 无知背后的有知律所 |
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| 作者：梁倩 2009年12月23日
明星都是不可信的，一向以忠诚稳重示人的老虎无知也卷入了丑闻门：
Ever since the Tiger Woods story broke the last month, we'd heard rumors and tales of a strange cover-up that had happened in 2007 involving the golfing great and two American Media Inc. publications, the National Enquirer and Men's Fitness.
自从老虎无知的故事上个月被爆出以来，我们听说了一些有关发生在2007年的一件奇怪的掩盖谎言的传言，涉及这个伟大的高尔夫球手以及两家美国媒体出版公司，国民问讯和男子健美。
The story, which is meticulously chronicled on Friday by a handful of WSJ reporters, goes like this: In the summer of 2007, Woods cut an unusual deal with American Media. He agreed to the cover shot and photo spread in Men's Fitness, in return for the National Enquirer squelching a story and photographs purportedly showing Woods in a liaison with a woman who wasn't his wife. At the center of the deal between Woods and American Media, the Los Angeles-based 15-lawyer law firm Lavely & Singer, which has developed a reputation as perhaps the go-to law firm for celebs in squabbles with the media.
这个故事在周五的时候被华尔街的报道者非常详细的讲述了出来，大致如下：在2007的夏天，无知终止了其与美国媒体的不寻常的交易，他同意在男子健身上刊 登封面照和照片，作为回报，国民问讯需要压住不能发表有关无知和一个不是他的妻子的故事和照片。处在这个交易中心的是有15名律师的位于洛杉矶的 Lavely & Singer律师事务所（给它起个中文名字吧，拉夫利和辛格律师事务所），这个律师事务所在处理名人与媒体直接的纠纷领域已经 有了一定名气。
The background is interesting. According to the Journal:
根据华尔街杂志的报道，背景很有趣：
The . . . episode began with an encounter in the late winter or early spring of 2007 in a church parking lot near Mr. Woods's home in Windermere, Fla., according to the people with direct knowledge of the situation. A person working on behalf of the National Enquirer. . . tailed Mr. Woods to the empty parking lot, these people said. Hidden from view, the photographer snapped photographs of the married Mr. Woods meeting a woman in his car. After the encounter, the photographer followed Mr. Woods to a small airport, where the golfer got on a private jet and took off, those people said. . . .
那个。 。 。故事发生在2006年晚冬或2007年初春之际，根据目击人士称，场景就在无知先生位于佛罗里达州温德米尔的家附近的一个教会停车场。一个 服务于国民问讯的狗仔队成员。 。 。尾随无知先生进入了空空的停车场，并躲藏起来，随后拍到了无知先生在他的车中与一个女人的照片。这之后，这位幸运的 摄影师又跟着无知先生去了一个小机场，在那里这个高尔夫球手登上一架私人飞机起飞。 。 。 。
The Enquirer notified Mr. Woods's representatives and the woman in the photograph that the publication had photographic evidence of the golfer having an affair and was ready to expose the encounter. . . .
国民讯问随后通知了无知先生的经纪人和照片中的女人，声称已取得了这些照片并准备进行曝光。。。
Within hours, representatives of Mr. Woods. . . made an offer: If the Enquirer dropped the story, Mr. Woods would sit for an elaborate interview for sister publication Men's Fitness. . . .
在几个小时内，无知先生的经纪人。 。 。提出的一项建议：如果国民问讯放弃报道这件事，无知先生愿意接受其姊妹刊物男子健身的采访。 。 。
Enter Lavely & Singer. After weeks of discussion, the Lavely lawyers and representatives from American Media hammered out a contract detailing guidelines for the interview and the photo shoot, as well as the guarantee that the story of Woods's rendezvous in the church parking lot wouldn't be printed, according to a person who has seen the document.
拉夫利和辛格律师事务所这个时候就进来了。经过个把星期的讨论，拉夫利律师和媒体公司的代表敲定了合同细节，根据一个曾经见过这份合同的人士说，合同详细规定了采访的问题和拍摄的照片，以及后者保证老虎无知在教堂停车场的故事不会被流传出来。
The interview and photo shoot took place in 2007, and the issue with Woods on the cover appeared shortly thereafter.
采访和拍摄照片发生在2007年，采访内容以及照片随后就出现在了杂志上。
So what's the deal with Lavely & Singer? The firm is known for its aggressive tactics vis-a-vis its opponents, who are often media companies. And it's recently been hired by Woods again to handle parts of the fallout from his adultery scandal. Click here for a short profile from Business Insider's Law Review.
那么拉夫利和辛格得到了什么好处呢？该事务所以其对对手采取面对面的咄咄逼人的战术而出名，它的对手基本上都是媒体公司。而且它最近也受聘于老虎无知处理他的通奸丑闻的部分工作。
In late 2006, former Law Blogger Peter Lattman penned an article on the firm, which at the time was embroiled in kerfuffles involving actress Reese Witherspoon and author James Frey.
在2006年末，前法律博客作者彼得莱特曼写了一篇有关这个事务所的文章，这个事务所在当时正卷入了女演员瑞茜威瑟斯彭和作家詹姆斯弗雷之间的纷争中。
Wrote Lattman, whose story provided an amusing look at the cat-and-mouse game between the firm and the publications it threatened and sued:
莱特曼说，他的故事提供了一个有趣的发生在律师事务所和出版公司之间类似于猫捉老鼠的游戏，后者受到了起诉的威胁：
Messrs. Lavely and Singer founded the firm in 1980, specializing in entertainment litigation. The firm, which typically charges its clients by the hour, developed its niche with celebrities through word of mouth, Mr. Singer says. Today, a lot of business is directed to the firm by Hollywood publicists.
拉夫利和辛格先生于1980年创办了该律师事务所，专注于娱乐诉讼。辛格先生说，该事务所通常按小时向客户收费，通过口耳相传的方式开发客户。今天，该所的很多业务是通过好莱坞的公共人员介绍来的。
In other Woods commentary out Monday, check out this squib from Gawker, which compares the way Woods has gone about controlling damage to the way former New York governor Eliot Spitzer did following his fall.
根据星期一其他对无知的评论，一些好事者发现，前纽约市长斯皮策也采取了与无知一样的手法处理此类事件。
我看到JDJOURNAL在它的网站上也简略评论了这件事，冷静的给了自己的评价："Lavely & Singer is an entertainment law boutique in Los Angeles. Prominent clients include Brad Pitt, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Kelsey Grammer."
不管是老虎也罢，万人迷皮特也罢，都逃不过成龙大哥说的"男人都会犯的错"，只是老虎皮特之后有个Lavely & Singer ，成龙之后只有怨妇孤女。
Lavely & Singer 是一个entertainment law boutique ，在明星与媒体、出版社之间把法律运用的游刃有余，它打的就是娱乐牌，并且通过娱乐圈内部的口口相传或者公关营销获得自己固定的客户群。这不仅让我想到以前看过的一篇由中大MBA硕士撰写的《律师事务所的品牌战略研究》后，让我产生了些有趣的想法。
文章说，品牌体验是一个律所品牌成功很重要的因素。消费者是品牌的最后检验者，他们对品牌的信任、满意、肯定等正面情感，能够使品牌历久不衰，而他们对品牌的厌恶、怀疑、拒绝等负面感情，必然使品牌受挫甚至夭折。Lavely & Singer 在处理老虎伍兹丑闻案之前，已经成功处理了很多名人隐私案件，建立了很好的口碑。由此看来，律所品牌战略要清晰，律师所品牌战略是指律师所为提高自身市场竞争力，围绕提供法律服务的品牌所制定的一系列长期性的、带有根本性的总体发展规划和行动方案。如果你要充当明星丑闻的遮羞布，那就负责的去干吧。
法律服务也是商品，律师所和律师个人也都是以盈利为目的的经营主体，因此必然遵循一般的商业竞争规律。随着经济对法律服务要求的不断提升，律师所正面临日益严峻的挑战。一直以来，律师个人品牌竞争都是业界竞争的主旋律，但显然已不能适应新的要求。因此，如何开拓新的竞争模式，在日趋同化的服务中建立自己的竞争优势成为普遍关心的课题。在集体探索过程中，不仅产生很多闪光的思考和有益的尝试，并且有很多成功的范例，比如金杜，比如Lavely & Singer。
前几天看到中国普法网说律所和律师要提高职业能力，促进和谐社会建设。既然要和谐，不如多一些运用法律处理形形色色困境的品牌律所，避免双方面红耳赤对簿公堂，岂不和谐？
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