April 2009

The 2010 U.S. News law school rankings leaked over the weekend were not fake. Bob Morse — the rankings guru — essentially confirmed the results to the Wall Street Journal today, ahead of the magazine’s official release tomorrow. Here’s the official list of the top 20 law schools: 1. Yale 2. Harvard 3. Stanford 4. […]

Richard 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 […]

Madlyn Primoff, a partner in the bankruptcy and business reorganization group at Kaye Scholer, left her two daughters by the side of the road in White Plains. According to the New York Daily News: A prominent Park Avenue lawyer was arrested after cops said she got so angry at her young daughters that she kicked […]

* Justice Breyer: boxers or briefs? If the other kids like to “stick things in [your] underwear,” it’s only because they want you to sit on the Supreme Court someday. [Washington Briefs (hehe) via UTR] * ATL’s Elie Mystal will be participating in a panel discussion on the internet as a new business networking tool, […]

In October, we reported that the new law school at UC Irvine would be offering a full scholarship to students who enrolled for the fall 2009 semester. It looks like the strategy paid off. The school received 2,741 applications for 68 positions. According to the school’s press release, that makes UC Irvine School of Law […]

* The new UCLA LL.M. program could make heads explode. [The Legal Satyricon] * Two-thirds of Americans support federal legal aid for poor people. If this catches on, the new fourth year of law school (between graduation and being allowed to start at your Biglaw firm) might net some extra money. And there’s something in […]

So far, salary cuts have been localized to mid-sized and regional firms. But it appears Baker & McKenzie has become the first national firm to slash associate salaries. A tipster reports that associate salaries have been cut between 10% and 25% for some associates at the firm. As we understand it, associates are receiving individualized […]

Last week, we wrote about Villanova University School of Law running out of work-study funds. Over the weekend, we received several copies of an interesting follow-up email — one that went to every 1L and 2L at Villanova, as well as every dean. Some background, from a tipster: This email is sent as-is, with typos […]

Ed. note: The legal world is much bigger than New York, or Washington, or even the United States. Welcome to Letter from London, a weekly dispatch from the other side of the pond. Our U.K. correspondent, Isaac Smith, will expose ATL readers to the latest goings-on in the London legal world. You can reach Isaac […]

We’ve already reported that Mayer Brown pushed back its start date for incoming first year associates to January 19, 2010. But today, we’ve learned that Mayer Brown is also giving people the option of deferring for an entire year. A Mayer Brown spokesperson confirmed that the voluntary deferral will include a stipend of $5,000 per […]

The Florida Bar Exam results are out, and they’re not pretty for some of the top Flori-duh law schools. [FN1] Law School Headlines asks “What happened on the February 2009 Florida Bar?” noting the abysmal performance by graduates of University of Florida, FSU, and University of Miami. Their passage rates dropped from percentages in the […]

Most of our coverage of the effect of the Great Recession on law school students has focused on 3Ls and 2Ls. The 3Ls graduate soon, but don’t start their Biglaw jobs soon, assuming they’re lucky enough to have jobs lined up, while the 2Ls are expecting shorter, less lavish summer associate programs. But what about […]

Every year, somebody claims to have obtained a leaked copy of the U.S. News and World Report Law School Rankings. Every year, there are numerous hoaxes and fakes. This year is no different. But over the weekend, we saw one version of the leaked rankings at least had the air of legitimacy. The official rankings […]

Ed. Note: Sorry for the delay. We’re having technical issues this morning. Please bear with us! (And, no, “technical” does not translate to “hungover.”) * The Iranian court will consider the appeal of the Iranian-American journalist who was sentenced to eight years in prison for “spying on Iran for Washington.” [The New York Times] * […]

Happy Sunday. Thanks for visiting Above The Law this weekend. We just wanted to remind you that voting in the (first) Annual Law Revue Video Contest ends tonight at the stroke of midnight. Or actually at 11:59 p.m. So if you haven’t yet watched the best in Law Revue humor and found what makes you […]

We just reported on Villanova School of Law running out of summer work-study money. The University of Michigan Law School is not in such dire straits. But Michigan law students still want whatever money they think they have coming to them. Tempers flared this week over Michigan’s Student Funded Fellowship program. A tipster explains: It’s […]

Today’s evidence that the Biglaw paradigm is crumbling comes from the clients of Morgan Lewis & Bockius. The ABA Journal reports: Among the sea changes is a reluctance by a number of clients, or even an outright ban, as far having first-year associates work on their matters, says [Morgan Lewis Chairman Francis] Milone in a […]

Villanova is more well-known for its basketball team than its law school. But Villanova has a law school — in fact, a tier 1 (or at least top 100) law school. But sadly, the school is out of summer work-study money. I’ve never heard of that happening to a law school, but here’s the message […]

Back in January and in March, we reported on staff attorney layoffs at Skadden Arps. Apparently, there was one staff attorney who had his job (temporarily) saved by the amazing luck of being on the downed plane that made an emergency landing on the Hudson River on January 15. From MSNBC.com: In seat 24B as […]

* Starwood Hotels sued Hilton Hotels yesterday, accusing its rival of using “stolen confidential Starwood documents” to develop a new chain of lux hotels. Interestingly, the Wall Street Journal reports that Hilton’s in-house legal team unknowingly came across the boxes of stolen documents while preparing for a different case. Since the documents were unrelated to […]