Law And More

Reflections on Whistleblowing as Linda Tripp Reportedly Is on Deathbed

Whistleblowing is not necessarily an act of supreme courage, driven by a sense of what's right. 

It could represent strategic grenade-throwing as had been the case with conservative Linda Tripp. Now that she is reportedly on the death bed, overdue is a comprehensive review of all whistleblowing. 

To begin with, it shouldn't be positioned and packaged as an instinctive noble act, analogous to jumping in the path of a train to rescue a child who had fallen onto the tracks.

Instead, it's represents a complex decision with both anticipated and unexpected consequences. 

Some "of a certain age" will recall Sharron Watkins who was the internal whistleblower at Enron. She informed the head Ken Lay of the strange accounting. Along the way to being saluted as a hero she had to contract legal help, was isolated, had her job responsibilities reduced, and later hit walls in being hired for work post-Enron.

Had she known the full extent of the consequences she might have done what most did back then and still do: Keep quiet and look for another job. Since then, of course, laws have been passed to protect and even reward whistleblowers. That kicked off with Sarbanes-Oxley.

More recently has been the whistleblowing by Susan Fowler. It focused on alleged sexual misconduct and other inappropriate workplace behavior at her former employer Uber. She did that in a now-famous blog post. It's contended that the outing of what was allegedly going down at Uber brought down its head Travis Kalanick. 

Like myriad whistleblowers, Fowler has been saluted.

But, interestingly her book Whistleblower, published February 18, 2020, has not caught fire. On Amazon, at least today at 3:40 P.M. ET it ranks 41,839 in terms of hard copies and 60,413 in terms of Kindle. It only has 53 reader reviews. Essentially it is a memoir.

In contrast, Demi Moore's memoir "Inside Out," although published way back on September 24, 2019, ranks on Amazon at 1,751. It has 2401 reader reviews. 

Some things just don't hang right about whistleblowing. In reading Fowler's book I wondered if she had been naïve in what she expected in the workplace, how she handled it, and her decision to later blow the whistle after she had secured other employment.

Meanwhile, although it isn't fashionable to speak ill of the dead, when Tripp dies, many probably will. That trend started in 2018 when the family of Kathleen Dehmlow published a negative paid obituary. 

UPDATE:

Linda Tripp died today. The New York Post provides details.

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Lateral Market - Wrong Hiring Could Sink Leadership's Credibility During COVID-19

What's obvious is that in many law firms partners are suffering.

There have been delays and cuts on draw.

Also, as is well known, there are myriad tactics to force partners out.

In turn, those partners know that there is a currently a target on their back if they are not pulling in the billable hours and new business.

So, in general, the law firm environment is not welcoming to the risk of hiring a high-priced lateral.

Often the expectation on the brandname's part is for a guaranteed lucrative compensation for a number of years. Few law firms can afford to take on that kind of financial commitment in The Time of Coronavirus.

Yes, as Roy Strom points out in Bloomberg, there have been some high-profile lateral hires. The one which has received the most attention has been Wilkie Farr & Gallagher hiring former Jenner & Block chairman Craig Martin (along with five partners). That was to establish a Chicago office. 

Aside from that, most lateral hiring presents a risk for both the financials of a the law firm and the branding/careers of the leadership. If the ROI for the hire doesn't pan out, the trouble so many law firms are encountering right now can be worsened exponentially. 

Another obstacle is that the hiring process has to be virtual. Nuances of chemistry might not be able to be picked up. So those in charge of hiring are, in essence, flying blind on the social fundamentals of the deal. In-person, it would be immediately obvious through vibrations if X or Y could fit with the culture and work effectively with others in that practice.

The deals which had been started before the world economic slowdown, then COVID-19 have closed or will be closing. But not many new ones have been put in play.

One elephant in the room about the lateral market is what David Lat will encounter when fully recovered from his near-death experience with COVID-15.

That has been a major media event, even being featured on "Nightline." Several months ago, Lat took the leap from his career in media to joining Lateral Link as a recruiter and managing director of its New York office. 

Before that, Lat's brand had been that he had founded the out-of-the-box legal news site Abovethelaw.com. Its edge was its sources. Junior lawyers and law students continually sent along anonymous tips. Therefore the site could break news. Within that niche, Lat became a star.

That was then.

One wonders how he can develop a brand in lateral recruiting when:

1) The publicity for his battle with COVID-19 hammers his media background, that is, as founder of ATL. A hardened brand identity can interfere with the launch of a new one. Incidentally, multiple branding identities have presented problems for those with side hustles. Here is my article published on what I labeled "mutt branding."

2) He is missing out on the dynamics of the changing legal market because, as "Nightline" communicated, his road to recovery is slow. Chronicling his saga in the media may or may not be a plus. Future prospects and others in the loop may or may not perceive this development as what they want to be associated with. 

3) On a dime, the lateral market has changed. When Lat parachuted in, it was strong. Now it isn't. And now is what brings in the income to pay the bills.

Meanwhile, right now covering the legal sector is a boom business for both journalists and bloggers. There is so much material that it is difficult to choose what to include in the day's wrap-up. One especially useful source has been Pin Hawk Law Firm Marketing Brief. It is published by Joseph Lamport. 

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For Whom The Moving Van Comes: It Comes For Thee (over-50 staff, lawyers, law professors)

Relocation for the over-50 has become increasingly an issue. And an urgent one. That's especially the situation for aging legal staff, lawyers, and (highly paid) law professors. Everything law is in play. 

Even before the current COVID-19 unemployment crisis research documented that the aging worker can bet on losing that good job and, even worse, not landing a replacement which pays comparable compensation. Currently, that probability has increased exponentially.

The bottom line: Those aging living in pricey metro areas and suburbs likely can't afford that lifestyle any more. Relocation is a have-to. That applies:

If you throw in the towel and retire

Decide to semi-retire

Resolve to keep working by establishing a new identity where aging bias isn't so severe such as in Arizona

Launch a business geared to another geographical location. It could be all you need is another $35k. And you can live well.

For you, that relocation, after the decision is made to do it, might seem like a simple transaction: Sell the house or fulfill the lease, pack or sell the material belongings, and go. Enjoy the adventure, right. 

That's not the way it plays out. The process is complex. And, believe me, not an adventure.

My relocation, which finally ended with my move to Toledo, Ohio, has been a strange journey.

That kicked in during April 2014. The writing was on the wall: It was impossible to make ends meet in the New York Metro area. Simultaneously it was increasingly possible to operate my two boutiques remotely. They were and are communications and coaching services. 

I chose Tucson, Arizona. The trip there, the apartment, and the establishment of telecommuting businesses all went according to plan. My fixed expenses dropped more than a half. Emotionally and spiritually it was a relief to be away from the careerism of the Northeast Corridor.

Then a very strange thing developed.

The past, by way of former college classmate Kathleen Huebner, became an unwanted presence.

It arrived in the positioning and packaging labeled "concern." My my. There is that old-fashioned adage that advice is criticism delivered in a velvet glove. 

Perhaps Huebner et al., who had been a mover and shaker in the field of vision impairment, had regretted retirement and buying a house in a retirement development.

Perhaps Huebner and the rest had a festering resentment against me. In itself that's a major reason to duck creatures reaching back from the past. 

Or maybe they were just bored. 

That shouldn't have derailed the relocation train. But it did.

Huebner was the only person I knew in the Tucson metro area. Made vulnerable by the move, I was excessively shaken. Lesson learned: Be totally protective of yourself when parachuting into a new geographical location and lifestyle. You have been stripped of your usual defenses. 

The next lesson learned during this unusual journey is that none of us, at least once over-5o, is as flexible as we assume in our heads to be.

Within 6 months of the transition to southwest AZ, I was homesick for east. But at the same time I couldn't afford The East I had known.

Internet research turned up that I could get back to 4 seasons at an affordable price (and leave the ghost of Huebner behind) in Youngstown, Ohio. Nice try, but, as the cliché goes, no cigar. In Youngstown, there was not enough to do and even less so once the economy tanked after GM shuttered the Lordstown plant.

The lesson learned there was this: Be willing to tweak a decision.

OH was okay. But not Youngstown.

I did, though, hang out there too long, not willing to admit there needed to be one more uprooting.

Since September 2019, I have been based in Toledo, OH. It's perfect. Even more affordable than Tucson and Youngstown, with a world-class museum, several top universities within an hour, and people so much like the ones I had to leave in 2014.

What I am celebrating this month is plenty. Here are just a few things on the Hurrah List:

•  I got out. "Everyone said" I would lose my earning capability if I left the New York Metro area. Yet, I was able to bypass the oppressive opinion of everyone. Yesyesyes, the answers are all within ourselves.
•  I had the insight and strength to ditch Huebner and the rest of the members of the Class of 1967 who were indeed so eager to help me out. There doesn't have to be any loyalty to those who had been in our little lives at a very different time. Maybe the college diplomas should have a disclaimer: These people can be hazardous to your growth. 
•  I surrendered to the reality of aging that adjustment is a tough nut to crack.
•  I forgave myself for errors of judgment along the way. Self-forgiveness is everything. Among the monsters of the mind is regret. Don't go near that hell.
•  I paid off all debt, piled funds into an investment portfolio, and rolled back my medical-test number to "healthy." 
•  It was smart to drive back to New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut twice. I had to get it that all that had changed, without me. Those locations were no longer "home." At least, no longer mine. 
•  Somehow, an inner peace I hadn't experienced since childhood took hold of me. As Don Draper from "Mad Men" articulated in the Kodak pitch, the transition from being a child to an almost-adult is fraught with pain. So many of us, like me, hadn't shaken the pain. The strange trauma of relocation made it necessary to take the leap into who I was now. The pain lifted. 

In the new Post-COVID-19 world order, the moving van will cometh for more and more of us. What we need to put it in is the willingness to develop a fresh understanding of who we can become and what we need to start on the next phase of the journey. It's not what we expect. 

Coaching, lecturing, and writing/ghostwriting thought leadership content on human resources and careers.

For individual coaching – sliding scale fees. Complimentary initial consultation. The special area of expertise is the displaced over-50 professional. Please contact Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com.

Law Firm Staff and Other Endangered Species - Universal Basic Income, Retraining, Rethinking All Modes of Instruction

Yes, lives are being lost. So are jobs.

But, the preoccupation is with the longer-term impact of COVID-19 on global and U.S. employment security. 

The UN, reports BusinessInsider, predicts that in Q2, globally 195 million full-time jobs will go poof. 

As we know from other disruptive economic times, some of those jobs may not come back. Will new kinds replace them? Maybe not, in this era of Artificial Intelligence.

So, let's look at implications. 

Universal Basic Income (UBI) provides commonsense financial and social solutions. 

There can be myriad ways of understanding UBI. In this time of disappearing jobs UBI can indicate providing guaranteed income, much like Social Security, to those who opt out of doing what provides income. There are no strings with UBI. 

But the vision for UBI is that those receiving the regular payments will focus on artistic pursuits, volunteering, and organized public works such as building habitats for the low income. 

UBI can prevent social unrest.

Retraining those in hardest-hit sectors such as retail, hospitality, and law-firm staff.

No one has to be a McKinsey management consultant to recognize that in the Post-COVID-19 world order businesses will restructure to (hopefully) prevent another collapse. Since manpower is usually the highest expense the types and numbers of employees and contract workers will be reviewed. 

Those knocked out of the box were probably already an endangered species because of technology. Just look at the self-check-outs in retail, online transactions in hospitality, and remote practice of law.

Retraining can be a national initiative. That will be labeled as making a living "just-in-time." There will be no messaging that the new path will be a permanent one.

Higher education has to conduct a come-to-jesus review about what it is providing its consumers for so much money. 

The tip of the iceberg is the debate about if and how much tuition should be refunded because of the shift from in-person to online instruction. The bigger issue is: What exactly are consumers of higher education receiving?

With students forced to leave campus, the traditional "college experience" as a rite of passage could lose its hold on the nation.

Soon enough what could come down is the assumption that a college degree is necessary for success in the work world. A strengthened public school K-12 system can eliminate the need for much of what is provided in college. The rest can be delivered as-needed.

Much of that can be learned online. Since 2008, most of concepts and technology I needed and still need to master for operating my two communications I picked up online. In the past three weeks I got down cold how to ride and maintain my new motorcycle through instructional videos on YouTube.

As those macro matters are considered and debated, on the individual level we should follow the advice of journalist Ana Marie Cox. On social networks she tells each one of us to pat our selves on the back for getting through yet another day of the Year of COVID-19.

UPDATE:

BusinessInsider reports that Spain is establishing permanent basic income.

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Is Cutting Your Fee/Price Patriotic? - Honeywell Requests 30% Reductions from Some Vendors

Save the economy.

That's the subhead on the U.S. campaign to save the lives of those infected with the novel coronavirus.

So, price/fee cuts could be positioned and packaged as downright patriotic. You bet, they are in the public interest. 

If corporations such as Honeywell play it smart they can orchestrate initiatives for extreme reductions in whatever from vendors.

Already, reports MarketWatch, Honeywell has requested that some of its suppliers cut prices by as much as 30%. In addition, it is asking for extended payment terms. 

Meanwhile, law firms such as Venable, are struggling to save lawyer jobs through pay cuts. At Venable, the interesting wrinkle on that is that the cuts are sliding scale. Interestingly, Venable states such a measure is "proactive." That is, it is sending the message that it isn't acting because of any financial distress but because of an abundance of caution. 

Branding, sales, attractiveness as a merger partner, the ability to attract talent - all of these depend on how businesses, including those in the legal loop, are messaging during this global economic crisis. 

What is in the public interest has become the loudest voice in the room.

Saving the economy is in the public interest.

Saving companies is in the public interest.

Saving the jobs of lawyers is in the public interest. 

As the old saying goes, crisis is opportunity. Organizations can gain high brand equity by doing what's in the public interest and communicating that in a way that engages. For many law firms, the latter is a tough nut to crack. They tend to turn inward and focus on themselves. The communications come across as self-serving. 

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Transition to Post-COVID-19 World Order: For Whom the Bell Tolls

"The reality is that world will never be the same after the coronavirus." - Henry Kissinger, The Wall Street Journal, April 3, 2020. 

In parts of the world, such as the United States, the coronavirus hasn't yet peaked. But thought leaders already are communicating the urgent need for nations as well as individuals to prepare for The Next. That post-COVID-19 world order will be a new one. 

Henry Kissinger is just one among many who are warning about the need for fresh mindsets, policies, and actions once the dust settles. A popular article in The Atlantic is by science journalist Ed Yong. He anticipates the shift to be so profound that babies born during the pandemic will be entering such as different global, national, and local culture that they should be called "Generation C."

What Kissinger advocates includes:

•  New techniques and technologies to anticipate and manage infections
•  What it takes to heal the world economy
•  Protecting the principles of the liberal world order. 

In the legal sector, the shift in values is already happening. Unlike the kneejerk large reductions-in-force of 2008 - 2009, the majority of large and midsize firms are pulling out all stops to prevent layoffs. They range from delaying the partner draws to pay cuts across the board.

Because of the extreme suffering triggered by COVID-19, finally there could be a softening of capitalism. 

Currently, law firms can enhance their Brandnames not so much by wins for clients.

Instead, their leadership can emerge as the new kinds of Global Good Guys through embracing and practicing the values articulated by John Donne in 1624.

Back then, Donne published his iconic poem "No Man Is an Island." The takeaway line is:

" ... Never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

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Law Is About Language, Nothing in Business Is Personal - Amazon's GC David Zapolsky Should Have Known Better

The old joke is that the best and brightest in college go to law instead of business school because they are lousy in math. But they sure are off the chart in verbal skills. Much of law is transacted through language.

So, Amazon's general counsel David Zapolsky should have known better than to use the language he did to refer to fired employee Christian Smalls. Included in that description was language positioning and packaging Smalls in notes for a meeting as "not smart" and "not articulate." That material had been leaked to Vice News, reports Law.com.

What Zapolsky should have also known was that nothing should be put in writing that one doesn't want to be a headline in The Wall Street Journal. Why in the world did he make that statement in a form that could be and was leaked?

A third puzzling matter about this lawyer's behavior is that, after hell broke loose about his description of Smalls, his defense was: "My comments were personal and emotional." In a business setting, nothing is personal, nothing should be emotional. In practicing law, which is Zapolsky's function at Amazon, nothing is personal, nothing should be emotional.

If Amazon is smart and if it wants to be perceived as articulate it will terminate Zapolsky, with cause. 

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FordHarrison Cancels Associate Summer Program - This Blog Offers Pro Bono Help

The summer associate program at law firms represents three things: Experience, networking, and money. 

Now that FordHarrison has notified students that it is cancelling its summer program, those who expected to do their summer there realize all they are losing out on. Abovethelaw provides details. One who had been knocked out of the box wondered how the rent will be paid.

Many law students are enduring the Perfect Storm.

No surprise, FordHarrison hammered that its own business is going great.

The reason for axing the program this season, the FordHarrison leadership contends, is the nature of the remote situation. SmirkSmirk. Ironically, FordHarrison  specializes in labor and employment. More smirkssmirks. 

As lawyers they should have known that doesn't cut it. After all, they are in the business of persuasion.

From 2008 on I have been learning new software totally remotely, assisting clients with their marketing communications totally remotely, marketing totally remotely, and networking globally totally remotely.

During the past two weeks, I have been learning totally remotely how to ride a motorcycle. 

Give FordHarrsion's brand equity a 10% haircut.

Total Disclosure: I had been a law student. I feel for those who had been stranded. If I could help - pro bono - with how they position and package themselves for their career paths, they can contact me at janegenova374@gmail.com. That includes publishing, at no fee, content on this syndicated blog. Doing that provides them a publication credit for their resume. Or they can showcase a skill which could land them a summer source of income. 

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AMC Lenders Hire Gibson Dunn & Crutcher for Restructuring

Both short term and longer term business prospects don't look good for AMC Entertainment Holdings. 

Short term its 1,000 movie houses around the world have been shut down because of the coronavirus. 630 of them are based in the U.S.

As The Wall Street Journal reports that was supposed to be for 12 weeks. Now, most experts on the pandemic anticipate that the kinds of measures which made the shut downs necessary will probably hang on for longer than that. 

But even before this crisis, AMC was in trouble. Going out to the movies was becoming an anachronism. More folks were doing their movie viewing at home through platforms such as Netflix.

Now, because of the movie theatre shut downs more in the movie industry loop are distributing their films directly to the home. The odds are: Current viewing trends will become an embedded habit. That could doom AMC.

Meanwhile, lenders to AMC have contracted law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher for restructuring.

The WSJ notes that AMC's $4.9 billion debt load is trading at distressed levels. Its junior bonds have recently traded at 40-cents on a dollar. Its stock price plunged after the initial shut down had been announced. 

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April 1, 2020 in Year of COVID-19: The Sheriff Doesn't Ring Twice

 

It's come to this: rationing of emergency medical care. 

The Wall Street Journal reports that at NYU Langone Health, Robert Femea gave ER front lines "sole discretion" for who is put on a ventilator. They also have permission to withhold futile incubation. In that decision-making loop the Ok, Boomer could be assessed as, crudely put, not a good bet for treating.

So goes another day in the coronavirus pandemic.

Andrew Cuomo becomes increasingly attractive as a presidential candidate.

His approval rating, depending on the latest presser, is around 90%. On CNN, his news-anchor brother Chris Cuomo brought up the possibility of Andrew as next U.S. president.

Among the many edges Cuomo has is that the public trusts him. That is so much so that he can make errors of judgment and is quickly forgiven.

Celebrity culture might be ending.

Folks are too scared about dying from the virus to give a damn what Ellen DeGeneres throws out there as guidance or supposed inspiration. 

It's posited that celebrity culture began with Teddy Roosevelt's flamboyant daughter Alice. The Ok, Boomer might remember the catchy song associated with her "Alice Blue Gown.'

Instead of celebrities America is embracing those ordinary people who serve in necessary functions.

On social networks, there are lots of likes for and comments about the workers at Aldi. We cheer that they are receiving "hazard" pay for manning the grocery lines. 

Tomorrow, April 1st, is THE DAY.

That's when many bills, including rent, are due.

As a public service, some corporations are letting it be known that they are open to negotiation. For example, when I called into my Bank of America Visa card about rewards (you bet, those can help out plenty with balances), the automated messaging was front loaded with this: The powers that be invite discussions about alternate ways to approach payment.  

But there are businesses which might not be concerned about the branding implication of taking swift action against those not paying their bills on time. After GM shuttered the Lordstown, Ohio plant, evictions from apartments were routine. And the sheriff doesn't ring twice.

Not everyone is in a financial pickle - lessons learned. 

There were individual catastrophes before The Time of Coronavirus. In 2003, I had lost my nest egg, business, and mind. Here is my book on that, including lessons learned, which can be downloaded free. 

Not only did I resolve never again to live above my means. I embraced what's now called "radical frugality" or "minimalism." Then I referred to it as a "vow of poverty." In the front lines of that psychic (and behavioral) shift had been cognitive therapist, based in West Hartford, Connecticut, Amy Karnilowicz. 

The results included going from six-figure debt to having a surplus of income at the end of most months and maintaining an investment portfolio.

Takeaway: Research how to live cheaply. It can be done, even in America. My most recent initiative has been to donate my automobile to Kars4Kids. That, according to Nerd Wallet, can save someone an average of $8,469 a year. I had been at that fork in the road: Buy a new car or figure out how to get from Points A to Points B, C, and D without a car.

Some can enjoy the pause and some bump up against the tipping point of despair.  

On social networks, brandname lawyer Norm Pattis (he had defended Connecticut's Fotis Dulos) reflects that slowing down is not a bad thing. The courthouses are closed so he and other lawyers are not cranking out the usual lawyerly things like briefs and aren't appearing before a jury.

However, Pattis is self-employed. He is positioned to manage his financial everything. The self-employed have more wiggle room in hard times. 

Lawyers employed by law firms aren't so fortunate. Recently Womble Bond Dickinson laid off junior lawyers. Reed Smith is slowing down cash distributions to partners. 

Ironically, those lawyers losing jobs might find themselves scrambling for help, just like the former servers in restaurants and the clerks in department stores.

They should click into the Paul Weiss Coronavirus Relief Center, created by lawyers working pro bono. It simplifies the mazes for help.

Red tape can be daunting. It could also be the tipping point into despair.

On an individual basis, pitch in with helping those allergic to red tape to get the information and aid they need. Recently, readers who are gig workers have been asking me how to apply for unemployment. That's permitted by the CARES Act. Here is my public service post on that development for contract workers and the self-employed. 

Allow ourselves to change. 

The New York liberal in me is being forced to re-think values. Where I am living now (very affordably) is not a coronavirus hotspot. But an hour away is one. Governors, mayors, health officials, and medical personnel are deciding whether the hospitals here will be open for those from the hotspot. 

This time my mindset is the conservative NIMYB. That is, not in my background. So far the cases of the virus and the deaths are low in this county. Allowing those from a hotspot to be treated here could be the game-changer.

"At my age," as the saying goes, I never expected to have to be "tested" so severely. After I bounced back in 2004 from my individual year in hell I assumed I was entitled to a smooth ride. HaHa. 

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