August 2009
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Biglaw, Old People
Old People Attack Gen Y's Work Ethic, Again.
Now that the new Vault rankings are out, it seems appropriate to reflect on the common refrain from senior lawyers about their colleagues under 30. Last Friday, Idealawg kicked off another round Gen Y bashing. The issue this time was whether Gen Y’s supposed obsession with work-life balance was harming client services. Here are the […] -
Bernie Madoff, Wall Street, White-Collar Crime
How Well-Endowed Is Bernie Madoff?
You know you want to know…. Hazard a guess. Then click on the link below. Bernie Madoff’s Greatest Scam Of All [Dealbreaker] Earlier: What Kind Of Package Is A Bernie Madoff Package? - Sponsored
Navigating Financial Success by Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Maximizing Firm Performance
In this CLE-eligible webinar, we’ll explore the most common accounting pitfalls and how to avoid them for your firm. -
Biglaw, Rankings, Vault rankings
Official New Vault Rankings
The official Vault law firm rankings for 2010 are out today. This list will define law firm prestige for the year to come. Many law students, associates, and partners — especially partners involved in the recruiting process — care greatly about these influential rankings. Here are the top five most prestigious law firms, according to […]
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5th Circuit, Antonin Scalia, John Yoo, Michael Jackson, Morning Docket
Morning Docket 08.18.09
* It sounds like very few protesters greeted John Yoo at Berkeley Law School. Only four were tenacious enough to get arrested. [Associated Press] * Fen-phen lawyers sentenced to 20 and 25 years, respectively. The judge wants their sentences to deter other lawyers tempted to steal from settlement funds. [Bloomberg] * Proskauer Rose probably likes […]
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Admin, Advertising, Announcements, Fabulosity, Parties, This Is an Ad
An ATL Event: Rooftop Gathering with Applied Discovery
If you’ll be in New York on Monday, August 24, you might be interested in this event, brought to you by Above the Law and our friends at Applied Discovery: SPACE IS LIMITED. To request an invitation, please email InviteRequest@breakingmedia.com. Please include your name, employer, and job title in your response. If we can accommodate […] -
No Offers, Start Dates, Summer Associates
Paul Hastings Offer Rates
There has been a lot of chatter about the offer situation at Paul Hastings. Right now, we understand that about 50% of the current summer class has received an offer to return to the firm. The other 50% are in limbo. Above the Law talked with a spokesperson for Paul Hastings. We have some good […] -
Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 08.17.09
* When people call social media a “fad” it reminds me of what my parents used to say about Nintendo. [Law Librarian Blog] * A minute-by-minute diary of the day the layoffs came. [California Lawyer] * A defense lawyer claimed that “pain” was not an injury. Evidently the lawyer thought that the empty, hollow feeling […] -
Animal Law
Pet Killers, Beware of Orrick
If Michael Vick can learn to love animals, “be they a dog, or a cat, or … a reptile,” then surely the American courts can’t be far behind. A couple of weeks ago, we brought you the story of a New Jersey appellate panel which declined to view the family pet as mere property in […] - Sponsored
Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
The rise of remote work has dramatically reshaped the relationship between Lawyers and Law Firms, see how Scale LLP has taken the steps to get… -
Swine Flu
Still Kicking Around: Swine Flu(Or: If you're visiting Chicago, take a face mask.)
Over in Israel and India, people are still panicked over swine flu. But here in the United States, it seems to be generating mostly yawns (with the occasional lawsuit mixed in). Earlier in the summer, swine flu hit a number of law-related venues, including Duke Law School, the Bronx D.A.’s office, and Mayer Brown (in […] -
Barack Obama, Ken Feinberg, Politics, Wall Street
Хороший день, Comrade Pay Czar. Не снимите нас
Friday was the last day for companies on the government dole to submit their pay plans to Kenneth Feinberg, our nation’s new Pay Czar. The new compensation commissar is as powerful as a mid-winter blizzard on the Eurasian Steppe. According to Law.com: The Obama administration’s “pay czar” is embarking on a review of proposed compensation […] -
Bernie Madoff, Wall Street, White-Collar Crime
Bad News for the Brothers Madoff?
Or maybe good news? It seems they’ll get to enjoy Labor Day weekend before any trouble hits. Read more and discuss over at Dealbreaker. Federal Prosecutors May Let Andy And Mark Madoff Enjoy Labor Day Weekend [Dealbreaker] -
Outsourcing, Partner Profits
Baker McKenzie Profits Per Partner Tumble. More Outsourcing in the Future?
Baker & McKenzie, which held the #2 spot in terms of revenue for 2008, has taken a dip in 2009. The firm’s fiscal year ended on June 30, and AmLaw Daily reports that global revenue fell by 3% for the firm. As noted in Morning Docket, profits per partner took a bigger hit, plummeting 17%, […] -
Akin Gump, Blind Item, Layoffs
Blind Item Follow-Up: A Revised List of Suspects
We’ve provided extensive coverage of a recent Biglaw blind item, concerning an unidentified law firm in Manhattan planning multiple rounds of layoffs for later this year. If you’re tired of this little parlor game, then stop reading here. But if you enjoy rampant speculation, surf over to Law Shucks, which has crunched the numbers again […]
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Vault rankings
Pregaming the Vault Rankings: Incorrect Rankings Appear on Vault Website
The new Vault law firm rankings, for 2010, are set to be released later this week. But earlier today, readers sent us this link, which takes you to a page on the Vault website with incomplete prestige rankings for a little over 60 law firms. We reached out to Brian Dalton, managing editor of Vault, […] -
Labor / Employment, Lawyer of the Day
One-Armed Law Student is £8,000 Sexier
A U.K. law student won her lawsuit against Abercrombie and Fitch. The clothing behemoth had relegated her to the stockroom because her uni-armed look didn’t fit in with the company’s dress code. The BBC reports: Riam Dean, 22, who has a prosthetic arm, claimed she was “diminished” for not fitting the “look policy” at the […] -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket 08.17.09
* Retired judges in Iowa are helping the state cope with its budget woes. [Chicago Tribune] * Programmers from Princeton, Harvard and the Internet Archive have created a Firefox plug-in for hacking Pacer. In the words of Wired, “it’s still just a stop-gap measure until the federal courts figure out that in the age of […]
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Admin, Travel / Vacation
Hello My Internet Friends
Hello, Above the Law community. I’m back from hiatus. I’m away for a whole week and what happens, law firms stop laying people off. Coincidence? Dear God I hope so. I didn’t follow any legal or non-legal news during my absence, so I’ll be counting on you guys to bring me up to speed. But […] -
Exercise, Federal Judges, Rudeness, SCOTUS, Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court
Good thing the Supreme Court has its own gym!
When Justice Sonia Sotomayor needs to work off all the rice, beans and pork she’s consumed, she hits the gym. Alas, it appears that Her Honor’s Equinox gym membership was canceled, after she apparently refused to show identification when trying to enter the premises. We’re with Justice Sotomayor on this: she’s a frickin’ federal judge, […] -
Admin, Advertising, Announcements, Fabulosity, Parties, This Is an Ad
An ATL Event: Rooftop Gathering with Applied Discovery
If you’ll be in New York on Monday, August 24, you might be interested in this event, brought to you by Above the Law and our friends at Applied Discovery: SPACE IS LIMITED. To request an invitation, please email InviteRequest@breakingmedia.com. Please include your name, employer, and job title in your response. If we can accommodate […] -
Law Shucks, Layoffs
This Week In Layoffs: 08.15.09
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. Hallelujah! We’ve come so close recently, but we can finally call it. For the first time this year, we have gone an entire week […]