Law And More

The Jab Gets Political/Theatrical (and moments of clarity if there's a COVID outbreak back in the office)

"Thus far, the firms that have made vaccination a requirement for those returning to the office include Cooley, Clifford Chance, Davis Wright Tremaine, Dickinson Wright, Fenwick & West, Hanson Bridgett, Hogan Lovells, Hueston Hennigan, Lowenstein Sandler, Mintz, Paul Weiss, Sanford Heisler, and Weil Gotshal. Now, we can add another two firms to the list. Arent Fox and Davis Polk both recently added a vaccination mandate to their safety protocols." - Abovethelaw, August 2, 2021.

Like returning to the office, the jab has become political. The drama about this issue will keep escalating. And, just as with the associate compensation bump there will be a watch list what law firm is next to mandate vaccinations. And how the chairperson makes the announcements. Arrogance during these confusing times is verboten.

Meanwhile, the elephant in the room on this one is: Can the jab prevent contacting COVID when lawyers and staff return to the office? Even with masks (last week, Paul Weiss announced no masks but like everything else in COVID times that could change) there could be an outbreak in a law office. The vaccinations are proving to providing an illusion of protection versus a guarantee of not contracting the Delta variant.

If there is a massive outbreak of some version of COVID in a law office that means the work won't get done. And the work is everything. On their sick beds at home associates might have that moment of clarity: They are mere workers bees. Not the respected lawyers they envisioned being when enrolling in the T-14. Could the ethos of BigLaw as the place to work become undone?

Place your sponsored content here on this syndicated site. Affordable rates. Please contact janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Activision Blizzard's Workers Did Walk Out - Bobby Kotick's Crisis Management Was Too Little, Too Late

The drama at video-game creator Activision Blizzard hasn't let up. 

There had been a chance it would. That was when the head guy Bobby Kotick did a mea culpa and announced he had contracted with law firm Wilmer Hale to investigate allegations about a "frat house" culture.

Before that, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing had filed a lawsuit against the corporation for sexual misconduct and more. The more includes that only 20% of employees are female. Employees experienced Kotick's reponse to that lawsuit as tone-deaf. They threatened to walk out. 

Kotick had been struggling to prevent the employees from doing that yesterday. But walk they did.

The Guardian reports:

"Employees of Activision Blizzard, the video game company that produces World of Warcraft and Call of Duty, staged a walkout Wednesday morning to call for better working conditions ... Hundreds of workers gathered outside the company’s headquarters in Irvine, California, Wednesday morning while others, unable to attend in person, took part in a virtual protest."

Yes, that made a nice photo-op for the media.

Also, as Bloomberg reports, fans are threatening a boycott.

Meanwhile, the stock is still down. After the announcement of the lawsuit, it had plunged. Yesterday it had closed at 84.82. That was down from the 52-week high of 104.53.

So, what should other corporatons be pondering? They have to ask themselves:  Could we be the next Activision Blizzard? And what should we do about that?

The first stop should be, obviously, at your law firm. Cutural issues are pivoting into legal landmines. Activision Blizzard is the most recent example of that.

If your law firm is state-of-the-art as is Paul Weiss, it will have in-place a practice customized to help you navigate both internal and external crises as values keep shifting in business. The common moniker for that is ESG (Environmental Social and Governance). Essentially ESG focuses on what has been added to corporate responsibilty beyond the bottom line. That ranges from the well-being of employees to protection of the enviroment. 

Chaired by Brad Karp, Paul Weiss launched in April 2020 its ESG practice. Here is what it does: 

"Business leaders face greater pressure to increase their organizations’ resilience while simultaneously addressing social issues of importance to stakeholders. Our advisory practice helps companies navigate the legal, business and political ramifications of developing and implementing ESG initiatives. We advise on matters such as stakeholder engagement, corporate governance, crisis management, corporate social responsibility, sustainability, diversity and inclusion, ethics and compliance."

Note that its mission explicitly includes "crisis management."

The meme-in-waiting could be: Not being the next Activision Blizzard.

Place your sponsored content here on this syndicated site. Affordable rates. Please contact janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Paul Hastings and Shinyung Oh, 2008 - The Extreme Shaming of an Associate, Then of the Law Firm Itself

The vilification of Paul Hastings for how it designed its where-work-will-be-done and the tone-deaf way it announced that had not been its first passage through the corridor of extreme shame.

In 2008, reported the American Bar Association Journal, there had been the global outing of how Paul Hastings allegedly terminated associate Shinyung Oh. Among other media, The Wall Street Journal also ran with that story. 

Six days after her miscarriage, Paul Hastings ended the employment with this associate. Not long before that, she had been given a mediocre performance review. However, not long before that mediocre review, she contended that a partner had informed her that she was in good shape on her career path.

Therefore, she interpreted the termination not associated with how she did her job. Rather, for her, it was a case of a stealth layoff. The firm, she claimed, was downsizing. However, as we all know, announcement of formal layoffs could send the signal that Paul Hastings might have been struggling financially. 

Shinyung Oh was determined not to slide out the door with her tail between her legs. We baby boomers would put it this way: The Man wasn't going to not only take her livelihood but also inflict extreme shame on her.

She transmitted a firm-wide email. In it, she told her side of the story. That might have been analogous to Martin Luther's nailing his 95 Theses (or so legend has it) about what was very wrong with Roman Catholicism to the church door in 1517.

Shinyung Oh's bold act resonated in every corner of the professional work. Come on, who among us hasn't perceived we were treated unfairly by a powerful employer? At the time, we might have decided we had no option but to exit with our tail between our legs. Now, there was a new model out there. Currently, it has become a necessary rite of passage to discuss one's termination on social media. 

Over the years, there are those in media and blogging who have continued to follow Shinyung Oh's story. Today, Shinyung Oh is an associate marriage and family therapist at Solana Beach, California. Interestingly her LinkedIn Profile does list as a former job her employment at Paul Hastings.  

Currently we are following Paul Hastings' second journey through the corridor of shame. Just like it may never shake the Shinyung Oh incident completely it might never shake off the arrogance and rhetoric of its recent activities regarding the place of work. "Doing a Paul Hastings" could become a standard way of describing a supposed successful organization doing so many things very wrong.

Place your sponsored content here on this syndicated site. Affordable rates. Please contact janegenova374@gmail.com.

Holy Communion as Starter Sacrament in Roman Catholicism - The Bishops and Joe Biden

White dress.

White veil.

White knee socks.

White shoes.

White purse.

White prayer book.

White rosary beads.

White candle.

That was me on my First Communion Day. 

To the present time, I have never felt so important.

That's likely exactly what the one-time brilliant-in-marketing Roman Catholic Church intended in configuring the First Communion ritual. It is a starter sacrament whose aura becomes embedded in both the individual and collective memory bank. My family was beside themselves watching me walk in measured steps up to the altar. 

So, it's no surprise that currently the power structure of Roman Catholicism in the U.S. has zeroed in on communion as the symbol of the need to buy into its whole orthodoxy of beliefs and practices. As is well known, the bishops have been busy bees putting together a manifesto about this sacrament. It seems intended as a stern warning to all who approach its dogma menu on an a carte basis. Among them is U.S. President Joe Biden.

Those close to his administration, such as Brad Karp of Paul Weiss, might advise Biden to, well, smirk. 

Strategically, this busy-bee activity on the part of American Roman Catholicism seems like a very dumb move at the wrong time. And those bishops used to be such smart players.

 Pew documents that of all religions in the U.S. Roman Catholicism has lost the most members. Since the Boston Globe outed clergy sexual abuse of young boys beginning in 2002, there have been a loss of market share, bankruptcies and the shuttering of parish schools. 

Those of us supporting the Biden Administration policies such as pro-abortion could protest in front of our local diocese  headquarters in simulations of our attire for our First Communion.

A budding fashionista can loop into a big brandname by designing the females' Communion Dresses so that they won't be confused with wedding dresses. Much fun to be had. Plus interesting to time travel back to an era when Roman Catholicsm could cast such a spell on our immigrant families in the 1950s. 

Place your sponsored content here on this syndicated site. Affordable rates. Please contact janegenova374@gmail.com.

BigLaw - Of Course, You're Going to Recruit for Talent on TikTok (also beef up your social-justice cred)

"Some lawyers [such as Joanne Molinari] at Kirkland & Ellis, Morrison & Foerster and other huge firms explore their interests outside the legal profession, while others demystify the world of Big Law on the app. The support of their heavyweight firms may signal a cultural shift amid a scramble for talent in a traditionally straight-laced industry." - Tiana Headley, Bloomberg Law, July 12, 2021.

Obviously - to use that common expression in courtroom processes - this "opens the door" to BigLaw law firms embracing the promotional horsepower of TikTok. That applies to everything, from recruiting talent to differentiating themselves in the social-justice niche.

You bet, have a few summers chat up on TikTok what they are getting out of their Zoom experience. Highlight how partners loop in on a Zoom briefing. They share their unique experiences with antitrust. They even speculate with the summers: Could the Biden Administration be overreaching with how it is reconfiguring the role of the FTC?

Seasoned lawysers who had been laterals poached from another firm can also be loose and real on TikTok. They open up about how to go about career mobility in the legal sector. What are the pitfalls? And how they are damn sure they have bypassed so many of them by coming to Law Firm X. The leadership at X - for they are jolly good fellows, they really are. And take that from a lawyer who's been around the bend. 

Social justice branding, as Bloomberg Law pounds, currently is a prerequisite for many players in BigLaw. The challenge is developing unique positioning. What are your social justice activities saying about you and your law firm? In this, BigLaw can't be a monolith. A generic "we do good" - smirksmirk. 

An early adopter in social-justice initiatives with its Coronavirus Relief Center, Paul Weiss, headed by Brad Karp, might be thought of as "owning" that space. At least for now. But there is no dynastic right in any aspect of social justice.

Paul Weiss can reinforce its mission by staging on TikTok tutorials about the lessons it has learned about moving the dial on reducing suffering since it had invented the Center. That was seemingly light years ago when COVID first upended the world. Not all approaches to doing good are equally effective or efficient. 

Meanwhile marketers and public relations representatives in BigLaw should be designing public information campaigns on TikTok about how to think and talk like a lawyer. That's both the art of critical thinking and the in-the-trenches presentation of legal points. The latter is essential often even when trying to return an item at Best Buy. I recently arrived locked and loaded with legal language at the Sierra Vista, Arizona, Best Buy store. I contended it had sold the wrong printer cartridge. The "case" was "settled" with a store credit. 

Reflect on this: Part of the disruption in the legal sector involves empowering Everyman and Everywoman to have confidence about managing legalities w/o the traditional pricey delivery of legal services. Sure, Everyman/Everywoman, take a peek at those online services, before coming to us. Yeah, law firms, also tell TikTok viewers about your captive services. That will help them feel a part of what is going on in the legal sector. "Court TV" establishes that same kind of connection.

Law firms not on TikTok could come across as hiding behind a mystique about eliteness. Not at all good. 

Ever since the white-shoe firm Jones Day seemed to play it all wrong pitching that way to a blue-collar jury in the Rhode Island Lead Paint Class Action Public Nuisance trial (2005 - 2006) that kind of way to face a jury or the world has been suspect. Law firms can no longer remain an aloof subculture. They have to be a transparent institution. 

Sure, elite might sell to Wall Street clients and so many transactional accounts but in much of litigation and in the court of public opinion its shelf life has expired. 

Place your sponsored content here on this syndicated site. Affordable rates. Please contact janegenova374@gmail.com.

"Christine Crawford, et al. v. McDonald's" - How One Thing Leads to Another and Another

It all began with the stunner of a jury verdict in "Hulk Hogan v. Gawker." Reputation-protection lawyer Charles Harder pulled off a nuclear one: $140 million. That was March 2016.

Since then, there have been antennas pulled way up trying to connect with signals about other possible big-bang jury awards.  

 So, it was predictable that I would begin following the racial bias class-action lawsuit filed in Illinois: "Christine Crawford, et al. v. McDonald's." More than 50 former Black franchisees contend they failed because of the fast-food giant's racist policies and procedures. Here is a copy of the complaint.

And, follow it I have, compulsively. There's a lot more to the lawsuit than just what could be another of those large awards.

To begin with, there's the matter of contract law. Always a solid and strong point of law. Well, in the book "Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America," Marcia Chatelain explains how that McDonald's contract represents unequal power. The terms and conditions mandate strict conformance to the rules for franchisees established by McDonald's headquarters. 

Incidentally in that book the author provides the backstory of how, after Martin Luther King's murder, the power structure in America was championing Black Capitalism. At the time, becoming a franchise owner seemed to be a perfect fit. There were no barriers of academic credentials and the risk of entrepreneurship was (supposedly) reduced by the safety net established by the franchise concept.

Another reason for anyone's fascination with this litigation is that for the defense is Black lawyer Loretta Lynch.

If this gets to trial, in the subconscious of the jury will her being a woman of color operate as a symbol of total objectivity?

Or will it turn into the kind of Shakespearean tragedy of a Black highly credentialed lawyer using her skills against her own people?

Add on to that this: Some or all media outlets could resurface the infamous tarmac incident. That was when Lynch, as U.S. Attorney General in the Obama Administration, met with Bill Clinton, whose wife was under DOJ investigation, at the airport. 

A third magnet drawing attention in "Crawford" is that Lynch is a partner in elite law firm Paul Weiss, chaired by high-profile Brad Karp.

Would the optics for all this have been better had McDonald's selected for the defense a low-profile law firm in IL? Baby Boomers recall the lousy optics of big brandname controversial attorney F. Lee Bailey defending Patty Hearst. To today, followers of that trial argue that Hearst might have gotten off had her family selected a no-name lawyer with an earnest persona.

Think about it: Having such a prominent law firm like Paul Weiss in the loop against what could be perceived as a relatively powerless group of Blacks.

Well, my ongoing obsession with "Crawford" has been the gift that keeps giving. That is, professionally.

Recently, I had successfully pitched doing an article on the pros and cons of franchising to a magazine. Of course, in my analysis I would allude to "Crawford."

In addition, the library in which I accidentally spotted the book "Franchise" and jumped up and down in wild joy at such an addition to my perspective on the litigation has become part of my network. That's the Copper Queen Library in Bisbee, Arizona.

As usual, one thing leads to another and I blogged on that library's unique ethos. I catapulted into library royalty. That opened the door to the comfort level in which I could approach patrons for interviews for one or more of my three syndicated blogs. Today I was able to nail down an interview with a Baby Boomer about how he made the decision about retiring. Spoiler: It's a feeling. You know when you are "done."

Probably the takeaway here is: Forget cool. Grab onto enthusiasms and hold on tight. In unexpected ways opportunities unfold.

NOTE: 

All parties in this litigation are welcome to submit their point of view to this blog. There is no fee. Please send content, subject-matter headline and contact information to janegenova374@gmail.com. That will be posted verbatim and the link forwarded to you. "Crawford" is an important lawsuit and the more conversation about it the better for the U.S. justice system.

Place your sponsored content here on this syndicated site. Affordable rates. Please contact janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

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.

Place your sponsored content here on this syndicated site. Affordable rates. Please contact janegenova374@gmail.com.

The Amy Chua/Jed Rubenfeld Show - Is It a Greek Tragedy of Ethnic Self-Hate?

The New Yorker, New York Magazine, Bloomberg Law and Abovethelaw are among the media centers covering the fall of Yale Law Professors Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld. Those features include myriad theories why the two have gone from being gods and influencers at that small but prestigious law school to players in a kind of Greek tragedy.

One can almost hear the Greek Chorus chant: Beware Amy, Beware Jed. 

Those theories of The Fall range from hubris to being victims of others' jealousy to simple ineptness in public relations. The latter is a must-have skill in this media era.

But what might have been in plain sight and not picked up is this: Are the two classic examples of ethnic self-hate? There may or may not be such an entity. However, the late literary giant Philip Roth gained fame and wealth depicting that phenomenon in novels such as "Portnoy's Complaint."

As the new biography of him - Philip Roth - captures, that writer grew up lower middle-class in a Jewish family in Newark, New Jersey. My background in nearby Jersey City, NJ was similar.

Many of those in Newark and in Jersey City lived in the shadow of Manhattan. That was where the Don Drapers of "Mad Men" conjured out the magic that shaped America. It was likely impossible for us not to feel less-than. With rebuff after rebuff directed at ethnics that could harden into self-hate. 

Self-hate can take the form of bravado, arrogance, aggressiveness, compulsive striving, extreme risk-taking, criminal activity and more.  

Could any of this notion of ethnic self-hate be applied to Chua and Rubenfeld? 

Those of us who grew up in neighborhoods where that was the dominant ethos might be able to make a strong case that the two seem dead ringers for the folks we knew who self-destructed so well. They were the beautiful cheerleader who got pregnant senior year and couldn't go to Jersey City State College and the manager of a Firestone store who embezzled. That type of darkness was everywhere.

Those who didn't grow up in that kind of environment should read Roth's biography and the several of his novels. Access to higher education, social standing, financial security - none of that necessarily sucks out the self-loathing. It's a kind of stuckness.

Yes, place your paid sponsored content on this blog. Affordable rates. Please contact Jane Genova at janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Jones Day - For Senior Associates, Black Box Remains Smugly Shut

The ethos of Jones Day seems to be that of the Medieval monk laboring tirelessly in service of a higher purpose.

That notion of "having a vocation" could justify its black-box compensation. In that system, no one knows the salary of other lawyers in the firm. In addition to the black-box phenomenon there are no year-end or mid-year bonuses.

Well, that mode of compensation is being vilified again by the journalists at Abovethelaw. The catalyst is this: For junior associates in this Salary War compensation has been raised to prevailing market rate. However, senior associates are complaining to ATL about what they perceive as having to continue to put up with being paid below-market rate.

Of course, they know that they are being paid below-market rate by contacting lawyers at comparable firms about their compensation. 

In addition, senior lawyers have had it with the black box which seems to have a sacred aura in the perception of Jones Day leadership.

On Glassdoor, two of those rating Jones Day give it a "2" out of a possible "5."

The comments read:

"The culture of this firm is outdated and decades old.'"

(and contrary to the monk-like ethos) "Terribly run, will do anything for money."

Some had been hopeful that the gender-bias lawsuit "Tolton, et al. v. Jones Day" would pry open the black box. That is, if it went to trial. The last hopes for that were dashed when the remaining plaintiff (the others had dropped out) Katrina Henderson gave up the ghost. 

My perception of Jones Day had been formed when I was hired by a public relations agency to blog the Rhode Island lead paint public nuisance class action trial. That law firm defended Sherwin-Williams. The trial involved four defendants.

What was obvious was that the Jones Day lawyers didn't understand optics. They played the game white-shoe to a primarily blue collar jury. That included the female lawyer wearing designer clothes. Never dress better than the jurors. 

The local lawyer defending Arco in that same trial - John Tarantino - knew better. He pitched his case from the heart. His suit did not seem expensive. 

On that first go-around, Sherwin-Williams had been convicted and Arco got off. (Four years later the RI Supreme Court threw the case out.)

Another massive goof was that other partners from the firm would fly in and fill the courtroom to observe the action. The prosecution kept hammering the issue how it was outgunned by the resources of an elite law firm. Right in front of them, the jurors could bear witness to a large number of middle-aged white men in good suits craning their heads when the Jones Day lawyers were cross-examining. 

In addition, when I asked those gawking lawyers questions to help me sort out what was going on, they would bark "Rule X." Not at all helpful. Meanwhile, the prosecution had been helpful to the journalists in the room. 

Another mistake or so many thought: The defense didn't put on a defense.

Time-travel to the now. In contrast to Jones Day, other elite law firms I have dealt with seem to get the importance of what goes on in the court of public relations. For instance, Paul Weiss Chairperson Brad Karp has given me the time I had needed for sundry matters. There is no barking "Rule X." 

Also, lawyers I coach who had left BigLaw have been generous in explaining to me the business of law.

As the business of the law-firm industry keeps changing - Wilson Sonsini has accelerated those shifts - the Jones Day model could be forced into transparency. 

Yes, place your paid sponsored content on this blog. Affordable rates. Please contact Jane Genova at janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

 

Beyond the Sins of the Father: Andrew Giuliani Crashes on His Own

"Andrew Giuliani, son of former New York mayor-cum-Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, received no votes in a poll of state Republican leaders about the party’s next choice for governor of New York state." - The Guardian, June 29, 2021.

Who did get the majority of votes has been Lee Zeldin.

From the get-go, Andrew did it all wrong. That all-wrong started when he entered this race with little hands-on political experience. No, what he had picked up by osmosis at the dinner table from his father Rudy Giuliani obviously didn't earn him cred with those who counted. He had only done a stint as a special assistant in the Trump White House. His being a contributor to right-of-center Newsmax TV wasn't really relevant.

Also, he hadn't earned the right to bravado. He positioned and packaged himself as "Giuliani v. Cuomo." 

Moreover, his timing was so off. His surname, which he might have been able to use as a platform for victory although a personal unknown, was being tarnished daily. Most recently, Michael Wolff finished that off in his book "Landslide." Rudy comes off as a drunk who babbles. 

Given how much shade has been thrown on the Guiliani brand, Andrew might consider researching another line of work. Politics doesn't seem to be his long game.

Yes, place your paid sponsored content on this blog. Affordable rates. Please contact Jane Genova at janegenova374@gmail.com.