Don’t believe everything you read in these pages. If a gossip site isn’t flat-out wrong a sizable percentage of the time, it’s not sufficiently gossipy.

But we were right about something being afoot at Dechert LLP. This morning we wrote:

We’ve been hearing vague rumblings of something about to go down over at Dechert LLP. Said rumblings are reminiscent of what we heard in the days and hours leading up to Cadwalader’s Thursday Morning Massacre….

We hear that certain groups at Dechert are super-slow, and morale in some quarters is super-low. These are, of course, often harbingers of lawyer layoffs.

Now we learn this, from Gina Passarella in the Legal Intelligencer:

The slowing economy has hit home at Dechert which has just let go 13 associates strictly in its finance and real estate practice, according to a source inside the firm….

Dechert has given the 13 associates, who have worked in Dechert offices throughout the United States, until the close of business Tuesday to leave. No one was asked to leave Friday, the source said….

There were no additional layoffs prior to today, but some attorneys were shifted into other practice areas, the firm source said. The layoffs comprise less than 10 percent of the 167 attorneys listed in Dechert’s finance and real estate practice, which includes mortgage finance, structured finance and securitization, investment, and mergers and acquisitions.

The attorneys who are leaving were offered three months severance, six months of paid medical benefits and transition placement support, the source said.

Three months seems to be “market” in terms of severance. There was some fear that laid-off Dechert associates were going to get less.

ATL gets a shout-out in the piece:

Legal blog Above The Law has reported extensively on associate and staff layoffs across the country. The reports included associate layoffs at Thacher Proffitt, Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft and Clifford Chance, mainly in the structured finance, real estate and capital markets practices of those firms.

Today, Above The Law posted a blog on rumors of low morale at Dechert, questioning whether layoffs were imminent.

The article closes with a helpful overview of the layoff landscape:

Dechert’s news puts the U.S. legal scene over the 100-attorney mark in terms of attorney layoffs and offered buyouts this economic cycle. According to data collected by The American Lawyer, 35 attorneys were laid off at Cadwalader Wickersham; 24 Thacher Proffitt mid-levels were offered buyouts plus an additional five first-years took optional buyouts; six Clifford Chance associates were laid off and 23 associates at McKee Nelson took buyouts.

Check out the full article, which also discusses Dechert’s record-setting year in 2007 — $836 million in gross revenue, and more than $2.3 million in profits per equity partner — by clicking here.

Update (5:15 PM): Okay, we’re confused. We just received this email, sent out by firm chairman Barton Winokur, and forwarded to us by a Dechert source. Our source had heard that the 13 were being laid off. But this email implies otherwise:

From: Winokur, Barton
Sent: Friday, February 29, 2008 4:37 PM
To: ALL Dechert Users
Subject:

Due to the major shift in market conditions affecting client demands in our Finance and Real Estate practice area, we currently do not have sufficient work for all the associates in FRE. As a consequence, we have told 13 associates in the U.S. FRE group that we see no demand for them in that group in the foreseeable future. However, due to increased and substantial demand in other practice areas, we will be offering those lawyers the opportunity to work in those other groups.

Barton J. Winokur
Dechert LLP

Update (5:40 PM): We have reached out to Barton Winokur for clarification. We will let you know if and when he gets back to us.

Update (6:20 PM): The Legal Intelligencer has revised its piece somewhat, in light of the Winokur email:

The slowing economy has hit home at Dechert which just issued layoff notices to 13 associates strictly in its finance and real estate practice, according to a source inside the firm.

Shortly after the firm confirmed the planned layoffs, the source said Chairman Barton J. Winokur issued a statement that the firm would then offer the 13 associates positions in other practice groups. [Reprints the email.]

There was no word as to whether those associates, who had been given severance packages, accepted the revised offer to switch practices.

Update (6:35 PM): We’re hearing conflicting things about whether these 13 lawyers really are being given the opportunity to switch practice groups, or whether they’re being laid off outright, with additional lawyers getting moved internally.

We will continue to monitor and report about what’s going down at Dechert. If you can clarify this somewhat murky situation for us, please email us. Thanks.

Layoffs Hit Dechert Following Record Financial Year [Legal Intelligencer]

* Arnold Schwarzenegger gets his tank back, offers rides to children. [Houston Chronicle]

* The Morality of Trade: “Commerce is not a cuss word.” [Commerce Law]

* Did anybody remember that it’s a leap year? [PrawfsBlawg]

* Perhaps the shortest jury deliberation ever. [CNN]

* Virginia Supreme Court strikes down taxation without representation. So close, DC! [OpenMarket.org]

NYU School of Law announced today that it has hired Professor Kenji Yoshino as a tenured faculty member. He was a Visiting Professor at the school last year and again this Spring. Kenji graduated from Yale Law in 1996 and is influential in the fields of constitutional law, anti-discrimination law, and law and literature. It’s quite a score for NYU. Read the original email announcement after the jump.

Here’s some happy news from Heller Ehrman. It appears they have heard the complaints, and they’ve done something about them. From one source:

Attached is the long awaited Heller Ehrman compensation memo, and at first glance, I’m pretty impressed. They seemed to have listened to associates’ concerns and made some pretty significant changes. They reinstated the 2000 hour bonus and have decided to retroactively pay the 2000 hour bonus to all eligible associates for 2007. I’m happy about the compensation bump which brings us more in line with the market, but what I’m really excited about is that the firm has decreased the first year billable expectation to 1600 without decreasing salaries. With the launch of a new mentoring program and this announcement about 300 career development hours for first years, the firm is actually acting on its long-stated goal of promoting associate development.

Another tipster concurs, also zeroing in on the new program for first-year associates:

Attached is the Heller Ehrman 2008 Associates Compensation memo, which associates received this morning. I think the compensation memo demonstrates that the firm has responded to associates’ concerns in a very positive way. The firm is reinstating the 2000-hour bonus for 2008, and making retroactive 2000-hour bonus payments for 2007.

Perhaps most positively, the firm is providing 300 hours of career development for first-year associates, so that first-years will now have only a 1600-hour billable requirement. I think law students and first-year associates will see this as a very positive development, which recognizes associates’ desire for career development, but also gives the firm a way to recognize clients’ staffing concerns.

After the bad press the firm has been getting in recent months, I think this memo is some good news, and I hope ATL will recognize it as such.

We do. Check out the memo, after the jump.

Earlier: Associate Bonus Watch: A Heller Ehrman Update

Marc J. Randazza fills us in on the Texas sex toy ban, just struck down by the Fifth Circuit. According to Marc, the arguments for outlawing the sale of toys for your pleasure-parts are thus:

(1) If the Texas dildo law is invalidated as an improper encroachment upon personal liberty, this will open the floodgates, and laws on bigamy and incest will be struck down too.

(2) Striking down the law “impermissibly overrides state lawmakers’ settled ‘authority to regulate commercial activity they deem harmful to the public’” (naturally citing a dissenting opinion from the 11th Circuit).

Marc slams the arguments for his own well-articulated reasons at the link. To us, the first argument is a slippery (heh) slope argument, which is usually a weak logical tactic. The second argument is stronger, although we’d like to see a list of reasons why sex toys are so harmful.

It is still illegal to sell sex toys in Alabama. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an Alabama case in 2007 on the subject, so the lower court’s ruling (upholding the ban) remains intact. This quote, from Alabama store owner Sherri Williams (the store’s name is “Pleasures”) sums up the passion of people across the Southland who find the ban ridiculous:

“My motto has been they are going to have to pry this vibrator from my cold, dead hand. I refuse to give up,” she said.

You go, girl. By contrast, guns are perfectly legal in both states.
Texas — Still Obsessed With Dildos [Legal Satyricon]

We greatly enjoyed our recent visit to the University of Chicago Law School. The U. Chicago students were very welcoming and made us feel right at home, even inviting us to their law school musical — which, by the way, was delightful.

(We added many of them as friends on Facebook before we were mysteriously banned from the site, without notice or explanation. So if you no longer see us on FB, it’s not because we “de-friended” you, but because our account was disabled.)

A few Chicago students, however, had a bone to pick with us. They objected to this ATL post, which cast the recently announced departure of Professor Cass Sunstein — prominent scholar, beloved teacher, and possible Supreme Court nominee under President Obama — as a hiring coup by Harvard Law School, a triumph by HLS over Chicago. They emphasized that Professor Sunstein’s leaving the Windy City for Cambridge was prompted by personal rather than professional reasons.

Professor Sunstein said as much his farewell email (emphasis added; in fact, all emphases added throughout this post, unless otherwise indicated):

I’m writing to say that I’ve just accepted an appointment at Harvard Law School. It is an understatement to say that I don’t take this step easily or lightly. As most of you know, I’ve been reflecting on this question for several years. I finally decided, for personal reasons, that I need a change.

Since he’s a prominent Obama supporter — as well an adviser to the campaign, but more on that later, since it ties into our tale — it’s not surprising that Professor Sunstein is All About Change.

The law school’s popular leader, Dean Saul Levmore, also stressed the personal component to Professor Sunstein’s move. As he told the University of Chicago’s student newspaper, the Maroon:

“I’m sort of embarrassed that [the story] said that the University of Chicago couldn’t be reached for comment,” Levmore said. “It looks like we didn’t want to talk, but the truth is that this decision [to leave Chicago for Harvard] was based on personal reasons and I respect that privacy. The media will find out about them soon enough.”

With a comment like this, Dean Levmore was basically begging us to go digging. So dig we did.

Let’s see, Cass Sunstein’s “personal reasons” for leaving U. Chicago… hold on a sec. Isn’t Professor Sunstein part of legal academia’s most fabulous power couple, together with that renowned philosopher queen, Professor Martha Nussbaum? And didn’t Professor Nussbaum just turn down a Harvard offer?

That was then; this is now. What we learned in our investigation is consistent with this ATL comment, as well as this (subsequently removed) Wikipedia edit.

It appears that Professor Sunstein may be part of a new “power couple” — in the most literal sense. Rumor has it that he’s romantically involved with Professor Samantha Power — a beautiful, brainy professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, who is roughly 15 years his junior. She is a Pulitzer Prize winner who has also been profiled in Men’s Vogue (see glamorous photo, at the top of this post). What’s not to like?

Update: More about Samantha Power here (from a college classmate who tried to hit on her, without success, and just ended arguing politics with her).

Now, please don’t give us full credit (or blame) for bringing to light the Sunstein-Power relationship. When we attended the Chicago Law School musical last weekend, Samantha Power got a shout-out near the end of the show, when the Cass Sunstein character announced his departure for Harvard. So the rumor of her romance with Professor Sunstein is already widely known throughout the U. Chicago community (and beyond); it’s no state secret. It is already known to hundreds, if not thousands, of people.

We reached out to all three members of this Mensalicious love triangle, which seems to come straight out of a Saul Bellow novel. Find out what we learned — two of them had no comment, but one of them did — after the jump.

From one of our tipsters:

Richard Rosenbaum, president of Greenburg Traurig, made the following group email faux pas. He used the company listserv to send two emails soliciting contributions for the McCain campaign, proving that law students aren’t the only bumbling souls who screw up listserv etiquette. From Rosenbaum’s first email:

“As we have said on a number of other occasions, our firm does not support any particular presidential candidates as a firm. We are a business catering to a wide range of clients and employing lawyers and staff with a wide variety of interests and preferences in the political arena…”

Blah blah blah, a bunch of politically correct qualifiers, then BANG! The money-grab:

“I have recently been named a National Co-Chair of Senator McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign. As has previously been the case, over the next several months I will be working alongside several other leaders from the American business and legal communities to personally solicit contributions and other political support for Senator McCain’s presidential campaign.”

Now, of course, Rosenbaum goes on to say that participation is voluntary, etc. But is it really appropriate for a firm President to use group email to solicit campaign funds?

More, after the jump.

We’ve been hearing vague rumblings of something about to go down over at Dechert LLP. Said rumblings are reminiscent of what we heard in the days and hours leading up to Cadwalader’s Thursday Morning Massacre. Also note this comment on today’s Morning Docket:

Not all Dechert associates have three days to enter their time. Some will need to enter it before they leave the building today.

We hear that certain groups at Dechert are super-slow, and morale in some quarters is super-low. These are, of course, often harbingers of lawyer layoffs.

We’ve put in an inquiry to the firm, but they haven’t gotten back to us yet. We’ll let you know if and when they do. In the meantime, feel free to dish in the comments, or email us. Thanks.

Update (4:40 PM): As reported by the Legal Intelligencer, Dechert just laid off 13 associates. We have a new post up on the subject over here.

The IRS is investigating the denomination Trinity United Church of Christ for hosting Barack Obama as a speaker in front of 10,000 people in June of 2007. Non-profit organizations are generally not allowed to endorse candidates, although politicos can speak at such organizations.

You can find the AP article here. More press and blog coverage is after the jump.

IRS Investigates Obama’s Denomination [AP]

As we previously mentioned, Bankruptcy Judge Robert Somma announced his plan to resign from the bench, after he was arrested for DUI (while wearing women’s clothing). We questioned Judge Somma’s decision to step down:

Is this really that big a deal? When you strip away the women’s clothing, colorful but irrelevant details, you’re left with a DWI arrest — which, while not exactly commendable conduct, is something other judges have survived.

And we’re not alone. This message is making the rounds of the bankruptcy bar:

As I am sure most will agree, the news of Judge Somma’s resignation was disheartening. We are hopeful that Judge Somma will reconsider his decision with the support and encouragement of a significant portion of the bankruptcy bar.

Attached is a letter which several of us intend to submit to Chief Judge Boudin of the First Circuit Court of Appeals, with a copy to Judge Somma. If you would like to join us, please advise us at your very earliest convenience, and we will add your name as a “signatory”.

We intend to submit the letter to Chief Judge Boudin by the close of business tomorrow, Thursday, February 28, 2008. In the event that you cannot respond by then, but nonetheless are supportive, please so advise either of us by return email at your earliest convenience, and we will endeavor to supplement the list of supporters as may be appropriate. Otherwise, as no amount of support can be too great, if you wish to send your own personal letter of support, we also encourage you to do so as well.

Please feel free to circulate this email to those who may not be included in our list of email addresses and thank you for your assistance.

You’re welcome!

Alas, it appears the submission deadline has passed (close of business yesterday). But if you’d like to submit your own letter of support, you can use the previously sent letter as a model. Check it out, after the jump.

Today we have another two-for-one Job of the Week — a unique in-house litigation position and a corporate opportunity — brought to you by ATL’s career partner, Lateral Link. This past week, Lateral Link helped its members obtain offers from D.E. Shaw (in-house) in NY, Quinn Emanuel in LA, Kirkland in Chicago, Akin Gump in NY, Patterson Belknap in NY, Miller & Chevalier in DC, Hogan & Hartson in Baltimore, and a clean energy company (in-house) in Boston.

Position: Associate Counsel – Litigation

Description: This major mutual fund management company is seeking a junior to mid-level litigator to serve as legal counsel. The position will involve setting litigation strategy, overseeing and advising on a wide array of litigation matters, preparing court filings, and appearing in court on behalf of the company. The company is seeking someone with litigation experience at a mid- to large-sized firm, a minimum of two to four years of litigation experience, or one year of experience plus at least one year in a federal court clerkship. (Job Code: 8135.)

Position: Associate Counsel – Corporate Services

Description: The company is also seeking a junior to mid-level corporate associate to join its Corporate Legal Services team and represent the Company and its subsidiaries on a variety of corporate and contract matters. The position will involve contract drafting and negotiation, advising senior management on matters of law, and setting company policy regarding contracts, corporate, and other legal matters. The company is seeking someone with 2-5 years corporate or transactional experience at a mid- to large-sized law firm, exceptional leadership, organizational and interpersonal skills, demonstrated persuasive and influencing capabilities, and the ability to work quickly and independently with attention to detail and sensitivity to deadlines. (Job Code: 7944.)

Company: This Company, located just outside of Philadelphia, offers individual and institutional investors a line of popular mutual funds and brokerage services. Claiming more than $1 trillion of assets under management, the firm is battling for the title of largest retail mutual fund manager on the planet. Their fund options include more than 180 stock, bond, mixed, and international offerings, as well as variable annuity portfolios. The company is known as much for its puritanical thriftiness and conservative investing as for its line of index funds, which track the performance of such groups of stock as the S&P 500.

You can learn more about these and other job opportunities by visiting Lateral Link.

Earlier: Prior Job of the Week listings (scroll down)

A candy company’s been under some scrutiny lately about their new drink mix, which they innocently named “Blow.” It comes in little clear packets and supposedly gives you lots and lots of energy. Athough it probably doesn’t work as well as that Adderall you have in your desk, it is likely much cheaper.

In any event, get your Blow now if you want it. The FDA is mighty displeased, and they’ve threatened legal action if the company doesn’t “rehab” its image. Hmm, what other drug-related words can we pack into this story?

My name is Sharon Eliza Nichols, and I’ll be co-blogging with David today. First, though, I thought I’d introduce myself.

I’m a curious little blonde girl with poor impulse control. I’m also a 1L at the University of Alabama School of Law. It’s my sincere desire to contribute to the world of legal sensationalism, and preferably not as the object of some politician’s philandering. Writing for ATL lets me do that, and I’m thankful for the opportunity.

I’m currently in law school, but I’ve had some unusual experiences. My father is a Southern Baptist pastor, so you can imagine the tension caused by the good preacher’s daughter writing a semi-irreverent blog. I started the Facebook group “I judge you when you use poor grammar,” which all of you should immediately join. Because the group became unexpectedly large, I’ve had some experience in entrepreneurship, charming the media, and writing for a large audience. I ruffle a separate set of feathers over at Thank You Ma’am.

I also love the beach, sun, bright colors, shiny objects and southern accents. Hate mail, grammatical corrections and marriage proposals should go to Ijudgeyouwhen at gmail dot com.

Let’s get it started in here, ATL-style. Cheers!

* Iraqi government OKs Chemical Ali execution. [CNN]

* Army revamping contract process in light of fraud allegations. [MSNBC]

* Obama supporter McCaskill introduces bill to officially approve birth citizenship in situations like McCain’s. [New York Times]

* 1 in every 100 American adults imprisoned. [Washington Post]

* Bahraini Alba sues Alcoa, alleging corruption and foreign kick-backs. [WSJ Law Blog]

Our tipster quips, “This guy makes Ricky Gervais look like a saint.” From the Salt Lake Tribune:

A supervisor at a motivational coaching business in Provo is accused of waterboarding an employee in front of his sales team to demonstrate that they should work as hard on sales as the employee had worked to breathe.

In a lawsuit filed last month, former Prosper, Inc. salesman Chad Hudgens alleges his managers also allowed the supervisor to draw mustaches on employees’ faces, take away their chairs and beat on their desks with a wooden paddle “because it resulted in increased revenues for the company.”

Sounds like the defendant would fit right in at Biglaw. Does your firm need a new Director of Paralegal Services? Drop him a line.

Employee’s suit: Company used waterboarding to motivate workers [Salt Lake Tribune]

* Linda Greenhouse to $300K! [New York Observer via ABA Journal]

* Duties of a law school dean: attend parties, appear at conferences, talk to alums. And don’t forget the herding of cats — aka law professors. [TJ’s Double Play]

* Even law review editors screw up sometimes. “Constructive acceptance”? [Concurring Opinions]

* Who’d have thunk it? Sometimes blogging can help people. And stuff. [Legal Blog Watch]

* Ethan Leib dresses up as a giant chicken to teach Contracts, thereby guaranteeing ABA accreditation. [PrawfsBlawg]

* Orin Kerr points out online interviews “with eight of the nine current Supreme Court Justices (all but Souter) about legal writing, advocacy, and the process of deciding cases and writing opinions.” [Volokh Conspiracy]

* Ann Althouse on John McCain and being a “natural-born citizen.” [Althouse]

* Hillary to Russert: You can’t handle the truth! About my tax returns. [TaxProf Blog]

There’s a new development in the well-publicized AutoAdmit lawsuit. The defendant known as “AK47” has filed a pseudonymous, pro se motion to quash the plaintiffs’ subpeona. The memorandum in support of the motion appears here (PDF)

Over at the WSJ Law Blog, reporter Amir Efrati — who first broke the news of this case’s filing, and has done a great job covering it — describes the motion as “well-composed…. which leads us to suspect that ‘he’ is an aspiring lawyer.” He also notes that AK47 “shows he’s done some research, citing a host of Internet law precedents he says bolster his arguments.”

But over at the Legal Satyricon, Professor Marc Randazza is less impressed: “My prediction — had Mr. AK47 written his motion a little more skillfully, he might have had a great chance. Unfortunately for him, the motion is so poorly drafted that it will take some charity on the Court’s part for it to fly.”

We’re not surprised that Professor Randazza applies a demanding standard. After all, he practices First Amendment law. He previously (and successfully) represented AutoAdmit exec Anthony Ciolli, who was dropped from the lawsuit back in November.

Feel free to share your thoughts on any of this in the comments.

AutoAdmit Case - Motion to Quash by “AK47″ [The Legal Satyricon / Marc Randazza]
AutoAdmit Suit Update: Defendant “AK47″ Responds [WSJ Law Blog]

Several tipsters wrote us about the upcoming firm retreat of Quinn Emanuel — or the “2008 Firm Hike,” as it’s officially called. It’s taking place from July 9–13, over in… SWITZERLAND!!!

From one incoming QE summer:

I’m summering at Quinn, and I just found out that the annual firm hike is going to be in Interlaken, Switzerland. It’s a four-day trip, capped by a 25 km hike in the alps. Summer associate perk watch?

We asked this individual if they’re excited about the hike:

Hell yes. Forget ballgames and cooking classes, this is a serious trip. I chose Quinn because of the work hard-play hard mentality and outdoors-y vibe, but this is taking it to another level. It is rough that it’s such a short trip, but I’d guess that a bunch of full-time employees will extend it by a few days.

More discussion — some pro- and anti-hike sentiment, from full-time QE lawyers, plus comment from John Quinn himself (in an email with capitalization!!!) — after the jump.

We’ve been on the law school speaking circuit lately. At the start of this month, we served as keynote speaker of the Mid-Atlantic APALSA Conference, at the University of Pennsylvania Law School (conference description here, photos here). Next month, we’ll be speaking at Stanford Law School, about how the web is changing the legal profession.

Last week we were at the University of Chicago, for this event:

Richard Posner and David Lat: “Judges as Public Figures”

Last week, the University of Chicago’s chapter of the Federalist Society hosted a panel discussion on “Judges as Public Figures” with Judge Richard Posner and David Lat, author of two popular legal blogs, Above the Law and Underneath Their Robes.

David Lat’s relationship with Judge Posner began when he was the anonymous author of Underneath Their Robes, a blog supposedly written by a young and prestige-obsessed female lawyer. Judge Posner was the first to unmask “Article Three Groupie” (the anonymous author’s pseudonym) as being male. The discussion was moderated by Professor Lior Strahilevitz, and a recording is available here (mp3).

It was an honor and a pleasure to serve on a panel with Judge Posner and Professor Strahilevitz. The standing-room-only crowd was engaged and enthusiastic — and apparently entertained, based on the frequent outbursts of laughter.

You can access the podcast by clicking here (mp3). Thanks again to the University of Chicago Federalist Society for inviting us to participate in such a delightful event.

Podcast: Richard Posner and David Lat on “Judges as Public Figures” [University of Chicago Law School Faculty Blog]
Emerging Asia: Shedding New Light on the Legal Landscape [University of Pennsylvania Law School]
How the Web Is Changing the Legal Profession [Stanford Law School]

Although many believe he was carried down to earth by a choir of angels, the taxalicious Barack Obama was actually born in Hawaii. So he doesn’t face the same sticky question about presidential eligibility that John McCain confronts. From the New York Times:

The question has nagged at the parents of Americans born outside the continental United States for generations: Dare their children aspire to grow up and become president? In the case of Senator John McCain of Arizona, the issue is becoming more than a matter of parental daydreaming.

Mr. McCain’s likely nomination as the Republican candidate for president and the happenstance of his birth in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936 are reviving a musty debate that has surfaced periodically since the founders first set quill to parchment and declared that only a “natural-born citizen” can hold the nation’s highest office.

To address the question, the McCain camp hired the best legal talent money can buy:

But given mounting interest, the campaign recently asked Theodore B. Olson, a former solicitor general now advising Mr. McCain, to prepare a detailed legal analysis. “I don’t have much doubt about it,” said Mr. Olson, who added, though, that he still needed to finish his research.

So, what do you think? Take our reader poll. We realize you probably haven’t researched the issue. But not having completed his research — i.e., “my recent SCOTUS-clerk associate is still surfing Westlaw” — didn’t stop Ted Olson from having an opinion.

One ATL tipster had this quick take: “SCOTUS seems kinda gray, but going by the Insular Cases…it ain’t lookin’ good. Maybe an open thread for people to comment and discuss?”

McCain’s Canal Zone Birth Prompts Queries About Whether That Rules Him Out [New York Times]
Does John McCain Have a Birthplace Problem? [WSJ Law Blog]

Make that a Post-script — a shout-out in the Washington Post, for both the happy couple and ATL. From the WaPo’s delicious Reliable Source column (which has new details about the Goodling/Krempasky engagement, including their ages and the story of their courtship):

Engaged: Monica Goodling, 34, the former Alberto Gonzales adviser, to Michael Krempasky, 33, a top PR guy at Edelman and founding blogger with RedState.com.

The betrothal of the Pennsylvania natives (first reported by the legal blog AboveTheLaw.com) proves that even a congressional subpoena can have a happy ending: The two dated just after college, then lost touch for a decade — until he saw her name last spring in the front-page stories about the controversial firings of several U.S. attorneys, and called to wish her well. He surprised her with a Valentine’s Day proposal at the same restaurant where they spent V-Day 12 years ago; no date set.

It’s a quintessential D.C. romance: congressional testimony leading to a love connection!

Additional commentary appears at Wonkette, TPM Muckraker, and Jezebel (among others).

Love, Etc. [The Reliable Source / Washington Post]

Earlier: Breaking: Monica Goodling Is Engaged!

We don’t think that we’ll post every single announcement about new and improved parental leave policies, since Justin Bernold is already tracking them through this handy-dandy table. But we will let you know about the big ones.

Today’s announcement qualifies. The latest firm to move to the new benchmark of 18 weeks paid maternity leave is one of the biggest of the big: Skadden. When all those Skadden hotties become Skadden mommies, they’ll be able to enjoy 50 percent more time with their kids than before (the old policy was 12 weeks).

Announcement, after the jump.

We already discussed this news yesterday. But in our earlier post, we promised to let you know if and when Linda Greenhouse got back to us — and she kindly did, sending the following message to ATL about her rumored departure as the New York Times’s Supreme Court correspondent:

As you may know - the Times put a newsroom-wide buyout package on the table last week, in an effort to shrink the staff by 100. For someone of my seniority (40 years) the terms are very attractive, and I’ve told my bureau chief that I plan to take it. I was planning to retire in a few years, and giving up this package would have basically meant working for free - which seemed foolish, much as I love my job. I plan to keep writing about the court in various forums.

(I should note that this is not official, because the buyout window is open until March 5, after which the Times will respond to the individual volunteers - so my response to you is based on the assumption that my acceptance of their offer will in turn be accepted.)

Greenhouse also confirmed her move to the Associated Press (via WSJ Law Blog).

During her 30 years covering the Court for the Times, Linda Greenhouse has sometimes been controversial. See here, here, and here, for perhaps the most recent controversy.

It cannot be denied, however, that Greenhouse has tremendous knowledge of the Supreme Court’s history and inner workings, as well as unparalleled access to the justices themselves. Few journalists are such superstars that their comings and goings are covered by the AP.

Greenhouse leaves big shoes to fill, and it will be interesting to see how her successor fares. How much of her clout was the institutional clout of the New York Times, and how much of it was Greenhouse qua Greenhouse? We’ll find out soon enough.

Feel free to speculate about replacements for the legendary Linda Greenhouse, in the comments.

NYT’s Greenhouse Takes Buyout Offer [Associated Press via WSJ Law Blog]
Public and Private Lives, Intersecting [New York Times]
Lay Off Linda [Slate]
Far From Sober [National Review Online]

Earlier: Is the Margo Channing of One First Street Taking Her Final Bow?

Last year, we asked you whether work was busy at your firms, and only about half of you said yes. Patent attorneys were particularly busy nationwide (and remain quite popular), while associates in real estate and structured finance were pretty slow in many markets.

In today’s ATL / Lateral Link survey, we dig a little deeper into which practice areas are hot (or not) at your firm.

Update: This survey is now closed. Click here for the results.

—
Justin Bernold is a Director at Lateral Link, the sponsor of this survey.

* Relatives of murdered girls may sue D.C. [Washington Post]

* Humane Society files suit against USDA over recalled beef. [MSNBC]

* Pay raises hurting PPP? [WSJ Law Blog]

* Two hapless robbers walk into a biker bar… [CNN]

* … while two crafty robbers rob a robber jeweler… [MSNBC]

* … and a not-so-ambiguously-gay porn duo (pictured) gets arrested for rooftop burglaries. [Philadelphia Daily News]

Cynics might say the firm is rearranging the proverbial deck chairs, but these leadership changes strike us as prudent. From a report by Anthony Lin in the New York Law Journal:

As it wrestles with an ongoing slump in its core capital markets practice, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft has shaken up its top management team.

The New York-based law firm announced today that Robert O. Link, its longtime chairman and managing partner, would relinquish the position of chairman to W. Christopher White, effective March 1. Mr. Link will continue to serve as Cadwalader’s managing partner and remain a member of the firm’s six-partner management committee.

The firm minimizes the import of the change:

[Management committee member (and Cameron Diaz pal) Gregory] Markel said the elevation of Mr. White was “not in any way a criticism of Bob.” He said the firm would regard Messrs. White and Link as a team, with neither reporting to the other.

Additional discussion, which will probably interest only die-hard CWT groupies, after the jump.

* A link in honor of everyone taking the bar exam today: the true story of someone who was told he failed the New York bar exam, in the wake of Laptopgate, but appealed the failure and prevailed. [New York Personal Injury Law Blog]

* A “do-it-yourself” approach to filing dates? Nice try. [Utah District Court Electronic Filing System Blog (wow — there truly are blogs about everything)]

* Whatever you do, stay out of that nasty basement. [Southern District of Florida Blog]

* Worst job ever? [QuizLaw]

* A neat little Democratic delegate calculator. It shows, for example, that even if Barack Obama wins all remaining contests with 60 percent of the vote, he would still need significant superdelegate support to win the nomination. [Slate]

[Ed. note: Yesterday’s guest post about how Barack Obama’s tax plan might affect Biglaw associates, authored by Ted Frank, generated a record number of comments on ATL: 564 (and counting). It also generated lots of reaction throughout the blogosphere (links collected below). So we thought we’d invite Ted to do a follow-up.]

Here it is. Ted wrote it in response to the following reader email, which makes many of the arguments that surfaced in the 564+ comments. From an Obama defender:

I’m sorry, but you are losing your credibility by posting this false propaganda on Obama. Look at Obama’s website. It clearly states, “Asked About Raising the Cap, Obama said, ‘You Might Have the Equivalent of a Doughnut Hole’—NOT That He Would Completely Remove the Cap.” Obama “has stated in various venues that ‘his inclination… has been for a ‘donut’ where the uncapping would take place above some threshold income level — probably around $200,000 or $250,000’ his economic adviser Austan Goolsbee said in an email. A donut would protect a certain portion of income (e.g., between $100,000 and $200,000) from the payroll tax and could be phased in over decades.”

In addition, that “$34,000 paycut” in the post title is misleading. Even if all your assumptions were correct (which they weren’t), the after tax pay cut under Obama is < $20,000. I love your site, but please correct this ridiculous false article before you lose all credibility.

And now, without further ado, Ted Frank.

* * * * * * * * * *
First, as I show in the spreadsheet, a $20,000 tax increase is the equivalent of a $34,000 before-tax paycut for a New York City resident, which would have the same after-tax effect. The $34,000 figure is accurate: that’s just math. The Obama tax plan would have the same effect on a NYC fifth-year associate being paid market as a $34,000 paycut.

Obama has never said he will have a doughnut-hole, only that his SS tax could include a doughnut-hole. When Hillary Clinton attacked Obama at the November 15 Nevada debate for wanting to eliminate the cap, Obama didn’t say that the attack was incorrect; he defended the policy because eliminating the cap would only affect what he called the “upper class.” The press has accurately reported that Obama has also proposed eliminating the cap; even Obama’s own website links to a thinktank’s analysis of the benefits of a cap elimination.

It would be really easy for Obama to promise to include a “doughnut-hole” or to not eliminate the SS-tax cap. He certainly hasn’t been afraid to promise drastically expensive programs of new spending or even tax giveaways to large swaths of the population who aren’t paying much tax now.

But when it comes to Social Security, Obama is suddenly vague; when he does discuss details, it is to cite examples (e.g., Warren Buffett) that could not be accomplished without eliminating the cap entirely. And the only reason a politician acts that way is because he supports the more drastic, politically unpopular plan, but doesn’t want to get tagged with it before the election, and will say after the election “I only said I would ‘consider’ a doughnut-hole.”

How Barack Obama’s Tax Plan Will Affect You [Microsoft Excel file]

Additional discussion and links, after the jump.

Here’s a photo of lawyers affected by the south Florida blackout, from the Miami Herald:

Here’s the actual caption:

Lawyers, from the left, Alan Lash, Justin Fienberg, and Alex Mendez, not lawyer, working on a project at Greenberg Traurig, on 27th floor of 1221 Brickell, went to lunch and found the building out of power.

ATL readers, we think you can do better. We welcome your suggested alternative captions, in the comments. Assuming sufficient response, we’ll take our favorites, incorporate them into a poll, and hold a caption contest. Thanks.

Update (2/29/08, 10 AM): New entries for the caption contest are no longer being accepted. We are reviewing the current submissions and will post a poll next week. Thanks.

Update (3/3/08): You can vote on the nominees over here.

This latest bit of associate pay raise news is not particularly new. It was conveyed last week, via hard copy letter (in envelopes marked “professional and confidential”).

But we never met a pay raise announcement we didn’t like, so we’ll pass it along. Foley & Lardner — which, by the way, recently announced its new partnership class — has raised the salaries of its non-IP associates in the Milwaukee, Miami, and Detroit offices.

Numbers and tables, after the jump.

From an anxious first-year law student:

I saw this piece on Tax Prof Blog and thought your readers might have some interesting thoughts. NALP has decided next fall the 2Ls only get 45 days to hold an offer for a summer position. See here.

I have a job at a firm this summer that is part of NALP that I am happy about as a 1L but I definitely want to go through OCI. If I leave my job this year at the end of July, the firm will likely notify me by August 15th that I have an offer for the next summer. It would then expire by September 30th!

It seems possible that I could be in the middle of call-backs with other firms and have to decide whether to take a chance on getting a better offer or not. Yikes!

And what about firms that don’t do OCI at my school? I doubt that they will go through submitted resumes, conduct interviews and make offers by then.

So, ATL readers — any advice for our nervous 1L? Or any views on whether this rule change is a good or bad idea?

Update / Correction: According to the analysis of this commenter, the scenario outlined above would not come to pass. We’ve reviewed the NALP rules, which can be accessed in full over here, and we agree with the commenter. See Part V, Section C: “Employers offering positions for the following summer to candidates previously employed by them should leave those offers open until at least November 15.”

2Ls Now Must Respond to Summer Job Offers Within 45 Days [TaxProf Blog]
Full Text of NALP Principles & Standards [NALP]

We didn’t notice this, until a tipster just mentioned it to us: today is the February MBE day. So, to everyone taking the multistate bar examination right now, good luck!

From the same source:

I thought an open thread about the weirdest bar preparation might be entertaining. I immediately thought of you when I was told that the husband of an acquaintance, taking the bar for his second time, decided to “manage” his bathroom breaks by first doing a purge diet the week prior to the bar, and then taking Immodium each day during the exam.

Sorry for the crudeness, but I found this funny, as well as a bit extreme.

No worries. We have a reasonably high tolerance for crassness in these pages.

We also like this suggested topic of bar prep. The February administration of the bar exam is often more difficult to study for than the July administration, since those who sit for the bar in February are more likely to have to juggle their studies with other commitments (e.g., a day job). July exam takers, in contrast, are usually recent law school graduates who have taken the summer off to prepare full-time for the big test.

If you have any good stories about how you prepped for the bar, feel free to share them in the comments.

National Conference of Bar Examiners: MBE [official website]

So how much did Aaron Charney get in his settlement from Sullivan & Cromwell? There has been lots of speculation, but little evidence.

Here’s one fact suggesting that he did pretty well: Aaron Charney just bought a $1.5 million Manhattan condo. As reported by Max Abelson in the New York Observer:

A deed filed in city records suggests that the Sullivan settlement wasn’t minor: Mr. Charney and a partner just paid $1.495 million for a penthouse at the newly converted condo at 93rd Street and Broadway.

According to the floor plan, they’ll have two bedrooms, a 17-foot-long living/dining room and an L-shaped terrace that stretches 50 feet on each wing….

The 987-square-foot terrace, nearly as big as the interior space, is edged by high walls, which means there’s privacy instead of views. “I would consider it extremely private, with an opportunity to take your inside living outdoors,” the broker said.

Sounds fabulous — although quite different from his former home. Charney’s new abode is in a prewar building (pictured), as opposed to the ultra-modern Orion, where he used to live. And it’s in a more staid neighborhood: the Upper West Side, as opposed to the hip and gentrifying Hell’s Kitchen.

But at $1.5 million, Charney’s new home is 50 percent more expensive than his old one, which he sold last year for a little under a million ($150K more than what he paid). So Charney is definitely movin’ on up.

More discussion, including speculation about Aaron Charney’s finances and romances, after the jump.

Update: Since this post was originally published, we’ve appended multiple updates, which appear after the jump.

We received 826 responses to last Thursday’s ATL / Lateral Link survey, which asked you what kind of benefits, leave or part-time policies you would most like your employers to offer.

Both men and women found a reduced-hours track with lower compensation a particularly appealing policy, with roughly a third of male respondents and a quarter of female respondents ranking it their top choice.

However, roughly the same number of female respondents ranked on-site childcare as their top choice, and almost twelve percent of male respondents agreed.

A telecommuting option was also appealing, with more than a quarter of male respondents ranking it as a first choice, and a fifth ranking it #2. Fewer women, 14.4%, ranked a telecommuting policy as the most appealing option a firm could provide, but roughly seventeen to eighteen percent of female respondents ranked telecommuting as their second, third, or fourth choice.

Less than ten percent of men and only 15.7% of women ranked a flex-time policy as their top choice, but it was actually the most popular second choice for respondents of each gender.

Both men and women also generally preferred the idea of a two-year part-time track, treated as one year for seniority purposes, to either longer parental leave or a six-month part-time option.

See charts of responses by both genders, after the jump.

We have previously compared Linda Greenhouse, the veteran Supreme Court correspondent of the New York Times, to Margo Channing, the great but aging diva of All About Eve. The comparison continues to hold.

Just as Margo Channing eventually leaves the thea-tuh, so too does Linda Greenhouse leave the SCOTUS. Ed Whelan, the former Scalia clerk with lots of Court connections, has this report over at Bench Memos:

According to a well-placed Supreme Court source, New York Times reporter Linda Greenhouse is telling folks at the Court that she has accepted a Times buyout package and will be ending her coverage of the Court at the end of the current term.

So that’s the word on One First Street. We have reached out to Linda Greenhouse for comment and will let you know if and when we hear back from her.

If this is true — and we have no reason to doubt it, since it comes from the well-connected Whelan — then Jan Crawford Greenburg is one step closer to being Queen Bee of the Supreme Court press corps. Nina Totenberg, watch your back!

Update: More from Ed Whelan at NRO Online: “On the same day that we learn of Linda Greenhouse’s imminent departure from the New York Times, Greenhouse provides further evidence of her bias….”

Greenhouse’s Departure [Bench Memos / National Review Online]
Re: Breyer’s and Souter’s Drift to the Right? [Bench Memos / National Review Online]

Earlier: All About… Jan?

We’re back with another installment of the Legal Eagle Wedding Watch, where we weigh the relative prestige and fabulosity of the newlywed lawyers who are brave enough to splash their happy news across the pages of the New York Times.

Here are the latest LEWW hopefuls:

1.) Mindy Jaffe and Per Chilstrom

2.) Jennifer Abrams and David Stier

3.) Christine Pelosi and Peter Kaufman

More about these couples, after the jump.

* EU fines Microsoft $1.3B. [New York Times]

* Sinking Eskimo village sues energy companies for global warming. [CNN]

* Polygamist Jeffs charged in Arizona. [MSNBC]

* Mayor recalled over MySpace picture and golf course management. [CNN Video]

* Law Blog chats with “NCAA defender to the stars.” [WSJ Law Blog]

A struggling personal injury lawyer was disbarred last month, for splitting fees with non-lawyers, aiding the unauthorized practice of law, and other offenses. Sounds pretty unexciting, right?

But Keith Rubinstein is no ordinary PI lawyer; don’t cry for him, Argentina. Last year, he beat out Evita — i.e., Madonna, the Material Girl herself — in a bidding war for a $35 million townhouse on the Upper East Side. For more about Rubinstein, see this interesting article, by Anthony Lin in the New York Law Journal.

Rubinstein is used to swanky digs. He previously lived in a West Village townhouse that Will Smith rented for $60,000 a month during the filming of “Hitch.”

Speaking of lawyerly landlords, Charles T. Munger, a founder of Munger, Tolles & Olson, has been in the news lately for real estate reasons. Munger owns the building that houses the popular Dutton’s bookstore in Brentwood, Los Angeles. Dutton’s is closing its doors in April, in part due to rising rents.

But don’t blame the bookstore’s fate on Charlie Munger. From the Los Angeles Times:

The property [housing Dutton’s] is owned by billionaire investor Charles T. Munger and his wife, Nancy. A founder of the Los Angeles law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson, he partnered in 1978 with Warren E. Buffett to run Berkshire Hathaway Inc., a holding company.

Munger was in Washington on Monday and could not be reached. He said in a statement that he would allow Dutton’s to use the space rent-free during the liquidation and that he would cover the $550,000 debt in exchange for the store’s closing. Dutton described the offer as “very gracious and generous.” As part of the deal, Munger said, Dutton would retain the Dutton’s trade name.

With a net worth of $2 billion, Munger can afford to be “very gracious and generous.” Anyone know how bonuses were at Munger this year?

Of course, Keith Rubinstein and Charlie Munger made their fortunes outside the law — through real estate and investing (Berkshire Hathaway), respectively. The moral of the story may be: if you want really big bucks, look beyond the law.

Lawyer Disbarred For Splitting Fees, Other Misconduct [New York Law Journal]
Dutton’s shelf life finally runs out [Los Angeles Times]

* Law school applicants: they got they mind on they money, money on they mind. NY to 190! [TaxProf Blog]

* And can you blame them? Even if 2008 is looking grim, 2007 was another great year for Biglaw. Record PPP, yeah you know me. [Wall Street Journal via WSJ Law Blog]

* How much “faculty deadwood” does your law school or alma mater have? Answers are on the way. [Green Bag / SSRN via Inside Higher Ed via PrawfsBlawg]

* “Pay no attention to that lesbian behind the curtain!” [Huffington Post]

In light of the explosive economic growth of China and the Far East, many top U.S. and global law firms are trying to figure out how to enter Asia. And Above the Law is, too.

We’re looking for someone to write a weekly column for us about practicing law in Asia. It would be similar to ATL’s other columns — e.g., Legal Eagle Wedding Watch, Sports and the Law — but centered on what it’s like to be a lawyer in Asia.

The ideal candidate would be someone currently practicing in Asia. But former and future Asia practitioners would also be considered, as long as they can write knowledgeably about working in Asia, have a network of sources on the ground, etc.

The columnist can write under a pseudonym if desired. The gig comes with pay (a modest stipend). It’s an excellent opportunity for anyone looking to do some fun, non-legal writing, or to share their expat experience with ATL’s large and growing readership.

If you might be interested, please email us (subject line: “Asia column”). Please include a brief bio and a discussion of your vision for the column, including possible topics to write about if you have some in mind.

Thanks! We look forward to reviewing your applications.

Judge George Schiavelli (C.D. Cal.), regarded in some quarters as a judicial hottie, is probably not feeling so hot right now. From the Los Angeles Times:

A Los Angeles County Superior Court jury has ruled against a federal judge who was seeking $21 million after alleging that he was severely injured when he fell from a malfunctioning escalator at an Encino shopping center.

U.S. District Judge George P. Schiavelli, 59, said he was riding the escalator at Encino Place shopping center in August 2005 when it stopped “suddenly and without warning,” knocking him down the stairs and causing permanent injuries, according to court records.

It wasn’t destined to be an easy case for Judge Schiavelli. California is a well-known judicial hellhole for plaintiffs who sue shopping malls. It’s second only to New Jersey in pro-mall bias.

And prejudice against judges may have played a role in the jury’s verdict:

The plaintiff’s lawyer, Browne Greene, said the jury ruled against Schiavelli not because of the merits of his case, but because of his position on the federal bench. “The bias against judges in today’s world is just palpable,” he said Monday evening.

Perhaps another argument in favor of a judicial pay raise?

P.S. What is it about judges who bring suit after falling down escalators or stairs? See also Judge Robert Bork and Judge Paul Chernoff.

Encino judge gets no award in escalator fall [Los Angeles Times]
George P. Schiavelli bio [Federal Judicial Center]
Hotties in the Holding Pen: Untimely SFJ Nominations [Underneath Their Robes]

A brief update on an earlier story. Last week, we mentioned that celebrity cyberlaw prof Larry Lessig, of Stanford Law School, was contemplating a congressional bid. His prospective campaign would be centered on the theme du jour of Change (in this case, of Congress).

Many ATL commenters didn’t think highly of the idea:

“He has NO chance against Jackie Speier.”

“He can’t exactly self-fund, and the primary is just over three months away. I like the fellow well enough, but this seems foolhardy.”

“Jackie Speier has this thing locked up. She has name recognition, prior elected experience, the endorsements of everyone who matters, party money, and a compelling story that involves getting shot several times by crazy people. Beat that.”

Professor Lessig apparently decided he couldn’t. For his official statement on why he decided not to run, see his website.

P.S. Are we sure Professor Lessig couldn’t have pulled this off? After all, he is a former Supreme Court clerk (Posner / Scalia). Those folks can do anything they set their formidable minds to!

From Larry [Lessig08.org]
Lessig Decides Against Run for Congress at Internet Speed [The Lede / New York Times]
Larry Lessig: I’m not running for Congress [The Iconoclast / CNET]

Earlier: Following in Obama’s Footsteps? Professor Lessig Considers Running for Congress

Pity the poor partners of McDermott Will & Emery. Sure, their firm is highly regarded and highly profitable. But when they head off to try cases in far-off places, they often get benchslapped silly.

You may recall the case of bankruptcy partner William Smith, who found himself in the deep-fat fryer after telling a judge she was “a few French Fries short of a Happy Meal.” Although the judge was upset, in the end Smith got a slap on the wrist.

Things didn’t end as happily for Terrence McMahon and Vera Elson, MWE partners based in Silicon Valley. Judge Richard P. Matsch — the tough, well-regarded trial judge who presided over the Oklahoma City bombing case — sanctioned McMahon and Elson for “cavalier and abusive” misconduct and a “what can I get away with?” attitude during trial. From the Denver Post:

A federal judge recently got so infuriated by the conduct of two highly regarded trial attorneys that he overturned a jury’s $51 million verdict, then ordered the lawyers to pay the fees and costs of the opposing lawyers, a sum that could total several million dollars.

Ouch. So is that coming out of their partnership draws?

Or maybe the firm will find other ways to cut costs. Read more, after the jump.

Update: Please note that this post has been corrected since it was first published. The correction appears after the jump.

For his yearbook page, one of our most quiet high school classmates selected this quotation, by Martin Fraquhar Tupper: “Well-timed silence hath more eloquence than speech.”

Justice Clarence Thomas concurs. As reported by the AP, “[t]wo years and 142 cases have passed since Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas last spoke up at oral arguments.”

So what if the “time[]” of CT’s “well-timed silence” has dragged on for two years? Holly Hunter was mute for two hours in The Piano — and she snagged herself an Oscar!

Thomas: No Questions in 2 Years [AP]

According to the non-theme-song song (mp3) of Nixon Peabody, the firm is “the best to work with” and “the best to work for.” At NP, “it’s all about the team, it’s all about respect, it all revolves around integrity.”

And top of the line ingredients. From the Washington Post:

Big-time lawyers are pros at waiting for judges’ tough decisions, but yesterday afternoon at Nixon Peabody in the District, some may have posted fewer billable hours until results of the firm’s 19th annual cook-off were handed down.

The competition pits men against women, which could lead to actionable territory and dangerous stereotyping. Yet, it has helped build camaraderie among all departments, firm employees say, pointing to Nixon Peabody’s ranking among Fortune magazine Top 100 Best Companies to Work For, three years running.

Wow, they really milk that honor for all it’s worth! Kudos to NP’s public relations department for placing this puff piece in the Post. The firm’s PR operation has come a long way from the days when they threatened bloggers over leaked musical homages (and generated unflattering publicity for themselves).

More discussion, after the jump.

There have been some rumblings on this blog of a slowdown in judicial clerk hiring, even as firms raise clerkship bonuses to $50K.

Today’s ATL / Lateral Link survey digs a little deeper into who is (or isn’t) hiring judicial clerks, and what their bonuses look like.

Update: This survey is now closed. Click here or here for the results.

—
Justin Bernold is a Director at Lateral Link, the sponsor of this survey.

[Ed. note: Today we bring you some “news you can use”: a practical look at how political choices might affect your personal finances. This post is by Ted Frank, who blogs at Overlawyered.com and PointofLaw.com, and who has guest edited ATL in the past. Take it away, Ted.]

BigLaw lawyers love Obama. If one searches by law firm various databases on-line for campaign contributions, one sees an overwhelming sea of blue, and most of it to Obama.

But how will Obama affect BigLaw wallets? On Above the Law, we regularly see commenters threaten to abandon law firms for falling $5,000/year short of market. I therefore thought it worthwhile to examine the effects of Obama’s tax and spending plans on take-home pay.

We all know that Obama wants to end the Bush tax cuts. That is a 3% bump across the board to the bad old days when associates faced a marginal federal tax rate of 36%.

But the real hidden tax is that Obama plans to end the social-security tax cap. Right now, you may notice, sometime during the summer or early fall, your take-home pay suddenly goes up because they stop deducting FICA. Current law caps social security taxes: in 2008, the cap is at $102,000. Obama proposes to abolish this. That mid-summer bump will be no more: add about several thousand dollars to your annual tax bill.

But social-security taxes are not only on employees. The government also charges 6.2% to employers that you never see on your W-2s. But rest assured the partners see this, and will notice that the expense of keeping an associate has risen several thousand dollars a year when FICA taxes double and triple. Will they swallow that additional expense, or take it out of your bonus?

Find out, after the jump (or click here).

* President pushes House on FISA. [CNN]

* EPA may exempt “toxic gases” from factory farm reporting requirements. [Washington Post]

* Congress may ask DOJ to investigate Clemens’s testimony, not McNamee’s. [New York Times]

* Ford pushing employees to accept buyout packages. [New York Times]

* UAW strikes at American Axle in MI and NY. [MSNBC]

* Five former execs found guilty in AIG fraud case. [WSJ Law Blog; New York Times]

This just in: the super-fabulous Monica Goodling, one of ATL’s all-time favorite people, is engaged!

Monica Marie Goodling, of Alexandria, is engaged to be married to Michael Krempasky, of Falls Church. The wedding is planned for later this year.

The future bride, a consultant, previously served as senior counsel to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and White House liaison at the U.S. Department of Justice. She graduated cum laude from Messiah College and received J.D. and M.A. degrees from Regent University.

Mr. Krempasky is a senior vice president at Edelman, a full-service, global public relations firm. He is also a founder of RedState, a leading conservative blog.

Although Monica Goodling and Mike Krempasky are a “power couple” here in Washington, their story goes back more than a decade and originates outside the Beltway. Look for more details later, either in these pages or elsewhere (e.g., their official engagement or wedding announcement).

Update: More details about their courtship appear here.

Congratulations and best wishes to the happy couple! Full-size engagement photographs, exclusive to ATL, appear after the jump.

* “Can Michigan universities use proxies for race after the ban on racial preferences?” Professor Brian Fitzpatrick answers in the negative. [PrawfsBlawg]

* ATL’s new sports columnist, Marc Edelman, gets a shout-out from Brett Trout in Blawg Review #148. [BlawgIT via Blawg Review]

* Who’s the most scandalous Filipino lawyer in America? Your undersigned blogger, of course! [Philippine Daily Inquirer via ABA Journal; Soloway]

Florida lawyer Jack Thompson, who is completely crazy somewhat colorful, has surfaced in these pages before. But he has never been an ATL Lawyer of the Day.

With this post, we officially bestow the honor upon him. From Game Politics:

[T]he Florida Supreme Court alleged [last] week that controversial Miami attorney Jack Thompson has “abused the legal system by submitting numerous frivolous and inappropriate filings in this Court.”…

The Daily Business Review reports that a December document was specifically mentioned in the Court’s show cause order (PDF) to Thompson:

“The court described one of Thompson’s recent filings in detail. [Thompson] dubbed it a ‘children’s picture book for adults,’ interspersing images with text in his motion due to ‘the court’s inability to comprehend’ his arguments.”

Seriously. Check part of the filing out by clicking here (Word document). It sure is purdy, ain’t it?

Despite that order to show cause from the Florida Supremes, Thompson is unrepentant. As he told the Daily Business Review:

I have a right to file anything I want with the court. It is beyond bizarre that they think they can tell me I can’t seek relief. They can deny relief, but they can’t tell me I can’t seek relief.

So go ahead, Jack, and file “anything [you] want” with the court. Remember the time you filed gay porn in federal court? That went over really well…

Did This Document Bring Florida Supreme Court’s Wrath Down Upon Jack Thompson? [GamePolitics.com]
Anti-porn crusader may face sanctions for ‘meritless filings’ [Daily Business Review]

Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of Jack Thompson (scroll down)

A very odd fact pattern. Attention law professors: perhaps you can use this as fodder for a final exam hypothetical?

Railroad worker files suit claiming goose attacked him [Charleston Daily Mail]

We bring you some news from the University of Virginia School of Law, which last year was voted America’s Coolest Law School by the readers of Above the Law. UVA has a new dean: Professor Paul Mahoney. Congratulations, Dean-To-Be Mahoney!

Professor Mahoney, who will replace John C. Jeffries Jr. as dean when Jeffries steps down in July, has a glittering resume: MIT, Yale Law, clerkships for Judge Winter (2d Cir.) and Justice Marshall, and four years at S&C. He joined the UVA law faculty in 1990. Word on the street is that Paul Mahoney was “the internal favorite” and that “students [are] pleased” by his selection, which didn’t come as a surprise:

[H]e was widely expected to be the guy. I’m sitting in his wife’s class right now (she’s a prof here too), and not even she [Professor Julia D. Mahoney] has said anything about it. Just prattling on about bailments…

Meanwhile, while we’re training the spotlight on Charlottesville:

Journal tryouts are ongoing at UVA and presumably other law schools. This is the official Feb Club blog’s take on journal tryouts…

It’s an entertaining post, characterizing journal tryouts as “a Pyramid Scheme of misery”; check it out here. Elsewhere on the Feb Club blog, a group blog devoted to the monthlong cycle of parties at UVA Law, you can find delicious photos of shirtless studs and busty babes. Check out the main page by clicking here.

Update: In other UVA-related news, Professor Michael Klarman, who is beloved by students and faculty alike, is moving to Harvard Law School.

Paul G. Mahoney—Scholar, Teacher, and Corporate Law Expert—Named University of Virginia Law School Dean [University of Virginia School of Law]
Paul G. Mahoney bio [University of Virginia School of Law]
Journal Tryouts are the Biggest Scam in the Law School [Feb Club Is Why Daddy Left]
Michael Klarman to join HLS faculty [Harvard Law School]

Earliest: Congratulations to America’s Coolest Law School: UVA!

We tend to emphasize Biglaw over the in-house world here at ATL. When we do talk about in-house lawyers, it’s often in the context of their complaining about the legal bills they get from large law firms — and how much first- and second-year associates earn these days, despite being short on knowledge and experience.

But don’t shed tears for chief legal officers, general counsels, and the in-house lawyers who work under them. As shown in our latest batch of survey results, they’re very happy with their jobs.

Part of that happiness may stem from their compensation. Check out this Inside Counsel report (PDF) on in-house compensation, or this Legal Blog Watch summary of the report. While they may make less than their counterparts in large law firms, they’re still doing very well for themselves.

For GCs’ Salaries, Survey Says: Ka-ching! [Legal Blog Watch]
Payday: How does your compensation compare? [InsideCounsel]
Payday: Full Report (PDF) [Inside Counsel]

Earlier: Featured Job Survey: Does the In-House Always Win?

The powers-that-be at Mayer Brown have made their decisions on bonus and salary adjustments, as announced in an email last night. And it appears that they’ve taken a page from the Dechert playbook, according to one associate:

“The second paragraph [of the memo] is a shock. We were never informed of financial ramifications for failing to enter our time.”

It might be slightly annoying, but it’s the growing trend. Expect more firms to adopt policies that tie compensation to timely time entry. Email exhortations without financial consequences don’t seem to be very effective.

(And it’s arguably not that big an imposition. You already slave away at the firm for ten or twelve hours a day — so what’s another five minutes at the end, to enter your time before heading home? It’s just a matter of getting into the habit of doing it, instead of letting a backlog build up.)

The Mayer Brown memo, after the jump.

We received 1,062 responses to our ATL / Lateral Link survey on in-house aspirations.

As shown in the charts below, over half of associates are satisfied or even “very satisfied” with their current positions, but about half would still like to go in-house.

Associate Responses: Are You Satisfied With Your Current Job?

Associate Responses: Would You Like To Go In-House?

Find out why and where associates want to move, and what in-house counsel are thinking themselves, after the jump.

Until recently, fans were limited in their ability to become involved in the business side of sports. Now, however, three businesses are bringing fans a tad closer: (1) a soon-to-be launched, publicly owned professional football league known as the UFL; (2) a democratically run British soccer club called Ebbsfield United FC; and (3) an Internet-based business that sells future interests in the earnings of minor league baseball players.

UFL Public Offering

The story of fan ownership in pro sports inevitably begins with a New York Times article that ran last summer, announcing that financier Bill Hambrecht and Google executive Tim Armstrong were planning to launch a new publicly owned professional football league called the UFL. The UFL is slated to begin play in August 2008 with eight teams, each owned 50 percent by wealthy investors and 50 percent by public shareholders. A date for the initial public offering (“IPO”) is still pending.

The UFL is in the process of choosing its host cities, and it is doing so in an interesting way. With help from an online ticketing partner, prospective customers currently may purchase seating options in thirteen different cities. Whichever eight of these cities sells the most options will land the league’s first franchises.

Column continues, after the jump.

* DNC accuses Sen. McCain of election law violations. [CNN; Washington Post]

* “Vista capable” class action certified. [MSNBC]

* EA makes $2B bid for Grand Theft Auto’s Take-Two; execs respond by lighting street fires and shooting at cars. [New York Times]

* Exxon Valdez case finally reaches SCOTUS, potentially turning on obscure piracy law. [Washington Post]

* Security experts trace criminal ninja hackers. [cnet]

* “Like to Golf? San Diego Law Firm Seeks Associate Rainmakers.” Maybe the associate who can lift 25 pounds can be your caddy. [ABA Journal]

* Columbia law professor Hans Smit, whose Manhattan mansion we have covered extensively in these pages, turns down a $20 million offer for the property (which he bought for $325,000, back in 1979). [WSJ.com (scroll down to last item)]

* Not getting a “World’s Greatest Kid” mug: “Our son hired a hit man to kill us.” [ABC News]

* Request for submissions: “Most Screwed Victims in Caselaw History.” [PrawfsBlawg]

A quick update on yesterday’s post about Seyfarth Shaw. A source there tells us:

Here are the “official” numbers for Seyfarth NYC and “Others,” excluding Atlanta (no idea where they are — presumably lower). Great for the mid/upper classes, but no so great for 1st-2nd years. Some grumbling also from income partners since they don’t get paid a whole lot more than a senior associate and have to deal with all the administrative headaches associated with income partner status.

For those of you who are interested, the salary ranges appear after the jump.

One nice thing about unpublished or non-precedential opinions is that judges feel free to have fun when writing them. When your words aren’t going to be memorialized in the august pages of F.3d or F. Supp. 2d, you can take some stylistic liberties.

A source drew our attention to Vitaich v. City of Chicago, No. 94 C 692, 1995 U.S. Dist LEXIS 11804, at * 3-4 (N.D. Ill. Aug. 16, 1995), a colorful unpublished decision by Judge David H. Coar (N.D. Ill.). Here’s a squib from the recitation of the facts:

Even though plaintiffs have filed a total of three complaints, the essential facts do not vary. They allege the following: plaintiffs had been throwing down a few cool ones at a neighborhood watering hole euphemistically named, “The Great Beer Palace.” Around the witching hour our two princes crossed the threshold of the establishment into the moonless night. The princes and the palace’s draughtsman exchanged vulgar calumnies as they left. Of a sudden, the princes were set upon by the three of the Dreaded Wearers of the Blue [i.e., police officers] known commonly as Cole, Ignowski, and Ogliore. The princes suffered unmentionable tortures at the hands of these rabid beasts. Prince Vitaich attempted to escape on his trusty steed “Harley” but a masked Blue Wearer felled the steed, trapping Sir Vitaich (of Virginia) under it and causing him great pain and anguish. The princes shouted for a paladin or a shire reeve to aide them in their distress, but what great irony upon their discovery that the very Wearers of the Blue were the self-same Defenders of Justice they had summoned, like an invocation gone awry. Oh cruel fate. “We are the defenders of the land of stinking onions whom you seek!” they cried. With that, they vanished into the night, their laughter echoing through the deserted appia on the Avenue of Lincoln. By such a tortuous troubled path have come our wounded princes to this High Court by sealed writ, calling the Wearers of the Blue and the hamlet that gives them succor to task for invading the rights set down by the Tapestry of Edicts known as the Constitution. (citations omitted).

If you go in for a clerkship interview with Judge Coar, bring your 20-sided dice.

Here’s some follow-up on last week’s post about bonuses at Heller Ehrman. We don’t mean to pick on them, but we have talkative sources over there, it’s been a slow day (even setting aside earlier technical difficulties that took the site offline for a while), and this is what we happen to have in the hopper.

A tipster tells us:

[T]he big news from [last week’s] meeting was the news that the firm will not be departing in any way from the bonus memo that was put out at the time of Heller’s non-raise last summer (click here (PDF)). In other words, a class of 2002 associate with over 2400 hours last year is guaranteed only $45,500 — approximately $55k less than s/he would have received for billing 2100 hours down the street at Quinn.

After last month’s news that MoFo (which had announced a very similar non-raise and bonus structure) was upping everyone’s bonus by $10k-$20k, the associates here were hopeful (and basically expected) that Heller would do the same; the firm always claims that it doesn’t pay attention to what NY firms or LA firms do (without giving any good explanation, given that it has more associates in those two offices (combined) than it does in SF), and generally names Orrick and MoFo as the firms it looks at as “peers” — though it notably stopped mentioning Orrick as soon as Orrick raised without slashing bonuses last summer. It’s unclear who the firm now sees as its “peers,” since I don’t know of any AmLaw 100 firms that pay as little as Heller does.

The firm will likely respond to this discontent, if at all, by trotting out its old schtick about how its “culture” is so different from that of law firms that pay more. This may have been true 10 years ago, and is undoubtedly still true if you’re comparing it to, say, Skadden. But this place is no different than Orrick or MoFo or Latham in terms of how associates spend their time (and how much of it they spend), and how they’re treated. I can’t think of any reason I could legitimately give to a law student of why they should come here if they had offers from these other CA firms; I certainly would choose differently if I were a 2L now. Expect increased lateral departures, regardless of what the firm says it will do for bonuses next year.

Earlier: Associate Bonus Watch: Heller Ehrman

Here is today’s ATL / Lateral Link Job of the Week. In 2007, Lateral Link secured attorneys offers at more than half of the Vault Top 100 firms and numerous corporations and funds.

Position: Senior Vice President and Counsel
Location: Orange County, California
Description: Investment firm focused on growth companies in both the US and in Asia is seeking a Senior Vice President/Counsel. Firm has offices in both Newport Beach, CA and Hong Kong, and manages both public and private investments through various portfolios in both jurisdictions.

Duties will include:
* Oversee legal structure of the firm and monitor investment advisor regulations.
* Draft basic legal documents, including term sheets and letters of intent/memorandums of understanding.
* Set up US investment vehicles.
* Liaise with HK outside counsel on setting up foreign investment vehicles and with China based transactions.
* Negotiate investment subscriptions with clients.

Position Requirements:
• Mid-senior level associate with transactional, investment management and securities experience
• The position is based in Newport Beach or Los Angeles (company prefers if candidate can work from Newport Beach Office several days a week)
• Flexibility to travel between LA and Hong Kong every 5 to 6 weeks (and more frequently depending on needs)
• Compensation will be based on candidate experience but will include base salary, bonus, and a comprehensive benefits package

Company Description: This investment firm is focused on growth companies in both the US and in Asia is seeking Senior Vice President/Counsel. The firm has offices in both Newport Beach, CA and Hong Kong, and manages both public and private investments through various portfolios in both jurisdictions.

For more information, see job # 8063 on Lateral Link.

Earlier: Prior Job of the Week listings (scroll down)

This morning we’ve been hearing rumors of associate layoffs at Thacher Proffitt & Wood. As you may recall from ATL’s prior coverage (scroll down), TPW has reduced its ranks over the past few months, through voluntary departures. But those departures took place after the firm warned that it might have to resort to layoffs.

Apparently something went down at the firm yesterday afternoon. Some sources characterized what happened as layoffs, with affected associates given until May to leave. But we contacted the firm, which denied the rumors and issued this statement:

Thacher Proffitt has not done layoffs. We have increased our efforts to provide associates with outplacement in practice areas that have been most affected by current market conditions.

We take the firm at its word; they’ve been pretty candid in the past about their personnel decisions and how they’ve been affected by the credit crunch. If you have the inside scoop on what took place yesterday, please email us. Thanks.

Here’s some interesting follow-up to yesterday’s post about the new mandatory arbitration policy that Kirkland & Ellis has imposed upon its associates. From Karen Donovan, over at Portfolio.com:

There have been many stories about how the big law firms coddle associates with lush perks and big bonuses. Now there is some tough love. Kirkland & Ellis has sent a memo to its associates informing that should there be a dispute with their employer that cannot be resolved internally, they will have to go arbitration, rather than court.

The new policy, first reported by David Lat of the AboveTheLaw.com blog, asks employees to hit the “acknowledge” tab on this e-mail by March 3.

If you’re a K&E associate hoping to escape the clutches of the new policy, good luck (unless you’re in California):

“Continued employment in most states is adequate compensation for an arbitration procedure,” says Michael Casey III, a Miami partner with Epstein Becker & Green, a law firm that specializes in employment and labor issues. Casey has advised a number of firms to put mandatory arbitration policies in to place. He says a number of big law firms have them, but he declined to name names.

There’s still hope for those Kirkland associates who toil in the firm’s Los Angeles and San Francisco offices. A decision from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit struck down a mandatory arbitration policy at O’Melveny & Myers. The Ninth Circuit has generally found “these are contracts of adhesion or unconscionable,” says Gary Friedman, an employment partner with Weil, Gotshal & Manges. But Friedman says arbitration agreements are “still relative rarities” in the world of law firms.

K&E itself stayed mum on the subject: “‘We don’t comment about employment matters,’ says Jay Lefkowitz, a New York partner on the firm’s global management committee.”

No Court for These Lawyers [Portfolio]

Earlier: Kirkland & Ellis: We Love Minorities! (But don’t dare take us to court if you are one. Instead, please sign our mandatory arbitration policy. Thanks!)

On Fridays, we like to poll our readership on random subjects. Often these reader polls relate to matters of style and usage. Past polls have covered such important topics as favorite email sign-offs and whether to use “pleaded” or “pled” in legal writing.

Here’s today’s topic. It’s about what to call a version of a document in which changes from a prior version — or, more generally, divergences from a different version — are indicated on the face of the document (e.g., with strikethrough text showing deleted language, or double-underscored text showing added language).

From a curious tipster:

Is it “redline” or “blackline”? What is the difference, and why does my Asset Management group seem to use one, and M&A the other? Could this be the basis of an ATL usage survey?

FWIW, this Google Answers thread is the only online discussion I have found of this matter, and it is not especially responsive.

We’re curious as well. In the chambers in which we clerked, such documents were called “redlines.” But at the law firm for which we worked, most of our colleagues called them “blacklines.”

What’s your preference? Take the poll below, and opine in the comments.

* Time magazine will take one final appeal in the Indonesian defamation case that awarded former President Suharto over $100 million in damages. [New York Times]

* A third West Virginia Supreme Court justice refuses to recuse in the Massey Energy case. [Charleston Gazette via How Appealing]

* Duke lacrosse team players — not the indicted ones, but current and former players who claim the indictment of their three teammates caused them emotional distress and invaded their privacy — have filed a federal lawsuit against Duke, Durham, and various school and police officials. [WSJ Law Blog]

* Concerns over possible DOJ antitrust action loom over XM and Sirius share prices. [AP]

* And you thought a $160,000 starting salary was nice. Some doormen at Las Vegas clubs clear over $400,000 a year. [Las Vegas Review-Journal via Drudge]

Faced with a challenging job market, law school students are turning to the web. See, e.g., 3L for Hire.

And now they’re advertising on… craigslist? Well, if it’s good enough for law firms — at least the kind that require the ability to lift 25 pounds — it’s good enough for students, too.

From the Austin craigslist:

I am a second year law student seeking a summer opportunity with a DFW medium/small law firm. I attend Texas Wesleyan University and maintain a 3.22 GPA. I am a hard working, and dedicated individual. I wil be happy to provide my transcript and resume upon request.

Thank you.

Maybe this student should try posting in the “missed connections” section of craigslist? lawstudent4job - 25 - (austin).

Craigslist may work better for finding a personal relationship (or selling used furniture). Check out this ad:

Law Student seeks Cinderella - 25.

I am a 25 year old law student. 5’ 9”. 160 lbs. Blonde hair, blue eyes, from Kansas City. I am single, never been married, no children, and have a Bachelor of Science degree, a Masters of Arts degree, and am a first year law student. I am looking to meet a woman and take her to a formal event for my law school called “Barristers Ball” (Essentially a Law School Prom). Dinner, drinks, and dancing will be provided at no cost to you. I am just looking for a lovely lady to take to the event for “Arm-Candy.” Responses must include an “Actual” full body photo of yourself and you must be willing to meet sometime soon on the weekend for drinks. I do enjoy drinking and I smoke occasionally when I drink. If this bothers you…please do not respond. Please Note: The child in the photo is not mine (It is my Nephew)…

We understand that the student in question is at the University of Miami — a law school that has provided ample ATL fodder. Click here, then scroll down, to review UM’s past exploits.

Second Year Law Student Seeks Summer Opportunity [craigslist - austin]
Law Student seeks Cinderella - 25 [craiglist - miami]

Tonight’s theme: presidential politics.

* John Edwards could end up being the next Attorney General. Ted Frank takes a tough look at one of Edwards’s most celebrated cases. [The American]

* Random factoid: “Obama’s vol. 104 is the least-cited volume of the Harvard Law Review in the last 20 years.” [Volokh Conspiracy (comment by LawStatMan) via TaxProf Blog]

* Speaking of Barack Obama, what cologne does he wear? [copyranter]

* Who’s hyping Huma? [Big Head DC]

As recently mentioned in these pages, the internal slogan of the post-merger Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell is “One Firm, One Future.”

Some firms, however, take the opposite view. We’ve just discovered a Southern California boutique whose motto might as well be “Two Firms for the Price of One.” Or maybe “Corporate Work and Plaintiffs’ Work: Two Great Tastes That Taste Great Together.” A tipster tells us:

My friend just interviewed at a place called Zuber & Taillieu in Los Angeles. You know, Olivier Taillieu — the guy who filed suit on behalf of the frat boys from Borat….

Ah yes, we do recall. Look back at this post. Engaging in Gallion & Spielvogel-esque self-promotion, Olivier Taillieu described himself as follows: “[Olivier clerked] for the Honorable A. Wallace Tashima on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, one of the most prestigious and sought-after clerkships in the country. Following his clerkships, he entered private practice as a litigator in the Intellectual Property and Technology Department in the Los Angeles office of O’Melveny & Myers, LLP, one of the top 15 law firms in the country as ranked by revenue by The American Lawyer.”

Back to our source:

Well, get this. What that firm doesn’t announce on their “corporate” website is that they have an evil twin: a plaintiffs’ side alter ego, called ZT Personal Injury Law Group. Exact same attorneys, but this time, you can call them at 1-866-SUE-2-WIN. Pay particular attention to the language about penises and vaginas on the firm’s Child Molestation page.

It looks like this “O’Melveny spinoff” isn’t doing QUITE the same caliber work as they’d have you believe…

Indeed. We checked out that “Child Molestation Law” page, which features such lovely words as “vagina,” “rectum,” and “penile penetration” — not your standard law firm website fare. Here’s an excerpt:

If someone you know is a victim of sexual abuse, contact one of our child molestation attorneys today to find out what ZT Personal Injury Law Group can do for you. We offer a FREE consultation, and we don’t get paid unless you win!

Well, look on the bright side: at least these ex-OMM lawyers are doing well for themselves. They’re hiring more lawyers and expanding their firm — which is more than can be said for the O’Melveny mother ship, with its rumored layoffs.

Update: As some commenters remind us, Olivier Taillieu was a contestant on that short-lived reality TV show, The Law Firm.

Zuber & Taillieu LLP [official website]
ZT Personal Injury Law Group [official website]
The Law Firm [Wikipedia]

Earlier: Still More About Borat

Since we’ll be speaking at the University of Chicago very soon, we thought it would be topical to share with you the interesting responses we received to our earlier request for stories about presidential candidate Barack Obama as a U. Chicago law prof.

The general consensus: he’s awesome, as beloved in the classroom as he is on the campaign trail. Several raves appeared in the comments, and we also received some via email. First, from Professor D. Daniel Sokol (who also blogs, at the Antitrust & Competition Policy Blog):

I had Obama as a prof when I was at the University of Chicago for a seminar on race and the law. His title of Senior Lecturer is one that only a few people hold— the others are Richard Posner, Frank Easterbrook and Diane Wood — all former Chicago full time faculty members now on the 7th Circuit.

Obama was an amazing professor and in many ways, I wish I could be as effective in the classroom as he was. He engaged students in the material and showed great skill at eliciting good student comments and managing class discussion. Obama also integrated in social science empirical literature into our discussions to better inform some of the normative discussions that we had. I thought he managed intellectual diversity very well, as we had a spectrum of students from libertarians and conservatives on one hand to radicals on the other.

Additional anecdotes, plus a digression on Obama’s views on the Second Amendment and gun control, after the jump.

Here’s some quick follow-up to yesterday’s post about Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell (which has a nice new logo — kudos to their graphic designer). An unhappy tipster tells us:

Jerry Clement’s compensation memo is attached. Also attached is an email from Jerry announcing the departure of eight partners from LLBL’s Chicago office.

These eight partners left yesterday to join DLA. Some commenters inaccurately called these partners “old.” Four are under 45. Two other partners announced their departures on Friday (these two are not going to DLA). Together these ten partners purportedly generated roughly 9-10% of LB&B’s billable work in 2007.

Check out the memos, plus an account of the recent associates’ meeting, after the jump.

So far, we’ve posted three sets of results from last week’s ATL / Lateral Link survey on leave and part-time arrangements:

 • your thoughts on whether you would rather work fewer hours for less pay,
 • a running table of firms’ paid maternity leave policies (mirrored here and updated today to add King & Spalding), and
 • a breakdown of part-time and flex-time availability.

Today we’ll discuss a fourth set of results: childcare support. But first, a fresh survey! One reader of the maternity leave results made an interesting point in the comments:

I would imagine these stats to be far less important to working moms than how permissive a firm is with flexible schedules. The maternity leave is a one time deal at the very beginning of the baby’s life, but the child will need the mom to be there for far longer.

Also, family friendly policies such as long maternity leave and flex schedules provide significant benefits to society in general. Firms too benefit in many ways.

Some of yesterday’s results suggest our tipster is right, but which policies really matter most to you? Let’s find out:

Update: This survey is now closed. Click here for the results.

Find out how law firms fare on childcare options after the jump.

We bring you two interesting updates on our friends at Kirkland & Ellis — one important, and one silly.

Let’s start with the trivial, and work our way up. First, from a tipster:

The balkanization of Kirkland & Ellis continues. Why should an “informal, visible network for attorneys to exchange ideas, provide support, and develop relationships” be based on race and/or sexual orientation? What’s next, separate cafeterias and drinking fountains?

A recent email from The Kirkland & Ellis LLP Diversity Committee reads:

Kirkland & Ellis Diversity Networking Forums (Chicago Office)

On behalf of the Diversity Committee, I am proud to announce a new addition to our diversity programming, Diversity Networking Forums. The main purpose of the Diversity Networking Forums is to provide an informal, visible network for attorneys to exchange ideas, provide support, and develop relationships. There will be four Diversity Networking Forums:

Asian Diversity Networking Forum
Black Diversity Networking Forum
Hispanic/Latino Diversity Networking Forum
GLBT Diversity Networking Forum

The Diversity Networking Forums are open to all Chicago Kirkland attorneys. If you are interested in becoming a part of any of these forums, please email Attorney Training and Development at [xxxx] by February 8 and indicate which forums you would like to join.

Note that the forums are “open to all.” We wonder if that language was added to avoid a psuedo-controversy like the one over K&E’s big gay party. We also wonder why you’d join one of these networking forums if you weren’t a member of the group in question. But see “fag hags” signing up for the LGBT group.

Okay, on to the second update. Perhaps in an effort to avoid an Aaron Charney debacle — or, on a smaller scale, a Schoenfeld v. Allen & Overy or a Morisseau v. DLA Piper — K&E has enacted a mandatory employment arbitration policy, applicable to all associates. From a tipster:

Kirkland just sent a memo to all of its associates, which they had to sign, reminding them that they were at will employees, and telling them they had to agree to arbitrate any employment dispute. Apparently a response to Charney-gate.

If you’re interested — perhaps you’re a labor and employment lawyer, or a Biglaw partner looking to foist such a policy on the associates at your own firm — check out the memo, after the jump.

Gotta love an elected judiciary. From the New Orleans Times-Picayune:

A Shreveport judge’s excessive use of prescription drugs led her to disgrace the judiciary by missing work, falling asleep on the bench, and at times talking gibberish to convicts, the Louisiana Supreme Court has ruled in a 7-0 decision that permanently removed her from office.

LaLeshia Walker Alford, first elected to the Shreveport City Court in 1997, was removed from the Caddo Parish bench and ordered to reimburse the state $5,000 for the cost of the investigation that began six years ago.

We especially appreciated the article’s deadpan subhead: “Absences, gibberish on bench recounted.”

So how did this all get started?

Alford, a Tulane Law School graduate who was re-elected in 2002, fell under state investigation after an anonymous complaint May 27, 2002, accused her of missing work regularly, canceling court without any notice, and presiding on the bench impaired, inarticulate, and at times nodding off. At one point, Alford threw a 15-year-old boy into an adult lock-up after fuming over his poor report card….

Dozing off on the bench? No big deal. One well-regarded federal judge has his clerks bring him a pitcher of ice cubes and a glass while he’s on the bench, so he can chew on ice to stay awake.

But napping on the bench is just the tip of the iceberg for Judge Walker Alford. Check out some excerpts of her judicial gibberish, after the jump.

We’ve confirmed the news, which surfaced previously in the comments, about the pay raise announcement by Seyfarth Shaw. Here’s what one source told us:

The Chicago office had an all-associate meeting [yesterday]. First- and second-year associates will stay lockstep — $145K for first years, $155K for second years — while third- through eighth-years will get “market” base salary ranges. Not clear where anyone will fall in the ranges yet, since we don’t find out until the week of March 3.

The bonus pool remains the same as last year, which means no “extraordinary” bonuses. (But there seems to be room to reward top performers one way or another.)

The managing partner of the office made a crack about sending him anonymous questions by posting them “on Wikipedia,” so perhaps it’s time for a higher profile for you.

Additional information, including ranges for selected classes, after the jump.

* Supreme Court, in nearly unanimous decision (RBG dissent), protects medical device makers from lawsuits, finding suits preempted by FDA approval. [New York Times; Drug and Device Law; Riegel v. Medtronic (PDF)]

* NYT report links John McCain to a comely female lobbyist, Vicki Iseman (who bears a resemblance to his wife Cindy; see picture). [New York Times]

* Is this her Alamo? Clinton debates Obama in Texas tonight. [Houston Chronicle]

* Will Mel Weiss of Milberg Weiss cut a plea deal? [WSJ Law Blog]

* An update on the William & Mary firestorm that we covered earlier: prominent D.C. lawyer Robert Blair resigns from the W&M governing board. [Washington Post]

* Nicolas Cage in Face / Off with IRS. [TaxProf Blog]

* Former AIG CEO wins court victory over key document discovery. [DealBook / NYT]

* Online writer sues NYC over press passes. [New York Sun via Drudge]

From a blast email we received yesterday from Sullivan & Cromwell (yes, we’re on the S&C distribution list):

Please note Sullivan & Cromwell LLP’s representation of Microsoft (U.S.) in its proposed US$ 44.6 billion acquisition of Yahoo! (U.S.), announced February 1, 2008. The S&C team on the transaction includes corporate/M&A partners James Morphy, Duncan McCurrach and Alexandra Korry in New York and Eric Krautheimer in Los Angeles.

If you followed the Aaron Charney saga as obsessively as we did, you’ll recall that Krautheimer and Korry were the tale’s two main villains — partners who, even if not harboring antigay bias, weren’t exactly the most fun people to work for. From an associate’s perspective, working on a high-profile deal for this dynamic duo must be super-exciting, but not without its challenges.

Programming note: For those of you in Chicago, we’ll be having a little ATL “happy hour,” starting in about half an hour. We’ll be hanging out in the Loop, at Miller’s Pub (134 S. Wabash btw. E. Adams and E. Monroe), from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Swing by and say hi if you’re in the neighborhood.

* Keen observations and provocative reflections about Michael Clayton, which Yale Law grad Patrick Radden Keefe describes as “an indictment of the mercenary universe of white-shoe law firms and a devastating—and unusually accurate—look at the demoralized lives of the lawyers who work for them.” [Slate via WSJ Law Blog]

* We usually dislike law firm ads with animal themes. But this one, for Womble Carlyle, is pretty darn cute. [copyranter]

* A sex-ed license? So what’s the equivalent of parallel parking on the licensing test? [PrawfsBlawg]

* Judge sentences molester to hell. Commenter: “That will teach him. My wife is the cook there.” [Syracuse.com]

Results are still flowing in from last week’s ATL / Lateral Link survey on leave and part-time arrangements. So far, we’re up to almost 700 responses, and we have received quite a few tips about maternity leave.

The running table of firms’ paid maternity leave policies that we posted yesterday has now been updated to include new information on Heller Ehrman, Nixon Peabody, Kaye Scholer, Cahill Gordon, Kirkland & Ellis, Freshfields, Kramer Levin, Thelen Reid, Goodwin Procter, and to correct information on Winston & Strawn and Mayer Brown.

Today, let’s talk about how associates view their firms’ policies, and also explore the availability of part-time, flex-time, and other alternative work/life-styles.

Overall, it looks like firms have room to improve:

Discussion continues, after the jump.

We sometimes find the Obama campaign to be maddeningly perfect. So Texas attorney Kirk Watson wins our Lawyer of the Day prize, for managing to humanize — through his screw-up, on national television — this picture-perfect, messianic movement.

A good summary, from a tipster:

Last night, at around 11 p.m., Chris Matthews really humiliated Texas state senator Kirk Watson. Watson was unable to name any of Obama’s legislative accomplishments, even though Watson has endorsed Obama. The video is awkwardly amusing and available over at Wonkette.

The legal link? Turns out, Watson graduated first in his class from Baylor Law School.

Another source from the Lone Star State adds: “Watson is very ambitious — much like Queen Hillary. He’s a partner with K&L Gates in Austin, although no one knows if he does any real legal work.”

Here’s one well-edited version of the video (see below; for a more complete clip, go here). Kirk Watson tries to dodge the question, but Chris Matthews, like a tough appellate judge grilling a hapless advocate, won’t let go:

Chris Matthews Angrily Harasses Obama Supporter To Death [Wonkette]
Video: Another Obama supporter can’t name anything Obama has actually done [Hot Air]
Chris Matthews Interviews Sen. Kirk Watson [YouTube]
Kirk Watson [official website]
Kirk P. Watson bio [K&L Gates]

The stereotypical law professor might be viewed as too disengaged from the “real world” to be a good politician. But as Barack Obama shows, it’s quite possible to move from legal academia into political life.

Now another prominent young law prof — who, by the way, is an outspoken Obama supporter — is contemplating Congress. From a Stanford Law School source:

Larry Lessig is considering a congressional run to replace Tom Lantos. Seems to have sparked a lot of energy and attention here on campus and in the Silicon Valley the last day or two.

No discussion yet about what happens to his Con Law class if he decides to run.

As Professor Lessig recently told the WSJ Law Blog, he wants to change the political process, primarily by reducing the influence of money and lobbyists on policy decisions. And what better way to reform the system than from within?

If you’re interested in expressing support for Professor Lessig, check out the links collected below. The Draft Lessig Facebook group already has over 3,000 members — but surely they’d welcome more.

Lessig ‘08 [official website]
Draft Lessig - Change Congress
Draft Lessig for Congress [Facebook]
Law Blog Q&A With Lawrence Lessig [WSJ Law Blog]

Time for lunch. We leave you with this appetizing email, which went out yesterday to the students and faculty of UC Hastings College of the Law.

From: [redacted]
Subject: Installation of green bike enclosure
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2008 13:21:33 -0800
To: [U.C. Hastings students and faculty]

Please be advised.

The new green bike enclosure for 200 McAllister is scheduled for installation on Wednesday, February 20, 2008. Due to nature of work involved (metal cutting, welding and lifting of heavy panels), the site will be off limits to all students, staff and faculty till Friday, February 22, 2008.

We apologize for the incontinence and the short notice. Thank you for your cooperation and support.

It’s not just Pepper Hamilton. Email screw-ups are committed by even the most renowned lawyers — like longtime Skadden Arps partner Sheila Birnbaum, a living legend of the product liability defense bar. As we previously wrote, “Birnbaum, who heads Skadden’s Complex Mass Tort and Insurance Group, has a nickname reflecting her expertise: ‘The Queen of Toxic Torts.’”

From the Insurance Coverage Blog:

Some of [Mississippi Attorney General] Jim Hood’s proneness to gaffes must have rubbed off on Sheila Birnbaum of Skadden, Arps, a lead counsel for State Farm, when she was down in Mississippi to hear Hood testify February 6….

Birnbaum accidentally replied to all the people on the distribution list for an e-mail Hood’s press spokeswoman sent out this morning to a number of people, including reporters. Birnbaum thought she was responding to other State Farm lawyers.

Ah, the perils of “reply all.” Perhaps a CLE course should be given on how to use it properly?

(Part of the class could be devoted to client confidentiality issues. I Can Haz Ethics Credits?)

P.S. Birnbaum, by the way, does very nicely for herself. Back in May 2001, Forbes published an interesting list of some of the country’s highest-paid corporate lawyers. Birnbaum reportedly earned $3.8 million a year — and that was back in 2000-2001, before the latest Biglaw boom.

State Farm attorney mistakenly sends query about having Hood held in contempt to reporters, Hood’s press spokesperson [Insurance Coverage Blog]
Email May Hurt State Farm, Miss. Truce [AP via Forbes]
Highest Paid Corporate Lawyers - 2001 [Forbes]
Sheila L. Birnbaum [Skadden]

Earlier: ATL Practice Pointer: When Emailing Super-Sensitive Settlement Information, Double Check the Recipient List
Separated at Birth: Sheila Birnbaum and Harold Koh?

Here is an update / correction to last week’s post about associate compensation at Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell. From Tex Parte Blog (via Sophistic Miltonian Serbonian Blog):

Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell wants to make it clear that the firm has a single associate pay system, says Jerry Clements [pictured], chairwoman of the 721-lawyer firm that formed with the October 2007 merger of Texas’ Locke Liddell & Sapp and Chicago-based Lord, Bissell & Brook. Clements says she did send a 2008 compensation memo to former Locke Liddell associates on Feb. 5, but she also had sent one in late December 2007 to former Lord, Bissell associates.

“There is clearly one structure that applies to everybody,” she says, noting that the firm’s management is in the process of integrating the two associate compensation systems. “The thought that folks would think that we would have two different compensation structures within one firm would be a little bit amazing to me,” says Clements, a partner in Austin.

Clements says the firm sent two memos because Lord, Bissell associates were accustomed to receiving a salary memo in December, and Locke Liddell associates usually received one by early February. Clements says the February memo addressed to “Legacy LLS associates” was more detailed, however, because management had settled on a new deferred-compensation component by then. “What’s causing the blog upset is that the Lord memo did not include the deferred compensation piece because we had not decided on it yet,” says Clements, referring to a Feb. 12 posting on the Above the Law blog. Since Feb. 5, management has been tweaking the associate compensation system, Clements says. The firm sent an updated compensation memo to all 285 associates on Feb. 14, spokeswoman Julie Gilbert says. She declines to provide a copy, saying it’s confidential.

If you have a copy, send it our way, and we’ll post it. Thanks.

Locke Lord clarifies it is indeed a big tent [Sophistic Miltonian Serbonian Blog]
One for all [Tex Parte Blog]

Many ATL readers have a weakness for obscure debates about punctuation, grammar, usage, and style. See, e.g., here, here, and here. It makes sense; after all, lawyers are paid to worry about such things as proper comma placement.

So we weren’t surprised when several of you drew our attention to this interesting New York Times article, all about the semicolon. The piece, currently at the top of the Most Emailed Articles list, has a legal angle:

People have lost fortunes and even been put to death because of imprecise punctuation involving semicolons in legal papers. In 2004, a court in San Francisco rejected a conservative group’s challenge to a statute allowing gay marriage because the operative phrases were separated incorrectly by a semicolon instead of by the proper conjunction.

According to the Times, “whatever one’s personal feelings about semicolons, some people don’t use them because they never learned how.” Are you a member of that group?

Celebrating the Semicolon in a Most Unlikely Location [New York Times]

* Federal judge shuts down website devoted to posting leaked information and documents. We no likee. [New York Times]

* SCOTUS won’t hear wiretapping case. [How Appealing (linkwrap)]

* But they have picked up another case on the exclusionary rule. [New York Times]

* Government rebuttals in L’Affaire Scruggs. [WSJ Law Blog]

* A look at the colorful ex-spymaster under scrutiny in the CIA tapes inquiry. [New York Times]

* If you’ve been savaged by anonymous commenters on a blog or message board, don’t take it personally; it’s just something about the internets. (Also, note the nice shout-out to law prof Dan Solove.) [CNN]

* Ten consecutive victories for Obama over Clinton. [New York Times; Washington Post]

* “The Obama Delusion.” [Washington Post]

Or at least his robes. A quick update on a recent Judge of the Day, from Robert Ambrogi over at Legal Blog Watch:

By all accounts, Robert Somma had been a top-notch U.S. bankruptcy judge since his appointment to the bench in 2004 and a top-notch bankruptcy practitioner for many years before that. The sense of many in the Boston area is that the 63-year-old’s retirement Friday from his $158,000-a-year bench seat is a tragedy….

A footnote to this story is that a legal-blogger may have contributed to the judge’s decision to resign.

No, not us! By the time we got to the story, it had been all over the news. Also, for the record, we fully support transvestism.

More after the jump.

* A user’s guide to the snazzy new version of our sibling site, DealBreaker. The redesigned ATL, which will make its debut sometime in the next few weeks, will look similar. [DealBreaker]

* “There is basically a large sector of white workers with arts majors” — e.g., marriage counselors, therapists, and lawyers — “that would otherwise be unemployed were it not for the high rate of divorce.” [Stuff White People Like]

* Lawyers and law professors are suckers for rankings — like the Top 30 Law Prof Blogs, ranked by both visitors and page views. [TaxProf Blog]

* Speaking of law-prof bloggers, here is Ann Althouse’s photo essay about her experience voting today in Wisconsin. [Althouse]

* Oh, in case you’re wondering, she’s voting for Obama. [Instapundit]

* Seeing as we’re in Chicago this week — the ATL “happy hour” is tomorrow night, details here — we thought we’d give a shout-out to John Marshall Law School. From a tipster:

Since you’re in Chicago, I thought it might be appropriate to promote some Chicago schools while slamming Harvard.

John Marshall just got back from a national competition in Harvard and swept! They took first AND second place.

Congratulations to the JMLS Animal Law Society on its victory. You guys are animals in the courtroom!

Winners of the 2008 National Animal Advocacy Competitions [Lewis & Clark Law School]

Some time ago, we received this request by email:

Is there any way to do a posting or open thread about what COLA biglaw firms are handing out overseas? Specifically, I was interested in what associates are getting to go to Dubai.

At the time, we viewed the topic as rather obscure, of interest to just a handful of people. Why not do an open thread on, say, lawyers in Burkina Faso? (No offense to Burkina Faso.)

But maybe we underestimated the allure of the Middle East — which will, thanks to gushing oil revenues, own most of the U.S. soon anyway. On Sunday, we heard this from a tipster at Latham & Watkins:

Here’s an email that went out to the firm today [about LW opening offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha]. Why Sunday? No idea, but rumors were going around about it, so they probably wanted to make an announcement before it leaked out. [Update: A tipster tells us, “Sunday is the first day of the work week in Dubai. Friday is the day of rest, so the weekend is Fri-Sat, not Sat-Sun.”]

Apparently, some Latham corporate associates have been asked if they would go to these new offices for a certain period of time. I have no details, but I hear they are getting handsome benefits and bonuses to go there. With domestic corporate/finance work slow, this is an opportunity for the firm to shore itself up by moving people there from slower offices.

And Latham isn’t the first major law firm to venture into the region in 2008. Late last month, Dewey & LeBoeuf announced the opening of a full-service Dubai office.

Check out the Latham memo, after the jump. And if you’d like to talk about legal job opportunities in the Middle East, please treat the comments to this post as an open thread (because who knows when we’ll post again about this part of the world). Thanks.

An excerpt from an ad in the “legal jobs” section of the Denver craigslist:

The ideal candidate would be admitted to practice Colorado State Bar, and have at least 4 to 7 years experience. Experienced professional demeanor in client contact both in person and on the telephone is a must. Ability to work and adapt in a fast-paced environment is crucial. The candidate should have a very high level of proficiency with MS Word, Outlook, and Excel. Experience with TABS billing software is a plus. Must be able to lift up to 25 lbs. Compensation is commensurate with experience.

Are we witnessing the start of a trend, as the market for legal talent shifts from a sellers’ market to a buyers’ market? This isn’t the first law firm advertisement we’ve seen requiring the ability to engage in heavy lifting (quite literally). See also this ad (applicants must have the ability to “carry[] loads of up to 35 pounds”).

Associate for Litigation Group [Denver craigslist]

Earlier: Definitely Not the Job of the Week

Yesterday, we posted some preliminary results from last week’s ATL / Lateral Link survey on leave and part-time arrangements. Today, we’re going to get a little bit deeper into the maternity leave data.

We now have more than 600 responses, and roughly three-fifths of respondents have reported that their firms offer twelve weeks of paid maternity leave. Another 17% of respondents are at firms that have adopted an eighteen-week leave policy. Since some of you have been clamoring for charts (and others have been less enthusiastic), a chart showing the overall breakdown of responses is here.

Of course, the number of responses and the number of firms are different animals, so today we’re going to start a running table of firms’ paid maternity leave policies. Check it out, after the jump.

The thirteen commissioners of Miami-Dade County are expected on Thursday to approve a proposal to spend $347 million in taxpayer money to build a new 37,000-seat, retractable roof stadium for the Florida Marlins. This proposal would not only provide a huge subsidy to the team’s much maligned owner, Jeffrey Loria, but it also might violate the Florida Constitution.

According to published reports, the Marlins stadium proposal would require Miami-Dade County to contribute roughly two-thirds of the cost for the new stadium, with the city of Miami contributing roughly 3% ($10 million), and Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria contributing 30% ($155 million). According to Miami Today, Mr. Loria would then be allowed to sell the stadium’s naming rights to a third party, expected to fetch him more than $155 million.

A number of Miami-Dade County residents are unhappy about the idea of publicly funding a new stadium for Mr. Loria, who has never invested much of his own money in the Marlins ball club. Recently, on December 5, 2007, Mr. Loria traded away the Marlins’ two most productive players, Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis — a move that reduced team payroll to less than $25 million, the lowest in Major League Baseball. For purposes of comparison, the New York Yankees projected 2008 payroll is $213 million. The Yankees, incidentally, are privately financing their new stadium.

Read more, after the jump.

If we knew anything about sports, we’d say this is the legal academic equivalent of Major Player X leaving Super-Elite Team Y for Super-Elite Team Z. But we don’t. So we’ll just say it’s one of the biggest law school hiring coups since Harvard Law School snatched half of Feldsuk from NYU.

HLS strikes again — but this time around, the victim of their poaching is U. Chicago (where we’ll be making an appearance later this week, by the way). From the Harvard Law School website:

Renowned legal scholar and political theorist Cass R. Sunstein ‘78 has accepted an offer to join the Harvard Law School faculty, Dean Elena Kagan ‘86 announced today. Sunstein, currently a tenured professor at the University of Chicago Law School, will begin teaching at HLS in the fall. He will also become director of the new Program on Risk Regulation.

“Cass Sunstein is the preeminent legal scholar of our time — the most wide-ranging, the most prolific, the most cited, and the most influential,” said Kagan. “His work in any one of the fields he pursues — administrative law and policy, constitutional law and theory, behavioral economics and law, environmental law, to name a non-exhaustive few — would put him in the very front ranks of legal scholars; the combination is singular and breathtaking….”

Some tipsters’ takes:

“I imagine a lot of Chicago alums will be annoyed at the least.”

“Yet another high-profile move to HLS. Dean Kagan has done an amazing job these past few years getting big names out to Cambridge. (I’m just annoyed because I decided to take Admin Law this semester.)”

“[W]e just learned that although Martha Nussbaum turned down Harvard and Brown last week, Cass Sunstein ACCEPTED his Harvard Law offer! I’m torn - HUGE get in Sunstein, proving Elena Kagan is unstoppable, but is this trouble for the power couple?”

In December, we attended Professor Sunstein’s 2007 Distinguished Lecture at AEI in Washington, DC (where we’re currently based). We were mighty impressed by the good professor, who wasn’t just brilliant and articulate, but also funny and self-effacing. Congrats to HLS and Dean Kagan on this latest addition to the Cambridge constellation of legal geniuses!

Update: Additional analysis of the Sunstein move from Professor Brian Leiter appears here. It seems that all is well in Sunstein-Nussbaum land. Per Professor Leiter:

[A]s Cass told me, he will be keeping his Chicago apartment and an office at the University of Chicago Law School, and he will also continue teaching part-time at Chicago as the Harry Kalven Visiting Professor of Law (probably in the winter quarters).

Further Update / Correction: Uh, scratch that. As you may have surmised from some of the comments, Professors Nussbaum and Sunstein are no longer an item. Professor Sunstein has a new honey, Professor Samantha Power, of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He’s moving to Harvard in part because of this new romance. More details here.

Sunstein, Harvard, Chicago [Leiter’s Law School Reports]
Nussbaum Declines Harvard, Brown Offers, and Will Remain at Chicago [Leiter’s Law School Reports]
Sunstein to join Harvard Law School faculty [Harvard Law School]
Cass Sunstein bio [University of Chicago Law School]
2007 Distinguished Lecture: Extremism [American Enterprise Institute]

Here’s something from the ATL mailbag that we thought might be a good topic for discussion. It concerns the professional prospects of staff attorneys at large law firms:

I have a friend that is a staff attorney at a Vault 100 firm. He kind of keeps it a secret. He started at a tiny firm after being on the Law Review of a third tier school. Then he got this job almost two years ago.

I know he is hoping that if he busts his butt and does great work, they will wake up one day and realize: this guy should be an associate! I know from other mutual friends that he is aching to get that response, and would even start as a first-year associate at this place, or of course another Big Law firm, even though he is the equivalent of a third- or fourth-year associate by seniority.

So here is the topic I propose, for guys/gals like him: Is there any shot at his strategy working? Do Big Law firms ever allow or invite a particularly valuable and hard working staff attorney to become a “real associate”? Will the experience he has ever get him in the door at another Big Law firm?

Some of my peers think that once you are pegged as a staff attorney, that is all anyone will ever think of you as, whether at your current firm or other Vault 100 firms. For his sake, I hope that they do allow staff attorneys to become associates.

So, folks, what do you think? Our off-the-cuff reaction is that this strategy is a long shot, especially now that the economy is worsening and firms are tightening up on hiring (even of judicial law clerks, who tend to have superb academic credentials).

But that’s just our quick-and-dirty response, backed up by no research. If you have some opinions or, better yet, actual data (either systematic or anecdotal), please post in the comments — or feel free to email us, if you have an especially long and detailed response. Thanks.

* Is that legal? Apparently so. The Clinton campaign may pursue Obama’s pledged delegates, who technically are not required to vote for Obama. [Politico]

* A portrait of radical Islam in the United States, based on analysis of court cases. [New York Times via How Appealing]

* Thomson Corp., aka the folks who bring you Westlaw, gets European regulatory approval to gobble up Reuters Group PLC. [AP]

* Dueling infringement lawsuits involving Motorola and RIM. [WSJ Law Blog]

* Government witness list in Pellicano case contains 244 names, many of them either legal world (Bert Fields) or “real world” celebs (Chris Rock, Sylvester Stallone). [Fox News via Drudge]

* Cuba Libre? Adios, Castro. (But don’t get your hopes up, cigar aficionados — the trade embargo will apparently remain in place, at least for now.) [New York Times]

* And it looks like Musharraf is out in Pakistan, too. [New York Times]

* Judge John Phillips and sports arbitrator Thomas Roberts, RIP. [WSJ Law Blog]

The law firm perks keep rolling in. From a source at Seyfarth Shaw:

Following the recent trend of enhanced BigLaw perks, Seyfarth announced changes to their leave policy for associates. Previously, associates were given 4 weeks of vacation per year. Now, associates can now take (at least hypothetically) as much leave as they want so long as they get their work done.

This was a bit of a non-event given that associates can’t even find time to take their original 4 weeks of vacation, but the sentiment was nice anyway.

What Seyfarth associates are really waiting for are the “Associates Meetings” scheduled for this week. Word on the street is that salaries are going up. How much they will go up is the real question.

But don’t get too excited, people — we’re not talking “NY to 190.” Recall that, at least outside New York, Seyfarth is not yet on the $160K scale (at least according to their NALP forms).

The Seyfarth Shaw vacation memo, after the jump.

* Is it okay for a law professor to exclude white students from her review sessions? [Blackprof via PrawfsBlawg]

* Speaking of law profs, students like ‘em hot. And we needed a research paper to tell us this? [TaxProf Blog]

* A utilitarian analysis of the question we raised on Valentine’s Day: Should lawyers date other lawyers? [Law and Letters]

* More on last month’s “pleaded” vs. “pled” debate. We feel vindicated in preferring “pleaded.” [SW Virginia Law Blog; Indiana Law Blog]

* Professor Dan Solove, author of The Future of Reputation, photographed in a pensive state for Money Magazine. [Concurring Opinions]

* Some ruminations on the use of Post-it-brand tape-flags in document review. We can relate, but we’re dating ourselves — isn’t most doc review done on computers these days? [PrawfsBlawg]

* A cycling-inspired Blawg Review (#147, for those of you who are counting). [Rush on Business via Blawg Review]

We received about 600 responses to last week’s ATL / Lateral Link survey on leave and part-time arrangements. One reader made a very interesting suggestion in the comments:

Justin - how about you keep a list of where law firms are on parental leave? Sort of like the list Lat kept going showing who was being delinquent on raising salaries. Those lists made a big influence at some firms that were reluctant to give associate salary raises - a list like this could likewise make a world of difference in parental benefits.

I like this idea a lot, and while I won’t be calling it a “list of shame,” I’ll be keeping a running table of maternity leave policies, starting later this week. If you’d like to make sure your firm’s info is accurate, please take the survey (which will stay open for a while) or send us a tip.

In the meantime, let’s focus on a slightly different data point from the survey. In addition to questions about leave, which we’ll talk about later this week, we asked whether you would be interested in working fewer hours for less pay if your employer gave you the option. See the results after the jump.

Happy Presidents’ Day! In honor of the executive branch, unitary or not, ATL will be on a reduced publication schedule today.

* Where’s the beef? Not on your grocery shelves, thankfully, as the USDA orders the largest meat recall in its history. [Washington Post]

* Obama woos Edwards. [AP]

* “Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantánamo Bay,” plus other representations of Gitmo in popular culture. [New York Times via How Appealing]

* It’s getting hot in here: Pending legislation would require climate change to be taught in California public schools. [San Jose Mercury News via Drudge]

* Municipalities mull ordinances to limit where sex offenders hang out. [New York Times]

* More recusals in the Massey Energy case. Is there anyone left in West Virginia who can hear this case? [WSJ Law Blog]

* Turnout low and tensions high as Pakistan goes to the polls. [New York Times]

* Happy independence day — in Kosovo. [Washington Post]

Greetings from the great — but frigid — city of Chicago. We’re hanging out with friends and doing some sightseeing, but the main reason for our visit is this event, taking place on Thursday (and open to the public):

Judges As Public Figures
Thursday, February 21, 2008, 4:15 PM
University of Chicago Law School, Room II

Judge Richard Posner
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

David Lat
Above the Law
Underneath Their Robes

Professor Lior Strahilevitz
University of Chicago Law School

While in Chi-town, we will also be meeting readers at an ATL “Happy Hour,” similar to the event we held in Miami last year. It will take place on Wednesday, February 20, sometime after work (time and place to be determined).

Update: The Chicago “Happy Hour” will take place on Wednesday, February 20, from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., at Miller’s Pub (134 S. Wabash). Hope to see you there!

Schedule of Events [University of Chicago Law School Federalist Society]

* A clever parody of the Clemens hearing. [PrawfsBlawg]

* They have a talent for bench-slappery down in Texas. [Sophistic Miltonian Serbonian Blog; Supreme Court of Texas Blog]

* T-T-T-Trouble for TTT schools? [ABA Journal]

* Lawyer of the Day: White & Case associate Tabber Benedict, fixed up by the matchmaking cabbie. [ABC News]

* One more free legal research site (to add to the ones mentioned yesterday). [AltLaw]

Update: We don’t like having to explain ourselves like this; it’s rather inelegant. But after reading some of the comments, we thought a brief clarification might be in order.

This commenter is right — our use of the term “TTT” is tongue-in-cheek. We intend no disrespect to any particular law schools (or their students or faculty members). Thanks.

Sweet home Alabama. It’s the home of law schools that have given us great stories in the past.

A fairly recent story, involving a student at the University of Alabama School of Law who got into a silverware spat with his roommate, was on the lighter side. But our latest tale from UA is more serious — especially in the wake of yesterday’s tragic shootings at Northern Illinois University.

Read more, after the jump.

There are reasons to read the New Hampshire Union Leader even after primary season is over. Check out this great article:

A Boston-based federal judge wore a black cocktail dress, fish-net stockings and high heels when police arrested him for drunk driving after he rear-ended a pickup truck last week, sources said.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Robert Somma, 63, struck a plea deal with the city Wednesday in which he pleaded no contest to a first-offense misdemeanor driving while intoxicated charge in Manchester District Court. In exchange, the judge agreed to pay $600 in fines and penalties and a 12-month license suspension….

The arresting officer made no mention of the judge’s attire in the written report police provided to the media other than to note the judge “had a difficult time locating his license in his purse.”

Two sources confirmed Somma was wearing a cocktail dress, women’s hose and high heels when his Mercedes-Benz E320 sedan struck a pickup truck stopped at a red light on Elm Street about 11:29 p.m. on Feb. 6.

Whatever floats your boat, Your Honor. Judge not lest ye be judged.

Arrested judge wore dress, women’s hosiery [New Hampshire Union Leader]

As real as it may seem, it was only in your dreams. From the WSJ Law Blog:

We called around to firms to find out whether associate salaries, called economically-irrational in some quarters, have finally (or, at least, for now) hit a ceiling. The answer seems to be yes.

“We’re not going to do anything,” said Orrick spokeman Allan Whitescarver, noting that law firms compete for talent with investment banks and consulting firms. “Times aren’t good for them either,” said Whitescarver. “We’re going to sit tight and keep the salaries capped.”…

Other firms, including WilmerHale and Milbank, also told the Law Blog that, for now, first-year salaries will stay at $160,000.

If some firms, with their gloomy predictions for 2008, were hoping to jawbone down associate salary expectations, it seems they have succeeded.

Big-Law Associates Facing 2008 Salary Cap [WSJ Law Blog]

These announcements aren’t the most exciting things to read (or report on). But we’ve spoken to a number of associates and law students, especially women, who follow them closely. So we’ll continue posting them (and they’re easy to skip over anyway).

The latest law firm to improve its parental leave policy is Mayer Brown. Check out their memo, issued earlier today, after the jump.

Not by the home run king, but by the prosecutors pursuing him. From ESPN:

Federal prosecutors mistakenly filed court papers Thursday that incorrectly stated that Barry Bonds failed a steroids test in November of 2001 — one month after breaking the single-season home run mark.

U.S. attorney spokesman Josh Eaton now says that the reference in Thursday’s government court filing regarding Bonds testing positive was actually referring to a November 2000 test that was previously disclosed in the indictment of Bonds and had already been reported.

Our source observes, “considering how widely reported this was — all over the national media, including CNN-style blanket coverage from ESPNews — during a week when the spotlight is on steroids in baseball already (the Clemens congressional hearings), it had to have been awfully embarrassing for the department.”

Based on this post and this one, today is shaping up as Filing F**k-Up Day at ATL.

U.S. filing typo spurs erroneous Bonds drug report [ESPN]

Here’s the latest Job of the Week from ATL’s career partner, Lateral Link. Because Lateral Link does no cold-calling and is more efficient than traditional recruiting firms, successful candidates receive $10,000 upon placement.

Position: Assistant General Counsel - Capital Markets

Location: Washington DC

Description: This alternative asset management company is seeking an attorney to serve as an internal counsel in the legal department. The attorney will participate in the negotiation and review of financing documentation, including offering materials, credit agreements, sale or purchase agreements, inter-creditor agreements, security documents and servicing agreements and facilitate the closing of such transactions. Responsibilities include:

· Finance/Capital Markets: Represent the Company and its affiliates as borrowers or issuers in various types of financings, including warehouse and other syndicated credit facilities, CLO/CDO transactions, and public and private offerings of debt and equity.

· Corporate and Securities Law: Provide advice and counsel on a variety of corporate and regulatory matters, including traditional corporate law and corporate governance matters, securities law compliance and SEC reporting.

· Other responsibilities include, but are not limited to, drafting amendments and waivers to loan agreements and confidentiality agreements.

Skills Requirements:

• 3rd to 5th year associate at major national law firm.

• Outstanding academic credentials with a J.D. from a respected law school.

• Experience in Capital Markets or Corporate Finance practice area required; general corporate and securities law experience a plus.

• A skilled team-oriented attorney, willing to perform all transaction related tasks from due diligence to drafting, negotiating and closing.

• Ability to work in fast-paced deal environment.

• Business oriented, practical and bottom-line approach to decision making (versus overlawyering and academic). Maturity and practical thinking necessary.

• Generally flexible with working hours

Company Description: This company, both directly and through its global asset management business, is an investor in management and employee buyouts, private equity buyouts, and early stage and mature private and public companies. The company provides senior debt, mezzanine debt and equity to fund growth, acquisitions, recapitalizations and securitizations. The company and its affiliates invest from $5 million to $800 million per company in North America and $5 million to $500 million per company in Europe.

For more information, see job # 6439 on Lateral Link.

Earlier: Prior Job of the Week listings (scroll down)

Here’s a possible answer. From the Daily Business Review:

In unauthorized court order generated by a law clerk in a case before Chief U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno resulted in the suspension of shipments of older generation PlayStation consoles through Miami for three months.

The errant preliminary injunction dated last Oct. 24 granted more than Sony was requesting and contained typographical errors and apparent contradictions. It was withdrawn this month.

The order effectively stopped the defendants from moving Sony consoles and accessories through the Port of Miami for export to Latin America but also instructed U.S. Customs and Border Protection to “hold and preserve any and all goods bearing the PlayStation trademarks” at the port.

Customs agents applied the order to all companies importing PlayStation goods through the Port of Miami.

As for the law clerk in question, the DBR article identifies him:

According to numerous sources in the legal community, the law clerk who handled the order is Matthew Bohrer, son of prominent media lawyer Sanford Bohrer. Matthew Bohrer, whose clerkship is scheduled to end soon, is still listed as one of Moreno’s clerks on the Web site for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Bohrer did not return calls for comment before deadline. His father, a Miami partner with Holland & Knight in Miami who has represented the Review and other news media on First Amendment and other legal matters, had no comment.

More details, including excerpts from the rather odd order, over here.

The Judiciary: Unauthorized court order halts PlayStation shipments [Daily Business Review]