Summer Associates of the Day: Sapphic Summers in Lesbianic Lip-Lock?
When we recently lamented the lack of summer associate scandals, in the New York Observer, did we speak too soon? Although we may be in the home stretch, law firm summer associate programs are not yet over — and neither, thankfully, are the salacious tales they generate.
Here’s a story we’ve known about for a while — it happened late last week — which has already surfaced elsewhere on the web. We’ve delayed on reporting about it because we wanted to get more confirmation and give the parties involved a chance to comment.
We reached out to numerous representatives of the firm — managing partner Daryle Uphoff, chief marketing officer Greg Wolsky, recruiting director Lisanne Weisz, diversity coordinator Nancy Vollertsen — by phone and by email, yesterday and today. We also contacted the two summers involved, via Facebook message. Nobody has gotten back to us, despite ample time to do so. We’ll have to push ahead without them.
Since we’ve heard the story from multiple sources, all offering generally consistent accounts, we are fairly confident in its accuracy. But if you have any corrections or additions to offer, please email us (subject line: “Lindquist and Vennum Summer Associate Scandal”).
Here are some of the versions we heard (many tipsters sent it in):
1. Word through the grapevine is that two female summer associates at Minneapolis firm Lindquist & Vennum were fired recently for getting drunk at a firm event and making out with each other.2. I’m an associate at a large Minneapolis firm, and word is that two female summer associates at Lindquist & Vennum, another of the large firms in town, got drunk at a summer associate event and were making out with each other. They were fired on Friday.
3. [Two summers at] Lindquist & Vennum were fired over the weekend. Drinking was involved; however, the firm supplied it to them during a boat cruise in 90+ degree weather. Can you get this posted? I want more information.
4. I am a summer associate at a Minneapolis law firm. I can tell that you that two female Lindquist and Vennum summer associates were recently fired (within the last week). I could not tell you for sure why they were fired, but the rumor is that they were drunk at some sort of firm social event (one that had partners present), and started to make out with each other.
And they got fired for this? We’re surprised the old-white-male partners didn’t cheer them on.
Update / Correction: According to reports received after this post was published, whether the SAs were “making out” or merely kissing on the lips is unclear. Furthermore, the event in question was not the boat cruise, but a post-dinner gathering at a bar. For an update post containing additional information and corrections, see here.
One tipster pointed us to some corroborating evidence:
Lindquist has removed all photos/references of the two from its summer associate section on its website.
This is true. We verified it ourselves, by comparing the current summer associate page, which lists eight summers, to an older version, which lists ten summers. (But please do not post in the comments any links to archived or cached versions of the page.)
You can read more, if you want to — if you don’t, then don’t — after the jump.
Another source noted the unfortunate timing of the scandal, “a mere month after the firm — renowned Minnesota-wide as one of the ‘Top Five Corporate Law Firms in Minneapolis’ — won a case before the Supreme Court.” This source expressed skepticism towards the story:
I cry b***shit. No way does a firm that does segway tours by a river get their summer associates tipsy enough to drop.
Here’s our take. Segway tours notwithstanding, the story itself sounds legit to us (and has been confirmed by at least half a dozen sources). What’s troubling is the firm’s alleged response: firing two young female lawyers, just starting off in their careers, for getting a little frisky with each other — after they had a bit too much (firm-supplied) alcohol.
Aren’t we trying to encourage women to enter the legal profession? Whatever happened to respect for diversity, which Lindquist & Vennum touts on its website? One of our sources wonders:
Rumor has it this was a couple of girls who got wasted and, perhaps, a little raunchy. Still, though, might there be a slightly different standard at play for women than for boys?
The same-sex angle makes the firm’s reaction even more troubling. True, it’s quite possible (even likely?) that these two women aren’t full-time lesbians — by the way, that’s once again an appropriate use of the term — and were just “experimenting.”
(Corporate, or litigation? Straight, or gay? If you can’t experiment during the summer, when can you?)
But the girl-on-girl action aspect raises a question: Is a double standard at work ? Would a pair of straight summer associates, a male-female couple, have been fired for publicly expressing their affection while on a romantic cruise? Are lesbianic law students measured by a different yardstick?
We raised these concerns about gender and sexual orientation discrimination with the firm’s designated diversity contact, partner Nancy Vollertsen. She never got back to us. Since this is not a criminal proceeding, we draw an adverse inference from her — and the firm’s — silence.
But let’s be fair; in the firm’s defense, the devil is in the details. Just how naughty did the summers get?
If it was just a friendly smooch between an existing couple, you should kick the s*** out of the firm….If it was a “girls gone wild” kind of thing, query whether the girls were really the only summers involved. I’d imagine at least some of the males in attendance were …. supportive. In which case query whether the firm has appropriately handled them as well.
(Query, as well, why I keep saying “query.”)
Lots of queries, not enough answers. As always, if you have more info, please email us.
Some people object to our coverage of summer associate scandals. We view it as a public service.
Covering the misadventures of summer associates is valuable. When the summer associate is in the wrong, the story is a cautionary tale that educates future summers about what NOT to do. When the firm is in the wrong, the story raises red flags for law students thinking about working for that firm. Either way, additional information is empowering.
If you enjoy reading summer associate stories, please do your part, and tip us off when you know something. Don’t be a free rider! This is a shared enterprise.
You shouldn’t feel guilty about having an ATL story come up whenever a featured summer associate is Googled. We have an anonymity policy for the subject of summer associate stories here at ATL. If you ever see a summer mentioned by name in the comments, please email us, and we will remove the comment (and ban the commenter’s IP address from future commenting).
Consistent with that policy, please do not name the summer associates in question, mention their law schools, or provide any additional identifying information about them, in the comments. It’s especially true in this case, where there is a decent argument that the fired summer associates are actually the victims. Thanks.
Update: Here are some interesting (and amusing) reactions from the readers of Jezebel.
Further Update: For additional information about this matter, please see The Sapphic Summers: An Update.
In addition, partner Nancy Vollertsen issued a brief comment to the City Pages of Minneapolis. See here.
Tart Reform! Facing Heat, Legal Ladies and Laddies Stay Buttoned [New York Observer]
(341) Comments
Comments
first!
Outstanding. It's a shame they weren't summering in Houston, they'd get a raise.
It is so sad that this site has been waiting for a story like this all summer, in order to trump up readership. This site has jumped the shark.
xxxxx
3 - Then go away and stop reading. Leave those of us who enjoy ATL in peace.
Seriously. It is so clear that the identity of the summer associates in question will be revealed in these comments, nothwithstanding the "policy" discussed in the post. Is it the harm to these law students really worth the benefit of additional site traffic?
boring & lame. get a life.
Lat:
Your restraint in waiting for corroboration to post this story is admirable.
I can only assume that, if it had involved John Edwards, you would have posted it as soon as you first heard about it.
Yes. Please stop posting stories like this. They serve no public benefit, and simply hurt law students.
John Edwards = Public Figure
I love how lat cares about anonymity of summers, but not when those same summers go back to law school and become 3Ls. He's such a hack.
Would it be possible for that O.C. picture to be posted with every story? Please.
What's really interesting is that, without naming the women, they are two of the three who go to decent schools (one Big Ten school, one Ivy).
I love the fine line that one must walk at a law firm. You better throw back drinks with the boys so you'll fit in and not be "anti-social"...but don't you dare get wasted.
see what happens when you let legacy students in.
The girl who's name starts with M looks hot, well, the picture is small, but from that tiny picture she looks hot.
This is absurd.
http://www.nalpdirectory.com/dledir_search_results.asp?fscid=f057701&yr=2007&orgtypeid=F
Interesting - Lindquist & Vennum has no openly LGBT female attorneys - this story probably won't help that number.
I agree with Lat:
"Covering the misadventures of summer associates is valuable. When the summer associate is in the wrong, the story is a cautionary tale that educates future summers about what NOT to do. When the firm is in the wrong, the story raises red flags for law students thinking about working for that firm."
Have you no shame ATL? Has it really come to this?
18 - I don't think the line between not being anti-social and making out with one of your peers is that fine but I've been wrong before.
Under Minnesota state law, employment discrimination on account of sexual orientation (or perceived sexual orientation) is forbidden.
"Don't be a free rider! This is a shared enterprise"
uh lat fyi - we are not freeloaders. without us you get no ads and then no.....
so now how much you paying us for each story we send in
In these troubled economic times, firms need to start firing hot female summers for NOT making out with each other in public.
Mr. Lat - On behalf of all AMLAW 100 associates sitting in their office today doing mundane, boring work and contemplating the purpose of their existence, I say THANK YOU for providing ten minutes of joy.
can anybody teach me how to do a google cache search....... pronto?
It took me about 30 seconds to get their names using cache, and another 10 seconds to check out their pics on facebook. Only the first girl has a pic up, but she looks hot enough for me to want to see her kiss her coworker. Just sayin'.
2:40(1) - Lat isn't saying you are "free riding" off of ATL. I think he is saying you are "free riding" off of the people who do bother sending stories in.
26,
But that raises precisely the question that needs to be asked -- would they have been let go if one of them had been male?
ATL is great for some stuff. But shit like this is heartless.
Anyone who gives a crap about this needs to get a life.
Nice work, 2:41(2).
I agree with 2:41(1). This post is a gift.
If you don't like it, then don't read it. Capice?
ATL, for the benefit of these law students, please, please, please remove this post.
This is a great ATL story.
I just wish our summers acted like that...all the cute ones we have already got BFs.
Post #30 has to go.
I think most firms would fire summers for making out at a firm event, gay or straight...but girl on girl is a better story
10
Stories like this don't hurt law students.
Law students hurt law students.
THIS IS WHY I WOULD NEVER LIVE IN THE MIDWEST
Post #38 has to go.
I bet all the people who think this story is pointless/a waste/whatever are females.
So what will become of these ladies? Did they pwn themselves for life?
43-- Something tells me they'll have no trouble finding work. Hell, I'll make them both an offer right now.
If the story is true, I suspect that a partner or partner's wife saw the lip-lock (or whatever it was) and had the pair fired.
Would not the same thing have happened to a girl-guy twosome who got drunk and started making out at a firm party?
Do large lawfirms typically have written employment agreements with summers and/or a written firm policy and procedure incorporating codes of summer conduct?
"And they got fired for this? We're surprised the old-white-male partners didn't cheer them on." - Replace "white" in that sentence with any other race and people would be crying racism. Which it is, really.
And #40, this story DOES hurt law students. If this hadn't been posted, these girls would have maybe been able to find jobs somewhere else. Maybe the firm would have cold offered them. But now the entire world knows about it. Why? so Lat can giggle and loser lawyers and law students can feel superior to somebody.
Oh yes, don't out these girls in the comments because I am sure it would completely tarnish their TTT resumes from some TTT fly over school.
43-- If they got fired, then ipso facto they were not cold offered.
I dont feel superior to those girls in the least. I admire them actually.
5 summers from William Mitchell College of Law = TTT
Wow, just found both of the ladies' pics online. I go to school with one of them but can't click on her facebook profile without friending her first. WORTH THE RISK?
2:49(2) - ATL is not read by the "entire world." Most of its readers are people with no hiring authority.
If Aquagirl can get an offer, then so can these two.
Get off your high horse. Sanctimonious people should not read gossip blogs.
I kissed a girl and I liked it
I kissed a girl and I liked it
Dear 43:
There has been so much written on these pages and elsewhere about the pitfalls of drunken indiscretion by summers that the two where on reasonable notice that one of the many reasons for conducting his/herself in a reasonable manner during the summer includes being written up here.
BTW, does anyone know of what became of Aquagirl? Last I heard she was completing a judicial clerkship.
If I had a dollar for every summer associate lesbian kiss I've witnessed, I'd have, like, three dollars.
2:42(1) -- No. You're too stupid to live if you can't figure out how to find the answer to your question on your own.
#48
I don't really see much of a risk in friending her. She probably won't accept though, especially when she gets 1500 friend requests today.
Everyone should still use posting times to refer to earlier comments.
The numbers are thrown off when Lat removes comments (like ones identifying the women).
So, one of the girls has pulled her picture from facebook. The other's picture is AMAZING! What senior partner wouldn't want a girl like that at the firm, knowing she gets a little loose when drunk? That's why I'll be an associate for the rest of my life - I would have hired that girl AND stocked her office with a mini-bar.
21, I didn't say that there was a fine line between being anti-social and making out with your peers. Learn to read, bro. I wrote that there was a fine line between being anti-social and not drinking with your firm and getting wasted.
this isn't nearly as embarassing as aqua girl ..
Oh for God's sake. These women are not unemployable. One goes to [an Ivy League school]. I'm surprised she was slumming it at Lindquist & Asswipe. The other goes to a top 50 school. They'll both be fine. I actually DO have hiring authority and this is just not that big a deal. No way we would refuse to consider a woman who once kissed a girl. That'd wipe out most female lawyers under 30, right?
Those Mitchell kids should be glad they didn't get fired. They are screwed as it is.
Same thing happened between two summers during my SA program a few years ago, but it was girl-guy hook-up. The firm (AmLaw top 20/NYC) had reserved a trendy lounge-type space with an open bar after the summer 'mock trial' program ended.
The two SAs got hammered, and made out for quite some time in a corner. Several people watched (including, i think, partners). There was no fallout, other than the inevitable embarrassment/regret to follow the next day. Both accepted offers with the firm, and the incident was just remembered as one of a few amusing episodes that summer.
But Minnesota is not NYC. . .
56 makes a good point. Hey Lat-- how about simply removing the content of a comment (e.g., replacing the text with "Deleted") rather than deleting it entirely, so as to not throw off the numbering? Otherwise the numbers are useless.
Oh yes, don't out these girls in the comments because I am sure it would completely tarnish their TTT resumes from some TTT fly over school.
this isnt troubling at all. of course they get fired. what planet are you from. you have some messed up social agenda.
To 13 & 44: cut the crap re calling William Mitchell a non-"decent" and "fly over" school. Chief Justice Burger went to William Mitchell. If you got out of Manhattan once in a while, you might realize that there's a whole big country out there between the Upper West Side and Westwood.
-East Coast native with a fancy East Coast/ Ivy education who's sick of snobby ill-informed comments.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Law_Schools_by_United_States_Supreme_Court_Justices_trained#William_Mitchell_College_of_Law
The Japanese do not trust a person who will not drink at a business function on the theory that the ‘true character’ emerges under the influence.
Maybe that is why firms continue to host summers at alcohol fueled events; as kind of a test of character and judgment.
If a candidate gets drunk and stupid, better to find out sooner than later.
Man, this story is off the hook... good work Lat.
I'd like to point out that when Lat posted a picture of two guys kissing when the story broke about gay marriage in California, people were up in arms about how the picture was not appropriate for work and how it was disgusting. Nobody has said one word about the picture of two women kissing. What a double standard...
For everyone who thinks this story should not be posted- this is a real issue. And it could be discrimination. Unlawful discrimination based on sexual orientation. This is a legal blog!!!
Lindquist & Vennum is clearly hurting; I hope everyone sees through their BS. If they can’t afford to hire someone they should do it the right way instead of looking for quite possibly the lamest reason ever to terminate someone. Blackball Lindquist.
65: What's Westwood? A subdivision in Westchester?
3:07 - It's not a double standard... butt-sex, and more specifically butt-sex between two guys, is completely different than mutual-vaginal-fisting. Male-on-male butt-sex is gross.
FYI to L&V::
http://www.straffordpub.com/products/tlsnta/
3:03 - graduating a Chief Justice almost 80 years ago doesn't change the fact that Mitchell is currently a 4th tier school
58 - Sorry. For some reason I thought you were commenting on THIS story.
21
Stop blackberring from church 64
3:09 - Male on male sex versus female on female sex is very different than two guys kissing versus two women kissing. Nice logic skills. Get a clue.
Stop blackberring from church 64
This is a joke of a law firm. I haven't even heard of most of the schools these idiots went to. William Mitchell School of Law? What the f is that? Freaking St. Thomas? I know Mpls is cold, but do they have to dip this low? People who go to these kinds of schools do not deserve to make a lot of money. In normal states, people who go to on par law schools end up as public defenders, DAs, or low rent ambulence chasing lawyers.
68- that is bc guys kissing is gross, and two hot chicks kissing gives people boners.
First, what's with all the people who read ATL, a gossip blog, and get upset when Lat posts gossip?
Second, I love the fact that the firm scrubbed its summer associate group picture from its website, but left up the "Segway Tour" (guffaw!) picture which presumably includes...wait for it...the associates in question. Nothing beats a sloppy cover-up.
Third, I'd love to be a fly-on-the-wall at that firm today.
Fourth, I feel ambivalent about the associates in question. On the one hand, it's a little obtuse of this firm to serve alcohol and then be shocked, SHOCKED when people behave inappropriately. On the other hand, getting that drunk at a firm function displays pretty poor judgment. There are more lawyers than good legal jobs in this country, and it's hard to work up a lot of sympathy for law students who shoot themselves in the foot like this.
3:11 - It's the end-game of each, so it's a matter of what is being represented (and/or inferred to also be occuring) by the act of kissing. So each act represents two different factual end-games. It's totally relevant.
I am a man who would like to lock lips with "Segway Boy" (tall thin guy in last pic):
http://lindquist.com/index.asp?Type=GALLERY&SEC={83572DCA-E236-4550-BE82-184EE9CEFD4F}&DE=
2 girls kissing = TTT, unless of course there is a dude present...
70: Agreed. There must be more to the story. No sane firm would fire summers for kissing after investing all that money in them.
Well said 80... that's reall what I meant...
- 72 & 82
If these girls are not truly lesbians or in a relationship, then it's obvious this was just an attention stunt - and it's understandable that a firm might not want that kind of attention. For, among other reasons, the fact that it's now on abovethelaw.
3:03, thanks but no thanks. Here in the Midwest (aka Flyover Territory) Mitchell is considered a crappy school. Warren Burger . . . mmmmm Burger . . . is not enough to save its reputation. He wouldn't go there now.
MA is hawt!
just sayin
82, by your pathetic logic, a straight kiss represents the end game of straight sex, images of which are not appropriate for work either, and therefore pics of a man kissing a woman is inappropriate. How are you even a lawyer?
How come nobody has asked the really important questions, like: What were they wearing? and Was there any breast-fondling?
If you are an alcoholic, are you not protected by the ADA (Americans With Disabilities Act)?
William Mitchell may or may not be a crappy school.
But at least its SAs had the sense not to make out during a firm event.
I am way too late to this party, but I have to claim responsibility for getting our hottest summer to make out furiously with our hottest recruiter back in the fine, carefree summer of '03. It was debauchery of the highest, finest caliber folks - oh, to be young again!
There's no reason to put this firing on the "Gay Agenda" or to sneer at Minnesota for being a legal and cultural backwater (though it certainly is). Some summers got drunk and made out. No one would fire them for that if they were on there own time, but it shows a lack of judgment and maturity to do that kind of thing in front of co-workers at a employer sponsored event.
The details are what matters to this story and we have very few.
Was it 2am on a Saturday at a dance club in front of a couple of 2nd year associates? Or was it during a pitstop on a family-attended Segway tour in front of a 75 year old partner and his grandchildren? Was the hand over the shirt or under the shirt? Did the nipple make an appearance? Those kind of details would seem to make a big difference as to whether the firing was reasonable or not.
Do you think the firm knows what's going on right now? If anyone knows any of the people who are currently summers there you should tell them. I feel like the firm should take the pictures of the summers off its website. THis is very, very embarrassing.
Do you think the firm knows what's going on right now? If anyone knows any of the people who are currently summers there you should tell them. I feel like the firm should take the pictures of the summers off its website. THis is very, very embarrassing.
69 (heh, 69),
Are you aware of some MN state law that prohibits sexual-orientation discrimination in the workplace? Cause Title VII sure doesn't.
segway tours of the riverfront!!!!
how TTT
I bet an ugly female partner witnessed the make-out and the attention it got and had them fired out of envy.
Minn. Stat. § 363A.08 bans employment discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Sorry to inject law into the discussion.
"If you are an alcoholic, are you not protected by the ADA (Americans With Disabilities Act)?"
I believe that recovering alcoholics may be protected -- ie., they could get accomodations like being able to phone their sponsors or go to AA meetings, and you can't fire them just for being an ex-drunk. But you can still be fired for being an active drunk if it affects your job performance. I'm not sure if you can be fired for being a purely off-duty alcoholic, if it doesn't affect your job performance.
Summers,
No one (except really stuffy old EPs and their wives) cares if you date unmarried attorneys or other summers. No one cares if you have a one night stand with said parties. But for god sakes, don't make out with the other person at one of the SA events. All that is being asked is a little discretion and common sense. As much as the attorneys try to make these social events seem like a scene from the old undergrad bar, it most certainly is not. You are being watched, especially this year. It is not fun, but that's part of the process. I promise, when you are a permanent associate, you can get away with a fair amount if you do good work.
I think this firm overreacted though. Just let them finish out the summer and then no-offer them per SOP instead of going through all the pomp and circumstance of actually firing them.
Did they break out a strapon?
Everyone, there is more to this story. Note the update from Lat:
"We have received, and are continuing to receive, additional information about this situation. It appears that the firm may have had other issues with these ex-summer associates. We will post an update in due course."
Minn. Stat. § 363A.08 bans employment discrimination based on sexual orientation.
But...these were not gay women, they were presumably two hetero girls kissing. Does Section 363A still apply?
To 96: "There's no reason . . . to sneer at Minnesota for being a legal and cultural backwater (though it certainly is)."
Are you talking about the same state that has more theater seats per capita than any American city but New York, has an independent music scene to rival Seattle (from which sprang the likes of Bob Dylan, Prince, Semisonic, and Soul Asylum), is traditionally among the most progressive states in the nation, and is home to better museums and cultural institutions than virtually every other non-coastal city, perhaps even Chicago?
The same state that is home to West Publishing, which dominates the global legal information market? And whose legal market has the most Fortune 500 companies per capita of any city in the world? The same state that is one of the larger and faster-growing markets for IP law?
this is one heck of a sexy story to chase after :-p
On what do you base that 107?
how do you get qualified as a gay woman? one, two maybe 3 female lovers?
is being bi-sexual an orientation?
The policy to remove summers' names is a joke when you provide instructions to find their names in the article.
The instructions should be removed. ATL should not encourage the spread of their names, especially, as the article notes, it is the beginning of their respective careers.
Not one summer associate from U of Minnesota? That drop out of the top 20 must have really hurt the school.
I think it's pretty disingenuous to try to justify stories like this as serving the public good. LAT's basically Perez Hilton with a law degree, and if he's going to be a gossip mongering bottom feeder, he ought to revel in it.
Not clear that the ADA protects alcoholics:
http://www.abanet.org/genpractice/magazine/2006/mar/labor.html
What is the appropriate course of conduct if a late night summer event ends with the junior associates urging you to a bar for jello wrestling (more accurately: watching big, drunk girls not associated with your firm jello wrestle)? Safer to be cool, tag along, excuse yourself before things get out of hand, or casually back out?
107-- I'm not a labor law expert but my understanding is that it's generally a violation to take adverse action against an employee on the basis of a *perceived* characteristic (e.g., firing someone because you think he's black when in fact he just has a dark tan). So my uninformed speculation would be that it would be illegal to fire someone for engaging in homosexual activity regardless of whether they self-identify as gay.
And the same state that has the highest literacy rate, the highest health care coverage rate, and the highest voter participation rate? Again, people need to get out of their little islands and learn about the rest of the country before they go knocking it.
-East Coast guy (again).
108:
"Are you talking about the same STATE that has more theater seats per capita than any American CITY . . ." (empahsis added)
Nice.
simmer down 108, go make some cheese or fish from an ice hole. or drive down a collapsing bridge.
"But...these were not gay women, they were presumably two hetero girls kissing. Does Section 363A still apply?"
Why would you make that assumption? But anyway, 363A certainly applies to "perceived" sexual orientation as well as actual orientation. The full definition is: "sexual orientation means having or being perceived as having an emotional, physical or sexual attachment to another person without regard to the sex of that person or having or being perceived as having an orientation for such attachment, or having or being perceived as having a self image or identity not traditionally associated with one's biological maleness or femaleness."
So the only question here is -- would a hetero couple have been similarly treated because of the kiss, regardless of whatever other shennigans these two got up to during the summer?
"mutual-vaginal-fisting"?
What fantasy world do you live in?
Moreover, the "double standard" claim was made in reference to ALT reader reactions to a photo of two me kissing vs. two women kissing--not anything else, anal, vaginal, or otherwise.
Ok 108, we get it. You're from Minn. and it's great.
I went to law school in NYC and now work at a Top 5 firm here and I think Minnesota is a great state. Not everyone is as silly as some of these commenters. Minnesota gave us Paul Wellstone!
OMG, 108: defensive much? Non-coastal = not worth talking/thinking/writing about.
If you look at the cached page of the Segway tour, it looks like there were three pictures that they also removed from there. They probably had some of the summers in question in them. Is there a way to get those out of the cached pages? It seems that google doesn't cache the graphics.
Tell me the two summers do not hale from Dildo, Newfoundland.
What is it about boat cruises in Minneapolis that brings out the sexy? First the Vikings, now this?
lol @ helmets.
lol @ helmets.
And oh yeah, Minnesota is great! It has the broadest sexual orientation protections of any state. As this firm will surely discover.
What is everyone complaining aboooot?
i have access to the fb profile of one of the girls (no we are not friends but went to the same undergrad and she was dumb enough not to utilize her privacy settings). she is listed as "in a relationship" and "interested in men" I wonder what the bf thinks?
3:35(1)--seriously, wtf? Would a BACKWATER have the biggest mall in the US? Would a BACKWATER serve deep-fried reuben on a stick at its state fair? Would a BACKWATER let its liquor stores stay open until 10pm on Saturdays?
These New Yorkers need to get out more.
131 and everyone in the same boat- the firm had ample reason to fire these summers. The case wouldn't even stand a chance against a motion to dismiss. Just bc you are gay doesn't mean you can act without repercussions. If these girls were muff-diving on the boat, would you still play the gay card?
okey-dokey, 108. down killer. thanks for enlightening us culturally inferior big city east coast types. but for the record, i once had to spend a few weeks in minneapolis on business. just god awful.
3:41 --
it's not just the boat cruises. it's the HUGE number of theater seats per capita.
3:47, that's probably because you are a tedious person.
"And oh yeah, Minnesota is great! It has the broadest sexual orientation protections of any state. As this firm will surely discover."
Which is why the firm is now scrambling to articulate "other issues with these two".
Does anyone find it a tad coincidental that the two summers fired for kissing each other also had “other” employment/performance issues?
What I wonder is if summers are considered to be “temporary workers” that are not protected by the employment statutes?
3:41--
it's not just the boat cruises that keep MN hot. it's the HUGE number of theater seats per capita.
as chris rock once said "kirby puckett and prince"
to throw my uninformed $0.02 in -- SAs (like most) are at-will employees. they can get booted for anything, except if they're booted for reasons violating state or federal discrimination laws. and i think MN protects employees from getting axed due to their actual or perceived sexual orientation.
Wait, did someone just cite Semisonic and Soul Asylum as proof of the vibrancy of the Minneapolis music scene?
Did I fall through some wormhole on the way to work this morning and get transported back to 1998?
Anyone perform to fill those seats? I think the theatre stat is a little distorted because a lot of minnesotans probably need multiple seats to fit their fat midwest asses
"What I wonder is if summers are considered to be “temporary workers” that are not protected by the employment statutes?"
I don't see anything in the MN HUman Rights Act that indicates it doesn't cover temporary employees. Also, the Act forbids discrimination in hiring practices, so even if the girls weren't "employees' they were certainly job candidates.
I agree if the conduct was truly outrageous then there may be no discrimination claim. But I put my money on discrimination, myself.
I'm fine with the story, but there's too much identifying information about the two involved -- or the two we think are involved. If they're not the actual people, I think Lat could be liable for lible. He hasn't said their names, but he has basically indentified them by telling us how to find them. These women are not public figures. Given that, I think Lat is negligent, or at least reckless, if these women are not the two involved. He didn't wait for a comment for anyone relevant, nor did he do any of his own independent review.
I recently hired a MN firm for a CA client who was sued there, and the work product, work ethic, and result were outstanding.
My only objections to MN are : 1. Not near an ocean; 2. Extreme weather.
120 - "collapsing bridge" ....wow.
Gordon Bombay and those Mighty Ducks were the only good things to ever come out of the Twin Cities.
What's with all the hate toward MN?
If Minn routinely features hot girls making out in public, it can't be all that bad.
For people defending these SA's on basis of sexual orientation:
I think the firm's decision to fire two summer associates for making out at a firm-sponsered event has more to do with a lack of decency than it does their sexual orientation (perceived or actual).
Minnesota is a great place if you enjoy obese people and country buffets. Seriously though, if you can't afford to live in New York or Los Angeles, you could at least move to Chicago.
148 - I don't know a whole lot about this area of law but isn't the fact that Lat laid out all the facts that support his conclusions a pretty solid defense to a defamation claim?
Tell me how you get that shine
You must polish all the time
Though I know your job is thankless
They will thank you up in heaven
Oh, the sun maid, looking for the shade
Though they say she's not too bright
She takes care of all the light
Without you it's cold and stark
We would all be in the dark
Without the sun maid
She never gets paid
Searching for the shade, oh the sun maid
You are so taken for granted
With each and every seed that's planted
And the earth is so demanding
All the young girls are out tanning
With the sun maid, she's such an old maid
She never gets laid, oh the sun maid
Now you're tired, your day is over
Now the moon is one day older
Yes, we are all so eager to condemn the firm (I do not work there) and to conclude that if this had been male-female it would have been fine. But, in fact these two had been warned before about inappropriate behavior and excessive drinking. They also had been specifically warned that day--a firm dinner. But, they proceeded to get drunk and engage in this behavior.
Scroll down to the penultimate photo under the L & V family picnic link. That's going to keep me up at night.
As for the two young women: they're going to make it after all (toss hat in the air).
148 - hit the books again. TRUTH is generally a defense against libel. Lat is just setting forth the facts.
If a partner kisses his wife at a firm function (not a peck, but a full fledged Al Gore lip lock or an Alex Kozinski Dating Game dip) would that raise a "decency" issue 154?
I don't think so.
150, 120 here. the collapsing bridge thing was in poor taste, i admit, but how great can a state be with failing infrastructure? maybe divert some of that money being used for all those theatre seats into your roads and shit.
To the haters: If you don't want to read a story like this, you're probably on the wrong site.
161
Well, that's where it comes down to a question of fact. What type of "making out" was going on?
If we're talking drunken groping with massive amounts of tongue action, I think such actions by a parter would raise a decency issue.
And remember, Gordon Bomby was an "undefeated" litigator at Duckswoth LLP. I wonder if Charlie Conway went to law school. Banks probably got an MBA - cake eater...
America's most obese cities:
1. Memphis, Tenn.: 34%
2. Birmingham, Ala.: 31.3%
3. San Antonio, Texas: 31.1%
4. Riverside/San Bernardino, Calif.: 30.8%
5. Detroit: 30.4%
6. Jacksonville, Fla.: 29.8%
7. Nashville, Tenn.: 28.8%
8. Oklahoma City: 27.5%
9. Kansas City, Mo.: 26.9%
10. San Diego, Calif.: 26.7%
11. Cincinnati, Ohio: 26.3%
12. Indianapolis: 26%
13. (Tie) Baltimore: 25.8%
13. (Tie) New Orleans: 25.8%
13. (Tie) Virginia Beach, Va.: 25.8%
16. Atlanta: 25.6%
17. (Tie) Milwaukee: 25.4%
17. (Tie) Richmond, Va.: 25.4%
18. (Tie) Austin, Texas: 24.9%
18. (Tie) Las Vegas, NV: 24.9%
I don't see any MN cities on this list.
I have lived on both coasts. MN has a lower ass-hole and lower pretentious quotient and it's a damn fine place to live. But believe me, we are happy you who are so taken with yourselves don't move here. Keeps those quotients low.
What is it about boat cruises in Minnesota? First the Love Boat Scandal with the Vikings and now this? Anyone else up for chartering a yacht on Lake Minnetonka?
Partners can get away with a hell of a lot that would get an associate, or especially a summer, fired, 161. It's their firm, after all.
Charlie Conway definitely would have gone into public service with his JD. He wanted to make a difference.
162:
How about all of those collapsing cranes squashing pedestrians and apartment dwellers in Manhattan, like every couple of weeks?
People live in cities with huge falling cranes should not throw bridges.
166 - That's probably because a lot of those cities listed have delicious southern cooking.
obviously people who are ripping on minnesota have never spent any time there. Gorgeous norwegian/swedish women and cold winter nights = requisite body heat.
They should have received on the spot offers.
172: and fat people.
Oh, I agree 169. But I still think such actions should be deemed inappropriate for work-sponsered events, regardless of whether the gropers are partners, associates, paralegals or bartenders.
I guess my point is this: If two straight summer associates were drunkenly making out in such a setting, I'd expect them to be fired just the same as these two girls.
157 - thanks for the awkward reminder of the pathetic state music was in circa early/mid 1990's
95 - Jeremy Pitcock
"Are you talking about the same state that has more theater seats per capita than any American city but New York, has an independent music scene to rival Seattle (from which sprang the likes of Bob Dylan, Prince, Semisonic, and Soul Asylum), is traditionally among the most progressive states in the nation, and is home to better museums and cultural institutions than virtually every other non-coastal city, perhaps even Chicago?
The same state that is home to West Publishing, which dominates the global legal information market? And whose legal market has the most Fortune 500 companies per capita of any city in the world? The same state that is one of the larger and faster-growing markets for IP law?"
Minneaplos should just replace. I should work on my Minnesota accent, so I can sound more sophisticated.
Oh yeah
Aw, it's so cute that they call a firm with about 200 attorneys a "large law firm." Their eyes probably get all wide when they see a building over 50 stories, too.
Cake eaters.
173:
I spent time in MN in february a few years ago. The snot in my nose froze the second I stepped outside and I saw no one even closely resembling a gorgeous scandinavian woman. You lie.
I just polled a group of elementary students outside the MN state capitol: 95% agreed that MN is "the bestest place to live in the whole wide world" and and overwhelming 75% stated agreed that "the east coast is for losers."
Now that the debate is settled, we can get back to talking about hot SAs making out with each other.
I just polled a group of elementary students outside the MN state capitol: 95% agreed that MN is "the bestest place to live in the whole wide world" and, overwhelming, 75% agreed that "the east coast is for losers."
Now that the debate is settled, we can get back to talking about hot SAs making out with each other.
"Let them eat cake."
I can't believe there is not one Frat Stud post yet...
182 -
Well of course you didn't see them, they were inside cuddled up naked in a sleeping bag being warm. Silly.
Oh - and frozen snot is the official minnesota way to tell if its cold.
- 173
Girls used to make out with each other on cruises all the time. It was no big deal.
187:
I suspect there would be just as many posts if a male and female summer were fired for making out at a firm event.
That said, this version is much more bonerific.
Girls in my high school used to make out with each other on cruises all the time. It was no big deal.
171--i can't believe i am going to go more down this road, but
governments don't build the falling cranes, unlike the collapsing bridges.
also, have we forgotten about jesse ventura? i mean really!
192 - you are 100% wrong
166- check out the "morbidly' obese listing. Also, the numbers are distorted because the census-taker confused a lot of the participants with grazing cows.
189 -- umm, not sure of the relevance of cruises, but YES, exactly. No big deal. Are lawyers *that* prudish that two girls kissing is groundbreaking news?
--187
ahm.. doesn't this happen like every year somewhere b/w a girl and a guy? is it that different because it's two girls? i feel there must be a lot more to this - ie, some escalating factors in the inappropriateness department.
We're missing the most important facts here, people:
Were these young ladies of the lipstick variety? Note: cherry chapstick will also suffice.
HOT!
159: I am guessing that no one else gets the hat tossing thing, but I do!
Diversity
Lindquist & Vennum is committed to promoting gender equity and diversity within the firm and the legal profession. We take our diversity mission statement seriously and work daily to make it a living document through our actions:
The firm provides a workplace environment that fosters understanding, acceptance and respect among partners and employees of all races, gender, national origin, religion and sexual orientation.
We hire, retain and promote diverse individuals. Lindquist & Vennum appreciates and values the different skills and talents that each person brings to the firm.
Lat--your deletions are screwing all the comment references up (eg, someone in post 191 is responding to post 192)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAp9BKosZXs
girl on girl action is always newsworthy as a matter of law. It's right here in my Conviser Mini-Review
197:
But did you give this frisky pair the boot for a girl-girl kiss or not?
4:31 - As someone else pointed out, we should keep on using times to refer to each other until ATL fixes the tech problem in which comment deletions throw off numbering.
"I kissed a girl and I liked it!"
Is it just me or does the second picture in the Family Picnic Album look like they are racing babies?
198:
Get a clue.
190 - It still sucks to have a crane fall on you regardless of who built it.
Probably the most appropriate story for the LOL Cats, and they're MIA.
MN = igloo
To those commenting about the hot SA's... Only 1 of the ladies in question is hot - the other is marginal at best.
4:36(1)--I agree and I prefer the time stamp usage anyway, but the majority are using the numbers
-4:31(2)
198 a/k/a 4:31(2) a/k/a 4:42-
191 was joking. You are not clever.
-205
-193
If you actually read the article, you'd see exactly why cruises are relevant to the story.
-189
"and is home to better museums and cultural institutions than virtually every other non-coastal city, perhaps even Chicago?"
If you think MN has better museums and cultural institutions than Chicago then you're out of your mind.
209: Only one of them has a photo up on facebook. The other one doesn't really look like a white cutout of a person on a blue background IRL.
For all of you who are trashing Lat for posting these stories and "hurting law students": if these women can't get jobs someplace else, that's a decision made by those employers and not Lat's fault. Why is it ATL's responsibility to keep information under wraps because of what otehrs may think about said information? There's an old saying about the messenger, and not shooting him.
Lesbians = hoTTT
4:31 thats why we need to still use the time calling meathod
In re post July 23, 2008 3:07 PM:
Ginsburg's "inherent differences." Girls kissing is awesome. Dude-on-dude kissing is rank.
214-- Someone posted a picture of the other one a while ago that Lat deleted. She's not spectacular, but, mediocre girls get major hot points for making out with hot girls.
Oh and another thing....maybe a public make-out session at a firm function is a tad unprofessional?
214 - wasn't looking at facebook, there are other photos of the two out there (including 1 still on Lindquist's website)
Co-sign 4:46(2). Any future employment problems these women have are not Lat's fault. They could be:
1) the fault of the women for acting inappropriately and getting themselves fired, or
2) the fault of Lindquist for firing them without cause.
They are the fault of the actors / parties to these events, not the guy sitting around writing about them.
190:
Governments don't build cranes, true, but they (are supposed to) inspect them. See:
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/06/citys-top-crane-inspector-is-arrested/
Last, I see your Jesse Ventura and raise with (former) NY Governor Elliot Spitzer.
Zing….
Lawyer of the Day Story = 0 comments
Girl-on-girl action store = 222 comments and counting
At least one of the girls' pictures is still on the Lindquist website.
The active, hardy Minnesotan lifestyle doesn't appeal to everyone... but is it necessary to spew such irrelevant venom? (Yes, I'm referring to the unfounded comments about obesity & one utterly tasteless comment about the bridge tragedy.) If you truly like where you live, is it really necessary to denigrate someone else's city of choice?
Lawyer on a bike= boring.
Girl on a Girl= not boring.
From the segway photo...
I know they have helmets on, but I don't see anything that can be construed as hot. I zoomed too.
4:44(1)--the fact that 191 was joking does not invalidate my suggestion that Lat fix his deletion method. And WTF makes you think I was trying to be clever?
-4:42
New Yorkers are just angry that their entire city no longer has a rapper better than Atmosphere.
I wonder if these chicks used the George Costanza method when they got called out.
"Was that wrong? Should I not have done that? I tell you, I gotta plead ignorence on this thing, because if anyone had said anything to me at all when I first started here that that sort of thing is frowned upon... you know, cause I've worked in a lot of offices, and I tell you, people do that all the time."
227-
Girl on a girl on a bike = not boring
4:54(1) - Lawyer of the Day story actually has 17 comments (but yeah, way fewer than this one).
If it were a man and a women, I still think they would have been fired. You cannot under any circumstance Make out with anyone at a Firm sponsored event as a Summer. This is common knowledge. Hell, its risky enough making out with a fellow summer after some event.
The fact that it was two women...in the terms of an above posters...just makes this titalizing good gossip.
meh. i dunno if i buy the "they deserve what's coming to them" rationale for over-publication on the internet (depending on exactly how bad this was - if it was really just a random make out at an event, that should NOT follow them as they try to get re-employed).
most people have done something totally stupid before that, if placed on a blog and chatted about and linked and perpetuated by strangers, could have major consequences as far as how future employers perceive them.
seems a little unfair to me, and i won't be linking this to anyone.
@ 5:02 - man & woman making out happens at like, every firm during the summer program. usually the partners have a little more of a sense of humor about it.
235- good for you. And you and all the other hippy liberals can sit around and talk about how these two are just victims, and no one is ever responsible for their own actions.
5:03 - Welcome to the internet age. The horse is out of the barn (and it left a long time ago).
You should not read ATL or similar sites if that is how you feel. You only make them more influential. Fewer readers, less influence.
typical legacy admits
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/diet.fitness/02/20/cl.best.cities/
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2008/
Yeah Minnesota really does suck...
Wow...really hit a nerve with all the anti-minnesota talk
Check out Lindquist & Vennum's previous summer classes.
There is always one Asian female....That is amazing...I didn't know they exist up there.
5:05, I don't think 235's point is that people aren't responsible for their own actions. I think the point is that we all do stupid shit. Some of us are just lucky enough to not have it spread all the universe. Is an ill-thought out make-out session really the sort of thing these women deserve to have their careers potentially damaged over? Probably getting fired was punishment enough. Now they also have thousands of strangers laughing at them.
510, Did you see "Fargo"?
5:02 (and those on the "they'd have been fired anyway" bandwagon),
See, e.g., 3:01pm (#61). This sort of thing happens all the time, but doesn't usually result in firing. . .or maybe it just happens on the coasts and doesn't result in firing.
Not a retard here, but what is "TTT?" Is it short for something you young kids refer to these days?
241 (5:09): You have to admire people who won't let a few insecure New Yorkers bash their home state. Minnesotans, I'm impressed.
Man, 3:35(1) bleeds whatever color the MN flag is...are you Jesse Ventura???
"I wonder what the bf thinks?"
"Jackpot!"
TTT = third tier toilet - originally referring to law schools, but now ridiculously over-used on this post to refer to anything that the poster doesn't like, or in some cases to refer to things without the poster even knowing what it means.
246:
TTT = Two Titillating Three Ls
I don't think you people are looking at the right facebook profile on the supposedly hot girl. There are multiple people with each name, and the most likely candidates with each name have the generic white outline on blue background. Or at least now they do ...
5:03 - good point and I agree its unfair. But I think its unfair on the part of potential employers who refuse to hire anyeone who's ever done anything silly in their life. Not unfair on the part of the blogger.
Thanks 250. You think I'd be cool if I started texting ppl with it? Would it still be cool to use lower case T's?
5:22 - At least you didn't use pig Latin.
253 (5:22) is the winner!
252-
She just took her profile pic down. I still have access to her whole profile though.
Third Tier Toliet.
4:58(2) - obvioulsy you haven't heard of Mecca Don
244:
Fargo is in N. Dakota, not MN.
The movie Fargo is set in MN though
5:34 - Really? Oh jeez, Margie!! Then why did 99.999% of the Coen Brothers' movie take place in MN?
Predicting that "T14" will not pass the bar given the amount and intelligence of his posts. http://abovethelaw.com/profile/t14lawDOTblogspot
This is 161. I was referring to the jackoffs who are bashing Lat for posting the story. In my opinion, this story = ATL.
The State elected a pro wrestler as its governor and nominated a washed up comic hack for Senate. This alone makes it a laughing stock.
That and Prince's last 5 CDs.
Nice work, 264. In seeking to criticize T14, you have made a typical, yet unforgivable, grammar mistake.
I think you mean the "number" of posts by T14. "Amount" refers to the quantity of a singular noun(e.g. amount of cash ones has).
What is this "TTT"?
Midwesterners and southerners are accustomed to be being mocked by undersized, insecure metrosexuals from places like NYC/DC/BOS/SF who get an ego boost by saying (read: wishing) that the guys who kicked their ass and took all their girls in college are now fat and poor because they live in "flyover states". Of course, if they ever took the time to put down their coffee and visit some place that isn't Europe, they'd realize that there are nice places to live all across this country.
- Midwest native and NYC Biglaw alum who's happy to be back home
263 says: 5:34 - Really? Oh jeez, Margie!! Then why did 99.999% of the Coen Brothers' movie take place in MN?
Not so fast.
"However, due to the mild winter of Minnesota during production, much of the film was, in fact, shot in North Dakota."
Therefore, although the story line is "set" in MN, most of the scenery and snow depicted was filed in ND.
267 - please tell me your own blatant error was intentional
#269. You clearly have an inferiority complex. New York is MidWest East.
Lat - Please update with something interesting and relevant. The comments are becoming incredibly tedious.
#272. You clearly don't live in New York.
Co-sign 269. Great post. I always think it's funny when a graduate of some TTT like Fordham or Brooklyn thinks they're hot shit because they live in New York. As though all the UChicago, Northwestern and Michigan grads took jobs in Chicago because they couldn't land something in NYC. LOL
A google image search using one of the two girls' names brings up an internship page w/ a pic and brief bio. Anyone know if this is one of the girls?
I wonder what kind of a day the two SA's in question are having today?
My guess is not good.
the associates and fellow summer associates should be embarrassed for not stopping it. people get drunk at these functions and you should look out for your friends to make sure that they don't do something stupid like this.
i rely on my friends nightly for their better judgment over my drunk ass.
As an incoming law student, thank you for these stories as training on what not to do and warning of bastard firms.
This is especially true since I don't flaunt or even mention my sexuality at work but do want an accepting environment for when I bring my partner to events (at whatever future firm I land).
Good call 277! They should fire the other SA's who no doubt are celebrating they have secured their jobs by their comrades downfall. A team lives and dies together. This is a standard case of corporate America rewarding throwing a friend under the bus.
Here is to Lindquist for helping to make corporate America even more boring.
278:
It might be a good idea to not get drunk and/or swap spit at the company picknick.
Commenter who called MN a backwater here (#95: give or take a few).
To the guy who asked, "Are you talking about the same state that has more theater seats per capita than any American city but New York, has an independent music scene to rival Seattle (from which sprang the likes of Bob Dylan, Prince, Semisonic, and Soul Asylum), is traditionally among the most progressive states in the nation, and is home to better museums and cultural institutions than virtually every other non-coastal city, perhaps even Chicago?"
Yep, that's the exactly the backwater I was talking about.
5:40 - That's true what you say about Prince, but at least they have Semisonic and Soul Asylum.
I'm sorry, I just can't let this one go.
The people in NYC who spend the most time mocking the "flyover states" frequently turn out to be from less-than-cosmopolitan places themselves. I grew up about a half-hour outside NYC in Jersey, and have found that the d-bags who talk the loudest about their disdain for all things 'bridge and tunnel' usually hale from such exciting places as Ohio.
You know what St. Paul/Minneapolis has? Really cute little houses with big yards you can buy in centrally-located neighborhoods. Can't do that in NYC, man.
6:28 - yawn! Not all of us want that, man.
278,
if you couldn't figure out on your own that its not a good idea to get drunk and make out with your co-workers you probably shouldn't be going to law school.
Dear 278:
Other SA behaviors to avoid:
1. Slapping ass in the office.
2. Stabbing a living thing at a firm sponsored beach BBQ while laughing maniacally.
3. Sending firm wide emails at 3:00 am warning of a client conflict.
4. Putting a wrestling hold on a partner for wearing a team shirt.
5. Threatening to stab a partner in a bar after making a pass at his girlfriend.
6. Striping butt naked and diving into a body of water in front of partners and clients.
7. Swearing in Spanish in the firm hallways.
Have I left anything out?
The truth is abovethelaw kind of sucks. This site is always against the associates and always in favor of the big firms (even if "pretending" to be on the good side).
EXAMPLE 1: Shearman laid-off some senior associates in M&A a few months ago (yes, May-June 2008) and abovethelaw pretend not know.
EXAMPLE 2: many firms did not pay full bonuses to all associates last year, but apparently nobody told these guys.
WHATEVER. Let's stick to these "juicy" stories of summers getting drunk (and by the way, how horrible that you told everyone how to search their names - you should seriously feel ashamed).
The reality is you guys probably do want to go back to corporate life after all.
Not every firm lives in a cloistered NYC/PC existence. Some (quite legitimately) may not want public demonstrations of homosexuality at their firm events.
The truth is abovethelaw kind of sucks. This site is always against the associates and always in favor of the big firms (even if "pretending" to be on the good side).
EXAMPLE 1: Shearman laid-off some senior associates in M&A a few months ago (yes, May-June 2008) and abovethelaw pretend not know.
EXAMPLE 2: many firms did not pay full bonuses to all associates last year, but apparently nobody told these guys.
WHATEVER. Let's stick to these "juicy" stories of summers getting drunk (and by the way, how horrible that you told everyone how to search their names - you should seriously feel ashamed).
The reality is you guys probably do want to go back to corporate life after all.
Oh right 285, what you want is alllll NYC has to offer: $15 weak mixed drinks, the romantic smell of hot horse urine on a summer day in the south east corner of Central Park, the dulcet tones of squealing bus breaks on Broadway, and a tiny one-bedroom apartment renting for the price of at least three lovely and spacious Midwestern homes in thriving urban neighborhoods.
"Not every firm lives in a cloistered NYC/PC existence. Some (quite legitimately) may not want public demonstrations of homosexuality at their firm events."
The problem is, firing someone for a "public demonstration of homosexuality" is ILLEGAL in Minnesota.
8. Order a bottle of Crystal at lunch and submit the tab to the firm for reimbursement.
9. Sharing your quirky sense of humor and cross-dressing alter ego with an email to other SAs.
6:26(2),
Completely on point. Also, the few actual born/raised Manhattanites I've come to know are enamored with "fly over" states. They think these places offer some form of quaint culinary/cultural authenticity, whatever that means.
It is pretty funny that 3:35(1) is proud of Soul Asylum and Semisonic though. Embarrassing.
292 - firing someone for being homosexual is illegal. Firing someone for a public demonstration of sexuality, homo- or otherwise, I highly doubt is illegal. Unless you can back that up of course. I admit to not being from Minnesota.
290 -- which firms didn't pay bonuses?
6:26(2) - I think you're missing the gripe people have about the Bridge & Tunnel crowd - its not that anyone thinks NJ is rural, its that the B&T who invade the city every Friday night are lame and annoying. Mostly underage kids who say "yo" after every sentence ("that place is sick yo!"), and who are way WAY too excited to be in Manhattan for the night, especially considering they live like 10 miles away. Loud, obnoxious, and pretty much retarded.
I don't think anyone is confusing Ohio with New Jersey.
"292 - firing someone for being homosexual is illegal. Firing someone for a public demonstration of sexuality, homo- or otherwise, I highly doubt is illegal. Unless you can back that up of course. I admit to not being from Minnesota."
The poster who said that non-NYC firms may not want "public demonstrations of homosexuality" was clearly referring to specific animus against homosexuality. That is illegal in MN. I really think this firm is going to have a tough time proving that they did not take this action for a discriminatory reason.
Anyone New Yorker who runs into the "bridge and tunnel crowd" enough to complain about it is obviously hanging out in uncool places. I mean, where are you going that these Jersyites are pursuing you, Jekyll and Hydes? Hard Rock Cafe? Manhattan is a plenty big place.
Am I 300?!!!! Oh, sooooo close.
yeah, I doubt possible homosexuality was the basis of the firm having a problem with this. Minneapolis is pretty gay-friendly and progressive. Maybe further out into the state it's "LOL Midwestern puritans" or something, but not in the city itself
Getting wasted, showing poor judgment and being attention whores was the likely problem
The midwest is full of the horrible. The problem isn't the weather, food, schools, architecture, etc. It's the people. Horrible, horrible like-minded people.
isn't the Hard Rock Cafe gone? i haven't seen the pink caddy hanging over 57th street for some time. . .
TTT means that the asshats from xoxo or whatever are still around. hooray.
TTT means that the asshats from xoxo or whatever are still around. hooray.
297 was born in Iowa.
7:30
as of this june it was still there.
"Covering the misadventures of summer associates is valuable. When the summer associate is in the wrong, the story is a cautionary tale that educates future summers about what NOT to do. When the firm is in the wrong, the story raises red flags for law students thinking about working for that firm."
What a joke. In half of your posts you admit that what you're saying probably isn't true.
ATL is gutter slime. So are all the losers who search the girls' pictures out on the internet.
i was an associate at a vault 5-10 firm where partners (old, nasty men for the most part) slept with young female associates in their departments.
i thought that such behaviour was inappropriate - far more inappropriate than a mere drunken kiss.
7:36 - "ATL is gutter slime. So are all the losers who search the girls' pictures out on the [I]nternet."
Whew, I'm glad I don't qualify as gutter slime!! I found the "girls' pictures" by telephoning their respective law schools and ex-boyfriends.
Frankly, I think anyone that isn't already from the Northeast that would choose to go there instead of working for Skadden or Kirkland in Chicago if they have that option are idiots. Same pay and bonus as their NY counterparts, except you can actually afford to buy a really nice place in the prime Chicago neighborhoods on an associate salary instead of a glorified closet in NY. Only reason to be in NY is if you want to be in I-banking (because we know you work too many hours to have time to enjoy all that culture New Yorkers like to trumpet, you work way more hours than the Chicago associates do), and in that case, what the hell did you go to law school for?
I should note I heard a few years ago a couple of female summers got drunk and made out repeatedly at a firm event at a Chicago firm and they were not only not fired, they got offers (and not cold offers either, at least one of them accepted if I heard right).
I post #311th cause I know no one will read it. But good post Lat -- this has legs!
i work at wlrk, and today a firm-wide memo went out saying that the partners were going to hold a bukkake party in the boardroom.
no joke.
289, yes we get it, some people are bigots.
7:36, then don't read it.
See ya. Thanks for playing.
Whatever happened to HofstraMagna? Everything alright @ Zarb?
this is really not that big a deal - grow the f*ck up people (or at least get out more).
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Dear Carpet-Munching Chicks Who Were Shit-Canned From Lindquist & Vennum:
I am the hiring partner at a major firm in D.C. If you appy to my firm, as a pair, and if you include photos of the two of you locking lips, and if you are hot, I will hire you at much more than Lindquist & Vennum ever could have paid you. And I will lobby to get you a signing bonus.
Question to lesbo ladies -- are either of you into 41 year old married men with salt/pepper hair and a beer belly? If so, apply to all the big firms in D.C. (I repeat, as a pair) and I'll do what I can to get you hired. No joke.
"Harold," Big-Law Hiring Partner
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Dear Harold (8:16 pm / #318),
I'm young and I munch carpet. But I'm a dude and I was just shit-canned from a big firm in DC. Are you interested in hiring me (I did mortgage-backed securities, but am a quick learner if your hiring for health care, IP, antitrust, litigation, corporate, or anything else)
"Elliot" the unemployed former big-law associate from a shitty-DC law school (American University, WCL)
Let's take the party to the new thread:
http://abovethelaw.com/2008/07/sapphic_summers_lindquist_vennum.php
"Elliot" (aka Wednesday, July 23, 2008 8:22 PM),
CONSIDER YOURSELF LUCKY TO EVER HAVE BEEN IN THE WORKFORCE. YOU WENT TO AMERICAN UNIVERSITY, TTTest OF THE TTT LAW SCHOOLS.
AMERICAN MAKES HOFSTRA LOOK LIKE HARVARD.
GULC, 2009
Stop with all the MN-hating -- sorry all MN people ... New Yorkers have to $hit all over anywhere that isn't NYC. Very arrogant. Also, whoever poked fun at the falling bridge ... that's really callous ... innocent people lost their lives... keep it tasteful.. I live in NYC and think MN is a fine state... the people are actually friendly and nice...
Hey for anyone who's actually interested in the story (and not above enjoying the content Lat graciously provides us on ATL) there's a new thread, top of the main page.
FYI, #321 is GW '10 trying to make GULC look dumb.
Nice troll, Georgetown Waitlist.
Girls in my summer associate class used to make out all the time, it was no big deal.
- SA STUD
Not that I have a dog in this particular fight, but I feel compelled to say that I find AU alumni to be slightly retarded.
Here is my list of DC-area schools, in order of least retarded to most retarded
GULC
GW
University of Maryland
George Mason
Catholic Law
Howard Law
Baltimore Law
University of D.C.
University of Phoenix, online law degree program
American University, WCL
GULC pisses all over UVA.
At least people in the upper midwest have good and reasonable cause for being obese - its damn cold, and they benefit from the extra layers of blubber. Southerners, on the other hand, have no excuse. My conclusion: lets not lump all flyover places together. There are potentially livable flyover places, like Minnesota and Idaho, and god-forsaken shitholes, like the South (especially Texas).
327 -- No way in hell. UVA pisses on every school in DC.
tits
Why shouldn't these women sue the firm?
Semisonic was a one-hit wonder.
That's like bragging about your hometown's independent music scene because the Baha Men or Dexy's Midnight Runners came from there.
Semisonic was a one-hit wonder.
That's like bragging about your hometown's independent music scene because the Baha Men or Dexy's Midnight Runners came from there.
Or the guy who did Mambo Number 5.
William Mitchell College of Law is, and always has been, a very good law school. WMCL has produced many excellent attorneys. In fact, the Minnesota Supreme Court is currently made up of half WMCL grads. The Chief Justice is a WMCL grad.
beavers on beavers
muffs on muffs
too many lesbos is never enough
au's wcl dominates!
I think the person who leaked this story is jealous the girls didn’t kiss him and I’m sure are suffering from small man syndrome
#333--I heard that "Come on Eileen" was playing in the background when the summers shared the Kiss.
They've got junk in the trunk because of Culver's Butterburgers.
Here is the firm's response:
http://abovethelaw.com/2008/07/the_sapphic_summers_lindquist.php
So what we can all agree on is that Lindquist & Vennum is prejudice against gay men and lesbian women.
289=Scalia, dissenting in Lawrence.
Since when is prejudice and homophobia legitimate?
I am actually just getting around to reading this blog. I'm really impressed that all of you morons were able to find each other. You're like flies over $hit. With a few exceptions, you all exemplify what is wrong with law students, lawyers and society in general.
Not one of you has any clue as to what really happened at Lindquist this summer or what kind of firm Lindquist is. You just like spewing crap to make your own meaningless existence a little less pathetic. Crawl back under your rocks.
Yes, I know I'm late in weighing in, but I don't typically read blogs. Now, it is abundantly clear to me why that is. The really outstanding thing is that I will get the last word on this blog. Maybe just because everyone else has moved on. Assuming anyone is still listening, before you waste time and energy coming up with some really creative comeback, you might want to consider that I won't see it. I have better things to do than to visit this site again just to see what one of you brain-dead morons has to say in response. You'll get more satisfaction if you just blow it out your a$$.
I am dumber for having visited this site.