Corporate Counsel Worried About The Election
Does anybody else think that the new President will enact new corporate regulations? Corporate counsel think that regardless of the winner this November, labor and employment regulation will increase.
The National Law Journal reports:
According to a recent survey of nearly 400 corporate counsel, six out of 10 corporate counsel expect this year's presidential election to affect labor and employment laws at their companies.
You think? A brief perusal of McCain's post meltdown statements reveals that he is now for more regulation. Meanwhile, Obama is a Democrat which means it's entirely possible that his administration will regulate employee access to the executive bathroom:
Among the potential changes cited by the respondents were increased costs for health benefits and mandatory paid sick days; a resurgence of workplace regulation generally; and passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, which would eliminate secret ballots in union organizing drives and strengthen labor's hand in negotiations over union representation.
Great. We all know how much corporate counsel love unions.
Other corporate counsel concerns after the jump.
Aside from presidential politics, the underlying survey found an increased concern with employment discrimination lawsuits:
According to the survey, 73.5 percent of the corporate counsel said their companies had been a defendant in employment-related litigation over the last three years. More than half of those, or 52.6 percent, said they had faced discrimination complaints, with wage and hour complaints being the second most frequent at 27.0 percent.As to the number of discrimination complaints, 42.4 percent of respondents said they had remained steady over the past three years, while 27.2 percent had seen an increase and 11.1 percent had seen a decrease.
Is there more discrimination in the workplace? Or are employees becoming more sensitive to discrimination that has always been there? Or (I think this is how the argument goes) are "undeserving minorities" more quick to try to explain away their "incompetence" through harassing and unfounded lawsuits? However you fall, apparently corporate counsel are more worried about defending their companies and clients from these lawsuits than they were just a few years ago.
One bright note from the survey is that massive layoffs are still viewed as unlikely:
Despite worries about the economy ... more than half of their companies were not instituting a reduction in workforce and most of those did not expect to do so over the next 12 months. ...For their own staffs, 49.5 percent of respondents said their corporate legal department had increased its professional staff in the last three years; 41.1 percent said staffing had remained the same; while only 9.4 percent had seen a decrease.
Any new administration will bring with it the fog of the unknown. That probably has corporate counsel more worried than anything.
Corporate counsel brace for more union organizing, higher health care costs after election [National Law Journal]
Corporate Counsel Say Election Will Impact Employment Law [Jackson Lewis]
(51) Comments
first.
Nice job with the Obama pic. I still think the Palin one is sexist, but this is better than nothing.
Why is no one discussing the fact that Obama used to eat chulent, kishke, and kugel when he was a state senator? This is widely known in Illinois.
I'm confused. Is Obama about to treat us to his rendition of "That's Amore" ?
Is it me, or is Obama totally Manorexic? Must be all them butts!
I can see why corporations and, maybe, in-house counsel would worry about regulations of all types. However, corporate defense firms should be worried about what their stellar advocacy has brought upon them. Over the last two years, SCOTUS has really damaged the plaintiffs bar by reducing the likelihood that several types of litigation (employment discrimination and shareholder derivatives specifically) will get past a motion to dismiss.
This, of course, is what corporations want, and defense firms, having the duty of zealous advocacy, have to support these wishes. But corporate defense firms, by proxy, have killed their own billable hours.
So, for defense firms, regulation wouldn't be a bad thing.
The only parties who might suffer are the corporations themselves. But look at where deregulation has led (at least where securities regs are concerned). To the current moment in time, which looks bleak. And if you think the most recent trend of deregulation (including, but not limited to, PSLRA) hasn't contributed in large part to the current crisis, you're really just fooling yourself.
McCain's statements don't actually imply that he is in favor of "more" regulation. One can support new regulations, while still being in favor of less regulation.
I just got a new bookcase, am I in favor of more bookcases? Maybe. The new one replaced two smaller ones, so I actually have fewer bookcases, but the new one has more shelf space than the other two combined, but it takes up less floor space in my cramped apartment.
This whole more regulation/less regulation dichotomy is useless. What matters is what the regulations are, not how many we have.
Also, OJ killed those two people. I hope he spends the rest of his life in jail.
i've heard in-house departments hire 1L's, is this true? how do i apply for these jobs?
-nervous T-10 1L
Nervous T-10 1L.
I've come to the following conclusion. Either (1) you're just an act and not really a 1L; or (2) you spend too much time reading on posting on ATL and not enough time actually learning the basics required during first year.
If the first is true, good act.
If the second is true, you should be nervous, because I can guarantee your grades will reflect that, and there goes your 1L summer gig.
STFU with your political BS and stick to legal news, these left leaning posts are so annoying
7, your second paragraph contained a run-on sentence. HTH.
p.s. "More" and "less" aren't necessarily count adjectives. LTR.
I can't believe anyone would ever consider voting for Obama after seeing this picture of him smoking drugs. What kind of role model is he for the children. Think of the children!!
9 - i've already said this before but i have my first semester grades (mich summer starter) and they're between a 3.8 and a 4.0. working too hard during the semester is for dummies.
-nervous T-10 1L
10 - How is this post left-leaning? This post focuses on how such regulations will negatively impact corporate counsel without any discussion of the possible positive impacts on employees. Seems more right-leaning if you ask me. Just my $0.02.
haha, mccain for more regulation. way to twist the knife there :-)
Smoking is whatever; don't vote for Obama because he's affiliated with terrorists....those of you who do vote for him are total morons.
10, If you think this is a left-leaning post you arrived at your conclusion by reading the by-line, looking at the title and skipping to the comments section. Ergo, you are a capital t-waffle.
- Fed Soc
He look like a Jazz man.....
Nervous 1L
Summer is much, much easier than the semester, and grades are reflective, as they tend to be 0.3-0.5 higher in summer than during regular term, for whatever reasons.
But, if all you want is good grades, and you're baseline intelligence allows you to pull off good grades, then I hope your approach works.
When you hit your first-year as an associate and move forward from there, however, you will regret not having actually absorbed that information.
Nice try with the cigarette pic, Elie, trying to humanize Obama by suggesting that he might catch cancer. McCain already HAS cancer. That's why he's getting my vote.
3 - Because it's irrelevant.
I am interested in your comments on bookcases and would gladly subscribe to your newsletter.
18 = racist
Why exactly are we giving credence to this "nervous 1L"? If he is nervous about his job situation despite those kinds of grades, then he is clearly a douchebag and the recruiters have caught on to that fact. Sorry, buddy. No one can help you with that one. Best of luck.
But I digress. I'm curious as to how this will ultimately impact the L/E field, as that is the area of law I want to practice once my clerkship is over. 6's post was interesting, but it seems that any change in regulation will require lawyer intervention to explain the "do's" and "do not do's" of workplace conduct and then rescue the company when no one listens. Employment law always struck me as a constant in the legal industry, no matter what shape the economy is in. But, I could be foolishly naive.
Elie, posting that picture had to hurt. But in the long run it'll be good for you. And the pic won't hurt anyone, and you didn't photoshop it, so your fellow Barry O. partisans can't get too mad about it.
MysTTTal
ps lose weight
Obama looks like a real badass in that pic. Just sealed up my vote!
1-26,
You are missing the forest for the trees. (Perhaps that's why you're a peon instead of a leader, but that is besides the point.)
With the expansion of unionization, perhaps downtrodden attorneys in BIGLAW firms can unionize and actually ask and receive NY to $190k?!
I'm amazed that anyone with a law degree is so sad that they have to comment "first" on every single post.
Congrats...I'm sure everyone who comes into contact with you on a daily basis is thrilled to know you.
24 - don't get so mad. i'm mainly just posting in jest. but there is a lot of anxiety in my class about the economy.
19 - i believe you are wrong about the summer starter curve. we had white for k's and he's notorious for sticking close to that 3.19 curve. also, the curve is the same for all first year classes and sections - profs can only deviate .07 from the curve.
*hustles back to my day dream about V10 firms*
-nervous T-10 1L
Drinking and campaigning?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktcnWNk1oog
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmRXH7RkCZQ
#29, keep fighting that good fight. You obviously have a keen ability to pick your battles wisely.
Obama is a real drag.
psh. 3.19 curve? We have a 2.75 curve. Grade inflaTTTion.
cant you imagine ol barry o, feet up in the oval office, hacking a butt, burbon on ice.. trying to figure out what to do about health care.
thats the kind of guy i want in the white house.
People know that the pic is a photoshop, right? Obama used to smoke, but that particular pic is a fake.
34 - mich is not grade inflation! a 3.75 curve would be grade inflation, but anything below would certainly not be...
-nervous T-10 1L
I love the pic, but something tells me it's not real. $100 says he's a Marlboro Light or Menthol Light type-a-guy.
#13: - "i've already said this before but i have my first semester grades (mich summer starter) ..."
In these difficult economic times, very few firms would consider actually hiring a potential sandwich stealer from Michigan. Better transfer before it's too late.
38, WTF? We all know he smokes Kools, Newports, or nothing.
K.I.R.
20 = winner.
Made me laugh, and I'm a republican (which means nothing is ever funny to me).
Why do I even read comments on this blog anymore? There is never anything here.
20 = McCain doesn't have cancer, you idiot. Cancer is losing the battle against McCain.
Not satisfied with the "truth squads" Obama has released throughout the U.S. to silence critics, the Dear Leader Obama has begun using foreign governments to make his critics disappear. I fear for what is to become of this country.
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=77268
The real picture showed him smoking a crack pipe. The pipe was photoshopped out and replaced with a cigarette.
Palin's daughter attempted to have an abortion 2 weeks into her pregnancy, but her mother stepped in and prohibited the abortion. She told the family doctor and pretty much every family practitioner in Wasilla that she would file a lawsuit if they performed an abortion on her daughter. The reason? She was afraid it would hurt her standing among the anti-abortion political base.
The real picture showed him smoking a crack pipe. The pipe was photoshopped out and replaced with a cigarette.
Here is the original, unphotoshopped photo: http://www.news.uiuc.edu/ii/04/0805/obama,barack_w.jpg.png
Wow! Regulating access to the executive washroom! Corporate execs who'll have to piss with the peasants! That must be the end of civilization as we know it.P.S. Any chance the regulation will prevent the next fiscal meltdown?
I almost think you are not from a respectable company if you are not getting at least one or two employee lawsuits a year.
These days everyone want to pull the lever on the litigation slot machine and test their luck, and with the business types afraid to go hostile due to the remote possibility of an extreme verdict, most settle.
What kind of cigarettes does Obama smoke?