August 2009

This email messages from a reader is representative of many we’ve received, as well as many comments on recent posts: As a Biglaw summer associate waiting to hear about my future, I’d really like the site to focus on and publicize firms that give offers to all or most of their summer classes. [Last week’s] […]

Are you a fan of the show Mad Men? We’ve only seen one episode, on an airplane, but we’ve heard great things. Television critics have praised it to the heavens. Our colleagues at Fashionista are also big fans. So are many law students and lawyers. Meet Leo Mulvihill (below left), a law student at Drexel […]

This seems to be the summer of spitting-mad law school students. Perhaps economic pressures and Biglaw angst are to blame for flaring tempers. In July, the UVA Law Student Spitter tangled with the police after a night of drinking. Now, a Stetson Law student working at a Tampa law firm has one-upped her. From the […]

Yesterday, we wrote about a Washington Post article profiling a layoff consultant who advises companies on conducting mass firings. The article caught our attention because one of those who called Kim Hall of the Five O’Clock Club during the course of the article was a “law firm in Manhattan,” planning a third round of layoffs […]

The latest Biglaw trend, as the recession rolls on: canceling summer associate programs. Thus far, to the best of our knowledge, only a handful of firms have canceled their summer programs. But we believe that (1) additional firms have already done so but are keeping quiet about it, and (2) more firms will announce cancellations […]

* There was serious shadiness at dissolved firm Heller Ehrman. Information coming to light during bankruptcy proceedings suggests that, in 2008, the firm distributed $9 million in profits that it did not have and then covered it up. [The Recorder] * Paul Hastings nabs Central District of California U.S. Attorney Thomas O’Brien. [Associated Press] * […]

Many of you are probably asking yourselves that very question. Especially if you are deeply in debt and/or without legal employment. We decided to go to law school because, well, we didn’t have anything better to do. Law school has been described, quite accurately, as “the great American default option.” If you’re in the same […]

Here’s a little layoff news to start your day. It’s a small round of layoffs, from a small firm, and it’s from several weeks ago (the end of June). But we do aim for completeness around here. The litigation-focused firm of Gilbert Oshinsky, aka “the GO to firm,” laid off four attorneys, the legal recruiter, […]

Kate McLaughlin will be the youngest 1L at Northwestern Law School this fall, at just 19 years old, reports the Orange County Register. McLaughlin, who graduated from high school at 12 and from UC San Diego at 17, rocked the LSAT (score: 174) and is going to law school because she wants to save the […]

* Musical chairs: three litigation partners leave Skadden for Paul Hastings. [The BLT] * Baby mama drama at today’s Michael Jackson court hearing. [Popsquire] * Is it only a matter of time before establishments start hanging up “no tweeting, photo-taking, or Facebook tagging” signs? [True/Slant] * Should corporate executives who receive bonus money for hitting […]

The Washington Post had an article this weekend on Kim Hall of the Five O’Clock Club, who makes her living on layoffs. She advises companies on how to fire employees en masse and also offers guidance to the newly unemployed workers. At $2,000 per severanced head. The article describes a “day in the life” of […]

This year hasn’t been a fabulous one for Blank Rome. They’ve had to cut both salaries and headcount. The firm also pushed back start dates for first-year associates, until “at least” January 2010, and the 2009 summer program was a brief six weeks. This latest news doesn’t improve matters. From the Legal Intelligencer, via Am […]

It has been a long time since our last caption contest. In fact, we don’t believe we’ve done one since last year. So it’s time for a new one. The rules are the same as before: [P]ost your caption entries in the comments. We’ll take our favorites, incorporate them into a poll, and allow you […]

Last month, we wrote about the questionable arrest of a gay Washington lawyer — a controversy we dubbed A Gay Gatesgate, referencing the furor over Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates’s arrest by Cambridge police. We expressed the view that the police sometimes abuse their authority in dealing with outspoken citizens (and it seems that many […]

Some class action settlements are highly questionable. Think of a case where, say, the victimized consumers get a stupid coupon, so they can purchase even more goods or services from the company that victimized them — while the lawyers representing the plaintiffs walk away with a big payday. One man is out to change all […]

Now that aspiring lawyers have taken the bar exam, they can relax and try to forget about it until the fall, when results come in. One way of relieving stress is “the bar trip”: a post-bar exam vacation to an exotic locale, for sun, surf, or snow, depending on one’s travel preferences. The bar trip […]

Back in March 2008, we named Daniel Hynes our Lawyer of the Day. Hynes was convicted of theft by extortion after trying to shake down at least 19 New Hampshire hair salons by accusing them of gender and age discrimination (in the form of pricing haircuts differently for men, women, and children). Now, a quick […]

* An Illinois judge sentenced Clifton Williams to six months in prison for yawning. Good thing Williams didn’t set off a yawn waterfall. [Chicago Tribune] * Second Circuit reverses Judge Jed Rakoff’s decision to grant New York Times access to the Emperor’s Club wiretaps. Further embarrassment of Eliot Spitzer is not sufficient “good cause.” Here’s […]

Who is the publicist for Alberto Gonzales? Shouldn’t this person have warned the former attorney general about the perils of being interviewed by Deborah Solomon, the snarky, cranky, exceedingly direct interviewer for the New York Times Magazine? She’s not known for tossing softballs at her subjects. To his credit, Gonzales didn’t shy away from the […]

Well, it’s my five-year wedding anniversary (yesterday). You know what that means. I’m responsible for a lot of wood. In a desperate attempt to convince my wife to hang around for a sixth year, I’m taking the week off. Yeah, the whole week. It’s pretty cool to not be working at a law firm anymore. […]