July 2009

Harvard

Gatesgate: Lucia Whalen Speaks

At a press conference today, Lucia Whalen spoke out about her 9-1-1 call and her role in the Gatesgate fiasco. She said that she supports the Cambridge police and respects Professor Gates. She’s happy that the police released the actual tapes of her call to the police. She also clarified that she only spoke to […]

Divorce Train Wrecks

Massachusetts’s Anachronistic Alimony Regime

Boston Magazine has a great article about alimony in Massachusetts. By the time you’re done reading it, you’ll be willing to stay in a dead-end marriage rather than getting divorced in Massachusetts: When an alimony case comes up before a judge, the focus is almost exclusively on the wealthier ex-spouse’s ability to shell out, and […]

Announcements

Above the Law Policy on Law Student Anonymity

This is really of interest only to hard-core ATL groupies. But if you’d like to know our policy on preserving the anonymity of law students who do embarrassing things — and why we identified the alleged Law Student Spitter by name yesterday, even though we generally keep names out of summer associate stories — then […]

Holland & Knight

Nationwide Salary Cut Watch: Holland & Knight

Last week, we brought you some salary cut news from the Sunshine State. Today we bring you more such news. Holland & Knight, a large national law firm with a significant presence in Florida (the state it started in), announced pay cuts yesterday for associates, senior counsel, and senior professionals. The salary cut will be […]

Morning Docket

Morning Docket 07.29.09

* Goldman Sachs has been taking a beating in the press recently thanks in large part to Matt Taibbi calling it “a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity” in Rolling Stone. And now, one of its lawyers has been charged with trying to get a 15-year-old to beat it. [New York Daily […]

Bar Exams

Bar Exam Open Thread: So How Did Day One Go?

Tomorrow we’ll discover what our God in heaven has in store,One more dawn,One more day,One day more! [FN1] All day, I’ve been asking my hippocampus to produce one clear memory about what I did between day one and day two of the bar exam. All I came up with was the momentary feeling of depression […]

Non-Sequiturs

Non-Sequiturs: 07.28.09

* I’m not one to talk about typos, the passive voice, and other mistakes. But Vanity Fair is. [Vanity Fair] * Defamation over a tweet? This can’t be what the world is coming to. [True/Slant] * Best. Health care revenue enhancement. Ever. [TaxProf Blog] * Long Island Law is booming! They should make a t.v. […]

Bar Exams

Elizabeth Wurtzel Calling Herself a ‘Lawyer’: A Reader Poll

Yesterday we heard from legal ethics experts about whether Elizabeth Wurtzel’s referring to herself as a “lawyer,” despite not having passed the bar yet, could get her in trouble. The two we consulted, Professors Steven Lubet and Stephen Gillers, did not see it as a big deal. There’s an interesting follow-up over at Gawker, which […]

2nd Circuit

Legal Eagle Wedding Watch 7.19: Editorial Indiscretion

The current online front page of the NYT weddings section is worth a click. The head blurb leads with “Despite their differences in age . . . ” underneath a picture of a 20-something bride embracing a “groom” who appears to be about nine years old. “Differences in age,” indeed. Somebody alert Morality in Media! […]

Job Searches

Some Top Law Firms Will Not Interview At Yale

It is not unusual for some top firms to decline to interview at Yale Law School. The school is so small, and quite frankly some firms know that they are not going to attract Yale talent. That said, in this market some firms are unsure about what to do with fall recruiting. Is pulling out […]

Harvard

Gatesgate: Tax Troubles

All the attention recently showered upon Harvard celebrity professor Henry Louis Gates since his arrest earlier this month has resulted in the discovery of tax problems at a foundation he created and oversees. Read more and comment over at Going Concern. Henry Louis Gates Can’t Catch a Break [Going Concern]

Deferral Stipend

Good News for Ropes & Gray’s Future Associates

It seems like the summer associates just arrived, yet many are already packing up their Biglaw bags to head back to school. This may be due in part to shorter summer associate programs this year, but that’s besides the point. Summer associates departing the offices of Ropes & Gray have big smiles plastered on their […]

Bar Exams

Bar Exam Open Thread: Day One Break Question

I hope you all enjoyed your bar exam day one morning session. For your lunch break, I have a real-life legal question I just picked up off of the street, standing in front of the Breaking Media offices in Nolita: You are standing outside your office on a crowded street. Construction workers, residents, and even […]