YourCommunicationsEdge

  35,950.89 USD ▲  +520.47 (+1.47%) today November 30, 4:20 PM EST  ·  Market Closed In most cases you have only one shot in communications. Jane Genova is a communications coach and content-creator. Complimentary consultation (please text 203-468-8579 or email janegenova374@gmail.com)

  Seems they made their point.  The New York Post reports: " Kate Middleton and King Charles made their first public appearances since they were named as the royals who allegedly questioned what color Archie’s skin would be. " Now the top of the food chain among the Royals are the front lines for coming across as, you got it, racists. That, of course, could be the force field accelerating the push to rid the UK of that anachronistic and quite expensive institution. Coal in their stockings this holiday season.  In most cases you have only one shot in communications. Jane Genova is a communications coach and content-creator. Complimentary consultation (please text 203-468-8579 or email janegenova374@gmail.com) 

Just as in ecommerce, websites are a must-have in Big Law. But. unlike in online selling, the function is not necessarily for marketing/closing deals, at least not in large law firms. FORTUNE 50, NOT PORING OVER THE LAW FIRM WEBSITES The old joke is that no business goes to the websites of the Am Law 50, such as Cravath, to decide which firms will represent it. The website is essentially window dressing. It means little in business development. The choices primarily are made on the basis of what stars are at the firm and their recent track records in a highly specialized niche. Usually that information is embedded in the sector's grapevine and the profession is quite gossipy. SLEUTHING  Myriad other purposes are served, some stealth. That's why communications/coaching folks like myself dig around the websites to gain insight about the culture, operations. direction and more. That's material I need in order to create value for clients. A major piece of negotiation,

  It's usually on a Monday or Tuesday in November that market-maker Cravath sets off the compensation/bonus war for large law firms. This year November 27th or 28th could be the date. If those Cravath numbers, as well as the ones put out there by Kirkland & Ellis, Paul Hastings, Paul, Weiss and more, disappoint associates there could be a  "Norma Rae"  phenomenon. That is, an open advocacy for unionization.  The rumblings about taking collective action and the snippets of satisfaction in already doing so in white-collar fields have gotten louder and more strident. Those realities have popped up in everything from establishment publishing (Conde Nast) to banking (Wells Fargo).  It is not far-fetched to envision unionized junior lawyers threatening a walk-out before a high-profile trial or M&A transaction. Currently, in this slowdown in demand, their power has eroded. But, hey, they can get some of that back. Maybe a lot of it back.  The lure of being upped to NonEq

  Here it is the week of Thanksgiving and Ruff Life on the Lake is still operating. The concept is a combination of boutique and restaurant, with a pet-loving theme. The interior decorating creates the ethos of a curiosity shop from the time of Charles Dickens in England.  Most of the rest of the hospitality businesses in resort town Geneva on the Lake have been closed since the day after Labor Day. The main streets are weird quiet. The golf carts which had dominated, slowing down everyone, are not for rent.  Ruff will stay open until January 1st, then start up again the first week of April. That means it extends the season by four months. The lunch traffic is especially brisk. Right now the hours are noon to 8 PM. I dropped in for a coffee and conversation as the sun was setting.  How Ruff remains attracting customers off-season provides lessons for both retailers and the dining establishments. In an exclusive interview manager Carrie Evans explains the model was configured as a resu

  Human beings center through brutal joking around. Here is what has popped up on Fishbowl Consulting about the OpenAI's forcing out of co-founder Sam Altman: "AI took his job" In most cases you have only one shot in communications. Jane Genova is a communications coach and content-creator. Complimentary consultation (please text 203-468-8579 or email janegenova374@gmail.com)

  After years on a downward trajectory, Boies Schiller has been on an upswing. A symbol of that is for 2022 the important metric of Profits Per Equity Partner was up 13% and for 2023 the estimate is a 20% uptick. The dramatic partner flight has halted. There will be collection of big money. So the timing - and timing is almost everything - is right for co-founder David Boies to step down as leader but remain with the firm as partner. The legacy is restored. Maybe there won't be the gush ethos of how he was positioned and packaged by BusinessWeek in 2015 but there will be praise for him as a litigation powerhouse. Boies is 82, much older than Jones Day's Stephen Brogan who stepped down at age 70 and Dentons' Joe Andrew who ended role as global chair when he was 62. At Paul, Weiss Brad Karp who is 63 didn't step down in May of this year. He was voted back in. But since Karp, hard-wired in progressive politics, has plenty of runway in other careers it is doubtful if he wi

  34,897.66 USD ▼  -93.55 (-0.27%) today November 16, 9:32 AM EST  ·  Market Open In most cases you have only one shot in communications. Jane Genova is a communications coach and content-creator. Complimentary consultation (please text 203-468-8579 or email janegenova374@gmail.com)

Those of us who got roughed up by the earlier versions of digital gossip tabloid Gawker want to believe Meng Ru Kuok. As Variety documents, Kuok is the new owner of Gawker and he goes on the record as saying he is reinventing it. He promises it will be nothing like what went before. What he has purchased are only the trademark and domain name, not the article archive. He is operating from Singapore. However, anyone who had followed Gawker 2.0 knows that there is a tough road ahead. The second version had neither the first version's cool nor its really pushing the envelope to the point of being shocking. 2.0 was not quite cringe, more a yawn. That belly-flop could stick on the Gawker branding. That is unless there really is an amazing reset that gets global attention. Another challenge for Gawker 3.0 is that this is not a good time for media. Axios reports: "Nearly 20,000 jobs have been eliminated across the media industry this year as of October, according to  Challenger, Gr

  34,949.11 USD ▲  +121.41 (+0.35%) today November 15, 9:33 AM EST  ·  Market Open

The business of law firms depends on representing any number of types of clients. Sure, Jones Day took heat for MAGA, Boise Schiller for Harvey Weinstein and Paul, Weiss for Exxon. But overall that's the way the industry operates. After all the majority of clients come to law firms because they are in some kind of difficulty. Most often the situation isn't pretty. THAT LETTER Yet, on November 1, 2023 more than 200 law firms sent a one-sided letter to myriad law schools. The message, as it has been widely interpreted, is: Do something about the school's antisemitism or we could decide not to recruit your students. Some such as myself experienced the tone and content as, well, heavy-handed. That certainly doesn't seem wise during this time of escalating geopolitical tensions. Law firms would be smart to take on the mantle of a diplomat. That might even be if their clients have embraced aggressive  pro-Israel stances.  FORMAL PUSHBACK Now there is formal pushback. Reuters

  Before Business Insider became Insider it was the easy-read The Wall Street Journal.  Back then there was no cute. Scrolling through headlines we didn't bump into the detailed narratives of what unfortunately is also popping up on LinkedIn.  CNN reports the digital publication, founded by disgraced Wall Streeter Henry Blodget, is returning to its original moniker "Business Insider," with the total focus on business, and new leadership. Blodget is stepping down but will remain on the board for a while. Stepping in is new CEO Barbara Peng. Over too could be the cultural ethos kind of publishing that did hatchet jobs seemingly just for fun. One was positioned and packaged as the supposed decline of traditional values at prestigious law firm Paul,Weiss. It even had a reference to "Mad Men." Those of us focused on business didn't care. Our eye was on the Profits-Per-Equity-Partner number and that cracked over $6 million around that time. The chair at Paul,Weis

One's actual work is usually a defensive move in getting, holding, and moving on to better professional opportunities. Rarely does it put you on the offense. THE VERY LIMITED ROLE OF THE WORK PRODUCT Essentially, the work product functions as what is called "the price of entry." Without it you probably won't get in to play the game (unless you have the pedigree of a nepo baby). Also, it has the role of being a place-holder. If it drifts below a certain level of expectation that slot could close up. You’re out of the game. So, to attempt to make sense of why one junior member in large law firms can retain the job and why another got the boot has little to do with focusing on the work product per se.  TWO IMMIGRANTS TO AMERICA Here we have the situations of two immigrants to America who were able to be hired by elite Big Law firms and then what happened afterward. There can be profound implications for how we view employment recruiting, hiring, promoting and termination

  That first letter.  It had been sent from a number of law firms - ranging from Sidley Austin to Sullivan & Cromwell to Paul,Weiss - to a number of law school deans. As many interpreted that communication it seemed to contain a veiled threat that if perceived antisemitism wasn't stopped recruitment at those law schools could be. I experienced the tone and content as, well, heavy-handed. And I have said just that in public venues. But I no longer do contract communications assignments for law firms. No residual looping remains since I have changed careers.  When I did do law firm assignments, such as for Paul,Weiss, you bet, I avoided any tone or content even in non-related material which could throw shade on the clients. That's the way it goes.  Since before doing assignments for law firms I had worked full-time for the Fortune 50, from the get-go I got the "it" - no open disagreement with those who sign the check. In fact, the "approval channel" is

  "How many years do people last at Paul Weiss before being nudged, and then pushed  out?" - Posted on Fishbowl Big Law , November 13, 2023 The default of professional anonymous networks such as Fishbowl, Reddit and Blind is this: being critical of what work is like at organizations, especially the large ones. The brutal size-ups are rolled out as a kind of public service. So, it was the routine ritual to put the knock on elite law firm Paul,Weiss (as well as Kirkland & Ellis and Paul Hastings). It is big. It is wealthy. It is powerful. It is influential. Quite the suitable target for negative analysis. Then, amid a sustained downturn in overall demand in the legal sector, Paul,Weiss has been among the firms which were, OMG, hiring.  And,  get this,   not conducting formal Reductions-in-Forces. Along with that came headline-grabbing moves. At the top of the list were three raids in London of Kirkland & Ellis Private Equity practice talent. Also, it was landing lots of