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In the United States and around the world, societies are struggling to balance the sometimes draconian social controls needed to combat a highly contagious infectious disease with the need for limits on government power and the protection of civil liberties. Public health concerns can be used to justify crackdowns on opposition politicians, the manipulation of vital humanitarian assistance, and the emergency overriding of mechanisms meant to prohibit private gain at the public’s expense. In societies where the scales had already tipped toward authoritarianism before the emergence of COVID-19, the disease is providing cover for the further consolidation of power and abuse of citizens. Zimbabwe is a clear example of this trend. But the endgame for Zimbabwe’s government remains very uncertain.

The government of Zimbabwe’s shocking campaign to persecute political opponents, which has long been a constant that varies only in intensity over time, has ramped up once again. To take only one egregious recent example, three members of the main opposition MDC Alliance party, Member of Parliament Joana Mamombe, Cecilia Chimbiri, and Netsai Marova were detained at a checkpoint in May, ostensibly for violating lockdown orders to attend a peaceful protest. All three women report subsequently being abducted, tortured, and sexually assaulted. True to form, government officials have publicly mooted wild theories claiming that the allegations were fabricated, or that a mysterious “third force” could be responsible. Last week, the three women were arrested for allegedly lying about their ordeal.

Meanwhile, hunger stalked Zimbabwe even before the economic outlook dimmed for the entire region as a result of the pandemic. The World Food Program indicates that half of the population is severely food insecure, and that urban hunger will get even worse by next spring. But the urgency of the crisis has not stopped the government from arbitrarily shutting down urban spaces, or from politicizing the distribution of food aid to punish citizens who support the opposition.

Likewise, the desperate circumstances of the population have not stopped government officials seeking to capitalize on the pandemic to enrich themselves. Officials were recently compelled to cancel inflated contracts for medical supplies with a consulting firm linked to the President of Zimbabwe and his family, but not before berating journalists for covering the story.

As eagerly as the government of Zimbabwe has seized on this crisis to consolidate power and wealth, there is little evidence of a viable plan for the future. Brutality cannot tame the second-highest inflation rate in the world, make the government’s “command agriculture” scheme anything more than a vehicle for elite corruption, or help the country manage the global economic consequences of COVID-19. Rumors of toxic rifts in the senior ranks of government and even coup plots illustrate the limits of Zimbabwe’s authoritarian consolidation, even in a crisis.

Post published in: Featured

The 30-year-old mother is among hundreds of people queuing for free food outside a home in Chitungwiza township on the outskirts of Harare in Zimbabwe.

A woman is busy dishing out portions of maize meal porridge and Mufambi and her two-year-old baby are among the grateful diners, who know that, at least for one night, their meal is guaranteed.

Before a friend told her about the kitchen, Mufambi told CNN that her family would oftentimes go to bed hungry.

“My son and I will never go to bed hungry again, this relief kitchen will sustain us as I try to make ends meet,” Mufambi said with a smile.

Zimbabwe’s hunger crisis

The kitchen is run by Samantha Murozoki who is ensuring that people in her community are getting fed in a country where hunger is rampant.

More than seven million people — half of Zimbabwe’s population — were facing food shortages or hunger before the coronavirus outbreak in the country, according to the World Food ProgrammeWorld Food Programme (WFP).

UN food agency WFP is appealing for $US19.5 million to fund its logistics and operational response to the Covid-19 outbreak in the southern African nation.

“WFP is currently scaling up its urban assistance program to deliver monthly cash transfers for food to more than half a million urban dwellers in Zimbabwe by the end of the year,” WFP Communications Director Neville told CNN.

Minister of Labour and Social Welfare, Amon Murwira said the government had revived its social welfare program during the lockdown to cushion millions facing hunger.

“Everyone who lost income can go to social welfare and register for assistance. We have a budget for the next eight months to cater for one million people,” Murwira told CNN.

However, the Covid-19 pandemic has worsened the food situation in the country, according to international agencies.

In March, the Zimbabwean government imposed the first 21-day lockdown, followed by another two weeks as Covid-19 cases increased.

Zimbabwe has officially recorded just 391 cases of Covid-19 but a mass outbreak would devastate an already weakened health system.

Authorities extended the nationwide lockdown indefinitely in May partially opening the manufacturing and mining sectors.

But people like Mufambi, who ekes out a daily living selling imported secondhand clothes, say they’re finding it difficult to eat during the lockdown.

She’s one of more than 16 million people who are struggling to make ends meet, according to the WFP.

It’s a tiny drop in the ocean but Murozoki’s food kitchen is plugging the gap and giving hope to hungry families in the area.

Samantha Murozoki serves food to a young child.

A national heroine

What began as a desire to feed a neighbor who had gone to bed hungry at the start of the lockdown has grown into a community feeding scheme, that attracts more than two thousand people daily, according to Murozoki.

“Ever since the lockdown was introduced, a lot of folks have suffered… they are sitting indoors with no way to make money and to find for themselves. This is how my little unit came up,” she told CNN.

“It was mainly to cater to people I grew up with. Things escalated and I ended up feeding people from all over.”

Children queue for food outside Murozoki’s kitchen in Zimbabwe.

Initially, she funded the project out of her own pocket, but the community soon started to contribute to sustain the project — and she traded some of her own items too.

“It took me less than two weeks to get to 867 people coming to eat… so I started to barter jeans, sneakers, jackets. Anything I wasn’t using at the time to trade for maize, cooking oil, salt, labor, so we could get the ball rolling,” Murozoki said.

The 35-year-old lawyer and mother of two, has since become a national heroine and says her life has changed.

“It’s been a roller coaster,” she says. “I’m just happy. My son understands that mummy needs to feed people… My day starts at 4 am and ends at 7.30 pm when we served the last meal… It’s a lot of work… “

In May, Murozoki faced a setback after the Chitungwiza municipal police shut down her feeding kitchen over regulatory issues.

She has since resolved the licensing problems and is feeding even more people.

“Our register has about 4300 people that have had a meal once or twice for the past 33 days. We serve an ever-growing community. I am glad that the government has recognized us and the kitchen is likely to feed more people,” Murozoki said.

‘Worst day of my life’

As well as hunger issues, daily wage earners have also been feeling the full force of the law, following a government crackdown on illegal structures.

Bright Mutema, 34, was forced to watch his vending stall destroyed by Harare municipal police. Local authorities have targeted stalls and wooden cabins like Mutema’s after the government gave orders for them to be destroyed during the Covid-19 lockdown.

“It is the worst day of my life. I thought I would have somewhere to start from after the lockdown but I’m grounded. I fear for my children. What kind of father will I be if I cannot provide,” Mutema tells CNN.

“Many people, including myself are more afraid of hunger than the virus. Hunger is more lethal than this virus that we cannot see,” he said.

Mavis Mapako, 42, a mother of five, shutdown her tuckshop when President Emmerson Mnangagwa declared a nationwide lockdown in May.

Mapako has now resorted to street hawking for a living.

She has endured running battles with police, ordering people to stay indoors.

“I don’t have anywhere to sell my goods, vending was banned because of the pandemic. We are always harassed by soldiers and police. All I want is food for my family, I don’t even know what to do,” Mapako tells CNN.

Soaring poverty levels

The lockdown economic woes have also affected the private and public sectors.

Obert Masaraure, leader of the Zimbabwe Rural Teachers Association of Zimbabwe told CNN that government workers were barely surviving under the extended lockdown.

“The lockdown has affected teachers in a big way. Poverty levels have soared. The majority of our civil servants are earning US$30. They have been surviving on side hustles which are part of the informal economy which has been completely shutdown,” Masaraure said.

“The lockdown has plunged the civil servants into abject poverty,” he added.

Zimbabwe faces a long road to recovery, former finance minister Tendai Biti told CNN. He said the country would remain stuck in depression until the government addresses Mugabe-era political issues that have made the nation ineligible for international funding.

“The key precondition here is to resolve the political crisis but it doesn’t appear that it will be resolved any time soon. So talking about the prospects of a rebound when it comes to Zimbabwe is basically far-fetched and daydreaming,” Biti said.

The Coalition is fully supportive of the healthcare workers withdrawal of their labour because they have, in the past held prolonged negotiations with the stubborn government in demanding decent remuneration and an improvement in working conditions. The demonstrations also came after the government slashed their June salaries by $2 000 per worker. We are disappointed that the healthcare workers have not been getting decent wages and their income is not in tandem with the soaring inflation and high cost of living.

In this light, we take note of the intervention by the government of Zimbabwe on Wednesday afternoon by introducing a US$75 Covid-19 allowance for all civil servants while their monthly salaries have been increased by 50%.

We also support the decision by the healthcare workers in rejecting the Covid-19 allowances and demanding that the salaries revert back to the 1^st of October 2018 digits that were quoted in USD which is a stable currency that cab store value on that salary.

We therefore urge, the Health Services Board to immediately act to avert this unnecessary strike by presenting a new serious offer to the healthcare workers.

Thus, we are calling on society and all the progressive forces to support this strike and calling on the Health Services Board to go back to the negotiating table with a settlement offer.

As CiZC, we have noted in the past with concern that the government of Zimbabwe government is unwilling to accede to these demands without waging a savage anti-worker campaign of intimidation, arrests and without unleashing the barbarism of police violence on workers.

We value human life and would not want the strike to lead to unnecessary loss of lives hence the need to resolve the underlying issues urgently.

More importantly, we take this opportunity to call on the government of Zimbabwe to seriously address the rampant corruption that has caused devastating effects on the country’s economy. The government of Zimbabwe should, therefore, urgently call for an all stakeholders dialogue as a way of unlocking the multi-faceted socio-economic and political crisis facing Zimbabwe.

The national dialogue the process should seek to safeguard citizens’ interests through the restoration of the social contract between citizens and the government.

This national dialogue process must not be restricted to political parties but should rather bring on board a cross-section of stakeholders including civic society, labour, religious groups, business among other critical stakeholders. Its main focus should be premised on a set of agreed reforms to the economy, social and political governance.

Post published in: Featured

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

Which four states do not recognize Juneteenth as as either a state or ceremonial holiday?

Hint: The governors of two of the states announced June 19, 2020, would be a holiday but failed to create an annualized tradition.

See the answer on the next page.

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.

As much as we’d like to think we’re the most original and creative lawyers out there, so much of what we do, even what we do well or in a special way, has been done before. Indeed, if you’ve practiced for any length of time, or work with others, the chances are that when you look at your current work obligations, you know someone who has filed that kind of brief in that jurisdiction, or examined that kind of expert, or handled that kind of evidentiary issue.

Rely on that. While we need to learn our work for ourselves as any professional or artisan must, the work of those colleagues or those in our network can be crucial to helping us figure out the best way to get a job done efficiently and win for our clients.

But you can’t stop there. Don’t get simply the “cuff law” (the off-the-cuff recitation of the rule according to that lawyer). Don’t take the template brief and plug and chug the names even if the law and the issue seem identical and even if you’re in the same court.

In complex trial work — in any kind of trial work — no two cases are identical. And that’s great. Each case can be an adventure for the lawyer. If we’re willing to work this hard, we can make money other ways.

That adventure is one of the gifts of our work and makes it special. That adventure, that difference in each case, also obliges us to treat each case individually.

Hear the cuff law. Use the template. But do your cross-check. Ensure the law is up to date and really on point. Call the clerk’s office. Have someone who didn’t give you the brief template read the final brief to make sure she thinks it makes sense. Rely on the prior work as well as the thoughts of others, just not too much.

We need to rely on our colleagues and their wisdom and experience. But to win for each client, we still need to treat each client and each case as unique.

John Balestriere is an entrepreneurial trial lawyer who founded his firm after working as a prosecutor and litigator at a small firm. He is a partner at trial and investigations law firm Balestriere Fariello in New York, where he and his colleagues represent domestic and international clients in litigation, arbitration, appeals, and investigations. You can reach him by email at john.g.balestriere@balestrierefariello.com.

When it comes to studying for the bar exam, it can be easy to become overwhelmed just deciding what resources to use. You’ve likely heard advice about doing a lot of practice questions, but maybe you aren’t sure where to find them or which ones are best. Well, luckily for you, BarPrepHero has you covered.

BarPrepHero is an affordable online self-study bar prep program, and they know that practice questions are the very best thing you can do to be prepared for the bar exam. In fact, they have developed an entire bar prep program around them! Recently, BarPrepHero launched a new premium product, and we had the opportunity to check it out. Let’s start with the features. The following are included in BarPrepHero’s UBE premium program:

• 1,715 official MBE questions
• 500 MBE-like questions from BarPrepHero’s personal question bank
• On-demand access
• 42 premium tests
• Single-subject and mixed subject tests
• More than 1,800 flashcards covering 12 subjects
• 15 detailed email consults
• 200-question MBE Exam Simulator
• MBE Passing Probability Analytics
• UBE Pass Guarantee
• 23 years of MEE (downloadable questions and analyses)
• 23 years of MPTs (downloadable questions and analyses)

That is a lot of features considering BarPrepHero’s incredibly affordable price tag (we’ll get to that later). Let’s unpack a few of these features and discuss how they can support you in your bar prep journey.

2,200+ MBE questions

You’re probably starting to pick up on a theme here that practice questions are the key to passing the bar exam. It isn’t enough to just do a few practice questions and call it day. You have to do a lot of practice questions, like thousands of them, and BarPrepHero has you covered with that. They not only have 1,715 licensed questions from the National Conference of Bar Examiners, but also an additional 500 questions written by BarPrepHero. This is a great feature because it will expose you to different formats of questions and give you ample questions to practice.

23 years of official MEE/MPT questions from past bar exams

Don’t think that practice is only important for the MBE portion of the exam. It is equally as important to practice for both MEE and MPT. For the MEE, practice questions help with issue spotting, timing, and even learning the law. For the MPT, practice questions allow you to become comfortable with different formats and timing. BarPrepHero has included all 23 years of officially released past bar exam materials for both the MEE and MPT. That should keep you busy for a while!

Single-subject and mixed subject tests

As we’ve already discussed, doing a lot of practice questions is crucial to bar prep success. But it isn’t just the number of practice questions that are important, it is also how you do them. Single-subject practice questions are great to help you drill down in a specific area of law and really learn the subject. Mixed-subject questions are great for simulating exam-like conditions and can help you identify strengths and weaknesses. BarPrepHero was smart to include both options in their program.

Email Consultations

One of BarPrepHero’s unique features is the 15 email consults with the UBE premium program. Many self-guided or supplemental bar prep programs do not include any access to ask questions. Most programs like this give you the materials and send you on your way. BarPrepHero, on the other hand, offers 15 email consults for you to ask questions and get answers. This can be really helpful when you run into an explanation that you don’t understand and need a little clarification.

Pass Guarantee

Let’s face it, no one wants to go into the bar exam thinking that they’ll have to retake the exam. Studying for the bar exam is a stressful experience, and whether it is your first time or third time, you want it to be your last. However, BarPrepHero’s pass guarantee can offer a little peace of mind in the event that you don’t pass. BarPrepHero offers a full refund to anyone who finishes their program and does not pass (you can review the complete details on BarPrepHero’s website). This pass guarantee is great because it incentivizes you to complete the program and has you covered just in case you don’t pass.

The best news? All of this is only $449. It is basically unheard of to find this many practice questions available for under $500. This makes BarPrepHero an affordable self-study option and a particularly great resource for a repeat bar exam taker who is looking to access tons of practice questions but doesn’t need a full program. In addition to the UBE Premium program, they offer an MBE-only plan where you would only get access to all MBE questions.

So, if you are studying for the bar exam and are in the market for a bar exam program that gives you access to a vast number of practice questions and doesn’t break the bank, you should check out BarPrepHero’s Premium programs. Learn more about them here.

Since the murder of George Floyd last month, I’ve read a lot of Biglaw statements about racial justice. And in compiling what I’m sure is a non-exhaustive list of statements, it’s clear that not every statement is a great one — or even a good one. While some have been well received, others have been criticized as shallow or even cringeworthy.

What makes a good statement from Biglaw? Well, as Lia Dorsey, newly elected President of the Association of Law Firm Diversity Professionals and Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Dentons, noted, it should come from the actual leadership from the firm since a firm’s culture, particularly as it applies to diversity issues, comes from the top down. The more successful statements were also earnest and spoke from the heart instead of being a “very special message from the firm.”

There are also some seemingly small things the convey a lot — like a firm’s unwillingness to come out and say Black Lives Matter (or even mention the names of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Armaud Arbery, or any other victim of racial violence). Or only using quotes from white men about the importance of racial justice (talk about centering the wrong thing). Or statements that focus on the ways everyone is diverse instead of the very specific issue at hand. Or statements that place undue focus on property damage instead of the life and death fight.

Covington’s response to the recent protests has also been publicly called out as ringing hollow compared to the experiences of lawyers at the firm. Yolanda Young, who unsuccessfully sued the firm for racial discrimination, pointed out on Twitter that the firm’s statement in the wake of the George Floyd protests was very different than what she experienced working at Covington.

Cleary’s response to the Black Lives Matter protests was criticized by its New York black associates, who sent an office-wide email in response (available here in full — and it’s absolutely something you should read). It called out the firm’s response as lackluster rhetoric that failed to provide concrete steps to directly support black associates at the firm. The associates recommended the following: acknowledge the pain of black associates, actively check-in and adjust, give grace, provide targeted mental health support, targeted pro bono efforts, effective mechanisms for addressing anti-blackness, educate, listen, and take action.

And concrete action is definitely a good thing, like specific dollar amounts firms are donating or their pro bono hours, for example Pillsbury’s impressive commitment to donate $1 million in cash and $10 million in pro bono and volunteer work to social justice causes over the next three years. And Sidley is already doing some high-profile pro bono work on this subject.

Today is Juneteenth and a record number of Biglaw firms have declared the day a firm holiday, which is a great step in the right direction. But Above the Law is also hearing at that at a bunch of these firms, after the fanfare of the announcement, associates are being pressured by the partners they work for to not take the day off, quite literally making it a second-class holiday. It’s a poignant reminder that saying the right thing simply must be followed by doing the right thing.

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).