Category: News Feeds

Just as the number of people hospitalized for Covid-19 approaches new highs in some parts of the country, hospital data in Kansas and Missouri is suddenly incomplete or missing.

The Missouri Hospital Association reports that it no longer has access to the data it uses to guide state coronavirus mitigation efforts, and Kansas officials say their hospital data may be delayed.

The Trump administration this week directed hospitals to change how they report data to the federal government and how that data will be made available.

In an email, Missouri Hospital Association spokesperson Dave Dillon called the move “a major disruption.”

“All evidence suggests that Missouri’s numbers are headed in the wrong direction,” Dillon said. “And, for now, we will have very limited situational awareness. That’s all very bad news.”

The absence of the data will make it harder for health and public officials, as well as the general public, to understand how the virus is spreading.

“It’s hugely problematic,” said Dr. Karen Maddox, a public health researcher at Washington University in St. Louis. “The only way that we know where things are going up and where things are going down and where we need to be putting resources and where we need to be planning is because of those data.”

The White House instructed hospitals to report data to the Department of Health and Human Services through a new system created by a Pennsylvania-based company, TeleTracking, instead of to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The directive came as a surprise to hospitals, according to Kansas Hospital Association spokesperson Cindy Samuelson.

“From our perspective, these changes are big,” Samuelson said. “We only found out Tuesday, and we had to update the data by Wednesday night — so, less than 48 hours.”

The Missouri Hospital Association currently does not have access to the new HHS system, according to Dillon. He said the new system is also significantly different from the CDC system.

“The new datasets for reporting are not identical and in several cases are ill-defined,” Dillon said. “That has complicated hospitals’ efforts.”

In the wake of the announcement, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services posted a notice on its website this week that the daily and weekly updates on hospitals, including the numbers of people hospitalized and the availability of standard hospital beds, ICU beds and ventilators, would be temporarily halted.

“Missouri Hospital Association (MHA) and the State of Missouri will be unable to access critical hospitalization data during the transition. While we are working to collect interim data, situational awareness will be limited,” the notice on the department’s website says.

Dillon said the hospital association hopes to have “within a few days or weeks” hospital and coronavirus data that had been available through the CDC.

“However, in the short term, we’ll be very much in the dark,” Dillon said.

The hospital association will create an alternative reporting system for hospitals, according to Dillon, and plans to continue producing weekly reports, despite the uncertainty about data.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services did not respond to inquiries regarding the data.

Kansas health officials are still able to access hospital and coronavirus data through the CDC and TeleTracking, according to Kansas Department of Health and Environment spokesperson Kristi Zears.

However, Kansas Hospital Association spokesperson Samuelson said the Kansas hospital data may be delayed if it is incomplete.

“If we’re not able to get a bulk of our members converted and uploading, I’m not sure we want to show it because then it will look like things have gotten a lot better,” Samuelson said.

The most recent data shows that as of July 12, 875 Missourians were hospitalized with Covid-19, among the highest reported numbers since an early May peak of 984. Kansas’ most recent data shows 1,393 people have been hospitalized with the disease.

The Trump administration said the reporting change was needed due to reporting delays and other problems with the CDC.

But the move has been widely criticized for being disruptive, especially as Covid-19 infection numbers reach new highs and hospitals in some areas of the country are reaching capacity.

“By now, we should have a foolproof, streamlined reporting system for Covid,” Maddox said. “And this change — midstream — is not going to do anything to help our ability to fight the disease.”

This story is part of a reporting partnership that includes KCUR, NPR and Kaiser Health News. 

Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

Christy McLaughlin is running for the GOP nomination to replace the retiring Francis Rooney. She’s also an Ave Maria grad and apparently filed a 114-page complaint (gavel bang TaxProf) against FIU for allegedly expelling her for supporting Donald Trump.

McLaughlin filed for the crowded primary field back in March as a 24-year-old — she would reach the constitutional age requirement by the time she would hypothetically take office — campaigning on the Handsmaid’s Tale platform of banning abortion even in cases of rape and incest.

McLaughlin claims that the law school run at the time by Alex Acosta — a Trump administration official — had it in for her politically. She also names Acosta in the suit, alleging that he turned a blind eye to her political harassment and to professors having “inappropriate sexual relations with Plaintiff’s classmates” which certainly tracks his handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case.

McLaughlin accuses a professor who gave her a C+ of calling her “immoral” for supporting Trump, a professor who gave her a D for blocking her lawyer from attending her readmission hearing, a professor who gave her a B- of “promoting socialism,” and a C- and C from vaguely anti-Trump professors. The most striking anecdote is about a professor who gave her a D of “political indoctrination”:

In October 2017, during regular class time, Prof. Baker performed a skit demeaning Trump supporters. Prof. Baker entered the classroom wearing a “MAGA” hat. Prof. Baker spoke in a manner that mocked mentally challenged persons with a southern twang. Prof. Baker stated that he was the average Trump voter. Prof. Baker stated “My heroes are Napoleon Bonaparte, Forrest Gump and Donald J. Trump.” Prof. Baker carried on for several minutes making jokes and mocking Trump supporters as mentally challenged fascists.

The only thing unfair in that account is that Trump supporters would never have a dirty Frenchman as hero.

She claims in all of these cases the professors went in and messed with her grades in violation of blind grading policies and this led to her being tagged with academic expulsion based on deficient grades. This seems like a hell of a lot of effort to go to just to keep one conservative from entering the world with an FIU degree. The bulk of the complaint challenges the procedures employed in her dismissal as inadequate.

This should make for an interesting Answer.

In the meantime, today is primary day in Florida! Ave Maria has a 36 percent employment score for 2019 grads. So we’ll give McLaughlin a 1 in 3 chance of prevailing.

Congressional candidate claims law school expelled her for supporting President Trump [NBC 2]

---

Joe 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.

It’s mid-July and we still have no idea what the fall semester will look like. Betsy DeVos is talking all crazy and educators at every level are trying to figure out exactly how they’re supposed to teach when COVID-19 is far from under control here in America.

Despite the uncertainty swirling around, law schools will, in some form, be around in the fall. And as schools try to figure out what that will look like, one top law school wants to make it very clear they’re not about to give out refunds just because COVID is screwing up their normal plans.

An Above the Law tipster sent in the following disclaimer from Duke University School of Law. It states in no uncertain terms, that while yes, the University and Law School are doing everything to keep students safe and keep the semester going, no, you can not expect any tuition discount as a result.

Not an entirely surprising stance given that Harvard Law is currently defending itself against a lawsuit arguing its tuition for an online semester is overpriced. Let’s just hope they (and every other law school out there) use the tuition they collect to make online learning as productive as possible, because COVID doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere any time soon.

---

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

The Svengali of Westport, Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio, teaches that we must hold people accountable and not let them off the hook. That we should not feel bad about mistakes but love them, getting over “blame” and “credit” and getting on with “accurate” and “inaccurate,” while at the same time recognizing that the responsible party is the person who bears the consequences of what is done. That’s unfortunate, because no lesser a personage than some guy at the Securities and Exchange Commission says that Bridgewater’s 20.6% drop this year is totally not its fault.

“No worries! How can I help you?” I say with intentional enthusiasm, trying to hide my real thoughts and their sarcastic tone: You have no idea how much I wanted to drop everything on my Sunday morning to take care of your fake emergency!

Every lawyer, and definitely every in-house lawyer, has had this experience at least once!

Educating your clients about the definition of “emergency” is a solid investment. Personally, I like starting with Black’s Law Dictionary. An emergency has at least one of the following: “involves injury, loss of life, damage to the property, or catastrophic interference with the normal activities.” I can work from there to tailor our own definition to our own circumstances.

Then comes the hard part — stay strong. Do not carve out exceptions and exceptions to the exceptions. Resist the urge! If you give in, I promise you’ll end up moonlighting as a workplace firefighter on your nights and weekends! And believe me, once you create an “emergency” slippery slope, you’ll see fires all over the place.

But we will never be able to avoid fake emergencies altogether, as, at the end of the day, it is ultimately a judgment call. Besides, defining a real one is a lifelong skill to work on. It’s equally important to work on how to respond to a fake emergency. Sort of like “fake crisis management” skills.

To perfect my own fake emergency response skills, I crowdsourced “How do you respond, if at all, to that fake emergency call on Sunday morning?” Here is what I learned from the masters.

There’s Always Monday Morning

One thing is certain, and that’s that Monday always follows Sunday. Jamie Szal, Maine state and local tax attorney at Brann & Isaacson, said, “I respond by acknowledging the email, and indicate I will address their questions first thing Monday morning.”

She has a point. It makes a lot of sense to ask yourself whether the “emergency” can wait until Monday to be properly addressed during normal business hours. And whoever is raising the “emergency” will appreciate having their concern acknowledged before then.

Flexibility And Knowing Your Clients Is Key

Flexibility and knowing your clients will determine how you draw boundaries. (Just don’t forget to draw boundaries!) Claire E. Parsons, partner and owner at Adams, Stepner, Woltermann & Dusing, said, “Since my clients are government officials, it usually is an emergency if they contact me on a Sunday. However, they usually email or text first to check availability and give me a heads up. I think that’s a good way to go about it. But, if I can suggest a solution that doesn’t require a lot of activity on the weekend, I definitely do that.”

She explained, “Part of the satisfaction I get with my job is that my work enables officials to do important work for the community. That is especially true for emergency situations. It’s not always the most convenient but it is meaningful, and my job allows enough flexibility during the workweek that I can bend sometimes after hours.”

Preemptively Defining Emergency Is Key

Clarity about what constitutes an emergency is paramount. Marc Kaufman, partner at Rimon Law, said, “Sunday morning is my mental recovery so I can clear my head to perform best for my clients in the coming week. Would really have to be an emergency for me to respond on Sunday afternoon!”

He continued, “There are some ’emergencies’ that arise. For example, the client may realize that the last day due date has come up for a filing at the USPTO. However, if we are managing the case, we would have been sending the client reminders of this in advance. Another example is a due diligence issue that arises in the context of M&A. Sometimes issues arise at the last minute that need to be addressed before closing. Both of these instances are rare.”

Some people have more strict definitions. As Lisa Borgeson, senior director at NetApp, said, “You could always try the definition I used with my kids — ‘unless you’re bleeding from an artery, don’t bother me right now with X, Y, Z.’”

Likewise, Jenny Lynn (Cox) Sheridan, founder of JL Sheridan Law, explained, “Reminds me of what I told my teenage daughters was an emergency and they could call me at work: 1) flood or fire; 2) someone trying to break into a house; or 3) someone in house bleeding or unconscious. Fortunately, never had a true emergency.”

Triaging competing crises (that is, that compete with each other and your time and life generally) is one of the most difficult parts of practicing law, especially in-house. It’s also highly subjective, even though it doesn’t always feel that way. There are a million reasons that your clients identify something as an emergency that you might see as a Monday morning to-do item.

The important thing is to be on the same page. Set guidelines from the start, and don’t be afraid to communicate. After all, the only person who gets to define what an emergency is — and what takes up your precious time — is you.

---

Olga V. Mack is the CEO of Parley Pro, a next-generation contract management company that has pioneered online negotiation technology. Olga embraces legal innovation and had dedicated her career to improving and shaping the future of law. She is convinced that the legal profession will emerge even stronger, more resilient, and more inclusive than before by embracing technology. Olga is also an award-winning general counsel, operations professional, startup advisor, public speaker, adjunct professor, and entrepreneur. She founded the Women Serve on Boards movement that advocates for women to participate on corporate boards of Fortune 500 companies. She authored Get on Board: Earning Your Ticket to a Corporate Board Seat and Fundamentals of Smart Contract Security. You can follow Olga on Twitter @olgavmack.

If you’re a typical cash-strapped law student, then Colorado has a deal for you! Summer work in the legal field is hard to come by these days, what with all the virulent plague going around, but the state needs proctors for the bar exam it’s running in-person next week and they’re willing to pay $18/hour for you to sit in a crowded space from 6 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. for two days. It’s a deal so good that you’d be crazy to say no!

While the examinees have gotten most of our attention on the impending in-person bar examinations, the proctors are also taking serious risks. And while we agree with Professor David Friedman that every justice on the Colorado Supreme Court who greenlit this exam amid an infection spike should be forced to proctor it in person, the reality is that the job of proctoring is farmed out to the community for a pittance and a pat on the back that they are “serving the public.”

But it appears that the combination of setting up additional testing locations and the general public’s seeming resistance to “voluntarily exposing themselves to a deadly pathogen for the sake of a hazing ritual for law nerds” has created a shortage of willing proctors. Thankfully, bar examiners believe they have a line on an untapped supply of proctors in the current law students trying to earn ramen money for the week.

Tipsters report recent Facebook posts on class sites calling for Class of 2021 grads:

The Colorado Supreme Court is looking for proctors for the bar exam on July 28 and 29. Because of the social distancing requirements, it is being offered at multiple locations, including the Merchandise Mart, CU, and DU. The pay is $18 per hour.

If you were wondering what your life is worth as a law student, it’s apparently $18/hour. Actually, that’s not fair. The odds of contracting the virus, even in superspreader conditions, aren’t 100 percent so it’s more like you’re being paid $18/hour to take on a 1-2 percent risk every hour for 23 hours over two days — multiply that out as you’d like.

And if you were wondering how America’s private lenders would countenance risking their future revenue streams for something so trifling, remember that the loans already racked up by these students aren’t dischargeable upon death so the banks will be just fine.

Is there a new name for this stage of capitalism?

Earlier: Amid Infection Spike, State Supreme Court Doubles Down On July In-Person Exam

We have some alarmingly tragic news to report from New Jersey, where the son of a federal judge was killed and her husband seriously injured after an unknown gunman arrived at the family’s home disguised as a package delivery driver and started shooting once the front door was opened.

Judge Esther Salas, the first Latina to serve on the federal bench in New Jersey, suffered a terrible loss yesterday when her son, Daniel Anderl, 20, was shot to death. His father, criminal defense attorney Mark Anderl, 63, was shot several times and remains in critical condition. Judge Salas was not injured. NBC New York has additional details on the search for the armed assailant:

The FBI, U.S. Marshals, New Jersey State Police and the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General all have personnel on scene investigating, and the FBI tweeted it was looking for “one subject” in the shooting.

Some reports indicated the shooter may have been dressed as some sort of delivery driver. FedEx issued a statement Monday saying only it was fully cooperating with authorities and, “Our deepest sympathies are with Judge Salas and her family at this time.”

The motive wasn’t immediately clear. Law enforcement officials said one theory was a possible home invasion robbery gone wrong, but stressed all theories were still on the table.

Salas’s son Daniel had plans to follow in his parents’ footsteps and attend law school after graduating from college. In a 2018 interview with New Jersey Monthly, she joked that he had the makings of an attorney. “He’s been arguing with us since he could talk, practicing his advocacy skills,” she said.

Salas, 51, became a federal magistrate in judge in 2006, and a district court judge in 2011. She’s presided over a number of high-profile trials during her time on the bench, from that of former “Real Housewife” Teresa Giudice to that of Deutsche Bank investors who claim the company made false and misleading statements about its anti-money laundering policies.

According to the New Jersey Globe, Salas had been the target of threats, but it was not immediately clear who the target of the shooting was. If you have any information to report on this crime, please call the FBI’s Newark office at 1-973-792-3000.

We here at Above the Law would like to extend our sincere condolences to Judge Esther Salas for the loss of her only child, and wish her husband Mark a swift recovery from his injuries. Please keep this family in your thoughts.

Son of federal judge slain, husband in critical condition [New Jersey Globe]
Son of Federal Judge Killed, Husband Shot at Their New Jersey Home; Motive Unclear [NBC New York]
Fatal Shooting at Judge Salas’ Home [New Jersey Law Journal]

---

Staci 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.

You’ve got a big case going. The case is keeping four lawyers busy at the firm you’ve retained. The relationship partner is good on his feet; he makes all the court appearances. A second partner is the subject matter expert. He knows the case. Behind the scenes, he really matters. And two associates are pulling on the laboring oar.

You’re talking to the relationship partner about the case.

“By the way,” he says, “I’m probably moving to another firm on Friday.  Obviously, we can service your business at either firm, and I’ll be happy to put you in good hands either way.”

That was pretty clean, you think. Maybe he jumped the gun a little bit on the announcement, but it was less gross than the mess that many lawyers make when they switch firms. Of course, one thing really matters.

“Are the other three lawyers going with you?”

“The partner is not. One of the associates will probably be moving.”

Does anyone really think that clients are pleased by this nonsense? I understand that it’s a free world, and all that, but you’re moving to get paid more money, and it’s likely to cost your client a bundle.

As a client, if I go with the new firm, I’m screwed. I’ll lose the guy who actually knows the case, and I’ll lose one knowledgeable associate.

If I stay with the old firm, I’m screwed. I’ll lose the guy who does the court appearances, and I’ll lose a knowledgeable associate.

If I retain both firms, to keep the team together, I’m screwed. Because two plus two never equals four in these situations: Two hours plus two hours somehow equals five hours, and clients end up paying for the extra hour.  People inevitably waste time as new lawyers come up to speed and two different firms try to coordinate with each other.

I know that recruiters love seeing lawyers change firms. It’s how recruiters make money.

And I know that some lawyers love switching firms. They oversell their book of business and get overpaid for a little while. (Hey! Don’t accuse me of being cynical. Look at the facts.)

I know that legal publications love big lateral moves. Between lateral moves and Trump, a magazine can fill a whole issue.

But does anyone ever look at this from the client’s perspective? It is an uncommon move that thrills clients; the typical move causes disruption and increases costs, while providing no benefits. Maybe people should pause to think before changing firms, or maybe firms should offer discounts as lawyers who have switched firms spend more time than necessary to handle the business.

---

Mark Herrmann spent 17 years as a partner at a leading international law firm and is now deputy general counsel at a large international company. He is the author of The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Practicing Law and Drug and Device Product Liability Litigation Strategy (affiliate links). You can reach him by email at inhouse@abovethelaw.com.

* Federal judge Esther Salas’s son was shot and killed, and her husband wounded, during an assault at the judge’s New Jersey home on Sunday night. Extending our deepest condolences to Judge Salas and her family. [CNN]

* The Oregon Attorney General has sued federal agencies over detentions federal officials have conducted on Portland protesters. [USA Today]

* Michael Avenatti’s lawyer claims Avenatti is broke and taxpayers should pay for his defense on fraud, tax evasion, and other charges. Maybe he can just sell Roger Stones like other criminal defendants… [Fox News]

* The Supreme Court has ordered expedited proceedings about the availability of President Trump’s tax returns. [Hill]

* The FBI Director has hired a former law partner to be the new top lawyer at the Bureau. [Wall Street Journal]

* Yet another lawyer has been caught attending a Zoom court conference without wearing enough clothes. All lawyers should read ATL’s earlier coverage of this phenomenon. [Mexico News Daily]

---

Jordan Rothman is a partner of The Rothman Law Firm, a full-service New York and New Jersey law firm. He is also the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a website discussing how he paid off his student loans. You can reach Jordan through email at jordan@rothmanlawyer.com.