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(Laid-Off) Lawyer of the Day: National Monopoly Champ Richard Marinaccio

monopoly above the law.jpgRichard Marinaccio was laid off from midsize firm Hodgson Russ LLP in Buffalo, New York, in January. While he was job searching, he may have spent his time constructively polishing his resume. And he may have spent some time playing board games. Both activities paid off.

In March, he both found a new job and casually surfed over to Hasbro's website and took a quiz on his Monopoly strategy. He did well on the quiz, moving to the next round, which involved writing essays on his strategy. He did well again, and qualified for an online game-playing session with 80 other players. He scored at the top and was one of 28 people to participate in Monopoly's national championships in Washington, D.C., last week.

He told us it was his first time participating in competitive Monopoly, though it's always been his favorite game to play with his family. The family game-playing sessions prepared him well and Monopoly money is turning into real money for the 26-year-old attorney. He won the championship, taking home a purse equivalent to a Monopoly bank: $20,580. Marinaccio will also go on to represent the U.S. in the Monopoly world championship in Las Vegas in October.

And he's not even a real estate attorney. He recently got a new job working as in-house counsel at a health care company.

He wasn't the only attorney trying to force people into bankruptcy. Ellis Baggs of Hunton & Williams also qualified for the national competition, though he was eliminated before having the chance to square off with Marinaccio.

Advance to Go. Collect $20,580. Congratulations on the new job, the Monopoly skills, and a place in the ATL Lawyer of the Day annals, Mr. Marinaccio.

Earlier: (Laid-Off) Lawyer of the Day: Hudson River Plane Crash Passenger Frank Scudere

Buffalo Resident Crowned U.S. Monopoly National Champion [Business Wire]
Monopoly pays off big in competition [Washington Times]
Henricoan wins 1st round in national Monopoly championship [Richmond Times-Dispatch]

Comments

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1 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, April 22, 2009 12:32 PM

There's no way this post is relevant to Latham.

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2 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, April 22, 2009 12:34 PM

nope

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3 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, April 22, 2009 12:36 PM

PROTEST LATHAM MAY 1ST NEAR LIPSTICK BUILDING. BRING A RAT AND SOMETHING TO DEFEND YOURSELF SINCE LATHAM ASSOCIATES WILL BE IN FULL ATTACK MODE.

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4 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, April 22, 2009 12:37 PM

Nailing sheep in front of the Lipstick Building at high noon is the only way to get retribution. Sweet sweet woolly retribution.

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5 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, April 22, 2009 12:41 PM

450 and hour for a JD "pending admission" sounds perfectly reasonable to me.

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6 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, April 22, 2009 12:42 PM

Latham word of the day: bonus.
Bonus a reward distributed for hard, well-performed work.

Latham word of the day: layoff.
Layoff is reward distributed for hard, well-performed work.

How badly managed do you have to be to pay people full bonuses and when lay them off a few weeks later. You are dumber than AIG.

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7 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, April 22, 2009 12:44 PM

First to be thankful that Latham gave 6 months severance and benefits.

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8 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, April 22, 2009 12:44 PM

Latham, let more associates go in the middle of May or you shall feel the retribution of the All Mighty.

-Moses

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9 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, April 22, 2009 12:45 PM

Isn't Monopoly mostly a game of luck?

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10 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, April 22, 2009 12:46 PM

Has anyone seen the article 8-like version of monopoly available in Europe?

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11 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, April 22, 2009 12:46 PM

Latham, God demands that you let go of #7 with no severance.

-Moses (let mo associates go)

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12 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, April 22, 2009 12:47 PM

PROTEST WHAT ORRICK AND OMM DID TO FIRST YEARS..

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13 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, April 22, 2009 12:49 PM

12, what % of first years did orrck and omm layoff??? What about % of their major offices, like LA or NYC?

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14 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, April 22, 2009 12:50 PM

Why has a Paul Hastings partner been following me around the hallways holding a coat hanger?

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15 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, April 22, 2009 12:50 PM

11, Latham, unlike a LOT of law firms, gives very generous severance, in case you didn't know.

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16 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, April 22, 2009 12:52 PM

15, Latham, unlike a LOT of law firms, fired a very generous amount of good people, in case you didn't know. Your severance was just a waste of money cause I spent it on buying a giant rat to protest you.

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17 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, April 22, 2009 12:55 PM

I'm hungry.

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18 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, April 22, 2009 1:04 PM

I just farted and it smells awful.

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19 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, April 22, 2009 1:05 PM

16 - nice!

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20 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, April 22, 2009 1:10 PM

I CANNOT believe that GW fell to 28 from 20! Dean Lawrence - GET RID OF THE PART TIME PROGRAM!

Distraught GW Stud

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21 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, April 22, 2009 1:14 PM

Kirkland is worse.

N. Wacker Stud

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22 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, April 22, 2009 1:15 PM

I'm confused as to why an inflatable rat makes sense at an ex-associate protest. My understanding is that the rat is used by striking union members to protest the use of non-union labor ("rats" or "scabs").

Bringing an inflatable rat to your protest makes about as much sense as putting on a hippie jam band festival. I hope they don't keep your deposit.

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23 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, April 22, 2009 1:17 PM

Comment

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24 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, April 22, 2009 1:24 PM

GW Law will only reclaim a spot in the T25 if criteria such as "LSAT median," "bar passage," and "peer assessment" are replaced with "Cost of tuition," "lack of a definable campus and/or good campus bar," and "Percentage of study body rejected by G'town"

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25 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, April 22, 2009 1:33 PM

Monopoly is a fun game, but I'd be more inclined to hire the Settlers of Catan national champion.

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26 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, April 22, 2009 1:33 PM

Monopoly is a fun game, but I'd be more inclined to hire the Settlers of Catan national champion.

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27 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, April 22, 2009 1:33 PM

24, well played sir.

-3L at a legit t20 school

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28 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, April 22, 2009 1:34 PM

Monopoly is a fun game, but I'd be more inclined to hire the Settlers of Catan national champion.

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29 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, April 22, 2009 1:37 PM

24, 27 - FUCK - I should've transferred instead of convincing myself that the difference between GW and GULC was too negligible to bother. FUCKFUCKFUCK

Distraught GW stud

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30 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, April 22, 2009 1:38 PM

Is this what this website has come to? The posts today are: a fucking stupid write up on some douche who loves Monopoly; a Pls Hndle, which is always lame; a mildly-interesting copy-and-paste of some bitch getting arrested; and the morning docket. Lat, get ATL back on track!!!!

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31 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, April 22, 2009 2:00 PM

To me, Rat is a great symbol for Latham, the Rats of New York. If other people have used them as symbols for something else, that does not bother me.

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32 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, April 22, 2009 2:16 PM

He should work in antitrust!

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33 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, April 22, 2009 3:34 PM

Wow this guy has an actual talent and puts in some work and earns $20k. Latham associates get to sit on their butt for six months and earn $100k. And they expect us to feel sorry for them? No way Jose.

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34 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, April 22, 2009 4:52 PM

I said, "He should work in antitrust!"!

IS THIS THING ON?

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35 Posted by guest | Permalink Thursday, April 23, 2009 2:04 PM

Is this the first time any lawyer or law firm from Buffalo has made ATL? Makes me proud/ashamed of my home town...

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