South African envoys criticised over Zimbabwe crisis – Biti on eNCA – The Zimbabwean

Posted on by TSA Press

25.8.2020 8:19

by Nehanda TV

While the Zimbabwe crisis continues to escalate with the ZANU PF government adamant that there is no crisis, MDC Alliance vice president Tendai Biti criticises the South African envoys for being a political smokescreen with no genuine mandate to remedy the ongoing crisis.

ANC’s head of international relations Lindiwe Zulu and Biti discuss how SADC should resolve the crisis in Zimbabwe before it becomes a full blown catastrophe that spills over the whole region.

Post published in: Featured

John Deere deal revives Zimbabwe mechanisation hopes – The Zimbabwean

Posted on by TSA Press

Deliveries of tractors and generous loan arrangements have raised cautious hopes among Zimbabwe’s farmers, but will the new arrangements make a significant difference to the country’s ailing agricultural sector? Tendai Marima reports

Dozens of yellow four-wheel tractors, along with eight combine harvesters and other pieces of agricultural equipment were delivered to Zimbabwe in April as part of an audacious attempt to mechanise and modernise a farming industry currently reckoned to have a shortage of over 30,000 tractors.

The delivery was part of a deal with John Deere, the world’s largest manufacturer of agricultural equipment. Under a $51m facility Zimbabwe will eventually receive 1300 tractors, 80 combine harvesters and many other pieces of vital agricultural equipment, which will be offered to farmers under a new model for equipment sourcing.

Since the fast-track land reform programme in the 2000s, government efforts to mechanise agriculture have been characterised by financial challenges, corruption and limited repayment of loans. The deal, facilitated by local distributor AFGRI, which will initially train government staff and regional engineers on the equipment, is intended to benefit up to 5,000 farmers via loan arrangements with local banks which require a 20% down payment and repayment over three to five years with a low interest rate of up to 8%.

Zimbabwe previously signed mechanisation deals with manufacturers in Brazil, Belarus, China and India, which exported farming machinery at subsidised prices. With the Zimbabwean government as guarantor, equipment was bought through concessional loans that sought to promote South-South cooperation. However, forex shortages stalled plans announced in 2018 to establish a machinery assembly plant by India’s Mahindra.

In an attempt to learn from those failures, which were usually managed by a wholly state-owned asset finance company, the responsibility for assessing creditworthiness and loans issuance for the John Deere equipment will be with two local and one foreign-owned bank in the hope of improving repayment transparency and efficiency.

According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, Africa has less than two tractors per 1,000 hectares of cropland compared to 10 tractors per 1,000 hectares in South Asia and Latin America. Under the African Union’s 2014 Malabo Declaration, African Union member states explicitly committed themselves to making investments in “suitable, reliable, and affordable mechanisation and energy supplies” in order to double productivity by 2025.

Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector performance has been severely hampered by a lack of agricultural inputs and finance, high input costs, and recurrent droughts, and experts say that mechanisation will improve yields, land management, the quality of produce and boost employment.

While some farmers see the facility as a milestone for Zimbabwe’s agricultural recovery and development after two decades of policy drift, others remain pessimistic as the country endures its worst economic crisis in a decade. Paul Zakariya, head of the Zimbabwe Farmers Union, says that spiralling annual inflation of over 730% has left many farmers financially incapacitated, leaving John Deere equipment “way out of the reach of many farmers” even with generous loan terms.

“Input prices are increasing at a rate that has never been seen before, and with that it leaves a category of farmers with decisions to downsize or not to grow anything at all. It’s not only the inputs, but it’s also the fuels. There are availability issues and the price is also going up, so if you want to run a tractor you need to think twice; how many hectares am I going to do, what is within my means? These are some of the challenges farmers are facing,” he says.

Meeting the needs of smallholders

Toendepi Shonhe, a researcher with Agricultural Policy Research in Africa, says that the “tractorisation” of agriculture has largely focused on middle-scale farmers, but the needs of smallholder farmers are different. With limited collateral security to support a tractor loan application and a high cost of borrowing, smallholders have to resort to finding cheaper alternatives like seasonal tractor loans. Shonhe argues that high-powered tractors are not the only solution to improved productivity for this class of farmer.

“I think there is a need to combine tractorisation and irrigation, and if you do that you will then be able to address problems like water supply and to infuse two-wheel tractors that are able to till smaller lands that are available and affordable to many smallholder farmers,” he says.

Nelson Mudzingwa, an agronomist and resettled farmer who lives on an apportioned 10-hectare farm that was previously part of a 2,000 hectare cattle ranch in Mashava, southeastern Zimbabwe, says farmers in his community would benefit from shared equipment if the financial terms were affordable. One tractor and a combine harvester could support over 400 farmers living in the Shashi block of farms, he says.

“We have a good irrigation system, because the boreholes weren’t destroyed when we occupied this ranch in 2000, but the community here could use one tractor and a combine harvester that we could share on a rotation basis,” he explains. “Most of the work we do is with our hands, but a communal tractor, although it would be expensive, would really help cut the costs of extra labour. A harvester for those who are starting to grow wheat might be a good investment, but finding the money is the challenge.”

More financial support required

Agriculture is the bedrock of Zimbabwe’s livelihood with more than 70% of the population of 14.4m directly or indirectly dependent on the sector. With the country under a coronavirus lockdown for more than three months, farmers face challenges in transporting produce to market arising from a strict 12-hour curfew, restrictions on public gatherings and a ban on inter-city travel via public transport.

With some open-air markets closed in Zimbabwe’s main cities, Harare and Bulawayo vegetable sellers have resorted to selling produce from car boots while fruit and vegetable delivery services have grown as a new avenue for sale. Zakariya says the Covid-19 virus has highlighted the inadequacies of the current farming system.

“Coronavirus has just exposed a lot of gaps in our production and marketing systems… running our operations as strictly business entities will require a total mindset shift,” he says.

Even with a farming community used to hasty improvisation and tough economic conditions, Zimbabwe requires agricultural policies that can deliver a sustainable recovery from the lasting shocks of the land reform programme. While mechanisation facilities offer hope for some farmers, further financial support from government and banks to enable the sustainable sourcing and maintenance of equipment will be essential if John Deere’s machines are to have an optimal impact and boost national productivity.

Lied to and abused, trafficked persons from Zimbabwe find some healing – The Zimbabwean

Posted on by TSA Press
Religious sisters attend the Regional Conference on Human Trafficking, March 18 at Arrupe Jesuit University in Harare, Zimbabwe. Center: Sr. Theresa Nyadombo of the Handmaids of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, education secretary for the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference, said a collaborative effort is needed to raise human trafficking awareness. (GSR photo/Doreen Ajiambo)

HARARE, ZIMBABWE — Jane sat on a hard, wooden chair at a church in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, and stared into space for some minutes. Then, she began to croon in worship and, a few minutes later, the gates of her heart burst open, and she began to pour out her heart to her Lord, tears flowing freely like a fountain.

“Father, I forgive my abusers and the people who caused me pain,” prayed the 37-year-old mother of two, who asked that Global Sisters Report not use her real name. “They treated me like an animal, like I didn’t matter, like I was a dog, worse than a dog. God, please heal my pain and heal my broken heart.”

Jane’s journey of pain began in 2016, when she was enticed by a trafficking agent in Harare with promises of a salary of $1,400 per month at a hotel in Kuwait, more than 3,000 miles away. Life had become unbearable in Zimbabwe after her husband lost his job as a casual laborer in a local milk factory and they were evicted from their house for nonpayment of rent.

“Life was very difficult and we barely had something to eat, and if we ate, it was one meal per day,” she said.

It was at this difficult time that she met her trafficker, who was well acquainted with her mother. Everything was planned quickly, and within one week, all her travel documents were ready, including her passport. She was given a new Islamic name: Amina Ishmael.

Religious sisters display cloth promoting work against human trafficking at the Regional Conference on Human Trafficking, March 18 at Arrupe Jesuit University in Harare, Zimbabwe. The conference was organized by the African Forum for Catholic Social Teaching and brought together various activists in the area of human trafficking. (GSR photo/Doreen Ajiambo)

Upon reaching Kuwait, she was picked up from the airport by a man who would be her boss. It was at his house that Jane realized she had been lied to and trafficked. Her host took away her travel documents and forcefully performed a medical procedure to check her overall health.

“I was raped every day, and I was helpless to do anything about it,” she said, weeping throughout the interview with GSR but insisting she wanted to tell her story. “I was forced to work day and night, beaten, restricted to go anywhere, threatened of arrest and deportation and unlawful withholding of my passport. I wasn’t even paid for the five months I worked at the home.”

When things became intolerable, she fled the home and took refuge in the Zimbabwe consulate. Jane was deported after a week, and upon arrival back in Zimbabwe, she was introduced to the religious sisters who run the African Forum for Catholic Social Teaching (AFCAST), an association of justice and peace practitioners throughout Africa, and who chaired the Counseling Services Unit, a group of doctors and counselors who assist the victims of human trafficking in Zimbabwe.

“As AFCAST, we deal with social problems that affect the people,” said Sr. Janice McLaughlin of the Maryknoll Sisters, who is one of the forum’s founders. “We focus our attention mainly on human trafficking and abuse of children and vulnerable adults. We always do our research and then we try to reach out to those affected or those we feel need help. All this is done by following Catholic social teaching and mission.”

Maryknoll Sr. Janice McLaughlin, one of the founders of the African Forum for Catholic Social Teaching, leads dozens of sisters in denouncing trafficking during the Regional Conference on Human Trafficking, March 18 at Arrupe Jesuit University in Harare, Zimbabwe. (GSR photo/Doreen Ajiambo)

‘There are no jobs here’

Jane is among the 40.3 million people who have been trafficked globally, including 24.9 million in forced labor and 15.4 million in forced marriage, according to 2016 estimates by the International Labor Organization, the most recent available data.

Human trafficking in Africa is an urgent crisis, and women and children are especially at risk. People can be trafficked within their own countries, to neighboring countries and to other continents for sexual exploitation, sexual slavery, forced marriage, domestic slavery and various forms of forced labor, according to the latest report by the United Nations.

Zimbabwe does not meet the minimum standards for eliminating human trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so, according to the 2019 Trafficking in Persons Report from the U.S. State Department. The report also notes that the southern African nation has been mapped as a source, destination and transit point for trafficking. In most of these cases, victims are vulnerable children and young adults.

In 2014, the Zimbabwe Parliament passed the Trafficking in Persons Act to identify those who have been trafficked, mitigate the illicit practice and prosecute trafficking offenders. However, it wasn’t until 2016 that the government launched the Trafficking in Persons National Plan of Action to enforce the law.

Since then, Zimbabwe’s government has made some headway in its efforts to end human trafficking. It investigated 72 potential cases of trafficking and prosecuted 42 cases in 2016, compared to none in the previous year. The government reported prosecuting 14 trafficking cases in 2017.

However, women and girls from Zimbabwean towns bordering South Africa, Mozambique and Zambia are still trafficked and subjected to forced labor and prostitution. In rural areas, men, women and children are also trafficked internally to farms for agricultural labor and to cities for forced domestic labor and commercial sexual exploitation, according to the U.S. State Department.

Along Robert Mugabe Road in Harare earlier this year, hundreds of young female travelers stood in queue, holding luggage and waiting for their turn to enter into a bus. The driver of the Citiliner bus, a South African coach company offering services from Harare to Johannesburg, told GSR that many of them were heading to neighboring South Africa to look for greener pastures.

One of them, a young blond woman in a navy dress, told GSR she felt there was no future for her in her home of Bulawayo in southwest Zimbabwe, and she was seeking opportunities in South Africa to help educate her siblings. She said her friend living in the United States had put her into contact with a woman in Johannesburg who promised to use her connections to find her a well-paying job as a maid.

She blamed poverty and lack of jobs in the country as a reason of migration. The World Bank estimates that extreme poverty in Zimbabwe has risen over the past few years, from 33.4% of the population in 2017 to 40% in 2019. The bank predicts levels will continue to rise in 2020, to between 6.6 million and 7.6 million people. That is about half of the people in this country, who are living on less than $1.90 per day.

“I have no choice but to go and try my luck,” the woman said on condition of anonymity, noting that she doesn’t even have regular migration documents. “I’m told that one needs to have at least $30 to bribe border officials, then they will let you in. There are no jobs here, so I have to try elsewhere to earn a living and help my family.”

High school students attend the Regional Conference on Human Trafficking, March 18 at Arrupe Jesuit University in Harare, Zimbabwe. Public education and awareness campaigns were launched to help especially children, since they are the most vulnerable. (GSR photo/Doreen Ajiambo)

How the sisters and AFCAST help

On the streets of Harare, people jostle for space to get a glimpse of some notice boards advertising jobs and vacancies in the Middle East, North Africa and in Italy, Spain and other European countries. The vacancies on the glass-sealed notice boards are for recruitment agents looking for saleswomen, housekeepers, hotel attendants, drivers, waitresses and chefs.

Such practices that lead to trafficking have prompted religious sisters in the country and elsewhere to stand up against it. They have been organizing workshops every month in schools and churches to create awareness and assist women and girls affected by trafficking.

McLaughlin said the African Forum for Catholic Social Teaching assists women and girls affected by human trafficking with counselling, reuniting them with their families and even helping them start self-help projects.

“I was really moved by the plight of young women and girls trafficked to Kuwait and other Gulf states when I met some of them through the migration office,” she said. “They are abused in foreign countries after being promised lucrative job offers. But it has been really rewarding to see some of them heal from trauma.”

While addressing a regional conference on human trafficking March 18 at the Arrupe Jesuit University in Harare, McLaughlin denounced human trafficking as dehumanizing.

“Human trafficking is destroying the lives of many people, especially young people and young women. Therefore, there is need for a collective effort to fight the vice,” she said.

The conference, which was organized by the African Forum for Catholic Social Teaching in partnership with the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom, brought together various organizations involved in fighting human trafficking: the governments of Zimbabwe and the United States; survivors of trafficking; faith leaders, including Muslims; and members of civil society.

Sr. Mercy Shumbamhini of the Mary Ward Congregation of Jesus in Zimbabwe holds a Talitha Kum banner during the Regional Conference on Human Trafficking, March 18 in Harare, Zimbabwe. Talitha Kum is a Rome-based organization of Catholic women religious established by the International Union of Superiors General in 2009 to end human trafficking. (GSR photo/Doreen Ajiambo)

Zimbabwe police officers were also in attendance. They encouraged people to come forward and report any trafficking incidences they notice.

“It is the responsibility of each one of us to fight human trafficking,” said Maria Phiri, a detective representing the Zimbabwe Republic Police. “I would like therefore to encourage everyone to collaborate in this fight by detecting any suspicious activities and also report cases of human trafficking to the authorities.”

Human trafficking has disturbing and long-lasting effects on mental health, including post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, anger, guilt and shame.

Sr. Elizabeth Boroma, a psychologist, has been counseling women and girls who have been trafficked for sexual exploitation, domestic servitude and forced labor. Boroma told GSR she has helped hundreds of women to come to terms with their pasts and to face their futures with confidence and dignity.

“Most of them are always hesitant at first to talk about their experiences, but with time, they open up and release it,” said Boroma of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. “Some usually cry throughout the entire counseling session, and I let them do it because it’s their way of healing.”

Sarah is one the beneficiaries of Boroma’s counseling service. She recounts heartbreaking tales of desperation, rape, hunger, life on the streets and the suffering she endured in the hope of a better life four years ago in Saudi Arabia, where she thought opportunities were better.

“I wanted take away my life because of the bad experience I went through while in Saudi Arabia,” said the 28-year-old mother of one, who asked GSR not to use her real name. “I went through therapy with the help of the nun, and it helped me move on quickly. I’m now happily married and doing a grocery delivery business.”

The COVID-19 pandemic, however, has changed the nature of the sisters’ anti-trafficking work. Victims of human trafficking say they are not getting the personalized, face-to-face counseling and interaction they previously enjoyed with the sisters. They are also dealing with the loss of their livelihoods.

The sisters have adopted new ways of providing the needed follow-up counseling by communicating with the young women via WhatsApp, email, texting and phone calls.

Jane is still suffering from the sexual assault she went through while in Kuwait and hopes to attend several months of therapy to help her heal and move on.

“I want to move on, but it’s hard to forget what the man did to me,” she said. “He treated me like an animal, but I leave everything to God.”

[Doreen Ajiambo is the Africa/Middle East correspondent for Global Sisters Report. Follow her on Twitter: @DoreenAjiambo.]

Your Favorite Gun-Toting Lawyers Are Back In The Spotlight — See Also

Posted on by TSA Press
Guess Who Spoke At Night 1 Of The Republican National Convention: The St. Louis lawyers who like to wave their guns around were unintentionally hilarious.

Speaking Of Hostage Taking: Gov. DeSantis can’t make school funding contingent on opening during the pandemic.

More Firms Reverse Salary Cuts: Holland & Knight and Kennedys.

Biglaw Firm Is Helping Working Parents: What’s your firm doing to make life easier for working parents?

More Terrible Bar Exam Decisions: New York goes all in.

ILTA>ON Announcements Run Gamut From Tool For Combatting Racial Injustice To Long Expected Acquisition

Posted on by TSA Press

The annual ILTACON experience just doesn’t feel the same without a blowout party to close the first day. There’s just something missing about a tech show where we can’t casually tour the exhibit hall and check out the fun (and sometimes not so fun) legal tech costume party. In an homage to the conference experience that COVID has stolen from us this year, I showed up 20 minutes late for the opening keynote.

Not that it mattered! The upshot of an all online conference is that I was able to go back and catch up easily. Jia Jiang provided an insightful lecture called “The Power of Rejection.” Jiang explained how people can learn to be rejection-proof and the basic principles of turning a no into yes. Obviously this was eye-opening for me to learn that there are people out there who aren’t universally beloved and preternaturally persuasive and therefore face the sting of rejection. Truly tragic.

Getting back on track with news, this morning, Rocket Lawyer unveiled a new mobile video feature for capturing discriminatory experiences and sharing them directly with a lawyer. The new offering, RocketEvidence, provides more avenues to get legal help to people who could otherwise go without, allowing:

  • Anyone to easily share video documentation of an incident with a Rocket Lawyer On Call® attorney, in confidence, and ask questions or engage the lawyer to represent them

  • Landlords or personal property owners to ask a lawyer a question and attach visual evidence—for example, in the event of property damage or a fender bender

  • Tenants or buyers to get a lawyer’s feedback on submitted documentation—for example, in the event of pre-existing property damage or negligence

  • Motorists to capture video and/or photographic evidence of traffic stops, traffic tickets, and citations, for a confidential and privileged attorney consultation

Rocket Lawyer CEO Charley Moore, who recently opened up about being racially profiled late last year while driving in Vermont, credits his legal know-how and decision to film his encounter with changing the officer’s whole approach. Drawing upon that experience, Moore’s company now has a product that can give those without that training the same advantages. Moore explained:

In line with our mission of making the law affordable and simple for everyone, we are scaling our platform to meet the growing demand for digital tools of justice. From supporting businesses and families through the pandemic with the COVID-19 Legal Center to enabling remote agreements and digital signatures with RocketSign, we remain committed to expanding access to justice for all. That’s why we built RocketEvidence–to help more people capture, share, and remedy incidents of discrimination and other injustice with the help of privileged and confidential legal counsel.

Beyond product launches, we also learned yesterday about a major acquisition, with iManage acquiring Closing Folders, the legal transaction management software provider. It’s a tie-up that makes a lot of sense with the closing process an obvious candidate for the document management world — not that we should still be thinking of iManage in such narrow terms. With Closing Folders joining the iManage family, the company eyes significant advantages for clients:

  • A single source of truth for transaction documents that limits risk and streamlines processes

  • A single vendor solution that enhances security and governance, lowers cost of ownership, and delivers business agility

  • iManage RAVN’s artificial intelligence capabilities to enable in-depth analysis of transaction data and trends that drive actionable insights and smarter decisions

  • A global, integrated user engagement, training, and support network that extends expert resources across the full breadth of product offerings

  • Global availability as a cloud-based solution

That seems like an obvious marriage — indeed, it’s been foreshadowed in these pages before. I wasn’t able to check out a demo, but I’d be interested to see the RAVN feature in action because I can imagine some cool stuff there.

Remember when I said I miss the exhibit hall costume party? Well, not half as much as I’m going to miss the annual iManage party that usually comes later in the show.

I also got an opportunity to chat with Eli Nussbaum of Keno Kozie about the IT design and support industry in the age of COVID. “We’ve always been providing remote support and assistance to users not in office but the Help Desk has really shifted — it’s evolved from helping people 9 to 5 to facing potential morning and afternoon surges.” And quite the surge, Nussbaum reported 300 percent more volume in March and April.

If the work from home model changed whole concept of the help desk, it revolutionized the tech training effort. “Everything has to be redesigned… Focusing on the technical side of the job, how do you learn when you can’t ask your neighbor? So tech training has had to shift.”

On that note, I also got a chance to catch up with Will Norton of SimplyAgree about the updates to their platform which will offer more flexibility while maintaining the philosophy of a straightforward, simple product designed to maximize adoption. When I talked to Norton about training, he explained that the necessity of adapting to COVID has changed the company’s worldview. “We’ve moved to one-on-one training since the pandemic. We used to do live, group trainings — that allowed us to read the audience and get some interaction, but one-on-one trainings with Zoom get the same effect and produce better adoption. We never would have put the time in otherwise but since we did, the value is worth it.”

There are going to be a lot of interesting lessons coming out of this period but the reconceptualization of training and adoption on the tech side is going to be one of the most interesting to see shake out.

Earlier: ILTACON Becomes ITLA>ON As Legal Technology Show Goes Remote

HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

Your Undergrad Degree Really Does Impact How Much Money You Make As A Lawyer

Posted on by TSA Press

(Image via Getty)

Ed. Note: Welcome to our daily feature Trivia Question of the Day!

According to a new study by Michael Simkovic, law professor at University of Southern California Gould School of Law, and Frank McIntyre, a professor of finance and economics at Rutgers Business School, lawyers with which undergrad major have the highest expected earnings?

Hint: Folks with this major can expect to earn $105,000, and an earnings premium of $78,000.

See the answer on the next page.

The State Of E-Discovery 2020

Posted on by TSA Press

No one I know who is working in the legal industry thinks that less e-discovery work is moving in-house. A recent report produced by Exterro and The Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists (ACEDS) confirms quite the opposite.

Full disclosure, I’m the president of ACEDS, and we are committed to providing information to the legal community that is helpful. So, when Exterro approached ACEDS a few months back and asked us to help produce their State of E-Discovery report, we happily agreed and promised to share the results as well.

E-Discovery Work Continues To Move In-House

The report, which is derived from a variety of industry sources, tells the continuing story of e-discovery work moving in-house to corporate legal operations professionals. Fifty percent of legal departments now feature an on-site e-discovery team. Of those, 60% now have dedicated IT services, a five-times increase over the year prior.

Chief legal officers are using more technology than ever before to drive efficiency. Sixty-three percent of CLOs say business risks like privacy rank as their top priorities. Seventy percent of CLOs think that the use of AI-based tools is poised to accelerate. And did you know that 80% of companies are saying the GDPR compliance has been more difficult than anticipated. It’ll be interesting to see the response to what is likely a growing privacy movement in the United States.

Also interesting is that 95% of federal judges would like to see greater participation from in-house legal teams, particularly when it comes to e-discovery issues.

In the sanctions arena, intentional misconduct leading to the spoliation of ESI is the cause of sanctions in 90% of cases. The 2015 amendments to the FRCP have clearly changed the landscape there. You can download the full State of E-Discovery report here.

One interesting factoid that is not in the report: Our friends at eDiscovery Assistant are reporting that since in the first half of 2020 there have been nearly 450 reported court decisions dealing with e-discovery sanctions.

Employment Is The Big Unknown

Although employment numbers are not outlined in the report, as you can see from ATL’s Law Firm Layoff Tracker here, the coronavirus deeply impacted law firms, with salary cuts, furloughs, and layoffs. And this does not account for the dreaded stealth layoffs. Bloomberg Law reported last month that nearly half of Biglaw firms made financial cuts. It is not entirely clear that we’ve seen the full impact there yet as we move into the second half of the year. We are likely to see more cuts if the billable hours do not ratchet up soon.

In fairness, there are now scattered reports that some firms that made cuts are now rolling back and restoring salary reductions based on better than anticipated financial forecasts.

On the service provider side, there have clearly been cuts too. But the light may be a little brighter. I spoke with Lou Mancuso, global recruiting director for Consilio, who’s been in the space for 12 years, and he told me that “we’re definitely seeing candidates from other service providers, and Consilio has continued to hold steady with recruitment efforts.” He added that “recruitment is not at an all-time high, but we’ve continued to grow, and we’ve been fortunate to continue hiring when that isn’t the case across the industry.”

The impact of COVID-19 on the corporate side is less clear. Colin McCarthy, who runs Legal Operators, a community of legal operations professionals who network and attend legal operations events, told me that “Times are in flux right now. We are seeing extremely talented people across the legal landscape being let go,” he said. “But on the flip side of that coin, I am seeing a lot of movement in companies in Silicon Valley hiring for attorney roles and legal operations positions.”

McCarthy told me that he recently had a conversation with the head of a national legal talent network and placement company that has identified over 12,000 legal jobs across the United States. “All the news is not bleak, McCarthy said. “I am rooting for people to get back to work!”

The Volume Of Work Will Increase

As we slowly creep toward safer social interaction, it seems fair to say that there is a simmering cauldron of litigation out there. Think about workplace safety; return to schools and office space; commercial real estate and leasing; travel and hospitality — all of these and other areas seem ripe for disputes.

And don’t forget bankruptcy and restructuring. While we seen some transactions close during the first half of 2020, it’s not even a guess that many deals probably faltered. Those will likely (hopefully) come back in 2021.

The implication, then, is that while more work moves in-house, clearly the workload will ramp up in the coming months. This should improve employment opportunities.

Mike Quartararo

Mike Quartararo is the President of the Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists (ACEDS), a professional member association providing training and certification in e-discovery. He is also the author of the 2016 book Project Management in Electronic Discovery and a consultant providing e-discovery, project management and legal technology advisory and training services to law firms and Fortune 500 corporations across the globe. You can reach him via email at mquartararo@aceds.org. Follow him on Twitter @mikequartararo.

3 Questions For A Creative Solo (Part I)

Posted on by TSA Press

When I saw that someone was brave enough to open an IP-focused law firm in New York City in the midst of our current COVID-19 craziness, I said to myself that I had to try to interview that person. And when I dug deeper, and saw the interesting story of the firm’s founder, my resolve grew only deeper. Thankfully, she agreed to my request for a written interview, which I am pleased to bring to this readership. So read on for an introduction to a tenacious, accomplished, and wise-beyond-her-years law firm founder.

Nikki Breeland is from Fontana, California, and grew up in the arts. She attended a magnet school for the performing arts, where she excelled in the theater, music, and dance programs. Nikki attended Mississippi University for Women, and obtained her B.A. in political science in 2013. She also attended Missouri University of Science & Technology where she obtained her B.A., summa cum laude, in history in 2015. Nikki received her J.D., magna cum laude, in 2018 from the University of Mississippi School of Law, with a concentration in entertainment and sports law, where she served as a member of the Mississippi Law Journal, Federal Courts Law Review, and Mississippi Sports Law Review. After graduating law school, Nikki served as a federal judicial law clerk for the Honorable Jimmy L. Croom at the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Tennessee for the 2018-2019 term. Nikki obtained her LL.M. in intellectual property from Cardozo School of Law in 2020 while serving as a textbook editor for Barbara Kolsun and Douglas Hand’s The Business and Law of Fashion and Retail. Nikki has been published twice, with her article, “Bad Blood”: Reconciling the Recording Industry and Copyright Protections on the Internet, published in the 19th volume of the Florida Coastal Law Review in 2019. Her first article, “All the Truth I Could Tell”: A Discussion of Title VII’s Potential Impact on Systemic Entertainment Industry Victimization, was published in the 25th volume of the University of California Los Angeles Women’s Law Journal in 2018. Nikki is licensed to practice in New York State and focuses on entertainment and intellectual property law at her firm, Breeland Law, PLLC.

As usual, I have added some brief commentary to Nikki’s answer below but have otherwise presented her answer to my first question as she provided it.

1) You have a great quote from Milton Berle prominently displayed on your website. How does that quote encapsulate your professional story so far?

NB: Ah, THE QUOTE. I have probably heard this quote a hundred times in my life, but it never really resonated with me until this year. I was on a mini beach weekend with my husband discussing what my plans were for my career, since I had been spending whole days applying for jobs and seemed to be getting nowhere, when we stopped off in a restaurant gift shop. My husband picked out an SPF shirt and a mug, and I was looking around at the trinkets when I saw it: a ring dish that said, “‘If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.’ — Milton Berle.” I stopped dead in my tracks and immediately bought it. That’s the moment I credit with giving me “the sign” we all desperately ask for and rarely ever get. I told my husband that night that I was going to take a more active role in my own career: I would start my own firm.

I will say, though, that the sentiment shows itself in my career path so far. I graduated from college when I was 21 years old, with a political science degree, and became a military housewife. There were not many opportunities in Waynesville, Missouri, for a recent graduate who would be moving in a few years, so I enrolled and got my second bachelor’s degree at a local university. Then, when my husband and I moved to our new duty station in Alabama, I realized that the opportunity for me to start a career was never going to present itself conveniently, so I applied to law schools within a 6-hour drive and started in 2016, living as a geographical bachelorette. In law school, my classmates got jobs working at huge litigation firms in large cities, but I knew I did not want that life. So, I worked smaller clerk jobs and went to school year-round, which helped me graduate a year early. I also used my law journal notes and a class paper to get published externally in my field. I was the first student to graduate from my law school with an entertainment and sports law concentration, after having to fight to receive it. After serving the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Jackson, Tennessee, where I was again a geographical bachelorette, I took the New York Bar Exam and passed. Finding that not many law firms or professional opportunities were terribly fired up about an applicant with a Tennessee address, I decided that what I needed was a connection to tether me to the city, to give me a network, and to cement my specialty, so I enrolled in an LL.M. program which gave me excellent opportunities, like working with the Harry Fox Agency, Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, and the Fashion Institute of Technology. Yet, even with a resume as full as mine, I could not predict a global pandemic, and when jobs did not come crawling to offer me an associateship, and with a little push from Mr. Berle, I made my own opportunity to live my dream: Breeland Law, PLLC.

I’m basically a carpenter at this point, show me where the nails and 2x4s are and I will get to work.

GK: It is hard to not be supremely impressed with Nikki’s tenacity, capacity for hard work, talent, and ambition, once you hear her story. Each of those characteristics will serve her in good stead in developing her firm’s business going forward. Moreover, her story stands as a lesson in perseverance and drive for her fellow recent graduates, as well as a shining example of the value of taking responsibility for one’s career progress. It is easy in our industry to focus on the gilded road seemingly placed before top graduates that smooths their way to prestigious clerkships or government work, or lands them as new hires at high-paying law firms. But that is the story for a small batch of law students each year. At the same time, the opportunity to carve out a successful career with a law degree is vast, even in the midst of the (creative?) destruction wrought by the current pandemic. Resilience, self-belief, and a willingness to learn from stories like Nikki’s are the building blocks for long-term success in what I have longed called our brutal (in the best sense of the word) yet noble profession.

Next week, we will conclude our interview with Nikki focusing on how she sees Breeland Law’s niche in the NYC IP marketplace, as well as her keen advice for today’s law students.

Please feel free to send comments or questions to me at gkroub@kskiplaw.com or via Twitter: @gkroub. Any topic suggestions or thoughts are most welcome.

Gaston Kroub lives in Brooklyn and is a founding partner of Kroub, Silbersher & Kolmykov PLLC, an intellectual property litigation boutique, and Markman Advisors LLC, a leading consultancy on patent issues for the investment community. Gaston’s practice focuses on intellectual property litigation and related counseling, with a strong focus on patent matters. You can reach him at gkroub@kskiplaw.com or follow him on Twitter: @gkroub.

Whistleblower’s Lawyer Gets Dumped By Malpractice Insurer After Trump’s Impeachment

Posted on by TSA Press

(Photo by Evan Vucci-Pool/Getty Images)

By taking this decision, Hanover is sending a horrible message that is being echoed by the Trump administration, that whistle-blowers are not legitimate and do not deserve protection. One must question why this decision occurred now, in the wake of my representing a whistle-blower whose allegations not only proved to be true, but led to the impeachment of the president of the United States.

— Mark S. Zaid, the lawyer for the government whistleblower whose concerns over President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine set impeachment proceedings into gear, in comments given after Zaid was dropped by his malpractice insurer, Hanover Insurance Group. Zaid said his underwriter told him that Hanover had no “appetite” for his “high-profile” work, while Hanover says Zaid’s whistleblower practice is “ineligible” for coverage. A spokesperson for Hanover said, “This decision did not relate in any way whatsoever to any particular client of Mr. Zaid or the role that any such client may have played in the president’s impeachment proceedings.”

Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.