Archive for June 2009

Legal Eagle Wedding Watch 6.14: Chemistry Lesson

By

champagne glasses small.jpg
We’ll bottom-line this week’s contest, folks: The SCOTUS clerk wins. Yep, after a long absence, LEWW’s favorite credential makes a welcome appearance in the NYT weddings section, and we’ve got the details for you.
But first, congratulations to Sabrina Charles and Jamie Dycus, who readers overwhelmingly voted Legal Eagle Couple of the Month for May, demonstrating that — in the words of one commenter (and apparently, in the minds of ATL readers) — “Wachtell > Sotomayor > Olympic medal.”
Here are our finalists:

1. Kathryn Whitfield and Adam Fotiades
2. Christina Krause and Peter Henderson
3. Pamela Bookman and Jeffrey Perlman

More about these couples, after the jump.

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Legal Eagle Wedding Watch 6.14: Chemistry Lesson”

Sign up for the Above the Law newsletter

Subscribe to our free daily email and get breaking news, commentary, and opinions on law firms, lawyers, law schools, lawsuits, judges, and more.

DePaul College of Law Dean Ousted

By

Glen Weissenberger DePaul Dean.JPGThe dean of the DePaul University College of Law, Glen Weissenberger, has been removed. But this doesn’t sound like your ordinary law school administration shuffle. Dean Weissenberger alleged that there was a significant mistake in the documents DePaul sumbitted to the ABA for its accreditation review, and now he is gone.
The university provost told the faculty and staff yesterday:

Dear College of Law Faculty and Staff,
I write today to inform you that there will be a change in leadership at the College of Law effective immediately. At my recommendation, the president and I have removed Glen Weissenberger as dean and hired a new interim dean who will be announced soon.
I can assure you that this decision, which is being made in the best interests of our students and the College of Law, was made only after long and careful thought and consideration. I respect all you have accomplished under Glen’s leadership. However, the working relationship between the dean and the administration had deteriorated to the point where it had become difficult to accomplish the college’s work, hence my recommendation to the president for this action.
Our faculty and staff are the lifeblood of the College of Law, and I recognize that you have a right to be informed about why I made this difficult decision. I invite all faculty and staff to attend a private meeting at [Redacted] where I will answer questions to the best of my ability, recognizing that this is, in part, a personnel matter and I will not be able to answer all inquiries.
We have selected a highly qualified and respected member of the legal community to serve as interim dean, ensure a smooth transition and continue the momentum you have given to the college. I look forward to making an announcement about the candidate in the very near future.
Sincerely,
Helmut Epp
Provost

We reached out to Dean Weissenberger and his response suggested that this situation is far beyond a mere administrative disagreement.
Details after the jump. And an update.

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “DePaul College of Law Dean Ousted”

$80,000 Per Song Could ‘Backfire,’ Says K.A.D. Camara

By

Kiwi Camara KAD Camara Above the Law blog.jpgAs we mentioned this morning, K.A.D. (Kiwi) Camara was on the wrong side of the news cycle yesterday.
A federal jury ruled that his client, Jammie Thomas-Rasset, violated copyrights on 24 songs she downloaded, and hit her with a whopping $1.92 million judgment — which works out to $80,000 per downloaded song.
Camara has achieved notoriety for being the youngest person to graduate from Harvard Law School, and for miscalculating how people would react to the abbreviation “nig” when used as a synonym for African-Americans.
Jammie Thomas-Rasset retained Camara’s law firm, Camara & Sibley, for her second jury trial against the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
When we spoke to Camara last month, he explained why Thomas-Rasset made a wise choice:

“We’re generalists who handle the most complex, unique, one-off matters,” explained Camara. “If you take a complex matter to a big firm, you’ll be routed to twenty different hyperspecialists. You’ll end up settling for partial advice — ‘Do this, but we haven’t considered this aspect’ — or you’ll end up paying huge fees, because you’re getting specialized advice from twenty different people who don’t work well as a team.”
Camara & Sibley’s model is different, according to Kiwi: “The idea here is that you get generalists who learn the intricacies of your one-off, unique case. You don’t want a hyperspecialist. You just want a good lawyer.”

But the second trial went even more poorly for Thomas-Rasset than the first one.
Kiwi responds after the jump.

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “$80,000 Per Song Could ‘Backfire,’ Says K.A.D. Camara”

Start Up LLP: Creating Your Own Law Firm

By

sole practitioner solo practitioner solo practice.jpgStarting your own law firm: it isn’t for everyone. Some of you may recall that Roxana, of Notes from the Breadline, viewed herself as ill-suited to solo practice.
But many other lawyers do want to strike out on their own. And some attorneys, faced with the difficult legal job market, decide that they have no choice but to hang up a shingle.
The final panel of Tuesday’s conference, Getting Back in the Game: How to Restart Your Career in a Down Economy, was devoted to the subject of how to start and grow your own law firm. Four successful solo or small-firm lawyers told their stories and offered advice.
Read about the discussion — covering such nuts-and-bolts topics as office space, malpractice insurance, and how much it might cost to set up your own firm — after the jump.

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Start Up LLP: Creating Your Own Law Firm”

Job of the Week: The Big Boys are Hiring Again

By

Job of the Week Lateral Link ATL logo.gifPerhaps Breaking Back Into Big Law is going to get a little easier, now that some of the AmLaw 100 are starting to hire lateral associates again. The Job of the Week is one of several new openings, primarily in litigation and intellectual property, that you can find out about over at Lateral Link. Also, just a reminder: if your firm is offering a paid deferral, please contact your Lateral Link search consultant, since Lateral Link has dozens of in-house positions for deferred attorneys. Lateral Link members click here for more details.
Position: Junior Litigation Associate
Location: New York, NY
Description: An AmLaw 100 law firm is seeking a junior commercial litigation associate. The attorney must have outstanding academic credentials and previous major law firm experience.
For more information on this position or to apply, please see Position #10580 on Lateral Link. Membership in Lateral Link is free and you can apply at www.laterallink.com.

Judge of the Day: What’s more [cowardly] than [vandalizing] another man’s automobile?

By

Judge keys car range rover.jpgA Texas judge has been indicted for keying his neighbor’s Range Rover. The Houston Chronicle reports the possible penalties for criminal mischief in Texas:

Woody Ray Densen, 69, could face 180 days to two years in a state jail and a fine of up to $10,000 if convicted. He could also be disciplined by the state Commission on Judicial Conduct.

That’s all you get for keying another man’s truck in Texas? I thought that was a capital offense down there.
Judge Densen’s alleged vandalism was caught on tape. It was worth him doing it, just to catch him doing it:

Adam Kliebert, a 40-year-old home builder, set up a surveillance camera in his Rice Village-area driveway that recorded a man he identified as Densen walking behind his 2006 Range Rover and appearing to pause and tamper with it on May 23. Kliebert has said he was frustrated that someone kept damaging his SUV, leaving him with repair bills for $3,000.

After the jump, let’s check out the video.

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Judge of the Day: What’s more [cowardly] than [vandalizing] another man’s automobile?”

Morning Docket: 06.19.09

By

Fathers Day.jpg* Don’t cheap your Dad on Father’s Day. [Bloomberg]
* Allen Stanford has been arrested and indicted. [Los Angeles Times]
* The RIAA won big in its file sharing suit. Very big. [Minneapolis Star-Tribune via WSJ Law Blog]
* Never ask questions you don’t already know the answer to. Especially on T.V. Especially when a million dollars is involved. [Courthouse News Service]
* A city in Montana wants to know your Facebook status passwords before you can get a job. Anybody got a problem with that? [ABA Journal]
* Partner hiring spree for Greenberg Traurig. [Am Law Daily]
* Summer + Recession = Murder? [New York Times]

Career Alternatives for Attorneys: A Panel Discussion

By

career alternatives for lawyers.jpgThe other night, a commenter with insomnia wrote:

Is there someone living in Flint, Michigan who will exchange their $18,000 house for my worthless JD? I will even take over the payments from your inflated mortgage. My piece of paper does not even provide shelter for my skinny ass. In exchange you could be a practicing attorney doing work that a trained chimpanzee could perform.

As Biglaw continues its painful unwinding, and as even contract attorney work becomes hard to obtain, holders of J.D. degrees have been asking: What else can I do with my legal education? Hence our occasional series on career alternatives for attorneys.
This was the subject of a panel discussion entitled Exploring the Range of Options With Your JD. It was the third panel at Tuesday’s conference, co-sponsored by the New York City Bar and Vault, on Getting Back in the Game: How to Restart Your Career in a Down Economy.
Read about the panelists and their perspectives, after the jump.

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Career Alternatives for Attorneys: A Panel Discussion”

Partner De-Equitization At Paul Hastings

By

Paul Hastings logo.JPGEarlier this week, we reported on staff layoffs at Paul Hastings. Since Lehman collapsed, Paul Hastings has been through few rounds of attorney layoffs as well.
But Paul Hastings partners haven’t exactly been sitting back and counting cash. Especially younger partners. Above the Law has been able to confirm that a number of partners have been de-equitized since the beginning of the global financial crisis.
Our sources didn’t have overall numbers. But, one tipster put it like this:

You should cover what is going on at Paul Hastings … don’t forget that things are sh**** for jr. partners too.

No doubt.
But according to Paul Hastings spokespeople, the only thing happening at Paul Hastings is “business as usual.”
More details after the jump.

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Partner De-Equitization At Paul Hastings”

Non-Sequiturs: 06.18.09

By

monetizing emma dealbreaker review.jpg* Lat and Kash put on their black turtlenecks and went to the theater. They’ve written a review for Monetizing Emma. [Dealbreaker]
* What’s more scary than law firms outsourcing legal work offshore? How about clients going directly to Indian law firms, obviating the U.S. and U.K. altogether? [Legally India]
* Can fashion knock off litigation save the jobs of fashion lawyers? [Miss Trials]
* Doesn’t the phrase “patent damages” refer to General Patton? Did I just reference a guy who died 64 years ago just to make a pun? Maybe I should let the professional speak about the cutting edge of patent reform. [Intellectual Property Colloquium]
* Should we be covering smaller law firms? I don’t know, how are things going a Binder & Binder these days? [Law and More]

Open Thread: How Does Everyone Like Bar/Bri So Far?
Revised and updated; please see after the jump.

By

Javits bar exam sadness.JPGIt looks like there may have been a mini-riot at the Bar/Bri lecture today. Apparently some students felt that the Con Law lecturer wasn’t entirely on top of all the salient issues. We heard from a few of them; here is one report:

I’m one of thousands of BarBri students studying for the New York Bar. I attend one of the Video locations. Today’s lecture was Constitutional Law. The lecturer was Professor Cristina Rodriguez from NYU. She was horrendous. Not only as a speaker/lecturer, but … she also got some points of law wrong on the handout. Barbri had re-recorded the lecture, which is available later today. At my location, students left midway through the lecture. I don’t plan on going to the lecture tomorrow.

Of all the con law profs, how did Barbri end up with one of the worst? Is that all I get with my thousands of tuition dollars?

After the jump, an email that BarBri sent to its students about the Con Law lecture.
UPDATE: Please note that this post has been revised in various respects since it was originally published. In addition, please see the addendum, after the jump.

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Open Thread: How Does Everyone Like Bar/Bri So Far?
Revised and updated; please see after the jump.“

Pls Hndle Thx: Is it Written in the Stars?

By

Ed. note: Have a question for next week? Send it in to advice@abovethelaw.com.

pls hndle copy 2.jpgDear Above The Law,
I am a summer associate at a BigLaw firm in New York. I have no work and I spend my day surfing the net. My assignment coordinator forbade me from getting work from anyone else, but won’t give me any either. The partners and associates ignore me. I feel like they’re creating an impossible situation where they’re setting me up to be no-offered. What should I do?
Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Dear Who Framed Roger Rabbit,
If you’ve seen Intervention, Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew seasons 1-3 or Sober House, you’re no doubt familiar with the Serenity Prayer:
God grant me the serenity:
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.
Here’s some wisdom: your quandary is of the “things I cannot change” type. If you’re not getting any work and everyone’s avoiding you it’s either because you smell or they didn’t want the ATL press associated with rescinding your summer offer and now they’re just humoring you for 10 weeks. Assuming that they are humoring you, your no-offer destiny is written in the stars and it doesn’t make sense for you to fret about it and beg for work. Puritanism died out because people eventually realized that there was no point in being righteous if their fate was predestined. God The firm has predestined you to find a job elsewhere, so grab a scarlet letter and party like it’s 1647. You also might want to look into the smell thing just in case because it’s good to be able to cross things like that off the list.
Your situation is pretty ideal, because now that you know that you’ll be no-offered you can kick back and enjoy the rest of summer without the nagging uncertainty. Take your $2,500 a week and buy a Margaritaville DM1000 Frozen Concoction Maker and sip daquiris from a Nalgene bottle at your desk. Go on a Sex and the City tour and crap your pants when you get to Magnolia Bakery. Walk into a Starbucks at 2 pm and demand to know, “Don’t you people have jobs?” Whatever you do, don’t waste your time worrying about an offer that is never going to happen.
Serenity Now.
Your friend,
Marin

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Pls Hndle Thx: Is it Written in the Stars?”