The ‘Journal’ Blows the Lauder Clan’s Mild Awkwardness Wide OpenToday, The Wall Street Journal digs into the dirt surrounding the Lauder family, one of New York’s most influential business and social clans. Okay, so they don’t get into that much dirt, but, for the Journal, it feels positively juicy. According to the blaring headline, tensions are “Roiling” the Lauder dynasty! See, the Estée Lauder Companies are going to have a permanent non-Lauder CEO for the first time ever this year. And even though we’ve known that for months, Rupert Murdoch the Journal editors felt that readers deserved a look into the personal lives of Estée’s heirs. What do we learn? Well
• Former CEO and current chairman Leonard Lauder hasn’t done the best job of ceding power to his son, William, who is the current CEO (he has a bigger office! And he writes notes!).
• Leonard’s brother, Ronald, has borrowed a lot against his company’s shares and recently unloaded $100 million of them (but he’s still confident in the company!).
• Ronald loves art!
company town
Some Lawyers Are SadLAW
• Know a troubled lawyer? If you work in the law, you probably do — some estimates put the ratio of depressed attorneys at 20 percent — and a few new Websites are trying help them out. [Law Blog/WSJ, WSJ]
• How not to get out of your marijuana arrest: When the judge lets you off easy, pull out a driver’s license covered in pot. [New York Law Journal]
• So just how lame was Cadwalader’s Wild Wild West holiday party last night? Wildly. [Above the Law]
company town
Did Aaron Charney Only Get 100K From Sullivan?LAW
• Will Aaron Charney ever have to work again? More than likely — he may not have gotten more than $100,000 in his sexual-harassment settlement with Sullivan & Cromwell. [PrawfsBlawg via Above the Law]
• Should law schools be more like business schools? One law prof thinks so, and he looks a little like Justin Timberlake, so he must be right. [Law Blog/WSJ]
• Do Cravath’s two rounds of bonuses signal Big Law strength and more money for associates, or is the firm just hedging so they aren’t locked in to paying the same amount next year? [NYT]
gossipmonger
Donald Trump Has ‘Jealous Enemies’Donald Trump claims that “jealous enemies” are spreading rumors that contractors working on his Atlantic City properties haven’t been paid for their work. After much deliberation, Daniel Boulud has decided to name his forthcoming Upper West Side bistro “Bar Boulud.” Jade Jagger had some serious air rage on a flight from London. Paramount head Brad Grey allegedly said that the reason Dreamgirls wasn’t nominated for a Best Picture Oscar is that “everyone hates David [Geffen].” Jim McGreevey’s wife is planning a tell-all.