UCLA School of Law will lose its dean at the end of the year. Dean Michael Schill will leave the law school at the end of the year to assume the deanship of the University of Chicago Law School. Dean Schill just informed his students over email:
Dear Members of the Classes of 2010, 2011, and 2012,
A little over five years ago I came to UCLA School of Law from the east coast to become dean of one of the greatest educational institutions in the world. From the moment I arrived I appreciated the strength and depth of our student culture. Indeed, you are part of the reason my five years as the dean of this school have been the happiest and most fulfilling years of my life. Thus, it is with mixed emotions that I announce today that I will be leaving the deanship at the end of the calendar year for a new challenge as dean of the University of Chicago Law School.
Why is he leaving so suddenly? Why was this decision made now instead of over the summer? University of Chicago Dean Saul Levmore announced he was stepping down back in February. Why the late trigger at UofC?
Dean Schill offers some additional information about his decision process — and the University of Chicago touts its new dean — after the jump.
Continue reading “Breaking: UCLA Law Dean Michael Schill Will Leave for Chicago”
Today is the start of performance review season for associates at Fulbright & Jaworski. As you well know, performance reviews are now very important. We’ve noticed that firms which are miraculously unaffected by the economic recession coincidentally have the toughest performance reviews.
We don’t know if this round of performance reviews will lead to another round of layoffs at Fulbright. But according to an internal Fulbright email obtained by Above the Law, there is a lot on the line even for associates that will keep their jobs at Fulbright. This year’s reviews come with a cash prize — or penalty.
Read the email after the jump.
Continue reading “Fulbright & Jaworski: The Latest Firm to Abandon Lockstep”
In this economy, if a newly-minted attorney can find a job, especially one paying over $100,000, she should be grateful. Based on our many conversations with law students and young lawyers, we think that most of them understand these new economic realities.
But not all of them. At least one Above the Law reader is still living in the heady days of “NY to 190.” Here’s what she wrote to us:
Can we put some pressure on firms that pay $160K to match at least those few firms that pay more than $160K (doesn’t a DC firm pay $180K and no, or little, bonuses?). It’s getting close to internal bonus discussion time, and any firm paying first years less than a $20K bonus will be paying less than those few firms, right?
Do we reward those firms paying a base of more than $160K with some positive press? If we do, does that put pressure on every other “peer firm” to remain a peer firm?
Honey, what recession-free universe are you living in? A sense of entitlement is so 2006.
A reality check, after the jump.
Continue reading “Are Some People Still Living in 2007?
(Or: Some early speculation on bonuses.)”
Was the 2009 summer just an aberration? Or are long hours, canceled retreats, and take-out lunch budgets the future of Big Law summer associate programs? Find out which firms rolled out the red carpet for summer associates and which firms couldn’t say goodbye to their summers soon enough, over at the ATL Career Center , powered by Lateral Link. Check out the summer associate program snapshots to discover:
Last week, news broke about layoffs at Kirkland & Ellis. The firm has not released an official statement about the layoffs. A Kirkland source says that associates not on track to make partner were let go. Since the firm won’t say, we’ve been trying to cobble together the full extent of Kirkland’s layoffs. We’ve already reported on layoffs in New York, D.C., and San Francisco.
Just before Labor Day weekend, Kirkland & Ellis got around to making layoffs at its main office in Chicago. We are still gathering numbers, but as of now we know that at least 12 people were let go. Other tipsters suggest that the number is higher.
Did these layoffs fit in with K&E’s performance review philosophy? After the jump, tipsters weigh in.
Continue reading “Nationwide Layoff Watch: Kirkland & Ellis Chicago”
* Free speech goes head to head with campaign finance laws at the Supreme Court today. [Washington Independent]
* The 9th Circuit ruled that John Ashcroft can be sued by a Muslim man who suffered under the former AG’s anti-terrorism strategies. [Washington Post]
* An Ohio judge makes his scarlet letter neon yellow. [New York Daily News]
* Judges are the ones regulating Wall Street. [Bloomberg]
* An ex-partner in Florida has sued the chairman of his former firm for wrongfully firing him after a confrontation over firm funds being used to support Hillary Clinton, among other misdeeds. [Courthouse News Service]
* In Texas classrooms, Obama is shunned, but Bibles may be a requirement. [Houston Chronicle]
* More retired judges do it for free. Now in North Carolina. [Raleigh News & Observer]
Happy Labor Day! Hopefully you are enjoying a well-deserved day off. But to those of you who are at work, or who aren’t at work but still checking Above the Law today, welcome to Off the Record — our look back on the week that was.
Continue reading “Above the Law – Off the Record: 09.07.09″
This is it. The final round of ATL Douche Madness. Harvard Law School and Duke Law School have risen through the U.S. News ranks to fight for the Douchiest Law School crown.
There can be only one.
(See their respective paths to the top, and vote, after the jump. Polls close Tuesday at midnight.)
Continue reading “The Douchiest Law School: Harvard vs. Duke”
* If you’ve had your Biglaw dream deferred, dream bigger. [Legal Blog Watch]
* I would have thought specific intent to escape from prison would be implied in any prison escapee situation. But I would have been wrong. I wonder if resisting arrest requires specific intent to not go to prison, or if I could argue that the sound of police sirens just happens to make me want to run wind sprints. [Underdog]
* Electronic tracking ankle bracelets for everybody! [National Wire]
* Here’s an argument suggesting law school is still a good investment. But I’m holding out for an argument about why in God’s name law school needs to be a three-year investment. There are people in Leavenworth that spend less and learn more in a year than third-year law students. [Ideoblog]
* Can law firm managing partners learn something from Procter & Gamble? [What About Clients?]
* Elizabeth Wurtzel — or her editor — is still holding herself out to be a lawyer. [Double X]
* A Canadian woman claims she’s already received some of Keanu Reeves’s DNA — and now she’s suing for more. [Popsquire]
This week’s Vows column is a jaw-dropper. Twelve-year-old girl has crush on doorman (“‘He looked like the guy from Tiger Beat,’ she recalled”), stalks doorman for over a decade, and finally marries him. And he’s still the doorman!
Also, don’t miss this Skadden associate’s unorthodox proposal: He had his girlfriend served with a “complaint” while he was in the men’s room.
On to this week’s couples:
1. Florence Davis and Anthony Gooch
2. Alexandra Seggerman and Stephen Poellot
3. Marin Levy and Joseph Blocher Jr.
Read all about this week’s featured newlyweds, after the jump.
Continue reading “Legal Eagle Wedding Watch 8.30: The Usual”
This morning, we reminded you about judicial clerkships as one career option to explore. Now we’d like to remind you of another: the Attorney General’s Honors Program, at the U.S. Department of Justice. The application deadline is this coming Tuesday, September 8.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the DOJ Honors Program, here’s a description:
The highly competitive Honors Program is the only way that the Department hires entry-level attorneys. Selection for employment is based on many elements of a candidate’s background including academic achievement, law review or moot court experience, legal aid and clinical experience, and summer or part-time legal employment. The Department also considers specialized academic studies (including undergraduate and post-graduate degrees), work experience, and extracurricular activities that directly relate to the work of the Department.
But hopefully not a candidate’s personal political beliefs.
More discussion, after the jump.
Continue reading “Reminder: DOJ Honors Program Applications Are Almost Due”
Gawker reports that Incisive Media — the legal media giant behind the American Lawyer magazine, Law.com, and many other excellent and influential print and online publications — is taking back its old name: American Lawyer Media (ALM).
ALM adopted the Incisive moniker back in 2007, after being acquired by Incisive Media for $630 million. Incisive itself was acquired in 2006 by Apax Partners, a private equity firm.
The full memo about the ALM rebranding appears after the jump. Here’s the most interesting part:
While we will continue to be majority-owned by funds advised by Apax Partners, our lender, Royal Bank of Scotland, will swap a portion of its existing ALM debt for a 49% equity stake in the company and become a minority owner of ALM.
Turning over almost half of the equity in the company to a lender — that doesn’t sound good, does it?
But there’s more to the story here.
Continue reading “In(de)cisive Media? ALM Reclaims Its Name
(Or: Which industry is more troubled, law or media?)”
Let’s be honest. Whether it was that gunner in your 1L section, some douche from UVA Law, or Elie in his True/Slant race rants, we have all wanted to bind and gag someone at some point. But most of us understand that this practice is best left to consenting adults. In the bedroom. With a safe word.
Judge Stephen Belden from the Municipal Court in Canton, OH is not like most of us. Growing tired of a disrespectful defendant during a preliminary hearing last week, Judge Belden ordered the bailiff to duct tape the defendant’s mouth shut.
The Repository reports:
At the start of the hearing, [Defendant Harry] Brown told Belden that he wasn’t happy with his public defender, who he claimed hadn’t done enough work on the case.
Belden said he wasn’t going to appoint a different attorney. If Brown didn’t want the public defender, he could represent himself, although he would be a fool to do so, the judge said.
Brown and Belden went back and forth for about four minutes, at times talking over each other, until Belden told his bailiff, Jeffrey Smith, to get the duct tape.
“I’m gonna get some duct tape. If you keep interrupting me, I’m gonna have Mr. Smith put it over your mouth, OK?”
Brown said he would go back to the holding area for prisoners.
“No, you can’t go back there and sit. You’re staying right here,” Belden said.
Brown kept talking.
“All right, duct tape. Duct tape the defendant,” Belden said.
There are just… so many questions. Only a few of them are answered after the jump.
Continue reading “Judge of the Day: Stephen Belden”
Once everyone gets back from Labor Day weekend, the craziness known as the clerkship application process will begin. This coming Tuesday is the first date when applications may be received, according to the 2009 Law Clerk Hiring Plan (followed by many but not all federal judges).
It’s become pretty standard to advise law students and lawyers dealing with the awful legal job market to consider clerking. As Harvard Law School told its students, earlier this year:
One option we would like to highlight is a judicial clerkship, which conveniently tends to be for one year, is valued by the full spectrum of legal employers, and is a fantastic job in itself…. Be sure to consider all types of clerkship opportunities, including those at state and specialty courts, because the competition is likely to be fierce this season.
Indeed. This will probably be the most competitive clerkship season in a decade (or longer). Landing a clerkship is easier said than done.
Update: As reported by U.S. News & World Report (via the ABA Journal), some law schools are better than others at sending their graduates into clerkships. The top three: (1) Yale, (2) the University of North Dakota, and (3) Stanford. Check out the full list over here.
Correction: Whoops. It seems that some of that clerkship info is wrong.
It’s not just feeder judge clerkships, or circuit court clerkships, or district court clerkships in hot districts that are tough to land. These days, even district clerkships in so-called “flyover country” require great credentials.
Discussion of hiring standards and timetables, after the jump.
Continue reading “Clerkship Application Season: Open Thread”
* NALP is forming a commission to review law firm hiring practices, including the current timetable for 2L OCI recruiting. [Am Law Daily]
* Bankruptcy judges are chastising mortgage servicers for their sloppy business practices and their poor communications. [New York Times]
* Associates who went to lower-ranked law schools tend to be happier and harder working in their BigLaw job. Why? For the same reason that ugly people are better in bed – they have to be. [WSJ Law Blog]
* Unemployment hits 9.7%. That is not funny. [New York Times]
* The 2nd Circuit reaffirms that wiretap warrants should only be granted to the government after a detailed explanation of why the wiretap is necessary. Then the court reinstates evidence acquired pursuant to a wiretap warrant that probably shouldn’t have been granted. [Threat Level/Wired]
* This is just not a good time to be Proskauer Rose. The firm is now being sued in Nevada on a malpractice claim that was rejected in Texas for improper venue. [National Law Journal]
* Could the SEC be sued for negligence in failing to properly investigate Bernie Madoff? [Time]
Finally, we have a law firm partner who has looked in the face of the so-called “hybrid tough love” strategy, and found it wanting. His name is Byrd “Biff” Marshall Jr., and he is the president of GrayRobinson — an Am Law 200 firm that is giving associate raises in the middle of the recession. The Daily Business Review reports:
As other major law firms order layoffs and pay cuts, GrayRobinson is giving an average 8 percent raise to its associates.
Pay raises were as high as 15 percent Tuesday, and 90 percent of associates received raises, said law firm president Byrd “Biff” Marshall Jr. The merit-based increases were decided on an individual basis.
All support staffers at the Orlando-based firm also are getting higher pay, he said. The raises were announced at a firm retreat last weekend.
A friend of mine translated this news into language Partner Emeritus can understand:
While not a peer firm, GrayRobinson has shrugged off the recession caused by my good pal Alan Greenspan. Instead of trashing the moral and economic vitality of its employees, the firm has taken bold action to retain its best people. The actions of Mr. Marshall remind me of my trailblazing days. Back then, firms did not treat their future partners and rainmakers as interchangeable cogs to be used and then discarded. And the entire firm was better for it.
But then America elected as President a senile old man — based solely on his credentials as a minor character actor. He made everybody believe that the wealthy individuals like myself would allow some of our hard-earned money to “trickle down” to lower earning Americans. Fools! Luckily my firm understood the dangers of obscene income inequality and unchecked corporate greed. We shared the wealth not out of charity, but because it made smart business sense. Now, many non-peer institutions are paying for their lack of vision in the ruined careers of their employees and the dissolution of their organizations.
I am not happy that I will have to temporarily delay my planned upgrades to my second yacht. And honestly if Muffy gives me any more back-talk about forgoing her shopping spree in Milan, I’ll have to cashier her and promote wife number four. But my commitment to the long term success of my firm trumps such petty personal concerns. Young attorneys should not be treated as Rick’s Cabaret dancers. They should be treated as our future.
– Partner Maximus
Thanks, PM.
After the jump, more from GrayRobinson.
Continue reading “Partner Emeritus, Meet Biff–You Could Learn Something”
* I know it’s hard to close down a law school. But as Che once sang: “If normal methods of persuasion fail to win them applause, there are other ways of establishing authority.” [Professor Bainbridge]
* You know, I also miss the heady days of last August. [Adam Smith Esq.]
* More pee stories. [Anonymous Lawyer]
* Is the IRS screwing up Swiss bank accounts for the rest of us? Haha — I said “us.” Of course I meant to say: “Is the IRS screwing up Swiss bank accounts for glorious capitalist jackboots that could buy and sell me eight times over?” [Blackbook Legal]
* For the benefit of the childless among you, please whup your kids so they can learn how to behave in public. Thanks. [Miss Trials]
* Lawyers are now giving you five minutes free! Quick somebody call this guy. [New Lawyer]
Just a quick follow-up to yesterday’s discussion of whether Justice John Paul Stevens’s failure to hire a full complement of law clerks for October Term 2010 might shed light upon his retirement plans. In today’s New York Times, Adam Liptak has an excellent article on the subject. It begins:
A Supreme Court clerkship is a glittering prize and the ultimate credential in American law, one coveted by the top graduates of the best law schools. Until recently, though, only connoisseurs of ambition and status followed the justices’ hiring process closely.
It turns out those hiring decisions may be a sort of early warning system for hints about the justices’ retirement plans. “We’ve started tracking Supreme Court hiring in real time,” said David Lat, the founder of Above the Law, a legal blog.
Thanks for the shout-out, Mr. Liptak! When it comes to being “connoisseurs of ambition and status,” we plead guilty.
Justice David H. Souter’s failure to hire clerks this spring accurately signaled his decision to step down. On Wednesday, the court confirmed that Justice John Paul Stevens, who is 89, has hired only one clerk, instead of the usual four, for the term starting in October 2010. That ignited speculation that Justice Stevens may be planning to step down next summer.
Some thoughts on what’s going on here, after the jump.
Continue reading “Supreme Court Retirement Watch: More on Justice Stevens”
