TransformingYourCareerTransformingYourself

  "Democratic socialists just caused a political earthquake. Now they’re coming for 2028." Various versions of that Politico meme appear throughout media, social and ordinary conversations. The New York House primaries yesterday showcased the shift in the mindset of America. It's away from capitalism (employers overplayed their hands), old-guard liberal leadership, Israel and MAGA. Soon enough, major players such as Big Law will have to put their money where the power is landing. OpenSecrets  tracks and publishes those donations to politics, including the two major political parties as well as other groups such as "nonpartisan." Kirkland & Ellis and Paul, Weiss have been among the major law-firm contributors. The heavy hitters, either as individual contributors and/or fundraisers, include lawyers Brad Karp, Marc Elias, David Boies and John Morgan.  Now, experiencing the earthquake vibes, OpenSecrets might have to add a new category for where the money is g...

  When I coached former Kirkland & Ellis employees a constant meme was the reverence for partner James Sprayregen. He had built the firm's powerhouse bankruptcy practice, including advising clients ranging from Toys R Us to Caesars Entertainment. One snippet was that when he walked into the country club for dinner a hush settled over the room. That was then. In 2024 he retired from K&E. Then, as FT reports: "Sprayregen joined Hilco Global, a bankruptcy adviser and distressed investor, as vice-chair charged with expanding its reach into new markets and areas as well as raising new capital. Last year, Hilco announced a minority investment from the US arm of Japanese financial services group Orix." In addition, FT also reports this today: Paul, Weiss, an intense competitor with K&E, plans to hire Sprayregen. However, that's still in the negotiation phase. On the Paul, Weiss website he is not yet listed as a partner.  If this actually happens, it seems somew...

 What it takes to oversee bots, no right to disconnect, client demands, especially in professional services such as law, startup culture and working multiple jobs. Here we are in what The Atlantic calls "The Infinite Workweek." Collapsing before its 100th anniversary is the concept of The Weekend.  When is the last time anyone has asked you, "What are you doing this weekend?" They know: You'll be working, some or most or all of the time. The euphoria building Friday afternoon - TGIF - as employees anticipated two days off will fade as among the emotional sets of a labor force. Some date the introduction of The Weekend to 1934, in Nottingham, England.  Chair of the Boots Corporation John Boot had achieved such efficiency gains that too much inventory was being produced. The solution he hit upon was to limit production to five days a week. But he kept the worker pay the same. Maybe that progressive measure was implemented because Boot noticed the workforce came i...

  Molly Jong-Fast does a comprehensive job of capturing how fame took control of her mother author Erica Jong. In memoir "How You Lose Your Mother," she gets down cold how mom could never unfame, even after the name recognition petered out.  In real time we might be bearing witness to how that curse might have overtaken visibly aging Bob Iger. He did extend the shelf life of extreme visibility by getting back the CEO job for a second time. But now out, he, as  FT notes, seems to be struggling to stay on the radar.  Meanwhile Barack Obama, Paul McCartney and already-over JD Vance have been busy with the objective of remaining in the current collective consciousness.  Innovative plaintiff law firms such as Motley Rice might file a public nuisance lawsuit on behalf of a society burdened with hangers-on.  But the good news is that there are those who manage to escape the curse. They leveraged fame to achieve noble or commercial goals and then were able to let ...

  In the US market, there's still the residue of controversy sticking to the Paul, Weiss brand. But no sign of that in the London market. That's a powerhouse operation that current partner/former chair Brad Karp helped build. Although that law firm had been in London since 2001, it was a small operation. Only recently did Karp, along with now current chair Scott Barshay, start paying serious attention to it.  Who, for example, in the legal sector doesn't recall that shock and awe Paul, Weiss  poaching of talent from Kirkland & Ellis' London office back in August and September 2023.  Now, as LawFuel documents, the raiding has become broader:  "Paul Weiss is the firm everyone else has been losing partners to. Since summer 2024 it has hired more than 20 partners from rivals, eleven of them from Kirkland, four from Linklaters and three from Clifford Chance ..." So dominant a presence Paul, Weiss has developed in the London legal scene that it's now consid...

Forget camp to improve tennis or violin skills. The kid isn't going to backpack through Europe. And no do-gooding in volunteer whatever. Ambitious parents, most of them upper-income, have their offspring get paid jobs during college and even high school. They have gotten the memo that paid work on resumes, no matter how menial such as cleaning pools or scooping ice cream, significantly increases the odds of being hired post-graduation. That's what employers want to see on a resume. Sure, good grades still count. But not as much as once assumed. And that assumption was always faulty any way. Unless the family was directing the kid to an elite law, medical or business school. On those kinds of career paths grades, along with performance on standardized tests, are the great deciders.  None of this about the power of paid work is new. That is, that real world work experience in high school and college predicts sustained success later on.  When I was a first-generation college c...