Along with his colorful co-defendant, private investigator Anthony Pellicano, prominent entertainment attorney Terry Christensen is now a convicted felon. Earlier today, a federal jury convicted the pair on conspiracy charges relating to illegal wiretapping.
Not a great way to kick off a holiday weekend. And not good news for the 110-lawyer firm that Christensen founded — Christensen, Glaser, Fink, Jacobs, Weil & Shapiro.
(That firm name may ring a bell. Name partner Robert Shapiro famously served on O.J. Simpson’s victorious defense team.)
Private eye Anthony Pellicano, attorney Christensen convicted of wiretap plot [Los Angeles Times via WSJ Law Blog]
Terry N. Christensen bio [Christensen, Glaser, Fink, Jacobs, Weil & Shapiro, LLP]
Archive for August 2008
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Posted in:
Anthony Pellicano, Crime, Entertainment Law, Trials
Lawyer of the Day: Terry Christensen
By David Lat
When it comes to seating juries, desperate times call for desperate measures. Like arresting — and shackling — jury duty deadbeats, which is what’s done in D.C.
Out in Oregon, they conscript jurors from off the street:
A juror shortage forced a judge to look through a phone book before sending sheriff’s deputies out into the street to round up enough people for a trial.
Lane County Presiding Judge Mary Ann Bearden said an unusually large number of criminal trials combined with an equally unusual number of no-shows for jury duty forced her to invoke a little-used state law.
“I dealt with some angry people,” the judge said. “They didn’t think it was fair.”
Their anger is understandable. These folks were out for a nice morning stroll, on a sunny day in August. The next thing they knew, they were jurors on a sex abuse trial — for a man accused of screwing the pooch aggravated animal abuse. And the defendant wasn’t even a federal judge.
Democracy: what a bitch.
Oregon judge tries dialing, rounding up jurors [AP via Seattle Times]
[Ed note: Though Non-Sequiturs is our traditional sign-off, posted at or near the end of the day, we're not quite done -- more posts will follow. We just wanted to give a quick round-up for those leaving the office early.]
* If you happen to be stuck at work over the long weekend, Paul Caron has you covered. It’s much better than trying to figure out which non-contiguous state you like best. [Tax Prof Blog]
* Chief Justice Roberts will be judging a moot court competition. If that sounds odd, consider that the competition is in Florida, home to 27 sweet electoral votes. [BLT: The Blog of Legal Times]
* The Veoh ruling might not help YouTube as much as they hoped. Maybe they should try garlic to battle with Viacom and Sumner Redstone [Law.com]
* Wait, pole-dancing isn’t exercise but beach volleyball is an Olympic sport? I’m so confused. [WSJ Law Blog]
* Gustav. Seriously. Running away is always a good option when dealing with nature. [Washington Post]
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Posted in:
Job of the Week, Sponsored Content
Job of the Week: From Counselor to Consulting
By Elie Mystal
If going in-house was why you went to law school in the first place, this week’s Job of the Week is something you should check out.
It’s for a corporate attorney looking to move to more of a consulting role. As always, the Job of the Week is brought to you by Lateral Link. For more information about Lateral Link’s team of personal search consultants, or to see about joining their team, click here.
Position: Attorney Consultant
Location: Orange County, CA
Description: A Fortune 500 insurance company is seeking an attorney with at least two years of experience to consult on a variety of corporate matters. The attorney will be expected to develop mutual fund board meeting materials, draft fund and investment adviser procedures, prepare/negotiate related agreements, and work on all fund and adviser-related matters. In addition, the attorney will provide legal advice and other legal support to internal clients and monitor legislation and new laws affecting mutual funds and investment advisers. The role will involve drafting prospectus disclosure, investment adviser disclosure, and documents and materials, along with implementing appropriate procedures to comply with new laws.
For more information about this position, or to apply, please see Position 9656 on Lateral Link. Current members can also contact their personal search consultant directly to discuss this position. Membership in Lateral Link is free, and you can apply at www.laterallink.com.
Facebook just got a lot less cool, and a lot more LinkedIn. Watch out, for your firm may be coming to F-book soon.
The ABA Journal reports that Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle has launched a Facebook page to aid in its recruiting efforts:
Looking for a way to better promote itself to the next generation of lawyers, Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle has launched a Facebook page as part of its broader law school recruiting efforts.
“We are pleased to be capitalizing on the popularity of the most widely used social networking site,” Nancy Delaney, a Curtis partner who is a member of the firm’s personnel committee, says in a release (PDF) about the page. “As a Firm, we recognized the power of this format of communication and the wide use being made of it by future lawyers.”
Their page has 55 fans at the moment. We would pooh-pooh that, but the Above the Law fan page currently has just 96 fans.
(The ATL group page on Facebook, however, has more robust ranks, with over 800 members.)
Facebook Page is New Twist in Biglaw Recruiting [Robert Ambrogi's LawSites]
BigLaw Firm Recruits on Facebook [ABA Journal]
Curtis, Mallet, Prevost, Colt & Mosle Facebook Page [Facebook]
CURTIS DEPLOYS FACEBOOK PAGE TO HELP ATTRACT TOP LAW STUDENTS [Curtis, Mallet, Prevost, Colt & Mosle Press Release - PDF]
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Posted in:
Feminism, Gender, John McCain, Politics, Sarah Palin
Breaking: McCain Picks Palin Up Off the Street For Veep
By Elie Mystal
According to the New York Times, John McCain has tapped Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate.
Appeal to disaffected Clinton voters? Trying to lock up the Mike Gravel fan base?
Update: Although Governor Palin is not a lawyer, there have already been several legal issues mentioned with regard to her candidacy. Just last month, her own state legislature opened an investigation into allegations that she tried to get her ex-brother-in-law fired from his state trooper job
Law professor Ann Althouse has already gone on record with a furry opinion about Palin’s credentials.
Without a professional legal background to pontificate on (compare Joe Biden), we here at ATL will continue to scour our sources to bring you the latest on Palin’s positions about the things that matter to lawyers, big and small. Anyone know her views on SCOTUS nominations?
McCain Chooses Palin as Running Mate [New York Times]
Alaska’s Palin Faces Probe [Wall Street Journal]
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Posted in:
Breasts, Crime, Federal Judges, Oral Sex / Blow Jobs, Samuel Kent, Sex, Sexual Harassment
Judge Kent Indicted on Sex Charges
By David Lat
For about a year now, ever since he took a mysterious leave of absence in August 2007, we’ve been following the troubles of Judge Samuel B. Kent (S.D. Tex.). A suspension from the Fifth Circuit, allegations of breastfeeding and BJ requests — it hasn’t been pretty.
Yesterday things got even worse for Judge Kent. From the Houston Chronicle:
U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent was indicted Thursday on charges of abusive sexual contact and attempted aggravated sexual abuse of a female employee, making him the first federal judge to be charged with federal sex crimes and the first in Texas indicted in recent history.
Congratulations, Your Honor? It’s a privilege to be FIRST.
The alleged victim — Judge Kent’s former case manager, Cathy McBroom — issued a statement after the indictment came down:
“After a very difficult 17 months, I feel like I have finally been validated. I have listened and read with horror as Judge Kent’s lawyer suggested that what happened to me was ‘enthusiastically consensual,’ ” wrote McBroom, who remains a federal court employee. “I am relieved to find that even federal judges are not above the law, and that sexual abuse in the workplace is never acceptable, no matter the status of the offender.”
Thanks for the shout-out, Cathy!
A little bit more, below the fold.
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Posted in:
No Offers, Stroock & Stroock & Lavan
Nationwide No Offer Watch: Stroock Strikes
By Elie Mystal
The tips keep rolling in about firms no offering summer associates. Today’s confirmed casualty report comes from Stroock & Stroock & Lavan.
Unlike Wiley Rein, Winston & Strawn, and other reports we’ve heard that suggest firms are coalescing around a 90% offer rate, Stroock made offers to only 80% of their ’08 summer class.
Stroock did not directly confirm this number, but they did not deny it either.
Instead, Stroock communications director Jim Ponichtera focused on a different percentage:
In 2007, Stroock made a strategic decision to increase the size of its
incoming class. Our summer classes were typically in the 28-30 range, and in 2008 we had 54 summer associates. Part of this was due to our decision to increase the class size, and part of this was due to an unexpectedly high acceptance rate of offers to join our summer program.
At the end of the summer, we extended a record number of entry-level offers – over 50% more than in 2007, which is consistent with our current business plan.
You hear that? 50% more offers.
More on the 20% who didn’t make the cut after the jump,
Continue reading “Nationwide No Offer Watch: Stroock Strikes”
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Posted in:
Fenwick & West, Hughes Hubbard & Reed, Kilpatrick Stockton, Kramer Levin, Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell, Lovells, Mintz Levin, Seyfarth Shaw, Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner, Vault 100 open threads - 2009
Fall Recruiting Open Thread: Vault 91-100 (2009)
By Kashmir Hill
This marks the end of our review of the firms in the Vault 100. This is the final bunch up for discussion (with prestige scores in parentheses):
91. Lovells (4.494)
92. Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner LLP (4.489)
93. Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP (4.478)
94. Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP (4.459)
95. Kilpatrick Stockton LLP (4.452)
96. Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP (4.439)
97. Squire, Sanders & Dempsey LLP (4.421)
98. Seyfarth Shaw (4.399)
99. Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo PC (4.394)
100. Fenwick & West LLP (4.373)
Discuss. Dissect. Compare. Contrast. Most of all, enjoy.
Earlier: Vault 100 Open Threads – 2009
* The Democratic love fest peaked last night. Senator Barack Obama addressed more than 80,000 people in a Denver football stadium. Our favorite line was his take on “it’s not me, it’s you.” [New York Times]
* A reporter for ABC News wasn’t feeling the love at the Democratic convention this week. Denver police arrested him Wednesday for trespassing while he tried to get interviews on a public sidewalk. His attorneys and the ACLU want all charges dropped. [The Blotter/ABC News]
* Under new Justice Department rules, “federal prosecutors will no longer be able to strong-arm corporate targets to reveal protected conversations with their attorneys.” [CNN]
* Florida lawyers acting badly may make it hard for workers to file overtime violation suits. [National Law Journal]
* Embattled Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is suing to stop the hearing that would remove him from office. [Washington Post]
* … We hope his lawyers are making him prepay for that. An attorney has filed suit against Mayor Kilpatrick for allegedly stiffing him on a $79,000 legal bill. [Detroit Free Press]
* Tom Cruise is being sued for $11 million by a bunch of German actors who say they were injured in the filming of his last movie. Show me the money! [Onlinewire]
* Rick Reilly continues his transition from inane blather on Sports Illustrated to inane blather on ESPN. [ESPN.com]
* Taxpayers in Texas had to pay money for a judge to deal with Hilary Duff’s birthday party. [Houston Chronicle]
* Target will pay $6 million in damages and make their website accessible to the blind, having already succeeded in making their website perfectly accessible to those who are poor and have low standards. [Law.com]
* The Justice Department is apparently going to try the Joanne Galloway “I strenuously object” argument with SCOTUS. [SCOTUSblog]
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Posted in:
Heller Ehrman, Law Firm Mergers, Mayer Brown
Law Firm Merger Mania: Heller Ehrman Is At It Again
By Elie Mystal
To paraphrase Austin Powers, Heller Ehrman is getting to “town bicycle” status. The latest firm to take a ride through Heller’s financials: Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw.
According to Am Law Daily, citing sources close to both Heller and Mayer Brown, Heller is “aggressively” pursuing other merger options, with Mayer Brown looking like the most promising match. They add:
The current talks between Mayer Brown and Heller, which began days after Heller’s talks with Baker & McKenzie ended, actually represent a second effort to combine the firms.
Before anybody starts requesting new business cards, it must be noted that Heller merger rumors tend to be as bankable as that Nigerian guy who needs your account number. In the past few months, Heller has been linked to Winston & Strawn, Proskauer Rose, and Baker & McKenzie. Given that a Heller/Mayer Brown merger has fallen through before, this latest rumor could be more about smoke screen than actual fire.
Just last week, Heller announced that it was postponing start dates until after Martin Luther King Day. We’ll keep you updated on Heller’s continuing efforts to be saved.
Heller Ehrman, Mayer Brown In Merger Talks [Am Law Daily]
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Posted in:
Fashion, Slideshows
The State of the Union Office (Or: How is the downturn affecting lawyer dress?)
By Legal Tease
[Ed. note: This post is by guest writer LIAM HILL (no relation to Kashmir), who will be writing a series of posts about fashion and style. Fashion is a popular topic these days. See, e.g., the undershirts post (200 comments).
Perhaps it's because Fashion Week is about to get under way in New York. You can follow goings-on over at our sister site, Fashionista, which will be covering the collections live from Bryant Park.]
With the economic downturn, lawyer layoffs, and pushed-back start dates, I’ve been wondering about the influence that such turmoil has had on — what else? — office fashion. I tend to agree with Mark Twain, who said, “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.” (Well, unless you’re in the middle of Times Square, with a guitar and a cowboy hat.)
Leaner times tend to bring out the Brooks Brothers aesthetic, and business casual once again goes where it belongs — away. Ties and coats return, flip-flops and “commuter shoes” stay home, and “white shoe” again can once mean white shoe (but only on Fridays). Although many will resist the siren song of a more formal workplace, the trend is inevitable. I know you won’t believe me, but apparently those who want to take your job already do. At least according to Turnbull & Asser.
Read my interview with James Cook (pictured), Bespoke Manager of Turnbull & Asser, and share your thoughts on the current state of men’s fashion, after the jump.
Continue reading “The State of the Union Office (Or: How is the downturn affecting lawyer dress?)”
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Posted in:
Bad Ideas, Food, Nauseating Things
Why You Shouldn’t Steal Food From the Law Firm Fridge
By David Lat
Stealing Swiss Miss from your law firm’s kitchen is not a good idea. If you’re a summer associate, it’s a recipe for getting no-offered.
And stealing food from the law firm refrigerator is also unwise. See here (and note the “FYI” postscript).
Does anyone care to guess — or actually know — the law firm where this sign was posted?
Reasons Not To Steal Food From the Company Fridge [Midtown Lunch]
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Posted in:
Barack Obama, Biglaw, Cleary Gottlieb, Politics
Cleary Associate Fought for Lost Cause in PA
By Elie Mystal
Am Law Daily highlights the work of James Clark, a fifth-year at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, who took a two-month unpaid leave to volunteer for the Obama campaign in Pennsylvania.
Clark was a community organizer for three different townships in Bucks County, a county Hillary Clinton carried with over 60 percent of the vote. He felt that his Cleary litigation experience helped him in his campaign stint organizing local volunteers: “Volunteers are kind of like junior associates in that you have to clearly articulate what needs to be done so that everyone is on the same page.”
Also don’t make any sudden movements. Be firm, yet gentle.
Clark credits Cleary for allowing him the opportunity to work in rural Pennsylvania….
Continue reading “Cleary Associate Fought for Lost Cause in PA”
As we mentioned earlier today, we’re doing a series of posts on law firms no-offering their summer associates. Recently we heard this, from an operative in a law school career services office:
The first blow of what we expect to be a horrible recruiting season has landed. Winston & Strawn in Chicago was “oversubscribed” and is handing out no-offers and soft offers.
We contacted the firm for comment. From spokesperson Darryl Van Duch:
I am responding on behalf of firm management regarding your inquiry about Winston’s summer class. In your email you stated that Winston & Strawn in Chicago is oversubscribed, and is handing out no-offers and cold offers.
It is the firm’s policy to not comment on individual personnel issues or hiring issues. However, we felt in this situation it was appropriate to address your statements. As to the issue of cold offers, we have not made and will not make so-called ‘cold’ offers. Additionally, the overall percentage rate of offers we made to summer associates in the firm this year was in the 90s, consistent with prior years.
What we’ve been hearing is roughly consistent with Van Duch’s statement. Tipsters tell us that the firm’s Chicago office no-offered 7 out of 67 summer associates, meaning that 90 percent of summers did receive offers.
Now, 90 percent seems plenty high. But it’s certainly lower than the 95 to 100 percent offer rates that were par for the Biglaw course during recent boom times. According to the NALP directory, the Chicago office of Winston had an offer rate of 100 percent in 2007, with 37 out of 37 summers getting offers.
More ruminations on offer rates, after the jump.
Continue reading “Nationwide No Offer Watch: Winston & Strawn”
The end of this tale is tragic and grim, but we’ll focus on the salacious over the sad. From the Telegraph:
James Muir-Little, 45, a deputy district judge, resigned his post before the outcome of disciplinary proceedings against him. He had cheated on his own wife with Joanne Hall, 31, a cardiac nurse, after meeting her through and internet website for swingers.
They exchanged naked pictures and sexual fantasies by email before twice meeting for sex at hotels. In one email Mrs Hall promised to be a “dirty little slut” for the judge.
Not to be confused with clean big sluts. Or Nazis German prison workers. They’re popular on the other side of the pond.
The tragic part is that when Joanne Hall’s husband, Gavin Hall, learned of her infidelity, he killed their three-year-old daughter in revenge.
But let’s not dwell on that. More details about the swinger judge, after the jump.
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Posted in:
Biglaw, No Offers, Summer Associates, Wiley Rein & Fielding
Nationwide No Offer Watch: Wiley Rein
By Elie Mystal
Thanks for all of the tips in response to our Friday post on no-offers. We are investigating various leads and will bring you a series of posts based on what we learn.
We’ll start with Wiley Rein. The firm’s 2008 summer class was oversubscribed, but only four summer associates paid the price. We’d been hearing reports that Wiley gave offers to 34 out of 38 SAs, and the firm has now confirmed the news.
Kay Nash, director of professional development and attorney recruiting at Wiley, said over email:
As is always the case here, everyone who deserved an offer received one, despite our higher numbers this summer. We are confident that we can comfortably accommodate the excellent students to whom we extended offers. We always aim for approximately 25 new associates, but gave a significantly higher number of offers reflecting the strength of our summer class.
A few tipsters pointed out that Wiley’s class may have been oversubscribed due to the huge fees the firm earned as part of the 2006 Blackberry litigation. The settlement pushed Wiley’s profits per partner all the way to number one for 2006.
Thirty-four offers out of an expected 25 slots suggests that Wiley is doing the best they can. But that probably does not mean a lot to the four fallen. We pour out our 40 to the undeserving four.
Earlier: Fall Recruiting Open Thread: No Offer, No Cry
If you have a small penis the only thing you can do about it is buy a gun.
I can finally say that with the authority of judicial precedent behind me. As the WSJ Law Blog reported yesterday, Steve Warshak, founder of Enzyte, was sentenced to 25 for defrauding sad, pathetic men.
I have often watched the late night replay of the Daily Show and Colbert and wished, nay prayed, that somebody would put an end to this stupid ad-campaign so I could get back to Girls Gone Wild promos. Though U.S. District Judge S. Arthur Spiegel ruled that the company would be allowed to stay in business, one expects civil litigation to destroy once and forever the concept of “natural male enhancement.”
There are lots of penis products on television, usually in the form of car commercials. But the lack of subtlety from these Enzyte jerks is just totally out of place for the quiet, drunken depression that marks watching late night television. Get out of my head Smilin’ Bob, I do not believe you!
Now if we could only get rid of commercials telling me that I have to keep it up for 36 hours, life would be better.
Fraudulent Male Enhancement Drug Gets Company Founder 25 Yrs. [WSJ Law Blog]
Over at f/k/a, David Giacalone wonders why few people have taken a stand on Harvey Silverglate’s outrageous contention that the “Harvard Factor” has somehow killed satire in the legal profession.
Stand at my wall and start screaming “Hektor,” why don’t you?
Professor Silverglate reminds me of the guy, Dr. Pritchard I believe, who wrote the poetry textbook in Dead Poets Society. He tries to make objective the subjective art of “comedy,” despite the fact that he is not funny.
Silverglate is annoyed that so many people reacted poorly to the New Yorker cover of Barack Obama dressed up in so-called “muslin” attire. His reasoning for the backlash over the cover is that “elites” — like Obama — have become so stifled in their thinking that they can no longer take a joke.
He specifically calls out the HLS Parody (full disclosure: I was part of the show each of my three years). He states that none of the humor approaches the frankness or “brutality” of previous incarnations.
Excuse me while I stand on my desk and shout “yawp.”
Maybe back in Silverglate’s day, all the good ‘ol boys could sit around and tell watermelon jokes with impunity. Today, at Harvard and I’d imagine most anywhere else, you can still make fun of racial and gender stereotypes, you just have to be a little bit more intelligent and creative about it. Why? Because “Gee golly, them girls sure can’t drive,” just isn’t funny anymore. It’s called progress.
More ad hominem attacks on Silverglate, after the jump.
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Posted in:
Advertising, Asia Chronicles, Shameless Plugs, Sponsored Content, This Is an Ad
The Asia Chronicles: In-House Openings at Hedge Funds In Hong Kong / State Of The Market / 7 New Kinney ’12 US Associate Placements In HK / China
By Kinney Recruiting
Ed. note: This post is authored by Evan Jowers and Robert Kinney of Kinney Recruiting, sponsor of the Asia Chronicles. Kinney has made more placements of U.S. associates and partners in Asia than any other firm in the past five years. You can reach them by email: asia@kinneyrecruiting.comHappy Chinese New Year! We were extremely busy the past few months, including most of our US based team working from our Hong Kong offices during November and December.
As a follow up from our recent post, which listed our 62 US associate and counsel placements in Asia last year (vast majority in HK / China), please note that thus far in January ’12, we have already made seven US associate and counsel placements in Asia. This is an especially impressive number, considering the biglaw lateral hiring market in Asia is down right now (see state of the market brief overview below). These new placements are of new hires in Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai, who were interviewing with their new firm for a month or more and they are spread out among different practice areas, including project finance, litigation, fund formation, M&A and cap markets. We are close on four additional new associate placements, in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Shanghai, that we expect to close soon. We do not discuss partner placements in these articles, but the pace of partner recruitment in Asia (a large part of our business) has continued.
Hedge Fund In-House Openings in Hong Kong
We are seeing a small run of new in-house openings in Hong Kong at hedge funds. We are currently filling three different in-house positions at three different hedge funds in Hong Kong, two of these searches we are handling on an exclusive basis. All three will most likely be filled by a US associate, with about 4 to 6 years of experience. Mandarin not required. Candidates from NYC and London will be considered, but at one of these funds the new hire will likely come from Hong Kong / China or Singapore (with HK being the strong preference).
Please feel free to reach out to us at asia@kinneyrecruiting.com if you are interested in these hedge fund openings. As you probably would expect, the competition for these spots will be fierce and the funds will be very selective when choosing which candidates to interview.
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Posted in:
Advertising, Shameless Plugs, Sponsored Content, This Is an Ad
The BarMax Manifesto: “We Are Not Sheep”
By Above the Law
In 2009, a small group of Harvard Law School students noticed an absurd monopoly in the bar prep space, held by an unchallenged leader with a non-evolving product. In response, these students teamed up with Harvard Law alumni to launch BarMax on January 14, 2010.The mission: democratize bar prep by embracing new technologies to provide the very best bar exam review courses at a fraction of the cost normally associated with these courses.
Since then, with the encouragement of thousands of students and an unwavering commitment to their success, BarMax has established itself as a comprehensive alternative to the stagnant, over-priced status quo.
As we continue to expand, we do not want to lose sight of the basic premises that led us to create BarMax in the first place. If you are a law student who believes that there is something fundamentally wrong with being forced to take out yet another loan to pay for a $4,000 bar exam prep course, you are not alone.
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Posted in:
Careers
