Jane Genova: Speechwriter - Ghostwriter

Mark Harmon - Pauley Perrette aka Abby Says He Attacked Her, Other Crew Members

A bombshell. 

How long-time fans of "NCIS" revere the character Leroy Gibbs. He is the sensitive leader of the team of forensic experts. 

The actor who depicts that character is Mark Harmon.

In a tweet, Pauley Perrette stated that Marmon physically attacked her and other crew members. That was when she was playing the offbeat character Abby. The attacks are why she left the show. Here are more details from the media. 

Of course, Harmon fans have many questions. Why is Perrette disclosing this information now? Time has gone by since she left the show. 

Also, as a major star Harmon is a key asset for the network. It could push back in any number of ways. Those range from a lawsuit for defamation to blackballing her in the entertainment industry. So, why is Perrette taking on that risk?

This a story many will be following. "NCIS' has become part of the lives of many viewers of network television.

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Any Trust in U.S. Healthcare System - Let Dick Wolf Episode on "Chicago P.D." Blow that Out of the Water

If medical personnel at Mount Carmel Health System knew there could be an undercover agent in their midst there might not be the current allegation about William Husel M.D.

The possibility of a spy in some form - doctor, nurse, aide, administrator - could deter crime against patients. 

Franklin County prosecutor Ron O'Brien has slapped Husel with 25 counts of murder. Allegedly Husel was in the loop of fatal overdoses of pain killer fentanyl. Each count, if proved, carries a sentence of 15 to life in prison. Here are more details from Jeremy Smith at Law and Crime.

The powers that be can make it a state law that a a specified number of undercover agents are parachuted in randomly to healthcare facilities. To avoid being outed, those law enforcement officials would only do serve in that role once. What they uncover will be celebrated in the media. That could strengthen the deterrent power.

Overall, trust is broken in the healthcare system in the U.S. That ranges from fixing our bodies to attending to our mental equilibrium. With the current allegations against Husel, we downright fear for our lives.

Meanwhile, since television producer Dick Wolf rips episode plots from the headlines, expect to see some of the Husel type story on a program like "Chicago P.D." How wonderful it would be to experience Hank Voigt interrogating The Bad Doctor.

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

June 4, 2019 - Boston Lost Some Brand Equity

Boston isn't the kind of urban area we associate with mean streets and crime.

After all, the lawyers in "Boston Legal" were genteel. And it was on Milk Street that Ben Franklin had his startup print shop. 

But, the things could get bad enough in the city to have "Law & Order" producer Dick Wolf consider launching "Boston P.D." Currently he has in production the popular series "Chicago P.D." Its main character Hank Voight have become as iconic as Jack McCoy.

Today, before noon - that is, broad daylight - right near the Prudential Center there had been an armed carjacking and a fatal shooting. The victim was a male. The suspect is Philip Foy. He has been charged with a laundry list of things, including murder. Here are more details from Boston Magazine.

This development could put ideas in the heads of the unstable. After all, Foy is now a household name in Boston. There could be more violent crime at unexpected times in unexpected locations.

That could deflate some of the momentum in the Boston branding as the cool city for lawyers, techies, students, and real estate. 

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

The Art and Science of Interrogation

Those 5 Dulos children, ages 8 through 13, were the ones the world worried about. 

Most assume the mother Jennifer is dead. The father Fotis likely will spend his life in prison. Connecticut no longer has a death penalty.

Now, there is a universal exhale.

At Law and Crime, Matt Nahan reports that Jennifer's mother Gloria Farber has filed for custody. She resides on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. So, she has the resources to provide for the children, including their education. That's almost everything.

And, Farber sounds like the right stuff - she denied the father Fotis permission to visit with the children in New York. 

With the children off the emotional radar screen attention shifts back to Fotis and his girlfriend Michelle Troconis.

What plays in minds is how law enforcement might be interrogating the two suspects. Lots of evidence has been discovered. A search is underway for Jennifer body's.

The hunch is that skilled interrogators will get Michelle to flip on Fotis. We know from "Dateline," "48 Hours," and "20/20" how that goes down. There are myriad techniques. Those go way beyond Hard Cop/Soft Cop. Also, forget how Hank Voight questions suspects on "Chicago P.D."

Interrogation has become a sophisticated and complex niche within law enforcement.

For example, in one documentary about Canadian military bigwig - Russell Williams - the audience observes how the single interrogator slowly and respectfully corners the murderer/rapist/cross-dresser.

Over several hours Williams goes from relaxed (and chewing gum) to, before spilling the details, sharing his concern about how a confession would affect his wife. 

Of course, the art and science of interrogation are so advanced that there is always the possibility of false confessions. Here is The New Yorker on that.

Meanwhile the world is aware that Fotis and Michelle can stick together. Not one of them will become a rat.

They can refuse a plea, hire top-gun lawyers, and go to trial in some upscale suburb or dying city in CT.

Since it involves what's known as the Gold Coast in CT, Fifth Avenue in NY, and perhaps a heaping platter of insanity, there will be a pile on of world media.

No courthouse in CT has experienced that since the two thugs were tried and sentenced for the murder of the three members of the Petit family. That long-running saga was known as the 21st century play-out of the senseless murder captured in Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood."

This new CT crime of the century could be labeled "Custody among The Rich and Almost Famous." Hopefully, Farber will have the last name of the 5 children changed - pronto. They should be spared the theatre.

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Michael Avenatti - Is He Outsized Version of Every Ambitious Striver?

The California Bar Association doesn't want this guy to be your lawyer.

Once a celebrity lawyer and possible candidate for the U.S. presidency, Michael Avenatti is now referred to as the "Bernie Madoff of lawyers."

He is the defendant in three criminal cases. And the latest development is that the California Bar Association indicates it wants to put his membership on involuntary inactive enrollment. That would be the initial step in eventually disbarring him. He is perceived as posing a substantial threat of harm to clients. Here is more information from media. 

Given his fall from such a great height, one wonders is he could be classified as tragic figure. Probably not.

In Vanity Fair, Emily Jane Fox presents a profile of a successful lawyer who got caught in lifestyle he couldn't afford. That kind of hunger for more, of course, has brought down many other human beings, not only lawyers. 

The hunger usually doesn't stop with material possessions. It's also a lust for power. Fictional Walter White in "Breaking Bad" evolved from the invisibility of being a high school chemistry teacher to the top cook in a meth factory. He took on the owner Gus. At the end White observed that he "won." However, he winds up dead, a victim of his own excessive reach for more and more.

Although not a tragic player in the Shakespearean sense, Avenatti could attract compassion. After all, what human doesn't suffer emotionally with regret about chains of bad decisions which had, at least for them, severe consequences? The human mind is wired for self-torture. 

Is Michael Avenatti us? Maybe, an outsized version of every ambitious striver. 

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

My Low IQ Phone

In a two-hour television special, Diane Sawyer documented the negatives associated with screen time. 

Much of that we already sensed. It's not hyperbolic to classify our relationship to our digital devices, including the smartphone, as an addiction. 

The good news is that it is not all that difficult to break free of the dynamics of that addiction.

I began that five months ago when my iPhone started dying. Research on the internet indicated that the life of the iPhone is about 4.5 years. I did the math. Yes, it had been 4.5 years when I had purchased it.

Obviously, I was at a crossroads. I could purchase another smartphone and continue checking it every 10 minutes. As well as spend $400+. 

Or, I could reconfigure my relationship with the phone by going with a low IQ one.

It wouldn't be a dumb phone. It would still have smartphone features such as ability to text, email, access to the internet, and taking photos. But those operations would be cumbersome to carry out. No way would I be always-on with the phone.

At the AT&T store the low IQ went for about $70. The service would be about $30 a month. I loved the savings.

Results were immediate. Stylistically the flip phone is a clunker. In fact, when I take it out, there are gasps: You have an old phone.

So, I don't take it out. 

I rarely text. I don't encourage others to text.

The email isn't convenient so I didn't even set it up. I check the email, a professional necessity, on my laptop. The laptop means "work," not connecting. 

Overall, I have gotten back about 180 minutes a day. Some of that time I have channeled into having long talks with those I bump into when walking the dog. Funny, but that feels like connecting to me. That's even though the conversations aren't intimate. No close friendships have been formed. In-person contact has a profound effect. 

During these past five months I have also invested less time in social networks. Professionally, sure, I better be there. But, in terms of feeling a part of, no, that never has panned out for me. 

A few times a week, the dog and I now take the one-hour drive to Lake Erie. He runs. I watch the waves. We both feel better. No one there is doing screen time. A lot of them are bikers. Some are toddlers engaged in rites of passage such as mastering the slide. They scream with delight at their accomplishment. 

The jury is still out. But I think I prefer real life to what's on the screen. 

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

High-Tech Crime-Stoppers - From Dick Tracy to Jersey City Mayor Steven Fullop

What had been holding back Jersey City, New Jersey from total gentrification was crime. Both violent and property. 

That was then.

Mayor since 2013, Steven Fulop has taken a page out of the playbook of crime-stopper Dick Tracy.

Like Tracy, Fulop has embraced technology to fight crime. 

One of Tracy's most popular bits of tech had been his two-way wrist watch radio. He adopted that in 1946 and, of course, it prefigured the Apple smartphone.

Some members of the Baby Boomer generation came to talk into their wrists, pretending to have a crime-stopper Tracy gadget on it. 

Fulop's crimestopper weapon has been the video camera mounted to record street activity.

As Ben Chapman reports in The Wall Street Journal, from 2017 through 2019, the Fulop Administration has added 209 cameras. During that time period, both murders and shootings have gone down 70%.

The more the crime numbers go down, the more brandname firms will relocate from Manhattan to Jersey City.

Meanwhile, as the gentrification initiative continues, rents in parts of Jersey City are right up there with those in parts of New York City. For example, a studio apartment  at 110 First Street (zip 07302) runs between $2870 and $2995. 

Producer of sustained hit fictional crime shows on network television - Dick Wolf - incorporates retrieving and analyzing video footage as standard. The detective or FBI agent is also yelling to an underling or tech person to "get the tape." In real-life retail, it's the same drill. To avoid lawsuits in a suspected five-finger discount, management hustles to have the tape.

So, yes, it was smart for Fulop to make the cameras a priority. 

However, one loser in Fulop's wins is the person who grew up in Jersey City, left when it was on a downward trajectory, yearns to "come home," and can't afford to rent even a studio apartment. The tenement at 227 Bay Street, in downtown Jersey City, where I had lived, had rented for $30 a month. It had three bedrooms. Three generations bunked in those large railroad rooms.

Currently, where more and more of the displaced from NJ are going is southwestern Arizona. There a studio apartment at 355 N. 7th Street in Sierra Vista (zip 85635) rents for $495.

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

When Jennifer Dulos Went Missing ...

Law enforcement, report members of the media, is now treating the May 24th disappearance of Jennifer Dulos as a homicide. Blood has been found where Jennifer had lived. Yes, our mindset is now in the past tense. Jennifer is dead. 

No newsflash to so many of us.

We watch "Dateline," both the new episodes and the re-runs. Call our pessimism The Dateline Effect.

It's rare in that who-done-it that the spouse isn't the first person of interest. And, that person of interest usually winds up taking a plea or being convicted in a sensational trial. This is the era of CSI. The evidence is found by the forensic team.

Usually the miscreant is a male. But there are female spousal killers. One offed her husband during a hunting trip in Canada. After a bench trial there she was acquitted. She went on to live a quiet life enjoying his insurance money. But, again, the lesson was hammered: Marriage can cause premature death. 

From the get-go, when we found out Jennifer, mother of five in New Canaan, Connecticut, was involved in a bitter divorce with husband Fotis, we knew. It was only going to be a matter of time before the spouse gave it up to the police or a body was discovered.

Yes, it's sad. It always is. 

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

Politicos Replace Lawyers as Media Celebrities - Will Applications to Law School Plummet, Again?

In his televised talk from the Department of Justice, Robert Mueller made much clear.

As the legal and political analysts quickly reported on his statement, there was no ambiguity.

The news items were that he was shutting down the office of the special counsel and he himself was returning to private life. As many know, he is 74 years old.

Also, if he had to appear before Congress he would not discuss anything beyond the scope of the report he issued. 

The legal and regulatory systems he was operating under did not allow for criminal charges to be filed against a sitting present. The actions of Donald Trump during Election 2016 were not assessed to be innocent. Rather there was not sufficient evidence to label them anything else.

The matter of Russian interference which investigated, he evaluated, to be a serious one and the American people should continue to pursue it.

In essence, based on Mueller's statement, the spotlight about any possible illegal behavior on the part of the current president shifts from the Department of Justice to the Congress.

Given that, U.S. House leader Nancy Pelosi might have to change her anti-impeachment position. It had been based on the assumption that Trump was a wounded candidate running for reelection. That's what should be used against him by the Democrats. Impeachment, which could fail in the U.S. Senate, could be a mere distraction.

Now the attention in the media will focus on Congress, not the legal system per se. 

The celebrities will no longer be lawyers but political experts.

Could applications to law school begin to plummet?

Instead, the best and brightest could seek out degrees and internships in political science. 

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

Burning Some Bridges in Professional Life - Actually, That Could Be a +

The conventional wisdom: Don't burn bridges. Play it safe. You don't know whom they know or the reach of that organization.

The new reality: Professional life is too fragmented and the pace of change too rapid for making an enemy or enemies here and there to matter much. There are exceptions, of course. Among them is the closed system of law. There you better be hyper alert about how your moves could be interpreted.

The possible opportunities from burning bridges: The enemies you make can help you bond with other professionals who also consider that bunch to be lowlifes.

Also, it frequently takes one door to close for another to open. Executive coach Henry Cloud made his signature helping professionals break away from old ties. His still brisk-selling book is "Necessary Endings."

When should you follow the ancient practice of extreme caution in relationships and when dealing with organizations? That's easy: When in transition. That's because you don't yet understand the power structure. 

Currently, transitions are frequent.

Our industry collapses. We have to reskill for another line of work in order to make a living.

We age out of doing face-to-face business and have to rebuild as a telecommuting presence.

The universe smiles on us and we become very successful. It will take time to learn to play the game at that higher level.

Burning bridges in our personal lives? That's a whole different story. As "Dateline" documents over and over again, it could be fatal. 

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.