Talking Your Way into Trouble, Big Law and When I Wasn't Told What Not to Say

 The stunners continue. 

The nuclear verdict of $88+ million against Donald Trump in the E. Jean Carroll defamation trial was just the first surprise. 

Now this: Plaintiff lawyer in that case Roberta Kaplan stated on the George Conway podcast that during an earlier legal action she had finished deposing Trump at Mar-a-Largo. That had been related to alleged marketing fraud. 

At the time, the man was in an irate mood. He had found out that his own legal staff had provided lunch for that opposing party and didn't like that one bit. Maybe that's what triggered the flashpoint. He, Kaplan claims, referred to her as See you next Tuesday. The phrase is a euphemism for the "C" word which is used to crudely apply to females. 

That could come to haunt Trump. At Fox, reports Vanity Fair, former broadcaster Tucker Carlson was also known for sinking to that rhetorical level. Here is an excerpt from that article:

"According to sources on the staff, Carlson shit-talked both women as well as his number one enemy within Fox News, the entrenched public relations boss Irena Briganti, whom he called a c__ [Actual use of the term deleted]."

Even at the rough-and-tumble Fox, that kind of language didn't sit well. That could have been a factor in the end of Carlson's career there.

Meanwhile, Kaplan has lots of runway in leveraging her recent victory over Trump. Beyond the fun part there are the promotional opportunities to hawk the firm she established in 2017 Kaplan Heckler & Fink. 

Previously, she had won $5 million for Carroll in another type of action against Trump. That in itself had figured into an interview with the influential Bloomberg Law. 

Prior to hanging out her shingle Kaplan had spent a quarter of a century at elite law firm Paul, Weiss. When questioned as to the why of the move Kaplan sounded like she was still trying to figure that out. For instance, she noted that currently a female such as Karen Dunn is thriving at Paul, Weiss. I also would put on that list woman of color Loretta Lynch. She has handled high-profile bias cases on the defense side involving McDonald's USA and the NFL.

Kaplan noted in the Bloomberg Law interview:

"I don’t know if it’s a gender issue or if the problem is that we keep sticking by an older model that no longer works. At a huge firm there are lots of conflict issues, and you have to bill by the hour ... I sensed that clients preferred boutiques that had flexibility in how cases would be litigated."

Because of the intensified interest in Kaplan, the door is open for more conversations with her about what likely needs to change in large law firms. Professional anonymous networks Fishbowl and Reddit are jam-packed with criticisms of those unique business entities. 

Meanwhile, at Paul, Weiss chair Brad Karp seems to be reinventing much about that particular firm. It could be evolving into what Kaplan might have stuck with. 

However, I, a female, had my own puzzling experience with Paul, Weiss. Like Kaplan, I haven't sorted the whole thing out yet.

A communications professional hired on retainer in April 2022, I was assigned no "real work" by Chief Marketing Officer Luke Ferrandino. There were no contract specifying my duties, no metrics for assessing my performance and no NDA indicating what I could or could not say. Isn't the latter peculiar for a law firm? Actually, would that be classified as "reckless?" 

To simulate a work product, any kind, I scrambled to fill up my blogs with coverage of Paul, Weiss. Duh. Within two months, totally thrown off my game, I pulled the plug. Since I was overseen by Ferrandino, Karp was not in the loop. 

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)