Law And More

Mike Lindell & Fox News - Breaking Up Wasn't Hard to Do

"The chief executive of MyPillow Inc., one of Fox News’s big advertisers, said he is pulling his ads from the network after a disagreement over a proposed commercial. Mike Lindell said he made the decision after Fox News declined to run a commercial linked to his efforts to promote his claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Security and election officials have said there is no proof of widespread election fraud." - The Wall Street Journal, July 29, 2021.

The commercial promoted a cyber symposium. Among its messages was that the 2020 election was stolen through manipulation of the election machines. 

This could be a major financial blow to Fox News. But in terms of branding it could be a relief. Lindell has been relentless in hammering the concept that Donald Trump really won the election.

Time will tell if 1) he returns to Fox and 2) if Fox accepts any advertising.

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Jim Cramer - Has He Crossed the Line from Analyst to Scaremonger?

Lines get crossed. 

Then there is usually no way back. 

During his interview with "The Street Live," stock market analyst Jim Cramer seemed to have gone that way. Mediaite reports that he seemed to be wild in speculating how many cases of Delta variant could occur in the near future. And instead of the fall being a time of reopening it could be play out as the reclosing. 

That's scary. This is a financial expert who supposedly is in-the-know. 

Can his following continue to follow him, expecting objective takes on market movements and more? 

To me he has crossed that line.

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Chris Christie and More - Maybe You Should Wait to Bet

On ABC's "This Week" former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie took a position on COVID vaccination, reports The Hill.

He's not the only politico there, of course.

President Joe Biden has taken on Facebook about that.

Senator Amy Klobuchar has introduced a bill related to health-related misinformation in social media.

And, Facebook's head Mark Zuckerberg who, like all top business leaders, has to be a politico, also is in the vaccine messaging space. 

But, those other three are dealing from a position of strength. They have jobs and they have solid power bases.

Christie, in contrast, is wandering in the political wilderness. He bet on the wrong horse in aligning with the Trump Administration. Like so many depicted in Michael Wolff's "Landslide" he chased after being associated with power and came out of that essentially powerless. Rudy Giuliani is in the same pickle. The legacy of Alan Dershowicz? Sad.

Christie had lost his own power during BridgeGate. Although not convicted in that scandal about politically oriented blocked lanes on the George Washington bridge he couldn't shake the stink.

But he might have been able to engineer a comeback had he not tried so hard to loop into someone else's (that is, the Trump Administration's) power force field. After his political collapse, Andrew Cuomo had reestablished his power base. He didn't piggyback on others. 

Sure, Christie has been able to gain exposure as a political commentator. In that, though, he's no Tucker Carlson. 

The new book about the Nixon Administration - "King Richard" by Michael Dobbs - tells the same kind of tale of power games resulting in everything from the loss of human dignity to the loss of freedom (yes, they went to prison).

Not that this phenomenon only plays out in politics.

The Wall Street Journal chronicles graduates of elite advanced degree programs who bet big money and one or two years of their lives on what left them in deep debt and in low-paying jobs. There seems to be no way out. 

Media such as The Atlantic Magazine rode hard the Trump Administration story, without enough preparation for the next. Currently most of them are struggling. 

Overall, power institutions like Morgan Stanley and Paul Hastings bet that their power would remain intact. That resulted looping into the whole where-work-will-be-done in very wrong ways. 

Nothing is certain, of course. But some guesses about where to invest a career, an education or a brand are wiser than others. 

Guidance on this may come from a source which seems strange to the ambitious. That source is American Buddhist nun Pema Chodron.  Her message is so gentle. Specifically she recommends:

"It all comes through learning to pause for a moment, learning not to just impulsively do the same thing again and again. It's a transformative experience to simply pause instead of immediately filling up the space." 

Reflection: Will Christie, youth considering advanced degrees, media, Morgan Stanley and Paul Hastings continue their frantic pace to losing so much? 

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Insider - Stuck? (running the same supposed expose for the 2nd time sure looks, sounds like, and reads like stuck)

Here it is: the very long feature by Insider writer Casey Sullivan on an elite law firm associated with Wall Street (yeah, such a tired formula).

This time it has been published on July 24, 2021. And this time is the second time Insider has put out there this exact same article.

The first time had been June 30th. It was and is again one of those typical hit pieces about Wall Street. There is the usual play-out: Wall Street is bad. Those outing the bad are saints. Does the record sound stuck? The article, both the first time around and this second time, reads stuck. The supposed bad guys are portrayed as cartoon villians. 

Well, essentially the story is about investment firm Apollo, its former head Leon Black, its law firm Paul Weiss and the chairman of that law firm Brad Karp. Rounded up for quotes and reflections are the usual suspects: discontended lawyers once associated with Paul Weiss. 

The first time around when the expose was published I did put out there a blog post. It analyzed the management of the Apollo account through the lens of how any sensible business manages a large account. That is, with extreme attention.

Since then, as I re-read the article, I have given this more thought.

Like, isn't it too cute that the Insider article - both times it has been published - makes an analogy between the concern Paul Weiss had about maintaining the account and the angst at Sterling Cooper Advertising agency in "Mad Men" about the Lucky Strike account.

You bet any business that's smart is hypervigilant about holding on and hopefully growing that kind of large account.

Currently I have an account in the trades industry which I compulsively focus on. It's big. And I would do backflips to keep it. If I lose it, the way Sterling Cooper eventually did lose the Lucky Strike account, that would be quite a serious reversal of financial fortune. Also, a blow to branding and self-confidence. No business wants to lose an account. 

So, what's the deal with hitting Paul Weiss in general and its chairperson Brad Karp again? Even the first time? That's the business of business.

BTW, that reference to the client and law firm meeting in the Hamptons? What the hell was that about? I had taken the ferry from Connecticut many times to meet with my own list of clients in their Hamptons getaways. Shoot me, too? 

As for the reality that Insider published this article a second time: Has Insider run out of provocative ideas for articles? In a state of extreme stuckness it went after the easy target of a prestigious law firm servicing Wall Street. Not once. But twice. How did the proposal for this ever get approved by an editor? Yeah, like I will pitch to that same editor the cliche how Roman Catholic grade-school education did X and Y to the fragile psyches of baby boomers. 

In addition, since the article is classified as "Premium Content," is that a sign that Insider needs at this time the extra revenue coming from "Premium?" Media is a tough business in general. It's also had gotten a lot tougher after the Trump phenomenon ended. Even The Atlantic is struggling. 

It's not unthinable that Insider will run this story a third time and maybe a fourth and fifth. Stuck generates more stuck. That's the way it is. 

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Think Like a Lawyer & Don't Remember - "Shark Tank" Kevin O'Leary in Court

"My wife 'might have had a cocktail': Shark Tank star Kevin O'Leary tells court he doesn't remember if his wife had been drinking at Canadian cottage dinner party before 'chaotic' boat crash that killed two" - Daily Mail, July 22, 2021.

Linda O'Leary is dealing with the non-criminal charge of careless operation of a vessel. The incident happened in August 2019. She contends the other boat didn't have its lights on.

Obviously, Kevin has been thinking like a lawyer. Lawyers seem to have very bad memories. More often than not they just can't remember. 

One failing of Dick Wolf's myriad versions of "Law & Order" is the lack of realism. Those accused of crime in police interrogation or testifying on the stand in court don't have those memory lapses often enough. 

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Allegedly Over a Dame - "Law & Order SVU," "Power" Star Isaiah Stokes Arrested for Murder

In this time of accelerated change, one thing that hasn't is that guys can (allegedly) kill over a woman. 

That, reports Daily Mail, is the narrative surrounding Isaiah Stokes. He had played major roles in "Law & Order SVU" and "Power." Allegedly he fatally shot Tyrone Jones - 10 times. That was on February 7th of this year. Yeah, the beef was about a dame. And it had dated back four months earlier. 

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Maria Bartiromo - Greek Chorus Chants, "Beware Your Long Game"

"[Maria] Bartiromo didn’t offer any pushback [during 'Sunday Morning Futures' interview on Fox] to the myriad of demonstrably-false claims Trump put forward throughout the interview, and it’s unclear where exactly the speculation she brought up is actually coming from. Following the insurrection, Bartiromo — who has been widely called out for backing Trump’s conspiracies about the 2020 election — pushed the bogus claim that Democrats 'infiltrated' the Capitol riot and disguised themselves as Trump supporters." - Ken Meyer, Mediaite, July 11, 2021.

As with all career unravelings, this collapse of the credibility of a one-time female pioneer in television financial reporting (we recall "Money Honey") is scary.

Could it happen to us?

What decisions are we making now which could wind up pushing us into being caricatures of the professional self we had been?

Is a comeback possible?

So, the default is to struggle to analyze the tipping points in Bartiromo's slide into irrelevance. 

Did aging have a part in that? Born on September 11, 1967, she will be 54 next fall. The world of media can be brutal in general and more so for females. In 2014, I conceded I had aged out of the Manhattan media scene and high-tailed it a professional setting with less age bias.

In sizing up Bartiromo, we also get it that conservative politics pushes its supporters into an orthodoxy. In that box there is little wiggle room for thought leadership. In 2050, no one will likely be pondering a seminal article or book by Bartiromo.

And there is the backstory of a loyalty to the late Fox News founder Roger Ailes. His own career ended with allegations of sexual terrorism. What's puzzling is why she took that position of extreme support. Had she lost confidence in her ability to navigate the changing world of financial reporting without that kind of platform under her? That platform, of course, was the bridge to Trumpism. 

Cynics and pragmatists will observe: The aging Bartiromo still has work. That's a testament to her ability to survive in a tough highly competitive industry. Right.

Maybe not. 

Those focused on assessing a legacy could position and package the Bartiromo saga as a kind of Greek tragedy of hubris, with a heaping side disk of myopia. One can almost hear the Greek Chorus chanting: Maria, beware your long game.

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M&A, Both Strategic and Private Equity, Surge in First Half of 2021 - Transactional as THE Career Path

"Buyers announced $2.5 trillion in deals so far this year, propelled by a resurgence of business and consumer confidence as well as mega deals and a growth in private equity work. That’s more than double the $1.2 trillion announced in the first half of 2020, according to newly released M&A advisory legal tables from Bloomberg." - Meghan Tribe, Bloomberg Law, July 8, 2021

What has been driving this?

On the strategic side, in 2020, many businesses assessed where they were at. They reviewed their priorities and their core competence. What should they add on to all that?

For private equity, as usual, there seemed to be money to be made. However, it was aware that dealmaking could be more risky in the Biden Administration, focused on regulation.

Among the big law-firm players in the M&A niche has been Sullivan & Cromwell with 75 deals withthe  value at $218 billion.

Law students focused on making money might consider going the transactional rather than the litigation route. Incidentally, during 2020, the law firms which grew during the pandemic focused on their transactional not their litigation practices. Recall many courts had been closed. Memory of transactional as salvation could be sticky. 

The media and pop culture, of course, have made litigation and prosecution seem sexy. However, the business of law could be becoming the business of transactions.

The set of practices within the transactional niche could become increasingly lucrative during the next three and a half years. In addition, it's good for branding.

One reason is that the administration's agenda for antitrust is making dealmaking a more complex, longer process. That can increase billing. It can also generate added exposure in the media for the law firm managing the M&A. A typical example could be Paul Weiss, chaired by Brad Karp, which is handling the MGM part of Amazon's proposed acquisition. Incidentally, last April, Paul Weiss beefed up its transactional team with two high-profile lateral hires. 

This career matter - what path to take in practicing law - is a topic lawyers can discuss anonymously on the Fishbowl app. For instance: Is transactional work too much copy-and-paste? Already 40% of lawyers are sharing information, insight and gossip on Fishbowl. (Should BigLaw leadership be shaking in their boots? Could be. The Fishbowl mode of communication is more efficient and convenient than leaking to Abovethelaw or Bloomberg Law.)

Also, there is the issue if pop culture will catch up with the reality of the wealth possibilities in the transactional box versus slugging it out in the courtroom with traditional civil lawsuits or criminal defense. Dick Wolf's newest show - "Law & Order: For the Defense" - will be about a criminal defense law firm. Not about a law firm that handles mega deals.

Reflection: What kind of creative inititiave will give transactional an aura? 

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21st Century Trustbusters Focusing on Preserving Democracy - FTC's Lina Khan May Have Big Agenda

There is little intersection between the businesses of Amazon and those of MGM. Therefore, to some it was puzzling why newly appointed FTC Chairperson Lina Kahn decided to review the proposed acquisition. 

Now, Greg Ip at The Wall Street Journal introduces some new pieces which might help us solve this puzzle.

What Kahn may be focusing on, Ip posits, channels SCOTUS' Justice Louis Brandeis. It was he who warned in 1914 that size, while not a crime in itself, could be danger to liberty. Therefore, it's not too much of a stretch to speculate that Kahn's agenda extends to protecting democracy. Trustbuster as patriot. 

The threat to democracy in the Amazon acquistion of MGM could be cultural dominance. Think global.

Amazon has the business resources to have MGM take control over American leisure, ranging from entertainment to vacationing. A major piece within that is pop culture which is among America's major exports. That further increases Amazon's economic power. In addition, it will have a new kind of global influence through the pop culture niches. Call it the Amazoning of Everything? Sort of like the fear that Disney's Mickey Mouse would take over the world. 

Associated with that growing power of Amazon in a growning number of categories is possible outsized influence on federal and state elected officials.

The extent of that likely hasn't been explored. That's because power still hasn't come fully out of the closet. Sure there are well-done books on it by respected experts such as Stanford University Graduate Business School Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer. Here is his. But it's not fully acknowledged for the force field that it is.

Otherwise on interviews for seminal positions such as working at a law firm, the applicant would be asked: How to you intend to deal with power, get it, hold it, grow it and share it?

As a prerequisite for implementing what seems to be her agenda - protecting democracy - Kahn might deliver a tutorial on power on TikTok. Meanwhile, innovative law firms might develop pilot programs for recruiting which explore applicants' relationship to power.

The MGM part of the proposed Amazon deal is being handled by law firm Paul Weiss, chaired by Brad Karp. The defense firm has antitrust practices, both transactional and litigation.

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Mariska Hargitay from "Law & Order SVU" - What's Going on with Her Health?

"Actress Mariska Hargitay broke her ankle as she fell while leaving a screening of 'Black Widow' in the Hamptons. The 'Law & Order' legend was taken to Southampton Hospital on Friday after she tripped in the rain while leaving a star-studded Cinema Society screening of the new Marvel release." - Emily Smith, New York Post, July 5, 2021.

This is her second accident this year.

Last May she broke her knee. Since Hargitay is 57 years old, these two incidents could be a signal of a systemic health problem. 

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