May 2008
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Admin, Advertising, Announcements, Blogging, This Is an Ad
Help Wanted: ATL Seeks A New Writer
Time flies. It’s hard to believe, but Above the Law turns two this summer. We started writing for ATL in July 2006, and the site went live in August 2006. We’re happy to report that things are going swimmingly — so swimmingly, in fact, that we’d like to (and need to) hire another full-time writer. […]
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Biglaw, Billable Hours, Layoffs
Raise Your Hand If You Have No Work
(And offer suggestions for dispelling boredom.)Back in December, we conducted a survey focusing on how busy those of you who work for large law firms were. The results were somewhat comforting. A majority of you said work at your firms was not slow, and 78 percent of you said you weren’t afraid of losing your job. That was about seven […]
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“I’ve landed a job as an associate at a top law firm, but why am I paying 7% on my student loans?”
I became a lawyer without really understanding that the job cuts time off of your life. My work hours are long, I can’t see my family or friends, and I am constantly at the mercy of the partner or the client. On top of everything, at one point, I was paying 7% on my law school loans. […]
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An Update on Start Dates: DLA Piper, Pillsbury Winthrop
These aren’t the best of times for Biglaw, in case you hadn’t noticed. The most recent evidence: staff and lawyer layoffs at Sonnenschein, news that we broke last night (and might write more about, so feel free to email us with info). But here is a tiny sliver of good news. In response to our […]
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Alston & Bird, Brett Kavanaugh, Fashion, Summer Associates, Weirdness
Summer Associate of the Day: Alter Ego ‘Divljan Shatterhand Steele’
We heard through the grapevine that Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the D.C. Circuit gave ATL a shout out during a Federalist Society lunch earlier this month. According to our tipsters, “his biggest advice to any summer associates in the audience was ‘don’t show up on David Lat’s blog, Above the Law.’” Well, the first summer […]
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Humanitarian Crises in Asia: Law Firms Respond
Some people question whether large law firms do enough to make the world a better place. These people wonder: Are Biglaw partners letting Third World babies die, just so they can enjoy their Ferraris? Or is the “Baby vs. Ferrari” choice a false dichotomy? Here’s another way of looking at it. Lawyers at large law […]
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Dewey & LeBoeuf, New York Times, Weddings
Legal Eagle Wedding Watch 5.4 – 5.11: Penn-y Wise
Congratulations to Keira Driansky and David Simon, chosen by ATL readers over Kristy Hong and Jonas Blank III as April’s Legal Eagle Couple of the Month. Now for the next set of entrants, and it’s a crowded field. We think this week’s column sets a record for total number of Ivy League JDs. Here’s our […]
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Legally-Themed Racehorse Names: And They’re Off! (Part 2)
Almost 2,000 votes were cast in the first round of our poll for the best legally-themed race horse name. We’ve winnowed the full field of 20 horses down to the top ten. Now we’re in the final round. The polls will remain open through the Memorial Day weekend. Let the race begin! Opinion Polls & Market Research […]
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The Asia Chronicles: Walking the Walk, Talking the Talk
In the last three installments of the Asia Chronicles, we’ve written about the perks and the (possible) disadvantages of working as a lawyer in Asia. We have been trying to give you a better idea of what it’s like to work over here and to help you decide if moving to Asia might be an […]
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* One helluva sexual harassment suit. Runner-up Lawsuit of the Day? [Jezebel] * Jerry Springer’s Northwestern commencement speech. Also: Is tax law professor Paul Caron friends with Pete Wentz? [TaxProf Blog] * The hidden talents of law students: hog wrestling? [Tex Parte]
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Lessons Learned from the Top eDiscovery Cases and Trends from 2014
The adage that law turns slowly does not hold in eDiscovery. This year saw unprecedented sanction awards for falling behind the curve. Courts did not hesitate to engage with advanced and nuanced technological issues. For lawyers and other eDiscovery professionals who plan on maintaining basic competence, these cases and trends shouldn’t be overlooked. For a full exploration of trends and developments in this area of case law, check out this on-demand webinar.
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Working in Biglaw = Killing Babies?
In January, after the Harvard Law Review published a rather embarrassing, bleeding-heart Case Comment, we wrote: Last year, we ran a popular series of posts on the Harvard Law Review. The gist of the coverage was that the Review’s new, left-leaning leadership “is running the journal into the ground with a cabal of radical ideologues, […]
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Feminism, Gender, Litigators, Litigatrix, Movies, Television
Farewell, Ally McBeal; Enter the Litigatrix
That’s the title of our latest column for the New York Observer, which reflects upon recent television and film portrayals of women litigators. It touches upon some of the same themes highlighted in Amy Kolz’s excellent American Lawyer article from last year, but it’s more focused on fictional female litigators, as opposed to real-life ones. […]
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Biglaw, Labor / Employment, Lawsuit of the Day, Litigators, Paralegals
Lawsuit of the Day: As the Paralegal World Turns…
Legal Pad (a Cal Law blog) has a link to this amazing complaint [PDF] filed by paralegal Jason Herrera against Weil, Gotshal & Manges. Herrera’s complaint — “for discrimination, retaliation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress and fraud” — reads like a reality TV show pitch about the lives of paralegals. […]
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Admin, Announcements, Biglaw, Media and Journalism, Technology
That’s a question that our friends at the ABA Journal are planning to tackle in a forthcoming article. Perhaps you can help? Some background, from reporter Richard Acello: We’re looking to do a story on law firms’ tech savvy or lack thereof. At a recent technology conference, some IT people complained about how their technological […]
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Holland & Knight, Layoffs, Midsize Firms / Regional Firms, Paralegals, Real Estate, Secretaries / Administrative Assistants
Nationwide Layoff Watch: More South Florida Suffering
The bad news continues to roll in. Becker & Poliakoff, which just announced across-the-board pay cuts for its lawyers, isn’t the only Florida firm that’s hurting. From a report by Julie Kay, for the upcoming issue of the National Law Journal: In another sign of the hard times facing the legal industry, particularly in real-estate […]
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Attorney Misconduct, Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle
Lawyer of the Day: Loren Elliotte Friedman
Ah, those inscrutable transcripts from the University of Chicago Law School — gotta love ‘em. They’re chock full of numbers, but they don’t use the standard “As = 90s, Bs = 80s” scale. For example, if your grades are all in the 80s, you’re a rock star. Nobody can make heads or tails of the […]
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Food, Job Survey, Perks / Fringe Benefits, Summer Associates
Associate Life Survey: The Care And Feeding Of Summer Associates
Last week’s ATL / Lateral Link survey on trimming summer associate programs is still open, but we’ve already been getting some interesting debate in the comments. For law students, trimming the summer programs — or at least the summer salaries — would be a critical financial blow: [L]aw School tuition is fucking EXPENSIVE. I take […]
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DUI / DWI, Isn't It Ironic, Judge of the Day, State Judges, State Judges Are Clowns, Videos
Judge of the Day: Carlton Vines
Judge Carlton Vines presides over traffic violations and DUIs in Chattooga County, Georgia. It’s a tiny county with a population of just over 25,000. The local newspaper, The Summerville News, has an ongoing investigative series examining the county’s drunk-driving phenomenon and growing number of DUI arrests. Unfortunately, Judge Vines has become a part of the […]
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* Justice Department report details FBI objections to interrogation techniques used on terror suspects. [Legalities / ABC News; McClatchy] * Jurors get a bit too much evidence in R. Kelly trial. [CNN] * Officers in Sean Bell case face NYPD charges of misusing firearms. [New York Times] * Florida woman gets seven years for enslavement. […]
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KINNEY’S TOP DOGS IN HONG KONG OVER THE NEXT 10 DAYS
For about the 40th time in the last five years, Kinney Recruiting’s got a team flying to Hong Kong for visits with clients and candidates. Please feel free to reach out to Evan and Robert at asia@kinneyrecruiting.com and set up a meeting with them if you would like to discuss your career and the market.
