Insider Takes a Hard Look at John Quinn - Notice Those Myriad References to Generational Tensions

There is that old joke: Only one entity at a time can inhabit a space. In the psychiatric facility there can be only one Jesus Christ. Others will have to settle to be The Holy Ghost or Michael the Archangel.

So there could be great glee in the land of law firms today. Any heat remaining on lawyers after Insider took a “hard look at them” probably has gone poof. 

Today, Insider's Casey Sullivan who signature is those hard looks on lawyers did one of them on John Emanuel, founder of Quinn Emanuel. Here you can read all about it.

Of course, there is praise. After all, Caesar's homeboys came to praise him, not to bury him. (Read William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar.”)

Quinn, Sullivan hammers, is a brilliant trial lawyer. One effective strategy has been to glance up at the ceiling bored when potentially damaging material for his client is going on in the courtroom. The jurors might assume all that is irrelevant to the substance of the trial.

Then there are so many juicy tidbits. How his enemies will love the dredging up of his temper tantrum when two partners left. They were Philippe Selendy and Faith Gay. He sent a firm-wide email claiming he had made Gay a star. Sullivan also points out that Quinn is known as a Benevolent Dictator. The time of the divine right of kings has passed. Or should have.

Most damning, though, is the subtext through the text of generational tensions. That can brand Quinn as, well, out-of-date. The slow-moving world of law has begun to move faster. This is the era of AI. Therefore, you don't want to be perceived on the wrong side of generational paradigm shifts.

That generational meme is a favorite of Sullivan. It can be a multi-purpose power tool to ask us to recalculate the equity of a brandname.

Recently Sullivan introduced allusions to generational changes in an article on Paul Weiss' Brad Karp. Among them was the reality that a junior lawyer actually addressed Karp at a town meeting about the cost of soda in the cafeteria. A boomer, I never even opened my mouth at corporate town meetings.

But with Quinn filling all the "take a hard look" space this spring Karp and other lawyers whom the media came to praise, not bury, can enjoy moderate media temperatures.

In my coaching I instruct clients that the members of the media are not their friends. They can be allies, if the moves are made carefully.

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