Law And More

"The Hero's Farewell" - From Jack Welch to David Lat

Power is heady.

The misfit Puritans made business one of the most powerful institutions in the new land. Actually it became the nation's shadow religion.

The economy they put together from scratch become the world's top dog. 

So, from the get-go, the leaders in business - often called "chief executive officers" - found it difficult to let go of that power when the job ended.

They still do.

Aging media tycoon Rupert Murdoch and investment genius Warren Buffett are not putting out there any signs of leaving.

Also, former head of legal media site Abovethelaw - David Lat - still has at least one foot in that sandbox. Maybe more.

Lat is now an employee at legal executive search firm Lateral Link.  The title is "managing director" but that's not being the number-one any more. 

The transition from number-one to an employee, by its very nature, represents a tricky crossroads.  Here is my analysis of some of that. 

"The Hero's Farewell, by management expert Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, captures that struggle. If former leaders don't navigate the shift just right, the implications are grim.

Their overall career could blow up.

More to the point, the business could flounder.

One has to wonder if Jack Welch had inflicted that darkness on himself and GE. He seemed to be unable to let go. GE has been in severe distress. The legacy of both is in play.

Constituencies with interests invested in those businesses in which the number-one departs might create a five-year rule.

That is, even though the former leaders might own stock (and a lot of it) they are banned from all official input for 60 months.

That includes no seat on the board.

Speaking to the media about the company is forbidden.

And, no organizing a stockholder movement to regain power.

As the platitude screams: We live in interesting times. How former business leaders manage their farewell is at the top of the list of fascinations. 

Full Disclosure: Recently I had a negative experience with Lateral Link.

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

The Media Innovator's Dilemma - From Ted Turner to David Lat

They build something that disrupts the media industry. 

The innovation works.

The experience is totally heady, with great influence. After all, it's said that media - not government, business or even technology - is the most powerful force in civilization. 

Then they sell that media outlet or simply move on to try out another role. What could play out next could be labeled The Media Innovator's Dilemma. 

For creator of 24/7 cable television news - Ted Turner - there was no next after he sold CNN.  He became just another businessperson whose former outsized presence went poof. Publicly, he indicated he regretted the sale. From then on, Turner seemed in mourning. And for a while, CNN's ratings plummeted. 

In the niche - legal media - the innovator had been creator of Abovehthelaw (ATL) David Lat. That began in 2006.

Officially he has left that role and become what is really a salesperson's job at headhunting firm Lateral Link. Its playing field is the legal sector.

Of course, that also constitutes a shift from being the boss to being an employee.

So far, Lat seems not to be able to totally let go of the legacy. He posts on ATL. It's in connection with his current headhunting  role, leveraging the aura of the innovation in hopes of developing new business. But, still, a clean break might have signaled amazing confidence in what is next.

As an employee, Lat won't be in charge. Instead he had to get the hang of fitting in to someone else's organizational culture. That's challenging.

In more rigid times in business, corporate employers hesitated hiring former entrepreneurs. They were wary that the transition might be impossible. That was the time of the Organizational Man (and Woman).

Since then, of course, careers paths have become less linear. More founders are parachuting into organizational functions. 

At best Lat could become a thought leader in the world of career strategies in the legal industry.

That's different than being a presence in media.

In his current role, his success depends on body count: How many placements he can make. Yeah, it's business, not mission of changing how news and commentary are positioned and packaged. The organization measures success in terms of that business metric. Either you make the sale or you don't make the sale. The game is binary. 

Lat could succeed at being a headhunter. He could adjust to employee status. He could also make more money than he had in media. But gone with his choice to give up ATL is the unique influence he had.

Media is the loudest voice in just about every context. That "loudest voice" is how journalist Gabriel Sherman summed up Fox News founder Roger Ailes. Here that book can be ordered from Amazon. According to some reports, after being ousted from Fox, Ailes was conferring with deep pockets such as Peter Thiel, who funded "Hogan v. Gawker," to fund launching a competitor to Fox. No, Ailes didn't plan to get a job in someone else's media outlet. 

Also, there is the issue if ATL, like CNN, will shift into a downward trajectory after the founder leaves. Part of the innovator's genius is a good head for the business of media. Are those business smarts embedded in ATL? The ATL DNA was Lat's genetic engineering. 

My hunch is that Lat could have moderate success in the headhunting space. But it's the media innovator's dilemma not to be able to make peace with the decline in influence.

Meanwhile, it would be shrewd reputation management for Lat to let go of ATL, in rebranding himself as a leader in executive search. Turner seemed incapable of that kind of reimagining his professional identity.

As for ATL, the niche of legal media seems ripe for another innovation. It could or could not come from the folks at ATL. A severe downturn can create demand for a fresh kind of analysis and presentation of issues. 

Full Disclosure: Since the late 1980s, I have been an entrepreneur. There I found extreme success versus organizational life. Recently I had a negative experience with Lateral Link. 

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Former WWE Perfomer Ashley Massaro, 39, Reported to Have Committed Suicide

Can a failed lawsuit "kill?"

Maybe.

All too often litigation becomes an obsession. When the legal system dismisses it those who had filed it could tumble into emotional despair and/or rage.

For former WWE performer Ashley Massaro the response might have been hopelessness.

In November 2016, she had participated in a class action lawsuit against WWE.

It contended WWE did not warn its performers about possible head injuries which could result in concussions. In addition, Massaro claimed she had been sexually assaulted when engaging in a WWE event.

The lawsuit had been dismissed.

Allegedly as a result of her injuries she suffered clinical depression and addiction to pain killers.

Now, it is reported that her death had been a suicide, at age 39, had been a suicide. Here is coverage by the media.

WWE has long been controversial. This death might prompt politicos to authorize a comprehensive investigation of the health and well-being of the performers.

There are those, however, who claim that the performers should be aware of the risks they take when entertaining. As with football, this sport may just continue on, as is. It's big business.

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Tony Robbins - Will BuzzFeed Investigation Do to Him What The New Yorker Ones Did to Harvey Weinstein, Les Moonves?

Law firm for celebrities Lavely & Singer denies it all. Among its clients is Bill Cosby. 

The "it" is the allegation of inappropriate behavior by mega guru Tony Robbins. That ranges from alleged verbal abuse of audience members to sexual misconduct with employees.

But BuzzFeed stands by its findings of an investigation which included leaked recordings, internal documents, and interviews. The focus of all that has been the alleged secret conduct of self-help coach Robbins.

Unlike mental health professionals, coaches in that niche do not require licensing. And Robbins' empire is closely guarded from media. His coaching presentations aren't allowed to be recorded.  Here is that BuzzFeed expose. 

Immediately one wonders if the BuzzFeed investigation will derail the career of Robbins, just like The New Yorker ones by Ronan Farrow did the professional life of Harry Weinstein and Les Moonves. Here is one of Farrow's articles on Weinstein, dated October 2017.

In addition, will these accusations prompt the push to license all those who declare themselves "coaches?" In some sophisticated circles, life coaches have replaced psychotherapists. 

The accusations are, well, colorful. Allegedly Robbins had his followers, as a tutorial, simulate sexual release. He berated those who claimed they were victims of rape. It was contended he would have his employees take notes in his apartment while he was naked, as in exiting the shower. Five women have made those kinds of sexual harassment claims. 

If these allegations can be proven or if Robbins caves and admits them, that would be no surprise. Power can unhinge judgment. Those with it might assume they can "get away" with unethical and illegal actions. They figure the victims will be too frightened to snitch. 

This story certainly has legs. The immediate issue is: Will it deliver a blow right now to Robbins' business interests? The #MeToo movement still has momentum. 

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Nat Hardwick - Variation of Usual Saga of Hand in Cookie Jar

Lawyers' putting their hand in the cookie jar (stuffed with clients' and law firm funds) is a all too familiar story in the legal sector.

The money is there.

The controls aren't.

And the lawyers feel pressured to maintain a lavish lifestyle. Or, like the fictional Will Gardner in "The Good Wife" they have debts from their addiction. Gardner's was gambling.

But some instances of that are more outrageous than others. What could go down in the history of the legal sector as downright camp - or totally excessive - is the $40 million caper by Georgia real estate lawyer Nat Hardwick. Currently he is serving a 15 year sentence. In October 2018, a jury found him guilty of conspiring to commit wire fraud, many counts of wire fraud, and making a false statement to a financial institution which is federally insured.

He embezzled both from clients and his own firm Morris Hardwick Schneider. The latter has since gone bankrupt.

Now, reports Joshua Sharpe in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, U.S. District Court judge Eleanor Ross demanded he pony up $40 million in restitution. Of that $23.3 million will go to Fidelity Bank and $17 million to individuals.

Hardwick did not disappoint in his camp persona. Through is lawyer Kristen Navoy he pushed back. Pronto. He contended that the evidence wasn't adequate to justify such a large amount of restitution. For example, among the victims were those who claimed that Hardwick's antics damaged their reputations. That is difficult to quantify in dollar terms, Hardwick asserts.

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Felicity Huffman - Tears Smart Strategy

In court yesterday when she made her guilty plea, Felicity Huffman also made all the right moves. 

Her body language was subdued.

She took full responsibility for what she had done.

There was remorse.

And, that was all topped all with tears. Here is the coverage in the LA Times.

Some of the tears were triggered by her account of her daughter's struggle with a learning disability.

But the rest likely were interpreted by onlookers as a sign of shame for the misdeeds. Her guilty plea was for conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services fraud.

Tears that aren't shed in a self-absorbed manner are a powerful communications strategy. Given that society has already had third-wave feminism women might hesitate to leverage tears when they are in a pickle.

That's unfortunate. After all, crying as part of a mea culpa is an equal-opportunity tool. Younger men cry just about as easily as females. 

Many of those tears are loosened by sincere emotion. No, they aren't phony. But, you bet, they represent a smart response to being in trouble. 

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Fathers and Sons - The Gilbert Murder Saga Classic Archetype

Members of the media have been gearing up for the trial this month of Princeton graduate Thomas Gilbert Jr.

The headliner in the tabloid New York Post is that his mother Shelley Gilbert will testify against him. He is being accused of murdering his father Thomas Gilbert Sr. who operated a hedge fund. Actually, the mother's testimony can help the defense since she can document the alleged history of severe mental illness. 

From the get-go when Sr. was found in his Manhattan apartment with a fatal gun shot wound in January 2015, the media ran long and hard with the story.

It had it all: privilege, prep schools and the Ivy League University, Manhattan address, the profession in hedge funds, the failure to launch son, and murder staged as a suicide. 

Back in those days when Vanity Fair was still a hot read, that media outlet published regular updates on its digital "Hive." Here is just one of them.

Even the BusinessInsider got into the act. Here is an article.

Essentially, the reason for the alleged murder was that Sr. had reduced Jr.'s monthly allowance from $3,000 to $2,800. Jr. was not happy about that.

However, the saga follows the classic archetype of the primal conflict between fathers and sons. In order to come into his own, the son must overcome the father. The juicy part of that is the yearning of the son to replace the father in the mother's bed.

In 429 B.C. that was played out in ancient Greek theatre in the classic drama "Oedipus Rex." Oedipus, king of Thebes, does wind up murdering his father. 

That meme dominates all art forms. Sigmund Freud made a big deal of it. And many look for signs of it even in the most seemingly cohesive families. 

If the prosecution is smart, that conflict will be played up. That could distract from the claim of chronic mental illness.

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

Crime and Punishment - Let's Re-Think All That

From the get-go in America, early social systems leveraged the power of public shaming.

The Puritans put miscreants in stocks in the town square.

Those settling the west tarred and feathers con artists and horse thieves.

Today, the official vestige of that is pretty tame. It's the perp walk. The alleged Wall Street insider trader is marched out the office in cuffs, with the media notified ahead.

Yet today social behavior is beyond offensive. Crime, especially the violent kind, is escalating.

It could be time to return to official and unofficial forms of public shaming for restoring social control and deterring crime. 

The 14-year-old mouthing off in class is mandated to take the elective course in poop removal in public housing. The progress in that learning experience is streamed back to the classroom and athletic events. Others will earn class credits by simply watching that. 

And, the hell with "sentencing" to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings those pleading guilty to DUIs.

First of all, only about 5%  to 10% of those in AA get and stay sober.

Secondly, everyone understands the power of social pressure. Let law enforcement and the courts come up with a public means of punishment that is not cruel or unusual. Clever lawyers can put that together. 

Meanwhile, contemporary social systems such as neighborhoods in old urban areas have developed their own ways of public shaming. There is no ambiguity about the message.

The self-absorbed pulls into a cleared parking space post-blizzard.

Sweet.

That car owner returns to a smashed windshield.

Beyond the cost and inconvenience of replacing the windshield there is the horror that everyone has witnessed this play out of crime and punishment.

The fear inside the car owner is the possibility of being shunned.

Of course, never again will there be any gliding into a cleared parking slot. 

In a densely populated residential complex in New Haven, Connecticut, a woman spoke harshly to me in front of others.

Soon enough, in front of others, when I spotted her coming down the block, I stepped off the sidewalk until she has passed me. Then I stepped back on. As others observed the theatre the area became eerily quiet.

Quickly, the woman became more respectful in her speech.

An alterative, of course, would have been to follow standard procedure: Going to property management and reporting the harassment. Yeah, that would have branded me everything from a rat to a cry baby. No question, figuring out modes of public shaming is the most effective approach to righting perceived wrongs. Instead of taking on the label of "tattle-tale" we are anointed "community organizer."

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

Anna Sorokin aka Anna Delvey - Guilty, But of What?

It was an international media sensation.

A poor girl born in Russia in 1991, with a stop-over in Germany, had figured out the American Way to wealth.

It was built through presenting the right appearance and funding whatever with money you didn't have - at least not then.

The trial of Anna Sorokin aka Anna Delvey ran about four weeks.

In the end the jury convicted her of three counts to grand larceny and four counts of theft of services.

Her sentencing date is May 9th. She faces up to 15 years in the prison. Here are more details from the media.

Among those bills she hadn't paid or wound up dragging her feet on were the invoices to law firms Perkins Coie, Gibson Dunn, and Lowenstein Sandler. Here is the media coverage on that part of her American style caper. 

Those who have worked in the big time understand perfectly Sorokin's game plan. In ghostwriting/scripting and marketing communications I have clients who operate their enterprises and personal lives on the sheer ability to keep the credit going and enough revenues coming in to pay simple bills like the rent to the landlords of the trophy buildings in Manhattan. 

Only a few times did that cross the line to illegal. For instance, there were arrests for habitual check kiting. 

Sorokin's error in judgment is that she thought she could pull that off without having some solid funding base.

Therefore, she probably felt forced to embezzle almost $300k.

Her lawyer Todd Spodek argued she had every intention of paying it back.

Okay, so did lawyers caught with their hands in the cookie jar embezzling clients' funds. Among them had been the fictional Will Gardner from "Abovethelaw." He got off easy - a temporary suspension of his ability to practice law. More often there is prison time. It is not uncommon for there to be suicides before reporting to prison.

Some might consider it a sad day for hustlers like Sorokin. They came, they saw, and they thought they could become part of the gilded era.

Always-yearning-to-be-rich F. Scott Fitzgerald captured that impulse in "The Great Gatsby." The protagonist of that novel paid for the right to be included with his life.

Meanwhile, Fitzgerald's punishment was an early death from chronic alcoholism. 

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Pelvic Mesh - $120 Million Verdict Smackdown on Johnson & Johnson by Philly Jury

Another Gawker type verdict?

Recall the jury in "Hogan v. Gawker" awarded the plaintiff $140 million. Consequently, the defendant went out of business.

Could that kind scenario happen on a much larger scale to BigPharma player Johnson & Johnson?

In Law.com, Max Mitchell tells us what has gone down so far in the jury case of the pelvic mesh in Philadelphia. The facts still aren't all in yet and J&J's response is unknown.

Essentially, the case, as with much of the opioid litigation and criminal prosecution, is about failure to adequately warn.

Late yesterday, after a three-week trial, the jury in Philadelphia made up its mind about J&J's Ethicon product - TVT-O Pelvic Mesh. The lead plaintiff was Susan McFarland. The jury decided there was not enough warning about the risk. Its verdict included an award of $20 million in compensatory damages and $100 million in punitive damages.

The plaintiffs were represented by lawyers from Kline & Specter. The defendant was primarily represented by Beck Redden.

This win for the plaintiff has been only one among many in the Philly area. Also there had been a $9.9 million settlement in a lawsuit filed by the attorney general in the state of Washington. 

A week ago, though, also in Philly, there had been a jury verdict for the defendant.

One aspect of this kind of litigation that makes it high profile is that the product is still on the market. That's the way Ethicon has been playing it. The liability risk therefore can grow and grow. Could J&J go out of business? Not unthinkable.

Meanwhile its brand is tarnished. Given the opioid epidemic, shade has been thrown on all pharma.

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.