Animal Law, Correspondence, Real Estate, Weirdness

Sometimes We Receive Really Odd Email

By David Lat

In the wake of this story, which had a happy ending, we received this email: I read about you helping the woman with cancer who wanted to wear her hat in court. I’m handicapped, paralyzed with a closed head injury. I’m in a wheelchair and rarely leave my condo except to see doctors. I’ve lived […]

Email Scandals, Litigatrix, Screw-Ups, Susan Estrich

Susan Estrich: Bcc Conscientious Objector?

By David Lat

More news from one of ATL’s favorite law firms, Quinn Emanuel. See Gawker and Radar. If your friends are as fabulous as Susan Estrich’s, why hide them behind a bcc? Query: Could this actually be a brilliant viral marketing ploy? Has Susan Estrich harnessed the power of the blogosphere to get all the world to […]

Biglaw, Billable Hours, Job Survey, Reader Polls

Featured Job Survey Results: Billable Hours By City
(Or: Do New Yorkers really work harder?)

By David Lat

So far, we’ve received exactly 1,400 responses to last week’s survey on hours and bonuses. You can see how bonuses broke down for the Classes of 2005 and 2006, based on hours, in the results to yesterday’s Lawyer of the Year survey. But how did billable hours break down by city? There’s been a lot […]

Health Care / Medicine, Judge of the Day

Judge of the Day: Paul Chernoff

By David Lat

Who knew that being a judge could be so dangerous? Maybe jurists should get hazard pay. From the Boston Globe: Few at the Norfolk Superior Court house in Dedham disputed that the worn and uneven front steps needed fixing. But when a judge in his late 60s tripped on them and broke his left kneecap […]

Arnold & Porter, Biglaw, Breasts, Food, Kids, Perks / Fringe Benefits, Pregnancy / Paternity

Biglaw Perk Watch: Good News for Parents, from Davis Polk and Arnold & Porter

By David Lat

Sometimes we wish we had the breastses. Then we could enjoy the luxurious lactation room at Davis Polk & Wardwell. Back in this post, we wrote about the lactation room at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. We’re sure it’s plenty nice. But we doubt it’s as snazzy as what the competition on the other side of […]

Job Searches, Law Schools, LLMs

The Value of an LLM Degree: Open Thread

By David Lat

Back in September, during our focus on non-top-tier law schools, there was some brief discussion over how much an LLM degree from a top program can help you in the job search if you graduated from a non-top law school. Let’s return to that topic. Here’s an email we recently received, from a loyal reader […]

Morning Docket, O.J. Simpson, Politics, SCOTUS, Sports, Supreme Court, Trials, Violence, War on Terror

Morning Docket: 01.17.08

By B Clerker

* Former congressman indicted in connection with group that allegedly funded terrorism. [Washington Post; CNN] * Randy Moss denies battery allegations. [SI.com] * SCOTUS upholds NY judicial selection. [New York Times] * OJ released on doubled bail. [AP; Reuters] * Delicious, buttery lawsuit pops up in Colorado. [MSNBC] * Big award round-up: Apollo Group must […]

Fat People, Food, Lawsuit of the Day, Police

Lawsuit of the Day: Move Over, Judge Halverson

By David Lat

Obesity isn’t just a problem for Biglaw lawyers who don’t get to the gym enough. From the New York Post: He weighs more than 500 pounds, but that wasn’t enough to tip the scales of justice for ex-cop Paul Soto. The rotund retiree lost his legal argument that it was a line-of-duty fall outside a […]

Canada, Douglas Berman, Drinking, Federal Judges, Hillary Clinton, Non-Sequiturs, Politics, Sex Scandals, Yul Kwon

Non-Sequiturs: 01.16.08

By David Lat

* Calling all cougars — and the young studs who love them. If you’re a single female who earns more than $500,000 a year (e.g., a Biglaw partner), you should check out this event. [DealBreaker] * Canadian lawyers are horndogs, too. [Legal Blog Watch] * “Though I did not think Judge Kopf owed me anything, […]

Anal Sex / Butt Sex, Crime, Gay, Health Care / Medicine, Violence

Some Legal Fun With Rectal Exams
(And he doesn’t like being ‘poked’ on Facebook, either.)

By David Lat

A case going to trial next month raises some, er, probing questions. From the NYT’s City Room: Under what circumstances can a patient in an emergency room be forced to submit to a procedure that doctors deem to be medically necessary? That question — and the notion of informed consent — is at the heart […]

Biglaw, Contests, Job Survey, Reader Polls

Featured Job Survey: Lawyer of the Year
(Plus Favorite and Least Favorite Partners)

By David Lat

We’re still collecting nominations for the first annual ATL Lawyer of the Year, and we’ve decided to combine last month’s open thread with today’s ATL / Lateral Link survey. Let us know who you think should be our Lawyer of the Year, and why. To add a little fun, we’re also going to let you […]

Uncategorized

Quinn Emanuel: john quinn’s state of the firm address

By David Lat

Some of you might think we have a strange obsession with Quinn Emanuel around here. That’s really not the case; it’s just that, for whatever reason, we have a lot of tipsters over there. It seems that QE associates love to talk about their firm, for good or ill. Today, for good. From a source […]

Biglaw, Summer Associates, White & Case

The Summer Associate Recruiting Sweepstakes: Winners and Losers (continued)

By David Lat

Here’s an update to last week’s post about how various law firms fared in recruiting summer associates for this year. That post, including the comments, featured oodles of info about the expected summer class sizes at different Biglaw shops. Now we bring you a few more data points. First, just a few short hours after […]

Copyright, India, Lawsuit of the Day, Outsourcing, Social Networking Websites

(Threatened) Lawsuit of the Day: How Do You Spell ‘Infringement’?

By David Lat

Do you have a Scrabulous problem? Are you addicted to the online version of Scrabble, which you can play via Facebook? We had a Scrabulous addiction for a while, until we forswore the game. We’re finishing up current games; in fact, we just scored a bingo right before posting this (“OPERATED” — see board at […]

Bankruptcy, Duke Lacrosse Team Rape Case, Michael Nifong, Money

Mike Nifong Is Bankrupt (and Not Just in the Ethical Sense)

By David Lat

From the Smoking Gun: Disgraced and disbarred, Mike Nifong is now bankrupt. The former North Carolina prosecutor, whose career imploded with his botched handling of the Duke University rape case, today filed for bankruptcy, listing liabilities in excess of $180 million. A summary schedule from Nifong’s Chapter 7 petition can be found below. Almost all […]

Animal Law, CIA, Crime, Hillary Clinton, Iraq, Morning Docket, Politics, SCOTUS, Securities Law, Sports, Supreme Court, Television

Morning Docket: 01.16.08

By B Clerker

* Gov. Romney wins Michigan. [CNN] * Sen. Clinton faces challenge from “uncommitted.” [CNN] * NV Supreme Court overturns decision allowing Rep. Kucinich to debate. [MSNBC] * Criminal prosecutions of Blackwater security guards would not be easy. [New York Times] * Did CIA lawyers and officials implicitly sign off on the destruction of interrogation tapes? […]

Drinking, Federal Judges, Health Care / Medicine, Samuel Kent, Sexual Harassment

Judge Kent Doesn’t Want Your Sympathy (Or Does He?)

By David Lat

Ah, to be a federal judge. Life tenure means never having to say you’re sorry (unlike those state judges, like the hat-hating Holly Hollenbeck). Judge Samuel Kent (S.D. Tex.), who has lawyered up in response to being charged with sexual misconduct by a court employee, is speaking out — sort of. In an interview published […]

Biglaw, Holidays and Seasons, Job Survey

Featured Job Survey Results: Got Work?

By David Lat

Last month we asked you which holidays you worked on, or expected to work on, during 2007. About 10% of you reported that you expected to work on Christmas, and roughly 22% expected to work on New Year’s. You were wrong. We received about 1,300 responses to last Tuesday’s ATL / Lateral Link survey about […]