  Not only does Alicia not see herself as all that clever.  The whole team at the law firm seem like jerks.

In politics, Wendi who likely leaked the notes from the deposition with Alicia's law firm, is running against both Peter and Childs.  One of her supporters is Grace, daughter of Alicia and Peter.  This being a female candidate along with Grace's anger at the sins of the father could turn Grace against her family.  Alicia already has forbidden her to support Wendi in public.

Kaldinda got caught up in brutal self preservation.  She couldn't handle the emotional demands of her lesbian lover who is a public defender.  She drops her and then comes back for a favor when Blake starts snooping around if she's gay.  The former lover doesn't buy into Kalinda's scheme and shows up at the law firm celebration with Blake.

Anyone watching tonight's episode who had a vestige of school boy or school girl values grew up fast.  "The Good Wife" is exposing the shadow side of just about every profession you can name.

 

"Swift Justice" - Could be community model for resolving disputes

In some villages of China, disputes are resolved by respected wise people of the community.  It's as biding as most justice systems can be.  Nancy Grace's afternoon television show "Swift Justice" operates much like that, only she's an experienced lawyer.

The facts and common sense win the day.  Grace is judge and jury.  Although many do not like her, most would likely agree that her rulings, which are binding, seem to be as much aligned with human justice as can be expected.  Today, there was a judgment about a wedding cake and one about repair of a pipe for a stove. 

This swift justice is refreshing for those of us who finally became repulsed by manipulating fine points of law, loopholes, and typos for a client's benefit.  Our hearts came to go out to the non client who was outfoxed by a more clever representative of the legal system.

Courts would become unclogged if the swift-justice model would be implemented in communities.  Those submitting their disputes would agree to the decision as binding.  They get in and out fast, and may not be pleased with what they exit with but that's that.  They can go on with the rest of their lives rather than obsessing about a lawsuit, whether against their employer or neighbor.

"The Good Wife" - That Ugly Underbelly of Lawyering

The shock is that even Will, whose life is bound up with his ability in lawyering, puts the knock on the profession/business of law.  If there is any doubt that this episode of "The Good Wife" is meant to point to the ugly underbelly of law there is the fist fight between Will and another lawyer who essentially calls him a lowlife chasing settlement money.

This is all ironic in a line of work which demands such brilliance in strategy and tactics.  Few fields rely on applied brain power so much.

To our surprise who comes off looking the best is Peter.  He refuses to put pressure on his wife Alicia to drop a possible lawsuit in order to get an endorsement.  This could be mostly his own experienced read of political tricks or it could be that he learned that he values his relationship with Alicia.  Time will tell.

Jennifer "Hiccup Girl" Mee: 15 minutes of fame not enough

The fantasy is that if we have our 15 minutes of fame, we have been to heaven and for most of us that's enough.  Not for Jennifer "Hiccup Girl" Mee. 

In 2007, Mee was featured in prime media such as the "Today Show" for hiccuping about 50 times an hour.  This went on for about five weeks.  Guess then when the spotlight was taken off her she had to pursue thrills in other ways.  Unfortunately, one might have been armed robbery and murder.  That's what the St. Petersburg police have booked her and her two accomplices for.

"The Good Wife" - Alicia almost gets disbarred, Will saves her license

A continuing theme - and a compelling one - in "The Good Wife" is the sexual tension and deep-seated romance between Alicia and Will.  Tonight that grabbed us by the throat again.  A tape of a confidential deposition with Glenn Childs is leaked and Alicia is the suspect.  Cary, who works for Childs, is trying to corner her in a way that she could be disbarred.  No dice.  Will gallops in with his brilliant lawyer skills and saves the day and Alicia's license.

This theme will keep viewers tuned in forever.  This is nothing more titillating that sex not taking place which should take place.

"Rubicon" - It's a bad guy's world

Last night "Rubicon" ended with a pessimistic note.  Truxton Spangler received his four-leaf clover.  That's because he didn't know when to stop.  But the rest of the evil cabal manipulating world events for commercial gain will be shrewder now.  Even Spangler knows that the bad guys, if they play their game smart, will prevail.  He tells the earnest Will that, sure, Will will do his report on the machinations of API. But no one will give a shit. 

From the get-go, law students should understand what the bad guys have on their side and how the Boy Scouts are usually clueless about operations.

"Criminal Minds" - What Garcia learned & most lawyers don't

Tonight on "Criminal Minds" that compelling character and uniquely effective at her job Penelope Garcia decides she wants to become something she's not - The Professional Woman - and performs tasks she's unsuited for - working in the field.  Old soul Hotchner allows her to try all that on.  Of course it's a disaster.  Chastened but wiser Garcia returns to her zany persona and her professional life back in her computer cave.

Unlike most lawyers, she realizes that superimposing on herself and on her strengths "oughts" is impossible, undermines the workplace, and wasn't necessary to begin with.  Would all the depression, substance abuse, and suicides among lawyers be radically reduced if lawyers simply stopped trying to "act like" lawyers?