January 2008
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Dewey & LeBoeuf
A Cheery Counterweight to Layoff Talk: Denim Day at Dewey & LeBoeuf!
If you’re an associate at Dewey & LeBoeuf, leave your brown shirt at home tomorrow. Just bring a $5 donation — sure, you can afford it, your bonuses were good — and participate in Denim Day! It’s for a good cause. And it beats the pants (hehe) off Hot Cocoa Day at Skadden. After the […] -
Job Searches
Now This Is What We Call A Rejection Letter(Or: Uncle Sam Does NOT Want You)
When law firms reject job applicants, they tend to do so in pretty straightforward fashion. Maybe you get a bare bones letter thanking you for your interest and your time. Sometimes mistakes happen — see, e.g., here and here — but they are rare, since the rejection process is so simple. It looks like the […] - Sponsored
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Judge of the Day, Kids, Pornography, State Judges, State Judges Are Clowns
Ex-Judge of the Day: Roger Wall
Congratulations to former judge Roger Wall, who’s getting a belated holiday gift. From the Springfield News-Leader: After three indictments and nearly three years, a former Douglas County judge will not stand trial on child pornography charges, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. That’s because repeated delays on the part of the U.S. Attorney’s Office violated Roger […]
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Gay
Blame the Gays for 9/11 or Global Warming, But Not for Your Failing the Bar. Thanks.
Remember Stephen Dunne, the aspiring attorney who brought suit after failing the Massachusetts bar exam, blaming it on a question about gay marriage? Well, he’s sorry. From the Boston Herald: Stephen Dunne said he was “embarrassed” for being an “instrument of bigotry and prejudice,” in a letter to the editor and interview in the Jan. […] -
Associate Bonus Watch 2007, Biglaw, Bonuses, Layoffs
Still More on the Cadwalader Layoffs
In our earlier post about the layoffs at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, we praised the firm for its candor. Those of you who weren’t already in the profession when the last bubble burst may not recall that many firms, instead of being honest about dismissing associates for economic reasons, tried to cast them as performance-based. […] -
Biglaw, Layoffs
Breaking: Cadwalader Announces Layoffs of 35 Lawyers!
Just half an hour ago, based on information we gleaned from various sources, we asked: “Is today Layoff Day at Cadwalader?” The answer would appear to be: YES. Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft has confirmed to us that it will be laying off 35 attorneys. Please see the statement below, which we just received from Hill […] -
Biglaw, Layoffs
Nationwide Layoff Watch: Is Today 'Layoff Day' at Cadwalader?
We’ve been hearing, from multiple sources, that something big is going down today at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. Some of our sources have dubbed it “Layoff Day,” although we don’t know yet whether the news relates to layoffs or something else. Here’s what we’ve been hearing: 1. One can check the availability of conference rooms […] -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 01.10.08
* SCOTUS gives cool reception to challenge of Indiana voter I.D. law. [New York Times; Washington Post; Slate (via How Appealing)] * DOJ investigating award of a lucrative monitoring contract to John Ashcroft. [New York Times] * Vioxx settlement plan looks like it will go through, but total cost could be higher than the advertised […]
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Biglaw, Bonuses, Job Survey, Money, Skaddenfreude
Featured Job Survey Results: Bonus Timing
Last month, our ATL / Lateral Link job survey asked you when your firms paid bonuses, and whether you were planning on changing jobs once those bonuses got paid. About 900 of you responded (and got to see bonus and survey breakdowns for Los Angeles as a reward). Not surprisingly, most of you in major […] -
Fashion, Judge of the Day, Reader Polls
Judge of the Day: William Sosnay
Dressing up for court shouldn’t be hard. Dark suit, white shirt, and appropriate neckwear. But what constitutes appropriate neckwear? From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (via How Appealing): Justice may be blind, but Milwaukee County Circuit Judge William Sosnay’s sense of courtroom fashion is not. In the courtroom of the pompadoured judge long known as a […] -
Law Schools, Pornography, Shopping, Too Clever By Half
Loyola 2L Has A Worthy Successor(Or, an interesting way to promote a porn site.)
If you’re looking to buy someone a belated holiday gift, and have $100,000 to spare — perhaps you’re a senior associate in New York who just earned $110,000 or $115,000 in year-end and special bonuses — check out this item, currently up for bids on eBay: So America… just how much is an education worth? […] -
Aaron Charney, Biglaw, Charlene Morisseau, Gay, Law Schools, Media and Journalism, New York Observer, Parties, Racism, Shameless Plugs
Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?
In our column for this week’s New York Observer, we help you plan an imaginary dinner party. A dinner party, of course, is only as good as the guest list. So we review which colorful characters of the legal world, who made headlines in 2007, should be invited to your festivities. Think of it as […] -
Biglaw, Money, Skaddenfreude, Williams & Connolly
Reading the Associate Compensation Tea Leaves(And a Digression on Billable Hours)
We’re a week or so into 2008, which raises the question: a new year, a new associate pay raise? One might expect pay raises to be announced around fall recruiting time, to entice the 2Ls. Historically, however, the last two base salary increases were announced in January (perhaps in an effort to reduce the post-bonus […]
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Email Scandals, Lawyer of the Day, Racism, Screw-Ups, Sexism
Lawyer of the Day: Chuck Rosenthal
We love tales of misbehaving DAs. And this one is a doozy. From the Houston Chronicle: New e-mails released Tuesday show District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal sent and received racist jokes and strategized with political consultants and colleagues about his re-election campaign on his county e-mail account. Also within the correspondence obtained Tuesday by the Houston […] -
Kids, Perks / Fringe Benefits, Pregnancy / Paternity
If Only They Were Biglaw Associates...
Birth leave sought for girls [Denver Post via Drudge Report] Earlier: Biglaw Perk Watch: Hogan & Hartson Announces Enhanced Leave for Childbirth and Adoption -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 01.09.08
* Nobody puts baby in a corner. The empress strikes back, scoring an upset victory in the New Hampshire primary. HLS 1, YLS 1. [Washington Post; New York Times] * Supreme Court hands down a “mind-numbing” ruling (per Tony Mauro). The early opinions in a Term are always boring. But at least this one has […]
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James Colliton, Kids, Lawsuit of the Day, Lunacy, Perverts, Sex, Sex Scandals
Lawsuit of the Day Last Month: Talk About a 'Special' Bonus(The bonus you claim after pleading guilty to paying a mom so you can have sex with her two underage daughters)
(We missed this case because it happened over the holidays, when we were away from ATL. But we’ve received several requests to cover this super-juicy story, so we’ll go for it, despite being so late to the party.) We described Schoenfeld v. Allen & Overy, a lawsuit by a Jewish associate against his former law […] -
Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 01.08.08
* Banishment? We didn’t know they still did that. But here’s a funny little twist: Can you banish someone from an entire state except for one county? [Fulton County Daily Report] * Haven’t gotten a response to your FOIA request? Don’t take it personally. Even the kids of a deceased federal judge can’t get their […] -
Crime, Hotties, Kumari Fulbright, Law Schools, Social Networking Websites, Torture, Violence, You Go Girl
Kumari, We Hardly Knew Ye
Time for an update on everyone’s favorite law student cum beauty queen cum accused kidnapper, Kumari Fulbright. If you’re not familiar with her story, click here, and read through the ATL archives. First, from an observant reader, some sad news for those of us who were her Facebook friends: It looks like Kumari finally realized […] -
Perks / Fringe Benefits
Biglaw Perk Watch: Hogan & Hartson Announces Enhanced Leave for Childbirth and Adoption
Beefing up parental leave policies: everybody’s doing it. It may not be another pay raise, but it’s very welcome news for lawyers at large firms who are trying to balance Biglaw with Big Family (or contemplating such a move). We’ve written in the past about new leave policies from Simpson Thacher, Latham & Watkins, Davis […]