Law And More

Aging Lawyers - Thinking the Unthinkable, that is, Retirement (or simply stepping back)

"Many baby boomers—especially those at the top of their game—struggle with the decision to step down. And when they leave, the transition is often ‘painful and messy ...'" - Betsy Morris, The Wall Street Journal, January 24, 2021.  

The classic template for retirement is that established by Johnny Carson. He left at the top of his game. His final show celebrated what he had put in play. And that was that.

Later David Letterman modified that model. Essentially he put aside his personal brand as The Comic. But he still remains in the game. For instance, he did a bit on the 2020 Emmys and hosts on Netflix "My Next Guest Needs No Introduction."

However, most brandname aging professionals, such as lawyers, find retiring unthinkable. Even "stepping back" horrifies them.

There is lots to be said - and they know it - to exit or "step back" when the reputation is still intact. But, that entails so much loss. It entails everything from money to being in demand (the email box is full, plenty of texts ping, the phone clamors). The reality is that once the job per se is over so often also is the personal branding.

In capitalism, you are your official title. Retirement can mean becoming invisible. Thought leader Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld detailed that tragedy in the book "The Hero's Farewell." It's painful to recall how one-time business giants Lee Iacocca and Jack Welch struggled to hang on after they retired from their chief executive officer positions. 

Those who opt to embrace some version of getting off the career track frequently make a mess of it. They often attempt to hang in, becoming a kind of public nuisance. One former law firm partner I coached came to me with the awareness that he was making a pest of himself spouting off plans to create a class-action law firm. The pain of that humiliation set him off abusing alcohol. His first step back to finding post-career work with a purpose was climbing out of his comfort zone. Here is my book, a free read, on that process. 

On the other hand, if lawyers dig in their heels and conjure up strategies and tactics to remain just where they are on their career paths they also risk humiliation. They may experience cognitive decline and it shows. Ambitious younger lawyers could be launching stealth attacks, including on the reputational front. There are smirks in the background. The good assignments might not be coming to them. The power brokers could be forcing them out. Initially it begins with a pay cut. 

There are no absolute answers about when to let the big job go. Those who are equally in-tune with how the marketplace perceives them and where they are in their own overall abilities can do an audit. What can they continue to contribute to their organization and simultaneously prevent what could trigger downward trajectories? Of course, that assessment is an encounter with raw reality.

Capitalism is a harsh task-master, usually unforgiving. In addition, there are the usual monsters of the mind which undermine rational thinking. That inner chatter can and usually does have professionals in vulnerable situations shoot themselves in the foot. 

What makes the coming-to-jesus moment of clarity less traumatic is to get serious about creating a post-career plan. Yes, the big career ends. But work doesn't. That plan has a better shot at playing out well if there is no visible decline in performance or reputation before stepping back. 

The next kind of work can produce a fresh type of success. Lawyers who let go of what they had could discover the unleashing of talents which makes them authentic late bloomers. There really is such a phenomenon. University of Chicago researcher David W. Galeson documented how talent might find its way of manifesting itself when youth is over. His seminal book is "Old Masters and Young Geniuses."

Also, the Future of Work is an unknown. Lawyers who step back may be surprised what they step into. The world they left behind back there may vanish. 

The Future is already underway. Ghostwriting/Marketing Communications and coaching on those issues. Sliding scale fees. Complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

Harry Brant - Lawyers Should Notice How Addiction Is Hard to Shake

The death of fashion icon Harry Brant at age 24 is a familiar saga.

Like musical icon Michael Jackson he developed an addiction to a prescription drug. And addictions can be very difficult or even impossible for many to shake.

Just talk candidly with counselors at rehab centers and "regulars" at 12-step recovery meetings. And, yes, so many of those compulsions to use prescription medication start accidently. There is the dental work. There might be the sports injury. There could be surgery on the arm. There is a party.

In his short life, Brant had modeled for Italian Vogue. He had done journalistic work for his father Peter Brant's magazine Interview. He and his brother Peter created a unisex makeup. And most of all he was an acknowledged influencer in fashion.

What should be obvious to those in the legal sector, where substance abuse is common, is not to start.  Once off to the races, the ritual of drug-taking can become a needed habit. Or, at least, that is the default assumption. 

The classic case of that had been the death of Wilson Sonsini partner (San Diego office) partner Peter Munson. As I cover in this article, he died from a condition related to the IV use of drugs. For him, drug use seemed to be the tool which enabled him to go along with the demands of his career. Like many addicts - whether that be to pills or alcohol - he connected the dots in this way: He had discovered a good thing. Without it, his supposed "best thinking" likely told him his career would go kaput. 

Yes, there are lawyers who do take the exit ramp out of addiction. However, usually that is too late to save their careers and much of the rest of their lives. 

In a northeastern Ohio 12-step program a disbarred lawyer told how his impaired judgment from substance abuse resulted in bizarre decisions. At the top of the list was to embezzle rather than lay off the relatives employed by him in a real estate firm during the 2008 crash. For that he spent two years in prison and lost his family.

His message is: Don't start with the substances. His hunch is that going to law school had been the wrong career path. His discontent practicing law could have been what opened the door to experimenting with substances to tolerate the discomfort of a bad professional fit.

The good news is that there are currently accepted as treatment modalities other than Alcoholics Anonymous and the 12-step programs it had generated. According to addiction specialists, AA has a success rate of between 8% and 12%. Back in 2015 in The Atlantic, Gabrielle Glaser published the seminal article discussing the program's weaknesses. It's now obvious and doable: If AA doesn't pan out for you, move on to try what might. 

Recovery can begin with a call to a free, confidential hotline for emotional distress. No, you don't have to be actually suicidal. A proven-out one among my clients is New York City's Samaritans. It operates 24/7. Those who answer do eloquent listening. The number is 212-673-3000.

Meanwhile, those considering empowering themselves though the use of addictive substances might play around with the question: Am I on the wrong career path?

Had I not drank my way through a professional bad fit of a doctoral program at a prestigious university I might have been able to pivot to the careers I eventually pursued - with joy, money and satisfaction.

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Kent Halkett - Yes, Clinical Depression Is a Chronic Disease and, You Bet, Legal Sector Tends to Be Unforgiving

Those who suffer from clinical depression when practicing law might be labeled "The Unforgiven."

Even when treated effectively there can be "tells" that the lawyer is predisposed to some kind of depression.

That's not unique to law, though. In my corporate career in executive communications I had kept my history of clinical depression confidential. Given that I was in a "creative function," I got away with that. Creatives are allowed fluctuations in mood. Had I stayed at Harvard Law School beyond the 1L year, I might not have been so successful at concealing my condition when practicing law. 

As Abovethelaw reports, one-time lawyer at Sidley Austin Kent Halkett seems to have wound up among The Unforgiven. There and at another prestigious law firm, the "tells" seemed to do him in. There were negative impacts on his career.

Yes, Sidley Austin was also where Gabe MacConaill, who committed suicide, had been a partner. When in extreme emotional distress MacConaill didn't seek treatment because he sized this up: Data about receiving treatment could have finished his career. 

Yet, the statistics about clinical depression specifically and mental illness in general in legal sector are well-known. In addition, what more experts and victims are acknowledging is this: Clinical depression is a chronic disease. It can return again and again, after years of being free of the symptoms. 

Of course, there have been initiatives in the legal sector to address that reality. But, given the brutal individualism of capitalism, those who find themselves with some form of psychiatric challenge are primarily on their own. Their first instinct, before deciding to get help, probably is to assess how much damage this development could have on their careers. 

There are, of course, DIY approaches to dealing with clinical depression. Those bypass the still-stigma of having been treated by a professional. The DIY remedies include over-the-counter medications, aerobic activities, meditation, prayer and "changing the channel" in one's head. Regarding the latter, we tend to be our thoughts.

Also, depressives like myself have experimented with more what be considered radical solutions. Recently, after a depressive episode in the midwest, I tried out relocating to a part of the nation which seemed less of a closed system and the weather was milder.

For now, that has panned out. No surprise, I am attracting a better-quality client. My coaching blog has been syndicated. "At my age," when making new friends is difficult, I have made several. And, I have been able to get on the other side of my dog's death. 

Increasingly, I have become disenchanted with the medical establishment and its perspectives on clinical depression. Most of those on the front lines lack deep-listening patience. Also, there seems to be a lack of transparency. 

What has reduced much of the pain I have experienced on and off since age 11 has been experimentation. However, since this disease is also unpredictable, I will not rule out seeking professional help in the future. In 2003, I got amazing results from consulting for several months with West Hartford, Connecticut cognitive therapist Amy Karnilowicz.

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The Old-Neighborhood Ethos of Snitch Winds Up In Ditch Still Applies (metaphorically) to Linda Tripp

 InternGate whistleblower Linda Tripp (1949 - 2020) will never be forgiven. Not even in this era when we recognize that all human beings have flaws, sometimes serious ones. Meanwhile, the universe has come to smile on the man at the center of the scandal - Bill Clinton.

In The New York Times, Irina Aleksander tries to humanize Tripp. However, she admits Tripp's legacy essentially will remain that of a miscreant.

Aleksander, for example, provides background on Tripp's childhood - a mode of analysis which had become standard on hit crime shows such as "Criminal Minds." Her father was a bully who abandoned the family. That was after abusing both Tripp and her mother. With no family money for college she was on her own. But she made it all the way to a good secure job in public service. 

So? Many others have Dickensian childhoods. Yet, they don't violate the fundamental human contract of not deceiving and ratting out those they convince are their friends. Such an ethos was how it went in "the old neighborhood." That "the old neighborhood" represents any aspect of our lives which shaped our deepest values. The term metaphorically captures what makes us believe in our notion of a society. 

According to the old neighborhood values, the snitch wound up in the ditch. Usually, it was a broken windshield. For kids, it was gum in their hair and a bloody nose. Worse, though, it would be if the mob such as from "The Sopranos" had been involved.

The popular film "A Bronx Tale" recounts how nine-year-old Calogero doesn't identify gangster Sunny to the police as a murderer. The unique bond forms. Those bonds, the audience seems to agree, transcend traditional types of law enforcement and "justice." Emotional ties are precious.

Baby Boomers might recall an office culture, during the boom times, when no one leveled being a tattle-tale in order to get ahead. Instead, we went to night school and acquired the M.B.A. Currently, though, whatever one says or one does can be disclosed in a negative manner to the brass (even if the brass is too overwhelmed to even want to hear all that). No doubt that reinforces the antipathy toward rat Tripp.

So, Tripp will remain in the history of American politics as Unforgiven. After all, she could have feigned friendship with any of us. Then recorded what we confided. She could have also given us dangerous advice. It was she who guided Monica Lewinsky not to dry-clean the blue Gap dress. Had Lewinsky not been able to provide so much evidence, she might not have suffered as much as she had. Ken Starr would have had less to go on.

Unlike Tripp, there is some forgiveness - along with smirks - for Lewinsky.

Where are we now with all this? The Tripp saga reminds us to reach back into those experiences which were so formative in our lives. It's there we should ferret out the values we want to be judged by.

Mine had been on the mean streets of pre-gentrified Jersey City, New Jersey in the 1950s. When local police and even the FBI swung by, we knew to look dumb. On the stoops of tenements, we stopped our games and stood mute. That meant we stood together. Years later during the college ethics course, internally I rolled my eyes. Those were not the old neighborhood rules of morality.

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Fatal Stamford, Connecticut Christmas Fire - Ninth Anniversary

On Christmas morning, those who were up early and had the news on collided with the unthinkable.

A fire had swept through one of those Big Old Houses in Stamford, Connecticut. In fact, it was being renovated, just like as on those programs about restoring old houses on television.

Ad executive Madonna Badger lost her three young daughters and her parents. Apparently they panicked and couldn't escape. Badger and her male companion did survive. She was divorced from the children's father.

That tragedy was one of the three which convulsed CT.

The other two had been the fatal home invasion (compared to Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood") of the Petit family and the Newtown slaughter of children and educational personnel.

A dark cloud might still be hanging over the state. After all, from it commuted daily to Manhattan the masters of the universe. Overall, CT had evolved into a symbol of financial success. Stamford was only a few minutes drive from Greenwich, CT. Since then, Greenwich has become a center for hedge fund management.

Of course, litigation followed the fire. One aspect of that was the contention that the local powers that be demolished the property before a full investigation of the cause could be done. Also, were the renovations shoddy and unsafe? The father of the children Matthew Badger was among those in the suing loop. 

This Christmas will be the ninth anniversary of the fire.

The litigation is over.

Vestiges of the house are gone. The space has been sold.

Badger has remarried and gone on to resume a career filled with amazing professional recognition. She established a cause, in honor of her daughters, to prevent advertising from sexualizing girls. That's the kind of apparent exploitation found in the movie "Cuties."

The father had died of a cardiac event. 

The companion had died of cancer.

But those of us who resided in CT on that Christmas morning will always be stuck in time. The ghost of that tragedy is the self-focused issue: If that could happen to such blessed people what could happen to us more ordinary ones?

This blog wishes Madonna Badger peace of mind this holiday season.

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Law Firms - Are Your Remote Lawyers "Drinking on the Job?"

"For Americans working from home in 2020, it seems happy hour is starting a little earlier than usual. A new survey [by OnePoll for Hop WTR] finds many people are nearly half of adults working remotely have secretly signed off early to have a drink." - Chris Melore, StudyFinds, December 16th, 2020.

Yes, it was known that alcohol abuse was on the rise during COVID-19.

Now, there's more.

The survey conducted by OnePoll for HopWTR found that 45% of those interviewed are, well, "drinking on the job." That is, they are operating remotely and taking a belt or two or three when they are paid to be on duty. That's almost half.

Should law firms be concerned? Yes, from the point of view that a problem with alcohol is embedded in the profession. 

No fools, lawyers WFH will likely not take an alcohol break if they are scheduled for Zoom conferences and phone calls. But when those interactions don't seem likely, they might feel it's okay to have a drink during working hours. Especially since those hours seem unusually long for most lawyers. 

Even before remote work, though, versions of drinking on the job were not uncommon. Lots of stress will trigger that kind of time-out from the crush of reality. In graduate school, a man with a family found it necessary to take the third shift as a security guard to make ends meet. He was caught, yeah, you know what. That set in play a downward cycle. His solution was to leave the university town for the no-name city in Michigan where he had sobered up years ago. That was effective for the alcoholic relapse but he never finished his degree.

Lawyers who have that moment of clarity that they may be looping into alcohol abuse while on duty should realize that it requires years, not 30 days of rehab, to regain functionality, confidence - and credibility. Therefore, halt the behavior when it's in its embryonic phase.

After a real estate lawyer was disbarred for embezzling, he joined a recovery program in prison. Upon release, he came to me for coaching. He wanted to set up an ecommerce enterprise. He remained puzzled how only one drink during working hours evolved into his being what he called "a thieving drunk." 

My theory: That even one drink represents crossing a line. That is, it's done even though it's known to be totally unacceptable. Given that crossing, there's usually no way back without an intervention. The intervention can take the form of an arrest for another crime such as sexual harassment at work. 

The Future is already underway. Ghostwriting/Marketing Communications and coaching on those issues. Sliding scale fees. Complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

Playing in the Elite University Sandbox - Potentially Hazardous to a Sense of Self (and probably no-sustainable career plus)

"In 2014, the economists Stacy Dale and Alan Krueger published an analysis of the benefits of attending a highly selective college. They found that, after statistically controlling for students’ SAT scores, economic background and college ambitions, the long-term financial returns are 'generally indistinguishable from zero.'” - Kevin Carey, The New York Times, March 15, 2019.

However, other research documents that there could be a return on investment from the struggle to be admitted to a highly selective university. 

Those include the studies by the Equal Opportunity Project and Mark Hoekstra. The former found going to a Harvard or Princeton, for example, could be a platform for migrating to becoming a member of the 1%. The latter documented that white men who had matriculated at large research universities earned 20% more than those who didn't. Note, though, that such entailed white male privilege which has become wobbly.

Despite the low odds of an elite education being a sustainable career advantage, helping students be admitted is a growing industry. There is even the ranking game for the best college admissions consulting firms. In short, CollegeAdmissionsGate didn't derail that business sector.

Yesterday, I interviewed for a contract coaching and communications assignment at one of those enterprises which strive for a track record in catapulting high schoolers into the top 20 university "brands." The process can begin sophomore year in high school. 

The game is played in such as rigid sandbox, I perceived, that there is no attention paid to the fit between the young person and the educational setting. A student focused on the family farm who would do well at a midwest state school is deterred from that. The goal - and the only goal - is admission to a top 20, the higher the better. 

In this business, the parent, not the student, is the client. At the firm where I interviewed there seemed to be anxiety about not satisfying the parents' mandates. The result of not doing that could be the parents' request for a refund. And, probably plenty of badmouthing on their networks about that particular college admissions center.

The process seemed revolting. I didn't follow up with a bread-and-butter email for all the time the organization gave me to analyze five case studies. My gut, always a smart-aleck type, kept nudging me to bow out during the interview itself. The elephant in the room was that the elite advantage was and is short-term. Sure, it opens some doors early in a career. But then the professionals are on their own. 

What I envisioned to be the real result of this kind of force-fitting was the kind of Lost Generation of students depicted by Yale professor William Deresiewicz in his book "Excellent Sheep." 

Those human beings have been shaped by forces such as their ambitious parents and admissions consulting services to conform. That circles back to to the ethos of the Eisenhower era of not-questioning. We Baby Boomers were instructed to walk the line. That would guarantee a standard of living way beyond that of our parents. However, of course, that wasn't sustainable. The counterculture, racial-equality activism and women's liberation changed just about everything.

Students who are admitted to elite institutions of higher education might consider their sunk costs too steep to dare think about how they got there and what kind of life lies ahead. Those "excellent sheep," though, might find it increasingly difficult to navigate a labor market totally disrupted by a world economy, technology, a talent glut and COVID-19.

The Future is already underway. Ghostwriting/Marketing Communications and coaching on those issues. Sliding scale fees. Complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

Heidrick & Struggles - The Power of Bad

Breakthrough research has solved the mystery of why it's so difficult to shake off negative experience.

John Tierney and Roy Baumeister describe those findings in their book "The Power of Bad: How the Negatively Effect Rules Us and How We Can Rule It."

For example, being haunted by past traumas was adaptive to early versions of human beings. Caveman had almost a zero margin of error. A wrong move in the forest made him someone else's dinner. He better keep front-of-mind any previous decisions which had bad consequences.

Usually, Tierney and Baumeister indicate, it requires 4 positive developments to overcome the hold bad has on humans. Until then, emotional turmoil can dominate thinking. 

I am awaiting those 4. That's in order to exit the darkness hovering over me since my negative encounter with search firm Heidrick & Struggles. Here is a snippet capturing that trauma. 

Without those 4, I continue to have flashbacks of the Heidrick & Struggles' partner heading coaching and his harsh censure of me. I had followed up on the corporation's message to me that it would interview me for a contract coaching gig. Then, pow. Verbally, it was like a horse galloped onto the scene from nowhere, then kicked me in the stomach. 

When I reported the communications from the partner to Heidrick & Struggles legal and human resources, the legal department transmitted a disembodied email. Metaphorically, the horse galloped back, delivering another kick.

Research confirms that I'm not overreacting. Bad is bad. And it maintains a emotional and spiritual chokehold on its victims. 

Meanwhile, I have to await The 4. That is predicted to set me free from Heidrick & Struggles.

Until then, I have made it my mission to help the Davids in our society to stand up to the Goliahs. Human dignity is a human right.

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Extreme Optimism of the World Economic Forum - New Kinds of Work Will Be More Plentiful Than What Robotic Automation Eliminates

" ... 97 million new roles may emerge that are more adopted to the new division of labour between humans, machines and algorithms." - The Future of Jobs 2020, World Economic Forum, October 2020. 

That means that the creation of new kinds of work tasks can more than make up for the 85 million jobs which the World Economic Forum forecasts automation can eliminate by 2025. Such a scenario is welcome good news during these times of "double disruption" triggered by accelerated technology developments and COVID-19.

According to the World Economic Forum, the worker skills employers of the future need include:

• Critical thinking (lawyers already have that down cold or should have)
• Analysis (check that box, too)
• Problem-solving (yes)
• Self-management (needs improvement)
• Active learning
• Resilience
• Stress tolerance (American Bar Association and state bars take note)
• Flexibility (maybe, maybe now).

Among the buzzwords we'll all be hearing more often are:

 

Speed of disruption

Global reset

Public-private collaboration

Automation, in tandem with COVID-19

Upskilling

Reskilling.

Anyone who has searched for work or who feels insecure about current employment knows that the future is bleeding into the present and the past is imposing a chokehold. Thriving professionally as a lawyer requires time travel among the three dimensions.

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Ethos of "It's a Wonderful Life" - What If I Had Become a Contract Coach with Heidrick & Struggles ...

It could have been.

But it wasn't.

I am indeed blessed, just as in the holiday move classic "It's a Wonderful Life." 

What would my little life have been had the Heidrick & Struggles partner heading global coaching and the in-house lawyer not communicated with me in such a puzzling way? Here is a snippet of that Pottersville kind of story.

I could have been a contract coach with Heidrick & Struggles. If I had been treated in that weird way when just applying to be a vendor, heavens knows what would have gone down had I actually become a vendor. 

An angel earned his/her wings that infamous morning I withdrew my application for assignments and cancelled the interview. 

Meanwhile, Heidrick & Struggles seems to have to do its own redemptive work to do this holiday season and beyond.

In its Q3 2020  earnings report about its net loss of $26.2 million it fingers restructuring costs as one reason for that. Yes, there seems to be a need for transformation. Its overall Beat the Market Rank, it received 1.8 out of 5 stars. Another angel has a plum opportunity to also earn his/her weeks. 

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