"Yolanda Young's Amends Complaint ..." uh, I think you mean either "Yolanda Young Amends Complaint" or "Yolanda Young's Amended Complaint."

Jeez, MysTTTal, some of the more obscure grammatical/spelling mistakes I could deal with. But consistently including ones (in the headline no less) that would be spotted by MS Word's grammar check function is slipshod.

Elie-Does Yolanda's amended complaint include a claim under the Good Samaritan Statute?

Staff "attorneys" deserve whatever treatment they receive. Should have worked harder in law school.

She should add a Section 90 claim. From my reading of the Restatement, I think she's got a pretty good promissory estoppel case.

The charts are a work of MysTTTalish brilliance. She still needs to bring in Mona Lisa Vito to explain the tire tracks.

I can haz more salary?

Comment removed by moderator.

Hasn't she read Ricci? Disparate impact cases are as dead as a door nail. It's just a waste of time. All Kennedy did was push off the determination for another day, but when the right case comes along he's going to join the Four Horsemen and strike the disparate impact claim from law.

how did she come up with the 17% as the number of associate "outliers" and why didn't she make the same calculation for other groups?

This sort of selective fact presentation is the change we can believe in.

-- Sotomayor & Associates

"Covingtion"

Is Elie a Andy Kaufman-esgue provocateur, or utter fucking spastic retard?

The charts make no sense. Tossed under Iqbal. Associates have higher percentage of the qualifying factors than partners because the only basis to hire someone with no legal experience is based on grades, journal, clerkship. If you lateral from another job 20 years into your career, they hire based on how good of an attorney you are. And also, her staff attorney chart just shows that they hire based on school for staff v. associate positions.

It is simply impossible for me to believe that Elie graduated from law school and worked at a law firm and has such a poor command of the keyboard. I hope this blog thing works out for Elie, because I seriously doubt that anyone will ever hire him to do any actual legal work with his demonstrated disregard for detail and professionalism generally.

I think Elie should openly embrace kreeaytiv sphehllling and maybe invent some kind of creative grammar thereby avoid looking like a complete idiot on almost a daily basis by ignoring standard English..

This suit is necessary.

My GED, community college degree, and Georgetown JD should guarantee me partnership.

14- It's called Ebonics.

14 = racist.

This lawsuit demonstrates what is wrong with the law firm business model and the spoiled brat sense of self-entitlement that defines the current generation of lawyers. Here we have an attorney, who had less than average credentials who worked at a decent firm as a staff attorney. She claims racism and hostile work environment. She is terminated. After termination, she requests her old job back or she sues (which in my opinion is a form of extortion). I think it is very clear how specious these claims are. I suspect this plaintiff wishes to go the Mungens route, meaning even if she loses her case, she will carve out a nice book deal and go on a speaking tour (think Anita Hill after she tried to defame Clarence Thomas).

This example galvanizes my call to recruit staff attorneys overseas. Peer and non-peer firms should actively recruit abroad where foreign based attorneys have no recourse or jurisdiction to use labor laws against us. Again, this claimaint and her claims are a black eye on affirmative action.

Was Eric Holder a staff attorney? I wasn't aware.

I love lording over my staff attorneys. Their bitterness is delicious to me.

I apologize to everyone for having not aborted my son.

Honestly, this has to a joke. She alleges in her complaint that black attorneys are assigned to staff attorney positions and white attorneys are assigned to associate positions. As if someone applies to both positions and is assigned to one or the other.

21 = WIN!

Affirmative Class Action.

If some individuals want to complain about others receiving special treatment, perhaps they should go back and check their more prestigious law schools' affirmative action admission policies.
Also, did she accept the position of staff attorney knowing that there would be more limited career opportunities?

two points which makes this case a waste of the court's time

1) no mention of GPA or any other objective measure to compare attorney's

2) If any of the schools in the "rankings" use affirmative action to allow lesser qualified students to attend then those law schools need to be excluded from her numbers

If there was any way to objectively compare the attorneys and there is bias great sue the pants off them, but if you got into "a higher ranked school" becasue of AA and didn't do well and are only qualified to be a staff attorney, then maybe that demonstrates that AA is doing a dis-service to its beneficiaries.

To the editors of this site:

I don't mind some of the guest commenters' weak attempts to mock or discredit me. However, I draw the line with post no. 21. Kindly remove this post and ban the IP address of this poster. I will not tolerate further disrespect or insult against my character. I am here trying to provide a public service. The least you can do is attempt to preserve a sense of civility and non-puerile decorum on this forum.

Ummm....

Since the black staff attorneys still have far worse law school rankings than associates (or of counsel, or partners) but much better rankings than white staff attorneys doesn't this just show that Covington should hire more black staff attorneys?

What does this say at all about associates?

I can't figure out what I am missing.

21 - Awesome

PE: I think post 21 is hilarious. Also, don't be so quick to judge, b/c maybe it was really from your mom. Who knows?

28 -

Answer: Brain.

"black practicing attorneys, as a group, typically graduated from higher ranked law schools than their white colleagues and that, more often than their white counterparts, black staff attorneys attended law schools from which Covington's partners, counsel, and associates graduated."

This is the best example of per se boot strapping I have ever seen. Affirmative action is the triumph of form over substance, by definition. To base a substantive argument (that blacks are more qualified than whites) on a formal premise (they graduated from higher-ranked law schools) is to stealthily attempt to transform form into substance. Indeed, the argument assumes that the law school from which one graduated is a proxy for one's substantive abilities - higher rank equals greater ability, rank as a proxy for substance. But, the framework crumbles if the reason for one's admission to law school is entirely formal (i.e., detached from substance), as is the case with affirmative action admitees.

In effect, the plaintiff is trying to argue that black attorneys are more qualified than their white counterparts as indicated by a well-recognized proxy for substance - law school rank. She is of course ignoring the fundamental point: why is law school rank a proxy for substance? The answer is because law schools screen their students, offering admission only to those candidates who meet the school's substantive criteria, which, in turn, is reflected in a school's rank. It's an imperfect system that works marginally well. The problem is, it does not work when a law school abandons its own substantive admissions criteria.

PE, it's more than just the eye.

Does this lady understand how law firm hiring and promotion works in any way, shape, or form.

Also, where are the p values?

Maybe it's a lack of caffeine, but I'm having trouble with the charts. What does she mean by "grade distinction?"

Also, I assume "attorney law school rankings" means where each attorney ranked in his or her law school class. If that's so, I still don't understand how she thinks these charts help her case. The charts admit that the average ranking of a black associate was six spots lower than the overall ranking. What's her basis for pulling out the bottom 17%? Average is average.

Type in Ellie's name into Yolanda Young's blog, and he is profiled and featured in a number of posts on her site.
http://www.onbeingablacklawyer.com/?s=mystal

The artciles that include Ellie feature headlines such as, "Elie Mystal Makes Anti-Affirmative Action Arguments Crumble," and "OBABL Q and A with Elie Mystal"

Interesting.

@32 - Are you unemployed or are you just wasting your employer's time writing this crap on ATL?

37 - wasting my unemployed time, - 32

PE-
You are the problem! I have sat back idly watching your comments for sometime. You are the reason why people don't have respect for this profession, particularly the prestigious firms. How can you honestly say that you are trying to preserve civility when you openly mock so many people. For example, your posts during this most recent bar exam were egregious. You were openly mocking and batiing people (come to Rick's after you vomit or something like that) when you yourself were a candidate for the Bar at some point.

I don't care how much money you have made or how sucessful you are at a "peer firm" or whatnot, but being pompous is not cool. You are borderline pathetic in that you are obviously older then the vast majoirty of commentators yet you clearly spend more time trolling this site then billing clients.

I really hope you are fake and that you have developed this character as a joke, because if you are real, and these posts are genuine, you are a sad pathetic human being

Elie-

Orrick NYC just no-offered half the summer class.

Comment removed by moderator.

This suit has no chance for all of the reasons already mentioned and more. In fact you don't even need to debase AA to destroy the purported meaning of these statistics.

36, are you saying what I think you're saying? Are Elie and Yolanda Young really the same person?!?!?

This is getting interesting...

Comment removed by moderator.

"I don't mind some of the guest commenters' weak attempts to mock or discredit me. However, I draw the line with post no. 21."

Sounds like PE is getting his panties in a bunch. I'd tell him to run home and cry to his mommy... but based on Comment 21, something tells me she really doesn't give a shit.

I have it on good authority that PE keeps a stable of young boys all named Enrique at his disposal. He supposedly pays them an hourly rate for "companionship."

39-

PE is fiction, for you to take him seriously makes the joke on you.

But his fiction does properly capture the douche white males that run biglaw, effectively paradying the stereotype that Marin nailed on her last "Plz Handle." Everyone on this blog knows the truth that underlies that parady. Is every single individual like that? of course not, but enough are to make the joke hit home.

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@39

You're obviously a simpleton and gullible. I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

39- you are my new hero.

And in the mean time Asian attorneys slog like slaves. Why do Asian attorneys never cry out discrimination? Judging by the way Asian guys are treated at many law firms, they sure do have a case; but perhaps not the balls.

PE is a douchebag second-year at New York Law. Supposedly, he is ranked in the bottom half of the class.

@50

I have another bridge in NYC for sale, you interested?

-49

If those bridges include the hookers under them, you guys have a deal!!!

This has nothing to do with race. And I say that as a black man.

This has everything to do with Ms. Young's refusal to accept the fact that staff attorneys are staff attorneys-- nothing more.

The suggestion that firms should somehow be compelled to offer staff attorneys opportunity for advancement is ridiculous: It completely ignores the difference between staff attorneys and associates. The later clearly have better credentials. Ironically enough, her "data", in as much as she presents any, actually contradicts her assertions. The staff attorneys at Covington - black or white - do not have credentials that = those of associates.

Beyond this, the scarcity of black attorneys at large in a city like DC is not that difficult to explain. Last I checked, we're about 13% of the population. And when you factor in poverty, inequality, failing urban schools... it should not be surprising that blacks folks make up such a small % of practicing lawyers. Point being, I don't think its law firms. I don't think law firms are inherently racist organizations. In fact, more than anywhere else I've been in my life, I find the law firm playing field pretty even.

How? Because like most black people, I was poor growing up. I struggled financially through college and law school. But now... as a 3rd year associate... I collect a big fat check and don't have to worry about money. And sure there's bullshit and politics. But guess what? The white associates have to deal with that same bullshit and politics. So its some equal opportunity bullshit.

So come on. Everybody knows what staff attorney means. Don't bullshit us. Nobody signs up to be a staff attorney thinking they're going to make partner.

@43.

I wasn't savvy enough to realize that maybe Elie and Yolanda are the same person. Though as I think this through, I haven't seen them in the same room together. Maybe the grammar on this site is just a red herring to throw suspicion off the connection?

PE - so you will not tolerate any similar insult in the future? what will you do if 21 strikes again - will you forever disappear? please?

The best way to succeed in American today is to complain, whine, sue, and allow an MSNBC pundit or a Capitol Hill politician patronize you for your continued suffering.

36, you may have noticed this already... this isn't a newspaper. Few people blog purely about things that they find "interesting" or "newsworthy." This blog in particular is a business.

Elie's promoting his friends, and they're promoting him. Same goes for the Dealbreaker spam and the links to vapid posts on "sister" sites. On any given day, there are a ton of frivolous lawsuits percolating that will either be dismissed or settled for nuisance value. This one is likely posted at ATL, not because it's "news," but because it drives up the traffic at ATL and OBABL.

On the other hand, this lawsuit is an interesting window into the warped perspective on the legal industry that many people have at the outset. Start with naivete, add a sense of entitlement and an Al-Sharpton-like sense of what discrimination is and isn't, and you get this sort of wackiness. It's not quite Jonathan Lee Riches or Roy Pearson wacky, but certainly doesn't deserve to be taken as seriously as ATL seems to take it.

@54

Hookers and coke included, but hookers offered as is no refunds.

-49

PE respond to me!!!!!

-39

55 is right. Leaving aside the current realities of the job market, attorneys traditionally have had lots of opportunities to make career decisions that lead to good, if not great, outcomes. It's all about choices, but people like Yolanda Young wanted to chase the Biglaw paycheck without taking into account what it would do to her career.

I, for one, would never accept or seek a position as a staff attorney. You are better off being a public defender or prosecutor for a few years and then trying to land an associate gig.

Young and the other staff attorneys made a horrible career move (just like anyone that signs up for temp work/doc review). And the woman went to Georgetown. Even with mediocre grades, she could still walk into plenty of mid-size firms and land an associate position.

I chose to go with a mid-size firm instead of Biglaw, because I feel like it would be better for my career in the long run. And you know what? As a 2nd year associate, I am doing the work of a 4th or 5th year in Biglaw.

- Another black attorney

On a more technical note, this thing will never get certified. The argument is absolutely ridiculous. Firm-wide discrimination based on a policy of...... hiring black staff attorneys?

Beyond that, the hiring process is so individualized, that calling any group of attorneys "similarly situated" is a tough sell.

55, your statement that "like most black people, I was poor growing up," is flat out wrong. Most black people are not poor, although a much larger percentage of blacks and hispanics are poor than are whites.

According to the National Poverty Center, "[i]n 2007, 24.5 percent of blacks and 21.5 percent of Hispanics were poor, compared to 8.2 percent of non-Hispanic whites and 10.2 percent of Asians." In other words, as of 2007, about a third of blacks were considered poor. And unless that number dramatically increased in the last 2 years (nothwithstanding even the recession), my point stands.

"As a black man," I'd hope you check your stats next time.

55 nailed it. She's basically suing because staff attorneys are... just staff attorneys. WTF? Everybody knows that taking a job as a staff attorney is career suicide.

53- I appreciated 39's comment; never said I believe PE to be a real person.

And no, not interested in the Bridge but there's some swamp land on the market in New Jersey if you're interested.

-50.

21 = PE bored and trolling for more attention.

56 - The grammar is so ridiculous that it has to be intentional, so I think you're right. Also, it would explain why no one can find any trace of Elie being admitted in NY. That can only mean....

Elie was actually a staff attorney at Covington in D.C.!!! He graduated from GULC!!! Elie runs OBABL!!! He might very well be transgendered!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We’re all aware that affirmative action has, at times, resulted in less qualified applicants being accepted to prestigious schools. Consequently, some qualified, non-minority, applicants were denied access to these schools and forced to go to lowly institutions like Georgetown, UVA, Duke, etc. However, does every one of you douche bags who didn’t get into Harvard or Yale really think it was because some black kid from the south side of Chicago took your spot? Did any of you ever stop to think that maybe it was your own inadequacy that held you back?

Call to action

64, it's more like about a quarter or a fourth.

55 = white guy from Bethesda

69, so what does that say about the inadequacies of the black kids (75% of whom did not grow up poor) who need a 10-12-point boost on the LSAT compared to the white kids?

I have a dream that one day schools will admit people not based on the color of their skin but based on the content of their character.

At the end of the day, Yolanda wants staff attorneys who were hired on terms excluding partnership track to have that term included after the fact. (Do of counsel get another bite at the apple too) And, going forward, essentially, she wants the entry level job in a firm for all lawyers to be staff attorney, as a way of getting more black lawyers onto the partnership track. This is a completely stupid idea.

First, she fails to recognize that some black associates are not staff attorneys because they achieved something she hasn't: She must believe the 20 versus 32 average school rank gap for black associates versus black staff attorneys is fuck-all. The result of her crusade would be to punish the few black lawyers from top 14 schools with decent grades, i.e., those who achieved measurably comparable experience to the typical applicant, and to negate the value of the preference available to them in firm hiring, which one presumes she is in favor of.

Bascially, she didn't get through to associate in EIP with her lesser credentials and the existing preference available to black students with decent credentials, and now wants the team to take one for her.

In any event, the results would be disasterous for the black lawyers she claims to want to help. Everyone would still know that the "staff" level would be weeded out in two years, and black associates would have the same opportunities or lack of them to achieve better experience or partnership thereafter, if they get through. The other upshot would be that black staff attorneys with stable secure jobs would be forced out to make way for more black staff attorneys who would be pushed out in two years. Further, the firm would shift to hiring more contractors who, you guessed it, will be more often black and who wold be completely walled off from actual legal work in the firm.

Basically, any black associate should hope she falls on her face in this suit and then goes away for ever.

12:30 and essentially only one original post?! Dioooss MIOOO!

Waaah! I applied for a staff attorney job and got it. Waaah! My performance was average at best. Waaah! They won't promote me to partner and start sending me million dollar paychecks. Waaah!

66

No thanks already loaded up on this whitewater deal in Arkansas, should be a huge winner

-49/53

74 - This stuff isn't rocket science. Firms hire staff attorneys to perform scut work they don't want to bill at associate rates for. The reason they don't make partner is because they're not doing the work and learning the skills that are a prerequisite to making partner. They can elevate to a partner-track associate position where they'll get those skills, but they're not going to learn them as a staff attorney, so they're not going to make partner. Period.

#55 - thanks for an honest and refreshing perspective. as for everyone else, let's grow up and stop the snide and race-baiting comments.

Yolanda, by accepting a position as a staff attorney, made herself a second class citizen, and now seeks to rewrite the rules. If her credentials were so good, how and why did she wind up in what she described in her eralier pladingas a"law form ghetti?" With her apparent attitide and sense of superiority, what happended to her was probably inevitable - whether she was black, white, yellow, brown or albino.

Poor PE... LEAVE PE ALONE!!! WAHHHHHHHHHHH... All he wants is a lap dance from a hot stripper and you guys tear and rip away at his soul... LEAVE HIM ALONE.. he's trying to battle alzimhers and you guys are degrading his ego.. LEAVE HIM BE.. stop stacking the attacks on him more and more and moreee... LEAVE PE ALONE!!!

--Chris Crocker

73 and 74, you know the irony in all of this.? When Covington needed a shark of a trial lawyer to stop Yolanda and her bogus lawsuit in its tracks, they are Michele Roberts of Akin Gump DC, a black woman who is one of the top two or three pure trial lawyers in the country. Period.

That wasn’t affirmative action.

My understanding is that the first action was dismissed without prejudice for lack of prosecution.

74, Yolanda's goal isn't to get more black lawyers into the partnership track, even if she stated as much in her papers to the court. Her goal was to save her job, and the other conceivable way that she could package an actionable claim was race/gender.

I don't think her claim is meritorious. Notwithstanding, her bogus claim does nothing to weaken my resolve that biglaw has major issues, especially among the more senior ranks, with racial and gender diversity.

I think Elie is sorta a quasi-racist because he keeps publishing posts like this that he knows will just result in a lot of racist comments. Why doesn't he ever profile someone like this?

http://www.onbeingablacklawyer.com/?p=1455

I guess he does not want the readership to hear about successful black attorneys who worked hard while in school and on the job and are now great successes in the legal field. Or he realizes that would get few comments whereas covering a frivolous lawsuit by Yolanda Young gets hundreds.

32 ftw. You made my day. I didn't know there were still young lawyers who understand and use formal reasoning.

"Young also asserts that black practicing attorneys, as a group, typically graduated from higher ranked law schools than their white colleagues..."

Assuming arguendo, that the above notion is true, does she also assert that those black practicing attorneys benefited from affirmative action to get into those "higher ranked school".

Methinks I smell an elitist Dbag.

73, if black applicants got the 10-12 point LSAT boost you claim they do, I would have a degree from Columbia and not the Tier 2 I went to (although I got a full ride, so I'm not complaining). I got a 165 on the LSAT and got into several Tier 1s (Fordham, for example) with no scholarship. Your baseless claims of a 10-point bump would have placed me at a AA 175 LSAT and gotten me into placed like BU, Vandy, and GULC with at least partial scholarships.

Stop being a douche.

From Covington's response: “Ms. Young graduated from Georgetown University Law Center in 1995. Her average grade was only slightly better than a ‘C,’ well below the threshold level for a Covington associate. She did not pass the bar until 1998, three years after her law school graduation.”

Slightly better than a C and, presumably, multiple bar failures...she should be counting her blessings that she was hired as a staff attorney.

Slightly better than a C? Thats pathetic. Thanks to this bitch, anyone with a C at Tier 1 is now off the list, particularly minorities. You have this idiot to thank for it.

86, the black-white admissions LSAT gap is well-documented.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=122901
http://volokh.com/posts/1191770408.shtml
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2008/10/arizona-arizona.html

For you to not get into a good school even with the 10-12 point LSAT affirmative action bump, you must be the least desirable student possible, and had you been white you would only have gotten into a place like Cooley.

I graduated in the top 10% of Tier 2, on law review and cannot get a job at Covington. Oh and I'm white. This person barely got into GTown, barely graduated and barely passed the bar and should be kissing the sacks of the partners who agreed to bring her on as a staff attorney, and likely did so solely because she was a minority and felt bad for her.

She clearly does not understand that a C average simply does not cut it that early into one's career. Perhaps she should go in house, spend a couple of decades and then join a law firm with portables in hand. At that point, they could care less what your grades were. Final answer? She's pathetic and should be ashamed of herself.

This is a sordid by product of AA. You end up with a self important girl, who happens to be minority, who apparently believes that the mere act of having a GTown J.D. somehow entitles her to kid glove treatment, notwithstanding that she had poor grades, and, lets face it, likely never should have been admitted.

A more even handed result would be that this person never went to law school and opened that spot up to someone who would have taken it seriously and/or had the intellectual capability to excel in that spot. For this person clearly did not, then graduated and feels somehow maligned by the fact that she's been relegated to a staff attorney position at a major international law firm. Its laughable really, but this is a by product of an elitist affirmative action mentality.

By the way, what's Covington's cutoff at GULC? I can't imagine it's much lower than the top 10-15%.

I for one am SHOCKED that Covington doesn't want to consider some mouth-breathing staff attorney who finished in the bottom quartertile (or worse) of their class at GULC and has been doing nothing but doc review for a decade for partnership. Clearly the only explanation is racism.

I mean, really. Did this person actually expect to be promoted from Staff Attorney to Associate or even Partner? The temerity is astounding. Staff Attorney is by definition a non track position. It would be akin to a paralegal with a JD expecting to be promoted to Associate. That she actually believed this was possible can only be explained by having the intellect of a person who garnered just north of a C from a school with a B curve. This person must be stupider than a bowl of pudding. I don't know whether to be amazed or to burst out laughing.

Elie,

You seem to have opened up a line of communication to the indefatigable Ms. Young. Kindly ask her why her grades were shit in law school. Was that because of whitey too?

Moreover, in that her record clearly is inferior to that of the purported superior black Associates at Covington, what gives her the right to act on behalf of a group to which she simply does not belong, that being qualified black Associates?

89, while the statistics demonstrate that there is some truth to what you are selling, my own experience leads me to the conclusion that it is not so simple. I'm not going to run down my resume, but I had a 165 LSAT and a 3.6 GPA from a respectable state school. Trust me, I was far from an undesirable candidate when I applied, and I think I would have fared pretty similarly had I been white.

Oh, and I did get into good schools (Fordham, BU). I chose to go to a Tier 2, so that I could graduate with no debt. All I was saying is that a applicant with a 175 and a 3.6 would have gotten a scholarship to Fordham or BU, and I did not. The numbers are soft in a lot of ways.

This board is filled with angry white men. Get over it!

I don't think she is complaining because she did not get partnership... The issue is that when RACIST comments were made. She complained about it and was fired...
That is not fair... I donated money because I am tired of this mess. I work at a big firm, I am African American, and I have noticed... BLACK PEOPLE HIRED ARE MORE QUALIFIED... Research it and you will see for yourself. In fact look at your own firm, your credentials and the minorities you work with. You will see exactly what she is talking about... TAKE OFF THE BLINDERS... THEN RESPOND!

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I am somewhat outraged by this article.

Perhaps if she had ever learned subject-verb agreement, Ms. Young would have fared better in her career:

"the criteria the firm uses to hire associates--honors, journal, and clerkship--isn't met by many of the firm's partners."

criteria = plural of criterion

"criteria aren't" not "criteria isn't"

Never mind the passive voice. Sigh.

Covington's cleaning staff is still 99% hispanic....will they ever learn?

22- you're right on the money. Those are two different positions which people apply for at different times, and the standards are much different and many factors are taken into consideration-

Typically the applicants take two differnet paths- associates land their jobs from OCI or lateral over and never qualify as "unemployed." Staff attorneys are typically recent grads without jobs or damaged goods who lost their associate-type positions and are bouncing around.

I think this is a bogus suit, but Covington was caught with their hand in the cookie jar a little here- Big firms often hire a very high percentage of minority staff attorneys to pump up the overall diversity rankings. So when you break down the numbers, it looks a little odd. If they concentrated more on merit and less on race when hiring staff attorneys, this would not be an issue.

All this suit will do is make firms less inclined to give minorities preferencial treatment when hiring staff attorneys- Ms. Young is taking her people backwards.

97 -

The firms are racist?? First you complain about racism, then you say "BLACK PEOPLE HIRED ARE MORE QUALIFIED..." without providing any data to back it up.

It seems the pot is calling the kettle black.

So to speak.

The lesson here, as always, is not to hire black people.

Reminder:

Ms. Young graduated from Georgetown University Law Center in 1995. Her average grade was only slightly better than a ‘C,’ well below the threshold level for a Covington associate. She did not pass the bar until 1998, three years after her law school graduation.”

Yea, because most people with a 2+ from GULC who take 3 years to pass the bar are shoe-ins at Covington.

#55: How is it that you have to state your race when the basis of your comment is that race is not the issue??? Usage of terms like "blacks folks" prove to me that not only are you probably not black, but you are probably not a lawyer as well!!!

#55: How is it that you have to state your race when the basis of your comment is that race is not the issue??? Usage of terms like "blacks folks" prove to me that not only are you probably not black, but you are probably not a lawyer as well!!!

#55: How is it that you have to state your race when the basis of your comment is that race is not the issue??? Usage of terms like "blacks folks" prove to me that not only are you probably not black, but you are probably not a lawyer as well!!!

#55: How is it that you have to state your race when the basis of your comment is that race is not the issue??? Usage of terms like "blacks folks" prove to me that not only are you probably not black, but you are probably not a lawyer as well!!!

So many commenters seem to argue that YY is showing racism by stating that some of the black attorneys who are Staff Attorneys are more qualified at Covington than some Associates at the same firm. We are reading the language of the editor of ATL not YY's. I think her point if valid and steering her assertations to discredit her shows some real hostility in the legal world. Why can't we just hear her argument and allow it to play out?? The truth can only be what it is!!!

I'm not really interested in Yolanda's lawsuit, but I am going to put myself out there and state that not all staff attorneys are "damaged goods". Staff attorneys are

p r o f i t

and are often billed out at 300+.

I think the staff attorneys who are somehow gunning to transition into an associate position are delusional and my fellow staff attorney colleagues who "get it" and are under no false pretenses that they're going to rise through a firm's ranks. Most of us are hard-working, get along just fine with lawyers on the partnership track and are actually useful, go-to employees of the firm when a discovery-related task needs to be done quickly and efficiently.

I think most of us don't care that we're doing drudge work so that an associate can work on substantive aspects of the case. A job is a job is a job....

It's unfortunate that so many commenters on this site seek self-validation through their job title.

110- Most of the details of this suit have been public for a long time, so a lot of the negative comments you have read are very informed. It has been thrown out once already and does not deserve to be heard. If you took the time to learn some of the background facts before commenting, you might agree.

Thanks Elie, I'm never reading this blog again.

69: Were you dropped on your head as an infant? I mean, while statistics may not be understood by many lawyers, surely we should all be able to understand the simple logic that defeats your claim.

(numbers completely made up!)
Harvard incoming class:
500 spots
5000 applicants
400 spots given out through regular admissions policies
100 spots given because of affirmative action
spot 400 given to someone with an LSAT of 173, GPA of 3.85
Last AA spot given to someone with an LSAT of 160 and a GPA of 3.4

Top rejected applicant, LSAT of 170 and GPA of 3.79....

Yea, you must be right, top rejected applicant had shortcomings compared to the AA applicants accepted.

114-- Silly, Don't you understand that all white people collude to hand out good grades and money to other white people so we can keep our stranglehold on society? Only everyone fogot to tell the asians about that, right Lat?

Asians=Proof that blacks are cry babies.

115: Asians are not the President nor do they hold as many top spots on Forbes as many Black Americans, and your comment itself (since it really has no merritt) literally proves the edge of perception Asians have over Black Americans!! Anyone who does not recognize the advantage of the white male in America today is either delusional or just plain stupid!!!

166- You need a refresher course on basic grammar. Best,

116- You need a refresher course on basic grammar. Best,

I leaned toward Young's side until I read Covington's response to her EEOC complaint. Young is just embarrassing herself by forcing her former employer to publicly display her history of poor performance. She should just move on.

That response is here: http://legaltimes.typepad.com/files/young_eeoc.pdf

I worked for several years at C&B. The partner whose reputation Young is so intent on ruining is one of the most admired, respected, and loved members of the firm. He doesn't deserve this, and she knows it. Yolanda, if you're reading this (and I'm sure you are, given your ego): you should be ashamed of yourself.