Law And More

Harvard Law School - Transform "Career" Whatever to "Work"

On its website, Harvard Law School devotes a whole section to Careers.

Those in the trenches of this volatile economy roll our eyes.

After all, consulting firm Willis Towers Watson made it official: The old-line career path is mutating into a broad and nonlinear portfolio of work experiences. The new story we tell those hiring for jobs (what a quaint concept) and project assignments (more aligned with the times) is how those experiences make us the one to generate the results they need.

So, yes, rename the Career whatevers at Harvard and other law schools as simply "Work." Those searching for actual work or insight about how to transition could recognize the portfolio approach is more open than the careerist track for earning a good living.

Also, it could be fun for them to be creative about pulling together their myriad income-producing stints out there and packaging them as "Here's what I can do for you, Employer/Project Leader."

In itself that might reduce the mental illness and substance abuse which are at an-above-average rate in the legal sector. For example, when in one work slot, no one has to hang on for dear life to hold onto that source of income. The skills acquired can simply be tucked into the portfolio of experiences and resold somewhere else. 

For some, this is nothing new. The methodology was arrived at intuitively, to be able to make a living. An early example of that among the so-called best and brightest was the collapse of the academic market for doctorates in the humanities in the beginning of the 1970s.

The government had gotten it wrong. It predicted a surge in demand for college professors in that niche. It funded that projected need with the NDEA Title IV fellowship, providing a free ride for those willing to invest several years matriculating for the doctorate degree.

We wound up as a new tragic version of a Lost Generation. Those of us who were able to loop out of that disaster have done this: We keep repackaging those years "pursuing academic excellence" into what we could and actually are selling on the labor market. Yes, Project Manager, I have been trained in research. 

Currently, law firms, just like so many other businesses, are struggling to restructure. The "law firm" as we have known it might be a fading memory by 2025.

Harvard Law School can prepare its students and alumni for that now.

First steps:

Tear down all signage about "careers."

Talk straight about work: landing it, holding onto it and moving on to other kinds of work.

Provide free workshops on creative repackaging. In continually doing mine, I discovered I could leverage the record number of subscriptions I sold for the Newark Star Ledger as a fundraiser for Sacred Heart Parish School. I was 12. I was awarded a three-speed bike. 

Then, to siphon off angst, post the logo of those adorable seven little guys whose work is joy. No, work doesn't have to mean suffering.

The Future of Work is now. Ghostwriting on those issues and coaching for job search, transition, personal branding, re-entry after recovery and reputation restoration. Sliding scale fees. Complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

 

No, Youth Doesn't Have to Go to Law School Or Invest in the M.B.A. - The 5 Fundamentals

 "Economists say the longer that young people are forced to delay their careers, the worse their prospects will be in the future to hold a job, accumulate wealth, or even get married or start a family." - Bloomberg, October 23, 2020.

Last month, the jobless rate for youth had been the highest for any age group: 12.5%. Back in April, that was how the labor market played out for them. Their unemployment rate had been 26%.

The tragedy of this is multi-dimensional. 

Research proves that if this generation continues to be stalled in landing That First Real Job they will never catch up to where other generations had been at their age and then leveraged that for "getting ahead."

Youth's mindset could be defeatist. Not everyone has been blessed by the universe with the gift of extreme resilience. 

Also, too many could cave to seeking a supposed safe harbor in advanced education. Already statistics show, for example, that enrollments have been on an upward trajectory for M.B.A. programs and law school. However there is no guarantee that by time they complete those degrees the labor market will absorb them. Meanwhile, they could be accumulating six-figure student loan debt. 

Barred access to what could be thought of as "grown-up jobs," they can't build a golden-plated network with successful people. The contacts from their school years could be in the same underemployment and unemployment wasteland that they are.

Yes, America certainly seems like a nation which eats its young. By time the Ok, Boomers got knocked out of the job box, they had assets like their houses, retirement accounts and savings. In addition, Social Security is still around and still hasn't been cut. Medicare makes it possible for them to have healthcare without paying hundreds of thousands annually.

But, for young people who are willing to search for work differently than has been the usual, the present and future can be bright. 

Here are The 5 Fundamentals I recommend to young men and women I coach:

• Stop focusing on a career path. Instead, as Willis Tower Watson hammers, shift from that old-fashioned notion to creating a portfolio of skills. Carry that around and you will always land work. Diversify the skills from mundane (like security guard) to sophisticated (like SEO expert). Need more training for additional skills? Rather than going for another expensive degree, consider low-cost certification or what the community college has to offer.

 

• Hedge for all kinds of economies by developing multiple sources of income. Even if you land a great full-time day job in a large public relations agency or brandname marketing firm, don't let go of other ways to regularly bring in a buck.

 

• Get over class consciousness. That rigid line between blue collar and white collar is blurring. For example, truck-driving, both local and long distance, can provide good income and upward mobility. The training could run, at the top, around $7k. Usually it's lower. There are arrangements for free licensing for those willing to work for that company for two years.

 

• Hang around with people with hope. We human beings influence each other, cell by cell. That's been documented by scientists who researched mirror neurons. Yes, despair is contagious. As mom and your high school guidance counsel warned, you are the people you associate with.

 

• Look for how to earn a buck today. The future is now. That plan in your head about The Ideal Career is merely an abstraction. You can't eat it. Instead, others will continue to have you for supper.

One more thing: It really is true: Adversity can be the most solid platform for building professional success. Use that pain to provide unique push to make it big.

The Future of Work is now. Ghostwriting on those issues and coaching for job search, transition, personal branding, re-entry after recovery and reputation restoration. Sliding scale fees. Complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

Young Associates in BigLaw - No Consistency in How They're Faring During COVID-19

What has it been like being a young associate during COVID-19?

The Law.com LegalSpeak podcast provides insight into that experience. The host is Law.com's Patrick Smith. The guest is Stephanie Biderman, a managing director at search firm Major Lindsey & Africa.

Essentially, there has been no consistency in what associates had gone through. There are too many variables.

The ideal situation for an associate is to be seasoned, in a practice in demand such as bankruptcy and not have children at home to assist with their online learning.

Among their advantages are:

• They know what they are doing. Many first and second year associates are missing out on training and development because firms are preoccupied with coping with the pandemic. Also, formal training is difficult to administer remotely.

 

• There's plenty of work in their practice area. In litigation, for instance, they probably wouldn't have access to billing enough hours.

 

• Work/life balance is not so brutal for non-parents.

 

• Partners find it easier to assign tasks to mid-level associates. It's time-consuming to have to explain the work to more junior lawyers. Then, continually they will have to monitor and correct what's being produced. The interesting thing here is that because of this shift partners are being perceived as poaching assignments from associates. Often, it's simply more efficient for partners just to do the work itself to "outsource" it to a senior lawyer.

 

• Because of accumulating a high number of billable hours, the time is right to shop around for a better deal as a lateral.

Meanwhile, associates not in that kind of catbird seat are in angst about their job security. They are not piling up enough billable hours, for example. So, they are asking Biderman about how typical is the pickle they are in. 

It isn't much comfort that in this crisis, unlike the 2008 -2009 one, lawyers haven't been laid off on a massive basis. Those I speak with who aren't ideally positioned expect the shoe to drop if there is a repeat of the severe economic downturn which occurred last spring. Download ReimaginingYourCareerWithJaneGenova.

In their heads, The Future of Work is now. And their now isn't pretty. 

Depending on who's doing the counting, America is enduring the second or third rounds of COVID-19. The impacts could hit the legal sector hard - in fact, harder than what went down in the spring.

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Amy Cooper Arraigned on False Reporting Charges - In Addition, There Is the Crime of Unlikability

"Amy Cooper, the white woman who falsely accused a Black bird-watcher in May of threatening her life in Central Park, was arraigned Wednesday in Manhattan on false reporting charges." - Emma Tucker, The Wall Street Journal, October 14, 2020.

Among the charges is that Amy allegedly informed the police that a black man was trying to assault her. If convicted she faces a year in jail. Meanwhile, the case is being adjourned for a month to negotiate a disposition. 

That's the legal part of this story. 

The other part is what goes on in the court of pubic opinion. On a human level, Amy's "crime" is unlikability. Like all "Karens," she sets off emissions of stinking superiority. 

Likability is an important quality to have. In that iconic book about how Washington D.C. works "The PowerGame" by Hedrick Smith, what was hammered is that likability is a source of power. Obviously, Amy has no access to that.

For her, in the court of public opinion, she will never be forgiven. There is one exception. Her victim Christian Cooper indicated that she has suffered enough. After all, she had lost her good job at Franklin Templeton. In society she is a pariah. Christina didn't rejoice that there were criminal charges.

However, so far, the downward trajectory this Karen hasn't seemed to deter other Karens. They, in all their obnoxiousness, keep popping up in the media. 

Full Disclosure: I went to college - one of those all-women ones - with a number of Karens. Unlike Christian, I wish for them all the suffering available. 

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History Is Back - However, It Never Left the Legal Sector

"A bit of perspective.

"Forty years ago (January 1981—think Reagan/Thacher, the introduction of the original IBM PC, and the recent death of double-digit inflation at the merciless and brilliant hands of Paul Volcker), the S&P 500 was 29% made up of energy by market cap.  In 2008 (the GFC), it was still 17% and oil was at $140/barrel." - Bruce MacEwen, "Build Back Better." Adamsmithesq.com, October 12, 2020.

Obviously, Bruce MacEwen is reaching back into the past to make a point about the present - and future.

In the beginning of the cancel culture such as strategy would have been, well, bold. The ethos back then mirrored the dismissal of history by Henry Ford. He blew it off as "bunk." 

Maybe it's the craziness of living on planet earth since March of 2020. Maybe everything is cyclical. But the interest in history has boomeranged back.

Help-wanted ads on Craigslist, for example, are growing in number for the old-fashioned kind of historical research. Not just doing the Survey Monkey thing.

Also, finally, when I attempt to add value to my publishing by including trends from the past, that is getting attention. Lots of it. 

For example, in PinHawk Marketing Brief there is a link to my post - highly historical - about how the patterns of layoffs in BigLaw are dead wringers for what occurred in Corporate America from the late 1970s through the late 1980s. The combination of technology and cost-cutters like Jack Welch disappeared our good jobs. Here is that post. Traffic to it has been heavy. 

So, those in the business of persuasion, yes, use historical data as rhetorical tactics.

Meanwhile, those in the legal sector probably are smirking. The industry operates on a platform of precedents. Sure precedents are overturned but not before they can unleash tremendous power. 

Given the return of history to Main Street, lawyers might take a side door to developing brandnames by giving Ted Talks, blogging, podcasting and becoming a social network influencer discussing how history can cast spells. How to leverage that. How to exorcise the bad parts. And, of course, what to learn 

They can segue into the narratives by citing the profound pull power humans' own family histories have on them. Just consider the saga of feuds. The speakers can show a clip from "The Godfather."

Reflection: Could this revival of history signal we are returning to the age of reason?

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The Old Grow Organically or Acquire Corporate Issue - In Law Firms, That's Called the "Lateral Strategy" (and Paul, Weiss Proved to Be Skillful Selector)

"Some firms have been able to act strategically amid a pandemic and economic downturn, increasing the number and, in some cases the quality, of their lateral partners." - Patrick Smith, Law.com, October 12, 2020.

There had been a time when Corporate America had been the top dog in the global economy.

Therefore, it could play a conservative hand.

That usually consisted of long-drawn-out strategy sessions about if they should diversify and/or grow through developing the business organically or acquiring a proven entity in that niche.

Whatever move they made, they would justify it to myriad constituencies, including through those traditional begin-with-a-joke 18-minute speeches. Yes, all quite smug.

Then international competition became standard, technology took over and there was the the need to establish presence in a market fast. The pivot has been toward acquisition. As a career coach, I assist those classified as "redundant" in their transitions Download ReimaginingYourCareerWithJaneGenova.

In the law-firm sector, the game has also configured along the same strategy. It's called the "lateral market." And,  it's become central to growth, branding and entrance to a niche or dominating it. Therefore, law firms which have the financial resources and excel in the art of the deal will work the lateral strategy even in crisis times.

Interestingly, in the process, those firms can establish a differentiated identity in the legal sector. For years, legal consultants have hammered law firms that differentiation was mandatory. Too many elite firms were look-alikes.

Among the key players in the lateral space has been Paul, Weiss. Actually, that seems to have evoled into a brand attribute.

The laterals its chairperson Brad Karp had acquired from distressed Boies Schiller have been all over the media.

As is well-known, those partner exits from Boies Schiller were in themselves major stories. Many remember when Boies Schiller founder David Boies had been deified in the business media as both a crafty litigator and a risk-taking entrepreneur. The latter is rare in the legal profession. Here is that iconic May 12, 2015 coverage by Paul Barrett in Bloomberg. And, of course, that was then.

The more recent major story with legs is the partners taking the exits.

The most prominent "expats" from Boies Schiller to Paul, Weiss were Karen Dunn and Bill Isaacson. Their mission is to make Paul, Weiss the go-to firm in Northern California - that is, Silicon Valley.

Other law firms have experimented there and failed. That makes the move closely watched. Yes, law firm as pioneer. Good story, isn't it. Later, Meredith Dearborn and Jessica Phillips also were poached from Boies Schiller and added to the Silicon Valley venture. Before that, Karp had primarily focused on the New York and Washington D.C. territories.

Lesser known has been a lateral addition to the bankruptcy practice. In Paul, Weiss' New York office parachuted Andrew Parlen. Most recently he had been with Latham & Watkins. But most of his career had been at O'Melveny. Among his clients have been Herion and Verso.

What was cool about this development had been this: Parlen leveraged the media attention associated with joining Paul, Weiss to showcase his perception of the state of the economy. Essentially he anticipates no falloff in the kind of work he does. That says it all. 

In terms of branding, Paul, Weiss hit two homeruns with that lateral. One was the deal-making itself. The second was that the new partner Parlen immediately positioned and packaged himself as a thought leader.

Overall, though, the business of lateral recruiting is down. In Law.com, on October 8th, Dylan Jackson reported that searches have plummeted by about a third. Energy, finance, litigation and M&A are the practices most responsible for that. However, most recently, M&A has been picking up. Time will tell if that triggers a hunt for laterals in the niche.

Reflection: With courts closed or operating on a limited basis, it's business strategy in the legal sector which has been the platform for attention. Had there not been COVID-19, those in the legal sector, the media and laypeople fascinated with how lawyers argue points of law probably would have been engrossed in the trial for "U.S. v. Elizabeth Holmes." 

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Should In-house Legal Pivot to Customer Service? Heidrick & Struggles Talked Like Lawyers (and a partner there didn't seem focused on engaging)

In-house legal departments, like so many other moving parts of the business world, are being forced to change.

For example, Bloomberg Law reported on October 8th, how more work was being required but no additional compensation provided. In addition, there had been pay cuts.

Even before COVID-19, in-house legal was doing more assignments itself instead of outsourcing them to law firms.

Given this evolution, it's not unthinkable that the corporations will expect those legal departments to also take on more functions. Not just play in the legal sandbox. The new best practice in business is to find ways for departments to do more.

How about if in-house legal loops into customer service. That's right - interact directly with customers and create user-friendly customer communications. Customer service  is so important for a corporation because it moves the dial, forward or backward, on everything from business retention to branding.

If legal integrates customer service into its responsibilities, this will have to happen: The in-house legal department will have to stop communicating like lawyers. Instead they will have to learn to connect, one human being with another human being. 

My very recent encounter with Heidrick & Struggle's legal department represented time-travel to the tone and content of Corporate America in the 1970s.

There's more, unfortunately. My encounter with a Heidrick & Struggle's partner in operations returned me to Catholic Grade School in the 1950s. Back then shaming was the norm.

All I was doing was trying to apply for a part-time contract career coaching assignment Download ReimaginingYourCareerWithJaneGenova.

Both experiences occurred on the same day. Here is that story.

I don't dare posit a cause-effect relationship or even a correlation, but that Day of The Two Encounters, I had two anxiety attacks. In addition, my healthcare provider put me on an antidepressant. I am waiting for it to kick in.

The funny thing is this: In elite law firms, more and more lawyers have stopped talking like lawyers. Take, for instance, the chairperson of Dentons Joe Andrew. He published an iconic thought leadership op-ed about the Little Guy in The Hill. It's total humanspeak. When I interview lawyers for background material for this blog, not one has used the disembodied tone of lawyerese. 

Maybe it will be up to shareholders to hold Heidrick & Struggles' feet to the fire in how all its functions interact with all constituencies. Modern Readers reports that Nuveen Asset Management has reduced its stake by 14.6%. Zacks Investment Research shifted from buy to hold. ValuEngine downgraded its rating from hold to sell.

It was management guru Peter Drucker who hammered that the corporation existed to serve the customer.

Currently, ESG investors add to that the environment and society in general. All of this mandates the corporation looks outward. My experience with Heidrick and Struggles was an institution focused inward.

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James, The Non-Murdoch - Transforming Media in Post-Trump Era

The end of the Donald Trump Political Phenomenon will likely mean a disruption of media.

Of course, a far right medium like Fox News will lost influence.

On the other hand, The New York Times could wobble badly, only kept alive through a foundation which parachutes in. Many (including Trump) contend the NYT has been kept alive by its signature push-back on Trumpworld.

In the ashes could rise a new kind of media presence: James Murdoch. Yes, he is the son of media tycoon Rupert.

In the NYT Maureen Dowd interviews James at length. (Both it and she could be on short time).

James had left the family business, labeling it as a source of disinformation.

His relationship with his father Rupert and his brother Lachlan is tense (understatement).

His pivot is to reforming fake news. That includes investing in startups whose mission is that. Also, he funds research studying the digital manipulation of society. In addition his wife Kathryn has a background in communications.

It wouldn't be a surprise if James and Kathryn evolve into the media power couple in a post-Trump world. They have the passion, knowledge, connections and money. 

The first collapse could come in gotcha journalism. Instead, as in scientific research, there will be a sincere effort to find the "truth." Not create sensationalistic headlines for their own sake or to manipulate human beings.

In the legal niche, Abovethelaw could face the need to change its tone and content. Having tipsters who share with ATL confidential material from law firms might no longer be saluted as heroic. The ethos of supposed whistleblowing could undergo a redefinition. Motivation could be factored in. Hey, why does this first-year associate, pulling down nearly $200k, have such a beef?

In general media, Buzzfeed could be "excommunicado" (to borrow that phrase from the film series "John Wick.") The fun could go out of exposes.

What more and more of us are aware of is that life is an existential tragedy. So, what relief do we receive from that through the unmasking of supposed miscreants? Bring on the lightness of being and we promise we will be able to bear it.

Actually, some of the unraveling is happening simply as a result of market forces.

Verizon is reported to be shopping around the far-left HuffPost. How predictable has been the angle on content. The tone is the exhaustion of MS. Magazine in its final days. The content is as stale as the plotting of "Desperate Housewives" when writers ran out of ideas. 

The conservative leaning (but toned down over the years) Drudge Report is said to be for sale or needing investors.

Simultaneously, paid newsletters like Substack, which strive for objectivity, are the new cool. Here is my article on that trend, published in O'Dwyer PR.

Therefore, obviously the world is ready for a James-type righting of the wrongs of media. 

In itself that could restore respect for the field of journalism. The sector could have a roaring comeback.

Help-wanted ads for journalists will multiply in number. Higher education will need to expand current journalism programs. In my career coaching for young people, I could encourage them to, yes, prepare for that vocation. It's not a job. - Download ReimaginingYourCareerWithJaneGenova.

You bet, a world suffering from COVID-19 and the worst of capitalism needs a fresh set of heroes. Kathryn and James could be among them.

In addition there are those in the legal community who already have the tools to assist with the carnage of the pandemic and to transform capitalism into a system that benefits all of us.

An example of that is the law firm Paul, Weiss, chaired by Brad Karp. It motivated the industry-wide collaboration creating the COVID Relief Center for victims of the pandemic.

Simultaneously, it has been an early adopter in The Triple Bottom Line, that is expanding capitalism from only chasing profits to the well-being of people and planet earth. That happens in its new practice:  Sustainability & Environmental, Social and Governance Advisory Panel (ESG).

Meanwhile global chairman of Dentons Joe Andrew has been on the front lines of media, looking out for the little guy. The earnestness mirrors the tone and content of a Frank Capra film. Give us more of that, Joe.

The legacy of the Black Plague, document historians, had been an era of regression. The Dark Ages.

It will take a fresh kind of leadership to avoid that globally after COVID-19 finishes with mankind. I have a hunch it is nearly in-place. 

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Law Firm Lateral Market Down 30%, But Some Practices Caught Fire (and big brandnames continue to be poached)

"Hiring in bread-and-butter practices such as corporate M&A and litigation, which drove firm profits in the decade before the novel coronavirus pandemic, has slowed dramatically, even as areas like bankruptcy and data privacy see a flurry of action, causing lateral movement to drop year over year by nearly a third." - Dylan Jackson, Law.com, October 8, 2020.

Among what's pulling down the lateral market 30% are these four practice areas: energy, finance, M&A and litigation. With courts closed or operating on a limited basis, the latter is no surprise. In fact, even litigation financing is off. The biggest player in that industry - Burford Capital - reduced its commitment 72% during the first part of 2020.

Therefore, the search industry in the legal sector's lateral niche, at least firms dominating those slowed-down sectors, has taken a hit.

But, there are pockets in lateral search which are thriving. They include bankruptcy and data privacy. Growth is the Golden Grail in the legal sector. So critical is growth that chasing after it helped do in Dewey & LeBoeuf. In The New Yorker, James Stewart wrote the obituary of Dewey & LeBoeuf.

What also props up the lateral market are the blockbuster brandnames who wind up getting poached. Such a "get" can in itself enhance the brand of the acquiring firm and throw shade of the firm losing the star presences. Most businesses derive their value from the celebrities on the masthead.

The recent iconic example of growth through laterals had been the exit of Karen Dunn and Bill Isaacson from the executive committee at Boies Schiller. They went to Paul, Weiss.

This particular lateral transaction was part of the Paul, Weiss chairman Brad Karp's strategy to expand the law firm's footprint beyond the New York and the Washington D.C. markets. The target is Northern California tech. 

Karp has also expanded the Paul, Weiss brand into ESG. The new practice is Sustainability & Environmental, Social and Governance Advisory.

Increasingly, as is showcased in the falloff in activity in the lateral market, what practices the law firm is in determine not only if it will continue scaling. Survival could be at stake. Darkness hovers over the second half of 2020 for law firms. Much of the lateral market can go on hold.

Reflection: Should an outlet in legal media establish an award for the most successful lateral activity by a law firm? It's a power tool for growth.

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Maybe Not Always a Case of Bias - Dig Down to the Professional Subtext

The way the New York Post presents the career implosion of Gray Hollett, 61, is as another example of growing ageism. Also, there is a subtext of a possible clash of national cultures. 

However, those angles might be concealing a more fundamental reality of the work world. 

That is the increasingly difficult role Hollett had to perform as the former Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Boyden World Corporation. Last January he was terminated. Recently, he filed a complaint with Equal Employment Opportunity. He contends discrimination based on age and his American nationality. 

Essentially, the position of CMO is the hot seat in all organizations. According to Spencer Stuart, reports The Wall Street Journal, the CMO's average tenure is 43 months. For the Chief Executive Officer it's 88.4 months. For the Chief Financial Officer it's 63 months.   

Technologies such as ad targeting have ramped up expectations of what CMOs and their teams should be accomplishing. Most employers have blind faith in technology. 

Also, what the function does or doesn't do is continually measured. Rarely are externals, such as a sudden shift in consumer tastes or an upstart competitor, accepted as explanations for disappointing numbers. The slot, although it seems glamourous, is unforgiving. It's standard to ax the incumbent and conduct a search for a new CMO. 

In the "small print" in the New York Post coverage is this:  Hollett's higher-ups assessed the decisions he made on an assignment as out-dated. That, in itself, could have created the alleged perception that he was "too old" for the job. Also thrown in could have been national-centric assumptions about marketing ideas. Boyden's chairman of the board Jorg Kasten is German. 

The takeaway here might be as simple as this: When choosing a career path understand its unique hazards and know yourself enough to determine if you can roll with the punches. If you discover when in that career path you can no longer absorb the hard blows, do a skills/experience audit. Then leverage those to another line of work. 

The work world has become unforgiving. You may be among those who have to reimagine your career. Affordable coaching.  Make an appointment for complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)