Law And More

Natasha Bannan - Cultural Identity Can Be Grafted on, But Disclosure All Too Likely in Digital Times

After being bullied in a literature and linguistics doctoral program in the late 1960s, I always wanted to be a White AngloSaxon Protestant. Back then, "someone from my background" just didn't fit into that culture.

Yes, at that time, I even had the fantasy of legally changing my highly ethnic Roman Catholic name "Mary Jane Genova" to "Arial Cabot" and attempting to pass for WASP. I would transfer to another doctoral program - a better one. And maybe with my new identity I would have a better chance of being admitted to a much more prestigious institution of higher learning.

But I didn't. I assessed that grafting on a new cultural identity wouldn't take. No one would fall for it. And I would look foolish. 

Maybe I was wrong. There are those who have succeeded with such an initiative. There had been, for example, Rachel Dolezal and Halaria Baldwin. At least, for a long time. 

Most recently, reports the Daily Mail, is the example of Natasha Lycia Ora Bannan. Born white in Georgia, she had passed herself off as Latina for years. 

That minority identity might have helped her career as a lawyer. For example, she had been President of the National Lawyers Guild. Also her personal branding had been as a prominent human rights lawyer.

In this digital age when it is easy to retrieve data, disclosure of what might be called "fake identities" seems inevitable. It's no longer smart to try such a caper. 

Stick with what's in the DNA.

Place your paid sponsored content on this blog. Here are 6 tips for search engine optimization (SEO) in 2021. Contact janegenova374@gmail.com.

Google Workers' Union Allows Contractors to Join - Could Evolve into Major Development in Gig Economy

"Employees of Google and parent company Alphabet Inc. announced the creation of a union on Monday ... The Alphabet Workers Union said it will be open to all employees and contractors, regardless of their role or classification." - Josh Eideson, Bloomberg Law, January 4, 2021.

What this unionization development could represent is a "backdoor" way those in the gig economy can organize.

If so, then the concept of unions for workers could come roaring back. A significant disadvantage of being a gig player is having no or little voice in the terms and conditions of working. In addition, the comeback of unions can impact the employment at-will that is the law in every state, with the exception of Montana. 

According to the 2019 survey "Freelancing in America," there are 57 million participating in the gig economy. That means that about 36% of the total workforce in America has the status of independent contractor. 

That percentage can surge as the labor market reconfigures during and after COVID-19. Employers have to become increasingly cost-efficient and flexible in manpower needs. Hiring independent contractors versus full-time employees provides that ability.

In California, Prop 22 made it legal for ride-hail drivers and delivers to remain gig players. They, however, do receive some of the benefits of full-time employers. Uber coined the term "Hybrid Workers" for this new model in the world of work. That could also catch on, instead of independent contractors pushing to join unions such as the one at Alphabet.

Meanwhile, the formation of that union, as Bloomberg Law points out, accelerates tensions between management and the workforce at Google and its parent Alphabet. 

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

Youth Ducking Cupid in Workplace - Lawyers Could Have Fewer Lawsuits Resulting from Ambiguous Relationships

"A tough economy, the pandemic and the #MeToo movement have combined to make younger workers wary of love on the job" - Krithika Varagur, The Wall Street Journal, November 22, 2020.

Youth is being prudent in being prudent in not allowing romance to rear its head in the workplace. The new game seems to be to be preventing ambiguity in relationships between the sexes - across all orientations.

That could reduce the number of lawsuits contending everything from sexual misconduct to retaliation. Criminal lawyers could also be handling fewer defenses for workplace violence generated by a souring internal love affair. 

The conventional thinking about office romances is that they currently are inevitable, given the long hours spent at work. In addition, there is the intensity involved in much of work which can create equally intense emotional bonds.

However, the potential problems associated with workplace romances could be getting through to youth. For Baby Boomers, it was the lesson our mothers always taught us. That was usually observed, at least by females, since employers didn't welcome office love affairs. Many, in fact, banned them back then.

As Wisestep reports, there are four major drawbacks of falling in love at work:

• Careers are at risk. Overall, employers don't welcome the complexities of love at work. Therefore, those involved could be ruled out for promotions and plum opportunities. 

 

• Co-workers could be thrown off their game. They are forced to deal with two people who now might be operating as one, even across different departments. It might be difficult to "read" and "size up" the joint entity. That can be frustrating, impeding productivity.

 

• There tends to be distraction, at some phase of the romance. The adage is on the money: Love is a form of madness. Employers want the total focus on work.

 

• The real possibility of conflicts of interest. Lovers in different departments could be disclosing, sometimes indirectly, confidential or sensitive information to the other. 

To that can be added the emotional and social fallout when the romance sours. Tension is palpable. Often, as in a divorce in the neighborhood, sides are taken. One party typically is expected to leave. Usually that will be the female or the one with less power. 

Recommendation: Employers should provide a stipend to unmarried workers to hire a respected matchmaker who does not mix and match internally. 

Place your paid sponsored content on this blog. Here are 6 tips for search engine optimization (SEO) in 2020. Contact janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Is the End Near? Meanwhile, Should Lawyers and Staff (the few left standing) Try Psychotherapy?

What will the stock market do today?

The college-aged do die of COVID.

No chance the kids will be back at school and experts predict it will be WFH for a long while.

Is the end near? Maybe. Maybe not.

But, will psychotherapy help any or all of that?

For many, the usual suspects aren't panning out. They are too undone to calm down enough to meditate and have too much work to duck out for a run.

Well, research documents that, yes, psychotherapy can be effective for some conditions. Among them is clinical depression.

Lawyers I coach usually agree that about eight sessions with a psychotherapist, along with medication, have played a part in their recovery. They would recommend that treatment to others.

Once they begin exiting a depressed state, then we can go on to create solutions for underlying career distress.

Being overwhelmed by the status quo in the workplace, as the book "Dying For a Paycheck" by Jeffrey Pfeffer documents, is not unique to the legal sector.

"I love what I do," goes the dominant meme. "But, how I have to do is killing me." Or, triggering medical problems and substance abuse. 

One of its major current challenges which is determining the future of psychotherapy, though,  (along with its high price) is its branding.

Perception is, well, everything. Game-changers, ranging from Steve Jobs to Donald Trump, proved that out.

The controversy surrounding the psychotherapy brand isn't new, of course.

Way back on September 29, 2013, the influential The New York Times published an article about psychotherapy's image challenges.

Around the same time, Laura K. Kerr, Ph.D. hammered the lack of transparency in psychotherapy as eroding the brand. Here is her article. 

In that thought leadership piece, Kerr observes:

" ... in the mental health field, experts aren't always perceived as transparent, and consumers have become more self-reliant, including conducting their own research through the Internet on what ails them."

This concern about transparency goes beyond the individual in treatment.

Institutions paying some or all of the bill, ranging from employers to insurance companies, also need to know more about approaches and outcomes. This push for data and evidence about outcomes is happening in a growing number of  industries. Even in the creative field of public relations, clients demand more accountability about results. Among the tools in public relations has been the AirPR software.

Back to the level of the individual consumer ...

In the early 1970s, an era of blind faith in psychotherapy (at least in some circles), I began three years of treatment at the University of Michigan Psychology Clinic and then the psychiatric outpatient facility at the University of Michigan Medical Center.

The therapist was then graduate student David W. Harder.

Harder had gone on to become a full professor in the Department of Psychology at Tufts University.  He is now retired but still does psychotherapy in the Boston Metro Area.

Years after that intensive therapy, when I was an entrepreneur struggling with the values of careerism, I again turned to Harder to help me sort out. Along the way I requested access to his clinical notes about my treatment. I was sensing the fit between therapist and consumer was not authentically productive.

Harder refused to provide the notes.

I had matriculated at Harvard Law School so, of course, I thought: lawyer. Since 2005, I have been a syndicated legal blogger.

I ponied up the fee to have a lawyer in Greenwich, Connecticut request the notes.

Actually, I was not surprised.

Reading them confirmed that, no, the fit was not for me. The tone and the content of the clinical reporting on my treatment did not align with my criteria for the therapeutic relationship. Even back in the 1970s I had a hunch Harder and I were not communicating. But psychotherapy had become the religion of so many educated at that time. Who was I to question the high priest?

What I recommend to those I coach who ask about the possibility of psychotherapy:

• First, request a complimentary introductory session with a therapist. Assess if you are being heard - or being communicated to from a hardened school of psychology.

 

• After a few sessions, request a copy of the clinical notes. If they are not turned over, that might represent a red flag. See a lawyer about what, if anything, to make of this. Should you start thinking litigation?

 

• Go over those notes with someone you trust and who cares about you.

 

• If you continue with this therapist, request the notes on an ongoing basis. Relationships, like everything else, can change.

 

• Experiment with DIY methods such as taking short breaks from work and the noise in your careerist head.

 

• Consult with others on your "recovery" team, such as your medical doctor, coach, 12-step sponsor, and close friend when it might be time to terminate psychotherapy.

Earning a living currently requires outsmarting the forces which seem tilted against workers. To do that demands being sound in mind and body. Psychotherapy could be a tool which gives a coping edge.

But everything about the process must be transparent. Voodoo is what we have fun with when we reach out to a psychic in Salem, Massachusetts. That experience is shaped by hocus-pocus. 

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)

In More Workplaces, Cupid Has to "Go On The Record"

"While workplace dating policies have been commonplace for years, typically targeting relationships between managers and subordinates, many companies have been compelled to update them to take into account new state anti-harassment laws and remote work activity spurred by the coronavirus pandemic." - Bloomberg Law, October 22, 2020. 

Everyone has a work story of a romance - theirs or someone else's - derailing. The drama. The awkwardness. Then, the fear of the next shoe to drop (that is, one, usually the female, nudged to leave the organization or transfer to another department.)

Those stories are usually pretty tame. The version that isn't could include allegations of abuse of power or of sexual harassment. Heads could roll. Lawsuits could be filed. Colleagues could bellow in pain. They would claim that favoritism shown for the one-time romantic partner prevented their own rise up the ladder.

The surprising thing is that widespread action about regulating office romances hasn't been taken sooner. Though it was universal or almost so it was supposed to be ignored.

As Bloomberg Law points out, employers have the right to regulate personal relationships between employees. The #MeToo movement has pushed that further. Many feel that employers have the responsibility to do so. In itself, that can prevent sexual harassment. 

The regulations are all over the map.

Some companies forbid all romance. The push-back on that policy is that the relationship will go underground. Also, the reality is that working together closely on a project can trigger love and lust. Suppressing that can distract.

Other companies require being informed that a romance is happening.

Then there are those mandating formal "love contracts."

Overall, the love game is one Mothers couldn't teach us. Their world of work was not so intense and did not involve such long hours. It was possible to remain detached. Also there was time to seek romance outside the workplace. 

For too many, the policies, whatever they might be, won't protect them from workplace crushes. They may not act on them. The other party may not encourage taking the next step. But they can be a source of so much preoccupation.

Reflection: All this could be excellent arguments for restructuring the organization with Artificial Intelligence. The manager won't find the robots crying at their desk because of a romance which soured.

Place your paid sponsored content on this blog. Here are 6 tips for search engine optimization (SEO) in 2020. Contact janegenova374@gmail.com.

              

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?

Place your paid sponsored content on this blog. Here are 6 tips for search engine optimization (SEO) in 2020. Contact janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Transcending Marketing & Its Discontents - Sales w/o Selling

The gameplan for marketing keeps mutating. And, during COVID-19 times, with so many businesses failing, survival of the fittest keeps requiring new plays.

While some law firms are engaged in the bonus wars others are still wobbly. 

Sure, for certain players, the tactics can still include publishing a book. Venture capitalist and co-founder of PayPal Peter Thiel put out there "Zero to One." That was in 2014. Currently it still ranks high on Amazon - 8,140. Expect an uptick.

In that guide for entrepreneurs, Thiel discusses applying to clerk for two justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, being rejected and lessons learned. Given the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, sales of any book reflecting on SCOTUS dynamics are bound to soar.

In addition, if layoffs become the norm should COVID-19 circle back or a contested election throws the world economy into disarray, those in the RIF loop will have to reflect on what Thiel had to find out. Namely that a setback can be opportunity. Those suffering that blow have upped the odds of winding up on their right career path. 

Here's another kind of lesson to learn. Public affairs Manhattan boutique owner Bob Dilenschneider published "Decisions" on December 31, 2019. Currently it ranks quite low on Amazon - 1,024,555. That makes publishing a book, at least for Dilenschneider, a - not a +. His shop does have a niche for the public opinion aspect of litigation as well as tort reform. The Dilenschneider Group helped promote Philip Howard's "The Death of Common Sense."

You bet, book publishing is risky for the non-Thiels as well as the non-Woodwards. Sales are made public on Amazon. That is information available to the author's competitors and enemies. Prospects for the author's services are also aware of the rankings. In America, we count. That's why resume experts hammer to quantify accomplishments. Your team's wins and settlements totaled X amount for 2019. 

What Dilenschneider ignored was this: All the other cool marketing tactics he could have invested his resources in. They include podcasting, YouTubing and Instagram. The content of those could have been entertaining. 

The essence of marketing is a distraction from the existential tragedy that is life. Ginsburg, like all human beings, really did die. 

The marketing message is supposed to lift the targeted demographics from focusing on what is to the promise of what could be. That ability characterized Don Draper's creative talent in AMC's programming "Mad Men."

Successful marketing is actually a process of not-marketing. The response is built-in. The targets respond, kind of on autopilot. And it transcends the inherent hatred of being sold to that iconic Harvard professor Ted Levitt warned about. He made famous the meme Marketing and Its Discontents. 

In constructing his gameplan for 2021, Dilenschneider can dismantle his in-place marketing machine and conjure up the voodoo of sales w/o selling. So can law firms. 

The genius in that category is chairman of law firm Paul, Weiss Brad Karp. Each and every outreach doesn't look, walk, talk or smell like marketing. Those range from social justice initiatives to acquiring brandname laterals from his competitors. There is no heavy-handed marketing imprint. 

When I consult with displaced lawyers for my career coaching services, early into the session it is usually appropriate to introduce the question: Have you considered experimenting with how you are marketing yourself? 

Their answer is always "yes." That is because the answers for our economic survival are always within us. Otherwise, caveman wouldn't have had endured long enough to produce the next generation of the human species.

If what's inside you is sending out signals to assess your marketing, then Stop, Listen, and experiment. Most things in business don't pan out. All that's needed are for a few to produce results. 

Small changes can have big impacts. Results-driven career coaching.  Affordable rates (sliding scale).  Make an appointment for complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com) Download UnleashingPossibilitywithJaneGenovaCareerCoaching

Jed Rubenfeld - America Is the Land of Reputation Restoration

Media outlets have been busy bees chronicling the fall of Yale Law School professor Jed Rubenfeld.

But that's today.

If he lays low for a while, then soon enough he can conjure up the magic of reputation restoration.

As a career coach, so many have been asking me if Rubenfeld is "comeback material."

In response, I have published this article in Odwyerpr.com.

With the growing number of strategies and tactics in public relations, no one has to be stuck more stuck most stuck. There are Nexts. 

The answers about your professional life are inside you. You will learn through coaching how to open yourself up to them. And get unstuck. Soon enough you will be your own coach. Affordable rates. Make an appointment for complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

Don't Use that Language Around Here: "The Retirement Dream"

In giving relocation advice to those about to retire, MarketWatch hammers the importance of, well, not retiring. At least, not completely.

Even for a financially comfortable couple, there is a recommendation to grab part-time work and back off from touching the nest egg.

High healthcare expenses may bite them in their pocketbook in the future.

Work is increasingly the necessary hedge.

Overall The Retirement Dream of extreme pleasure and no work can keep you stuck. That's because of 3 realities.

One, you can doom yourself to living on a fixed income. That's the platform for worrying since just about everything, from the cost of housing to that of groceries, is going up. Yes, there is work out there. Here, free to read, is my bible on how to land, hold and move on to better work Download Outwitting ageism.

Two, you socially isolate yourself. Work, from the days of ringing up purchases at CVS in high school to the career-path jobs, is where you have access to God's Plenty.

Isolation triggers more isolation.

When I visited former college acquaintance Kathleen Huebner in an Oro Valley, Arizona retirement community too many residents experienced "shrunk boundaries." They preferred, for example, to celebrate holidays in the development's dining rooms rather than the affordable restaurants beyond that box.

And, three, the ability to work, if you need to (and, surprise surprise, so many need to), can atrophy. In the old days parents mandated their offspring get a job, any job, in order to kick off the go-to-work socialization process.

When I coached displaced lawyers who had lived off severance and savings I noticed that when the money ran out they had difficulty interviewing for even survival jobs such as security guard.

Being without work for too long also resulted in their failure to nail down a position back practicing law. They had put themselves outside the work loop by not working. In addition the adage is on the money: Nothing gets you a job like a job. While doing a job you are maintaining the eager-beaver worker persona.

Once some retirees are stuck, the condition may harder into ossification. They are even fearful, like a number of those in Oro Valley, to venture out and try to amuse themselves in another sandbox. If there is a low-cost tour to X, they pile on the excuses why they have to stay in their box with the worn-out toys.

Takeaway: Structure The Retirement Dream with porous boundaries. That full-time, part-time or gig assignment can wind up being a fresh career path. You might find out you have unexpected talents and skills. Welcome, Late Bloomers.

All the answers are within you. Get unstuck to gain access to all the insight. Intuitive Career Readings (intuitivereadings123@gmail.com) invites you to a 3-minute complimentary session.

 

Stuck - Maybe That Term Applies to Many of Those Hanging in at SmallLaw/Solo Practices

Just as predicted, the coming of LegalZoom reduced business for B2C lawyers. Then it got worse. LegalZoom itself expanded into B2B. Then it got much much worse. Along with LegalZoom have been myriad other low-cost online legal services. Some are general, some have niches such as Nolo in estate planning.

Among the best, along with Nolo, reports the New York Post :

Yes, LegalZoom is still up there in ratings.

BizFilings

RocketLawyers

Legal Nature

Legal Match.

As a result, lawyers still trying to make a good living in SmallLaw/Solo practices might have gotten stuck with so much demand being taken care of online. When I asked the PNC banker in Youngstown, Ohio where I could find a lawyer to do my will, her smirked. Essentially, he said, they are lined up all along the main drag.

But, it's so hard to embrace that reality of being surplus supply and to even think about a Next.

However, the new radical frugalism triggered by COVID-19 hard times might make it necessary to take a peek into the abyss. From what the New York Post writes about LegalZoom I will probably use it for my LLC. 

All the answers are within you. Get unstuck to gain access to all the insight. Intuitive Career Readings (intuitivereadings123@gmail.com) invites you to a 3-minute complimentary session.