TransformingYourCareerTransformingYourself

  Malpractice lawsuits happen from time to time for law firms. Until they gain traction such as proving plaintiff has standing they are just allegations.  So, today, that's where "Fairstead et al. v Paul, Weiss" is - an accusation. ( Copy of the Complaint , filed yesterday)  As such it may not constitute a test of the leadership/management skill of the law firm chair Scott Barshay. However, if the lawsuit is found to have merit, Paul, Weiss and its key players, present and past, could be in for more scrutiny. For about 15 months it and they have been the subject of extreme controversy. The matters range from the deal cut with the Trump administration to lift the Executive Order to relationship disclosures in the Epstein files to the termination of litigation associates.  In this malpractice lawsuit involving accusations of a conflict of interest, as  Bloomberg Law reports, it's alleged that: "Paul Weiss placed a priority on its relationship with the wealthy Tis...

Food. Free. And way too much of it in a work setting, every day. Posters on Reddit scream about the consequences. For instance, here are some snippets for Big Law: "I gained 80 pounds in my first 5 years in big law" "I gained 15 pounds in 4 years" Summer interns also often chime in on that weighty matter. Some completed the season $45k richer and pounds heavier. This isn't inevitable, other posters declare. For instance, bring your own lunch and restrict the eating to that. Don't peek at the food. Even one bite can set you off. But coping isn't the issue here. It's the whole matter of free food at work. Is that downright unethical at this time of a growing number of health problems associated with improper eating patterns? They range from diabetes to clogged arteries to obesity. Even supposed "healthy" food could get you in trouble if you consume too much of it. Yet some businesses position and package the food as a perk. At a gig in cu...

It's now a what-everyone-knows: It's rarely good work per se that gets you to the big titles, big influence and big bucks of a Kathy Ruemmler, Brad Karp, Leon Black and even myriad contract players. Nonono. What counts is the sustained ability to develop new business and prevent churn among current clients/customers.  That explains what Ankush Khardori describes in The New York Times  as the:  " ... gravitational pull of his [Jeffrey Epstein's] rarefied social network." In this particular case, Khardoni is discussing the motivation of Ruemmler to launch and cultivate a relationship with Epstein. Sure, there was the pedophile's documented charm. But there are plenty of charmers out there. Unless they can provide what Epstein could and sometimes would they wouldn't merit the careful care and feeding that some of the most ambitious in professional life had conducted. Epstein had the connections. Through them they hoped to bring in new business and create the...

 Just when we assumed weighty financial issues were cooling the heat on the tedious fallout from Jeffrey Epstein associations, we might be returning to the hardening of outrage and punishment. For example, the knock is being put on Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon for requesting Close Friend of Jeffrey Kathy Ruemmler to stay on. That's both internal and external. FT tells the internal piece. Bloomberg Law reports on an external development, which could pick up momentum: "David Solomon’s decision to keep Kathryn Ruemmler at the bank once she steps down as its general counsel 'calls into question' the CEO’s 'professional judgement and fitness to continue leading ...' Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, both Democrats, wrote in a letter to the executive ..." Today Bill Gates is also being "grilled" (term used by broadcast news media) in Congress about his relationship with Epstein. Lots has tumbled out such as the admissi...

For reasons I'm still trying to figure out, youth is seeking out Boomers like myself for career guidance. When I entered intuitive coaching/tarot reading full-time I assumed my target market was restricted to the over-50. Well, currently I provide more and more complimentary coffee chats to college students and 20-something career-changers. To my surprise, despite all the media coverage of how AI is eliminating content-creation slots, they light up when telling me this: I love writing.  They know that I had had a lucrative high-profile career in creating content, all kinds. The assumption is that I will be resonate with their obvious. Gently, I lay out how the Law of Supply and Demand has been operating. Content creation is a declining sector. Parts of that have been going on for a while. Back post-Enron speechwriting collapsed. But some in that category retrained for researching and providing content for slide decks. Those were becoming standard for everything from board presentat...

 Communications professionals essentially blew off ChatGPT when it had been released in November 2022. Not a threat, they figured. That was primarily because the tone and content were, well, disembodied. That meant what humans brought to messaging of all kinds wouldn't be sidelined by AI.  Now, those of us who are heavy users (maybe downright addicts) of ChatGPT might be put off because its tone and content are all-too-human. Like so  many in our commercial lives ChatGPT sucks up relentlessly. For instance, it often responds to my prompt with: That's a very good question What insight you have If you want to know more, I can ... In addition, since ChatGPT has a memory function it will loop me back to earlier prompts and connect the dots for me - almost the way humans finish our sentences. Typical is: Since you asked about average water billing in Tulsa, Oklahoma, would you like me to calculate that for Conway, Arkansas. I was exploring relocating to a LCOL area. Accuracy? ...

In the late 1990s, management consultant Tom Peters explained the importance of self-branding. Creating/promoting a brand was not only critical for PG and GM. You also had to be a brand. That piece of career advice went by the title The Brand Called You. That's even more essential currently.  The labor market has become binary: stars and all the rest. All the rest are expendable. Or not even needed in the first place. In my coaching I warn young people and career-changers not to enter a line of work in which they can't stand out, twinkling brightly. However, the growing wrench in the works on that is that too many of those looking for work - full-time, part-time, contract - are out there with an obsolete brand. I have reviewed a large number of LinkedIn profiles for those in communications. The skills they highlight are not in high demand. They include: Journalism Story-telling Content-creation SEO (search engine optimization) Graphic design. In demand in communications are: Cr...

  Throughout the Fortune 500, human talent has been losing its value. In professional services, such as law, the value and price of that talent keep escalating. The game in large law firms is to recruit, retain and motivate that talent. So, it's a sign that Paul, Weiss is emerging from the residue of the Trump dealmaking and distraction of the Epstein fallout. It has been acquiring some top talent.  Recently in the US the star hires range from Trent Bridges , energy M&A Houston, to Daniel Zygielbaum , tax matters in DC. With Paul, Weiss's bulging war chest there could be lots more big-name partner acquisitions. It's not a stretch to size up Big Law as binary: stars and all the rest. The latter are increasingly expendable.  Eventually large law firms could reconfigure from the pyramid, with tons of worker bees at the bottom, to the diamond. The structure will have only a handful at the bottom, seasoned midlevels in the middle and a small pool of partners at the top. T...

  "I keep saying to myself that once the balance in my checking account hits this number, I will start spending again. My business is doing fine and I am way beyond that number but I can't spend." That kind of problem is the one I am handling more and more as an intuitive coach/tarot-reader for those over-60.  Those who can't spend are the New Hoarders. As Yahoo Finance documents, they are terrified of outliving their money. And maybe with good reason. The Stanford Center on Longevity found that if you're 60 and healthy you could make it into your 90s. The odds of that are best for females but males also are getting more time on planet earth.  One consequence of hoarding money is killing off joy. Much of life is about looking forward to whatever. And much of that takes money. For example, the trip to visit the grandchildren, the addition on the house, developing a hobby like photography. Fear of homelessness hardens the inability to spend that money. The common ...

Team-building retreats, happy hours, celebration lunches, client dinners, softball games and more. Participating in those social events tend to be expected for full-time employees. Most of you experience anxiety being around the higher-ups, boredom chatting with co-workers/subordinates and fear of consuming too much alcohol in order to feel comfortable.  Rarely, though, are they mandatory. However, your absence can be noted.  And they were for employee Lionel Lim at accounting firm ClintonLarsonAllen. In his lawsuit Lim v ClintonLarsonAllen  the associate contends he was terminated for non-attendance. In this era when anxiety is the new common cold his reason for skipping the jolly good times might resonate. Bloomberg Law reports: "Lionel Lim accused CLA of showing a 'willful' and 'reckless disregard' for his well-being by not exempting him from non-mandatory events like happy hours after he reported suffering from social anxiety ..." Yes, Lim went by the boo...

  Remember the traditional thinking about reputation. It goes all the way back to Shakespeare's "Othello" about the loss of one's good name is to lose everything. More recently, that is in the late 1990s, management consultant Tom Peters formalized that with the concept of "personal branding." And there we have been, that is, reputation is almost everything. An entire sector of services sprung up to take care of hits to the personal branding. Terakeet even specialized in the digital piece. But that whole continuum, from the critical importance of reputation to the need to hire a fixer, might be collapsing. Reputation may not be all that important. And fixes might not be all that effective.  The new emerging model of a career in apparent peril might be emerging with the situation of Goldman Sachs top lawyer Kathy Ruemmler. As everyone knows she was quite a Friend of Jeffrey (Epstein), even receiving pricey gifts. Eventually she announced resigning from Go...

Obviously. the world is changing. There's a shift away from an obsession about the amazing con connector Jeffrey Epstein to stock markets, AI advancing beyond human control and wars.  So, no surprise, Goldman Sachs top lawyer, close friend of Jeffrey Kathy Ruemmler will continue with her job there. At the request of the CEO David Solomon she has agreed to stay. That was after resigning, with her last day scheduled for the end of June. Therefore, it's not a stretch to anticipate that others sidelined by the Epstein relationship could also re-enter from the darkness. They range from Paul, Weiss partner Brad Karp to economist Larry Summers. A lot depends on how they approach re-entry. There are myriad precedents for that. For instance, Wall Streeter Mike Milken put together a new identity as a philanthropist after a stay in prison. Bill Clinton transcended the intern fallout and more. Robert Downey Jr. made it back from the abyss of drug use.  In coaching I guide clients on seco...

  Best practices can quickly go global.  In the UK, found a survey by the region's legal tabloid RollonFriday , a best practice gaining traction is for in-house to go the DIY route. They are keeping more assignments for themselves instead of farming them to outside law firms. The enabler? AI. Also driving the trend is the cost-efficiency mandate, just as in the US RollonFriday reports that there is a strategic push in UK business to not outsource. However, there are exceptions: "AI won't completely replace private practice ... as external advisors 'will remain important for larger transactions or disputes. But routine work may increasingly stay in-house 'in a world where passable redlines for more basic work can be produced at the click of a button'". In addition, hiring freezes in the UK limit manpower in-house. That's another factor in generating some outsourcing of assignments, Those exceptions are enough for an outside law firm in the UK Quinn E...

  Many of us ordinary Boomer stock market investors are stunned: Our nest eggs are ballooning in value, despite all the despites. And, those highs are being reached without tech, such as chip stocks , and the usuals such as financial firms. CNBC reports: "The flashiest group in the market took a step back Thursday as chip stocks dropped 1.5%, but U.S. stock market bulls didn’t miss a beat." The positive action essentially was in healthcare, ranging from healthcare insurers to drugmakers. Some, such on the comment sections of articles, are putting the knock on us Boomers for our preoccupation with the investment quality of the businesses - much more so than their core values. But, the reality is brutal. Many of us can't make it on Social Security. Being able to pull prudently from our nest eggs can prevent homelessness. The Social Security income picture could darken in several years if the monthly payment is cut by 25%. Those Boomers who didn't invest? The sense of d...

  In great seeming earnestness Anthropic's Marina Favaro and Jack Clark warn of the potential danger in the rapid development of AI. That's especially since it apparently can continue moving ahead on its own, that is without humans participating in the process. So, it's proposing global cooperation to orchestrate a pausing. The Wall Street Journal  explicitly says:  "Anthropic is calling for top artificial intelligence labs to weigh slowing the pace of development, suggesting that AI systems are advancing so rapidly that they may soon be able to improve themselves without human intervention in ways that could pose significant societal risks." But, smirk, let's look at this kind of plea on behalf of the public good. As with a similar caution about its powerhouse Mythos, this could be suspected of being a marketing tactic. Sure, scare people and then reassure them you will do the right by them. So, stick doing business with us, not our competitors which might no...

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  That safe elite model of how a law firm should look, walk, talk and bill is fragmenting. To remain competitive law firms of all sizes, even the 300+ lawyer one, have to customize a provocative identity showcasing how it's leveraging generative AI.  That's what we have confirmed for us since Kirkland & Ellis  announced it " ... and Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: PLTR) ... announced the launch of a proprietary enterprise platform designed to transform private equity fundraising."  Among smaller players Vorys in Ohio has developed "AI Twins" for almost 20 partners. Those platforms simulate partners' patterns of strategy, stylistics and more. Associates accessing them reduce the back-and-forth with those partners. The next on this, I posit, is that such platforms would be open for subscriptions and licensing. Yes, the law firm develops a new kind of profit center. Bloomberg Law's Roy Strom  provides plenty of details on how generative AI is p...

  The majority in BoomerVille exist in a sustained sense of dread. Typically, we hold our breath about money, health and if the children can hang onto their jobs. However, some days are actually ones in which we not only can exhale but feel satisfied that we made some smart decisions. For example, those of us who had let go of our lives in HCOL areas such as Metro New York and embraced a fresh start in LCOL locations like Toledo, Ohio have been experiencing Tender Mercies. My apartment complex is among those in pockets of civilization which aren 't  raising the rent at lease renewal time.  At least not this year. On the table now for me is the possibility of a week at Geneva on the Lake. A snippet of pleasure.  That's become affordable for my new budget, even with crazy gas prices. Another smart decision I made was talking turkey with the car insurer. Was I carrying too much coverage? Now my monthly nut is $60 less. That will go down even more at the end of August w...

Principles, institutional and individual, have ballooned into a big issue. A very sticky one.  Paul, Weiss' decision to cut a deal with the Trump administration to lift an Executive Office in March 2025 rocked the legal sector. It continues to throw shade on the reputation of that law firm. The leader who symbolizes it - Brad Karp - hasn't been able to defend it effectively. That's despite his being a skilled defense lawyer.  And now we have this further development. It's rocking media. And at a time when media itself is being judged harshly. Or simply being blown off as irrelevant.  At CBS, Scott Pelley decided to stand up for what he determined was the editorial integrity of "60 Minutes." No newbie in corporate he had to know he risked being fired for cause. And that he was.  The more than 1,300 comments to The Wall Street Journal coverage of that drama indicate a broad range of opinion about the stance which Pelley took. Of course, out there, to some Pelley...

Few anticipated this: Milbank kicked off salary raises for associates. The new range is from $235k to $455k. McDermott followed. Giving how Big Law operates, other large law firms and elite boutiques probably will match or exceed. But all associates should hesitate to celebrate by purchasing new luxuries. With AI and other challenges to the business of these law firms associates' long-term employability is iffy. SCOTUS chief justice John Roberts, Paul, Weiss partner Brad Karp and Quinn Emanuel co-founder John Quinn all predict significant reductions in demand for junior lawyers.  Right now the good times are rolling for Big Law. The leadership needs associates. But that situation could change soon enough. In coaching, I guide clients to anticipate the bottom falling out of how they earn a living. Careers? So Over. It’s about Earning a Good Living. No matter what. Complimentary consultation. No Pressure. Street-smart Guidance. Contact Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com.

  The sweater industry might have gotten a major boost in marketability since it's taken on symbolic importance. The media, ranging from The Wall Street Journal to Fox News, has been having a few very good days detailing how the message-management folks employed by Bill Gates focused on his sweaters. The objective is reported to be to soften the negatives in how Gates came across. There was even the lofty expectation that this tycoon, once accused of being a monopolist, could be reset as a techie version of Mr. Rogers.  The buzz on social network "X" has extended the weighty matter of the sweater to Apollo CEO Marc Rowan. It was called to our attention that maybe just maybe Rowan also was attempting to retrofit his persona with a sweater topped off with a cute white collar. Ever since Tom Wolfe's satire on Wall Street "Bonfire of the Vanities," Masters of the Universe like Rowan have come off badly. A little humanizing can go a long way. Well, shame on me. ...

This isn't what we Boomers had hoped for. Meanwhile, high gas prices in themselves are a Debbie-Downer. But worse is contemplating that they might not go down any time soon, no matter the geopolitical developments.  Dow Jones Industrial Average Index Index: DJI Compare 50,865.27 USD ▼ -167.19 (-0.33%) today