January 2009

The winter wedding announcements are often a prestige wasteland, but we’re actually quite pleased with the caliber of the couples we’ve been able to round up for the first 2009 edition of Legal Eagle Wedding Watch (which admittedly includes some entries from late 2008). Here are your contestant couples: 1. Bella Sewall and David Wolitz […]

Maybe William & Mary School of Law administrators were checking in on the ATL Idol competition over the summer. The Law School Dean Search Committee’s methods for choosing a new dean sure sound familiar: Hi. After vetting well over 100 candidates and conducting ‘airport’ interviews over two weekends (one in DC, the other here in […]

Back in November, we reported that Loeb & Loeb laid off eight associates. At the time, the firm told us: We continue to actively recruit, hire and invest in the firm’s core practice areas and in the past three months alone we have hired 13 associates, including 9 first-year associates, and 3 lateral partners. We […]

Wildman Harrold, a Chicago based law firm of over 200 lawyers (and an ATL commenter favorite) has laid off 10 lawyers. The firm has confirmed that there were “approximately” 5 income partners and 5 associates let go. Our tipsters also report that eight staffers were also let go, but the firm did not confirm that […]

Finally, the moment you’ve all been waiting for: time to announce Above the Law’s top two stories for 2008, on the gossip front. We’ve also been recapping the top stories on the business side of the fence, but stories about the business of law are available from many other outlets. Juicy law firm gossip is […]

Students who received a prestigious Bristow Fellowship with the Solicitor General’s Office will be informed today. The Office of the Solicitor General confirmed with us this morning that the decisions have been made and successful applicants will be told today. If you applied, you might want to keep your phone lines open. But if you […]

* Cass Sunstein could share a U-Haul with Elena Kagan for the move down to Washington, D.C. Here are some reactions to Sunstein’s appointment to “regulatory czar” in the OMB. Richard Epstein says “it’s one thing to start a debate, which is what you do in academia, and it’s another to start a program, which […]

In this economic climate, bankruptcy partners are worth their weight in gold. Expect to see more lateral movement in the bankruptcy bar, as marquee names get courted by firms seeking greater presence in the area. Here’s what could be the start of a trend: Bruce Zirinsky (pictured), co-chair of the financial restructuring department at Cadwalader, […]

Gary Green was an associate at Skadden in Los Angeles. About a year ago he was fired. On New Year’s Eve, Green filed a complaint against the firm and a number of partners and associates. Green’s complaint brings the fire. He alleges defamation, wrongful termination, tortious interference, and a host of other things. And he […]

* If you look closely, you’ll notice that now you can share your favorite ATL posts on Facebook, or Digg It. * Boston College Law School graduate, Caplan & Ross attorney, and “blook” writer Nicole Mondschein has lots of interesting imaginary friends. [The Star Islanders] * Great orginal research exposes Elena Kagan: the law student. […]

We mentioned this massive layoff from across the pond in today’s Morning Docket, but it seems like we need to devote a full post discussing the shocking news. Having already laid off 20 New York litigators, Clifford Chance today let go of 70 – 80 London lawyers. The Lawyer reports: In a statement, London managing […]

The holidays are over. Now it’s time to get back to business, and in Biglaw these days that means getting back laying people off. Multiple tipsters report that there were layoffs at Baker & McKenzie this morning. The firm just confirmed the news: Therefore, consistent with our strategy and discipline, and in response to the […]

Things just seem to be getting more and more draconian over that the University of Chicago Law School. Yesterday we reminded you of the school’s attempts to shut down internet access in class. The day before that we mentioned that some student was calling for an end to video games on personal laptops during lectures. […]

Getting a divorce is never a quick fix, even for a surgeon. You have to divide up the money, the property, the kids, the kidneys. A Long Island surgeon embroiled in a nearly four-year divorce proceeding wants his estranged wife to return the kidney he donated to her, although he says he’ll settle for $1.5 […]

Parker Poe, a Charlotte-based law firm, laid off 13 attorneys and an undisclosed number of support staffers yesterday. A firm spokesperson confirmed the news last night: Parker Poe did, today, separate 13 attorneys from our firm. The attorneys had less-than-one to 3 years of experience with our firm. Depending upon their years of service with […]

Dickstein Shapiro sent a memo around the firm yesterday that was the bearer of much bad news. Not only did it announce a salary freeze for 2009, it officially announced layoffs that were conducted on Tuesday. Full e-mail after the jump, but here’s an excerpt: First, we have made a limited number of reductions in […]

[Ed. Note: The following piece was authored by “The Legal Tease” of Sweet Hot Justice fame. You can check out all of Legal Tease’s other evocative musings from Sweet Hot Justice here.] You know this guy, you do. Every Big Firm has at least one. You started hearing the lore about him your first week […]

* Global Layoff Watch: Clifford Chance to cut as many as 80 attorneys in its London office. [Bloomberg] * Deloitte partner and tax attorney Steven Klig tried to blackmail the woman with whom he was having an affair. He wanted nude photos of her and threatened to send their sex videos to her family, blurring […]

The new year is shaping up to be a cold one. As we noted in our 2008 Year in Review series, one of the biggest stories heading into 2009 has been that of the salary freeze. Rather than instituting lock-step raises for associates entering a new class year, a number of firms have informed associates […]

* Thanks to all the readers who chose Above the Law as their favorite law blawg for news & politics for the second year in a row! [ABA Journal] * Let’s keep the good times rolling. It’s time to vote in the 2008 Weblog Awards. [Weblog Awards] * It was only a matter of time […]