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Watch What You Say at a Conference -- It Might Wind Up on YouTube
I'm sure you've been to a conference at one point or another where a speaker has given inside tips on how to legally skirt a process if the recommended approach doesn't seem entirely ethical. Now one law firm, Cohen & Grigsby, has discovered the hard way that dispensing this type of "lawyerly" advice on how to get around the law can land you in hot water online.
As this article and accompanying YouTube video describe, Cohen & Grigsby's grew out of what seemed like a clever marketing idea at the time. The firm apparently posted a video of a conference at which a C&G attorney gave advice on how companies that want to hire foreign workers on H-1B visas could meet the government's labor certification requirement. By way of background, in order for a company to hire foreign workers, it must certify that there are no qualified U.S. workers. So, the C&G attorneys advised companies to advertise open positions in places that would generate a less desirable applicant pool -- such as on Monster.com or at job fairs -- to meet certification requirements. As the C&G attorney summed up, the ultimate objective of this is "to not find a qualified U.S. worker" -- but rather, to get a green card for a foreign worker.
C&G's advice didn't sit well with the Programmers Guild, an organization of IT professionals trying to keep jobs within the United States. The guild put together it's own video, excerpting parts of the C&G video and commenting that the ads posted by many U.S. companies "constitute fraud on job seekers." C&G has since taken its conference video down, though the Programmers Guild video remains up on YouTube.
So, if you're a law firm, give some thought to the kind of advice that you decide to put on the Internet and how it may be perceived by others. Many lawyers fear that a sites like Avvo or Lawyerratingz.com may tarnish their reputations. But as C&G's recent incident shows, ultimately, the biggest threat to your online reputation are your own actions.
Posted by Carolyn Elefant on June 19, 2007 at 03:25 PM | Permalink
| Comments (11)
Comments
This blog says it all. It proves that law firms need to be vigilant when it comes to identifying the ever-growing number of situations that can move a firm from normal mode to crisis mode in a heartbeat.
Posted by: Rich Klein | Jun 19, 2007 5:08:38 PM
Your admonition does not go nearly far enough - no lawyer should do anything in private that would be inappropriate in public... let alone not get caught on YouTube. After seeing the YouTube episode and examining details of the firm and the individuals involved, I was mystified as to how such bright and credentialed people could collectively have such a lapse in judgment. I am a Canadian lawyer, not an American one - I would sincerely welcome commentary by an American legal ethics expert. I have a hunch what a British or Canadian expert would say and if different in the US, I would like to understand why.
Posted by: Gerry Riskin | Jun 19, 2007 6:26:03 PM
As the video clearly shows, there is a lack of ethics among immigration attorneys in the United States -- so I highly doubt you will find any American Legal Ethics Experts at all...
Posted by: No American Legal Ethics Experts | Jun 19, 2007 9:01:57 PM
I watched the 2 hours of video conference.
The speaker tells the attendees to design a recruiting item, taylored to fit the foreign candidate's credentials using, Cohen & Grigsby's handy-dandy checklist. Then use that checklist to eliminate all qualified domestic-candidates who apply.
Changing the recruiting item, to place the foreign candidate into a lower prevailing wage bracket is discussed. (dumbing down the resume)
The document that deprives the domestic candidate of employment, can also limit the foreign candidate's salary.
This might be legal, but the Advocate is asking his client make misleading attestations to the DOL on two documents.
If ten percent (10%) of the H-1B's are fradulent and cause a 60k yr. unemployment claim -- the Unemployment Insurance Fraud costs would be over $100,000,000.00 per year.
Again, $100million per year in possible (probable) Unemployment Insurance fraud. I would think that the re-insurers would be interested.
Posted by: Weaver | Jun 19, 2007 9:54:12 PM
As an unemployed American citizen high-technology professional, I am not surprised by the revelations on the Cohen & Grigsby videos. I and millions of others have suffered the loss of trillions of dollars in livelihood since 1990. The callous indifference of these so-called legal professionals is clearly documented. I sincerely hope that they receive meaningful sanctions for their roles in criminal enterprises.
Their conduct seems to be part of a larger pattern of the U.S. economic elite to profit from illegal and unethical behavior - and shift the externalities to as Leona Helmsley said in 1989, to the "little people."
When this author was informed a couple of months ago about the latest plans of the "cheap labor lobby" he noted that the centerpiece of "comprehensive immigration reform" was likely an expansion of the controversial H-1B visa program because of the profit margins associated with it. We heard William Gates, III give a two hour speech to the Senate HELP Committee on March 7, 2007 demanding "infinite" H-1B visas without any rebuttals from harmed American citizens. Buried in S.1348 are plans to double or triple the corrupt H-1B visa program.
http://www.coxwashington.com/reporters/content/reporters/stories/2007/03/08/BC_GATES_COMPETE08_COX.html
Illegal immigration is very relevant to this controversy as government statistics indicate that 41% of illegal aliens are visa overstayers. Most of the people in this category work in high skill fields. Using the estimate of 20 million U.S. illegal aliens, that means 8.2 million high skill jobs are filled by illegal aliens. No wonder high tech firms want yet another amnesty! They want the benefits, but not the legal liabilities.
One of the best summaries of the problem with the H-1B visa program was given by the now late Milton Friedman, Nobel laureate and free-market advocate. Dr. Milton Friedman said in a 2002 article that it was a "government subsidy."
http://www.computerworld.com/careertopics/careers/labor/story/0,10801,72848,00.html
(It is interesting that this article was written by Paul Donnelly, who served as Rep. Morrison's press secretary. Rep. Morrison (D-CT) was considered to be the father of the H-1B visa program in 1990.)
To get some insight into why these controversial visa programs are promoted, despite strong opposition from U.S. citizens, please google on the phrase "Abramoff Visa." (37 hits on June 20, 2007) Abramoff Visa is a term that this author applies to the controversial H-1B visa program. Lawyer - lobbyist Jack Abramoff served as a Microsoft lobbyist starting in 1995. "Team Abramoff" played an important role in procuring legislative changes to the H-1B visa program that benefitted Microsoft in 1996, 1998, and 2000. Law.com readers shouldn't be surprised to learn that Jack Abramoff ALSO steered funds to Harry Reid (D-NV.)
Posted by: Dr. Gene Nelson | Jun 20, 2007 5:15:36 AM
I have no problem with Dr. Gene Nelson's comments in general, but why the FALSE attack on Harry Reid? You seriously detract from your argument? Yes, some of Abramoff's clients contributed to Democrats, including Harry Reid. Many of the Indian tribes had historically been large Democratic donors. The point of the Abramoff scandal is that he got his clients to direct money to Republicans in return for favors. Why would Jack Abramoff have his clients direct money to Dems when the Dems were the minority party (and the Republicans had consolidated their power to an unprecedented degree), and when part of the whole Avenue K project was to strip the Dems of any ?
Get your facts straight, and don't just parrot right wing propaganda.
Sorry to take this off topic.
Posted by: Alex Simpson | Jun 20, 2007 12:02:32 PM
Re: Cohen & Grigsby....Funny how none of you esteemed members of the bar comment on the evil, duplicitous nature of this conference.
Posted by: Scott G | Jun 20, 2007 7:10:23 PM
I will testify that, as a programmer candidate to high tech companies, I had independently come to the conclusion that these companies do exactly what the people from Cohen & Grigsby were recommending.
Typical scenarios I've endured are 4 hour interviews where I am grilled by H1B (I presume) after H1B about he finest and most obscure portions of my specialty. Passing that, they will ask questions that are completely unrelated to any job description or function ("what if you weren't in charge of everything?" or "why do you want to move so far away from where you live now" ) in a manner that is calculated to elicit a defensive reaction.
After years of nothing but positive performance reviews, raises and expressions of gratitude from my employers, of 70 hour weeks and 6 and 7 day work weeks, I found myself mysteriously unemployed.
If you're good at what you do, you know it; no one can tell you you're not. That's just a basic fact about reality that can't be gainsaid. When I stopped hearing back from interviews after it was clear I was an ideal candidate, and I stopped hearing non-accented voices interviewing me, I knew it was nothing less that a widespread conspiracy, not against me personally, but against my "class" of people- people who work for a living by the Congressmen and lawyers and employers and CEOs and others who live off unearned income and the labor of others.
I suppose you imagine that we're just helpless and as long as you control the government and make the laws, we may not like the law breaking that goes on, in terms of hiring illegal immigrants at the bottom of the economic spectrum and the sort of sophisticated Ivy League conspiracy that the video represents, but there's nothing we can do about it, or will do about it.
I suppose you think that.
Posted by: | Jun 20, 2007 7:52:55 PM
The presentation really doesnt surprise me after hanging out with fellow law students who have interned at biglaw.
I feel for the programmers. I worked at Agilent while many were laid off. I eventually got laid off myself for even more ridiculous reasons. I wish the technologists the very best.
I am going to law school but I am steering a clear path of unethical types like the guys in the video. If they do that to others, then I am sure they will do the same to me.
Posted by: Keith Vick | Jun 20, 2007 8:13:57 PM
Ah, the "cheap labor" cohorts in crime. I can only hope that this information is blasted across as much of the media as possible. I especially hope that Cohen & Grigsby and their clients are subjected to severe financial pain as a result of this. Financial pain is about as much as I can hope for, but criminal penalties would be the iceing on the cake.
I just read that House Representatives Chuck Grassley and Rep. Lamar Smith are starting any investigation into this. Good luck, weasels.
Posted by: bob | Jun 21, 2007 3:02:38 PM
Lawyerratingz and Avco are a good way for a borderline personality client to get out of paying their legal fees. These people want lawyers to work and work. If good clients write good ratings, the crazy client like LG continues to tarnish everyone's reputation because she does not want to pay her bill or cannot support herself and has to live off her mother. How about a little back bone LG??
Posted by: Liz | Sep 9, 2007 5:48:03 PM
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