Above The Law’s Inaugural Law Revue Contest
Congratulations to UVA’s Con Luv!
Thanks to everyone who participated in Above the Law’s First Ever Law Revue Video Contest. We thank the nominators, who drew our attention to so many worthy — and some unworthy — contenders; the voters, who viewed the six finalists, and cast almost 10,000 ballots; and, of course, the talented law students (and faculty members) who created these delightful entertainments.
The contest turned into a struggle between two contenders:
Boston University: My New OutlineUniversity of Virginia: Con Luv (aka Hot Bodies of Law)
My New Outline took an early lead, but Con Luv quickly pulled even. It was a close race until the home stretch, when last-minute voters showed some love to Con Luv.
There were allegations of cheating, on both sides. We asked our friends at Vizu to audit the results — which explains our delay in announcing the results, for which we apologize — and Vizu gave the contest a clean bill of health. There were a handful of IP addresses that submitted multiple votes, but (1) this is not per se evidence of gaming, since multiple users can be on the same IP address; and (2) even throwing out all of these votes, Con Luv would still prevail, by several hundred votes. We’re not talking Coleman v. Franken here.
So congratulations, UVA Law! You’re not only the Coolest Law School in America, but one of the most creative as well. This has to be good for a few spots in next year’s U.S. News rankings.
More discussion — a full breakdown of the results, details about next year’s contest, and your chance to sound off in the comments about who wuz robbed — after the jump.
Here’s the voting breakdown:
If your video didn’t make the cut this year, make something great and try again next year. We will hold our second annual Law Revue video contest in spring 2010. It will be open to law revue videos produced subsequent to the submission deadline of our first contest (April 6, 2009). So keep an eye out for it!
Con Luv / Hot Bodies participants: Please designate one member of your delegation to email us, so we can provide you with information about claiming your prizes. Please write us from a UVA email address and use this subject line: “Law Revue contest victory.”
Once again, congratulations to our deserving winners. And thanks to everyone for making the contest such a success!
Above The Law’s First Law Video Revue Contest [Vizu]
Earlier: ATL Law Revue Contest coverage (scroll down)
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Comments
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This was a really dumb contest. None of the videos were funny.
How the hell did UVA beat out My New Outline? One was funny, the other was painful and hard to sit through.
This was a great idea for a contest. The six finalists were all excellent!
The best part of the contest was when Lat / Elie / Kash ragged on the videos that didn't make the finals:
http://abovethelaw.com/2009/04/above_the_law_revue_contest.php
The clowns in the hotbodies video are unemployable fools that exposed their liability to peer firms. They cannot be employed because they will be an easy target for a sex discrimination claim. The puerile video they filmed will be Exhibit A, plaintiff rests case type of evidence that will expose peer and non-peer firms to potential multi-million dollar claims. I wish those pagliaccios good luck in their failed careers.
This was fun! Please do stuff like this more often.
Partner E: What do you make of these allegations that your Law alma mater is a lowly ranked state school. The Senator may be slandering you as we speak.
/s/
Inquiring Minds
My New Outline was funny... the UVA vid was shit
The UVA video was the best "law" video - really clever lyrics.
As for "funny", that would go to that Lion video.
What exactly is the prize? A bear hug from Elie?
Hot Bodies of Law is so good that I actually downloaded it from youtube and added it to my mp3 collection.
Impressive, UVA. Very impressive.
On the other hand, my music taste may now be called into question if this ever makes it into a party play list.
Partner E,
With all due respect, I believe we would say "pagliacci," or perhaps "Pagliaccios." I am deeply sorry to suggest the correction, as I am--and continue to be--a pronounced fan of yours.
Yours sincerely,
Halcyon 0L
I planned to write a faux PE post. Sadly the actual idiot beat me to it. You suck PE!
The CLS version of my new haircut was much better.
-not a CLS student
This is total crap! The BU video was so good, it spawned a spinoff that has now gotten over 22 million views on Youtube! Check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JMOh-cul6M&feature=related
Wait, what? You're saying the BU video was entirely based off of the already successful video and completely relied on its humor? Oh...
9 is correct on both accounts
To the editors of the ATL Blog:
As an elder pioneer of the legal profession I am volunteering my services to your blog as a weekly commentator. I believe I can answer some of the more poignant questions that are troubling young associates and young law students in today's economic climate.
For example, today I overheard a young associate come up with a "clever" scheme to pay off his student loan debt with his credit cards and then file for personal bankruptcy as a way to get around the non-dischargeability foil of student loans. I realize that this generation of lawyers and law students will be looked back in history as the "dung" class. However, the idea that you can discharge your student loans indirectly by paying them off with your credit cards and then filing for bankruptcy is ridiculous. You will be barred by section 523 and 727 of the Code and you may possibly face criminal prosecution. Here is a word of advice. Live up to your responsibilities. You gambled, you lost, now pay.
Once Cap and Trade is passed, purveyors of videos like these will not be able to procure the carbon credits necessary to film the videos and the world will be a better place.
25 - TITCR
the arthur miller video should have done way better. not only was it funny, but what commitment -- how long did it take to do all the artwork and the music? (i don't mean writing the music, i mean the music production, which is a lot harder than just singing in a room with a running video cam).
to the folks who made that, consider this a shout of appreciation from a former law revue-er who knows what that takes. nice work.
There will be lots fewer hot bodies of law once all of the "suicidal laid off Latham first years" live up to their monikers.
PE - I would like your input on the consultant to BigLaw Susskind's presentation on the future of law schools and the role future lawyers in America will play.
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/interactive/events/2009/04/susskind
Rumor has it that Weil has already committed to no-offering a good number of their summers this year.
Wow what a shocker that the hyper-competitive d-bags at UVA won something that involves open online voting.
The arthur miller video was indeed well done graphically, but funny? That's stretching it a lot. They needed more time writing the lyrics. Besides, it wasn't completely origina.
The UVA video was hilarious. The breakdown plays in my head.
BU's My New Outline is the worst parody of My New Haircut I think I have ever seen. Wash U's version of Law Revue, last year, had a video (My New Argument) a thousand times better than the humorless garbage BU students came up with.
Yes. Because UVA is certainly known for being "hyper competitive." What a bunch of crap it is when people have no idea what they're talking about.
Congrats UVA!
Can they at least change this post to reflect the ACTUAL name of the video? It's "Con Luv"
17- those sections of "the code" mean nothing. Shut up please. You should be studying for exams. You wouldn't want to be in the bottom half in this economy now would you?
ATL rigged this contest just to piss off those of us who comment because we continually point out their ineptitude.
Haha! PE is getting desperate!
This blog would be a lot better if they would delete partner emeritus' account. Although, I'm beginning to think that partner emeritus is Ellie...
Can someone please out the firms where these people are going? Aside from the three freaks in the UVA vid, who cannot possibly have jobs.
UVA's video sucked! Not even marginally funny.
31- This must be the only form of attention PE gets. Otherwise he would have given up a long time ago. If he had anything else to do he wouldn't have time to annoy us after studying for exams. Unless of course he's at GW or something.
This comment is addressed to post no. 22.
I don't have to tell you that in the past 30 years, law schools have become the cash cows of universities. Law schools in my opinion, have violated several versions of consumer fraud statutes by enticing unsuspecting "smart" college graduates into thinking that a JD equals a life of riches and prestige. Law school does not teach you how to be a lawyer. Law school should be limited to 3 or 4 semesters at most. If I wanted to take an elective on "Race and the Law" or "Feminist Jurisprudence," I would have done so at the undergraduate level, not at a professional school. It is borderline criminal what law schools have done in shackling students to a lifetime of student loan debt just to take a hit off of a crack pipe dream. In my day, tuition was less than a $2,000 per year to attend law school. In the words of a youngster, you are being hosed. I like the legal education system of the New Delhi Law School. All practical skills in 4 semesters. I am more impressed with the associate that can draft an answer with counterclaims and affirmative defenses than with an associate that can accuarately cite to Blackstone. Today's legal education in America is both antiquated and Draconian.
This comment is addressed to post no. 31.
Please refer to 11 U.S.C. secs. 523(a)(8) and 727 if you believe they mean nothing. I took my last law school exam over 40 years ago. And, do not worry about me being caught in a bad spot in this economy. Rest assured, I am independently wealthy and despite my losses under the Obama Administration, I can still look down on you as piece of turd being flushed down the commode.
PE - How do you feel about the Legal Services Act in the UK? If UK firms can go public will American firms be forced to go public as well? Is that what is going on in the legal profession, associates are being laid off so that the existing partners will get a big payday through an IPO? In securitizing the legal profession will it have to get more efficient like large corporations?
This comment is addressed to post no. 40.
American law firms will never go public via the IPO route. It violates multiple ethical cannons, particularly the prohibition on splitting legal fees with non-attorneys. There may be non-peer firms that organize under the PC or LLC form, nevertheless, state law dictates that professionals must have respective licenses in order to become shareholders or officers of the closed legal corporation. Associates are not being laid off for any other reason except for Obama's disastrous mishandling of our economy. This dour recession has made management committees across peer and non-peer firms reconsider eliminating antediluvian ideas such as lockstep compensation and traditional partnership track models. The face of the legal profession will be transformed beyond recognition and about 10 years worth of law graduates will become collateral damage of the restructuring effort. I predict a peer firm will breakdown on the lockstep salary issue by July. Billables in transactional areas are at an all time low and continuing to get worse. Some change you could count on.
30 - Good call, looks like they changed it.
in all seriousness some of the laid off latham first years probably will kill themselves. what happened to them must be absolutely devastating. combine that with heavy student debt, and it'd take out the best of us.
43, nobody cares. One, or even several, fewer lawyers would be--at worst--a non event. More likely, it would bring some joy to others.
PE and 35, you might be surprised at the peer firms the uva con luv guys are going to ...
Look. PE is clearly a law student. No one that old is actually awake this late. He probably thought of the idea of paying off his loans with credit cards and then had it shot down by his bankruptcy prof. Now he comes on here like he's some fucking expert.
The schitck is old PE. Why don't you say "peer firms" a few more times and then call it a day?
A much better commenter persona than PE:
http://abovethelaw.com/profile/Dean%20Sargent
Partner Emeritus,
You've obviously spent no time in a bankruptcy group during your illustrious career. Not that you'd need that sort of experience to be aware of the elementary fact that 727 applies exclusively to Chapter 7s. An associate at your "peer firm" makes too much money to qualify for a Chapter 7 in any state under the means test. So why bring up 727?
You're right about the fraud provisions of 523, though. But you didn't exactly drop some mad bankruptcy law knowledge.
-Bankruptcy group associate at a "peer firm"
@48
I doubt that you are a bk stud at a peer firm. First, you confuse median income with the means test. These are two completely different concepts under BAPCPA. Surely, an associate at a peer firm makes too much to fall under the median income of any state. Yet the next step would be to take the means test which can be overcome under various circumstances, including a large household size, special circumstances, etc. So you see it is entirely possible for an associate to qualify for chapter 7 bk. Next time you tout yourself as a bk stud, know wtf you are talking about.
I actually think PE could be Lat, as he has that history of smurfing about. But whoever he is, I think he's a great read.
Coolest law school, like Latham's the coolest law firm?
~A spectator, waiting eagerly to see the Lipstick Building on May 1.
Honestly, I almost puked when I saw the 'Hot Bodies' of Law. The chicks are so NASTY, it's crazy. I know that lawyers have a far lower threshold of what qualifies as hot, but the chicks in the video were most definitely not. You would honestly have to pay me to bang any of them, and I would demand at least four figures for tapping those nasty asses.
Loved the contest. Also, I agree that UVA was prob the best of the lot.
Next year you should name this contest the Douchebag Race to the Bottom. The winning video reminds me how much law school and law students suck.
PE- What about taking cash advances on the credit cards. Could a law student in good faith tell the court that the cash was spent on gambling debts? It seems to me that going to law school these days, is in fact, a gamble.
As a recruiter - I now know what I need to know about who to cut from our list.
54 = 100% right.
2 - UVA at least incorporated something beyond dropping f-bombs for humor.
54 got it right, I couldn't make it through any of the videos in their entirety.
Waahoowaa baby! Congrats UVA!!
Suck it BU.
52 - They told you you couldn't be in the video didn't they?
55 - By that line of reasoning, getting out of bed every day is a gamble. Put on your adult undies and deal with the real world.
Was not funny. Barbri Girl !!!
seriously, how did NYU's arthur miller not win this easily... it was the only one that was reallllllllly funny, i mean hilarious, it had amazing graphics, and it was interesting because it was taking place AFTER law school, and wrapped it up very nicely.
I also agree that the Arthur Miller video was probably the best. But honestly, the cheating thing was too much. Even if it didn't matter to the tune of "a couple hundred votes" (there were over 10,000 votes... a couple hundred isn't much, math majors) I still think that schools that cheated should have been DQ'd. I mean.. we're all adults here, right guys? BU should have won, especially if there was proof of cheating. Plus, ATL, the same IP address giving 5 or 10 votes is not clear evidence. But the same IP address giving 500? Umm... Cheating.
Another great example of lawyers acting like shady douches, which is why the world rightfully hates us. Good work, ATL.
I also agree that the Arthur Miller video was probably the best. But honestly, the cheating thing was too much. Even if it didn't matter to the tune of "a couple hundred votes" (there were over 10,000 votes... a couple hundred isn't much, math majors) I still think that schools that cheated should have been DQ'd. I mean.. we're all adults here, right guys? BU should have won, especially if there was proof of cheating. Plus, ATL, the same IP address giving 5 or 10 votes is not clear evidence. But the same IP address giving 500? Umm... Cheating.
Another great example of lawyers acting like shady douches, which is why the world rightfully hates us. Good work, ATL.