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  We Boomers vividly remember Black Monday - October 19, 1987.  We were middle-aged, corporations were downsizing and the stock market had crashed. I had just launched an executive communications boutique, after being laid off as being "redundant." The Big Food company where I had been employed had been taken over in a merger.  Again, October is proving the cruelest month of all. Given the impacts of war and oil prices, it keeps us in FORO - that is, fear of running out of money. Here's what we are dealing with today, at least so far. 52,273.11 1.13% −594.87 today Oct 23, 10:05 AM EDT •  Disclaimer Follow 52,289.27   ‎ 10:05 AM

 In the chaotic 21st century, the rhythm is work. Those adept at time management might be able to steal away moments for snippets of a life. The extreme form is 996 - a concept imported from China, the workday schedule is from 9 AM to 9 PM, 6 days a week. Then, the unthinkable. That is a medical crisis. That sort of thing doesn't happen to us, right. Good health is a status symbol. The successful, the privileged, the youthful - we blow all that health stuff off.  Until we get caught in that convoluted web of human realities known as a "serious medical problem." In this YouTube  and article, PR Week editorial director Steve Barrett tells about weeks of drifting between life and death last summer. His special message to males is: Submit to those health checkups. Along with that, even in this era of 100-year life spans, is the warning that life is short.  In a podcast with New York Order  Paul, Weiss law partner Brad Karp recounts his heart attack. That was Janu...

HIGHLIGHTS Watching Scott Barshay as leader Paul, Weiss loses corporate partner Restructuring heavyweight expected to return to Kirkland & Ellis Brad Karp solidifies reset as lawyer Kirkland & Ellis becomes vulnerable Mankind plans, gods laugh *********************************** Partners are the revenue generators at most law firms. Their brandnames on the marque can also enhance the firm's branding.  Therefore, the key metric we're watching to determine if new Paul, Weiss chair Scott Barshay can lead is the ability to recruit, retain and motivate those big names. The focus is primarily on transactional practices, not litigation. Watchers conclude that Barshay's agenda is transforming the one-time litigation powerhouse into a corporate one. So, it's a setback that there has been a partner defection in antitrust. Yuni Yan Sobel is leaving for Weil. Her track record, in addition to antitrust, has been in M&A, merger control and Hart-Scott-Rodino Act issues. Af...

  Sure, we all know about the 32% of young people who never move out of their parent's home. Can't afford to, not even with jobs.  But the really soul-wrenching saga is this: professionals losing their jobs and returning home. Reddit bares witness to that current tragedy. Here's a snippet: "My kid is 30 and was totally derailed when he lost a very good paying job. Took him over 9 months to find a new one. We are good. He can live with us for free until he saves enough to move. No rush and no pressure on him. It’s hard." That story has a happy ending. Many others who boomerang home don't. The decision usually is shame-based. They give up independence which erodes a sense of self and with that the confidence to put together a soldi next. The location might be devoid of opportunity. Proximity to the network can go poof.  Get it: The price for affordability might be way too high in terms of again earning a good living. This is anecdotal. During the Great Depressi...

HIGHLIGHTS: Driverless trucks already on the road in two dozen states California Teamsters sue, contending 200,000 jobs to be lost in that state Blue collar not insulated from automation Guidance industry has to get humble *******************************************************   In the comments  to The Wall Street Journal article on driverless trucks there are jokes about other blue-collar lines of work which have also gone poof. That's because of technology.  They include saddle makers, elevator operators and switchboard operators. (Regarding the latter, Ernestine the Operator probably had to take early retirement.)  And that was fast. Yes, autonomous trucks have actually become a reality. So much so that the California Teamsters is suing the California DMV for allowing this to happen without adequate research into the economic impacts. The lawsuit contends 200,000 big-rig driving jobs in the state eventually will be lost.  Just about six years ago I was adv...

  Thanks to the creation of platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi it's now possible to bet on the outcome of jury trials. The Wall Street Journal reports on the wagering for the Lindsay Clancy murder trial. Of course, that generates plenty of issues about ethics, insider-trading kind of sharing of information among family members and the integrity of the whole justice system. But, the reality is that prediction markets are only a new wrinkle on the almost infinite type of betting that takes place in the legal sector. For example, I recall an article by David Sanford of Sanford Heisler explaining the criteria for the law firm's accepting a case. That's about betting that it could achieve a positive outcome. Sure, the firm tends to be altruistic. But come on, it's a business. In addition, the firm has a branding for wins to protect.  Some may recall how much had been at stake in 2011 when the class action "concussion" lawsuit was filed against the NFL.  Shou...

  It looks like a good day ahead for Boomers who keep looking and looking at their financial state of affairs. Dow Jones E-mini Futures Future 52,487.00 +377.00 +0.72% But a hardening situation is this: the inability to spend.  There's even a new acronym for that. It's FORO, standing for Fear Of Running Out. Actually, up to 30% experience angst, not elation, when spending money. As The Atlantic puts it, there's been no blowing funds on bucket-list items. Not been around the world? Probably never will be.  All this is so understandable. After all, the 100-year life has become more common. Rupert Murdoch, Warren Buffett and William Shatner are all in their late 90s and active.  I'm among them the FORUs. The oldest of the Boomers I get it that I have become my running around shutting off the lights Depression era parents. I add the microwave, which didn't exist for most of them. Unplugging it when not in use prevents what's known as vampire power draw. That sa...

  The largest law firm in the world Kirkland & Ellis made headlines when announcing it would no longer disclose financial data.  The buzz was that move was generated by increasing client discontent with high legal bills.  Smirk. The reality should have always been that it was nutty for a law firm - that is, not a public company primarily accountable to investors - to crow about metrics such as Profits Per Equity Partner. Any business-savvy client would start connecting the dots and maybe begin comparison-shopping. Sure, a law firm should be signaling growth, but not through the PPEP lens.  Yes, on the one hand, a firm had to be  positioned and packaged as in a high-growth mode. Way back in 2021, Paul, Weiss partner/thought leader Brad Karp hammered in Bloomberg Law that firms not on a growth trajectory could actually go out of business. The categories for that include the number of star partners, international expansion and creation/scaling of practices al...

Professional anonymous network Reddit used to be the classic play-out of misguided empathy. Typical had been the post: The rug was pulled from under you. You lost your job. And you've been jobless so long that unemployment compensation has run out and soon enough will be your savings. Bro, we feel for you. Recently there's been a paradigm shift to raw pragmatism. Here is the  Reddit post on the question of whether to take a pay cut. And here is the kind of collective response: "It is not a pay cut if you are currently making zero. Bring in some money while you look for other opportunities. Adjust your budget to get rid of any expenses that are not absolutely necessary." Get it: Since you aren't making any money now and haven't for too long, there's no pay cut per se. There's the reality of a low starting salary at a job. If you're a hustler and alert to opportunity, that should be on short time. Here's a comment which received 78 upvotes, so f...

  For those of us servicing the legal sector (I coach/provide tarot readings for lawyers) there was a posting on LinkedIn which seemed a must-read. It was by Reuters Legal reporter Sara Randazzo. It referred to an article  she had researched and written. It was about how giant corporation AT&T is leveraging AI to reduce its use of outside law firms. How would this impact hiring/job security at law firms?  Yes, Randazzo did provide a brief summary of the published article. For more, we had to click the link. Horror. The article, like so many on LinkedIn and other platforms, was behind a paywall. A subscription was required.  Put it bluntly, is this kind of rollout of information/perspective a kind of bait and switch. There is an enticing headline. There is a summary drawing us in further. And then, we can't access the coverage without paying the "toll."  Sure, we should pay for content. Media is a business, not a charity. But few of us, especially the self-em...

  Way back in the late 1960s, activism took the form of telling us Boomers not to pay our bills. Those doing the telling were hairy types like Abbie Hoffman , the bills not to be paid were utilities. That was supposed to send messages about the Viet Nam war, non-engaged higher education and, yes, greedy landlords. Here in 2026, the tellers, reports The Wall Street Journal , are Influencers. The bills not to be paid or delayed tactics used are the medical ones. The statement, obviously, is that the whole healthcare loop, from insurance to treatment, is way too expensive.  What's going down is this, details the WSJ: "In just the last three months, there have been more than 426,000 mentions across X, Bluesky, YouTube and Reddit of medical bills, advice not to pay them, tips on negotiating bills lower, and related topics ... " A year ago, there were only a bit over 1,000 mentions. The folks adopting this activist point of view aren't just the ones who can't afford so...

A few years ago angst on Reddit Big Law about AI wiping out lawyers' jobs was usually downvoted. Also, a year ago, there was Paul, Weiss partner Brad Karp's prediction on Lawyer Monthly that AI would 1) significantly reduce demand for junior lawyers and 2) turn certain practices into commodities. That generated some discussion, but, again, no real angst. More recently, there has been a psychic shift. I know that from the lawyers I coach and provide tarot readings. In addition, the tone and content about AI on Reddit Big Law has transformed to almost radical acceptance . The general meme is this: Human lawyers will have an increasingly hard time competing with AI. In about 10 years, forget it. AI will win. You can bear witness to that in this Reddit post.   On that Reddit post lawyers admit that two or three years ago AI was nothing to worry about. However, it has been a surprisingly fast learner. On Reddit, a lawyer using Claude Fable 5   reports: " ... from the ti...

Kirkland & Ellis, the largest and most profitable law firm, has made this bombshell announcement : It will no longer disclose to media details of its financial performance. So, the legal and business worlds now wonder if other highly profitable law firms will also go silent about those kinds of metrics. K&E offered no explanations why. It only stated that such quantitative details provide no meaningful insight about the quality of its services.  Well, well. One source to Bloomberg Law  made this observation: "The decision had been in the works for multiple years, according to two people. One of the people said firm leaders were wary of client response to reporting on the firm’s equity partner profits, which were $11 million in its latest reporting." Also for years the K&E model has been imitated by other law firms eager to boost their own Profits Per Equity Partner. So. it's not unthinkable that Paul, Weiss, for example, which seems to have grafted on pieces ...

  The three top players in M&A recently have been Kirkland & Ellis, Latham and Wachtell.  That means that Paul, Weiss' Scott Barshay, whose signature is M&A transactions , needed a win. Yes, a high-profile one. Ever since he took over the chairmanship job in a February 2026 coup, Barshay has been closely watched. Can this guy lead that major law firm in this disruptive time in the legal sector? Sure, he can lawyer. Sure, he can manage. But leadership is a whole different job function. Well, the win came. Along with Paul, Weiss partners Laura Turano and Cristina Barshay handled the sell-side legal issues associated with US software company PTC. It is being acquired by French engineering Schneider Electric SE. The transaction is all-cash: $22.6 billion. Driviing the transaciton is the need to bulk up with AI capability. Major competitor Siemens is already immersed in AI. Debevoise is the legal advisor for Schneider.  A risk for Schneider is that the strategy ...

Probably the last generation in America to have it "easy" was us Boomers.  The post-WWII economic boom was kicking in. College opened up to us and was cheap. Investing, not just surviving, was doable. And we became the wealthiest generation in America. At least so far. Members of Generation Alpha - born between 2010 and 2024 - could outdo us. A recent PwC survey found two things: These kids are entrepreneurs from the get-go. 86% earn their own money. They are one with technology. It's like breathing air for them. 38% use AI tools for fun. But much could go wrong along the way.  As CNBC cautions, pareents have to guide Alphas to invest the money, not get caught up in consumerism. For big spenders even something as basic as financial security - never mind acquisition of wealth - has been unbundled from high earning power. Up to 40% of those grossing $300k - $500k annually live paycheck to paycheck. Also, despite the myriad grim warnings about the unmarketability of m...

  "I am a fast learner." When we were teenagers looking for summer jobs, that's what we Boomers told employers. In those days the post-WWII economy was kicking off. Manpower was needed. Eager-to-learn was the right hustle. See, businesses did train. Actually they preferred to train you in how they do things. You wouldn't have to unlearn bad work procedures. Now, expressing eagerness to learn or if it's obvious you need training beyond a brief onboarding - that immediately knocks you out of the box. The current labor market mandates that you perform the required tasks from day-one. And better than the other hundreds applying for that postion or gig. That's exactly why entry-levels can't get in. Those new academic graduates include PhDs. Here's a snippet from Reddit: "I don’t see why companies would want to let anyone with a PhD, who expects better pay, to learn on the job. You gotta think value. What can you bring them? Highlight that and engage i...

  The jobs report for September 2026 was a Debbie Downer, for some: Only 29,000 jobs created.   But for others, such as us Boomers ultra concerned about what the stock market is doing, it brought relief. Given those disappointing job numbers, the feds probably won't raise interest rates again, at least not in the near future. The Dow closed up 250.40. Tonight, after days of not checking my financial statement, I might take a peek. Meanwhile, though, in one sector the good times keep rolling. That's legal services. Last month 2,000 jobs were created. Reuters provides more details: "The Bureau of Labor Statistics ​ counted 1,249,000 legal sector jobs in September, including lawyers, paralegals, judges and ​ legal assistants, up 2,000 jobs ​ from August and 7.6% higher than ‌five ⁠ years earlier" And, as Law Fue l documents, if you make it big in a law firm, that could really be big in compensation. Given Star Wars - that is, poaching rainm...

First attention. Then the numbers on conversion to opens, likes, followers, sales, market share, shift in public opinion, boost in name recognition and more. Those are what clients want. Not storytelling per se. As in many law practices (see Paul, Weiss partner Brad Karp's observations in Lawyer Monthly ) and throughout management consulting (see David Duncan in the Harvard Business Review ), AI has made what used to sell and at a premium price a commodity. And, the glut of commercial messaging out there has made it more and more difficult to capture, hold and grow attention. Platforms that rely on storytelling, such as BusinessInsider , frequently are floundering. That venue lost almost 30% of subscribers during the past three years. Somehow they haven't effectively connected the dots between the narrative and how does it move the needle on helping the audience accomplish their objectives.  Telling her story in the memoir "View from the East Wing" hurt,  not helped,...

So important was the role of clergy in this new land that the Puritans established Harvard in 1636 to ensure there would be enough ministers and that they would be well trained.  Currently that role has evolved to be analogous to attempting to steer the doomed Titantic. The church, as an institution, is collapsing. Although more than 60% in America identify themselves as Christians , no longer are many of them going to church. CNN documents: "Experts project an estimated 100,000 churches in the US will close or be repurposed over the next decade" Walk into churches still operating and the congregation probably consists of the over-60. About 40 million have left during the past 25 years.  The reasons range from no-time to a deep distrust of institutions. As a tarot reader, I would add that my clients who have walked away from the religion of their childhood complain about the lofty preaching. What they need is not to aspire to be a better human being or change the world. I...