Wow, 2 comments in 15 minutes.

first of all, congratulations to #1.

second of all, if we finally have the well-established members of big law publicly discussing the glut of lawyers in the labor supply, will the HACKS in the ABA actually start to do something about it?

I recommend seriously reducing the numbers that 4th Tier diploma mill toilets like Cooley are able to admit, while freezing the numbers that are admitted for the rest of the country.

first of all, congratulations to #1.

second of all, if we finally have the well-established members of big law publicly discussing the glut of lawyers in the labor supply, will the HACKS in the ABA actually start to do something about it?

I recommend seriously reducing the numbers that 4th Tier diploma mill toilets like Cooley are able to admit, while freezing the numbers that are admitted for the rest of the country.

Things are quiet because of Yom Kippur.

It's so quiet here.

Now that I have your attention, I'd like to point out that the last caption contest was flawed.

We also need more schticks on ATL. PE and JE are tired and no longer entertaining.

In other contexts, Kalis has taken a lot of heat on this board, perhaps justifiably so. But occasionally he gets it exactly right:

The Wall Street Journal asked Kalis whether college graduates should think twice before heading off to law school, given cuts in law firm hiring. He replied this way:

“Yes. The business model of the U.S. law school doesn't quite make sense to me. Law schools will bring you in from college and educate you, but they will encumber you with six-figure indebtedness at a tender age.

“The assumption was that there was no problem, because law firms like K&L Gates would pay that off for you. And that is where the wheels are falling off.

“I've heard that law school applications are actually increasing. We will be pouring tens of thousands of young people into a market that I suspect is not going to be able to absorb them at the remuneration levels that would have justified them taking on that debt.”

In other contexts, Kalis has taken a lot of heat on this board, perhaps justifiably so. But occasionally he gets it exactly right:

The Wall Street Journal asked Kalis whether college graduates should think twice before heading off to law school, given cuts in law firm hiring. He replied this way:

“Yes. The business model of the U.S. law school doesn't quite make sense to me. Law schools will bring you in from college and educate you, but they will encumber you with six-figure indebtedness at a tender age.

“The assumption was that there was no problem, because law firms like K&L Gates would pay that off for you. And that is where the wheels are falling off.

“I've heard that law school applications are actually increasing. We will be pouring tens of thousands of young people into a market that I suspect is not going to be able to absorb them at the remuneration levels that would have justified them taking on that debt.”

I'm being impersonated!!! I'm the true EW. The one above is a fraud. On the one hand, I'm flattered. But, I do not trust the fraud to faithfully represent my avatar, which I lifted from the internet.

The moderators should crack down on counterfeits.

2, 5 and 6:

I wouldn't worry about it, things will pick up. It's not like there are a lot of Jewish lawyers in NYC.

It's a very clever counterfeit. Someone used a capital i instead of the first L in Ellie. No one but the Chinese could produce this quality of counterfeit.

Sad to see ATL being infested with trolls, weasels, and stupid Brits.

Guess all the brilliance, sparkling repartee, and solid information has departed for the day due to the absence of Jewish lawyers.

I think the ABA is merely a clueless paper tiger and it is showing. It would actually be in biglaw's interest to make law school cheaper as it would mean they could justify cutting salaries further (not that I agree with it).

I have spent most of my career abroad and in most countries, law school is an undergrad and it is either free or the total bill for their education is less than one year at even a decent state school. The ABA has been useless for quite some time and the fact that they refuse to even have an open discussion on an issue that hurts lawyers at every level shows how incompetent it really is. It should be disbanded just like the money grubbing and protectionist state bar associations and bar examiners.

3/4--Are the rest of us really in competition with the output from Cooley? Does the engineer working on 1 World Trade Center really need to worry if there will be a surplus of engineers whose highlight in life will be checking the truss dimensions for a new housing development in Prince William County, Virginia?

14. To your parochial way of thinking... NO.

But realistically, we're all licensed attorneys. A glut of bottom feeder doc review attorneys from TTTs will drive the doc review wages down... which will eventually make them more attractive to corporate clients, taking work away from you and your buddies, affecting the wages paid to big law associates.

Oh, wait... this already happened.

Good point 6

15, I'm a weasel.

Now you look silly.

14 = 16

no, you're some dork with enough time on his hands to make an entire fake profile.

(Real EW here)

I think what the legal industry needs, vis-a-vis outsourcing, is one good malpractice claim against a law firm that used Indian lawyers to review documents. When there is no recourse against a firm of $5/hour lawyers in Bangalore, firms will think twice before sending important cases overseas.

Poor biglaw associates getting their precious wages driven down by TTT. Does the real Elie Wiesel know about this? To think that we have a holcaust going on in America of tearing down big firm wages. What a horror.

"holcaust"?

i was really focusing on the Morning Docket being posted and not on whether i had the first comment of the day.

thanks,

-1

In other words, 10, jewish lawyers in New York have an ass lobster fetish.

all tier 3 and 4 schools should be eliminated, there just isn't a demand and we should stop screwing people over thinking there is. There could be an exception if the law school is the only one in a state, but other than that. off with their heads. They should also require a 75% bar passage rate to stay open, if you can't provide that you should be shut down.

Sorry, I meant 12.

- 24

25, the ABA tried to require a 75% bar passage rate for accreditation. It didn't work because liberals called the proposal racist, because (surprise surprise) it would get rid of schools with lots of minorities. Only racists would let that happen.

http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2008/02/aba-set-to-impo.html

If people want to be TTT then let them be TTT. Im V50 but I am a free market capitalist and feel that if firms want to use TTT to be economically viable with cheap document review then let them. Fuck T10. Who cares about saving them?

TTT whites actually benefit from the protection their schools get because of the minority students. Just saying,

27, Really? such bullshit. Anyone who gets through college can put in the effort to get into a good law school, they aren't at a disadvantage. Wow, just wow.

Yeah whatever, fuck it, we'll just have 30% bar passage rates at some schools! I'm sure that really helps minorities instead of fucking them for life. good call!

The ABA long ago disavowed using the law school acreditation process as a means to limit the supply of lawyers. This was in response to DoJ anti-trust concerns, and nothing is going to change that. The market's cruel efficiency will ultimately limit the supply of lawyers to what the demand can support.

Maybe parents need to do a better job with their kids, get them to study more, study sciences and not waste time with 'extra-curicular' activities that usually serve no real purpose. You don't hear of H-B1 visas going for lawyers, they go for engineers, computer analysts and other hard scientist types of which our country fails to produce enough.

Here's a question -- where's the actual line between viability and TTT?

Here's a question -- where's the actual line between viability and TTT?

I'm an attorney who has done well but I can't say it has been worth the effort and aggravation. My kids will never crack a law book, some shlub will do that for them if ever necessary. My kids will focus on science science science. And fuck what they want. I am not concerned with them finding themselves.

Mr. Kalis: "We are a bigger law firm than we were in 2008, and our revenues will reflect that. I suspect our revenues will exceed $1 billion. In terms of the bottom line, it will be challenged by what's happened in the legal market, but it will be helped by cost cutting. I think we can hold our own on the bottom line, but I'll know more in a few months."

What kind of cost cutting would he do first? Cut salaries first? Cut incoming associates first? Or cut existing employees first (staff/attorneys)?
Don't answer by saying "All of the above."

Science? Is this related to having a protractor and one of those trigonometry calculators?

~Latte sipping, Iphone using, lib arts major

#37: There's an app for that.

37 = useless

There's more to the interview. Some excerpts that were not posted in the original WSJ article. This one deals with employee morale.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125389011858141133.html?mod=loomia&loomia_si=t0:a16:g2:r1:c0.151713:b27945324

Why no coverage of Justice Sotomayor throwing out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium on Saturday? Surely that merits a judicial sight-ation.

Affirmative Action got her into Yale. Affirmative Action got her onto the court. This country has become so cheap.

The last thing Kalis would do is stop incoming associates. He reads Adam Smith Esq., and the advice is: "Recruit carefully, prudently, assiduously, but keep recruiting. Talent is your lifeblood. Do not shut if off."
http://www.adamsmithesq.com/archives/2008/12/perspective.html

Alston and Arent Fox shut it off, while those with "perspective" will keep recruiting carefully.