My husband is no longer biglaw but still is in the industry. Our family follows this issue closely. When we read the recent Arkansas decision and his first comment was that the state was out lawyered in a massive way. He also, just this morning when I told him about this piece, said the lawfirms are trying to look cool to attract young associates with these pro bono cases. We surmise that big law will only back away when the public becomes more upset with what's going on. The ICONs (International Women's Sport Summit) which was recently held in Colorado did a very good job of showing how women's rights are being stompted on to placate TRAs. (the panel of NCAA women athletes describing abuse they were required to endure at the hands of their universities while being forced to change with and compete against a 6'4"male was powerful) I hope more journalists will report the news instead licking the boots of TRAs.
The interesting thing is that trans is homophobic and misogynist. Put differently, gender affirming care, given that many if not most gender dysphoric children grow up to be gay (I am one of them), is the gay conversion therapy from hell.
"We surmise that big law will only back away when the public becomes more upset with what's going on." Yes - and, I agree, ICONs did a great and systematic job - and, as Lisa pointed out, in a bipartisan way. There must be lawyer/parents in the bleachers who would take this issue back to the office or to the law school faculty - and, I have to think that there are lawyer/parents in the parent groups, like ROGD parents, or on the Substacks who are experiencing the devastation of "gender affirming care" first hand. How do we go about seeking out those lawyer/parents to get their support and turn the tide?
I watched day 2 of the ICONs conference (it's online, anyone can watch) and a theme was having bravery to speak out when you KNOW you are right even in the face of a lot of blow back. The more speaking out, the easier it will become and that will cause change. Jen Sey gave great opening remarks and spoke about this. The speakers who followed told stories backing this up.
Another example of the stupidity of the Professional and Managerial Caste. These people will always look out for their class interests and work against the poor and the working class.
The additional legal abuse of the family occurs in divorce cases. The father in a family "transitions" and demands to be identified as "mother," defames the ex-wife in every available venue without consequence, all the while refusing to recognize the narcissistic abuse of he put his former wife through (including, 1/3 of the time in my data on 47 trans widows so far, also physical and sexual assaults) results in impoverishment through legal costs for these mothers. Tracey Shannon and I both experienced the "advocacy" lawyers, who did not require their clients to pay legal fees, while we racked up shocking legal fees, actually paid our attorneys, during an extended custody battle. The extremism forced on young children, the insistence on damaging children through coerced language, false claims against the mother and affidavit avalanche tactics are now documented in my data on 47 trans widows. This is never reported on. Many women are coerced and badgered into joint custody and every other week visitation for traumatized children who are torn away from their natal mothers.
Thank you so much for this piece, Unyielding Bicyclist and Lisa! It was illuminating, and also extremely well written (not to mention funny--I'll be laughing at this description of the pro-trans corporate lawyers the rest of the day: "These people didn’t get their jobs by questioning authority. They haven’t had a full night’s sleep since they were nine. They want to impress Penn law students at recruiting dinners so they don’t get stuck mentoring a BU kid"). As an academic whose kid went to an Ivy League university, I know these people and their character flaws, and you've got it exactly right.
Having been an attorney at a BigLaw firm (thankfully not mentioned in this well written piece), I know how their major clients impose their ideologies and push the law firms to fall in line by threatening to reduce the number of cases or to terminate the relationship for not sharing their "core" values..
I'd appreciate hearing your views on how bar associations across the US participate in compelled use of "preferred pronouns" in court, testimony and court submissions. Would you say BigLaw has played a role here as well?
I think it’s time for people who can, to step out of the shadows of anonymity. Parents need to protect their kids’ identities but lawyers...why be anonymous? Serious question what’s the risk? I’m confused about how gay marriage rights are in anyway equivalent to serious pediatric & adult medical malpractice. These are very different things. One was obviously a good reason to fight the other is...well don’t underestimate how many liberal, educated democrats and republicans are angry about what’s happening right now it’s the final countdown. We need to act like this is a fight we can win. And we will. Don’t underestimate how many educated people (some who went to prestigious universities and are attorneys, physicians etc) are ready to take this on and I’m tired of people being anonymous. Let’s take a stand for what we know is wrong. Kids are getting sterilized. The Sacklers went down, it’s only a matter of time.
If parents can sign their real names in response the European docs’ takedown of the Endocrine Society...why would an attorney be scared. Actually I’m scare all the time but it doesn’t mean I’m not brave.
Also...things didn’t go so well for Goliath. He ended up going down with one single smooth stoned sling shot to his giant forehead. Easy aim.
I write as a retired public sector and non-profit health care lawyer and can confirm that, like so many other professional and business sectors in our country, outsized corporatization badly distorts incentives, skewing against what is in the public good. While I don’t at all like that system, I do appreciate those pro bono efforts that really do work for the good. Reading this brought to mind a young Black man who came up from the working class, was able to get into Harvard, then went to a large firm as he felt, and I think rightly, that he needed to learn how that part of the world worked. While there, he took on a number of pro bono cases, including a client who had been unfairly sentenced to life as a young teenager. He went on to become the first Black Congressperson in the overwhelmingly white swing district where I lived at the time, ousting his terrible predecessor. I do not mean to say by this that our legal “system” overall, as with our health care “system” and so many more, work as they should, but only that, while definitely not so in terms of what is discussed here, pro bono work can and does do good.
BTW, on the subject of corporatization or business and how it skews incentives (to put it mildly), anyone interested in how this plays out in the health care industry generally might appreciate this in-depth look at United Health Care. https://prospect.org/health/2023-08-02-health-cares-intertwined-colossus/ more directly relevant to our issues here, I am also eager for Gerald Posner to report out further on his investigation of Big Pharma incentivizing promotion of puberty blockers. Here’s a fascinating bit of what he’s uncovered so far: https://twitter.com/geraldposner/status/1685706608729280514
Probably beside the point but the moment I read Sullivan & Cromwell, CIA, Alan Dulles, John Foster Dulles popped into my little old head. Of course that was long long ago and the firm has no connection the the agency now. (Sure) After all why would the “Deep Secret State” want to get involved with this stuff, shouldn’t they be out there assassinating this year “Hitler” and manufacturing next years to keep the economy, the Military Industrial Intelligence Entertainment Complex, booming. I guess it is all to complex for my little head to understand.
Thanks for sharing this. Quite interesting how all that works, or I really mean, transpires. (TRANSpires?).
My husband is no longer biglaw but still is in the industry. Our family follows this issue closely. When we read the recent Arkansas decision and his first comment was that the state was out lawyered in a massive way. He also, just this morning when I told him about this piece, said the lawfirms are trying to look cool to attract young associates with these pro bono cases. We surmise that big law will only back away when the public becomes more upset with what's going on. The ICONs (International Women's Sport Summit) which was recently held in Colorado did a very good job of showing how women's rights are being stompted on to placate TRAs. (the panel of NCAA women athletes describing abuse they were required to endure at the hands of their universities while being forced to change with and compete against a 6'4"male was powerful) I hope more journalists will report the news instead licking the boots of TRAs.
The interesting thing is that trans is homophobic and misogynist. Put differently, gender affirming care, given that many if not most gender dysphoric children grow up to be gay (I am one of them), is the gay conversion therapy from hell.
"We surmise that big law will only back away when the public becomes more upset with what's going on." Yes - and, I agree, ICONs did a great and systematic job - and, as Lisa pointed out, in a bipartisan way. There must be lawyer/parents in the bleachers who would take this issue back to the office or to the law school faculty - and, I have to think that there are lawyer/parents in the parent groups, like ROGD parents, or on the Substacks who are experiencing the devastation of "gender affirming care" first hand. How do we go about seeking out those lawyer/parents to get their support and turn the tide?
I watched day 2 of the ICONs conference (it's online, anyone can watch) and a theme was having bravery to speak out when you KNOW you are right even in the face of a lot of blow back. The more speaking out, the easier it will become and that will cause change. Jen Sey gave great opening remarks and spoke about this. The speakers who followed told stories backing this up.
Another example of the stupidity of the Professional and Managerial Caste. These people will always look out for their class interests and work against the poor and the working class.
Great piece. Fascinating window into this bizarre legal landscape!
The additional legal abuse of the family occurs in divorce cases. The father in a family "transitions" and demands to be identified as "mother," defames the ex-wife in every available venue without consequence, all the while refusing to recognize the narcissistic abuse of he put his former wife through (including, 1/3 of the time in my data on 47 trans widows so far, also physical and sexual assaults) results in impoverishment through legal costs for these mothers. Tracey Shannon and I both experienced the "advocacy" lawyers, who did not require their clients to pay legal fees, while we racked up shocking legal fees, actually paid our attorneys, during an extended custody battle. The extremism forced on young children, the insistence on damaging children through coerced language, false claims against the mother and affidavit avalanche tactics are now documented in my data on 47 trans widows. This is never reported on. Many women are coerced and badgered into joint custody and every other week visitation for traumatized children who are torn away from their natal mothers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Orho-LwXeg&t=1s
Thank you so much for this piece, Unyielding Bicyclist and Lisa! It was illuminating, and also extremely well written (not to mention funny--I'll be laughing at this description of the pro-trans corporate lawyers the rest of the day: "These people didn’t get their jobs by questioning authority. They haven’t had a full night’s sleep since they were nine. They want to impress Penn law students at recruiting dinners so they don’t get stuck mentoring a BU kid"). As an academic whose kid went to an Ivy League university, I know these people and their character flaws, and you've got it exactly right.
Having been an attorney at a BigLaw firm (thankfully not mentioned in this well written piece), I know how their major clients impose their ideologies and push the law firms to fall in line by threatening to reduce the number of cases or to terminate the relationship for not sharing their "core" values..
I'd appreciate hearing your views on how bar associations across the US participate in compelled use of "preferred pronouns" in court, testimony and court submissions. Would you say BigLaw has played a role here as well?
Fantastic article covering an aspect of this whole Trans Rights agenda that most of us were not aware of.
I think it’s time for people who can, to step out of the shadows of anonymity. Parents need to protect their kids’ identities but lawyers...why be anonymous? Serious question what’s the risk? I’m confused about how gay marriage rights are in anyway equivalent to serious pediatric & adult medical malpractice. These are very different things. One was obviously a good reason to fight the other is...well don’t underestimate how many liberal, educated democrats and republicans are angry about what’s happening right now it’s the final countdown. We need to act like this is a fight we can win. And we will. Don’t underestimate how many educated people (some who went to prestigious universities and are attorneys, physicians etc) are ready to take this on and I’m tired of people being anonymous. Let’s take a stand for what we know is wrong. Kids are getting sterilized. The Sacklers went down, it’s only a matter of time.
If parents can sign their real names in response the European docs’ takedown of the Endocrine Society...why would an attorney be scared. Actually I’m scare all the time but it doesn’t mean I’m not brave.
Also...things didn’t go so well for Goliath. He ended up going down with one single smooth stoned sling shot to his giant forehead. Easy aim.
On point 100%. Thank you for writing this. - From the trenches of a one-woman battle against two Biglaw firms.
I write as a retired public sector and non-profit health care lawyer and can confirm that, like so many other professional and business sectors in our country, outsized corporatization badly distorts incentives, skewing against what is in the public good. While I don’t at all like that system, I do appreciate those pro bono efforts that really do work for the good. Reading this brought to mind a young Black man who came up from the working class, was able to get into Harvard, then went to a large firm as he felt, and I think rightly, that he needed to learn how that part of the world worked. While there, he took on a number of pro bono cases, including a client who had been unfairly sentenced to life as a young teenager. He went on to become the first Black Congressperson in the overwhelmingly white swing district where I lived at the time, ousting his terrible predecessor. I do not mean to say by this that our legal “system” overall, as with our health care “system” and so many more, work as they should, but only that, while definitely not so in terms of what is discussed here, pro bono work can and does do good.
BTW, on the subject of corporatization or business and how it skews incentives (to put it mildly), anyone interested in how this plays out in the health care industry generally might appreciate this in-depth look at United Health Care. https://prospect.org/health/2023-08-02-health-cares-intertwined-colossus/ more directly relevant to our issues here, I am also eager for Gerald Posner to report out further on his investigation of Big Pharma incentivizing promotion of puberty blockers. Here’s a fascinating bit of what he’s uncovered so far: https://twitter.com/geraldposner/status/1685706608729280514
Great insight Susan. Thanks
Probably beside the point but the moment I read Sullivan & Cromwell, CIA, Alan Dulles, John Foster Dulles popped into my little old head. Of course that was long long ago and the firm has no connection the the agency now. (Sure) After all why would the “Deep Secret State” want to get involved with this stuff, shouldn’t they be out there assassinating this year “Hitler” and manufacturing next years to keep the economy, the Military Industrial Intelligence Entertainment Complex, booming. I guess it is all to complex for my little head to understand.
Thanks for sharing this. Quite interesting how all that works, or I really mean, transpires. (TRANSpires?).
Being an avid history reader, I audibly gasped when I read the phrase "eunuch gender identity"
It boggles the mind, doesn't it...
Didn’t Perkins Coie launder money for Fusion GPS?