March 2007

Kyle Sampson Inside the Lions’ Den

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D Kyle Sampson Kyle Sampson Kyle D Sampson Kyle Samson Above the Law blog.jpgWe’re liveblogging the Kyle Sampson testimony. Our commentary will be added continuously to this post, so just refresh your browser for the latest.
We have high expectations — and we’re not alone. From the NYT:

“I think it will be the most interesting testimony we have heard since Professor Hill,” Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said as he recalled Anita F. Hill’s appearance in the confirmation hearing for Clarence Thomas for a Supreme Court seat. “I can’t think of anyone else who has quite the drama.”

(Of course, some are trying to dial down expectations. Sen. Chuck Schumer is warning us that the Sampson testimony probably won’t produce the proverbial “smoking gun.”)
Our commentary on the hearing, plus links to various news accounts, will appear after the jump.

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Morning Docket: 03.29.07

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* Pitcher Urbina sentenced to 14 years in Venezuelan prison. [ESPN]
* Son of N.C. St. coach facing multiple criminal charges. [SI.com]
* Barry Bonds’s trainer says he’s “never going to speak” in steroid investigations. [MSNBC Sports]
* Nine Bengals have been arrested in the past year, and one of them is Chris Henry. [ESPN]
* Titans cornerback “Pacman” Jones is the NFL’s latest problem child. [SI.com]
* NFL Commissioner Goodell will meet with Jones and Henry about their disciplinary problems with a new disciplinary policy forthcoming. [MSNBC Sports]
* Former NBA star Michael Ray Richardson wants you all to know he has “big-time Jew lawyers.” [ESPN]

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What Is the Times Trying To Tell Us?

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From the New York Times home page, as of 11:30 PM on Wednesday:
New York Times Kyle Sampson Alberto Gonzales Above the Law blog.jpg
Is this, like, a racial slur or something? Granted, it’s a buffalo-buffalo, not a water buffalo; but still…
The NYT subsequently fixed this photo screw-up (but not before an enterprising ATL reader took a screenshot). The Timesfolk replaced the buffalo-and-snowmobiles photo with a sinister-looking Kyle Sampson, accompanying Alberto Gonzales on an earlier visit to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Sampson’s testimony begins at 10 AM today. We’re looking forward to it!
Former Key Aide Testifies Today on Gonzales’s Statements [New York Times]

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Non-Sequiturs: 03.28.07

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* Since charges have been dropped, we can only hope nothing more severe than spray painting occurred. Those poor goats and sheep, always such pervert-magnets. [LoHud.com (The Journal News)]
* I think the Vietnamese president lost a bet to our president. [Jurist]
* This, hopefully, will not offend anyone. [New York Times]
* The upside is that such drama is indispensable to country song-writing, so better her than me. [AP via Yahoo! News]

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ATL March Madness: Law Schools, Round 2 (continued)

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(This is a continuation of an earlier post. We’ve broken up the four polls for formatting reasons.)

Earlier: ATL March Madness: Law Schools, Round 2

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ATL March Madness: Law Schools, Round 2

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We just announced the results of ATL March Madness: Round 1. And you know what that means: Round 2!
Update: Two of the four polls appear below. For formatting reasons, we are moving the other two polls to a separate post.

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Skaddenfreude: Seyfarth Shaw Leaves the List of Shame

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Hey, guess what? Seyfarth Shaw held some “focus groups” with its associates, and the focus groups told them: WE WANT MORE MONEY!!!
And Seyfarth Shaw, despite prior expressions of reluctance, decided to go along. Their memo, announcing associate pay raises, appears after the jump.

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ATL March Madness: Round 1 Results

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law school 2b tournament brackets.GIFThe first round of ATL March Madness is over. And we have some exciting results to announce — including a number of big-time upsets.
(If we had started the contest just a little bit later, we could have based it on the brand-new U.S. News & World Report law school rankings. But we didn’t, and there’s nothing to be done about that now.)
To see the current state of the brackets, click on the thumbnail image at right. Here are quick summaries of the eight match-ups that just took place:
1. Texas defeats Yale, 54-46
Oh well — upsets happen. Our alma mater gets sent home in the first round of the tournament. Ouch!
(But yeah, New Haven kinda does suck. The sky overhead was grey for all three years we were there.)
2. Michigan defeats Berkeley (Boalt Hall), 51-49
This one was a squeaker that went well into overtime. But in the end, the Wolverines devoured the sandal-wearing hippies of northern California.
3. NYU defeats Northwestern, 68-32
A veritable rout. Northwestern has been doing pretty well lately in terms of getting Supreme Court clerkships for its graduates. But the Biglaw placement opportunities available to NYU grads can’t be beat.
4. Columbia defeats Cornell, 71-29
An even bigger defeat. It’s tough to compete with the Manhattan heavyweights — but NYU and Columbia will face each other in the next round. Who will prevail in this enduring rivalry?
5. Chicago defeats Duke, 56-44
The weather sucks in Chicago; but you do get a pretty decent legal education. And the Duke campus was shaken by controversy earlier this year. (No, not THAT controversy…)
6. Georgetown defeats Harvard, 52-48
This battle of the behemoths concluded with a major upset: Georgetown took down the #3 seed, Harvard Law School. Perhaps HLS was hurt by the embarrassing antics of its LLMs?
7. UVA defeats Penn, 69-31
Want a Wilkinson clerkship? Go to UVA. Also, Penn probably wasn’t helped by that whole shooting incident.
8. Stanford defeats UCLA, 63-37
Northern California versus Southern California is one of our nation’s great regional rivalries. And this time around, the Bay Area prevailed.
After being ejected from March Madness in the first round, UCLA grads will have to content themselves with L.A.’s beautiful weather and plastic-surgery-enhanced population — and their school’s great track record of turning out judicial divas, like Judges Janice Rogers Brown (D.C. Cir.) and Kim McLane Wardlaw (9th Cir.).
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We’re putting together the polls for round 2, which should be available shortly. So check back soon!
Earlier: ATL March Madness: Law Schools, Round 1 (Part 1)
ATL March Madness: Law Schools, Round 1 (Part 2)

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Brokeback Lawfirm: ATL Poll Results

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Aaron Charney 2 headshot Aaron B Charney Aaron Brett CharneyWe had three ATL reader polls going concerning Aaron Charney v. Sullivan & Cromwell:
1. What should Aaron Charney do next?
2. Assuming Aaron Charney’s allegations are true, how much would you award him?
3. Whom do you support in Charney v. S&C?
Anyway, we just closed ‘em. Thanks to everyone who voted.
You can review the poll results, and vote in the new version of our Charney v. S&C head-to-head match-up, after the jump.

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Skaddenfreude: What’s Up With Squire Sanders?

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100 dollar bill Above the Law Above the Law law firm salary legal blog legal tabloid Above the Law.JPGWhen we were drawing up our LIST OF SHAME (latest version here), Squire Sanders & Dempsey got dropped along the way. To make the list more manageable, we limited it to firms with a significant New York presence.
Some readers appealed that decision. These two comments are representative:

“The updated List of Shame doesnt include some firms like Squire Sanders and others anymore. I wonder if that’s because they matched (I dont think they did) or because they don’t have big NY offices, so supposedly they shouldn’t be on the list to begin with. If it’s the second explanation that’s right, then we have to get them returned to the List of Shame”.

“PLEASE add Squire Sanders to the list. They’re actively seeking a larger New York presence (currently 2 associates). And they certainly suck as much as any of the other firms on the list. Give them the credit they’ve worked so hard to achieve. Pretty please.”

We’ve also heard, through the grapevine, about a general lack of transparency at SSD concerning associate compensation. So we thought that it might be worth poking around — especially in view of this recent comment:

A post on the Greedy Ohio website indicates that Squire Sanders has raised first year salaries outside of Ohio. Can anyone confirm or deny? Any add’l information?

Is this correct? Do you have any other information about Squire Sanders & Dempsey? If so, please comment on this post, or email us (subject: “Squire Sanders & Dempsey”). Thanks.
Re: any info on JD salaries [Greedy Ohio]

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