A very interesting piece about Carrie Goldberg a New York-based lawyer who specialises in internet abuse and sexual privacy cases such as the non-consensual sharing of sexual images, or revenge porn.
Wired report that she set up her own practice, C. A. Goldberg PLLC, in 2014 after she received threats of “sextortion” from an ex-boyfriend. Since then, she’s fought for clients in an area of law that has little history to draw upon; a particular highlight, she says, was serving a restraining order against dating app Grindr.
Here’s the full story and well worth a read.
Previously, Goldberg worked for non-profits. Now, when she’s not working on her clients’ cases, she’s advocating for tougher sexual-privacy laws, working on a book and advising on a television series based on her work. She tells WIRED how she became a pioneer in sexual-privacy law and how she balances her crusade against “psychos, perverts and assholes” with the challenges of running her own business.
Carrie Goldberg in her own words
“I always thought that being a lawyer was a high-voltage, exhilarating ride, but being a business owner multiplies the highs and the lows exponentially. I’m doing my life’s work – lawyering for my clients is my calling in life – so it’s been quite challenging and interesting to formulate a business model around that.”
“[When I started my practice], all I had was a few weeks of saved-up holiday time that converted to $3,000 [£2,200]. I rented a tiny, windowless office in Brooklyn and designed a crappy website. I had just enough money for the website, office, phone and internet. I spent most of my days in the beginning blogging and tweeting about sexual privacy, legal cases and the need for legislation.”
“As a business owner, the biggest challenge is keeping up with demand. We are in very rapid expansion. I’ve gone from being a full-time lawyer to a full-time entrepreneur. I’m still a lawyer, but a lot of my day is spent on the business side of things: making sure my staff are happy, making sure I’m hiring at the rate the firm needs for its expansion, dealing with marketing and sales. Budgeting and calendaring, keeping people happy – none of that is taught in law school. That’s certainly not a frustration; it’s a wonderful challenge to be at the helm of a business that’s in high-velocity growth.”
Q&A
WHAT IS YOUR MOST PRODUCTIVE SPACE?
Wherever I am at mile 11 of my run.
HOW DO YOU MANAGE YOUR EMAILS?
I turn off my notifier so I’m not being constantly interrupted. Then I chunk out time a few times a day to check them all at once – triaging the new ones, forwarding some to my staff, responding to the quickies and flagging the ones that will take longer to address.
DO YOU USE ANY APPS FOR PRODUCTIVITY?
I love XMind. It’s a great mind-mapping tool for organising all the thoughts in my head.
WHAT ARE YOUR TIPS FOR A WORK ALL-NIGHTER?
Sleep! Are you really going to get quality work done at 3am? And what about the next day? You’re screwed if you don’t sleep. You may as well have drunk a bottle of vodka.
WHAT’S YOUR BEST HABIT?
We call it the 10:15 because that is the time at which we have this ten-minute office meeting every day. Each staff member lists three accomplishments from the day before and then three things they will accomplish today – come hell or high water.
AND YOUR WORST HABIT?
Diet Coke.
“The day starts quite early with the gym or jogging and then I spend half an hour journaling. I get to the office around 9am. After our ten-minute meeting, we have what we call the “HiValu2”, where we all shut the fuck up and work on the two things that are going to bring us the most return. I find we’re the freshest in the morning, so we prioritise the first two hours for our biggest, brainiest activities.”
“One of my biggest eureka moments, when I truly knew my firm was going to be a success, was after I fired my first employee. I liked her, she was really sweet, but she wasn’t getting the job done. The moment I made the decision to fire her, I realised that I’m putting the firm and its clients ahead of my own personal comfort. From then on, my decision-making has been about what’s best for the firm, clients and staff, not about what’s going to keep me comfortable.”
“I find my work joyful. Even though people are coming to me at the peak of their hell, there’s a true joy in knowing how to help them. My clients come to me without a solution to their own problem and look to me to provide that solution. I say to them, ‘I have a plan for us,’ and, ‘Let me just take some of that stress off you and help us execute this plan’ – there’s so much satisfaction and happiness that’s accompanied by removing the stress from someone else. It’s not a stressful or sad job for me or my staff at all. I spent my 20s working with Holocaust survivors, so I’m tough.”
“I love duking it out in court because I always know I’m on the right side. The opposing party in every single one of our cases has done something ludicrous and humiliating to our client. I then find myself in the position of shaming them – shaming the other side or their lawyer for moral degradation. It’s interesting how my client, who’s usually the victim of some sort of shaming act, then puts me in the position of shaming the shamer for being so fucking shameful. There’s a joy that comes with that.”
“I’m in this for the crusade. I want to help my individual clients, but I’m also here to prevent people from becoming clients. I’d like to put myself out of a job because revenge porn, stalking and harassment will go away. My crusade is about everybody having autonomy over their sexual, physical and emotional life. I use litigation, advocacy and education to reach those goals. I’m working on a book and TV show with Sony, because I think those are two other ways to spread the message.”
More at http://www.wired.co.uk/article/carrie-goldberg-sexual-privacy-revenge-porn-lawyer-interview
The Firm http://www.cagoldberglaw.com
