June 2009

We’ve previously alluded to the great Facebook land grab, which took place this past weekend. Almost 6 million people signed up for personalized web addresses for their Facebook pages in the first 48 hours. Above the Law snagged one of our top choices in terms of a username. Check out our page, and become a […]

We’ve been following the trials and tribulations of the former Bingham McCutchen “Stepford Secretary” who sent out a mission statement to the firm about CHARACTER. After the email, the secretary was fired by Bingham. Now, she’s lawyered-up. No complaint has been filed, but we understand that the secretary has hired an attorney and is considering […]

As ATL’s resident expert on the New York Times weddings section, we hear all the time from bewildered couples who didn’t make it into the paper. And they’re hurting. No matter how raucous the reception or how passionate the wedding night, when the mother of the bride rips open the Sunday Styles section and realizes […]

We’ve written before about a unique perk for the attorneys in Venable’s D.C. office. Like many firms, the office has a rooftop with amazing views of the nation’s capital. Unlike most firms, it also has a rooftop bocce court. The bocce balling and Venable’s representation of Michael Jackson led us to ask at the time […]

The National Law Journal suggests that the down economy could be hitting the pockets of the Elect. Some firms are suggesting that the $250,000 bonus to hire a former Supreme Court clerk is just too expensive in today’s economy: At firms that have been shaken by the downturn, however, a $250,000 bonus will be hard […]

Last week, we brought you the story of a former Mayer Brown associate who is suing the firm. We have some more back story on the plaintiff, Venus Yvette Springs, and she certainly sounds like a colorful person. Before joining Mayer Brown, Springs worked at Cadwalader. According to our tipsters, she left CWT in an […]

* Like Drinker Biddle, Frost Brown Todd is instituting an apprenticeship program for its first year associates. They make less money and are billed out to clients at lower rates during their 1,000 hour apprenticeship. [Business Courier of Cincinnati] * Stereotypes and jury selection. [Baltimore Sun] * Jones Day’s Corinne Ball showed she’s the master […]

[Ed. note: Above the Law has teamed up with Law Shucks. Law Shucks has done excellent work translating all of the layoff news into user-friendly charts and graphs: the Layoff Tracker.] That’s it? We’re looking for that one perfect week of no layoffs and we lose it to a Tennessee firm and two UK firms? […]

Don’t get too close to any Ivory Tower in your town today. The news that Cravath is leaving the class of 2010 out of work for a year has sent monocles flying as students at top law schools learn a powerful lesson about free market capitalism. Harvard Law School sent out a letter to all […]

* The Cravath deferrals could be exposing fundamental fissures in the Biglaw business model. So class of 2011, don’t think you’ve escaped. [Ideoblog] * Kash and I tweet about work. Luckily, there’s no rule governing ex parte communications between legal bloggers. Judges and lawyers on the other hand … [True/Slant] * Firm sponsored Law Clerks. […]

Dear sirs. We are a legal blog based in the New York City. One of our Nigerian investors has mysteriously passed away and left us a lot of money. We are trying to increase the number of advertisers on our site, and have a unique proposal for you. We will send you the money and […]

Another week, another NYT Vows column comparing the bride to a giant coniferous tree (“The bride stood stately and erect, echoing the Redwoods that surrounded them . . . “). Seriously, could they maybe assign Vows once a month to a real writer, just to make it a little less chirpy and insipid? What about […]

Harvard Law School just announced its new dean, Martha Minow. Minow replaces Elena Kagan, who left HLS to become Solicitor General. Meanwhile, HLS’s rival to the south, Yale Law School, has a vacant deanship of its own, also courtesy of the Obama Administration. After being nominated to serve as the Legal Adviser of the State […]

The National Law Journal reports that some firms are hiring lawyers — including associates — in Chicago. The ABA Journal summarizes the good news: Three law firms are moving into new offices in Chicago and seeking to fill the space with new lawyers. The firms getting new digs are Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom; […]

The venerable firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore has entered the building, and it’s asking up to half of its incoming first-years to take a year off. Cravath is offering a voluntary deferral option to its incoming associates, according to multiple Above the Law sources (as well as Bloomberg News). If the incoming associates are […]

On Tuesday, we reported that Pillsbury cut associate salaries based on the utilization rate of its associates. Am Law Daily reported this nugget: The extent of the cuts isn’t clear; the 716-lawyer firm said reports on Above the Law that the cuts ranged between 10 and 20 percent aren’t “entirely accurate,” which isn’t exactly an […]

* Skadden has a new client, Dick Tracy. [Am Law Daily] * And while we’re on the topic of celebrities that are calcifying in front of our eyes, Madonna won her appeal seeking to adopt a baby from Malawi. [Entertainment Weekly] * Don’t forget, at one minute past midnight Facebook will do something colossally stupid. […]

Some of you have probably seen this already. It went up on YouTube in 2007. But we came across this today, and it made us terribly nostalgic. And not just because Cyndi Lauper always had a better voice than Madonna. Remember when billing hours was cause for a somber ballad about the difficulties of being […]

* Supreme Court Justices are more powerful. Very powerful. Castle Grayskull powerful. [Beacon Broadside] * If I ever end up in a North Korean Court, would someone please use the hard diplomacy we practiced with the Somalia Pirates instead of the “soft diplomacy” we’re seeing today? Thanks, in advance. [Miss Trials] * The benefits of […]

Last night we tuned into a very interesting (albeit somewhat depressing) conference call, Staying Competitive During an Economic Downturn, sponsored by the National LGBT Bar Association. Three experts provided their thoughts on the current legal job market and advice for navigating it: Robert Depew. A Managing Director in Major, Lindsey & Africa’s San Francisco office, […]