September 2009
-
Wall Street
Cleary Lawyer Calls Out Cuomo
Yesterday, we covered Andrew Cuomo’s letter to Bank of America. In it, the New York Attorney General ask BofA to essentially waive its attorney client privilege and allow the AG’s office to question BofA outside counsel at Cleary Gottlieb. Update: The NYAG is looking to talk to the lawyers who consulted on the Bank of […] -
Eyes of the Law, Fabulosity, SCOTUS, Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court
The Eyes of the Law: Partying with Sonia from the Block
Sometimes stereotypes are true. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the Supreme Court’s first Latina justice, loves to dance — and she’s pretty darn good at it, too. Consider this comment — posted back in May 2005, about then-Judge Sotomayor — from Underneath Their Robes: In October [2004], attended the wedding of two law school classmate, one of […] - Sponsored
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
How to best leverage generative AI as an early adopter with ethical use. -
Layoffs, Secretaries / Administrative Assistants, Staff Layoffs
Winston & Strawn: The August Recap
We received a lot of tips about Winston & Strawn during the month of August. It seems like the firm had a busy month. We’ve reached out to the firm — multiple times — but haven’t heard anything back. But multiple sources report that Winston laid off around 20 associates over the month of August. […]
-
Associate Advice, Job Searches, Notes from the Breadline, Old People
Notes from the Breadline: We're All in this Thing Together (Walking the Line Between Faith and Fear) (Part II)
Ed. note: Welcome to the latest installment of “Notes from the Breadline,” a column by a laid-off lawyer in New York. Prior columns are collected here. You can reach Roxana St. Thomas by email (at roxanastthomas@gmail.com), follow her on Twitter, or find her on Facebook. Welcome back from the long weekend, dear readers. I hope […] -
Contests, Douchiest Law School Contest, Law Schools, Reader Polls
ATL Douche Madness: Duke is the Douchiest Law School
Over the long holiday weekend, Duke and Harvard duked it out in the ATL Douchiest Law School contest. Though many commenters argued that Duke Law School’s reputation was being unfairly influenced by that of its douchey undergrads, those Duke Law defenders were not persuasive enough to sway voters. Duke triumphed with 55% of the vote. […] -
Holland & Knight, Job Searches, Sonnenschein, Vault 100 Open Threads: 2010
Fall Recruiting Open Thread: Vault 61 - 70 (2010)
As we get back to the Vault rankings, we encounter more firms that have engaged in stealth layoffs. And a firm that conducts mass transit layoffs. To refresh your memory, here’s the next group: 61. Cooley Godward 62. Pillsbury 63. Sonnenschein 64. Cahill 65. Holland & Knight 66. K&L Gates 67. Nixon Peabody 68. Foley […] -
Biglaw
Back to School Day: Biglaw Parents Open Thread
Today is the back to school day, at least in NYC. Normally, we at Above the Law notice the event passively due to the increased proliferation of children on the mass transit system. But a reader brought the day to our attention in a more specific way: Today was the first day of school in […] -
Fabulosity, Hotties, Lawyer Advertising, Pictures, Solo Practitioners
Adventures in Lawyer Advertising: State Bar Association of Hubba-Hubba
An ATL reader sent along a link to an attorney profile at the Texas State Bar website, with the following request: Please find out if this is for real. The photo on the State Bar of Texas website that prompted the reader’s plea to us, plus the backstory behind the picture — after the jump. - 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… -
Morning Docket, Sonia Sotomayor
Morning Docket 09.09.09
* Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor officially took her seat at One First Street yesterday. [Caucus Blog/New York Times] * Jennifer Lopez is not Sotomayor’s only music industry friend. Ricky Martin was among the attendees at the ceremony yesterday. [Washington Post] * Maybe you can start billing that Facebook time. [Bloomberg] * Could GPS bracelets […]
-
Bad Ideas, Hotties, Lawyer of the Day, Nude Dancing, Secretaries / Administrative Assistants
Legal Secretary of the Day: For the Ladies
By day, Jarriette Richie was a legal secretary. By night, she was one of the small business entrepreneurs who are so important to the vitality of the American economy. Not only that, Richie’s business provided services to a critically underserved community. Richie was the proprietor of Show ‘N Tell Entertainment — which arranged erotic male […] -
Bar Exams, Legal Ethics, Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam (MPRE)
Open Thread: August MPRE Results Are Out
Results from the August 2009 sitting of the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam (MPRE) are out, and people are talking. In addition to posting comments, candidates have emailed us about the news. For example: Just wanted to be the first to inform ATL that August 2009 MPRE scores are now available for download (at least mine […] -
Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 09.08.09
* David Lat is officially a Legal Rebel. [ABA Journal] * Help Dahlia Lithwick write her book! [Slate] * Yale Law School is asking Obama to repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Or maybe they are telling him to do it? It doesn’t matter does it? He’s not listening. [Transracial] * Some people think that the […] -
Cellphones, Lawyer of the Day, Layoffs, Rudeness, Technology
OMG. So sorry, but u r fired. :-(
This is a blind item, since we don’t know the identity of the attorney. Yesterday, this unknown attorney sent an employee a text message. It wasn’t to wish the employee a happy Labor Day. From Reddit: “Sexting” was the latest hot cell phone trend. Maybe the new trend will be “diSMSing.” Dear Reddit. It is […]
Sponsored
Sponsored
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
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.
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…
Sponsored
Sponsored
The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
ChatGPT ushers in the age of generative AI – even for law firms.
Sponsored
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
How to best leverage generative AI as an early adopter with ethical use.
-
Andrew Cuomo, Wall Street, White-Collar Crime
Cleary Lawyers, The NYAG Would Like to Meet You
A couple of weeks ago, I asked if the mainstream media was aware of the existence of Biglaw lawyers. They’re still not, but the New York Attorney General is. Dealbook reports: Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo fired another shot at Bank of America on Tuesday, asking the bank to allow its lawyers to be questioned. […] -
Law Shucks, Layoffs
Last Month in Layoffs
It already looks like September will be a month rife with layoffs. But before we bunker down for a bumpy fall, let’s take one last look at the end of a peaceful summer. Law Shucks has done his monthly round-up of an August that was mild on the layoff front: The month set records (in […] -
Holidays and Seasons, Lawsuit of the Day, Violence
Lawsuit of the Day: Worst Safety Drill -- and Christmas Eve -- Ever
Hampton Behavioral Health Center is a mental health clinic in New Jersey. Its website makes the place seem quite tranquil: lots of pastels and photos of clouds. A safe place. The tranquility was disrupted on Christmas Eve 2007 when a masked gunman burst into the clinic’s pharmacy, reports Courthouse News Service. The gunman told pharmacy […] -
Law Professors, Law School Deans, Law Schools
Breaking: UCLA Law Dean Michael Schill Will Leave for Chicago
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, […] -
Associate Salaries
Fulbright & Jaworski: The Latest Firm to Abandon Lockstep
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 […] -
Associate Bonus Watch 2009, Bonuses, Williams & Connolly
Are Some People Still Living in 2007?(Or: Some early speculation on bonuses.)
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 […] -
Career Center, Job Searches, Summer Associates
Career Center: More Summer Program Highlights
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 , […]