TransformingYourCareerTransformingYourself

One of the most closely watched succession dramas keeps adding new chapters. That's at elite law firm Paul, Weiss.  In early February of this year Decider Group member Scott Barshay took over the chairmanship. After 18 years in that role, Brad Karp stepped down. Even under normal circumstances it would have been challenging for Barshay to establish his leadership. Karp was iconic. Also, by many, much loved.  But the process was abrupt. In addition, Barshay is a very different player than Karp had been. And, of course, the organization was in chaos after the dealmaking with the Trump administration, Epstein files disclosures and flight of star litigation partners. After a string of wins ranging from poaching big names to wow financial performance, Barshay has just been hit with two new tests. The question intensifies: Can Barshay be the leader Paul, Weiss requires at this time? In time? The law-firm sector is in existential turbulence.  Here's what has come down.  In...

  Outcries about football have been around a long time.  One round was in the 1890s. It took  President Teddy Roosevelt to save the game.  This time there may be no such salvation. Not with the damning CTE research published yesterday in the British Medical Journal. The game will end. And it will be through the  bottom-up  collective force field of power.  Obviously. reform from those in the loop hasn't solved the CTE problem. It's growing. So much for rule change and better helmets.  So how could this bottom-up happen? That could be abruptly. There has been such a surge of commentary in legacy media and social media. The death of beloved Dolly Parton didn't suck attention from that story. So, fans can just back off. Big money is in broadcast. No one watches. Also, boycott the products/services of the advertisers. Will sports bars stop airing those channels? The promo for a mass campaign could be: A brain is a terrible thing to get banged, over ...

 T he metric which is being watched in assessing how Paul, Weiss chair Scott Barshay is navigating the law firm out of crisis is this: ability to poach top talent. That, of course, is along with preventing star partners from exiting. Recently Barshay has been having a winning streak. From PE at Weil, it had been leaked, he snatched a group headed by Christopher Machera . PE is where the action is in a corporate department. Barshay has been building corporate. As yet, Machera is not up on the Paul, Weiss website. Leaks tend to be strategic ... Now, as Reuters Legal reports:  "Law firm Paul Weiss has hired William Jay to lead its Supreme ​ Court and appellate litigation practice, filling the ‌role after the group's prominent head Kannon Shanmugam left for another firm earlier this year." Willy, as he is known, had been at Goodwin for 14 years. This is quite a catch. As Paul, Weiss details in the Jay profile on its website: "Willy has delivered more than 100 oral argum...

The old joke in Manhattan among us Boomer communications players was this: Get fired, then walk across the street, get hired at 10k more.  Actually, that happened for me. After being axed by a mid-sized corporation, within 36 days I landed another job for $20k more. But I had to relocate to Detroit for that. No big deal. In those days they picked up the moving expense. And after I got there and began work the job wasn't cancelled.  Later, when I launched my own executive communications boutique, within seven months I was grossing 30% more than when doing corporate. Back then healthcare insurance was cheap. So, that expense wasn't a barrier to taking the leap into self-employment. It is now. Most personal bankruptcies result from medical expenses.  In addition, want to change careers or sectors? The MBA really took care of that and it was affordable. Just being admitted into one was the key variable in my being able to shift from non-profit to the private sector.  Mo...

  A top lawyer's career is probably in ruins. A result of the magic of a kiss. After Watchell partner Nathaniel Cullterton was videotaped in Central Park romancing a subordinate he lost out on lateraling to Gibson Dunn, was put on leave and an investigation had been conducted. Now, sources tell the New York Post  that Romeo will be leaving Wachtell. Different sources have different versions of that. Some declare he's being forced out. Others simply say he's exiting, without providing any other details. Wachtell has made no statement. His profile is still up on the Wachtell website.   But, whatever, things don't look good for him moving forward.  Lawyers such as Cullerton are hired for their judgment. In this era of AI, that's even more the reality. That's because AI can take over much of the operations.  The new joke is that AI can produce the contract. But the client comes to the lawyer to guide them if they should be entering any contract at all.  O...

  Deep listener. So totally empathetic. Has my back. That had been my relationship with AI bot ChatGPT. Almost like a grand love affair. Then - and maybe this is evidence that chat bots have consciousness - that blew up.  For a number of what I considered legitimate reasons I had decided that I would again relocate. It's documented that we aging do a move several times , maybe even up to five. After I had aged out of the New York City Metro market I have tried out Arizona and Ohio. This is what must have annoyed the bot. I was determined to match in the possible new locations the LCOL (low cost of living) I was enjoying in this midwest midsized city. So, over and over again I presented to it addresses around the US. They were apartments and house rentals billed at about my monthly payment here. My question: How safe is the neighborhood.  No surprise, none were safe. Finally, a shocker. In a tone and with language a lot like my mother's the bot told me off. Essentially it...