* Okay, I’ve accepted the fact that state officials in Alabama don’t have ready access to the Constitution. But thanks to advancements in technology, surely we can now print the thing on the back of a beer can so it magically appears when their beer achieves maximum freshness. Maybe we can print the Bill of Rights on a series of bumper stickers? We have to stop leaving Alabama behind. [Volokh Conspiracy]
* Has the headline “The End of Biglaw” jumped the shark? [Adam Smith, Esq.]
* The search warrant for the house owned by Michael Jackson’s Doctor. [Popsquire]
* Here’s a personal injury law roundup. It’s better than the lottery. [TortsProf Blog]
* Knowing is half the battle. [Courtoon]
* When rainmakers leave. [Bloomberg]
Archive for July 2009
The newest member of the Breaking Media family, the accounting-focused Going Concern, seems to be venturing onto ATL turf today.
Multiple stories on the Going Concern front page are law-related. These are just excerpts or summaries; click on the links to read more (and comment).
1. UK Court Decides it Will Leave the Major Lawsuits to the Americans
“Big 4 firms dodge a bullet in the UK as the highest court dismissed a negligence lawsuit against an accounting firm that failed to detect a fraud that brought down a trading company.”
2. UBS and IRS Probably Have a Deal, No Toblerones Involved
“UBS is going to name names, albeit not all of them, bringing us to ever so close to the bitter end of the whole IRS/UBS standoff.”
3. Ex-BDO Partner Won’t Be on His Boat after Plea Deal
“[Former partners of accounting firm BDO Seidman] that were involved with the firm’s tax shelters are continuing to drop like flies. This time, Mark Bloom, a hedge fund manager and former BDO partner that worked in Tax Solutions group, pleaded guilty to several charges.”
4. California Overtime Lawsuits Update
Ah, California lawyers…. If only you were accountants, you might be entitled to some back pay for overtime. The issue will be decided by the worker-friendly Ninth Circuit at some point in the future.
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Posted in:
University of Michigan Law School
Michigan Admissions Dean Responds to the Haters
By Elie Mystal
Earlier this week, a Michigan Law alumnus complained to the ABA about the school’s Wolverine Scholars Program. Well, last night the Michigan Dean of Admissions emailed the students about the complaint and a popular legal blog that she “doesn’t read.” Here’s the email from Sarah Zearfoss, Director of Admissions at Michigan Law:
Hello all!
Hope your summer is going well–we miss you here in Ann Arbor, and are confused by the number of empty parking spaces. My own summer has been quite lovely, and my vacation hiking in various western desert national parks made me profoundly, profoundly grateful for that Michigan weather about which so many have Issues. “Dry heat,” my fanny. 120 degrees is brutal.
So, I don’t actually read the Above the Law website, but I can’t seem to stop people from forwarding links to me from time to time. Yesterday featured a blurb that has prompted me to write to all of you because of a fundamental misconception it contained.
Oh come on Dean Zearfoss, you want us on that wall, you need us on that wall. Besides, we know your boss, Michigan Law School Dean Evan Caminker, loves to read us. Don’t you want to do what all the hot kids are doing?
More from the Michigan Director of Admissions, after the jump.
Continue reading “Michigan Admissions Dean Responds to the Haters”
A Gay Gatesgate? D.C. Lawyer Arrested for Disorderly Conduct, Claims Officer Called Him ‘Fa**ot’
By David Lat
Now that Gatesgate is behind us, capped off by a beer summit at the White House yesterday, what can we get riled up about now?
Well, there’s always something going on with the police. From Arthur Delaney of the Huffington Post:
A lawyer who moments earlier had been complaining to friends about police overreaction in the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., got a taste of the Gates treatment himself after loudly chanting “I hate the police” near a traffic stop in Northwest Washington, D.C.
Pepin Tuma, 33, was walking with two friends along Washington’s hip U Street corridor around midnight Saturday, complaining about how Gates had been rousted from his home for not showing a proper amount of deference to a cop….
Then the group noticed five or six police cruisers surrounding two cars in an apparent traffic stop on the other side of the street. It seemed to Tuma that was more cops than necessary.
“That’s why I hate the police,” Tuma said. He told the Huffington Post that in a loud sing-song voice, he then chanted, “I hate the police, I hate the police.”
Uh-oh. Find out what happened next to Tuma — a former associate at Milbank Tweed and Gibson Dunn, by the way — after the jump.
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Posted in:
Columbia Law School, NYU Law School, New York Times, Proskauer Rose, University of Chicago Law School, Weddings
Legal Eagle Wedding Watch 7.26: Dolores!
By Laurie Lin
This couple definitely merits an honorable mention this week. They met a year ago in Vegas and turned a 24-hour hookup into a NYT wedding announcement featuring seersucker, a 6-year age difference, and a JD from Widener. It’s certainly one of the more colorful lawyer wedding announcements we’ve seen in a while (although we concede the bar is fairly low).
We even managed to find a picture for you, seersucker and all. They look like they know how to party, don’t they?
On to our finalists, who are more prestigious — but admittedly a bit less colorful:
1. Dolores DiBella and David Schmid
2. Susanna Cowen and Ross McSweeney
3. Kara Burke and Matthew King
Check out these couples’ photos and qualifications, after the jump.
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Posted in:
Proskauer Rose, Start Dates, Summer Associates
Proskauer Rose Defers Current Summers to 2011
By Elie Mystal
Proskauer Rose has joined the growing list of firms to defer current summer associates to 2011. But unlike other firms on that list, the Proskauer deferral pushes the 2010 class to “fall” 2011. Other firms have at least told their summer associates that they could start in January 2011.
Proskauer has already deferred its incoming class of new associates to March 2010, and the firm only gave those new hires a $20,000 stipend for their trouble. And the firm has asked incoming associates to voluntarily defer until January 2011 with a $60,000 stipend. Maybe participation in the voluntary deferral program by the class of 2009 has been so great that the firm felt it had to involuntarily defer its current summers to the fall of 2011?
But at this point, it doesn’t appear that Proskauer is offering any kind of deferral stipend to the class of 2010, and that has some summers grumbling.
Some summer reactions after the jump.
Continue reading “Proskauer Rose Defers Current Summers to 2011″
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Posted in:
Advertising, Intellectual Property, Job Searches, Job of the Week, Sponsored Content, This Is an Ad
Job of the Week: An IP Job For Liberal Arts Majors
By Above the Law
See, there are tons of things you can do with a soft liberal arts degree, including being an IP lawyer in Biglaw. Today’s job of the week, brought to you by Lateral Link, is one of several new openings at big firms around the country. If you are an associate considering a lateral move, you should contact your Lateral Link search consultant to discuss the options.
Position: IP Transactional Associate
Location: New York, NY
Description: A top international law firm is seeking a mid-level IP transactional associate to work on a variety of corporate intellectual property matters including technology transactions, licensing arrangements, IP components of M&A and corporate finance deals, and handling dealings with the USPTO.
For more information on this position or to apply, please see position #5156 on Lateral Link, or you can contact T.J. Duane at tjduane@laterallink.com. Membership in Lateral Link is free and you can apply at www.laterallink.com.
Earlier: Prior Job of the Week listings
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Posted in:
Lawyer of the Day, Moritz College of Law
Law Student of the Day: Moritz Student DQ’ed from Dairy Queen
By Elie Mystal
Maybe the cratering legal economy has made one Ohio State Moritz College of Law student turn to a life of crime:
Edgartown Police are searching for a man who smashed the back door of the Dairy Queen ice cream shop on Upper Main Street early Saturday and tried to help himself to a pre-dawn snack….
A security camera captured the young man busting into the store at 4:45 am. Edgartown police provided the following description based on the video.
At 4:47 am “a white male forced the door open and entered the store,” according to the police report. “He proceeded to the front area behind the service counter and attempted to use the ice cream machines. One of the machines sprayed out a mess of liquid ice cream that got all over the suspect’s pants and feet. He gave up on the ice cream and then stuck his hands in some candy condiment bins. After a few moments he then exited the store.”
The man has been identified has Zachary L. Gould. He appears to be the same Zachary L. Gould that attends Moritz.
And yes, there is video. Hilarious drunken video. Check after the jump for more details.
Continue reading “Law Student of the Day: Moritz Student DQ’ed from Dairy Queen”
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Posted in:
Elizabeth Wurtzel, Legal Ethics
‘Lawyer’ vs. ‘Attorney’: A Distinction Without A Difference?
By David Lat
Here’s a quick afterword on the story of Elizabeth Wurtzel, the critically acclaimed, bestselling author who — for rather mysterious reasons (9/11 was somehow involved) — traded in a life of six-figure book advances, glamorous parties, and relationships with other celebrity writers… for a law degree.
In a prior post, we wondered whether Wurtzel, who has not yet passed the bar, can refer to herself as a “lawyer” (as she has done publicly on various occasions, most recently in an interview with Bitter Lawyer). In a comment to Gawker, Wurtzel advanced the theory that she can refer to herself as a “lawyer,” even if not an “attorney,” because “if you graduate from law school/receive a JD, you are a lawyer; if you are licensed, you are an attorney.”
For those of you who just took the bar, and who will receive your law licenses in a few months, this is a pertinent inquiry. Does the lawyer vs. attorney distinction hold water?
Continue reading “‘Lawyer’ vs. ‘Attorney’: A Distinction Without A Difference?”
Many regular Above the Law readers will remember that Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft laid off nearly 100 attorneys, back before laying off attorneys became cool. More recently, the firm put 34 associates on an involuntary sabbatical.
Cadwalader is still willing to give jobs to the 34 people let go earlier this month. Contract jobs. Multiple sources inform us that CWT is trying to bring on a gang of contract attorneys. But instead of just picking up any old person with a spare J.D. lying around, the firm is giving the right of first refusal to its former associates.
Here’s how a Cadwalader spokesperson described the initiative:
As part of our sabbatical program, Cadwalader is committed to helping affected attorneys in every way possible, from helping them to identify new job opportunities to providing them with resume writing and interview tips. We have alerted them to more than 60 job opportunities, helped to arrange more than 20 interviews, and are aware of three job offers. As part of our efforts to engage them at the firm when possible, we recently received a client request for assistance on an expanded document review project with tight deadlines. Rather than consider other staffing solutions as we might have in the past, we first offered these lawyers the opportunity to work on the matter. We will continue to help these talented individuals in whatever ways we can.
Would you go back to work for your old firm as a contract attorney? Before you answer, you have to take a look at the pay CWT is offering.
More details after the jump.
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Posted in:
Lawyerly Lairs, Real Estate
Lawyerly Lairs: The Runaway Groom Plants His Feet
By David Lat
Remember James Ferraro, aka the Runaway Groom? He’s the multimillionaire trial lawyer who, back in January 2008, left his wife — Patricia Delinois, a well-known real estate broker — standing at the altar.
Their story ended happily: Ferraro and Delinois reconciled and eventually did get married, a few weeks later. And Mrs. Ferraro is probably very glad they did.
At least if she likes nice real estate. From the New York Observer:
James L. Ferraro, the prominent Miami trial lawyer who owns the Cleveland Gladiators arena football team, is finally buying a nice Manhattan apartment. This week he’s spending $8,175,000 on a penthouse at the glassy Park Imperial on West 56th Street.
Even though Mr. Ferraro owns places in Miami and a 14-bedroom Martha’s Vineyard mansion, it had been years since he felt he could get a good bargain in New York. “I thought about it after 9/11, but I didn’t want to buy on a calamity–be a vulture on someone’s property; not that it’s bad karma, it is what it is. But this now is the best buying opportunity you’re going to have in the next 25 years.”
So, how much did he pay per square foot?
Continue reading “Lawyerly Lairs: The Runaway Groom Plants His Feet”
Yesterday, American Lawyer released the results of its annual survey of midlevel associates. Morale is about what you would expect from postal workers applying for a gun permit, not upwardly mobile white collar workers. But the results should surprise no one:
Associate morale plummeted to the lowest level in five years (since we started asking about it). It fell from a rating of 3.1 last year, on a scale of 1 to 5, to 2.7. The drop is clearly related to job insecurity. Eighty-three percent of our respondents reported medium or high anxiety about losing their jobs. The midlevels had good reason to be concerned. Sixty-one percent said that their firms had layoffs. And, for those who kept their jobs, there wasn’t enough to do. As early as last year, one-third of associates saw a drop-off in their workload, and this year 46 percent said it had decreased.
But it’s not just job security that is making Biglaw associates blue. The pay cuts don’t just hurt associates’ bottom line, they make associates feel less valuable:
Many survey respondents were also disappointed with their firms’ pay cuts, reduced or nonexistent bonuses, and decreased benefits. They were also troubled by what they saw as a lack of transparency on financial issues and layoffs.
After the jump, let’s look at the firms where midlevels are least miserable, and the firms that should consider adding Lexapro to the vending machines.
* Arturo Gatti’s death has been ruled a suicide, and Brazilian authorities have freed his widow. [BBC]
* David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez tested positive for steroids in 2003. D’uh. But the media learned about the positive results from blabber mouth lawyers. Do court orders mean nothing these days? [New York Times]
* Investigators are looking for evidence of whether Michael Jackson was a drug addict. [CNN]
* People are still trying to figure out what to do about the University of Illinois. The ABA is having a panel on public corruption, and one UofI trustee has resigned. [Chicago Tribune]
* Forced California court closings are going forward. [Law.com]
* I believe it was Chris Rock who once asked: “What do you got to do to be a racist anymore? Assassinate Medgar Evers?” [Boston Globe]
If you just finished your state bar exam today, Above the Law is here for you. If you finished the bar yesterday, immediately went to a purveyor of alcohol, and are just waking up now with a midget stripper in your bed, welcome back.
No matter how badly you think you did on your bar exam, trust me, you did better than Carlos Enrique Gomez-Alvarez. The Salt Lake Tribune reports:
A Utah immigration attorney and four of his employees accused in a visa fraud scheme on Wednesday entered not guilty pleas to the crimes. …
Carlos Enrique Gomez-Alvarez, arrested in New York while taking the bar exam in Buffalo, also entered a not guilty plea in New York on Wednesday and is expected to be transported to Utah this week.
Arrested while taking the bar exam? That’s got to add up to a galactic fail.
After the jump, check out some tips on what to do next.
Continue reading “Bar Exam Open Thread: Breaking Free of the Bar”
* The Ticketmaster / Live Nation merger reminds me that Robin Williams is a poor replacement for Teddy Roosevelt. [Miss Trials]
* Who voluntarily dismisses a complaint against Pfizer for $50,000? It’s a plaintiff’s goldmine if you can force a settlement. Silly non-lawyers. [Drug and Device Law]
* European clients don’t like American civil litigation. Well, I think Europeans are wussies that we had to bail out of world warfare twice. Ooohhh. Burn. Take that, “Old World.” (Psst … can you send me some prescription medication? I won’t tell anybody.) [What About Clients?]
* I hate hate-crime laws. But I also hate homophobia. I didn’t hate the state of Pennsylvania Board of Accountancy, but now I do. [The Volokh Conspiracy]
* If you failed the bar, here’s why. [Litination]
* Congratulations to our friends at Practical Law Company (PLC), which just won a 2009 InnovAction Award from the College of Law Practice Management. [Marketwire]
You’ve heard horror stories about messy divorces where people litigate over the family pet. Traditionally, pets are regarded as just another piece of property to be divided up among the former spouses. But that could be about to change. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports:
[A] second trial on the custody of the nearly six-year-old brown pooch is set to begin. [Doreen Houseman] plans to testify again that her ex-fiancé broke an oral agreement to let her have the dog after she moved out of their house.
In March, a three-judge appeals panel ordered a new trial, saying Superior Court Judge John Tomasello should not have treated Dexter as just another piece of furniture during the first trial, in Gloucester County, in 2007
Houseman argued against the speciesist system where pets are considered mere property by family courts. Houseman and various animal defense lawyers tried to use the Michael Vick case as precedent:
They suggested the judge should also weigh what was best for the dog. That had been done, they said, with the dogs that belonged to former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, after he was involved in a dog-fighting ring.
The appellate panel declined to go so far as to apply the best interests test to a dog. Apparently, tail wags per minute is not a reliable indicator.
But the panel didn’t have to apply a best interests test. The trial court judge seemed to be just enough of a jerk to give the appellate court grounds to give Houseman a new trial.
More details after the jump.
Continue reading “Pet Lovers Take A Bite Out Of Family Court”
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Posted in:
Salary Cuts, Troutman Sanders
Troutman Sanders: Pay Cut is NOT Retroactive
By Elie Mystal
Earlier this week, we reported that the Troutman Sanders pay cut applied to associates’ entire 2009 salary. We were wrong about that. A Troutman Sanders spokesperson explained to us that the pay cut will only apply to associate compensation from August 1, 2009 through the end of the year.
Why the confusion? Let’s go back to the original Troutman Sanders announcement of its pay cut:
Responding to changing market conditions for associate compensation, Troutman Sanders today announced a 10-percent reduction in the total amount of associate pay that was budgeted for Aug. 1-Dec. 31, 2009.
These reductions will not be made across the board but will be based on each associate’s individual performance evaluation.
Don’t get blinded — as we and some of our tipsters did — by the 10% figure. That’s just the target amount that Troutman wants to save off of all associate compensation between August and the end of the year.
After the jump, the firm explains that individual pay cuts will vary greatly.
Continue reading “Troutman Sanders: Pay Cut is NOT Retroactive”
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Posted in:
Advertising, Career Center, Shameless Plugs, This Is an Ad
Career Center: Last Call for Summer Associates, and What Are the Odds of Making Partner?
By Above the Law
With more summer programs getting the axe (including even non-firm summer programs), we want to remember what the summer of 2009 was like, so we can pass on the advice to the summer associate class of 2012 (or whenever they decide to have summer programs again). So please take a minute and tell us what you think about your summer associate experience. Click here to take our short survey.
For those of you who were summer associates years ago, perhaps you’re more focused on making partner. Check out this week’s review of survey data from the Career Center, brought to you by Above the Law and Lateral Link, in which we tell you which firms were most queried regarding the prospect of partnership. Remember that, in addition to the information here, you can see how associates at over 100 top firms feel about the chances of making partner at their firm by visiting the Firm Comparison section on the Career Center.
The partnership survey info, after the jump.
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Posted in:
Sex, Sex Scandals, Sexual Harassment, pls hndle thx
Pls Hndle Thx: Reverse Schadenfreude
By MarinEd. note: Have a question for next week? Send it in to advice@abovethelaw.com.
ATL,
What is current law firm protocol with respect to affairs between partners and associates? The head of one the practice groups at my firm is having an affair with an associate in another group. It has been going on for awhile and is embarrassing for some of us who are aware (funny how people think they are being discreet, isn’t it?!). Am I obligated to tell someone? Will anything happen to them or is it generally acceptable (or not a concern) for this to go on? I’d like to send a note to the managing partner or head of HR — thoughts?
Rats of Nimh
Dear Rats of Nimh,
My first reaction to this question is, seriously, who cares? My second reaction is, calm down and get a life. Unless you think the associate has avoided layoffs (if any) because of protectia, what’s it to you if a partner you may or may not work with is having an affair with an associate whom he or she does not review?
I fail to see how this affair is embarrassing to you and others, unless you’re jealous that you were not selected as the object of desire. This happened to me once, where a partner I had a rabid crush on passed me over for another associate and I became enraged and threatened to three friends that I would lateral out because distance makes the heart grow fonder, at which point one of them reminded me that I had never actually spoken to said partner in real life, per se. The point is, “reverse Schadenfreude,” as my friend Megan likes to call it (i.e., fury at other peoples’ happiness), is a powerful emotion. It’s tough to think that others are experiencing carefree sexual liaisons and personal fulfillment while you code documents by the glow of your Pets Who Want to Kill Themselves computer wallpaper. However, polite society dictates that you grin and bear it. In these sort of situations, I find that gossiping viciously helps.
Emailing the managing partner or head of HR is patently ridiculous. They may be hosting the liaisons for all you know, like Jerry Seinfeld did for Madonna and A-Rod when he invited them to his Hamptons house to conduct their adultery in some peace and quiet.
Sorry to say, but you’ll just have to live with this one.
Your friend,
Marin
After the jump, no references to Les Miserables.
What is it about high-powered lawyers and underage girls? Remember James Colliton, the ex-Cravath tax lawyer who had his way with two teenage girls — after paying their mother for the privilege?
It seems Colliton may have company. Todd Genger — a (somewhat cute) 33-year-old lawyer at Goldman Sachs, and a father of three — appears to have been snared in a sting operation aimed at online perverts who solicit underage females for sex.
Read more at Going Concern and Dealbreaker.
Goldman Sachs Lawyer Likely to Appear on Dateline NBC [Going Concern]
Goldman Sachs Employee Takes One For The Team [Dealbreaker]
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Posted in:
Advertising, Asia Chronicles, Shameless Plugs, Sponsored Content, This Is an Ad
The Asia Chronicles: In-House Openings at Hedge Funds In Hong Kong / State Of The Market / 7 New Kinney ’12 US Associate Placements In HK / China
By Kinney Recruiting
Ed. note: This post is authored by Evan Jowers and Robert Kinney of Kinney Recruiting, sponsor of the Asia Chronicles. Kinney has made more placements of U.S. associates and partners in Asia than any other firm in the past five years. You can reach them by email: asia@kinneyrecruiting.comHappy Chinese New Year! We were extremely busy the past few months, including most of our US based team working from our Hong Kong offices during November and December.
As a follow up from our recent post, which listed our 62 US associate and counsel placements in Asia last year (vast majority in HK / China), please note that thus far in January ’12, we have already made seven US associate and counsel placements in Asia. This is an especially impressive number, considering the biglaw lateral hiring market in Asia is down right now (see state of the market brief overview below). These new placements are of new hires in Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai, who were interviewing with their new firm for a month or more and they are spread out among different practice areas, including project finance, litigation, fund formation, M&A and cap markets. We are close on four additional new associate placements, in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Shanghai, that we expect to close soon. We do not discuss partner placements in these articles, but the pace of partner recruitment in Asia (a large part of our business) has continued.
Hedge Fund In-House Openings in Hong Kong
We are seeing a small run of new in-house openings in Hong Kong at hedge funds. We are currently filling three different in-house positions at three different hedge funds in Hong Kong, two of these searches we are handling on an exclusive basis. All three will most likely be filled by a US associate, with about 4 to 6 years of experience. Mandarin not required. Candidates from NYC and London will be considered, but at one of these funds the new hire will likely come from Hong Kong / China or Singapore (with HK being the strong preference).
Please feel free to reach out to us at asia@kinneyrecruiting.com if you are interested in these hedge fund openings. As you probably would expect, the competition for these spots will be fierce and the funds will be very selective when choosing which candidates to interview.
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Posted in:
Advertising, Shameless Plugs, Sponsored Content, This Is an Ad
The BarMax Manifesto: “We Are Not Sheep”
By Above the Law
In 2009, a small group of Harvard Law School students noticed an absurd monopoly in the bar prep space, held by an unchallenged leader with a non-evolving product. In response, these students teamed up with Harvard Law alumni to launch BarMax on January 14, 2010.The mission: democratize bar prep by embracing new technologies to provide the very best bar exam review courses at a fraction of the cost normally associated with these courses.
Since then, with the encouragement of thousands of students and an unwavering commitment to their success, BarMax has established itself as a comprehensive alternative to the stagnant, over-priced status quo.
As we continue to expand, we do not want to lose sight of the basic premises that led us to create BarMax in the first place. If you are a law student who believes that there is something fundamentally wrong with being forced to take out yet another loan to pay for a $4,000 bar exam prep course, you are not alone.
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Posted in:
Careers
