Good luck!

ATL is already up to 10 percent.

Please, Lat isn't running the NY Times here. It's a legal gossip blog.

Moreover,it stands to reason that ATL coverage of the last two rounds of raises actually forced more firms to raise, and to do so quickly. Same goes for the current bonus frenzy. Greedy Associates never had this kind of effect. I'm sure there are plenty of partners on comp committees who would prefer that ATL did not exist.

What the hell has Volokh done to put money in your pocket?

Thanks Lat (and Merck) for covering this stuff better than any other blog. You have my vote(s)!

10:35: Huh?

Amen, 10:41.

ATL's primary job is to confirm rumors that are true, not to squash every random rumor that is false.

Also, don't blame Lat for anything that happened yesterday, since he was "out of the office" (as I learned when I tried emailing him).

NY to 190!!!

ATL to 15 percent!!!

Lat,
Please do a post about how New Jersey "big" firms pay disgustingly low salaries and effectively no bonuses (i.e. for 2200 hours you get like 5k) and how no one with the ability to work in NY would work in NJ for what is really now about 1/2 pay. NJ firms need to increase pay and bonuses by tens of thousands of dollars and lower the hours minimum or face an exodus in light of the NY salary increases.

whoa. 12% already.

There must be a bunch of suckers (like me) in the office today...

10:41, I agree. But why is that?

There were (and still are) other places to get comp info before ATL. E.g., Greedy Associates, AutoAdmit, Vault, etc.

Why has ATL had more of an impact than those other sites?

I don't get this crying about the "S&C" rumors. People post garbage in the comments all the time. Just because you were too gullible to accept them as true doesn't make it Lat's fault.

If you see 100 posts describing raises ranging from $175K to the billions, it's probably safe to assume they are all false until Lat confirms otherwise.

Greedy is entirely reader-driven (there's nobody receiving, let alone soliciting tips, memos, etc.; it's a 20th century user interface, i.e. it's crappy to look at and use; and some Greedy sites are rarely visited, e.g. Chicago, where three or four people have been discussing Led Zep for a week now).

AutoAdmit is (mostly) populated by crude little twits (and it's gotten much worse lately). When there is actually good info on AutoAdmit, it comes directly from ATL or the WSJ Law Blog (as do many of ATL's stories!). When the comments on ATL get really infantile or useless, you can be sure that some AutoAdmit tools are posting.

Vault is just an info/rankings company not unlike US News or the Princeton Review, only its focus is firms (and other employers). Plus, its info is (1) based on surveys completed by a small number of associates and (2) only collected on an annual (?) basis. The "prestige" rankings Vault provides (which have no doubt become the standard for law students) are to some extent helpful (because they are mostly based on pay and self-perceived status of associates). Then again, Vault rankings are in many ways inconsistent with AmLaw (by which partners measure themselves) and Chambers (by which clients measure the firms and partners).

I'm here on a Saturday, waiting desperately for some announcement of a "special" bonus from my firm. [sigh]

10:58: Autoadmit troll.

Thanks 10:41 - very informative.

ATL is almost at 15 percent in the voting. Go ATL!

best legal blog = special olympics gold

I voted for ATL but I am still pissed at the manipulative bullshit that went on yesterday. ATL could have stepped up and quashed the rumors but instead allowed a ton of nonsense to fester to generate additional hits on its website.

Additionally, you left us on Friday in the midst of serious bonus/comp news with Merk.

I will stay a reader but only until a more efficient alternative comes along.

It was tough but I voted for WSJ's Law Blog. Good mix of news and salary updates without being overrun from time to time by XOXO posters. Lately, ATL has had a lot of filler like the racist photoshop and K&E's "wait 'til December" memo. I like reading about drunk SA's hitting on partners' wives like the next man, but recently I haven't seen much material on here like that.

10:35 = 11:57 = the person who started the S&C rumors (and is trying to draw attention to his stupid prank)

In less than two hours, on a Saturday morning, ATL has almost doubled its share of the vote (almost 18%). Things should really take off on Monday.

Honestly...If you look at the comments objectively and not as someone desperately praying for a raise, they were obviously fake from the outset.

S&C to 190!
NO! S&C to 175!
The rumors are true! S&C went to 175k!
Yes, the rumors are true! S&C to 190K!!!

Give me a fucking break. If the rumors had actually been true there would have been some agreement on the actual salary for first years.

That being said, ATL still gets my vote for best law blog. Once the server gets switched and we know that Lat/Merck/Piercie can post, we'll know to assume bullshit until we see a front page story.

Seriously...why would anyone believe anything posted in the comments? And moreover, when has anything on the front page been wrong?

ATL to 190%!

And PS...for the record, ANY rumors of ____ to 190 are false.

When there are raises, it will be to 170k-180k. 190k ain't happening unless someone wants to make a huge statement. Could be Wachtell, Skadden, or maybe even D&L trying to make a statement. and regain (or gain) market leader status w/r/t pay.

12:17 - Your reasoning is bad.

i just woke up with a huge hangover, hoping for something to brighten my day. i turned to ATL, and it could not have been a worse choice. three hours after the post goes up, and nobody has claimed "first." this blog must be headed down the tubes. where are the regulars?

Can someone explain the purpose behind these recurring polls? Do they really attract more viewers, or are they simply ego stroking? I take a quick break looking for some big-firm comedy, and find a begging instead. What a letdown.

Anyway -- back to prepping for this 3PM meeting.

http://www.nysun.com/article/65738

Anyone catch this article? John Coffee seems to be supporting the move to 190K (or something like that)!!!

voted for you, man! at the office now working for the man...

Wha? No Sentancing & Public Policy? The quality of the work on that blog totally blows anything Ms. JD writes out of the water.

"Sentancing"
The "a" key isn't even next to the "e" so we know you're a 'tard, 3:10.

Hey 1:29, I called "first" (third actual post). It can be accomplished in the text of one's comment or in the "Posted by:" entry.

The question is, can one be "first" simply by virtue of asserting firstness, or does one need to (1) be first and (2) assert firstness?

FIRST!

PWN3D!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ATL up to 31.7%!

LAST

I voted for Pedro

almost tied at 34%....amazing. and you're welcome

Sorry Lat, voted for Volokh. It's not really a fair competition, though, since as they've got you totally outclassed in terms of the number of contributors and, no offense, intellectual prowess. Looks like it's almost even between ATL and Volokh, though, so you may yet pull through.

ATL is winning by one vote

ATL would get my vote if I could take it more seriously. I don't see utter tripe like "WEDDINGS OF THE WEEK" on Volokh and even AutoAdmit, which is remarkable in its pettiness but generally has some good info/arguments (though "arguments" are replete with stupidity). At least there the asininity isn't institutionalized or built into the website structure -- it's purely user-generated.

Here, if you're not dealing with the ugly entitled being wed, you're looking at bonsai trees or reading about "benefits" lawyers affected by the California fires are provided. Give me a fucking break. I am all for tongue-in-cheek, but do it with wit, not hamfisted writing filler.

3:19 is mad as hell and he's not going to take it anymore!

3:19: Ironically, it is precisely because ATL is increasingly catering to idiots like you that I feel like voting for Volokh. Some of us believe that LEWW is the best feature on this site because (like coverage of who gets SCOTUS clerkships) it emphasizes successful, interesting people who are doing something with their lives (and is of interest for those kinds of people as well). This is by contrast to people who are here just to see if they will get an extra 10 grands this year as if this were the most important thing in the world, when basically everyone with a decent position in the legal profession gets the same salary anyway.

I can't blame Lat for seeking to increase his readership, but this is really coming at a cost in quality (which is why I thought that UTR was better than ATL is now, even though UTR's readership was obviously much smaller).

8:09

Way to sound like a prick. I'm sure many share my (3:19's) view that this site has gone to shite. The handful of tards who race to read "LEWW" (ick) are the same folks who look at the "JUST MARRIED" section in newspapers. They're either (1) the just-married, or the (2) lifeless.

That said, I couldn't give two shits that two clowns with roman numerals after their names and latin phrases after their degrees got married. Let me save you the time and effort of ever reading another LEWW (again, ick) piece again:

***On [date], [name1], III, of [insert top law school here] and [name2], of [insert top law school here] were wed at [Martha's Vineyard, New York, or some other obscure-but-regal-sounding patrician locale]. Though [name1] clerked for [well-known JUDGE, probably Kimba Wood], [name2] did [something more incredible! yay!]. They both look [who the shit cares?], but [name2] certainly has [again, why are you still reading this and who cares?]. Say what you will, but the [name1-name2] union is a real contender for [Oh.God.please.kill.me.now]!***

Before you say anything about me reading these things, I glanced at one, once, and never again. Unless the distinguished author of those pieces is applying Schroedinger's Equation to some interesting set of circumstances, nothing can be done to make the "feature" remotely intelligent, let alone intelligible as such.

The six of you who "believe that LEWW is the best feature on this site" can kiss the asses of those of us "who are here just to see if they will get an extra 10 grands this year as if this were the most important thing in the world." Guess what, loser? I care a hell of a lot more about whether I can afford some nice new curtains a hell of lot more than I do about Shania Rodson, II and Will Yohozoblon, II, IV, JR. wedding beneath a linen canopy along the white cliffs of Dover.

8:09

OWNED

8:25 - You're an ass.

Easily the funniest set of posts I have come across in recent memory. Hear hear.

no, 8:09 is an ass.

Anyone else see Volokh put the smackdown on ATL? He linked to three other "worthy" sites, none of which were ATL. Nice.

8:09 is a complete dipshit; 8:25 is my new ATL hero.

Have I been missing the point of LEWW all along? Isn't it kind of funny because everyone on there is kind of pathetic on some level? I thought the whole thing was tongue-in-cheek. No?

ATL is in the lead!!

ATL: 1429 votes, 35.5%
Volokh: 1358 votes, 33.7%

I swear I am going to bed now.

10:57: You appear to have been missing the point. A few of the featured couples may have apparent flaws, but at least the winners are usually people who all-around appear to have everything going on for them, for what we know based on their bios (in many or most cases, to the extent that they have flaws or something bad about them, these are not things that we would know based on the very limited information available from the NYT).

3:39 - shouldn't you be rearranging your Hello Kitty collection or something? Either that or slaying airborn Oompa Loompas in Mordor because frankly, to openly come out as a "LEWW Fan" you must be either a tragic manchild or incredibly brave.

I wonder if the associate that was on the radio this morning, stating how she hates her job, looks at this site? If so, why?

Atlanta.

For clarity; why do you hate your job, not why do you look at this site. <:0)

Lat, - I think you and professor Eugene Volokh should engage in a friendly wager....

LEWW celebrates the patrician ideals of the American elite, eh? Interesting. Oh, by the way, I was just reading about this guy named Swift who thinks the Irish should eat their babies.

Are you completely out of your mind? LEWW celebrates successful people who accomplished a great deal at a young age. Some of the couples featured are from upper class families, the vast majority are not. So it is certainly not a parody that pretends to celebrate the patriarcy. If LEWW was trying to make fun of the upper class, wouldn't she feature uber-rich people who ended up at, say, Fordham instead of people who really are successful?

8:52, making $160,000 in your first year out of law school does not qualify you for true blue-blood status. The nouveau riche are a different species all apart. Perhaps they would find some pleasure in being featured in LEWW. But if you really think that patrician America is pleased to be so discussed on the pages of this trite blog, well, I would have to respectfully disagree. By analyzing their merits on this blog, LEWW is conducting brilliant satire of a class of people to whom we plebes are not supposed to have access, much less judge. By exposing them here, she is diminishing the very essence of what makes such old families a world apart.

Huh. Well, then maybe it's just me who thinks they're kinda pathetic.

8:56: I agree with most of what you say; I have no doubt that you are correct that upper class people featured in LEWW would rather not be there, even if I personally think it reflects very well on them to be there. But my point is precisely that most of the couples featured in LEWW are not "blue-blood." If LEWW wanted to feature the couples with the most "blue-blood" or "patrician" background who have a law degree, the featured couples would be very different from what they are. As it is, the couples are chosen on academic/professional accomplishments.

10:57: It sounds like you are just envious and would like to believe that everyone with impeccable credentials is "pathetic". Even if the couples were pathetic for some reason, you would not know about this based on what is conveyed in the NYT.

8:52, I think it's the very fact that they do appear in the NYT that makes them kind of pathetic. It's kind of a vanity thing. Maybe I'm wrong.

Obviously you're impressed, so they've got that going for them, but if one of my friends were in there, I would definitely make fun of him/her about it.

I'm not a frequent LEWW reader (though I do prefer Laurie's new format to Lat's old one), but I agree with 8:25's broader point that the salary/bonus coverage on this site is both excessive and absurd. I really don't care about reading the gory details of every BigLaw firm's compensation structure; I'd much rather see more pieces about interesting or unusual happenings in the legal community. Which is why I voted for Volokh and would vote for WSJ over ATL as a second choice.

Go ATL! You're in the lead right now.

"Here, if you're not dealing with the ugly entitled being wed, you're looking at bonsai trees or reading about "benefits" lawyers affected by the California fires are provided."

Posted by: Anonymous | November 4, 2007 03:19 PM
__________________________________

Huh?

11:49 - s/he is alluding to previous articles on ATL: bonsai trees given to S&C summer associates, and coverage of lawyers affected by the CA fires.

I think 11:49's response was directed at the words "are provided" at the end of 3:19's comment, which don't appear to make any sense that I can discern.

Looks like ATL lost to Volokh by ~200 votes.