August 2009
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Billable Hours, Job Survey
The Hours: How are yours looking for 2009?
The billable hour may be under attack, but for now, it still rules the lives of most lawyers slaving away in Biglaw offices around the country. An ATL reader recently wrote to us and asked if we would do a survey of the health of associate hours this year. With the work slowdown, we imagine […] -
Associate Salaries, Salary Cuts
Morgan Lewis's New Compensation Structure = Less Base Compensation?
A month and a half ago, Morgan Lewis announced that it was canceling its 2010 summer program and moving away from lockstep compensation. At the time, some people criticized me for looking at a move away from lockstep compensation as tantamount to a salary cut. A firm could move away from lockstep to give its […] - Sponsored
How Generative AI Will Improve Legal Service Delivery
Learn how emerging tools will likely change and enhance the work of lawyers for years to come in this new report. -
Clerkships, Job Searches, Pictures, Student Loans
How Has the Recession Affected You?
Now that the New York Times has covered it, it’s official: the recession has hit the legal profession. Here’s more evidence. Yesterday afternoon, while walking along 53rd Street in Manhattan (between Broadway and Eighth), we came across The Man in a Van. Aaron Heideman, aka The Man in a Van, is traveling around the country, […]
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Free Speech, Hotties, Lawsuit of the Day, Racism
Lawsuit of the Day: The Real Mothers-in-Law of NYC
My wife and I live four blocks away from my mother. I have a little bit of experience balancing one’s mother and one’s wife and not getting crushed by a domestic pincer attack of disastrous consequences. As any good husband-son will tell you, the best policy is to stay far, far away from any skirmishes […] -
Bad Ideas, Career Alternatives, Gay, Pornography
Career Alternatives for Attorneys: Gay Porn Star?
We’ve written extensively in the past about law students and lawyers taking their clothes off for the camera. For whatever reason, most have been women. For example: an associate from Thacher Proffitt (& Wood — hehe), who previously posed for Playboy; a U. Miami law school graduate, who also posed for Playboy; a UNC law […] -
Admin, Advertising, Shameless Plugs, This Is an Ad
Thanks to This Week's Advertisers
A quick word of thanks to this week’s advertisers on Above the Law: Applied Discovery Kinney Recruiting Lateral Link Law.com Mestel The New York Times OCI Advantage University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Isenberg School of Management If you’re interested in advertising on Above the Law or any other site in the Breaking Media network, download our […] -
American Bar Association / ABA, Media and Journalism
Maverick Law: The ABA Journal's 'Legal Rebels'
The ABA Journal is kicking off a series on legal rebels. It’s not an oxymoronic phrase; there are innovators and mavericks all throughout our risk averse profession. Here’s what the publication is looking for: Over the next three months, the Journal will profile 50 of the profession’s leading innovators on www.LegalRebels.com, with at least three […] -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 08.26.09
Ed. note: We’ve already discussed the passing of Senator Ted Kennedy and the New York Times article about the state of the legal job market. * Diversity among federal judges: low, but increasing. [Washington Post] * Speaking of federal judges, the super-stylish Judge Preska just ordered the Federal Reserve to reveal emergency bank loan records. […]
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Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
If 2023 introduced legal professionals to generative AI, then 2024 will be when law firms start adapting to utilize it. Things are moving fast, so… -
Job Searches, Law Schools, Media and Journalism, New York Times
All the News That's Fit to Recycle(NYT reports: 'Legal job market is hard!')
Check out this article, wherein the New York Times tells you what you already knew. We’ve been covering these developments for weeks here at Above the Law. To all the mainstream media reporters who complain about blogs repackaging their content without adequate attribution, we say: it looks recycling is a two-way street. In fairness to […] -
Deaths, Old People, Politics, UVA Law
Breaking: Ted Kennedy, RIP
Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) passed away shortly before midnight on Tuesday, while at home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. He was 77. From CNN: “We’ve lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever,” a family […] -
Contests, Money, Reality TV, Television
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? Ken Basin, Harvard Law '08, Sure Does.
Meet Ken Basin. This legal prodigy, just 24 years old, is an associate at Greenberg Glusker, one of the top entertainment law firms in the country. Basin graduated last year from Harvard Law School, magna cum laude and with a Sears Prize, at the tender age of 23. Basin isn’t just a handsome legal genius; […] -
Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 08.25.09
* Some people sit around and make fun of those who believe in the coming rapture. Others make money. [The Faculty Lounge] * Is the debate about the billable hour really a question of trust? [Adam Smith, Esq.] * From Marin: “Stanley Kaplan of Kaplan LSAT prep fame died today. He lowered his pulse by […] -
Blogging, Daniel Solove, Free Speech, Hotties, Law Professors
Talking about Skanks With Daniel Solove(Or: How To Become the Legal Expert On Privacy in Less Than 10 Years)
We mentioned the ‘Skanks in NYC’ case in yesterday’s Morning Docket, and I’ve written about it extensively over at True/Slant. To summarize: a blogger started a website called ‘Skanks in NYC’ in order to say nasty things about model Liskula Cohen. Cohen discovered the site containing just five posts, in which the blogger called Cohen […]
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Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
If 2023 introduced legal professionals to generative AI, then 2024 will be when law firms start adapting to utilize it. Things are moving fast, so…
Sponsored
How Generative AI Will Improve Legal Service Delivery
Learn how emerging tools will likely change and enhance the work of lawyers for years to come in this new report.
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Arnold & Porter, Vault 100 Open Threads: 2010, White & Case
Fall Recruiting Open Thread: Vault 16-20 (2010)
Let’s finish off the prestigious Vault 20. Here we have some firms on the rise, and some firms that are … not. Here is the next batch of firms: 16. WilmerHale 17. Latham & Watkins 18. Arnold & Porter 19. Jones Day 20. White & Case Okay, before we discuss Latham and White & Case, […] -
Layoffs, Videos
How to Avoid Getting Fired
I don’t speak Russian, so I have no idea what this commercial is about. But it seems like it should be about what associates should do when the “firing partner” is making the rounds: If a Russian speaker wants to translate for us in the comments, that would be great. But I’ll definitely be implementing […] -
Advertising, Cars, Lawyer Advertising, Weirdness
Mobile Law Office
Before the recession, this would have surprised me. Now, it seems relatively pedestrian. The Joplin Globe reports (via the ABA Journal): BAXTER SPRINGS, Kan. — Lawyers Chris Meek and Nathan Coleman are taking it on the road. They have turned a 2002 Volkswagen Rialta into a mobile law office. “It’s a convenience factor for our […] -
Health Care / Medicine, Labor / Employment, Lawsuit of the Day, Tort Reform, Trials
Lawsuit of the Day: Don't Lie About Brain Tumors
The Connecticut Employment Law Blog reports on the kind of plaintiff that gives other plaintiffs a bad name: In the middle of trial, a plaintiff (who is claiming his employment was terminated, among other reasons, in retaliation of his exercise of FMLA rights) drops a bombshell: “[In the prior October], I learned that I had […] -
Biglaw, Securities and Exchange Commission, Wall Street
The Mainstream Media Is Aware That Law Firms Exist, Right?
Will the mainstream media ever hold law firms accountable for their roles in the global financial crisis? Probably not. Relatively speaking, only a small sector of society understands that Biglaw firms played a significant role making “toxic assets” lucrative and legal. Without attorneys, bankers wouldn’t know their tranches from their enhancements. Too few people can […] -
Law Schools, Money, Rankings, Student Loans
Dollar Store for Law Schools
Do you want to purchase a discount legal education, but you don’t know where to look? A new list from the National Jurist will point you in the right direction. Tax Prof Blog reproduces the list of which law schools give you the most bang for your buck. Here are the top 15: How do […] -
Celebrities, Fabulosity, Hogan & Hartson, Movies
Sex and the City 2 at Hogan & Hartson
Over at AmLaw Daily, Zach Lowe has revealed that Hogan & Hartson will be playing the part of Mr. Big’s office in Sex and the City 2, due out next year: The atrium on the 25th floor of Hogan’s offices at 875 Third Ave. will be transformed into Mr. Big’s on-screen office, according to an […]