For months, some government lawyers have been prancing around and making fun of Biglaw lawyers that have been fired during the economic recession. But perhaps working for the government isn’t the safe harbor many have touted? There is disturbing news from the Arizona Attorney General’s Office. The state has had to fire 29 people. Here’s the email from Arizona A.G., Terry Goddard:
As you are aware, the State budget deficit for the 2010 fiscal year adopted June 30 negatively affected all state agency budgets, including the Attorney General’s Office. The Legislature is still working in Special Session to resolve a revenue/expense discrepancy of almost three billion dollars.
Despite strenuous efforts by our legislative and management teams to minimize the impact of the budget deficit on our Office, we must deal with the budget reductions now and decrease our staff by 29 positions, effective Friday, July 31st. This morning, Division and Section Chiefs are personally notifying all employees affected by this decision. In addition, the AGO will continue with cost-saving measures, including further tightening our process for replacing positions lost through attrition for the remainder of the year.
Unlike law firms, A.G. Goddard doesn’t spend a lot of time arguing that the layoffs will have no impact on the overall strength of the office. After the jump, the A.G. acknowledges the effects of these cuts.
Continue reading “Nationwide Layoff Watch: Time for Government Lawyers to Wipe That Smile Off Their Faces”
Is it sexist to dissect the fashion choices of Judge Sonia Sotomayor during last week’s confirmation hearings? Probably. I don’t remember anybody asking what Sam Alito was trying to convey with his confirmation tie choices.
But Sotomayor was trying to convey something with her choices. We might as well take a look at what message she was trying to get across.
Click the link below for the full Fashionista analysis, by editor Abby Gardner, and reader comments (which you’re free supplement with your own two cents).
Dressing the Part [Fashionista]
Something very strange is happening at the UNLV Boyd School of Law. One of the school’s professors has randomly gone missing, and she left before she turned in the students’ grades. In response, UNLV Law Dean John Valery White just decided to give all of the students a “pass.” Literally.
The Nevada law blog, Wild Wild Law, picks up the story and its impact on one UNLV Law Student:
Sally Student is a “rising 2L” at Boyd School of Law, a state-run facility located in the state of Nevada. Sally studied for 10 hours a day, 7 days a week during her 1L year, and put up with a variety of pointless hypotheticals posed to her by various professors.
Sally had good grades and was hopeful that she would obtain a position on Boyd’s “law review” so that she could obtain her dream job – corporate document review monkey at a large insurance defense firm.
But after getting a mere pass, “Sally Student” feels more like “Sexually Assualted Sandra.”
Sally reasonably expected to receive an “A” in Con Law. Now that she will be graded on a pass/fail basis, however, her class ranking, journal status, scholarship and job prospects are all likely to be affected. Sally has come to you seeking advice as to her rights and the possibility of filing suit against Boyd for losing her law professor.
Section 90 folks, I’m counting on you to come up with something truly fantastic. Bonus points will be given for working in references to John Ensign and CSI. Have at it.
Click on the link below to see the full memo from Dean White about the situation.
The Case of the Missing Professor [Wild Wild Law]
Law Students Lost In Vegas [WSJ Law Blog]
Just last week, Ballard Spahr was sending around inspirational messages to its associates. Today, the firm has decided to cancel its 2010 Summer Program.
Thompson Hine has also decided to cancel its 2010 Summer Program. If nothing else the move should give Rogue Associate an opportunity to comment.
It’s one thing to cancel your entire summer program. But what is surprising about Ballard Spahr and Thompson Hine is that the firms did not make any formal, official announcement about the decision. Instead, students learned the information from their respective law school recruiting offices.
Update (1:04): Now Squire Sanders is also canceling its 2010 Summer Program. More details after the jump.
Here’s the Ballard Spahr “announcement” (via Penn Law School):
Dear Students,
As we near the close of bidding, we wanted to provide you with an update on schedule changes that we received so far today.
Akin Gump went from 40 interview slots in NYC and 40 interview slots in DC to 20 interview slots in NYC and 20 interview slots in DC.
Paul Weiss went from 80 interview slots to 60 interview slots.
Ballard Spahr will not have a 2010 summer program and, as such, has canceled on campus interviews.
All of this information is updated in Symplicity. Please note that we will continue to provide you with updates as is feasible. However, it may not be possible for us to email you with all changes so please be sure to check Symplicity before bidding closes tomorrow, July 21st at 11:59 p.m.
After the jump, we see that Duke students were the first to learn about the Thompson Hine cancellation.
Continue reading “Ballard Spahr And Thompson Hine Cancel Their 2010 Summer Programs (Update: Squire Sanders, Too)”
Maybe the recruiting people at Paul Weiss read all of the comments from Massholes about Massholes on Thursday’s Suffolk Law thread, and decided to change their recruiting strategy? Or maybe the legal economy really isn’t getting any better? Despite the firm’s generally strong showing during the recession, Paul Weiss has decided to pull out of recruiting at Boston University and Boston College. Here was the short email that students who bid on Paul Weiss received this morning:
You recently bid for the above-referenced firm through the New York BC/BU Off Campus program. The firm has just notified me that they will not be participating in our program in August.
I will be removing your bids from Symplicity. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Thank you.
This is one of the first chinks in the Paul Weiss armor during the recession. So far as we know, the firm hasn’t laid people off, it hasn’t frozen or cut associate salaries, and it hasn’t deferred incoming associates or deferred current summer associates.
With a public facade of such strength, maybe the firm feels like it can scale back on recruiting for its 2010 summer class?
It’s good news if you already work for Paul Weiss, but it also probably means that it will be more difficult for rising 2Ls to get into the Paul Weiss pipeline.
Earlier: Ladies, Are You Looking for Love in Boston? Try Suffolk Law
While firms seem to be focused on dealing with their summer associates and future summer associates over the past couple of weeks, there are still regular full time associates working at Biglaw firms. They’re not extinct. And they still get paid. It’s just that they are getting paid less.
Foley & Lardner has become the latest firm to cut associate salaries. Multiple independent sources report that the firm as instituted a 10% pay cut for all associates in all offices.
The firm declined to respond to our multiple requests for comment.
But the move is not totally surprising. The firm is ranked #67 on last year’s Vault rankings. Many firms at that general level have cut salaries. And if you look at #66 on that list, you’ll see it’s Heller Ehrman. And we know how things worked out there.
So take heart, Foley friends. Things could be a lot worse.
Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of salary cuts
* A look at the Dreier detective work performed by Mark F. Pomerantz of Paul Weiss (with a little human resources consulting thrown in). [New York Times]
* Neil Armstrong Dial dreamed of going to space, but instead he went to Foster Pepper in Seattle. [Seattle Times]
* Ex-SEC head Christopher Cox is heading to Bingham McCutchen. [Bloomberg via Dealbreaker]
* Slaughterhouse rules no more? [SCOTUSblog]
* We gave you a special Sonia Sotomayor Weekend Non-Sequitur posting, but we have yet two more links to share. The hearings were a disappointment to liberals hoping to get a “liberal Scalia,” says the Washington Post, and asks: “Did the hearings reveal a true absence of liberal ideas in the 55-year-old judge President Obama chose to fill his first Supreme Court vacancy? Or did they reflect sheer political pragmatism by someone, coached by White House staff members and following the model of other recent nominees, seeking to maximize support by avoiding controversy? ” [Washington Post]
* This is an excellent moment at which to have Jeffrey Toobin explain the “Bork effect.” [New Yorker]
Could the credit rating agencies who are now being sued for their alleged role in the financial meltdown have a valid First Amendment defense? Floyd Abrams, god of First Amendment law and longtime partner at Cahill Gordon & Reindel, thinks so.
Abrams is the subject of a lengthy, interesting article in Sunday’s New York Times, focused on his representation of Standard & Poor’s, the biggest of the rating agencies. From the NYT:
Dozens of investors have filed lawsuits seeking redress from the rating agencies, contending that the companies bear responsibility for investors’ losses, under a Whitman’s sampler of theories. The recession, in other words, is about to begin its litigation phase, and Mr. Abrams and a handful of partners at the law firm of Cahill Gordon & Reindel are readying defenses for more than 30 suits filed against S.& P. Up first, an oral argument on a motion to dismiss one case is set for July 31….
Mr. Abrams will contend that S.& P.’s ratings deserve exactly the sort of free-speech protections afforded to journalists, on the theory that a bond rating is like an editorial — an opinion based on an educated guess about the future. And for the same reason you can’t sue editorial writers, Mr. Abrams will argue that you can’t sue a bond rater because the economy went into a free fall that few saw coming.
Is this a valid comparison? Is trying to sue a ratings agency like trying to sue a newspaper editorial board? Or the weatherman?
Read more, and debate the issue, after the jump.
Continue reading “Floyd Abrams, Standard & Poor’s, and the First Amendment Defense of Rating Agencies”
The confirmation hearings of Judge Sonia Sotomayor (2d Cir.) took place this past week. Here’s a special weekend linkwrap dedicated to the next Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.
* “Wise Latina Woman. Bronx Housing Project. Wise Latina Woman. We’re counting cards. Counting cards. Gotta watch Jeopardy at five!” [Underneath Their Robes]
* Senator Tom Coburn, “you got some ‘splainin’ to do.” [True / Slant]
* Is Judge Sotomayor a bully on the bench? Let’s go to the (audio)tape. [Politico]
* Or maybe a bad actress? [Althouse]
* At least her hearings went better than those of Robert Bork — whose nomination President Reagan made a last-ditch effort to save. [Concurring Opinions]
* Gibson Dunn partner Tom Dupree, who served in the Bush II Justice Department and argued before Judge Sotomayor five times, offers his take on the recently completed confirmation hearings. [WSJ Law Blog]
[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.]
Fortunately, this week’s law-firm layoffs didn’t follow last week’s surprise return to March form. In fact, there were fewer layoffs this week than any other this year.
While this is a nice reprieve, unemployment continues to rise, despite some indicators of stabilization in housing and manufacturing. Non-farm payroll fell by 467,000 last month, which was worse than estimates, and unemployment hit 9.5% – the worst in 26 years but still not at the peak levels Obama predicts (10%+).
Closer to home (geographically, for most of us, and metaphorically for those of us whose fortunes rise and fall with the financial services industry), the financial sector "continues to bleed jobs." Unemployment in NYC reached 9.5% in June, the highest level since 1997.
As if all that wasn’t bad enough, Mort Zuckerman wrote an op-ed in the WSJ, saying it’s even worse than we realize:
The Bureau of Labor Statistics preliminary estimate for job losses for June is 467,000, which means 7.2 million people have lost their jobs since the start of the recession. The cumulative job losses over the last six months have been greater than for any other half year period since World War II, including the military demobilization after the war. The job losses are also now equal to the net job gains over the previous nine years, making this the only recession since the Great Depression to wipe out all job growth from the previous expansion.
After the jump, we sift through this week’s activity in our little slice of heaven.
Continue reading “This Week in Layoffs: 07.18.09″
The Dallas office of Fish & Richardson has won the contest for best summer associate event of 2009, capturing almost two-thirds of the 1757 votes in the runoff with the Carlton Fields fishing trip.
Fish & Richardson’s winning event was called “Harpdygal IV.” It is part of a series of “Biglaw counter-culture” events started four summers ago by associate Kip Mendrygal and partner Geoff Harper.
Back when summer associates were indulged, pampered, and treated to incredibly lavish lunches, dinners, and golf outings, Harper and Mendrygal wanted to offer something offbeat. So they took summers to WWE Friday Night SmackDown, a Professional Bull Riders event, and a demolition derby. This year, Harpdrygal was an outing to an all-female roller derby.
We congratulate Fish & Richardson for being crowned winner of the Best Summer Associate Event of 2009 (and for the firm’s recent legal victory, alongside Dewey & LeBoeuf, in Mark Cuban’s insider trading case).
Harper and Mendrygal sent us their acceptance speech via email. Here’s an excerpt:
[A]s for winning the ATL vote, Kip and I can truly say that this is the single greatest honor we have ever received for anything we’ve ever done. Ever. And, not to brag, but I’m pretty sure we’re going to get another $50 added to our budget, which will allow us to invite another 8 people to Harpdrygal V next year. It’s funny (actually sad) to us that, when we started Harpdrygal four years ago, our shtick was to be a low-brow gag event buried in the middle of fancy dinners, wine tastings, and sports suites. Now, with financial Armageddon approaching (here?), our events are substantially less shocking.
Read the message in its entirety, after the jump.
Continue reading “Victory for Fish & Richardson in ATL’s Summer Associate Event Contest (and the Mark Cuban Insider Trading Case)”
* Ramadan may be coming to America — and we’re not talking about the holiday. The Second Circuit just reversed a trial court ruling that barred a prominent Muslim scholar, Tariq Ramadan (pictured), from entering the United States. [City Room]
* Is work-life balance “still a dumb-ass issue”? Especially given the economic climate, in which people with jobs should count themselves lucky? [What About Clients?]
* Former SEC chair Chris Cox, whose tenure at the Commission generated mixed reviews, lands at Bingham McCutchen. [Dealbreaker]
* Could the minor leagues be coming to the practice of law? [Litination] [FN1]
* A review of this week in law and popular culture. [Popsquire]
* “Carnival of Trust: Get on the Raceway.” [Marketing Strategy and the Law via Trust Matters]
[FN1] For a split second we thought this was real (because, to be honest, it doesn’t sound that far-fetched). Please read the Litination disclaimer.
There are times when Biglaw seems to speak with one voice.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
This week appears to be one of those times.
Current summer associates all across the land are learning that any cherished hope of starting work in 2010 was a fool’s hope. Coming into this week Skadden, Cravath, Orrick and Ropes & Gray had deferred current summer associates (lucky enough to receive offers) to 2011 or beyond. But this week we’ve seen Hogan & Hartson, Morgan Lewis, and Weil Gotshal defer some of their current summer classes as well.
White & Case is the latest firm to join the list.
Read the full memo after the jump.
Continue reading “Deferral Friday Rolls On: Next Stop White & Case”
Rejoice, wedding fans! We have some compelling mid-summer material for you this week: Wachtell, SCOTUS, lesbians, French nobility — read on for the details on all of that and more, as reported in the New York Times and filtered by us.
Our finalist couples:
1. Rebecca Gutner and Rodman Forter Jr.
2. Laura Hammond and Christopher Hemphill
3. Laure de Vulpillières and Vanessa Dillen
Admire these couples’ achievements, after the jump.
Continue reading “Legal Eagle Wedding Watch 7.12: French Kissing”
If you are a current Duke Law student who applied to one of the school’s journals, you have probably emailed Above the Law in the past two hours. You can stop now, we’ve heard you, please step back from the ledge.
The system for notifying students of whether they had been accepted to journals was flawed. Some people were told they were accepted by a journal when, in fact, they were not. Others were given placement on journals they didn’t apply for. Everybody is pissed.
The email from Duke Law School’s Director of Publications, after the jump.
Continue reading “Duke Law’s Notification Process for Journal Acceptance Is A Total Train Wreck”
We previously covered the Securities and Exchange Commission’s lawsuit against Mark Cuban. Today brings some good news on that front for the billionaire businessman. From Mark Cuban’s brother, lawyer / blogger Brian Cuban:
Chief Judge Sidney Fitzwater said in a 35-page ruling released Friday that the SEC had failed to prove that Cuban, who owns the Dallas Mavericks, “undertook a duty of non-use of information required to establish liability under the misappropriation theory of insider trading.”
As the SEC has 30 days to amend the complaint, further comment by me would be inappropriate until the deadline has passed.
The complete ruling is here (PDF). Professor Stephen Bainbridge offers more detailed analysis.
SEC Dimissed Lawsuit Against Mark Cuban [The Cuban Revolution]
Mark Cuban Wins a Big Round Against SEC Insider Trading Rap [Professor Bainbridge]
SEC’s Insider Trading Suit Against Mark Cuban Is Dismissed [WSJ Law Blog]
SEC v. Cuban [PDF]
Earlier: Mark Cuban: Meet the SEC
Since the recession began hitting the legal industry, we at Above the Law have received various reports alleging gender or racial discrimination when it comes time for firms to fire associates. Some of our sources have claimed that the rounds of layoffs have disproportionately affect women or racial minorities. Usually, these sources have sparse statistical evidence to back up their claims.
Conversely, other sources have claimed that the layoffs are disproportionately affecting white males. They claim that firms are loath to fire women or minorities, for fear of employment discrimination lawsuits. Again, these sources lack numbers to support their fears.
Well, this week we received some hard data.
In April we reported that Squire Sanders laid off around 30 associates. The final official number of layoffs turned out to be 32 attorneys. But of those 32 attorneys, 20 of them were women. It’s surprising to see 62.5% of firm layoffs affect women.
Did the Squire Sanders layoffs have a disparate impact on women? Of course, numbers don’t tell the full story. And Squire Sanders has some numbers of its own that helps to explain this situation.
Check out the details after the jump.
Continue reading “Did Gender Play A Role In Layoffs At Squire Sanders?”
