Archive for October 2009

How Much Do You Study?

By Elie Mystal

princeton review law school rankings.jpgA couple of weeks ago, we mentioned the Princeton Review law school rankings. The rankings are based on law student surveys, which may explain why the rankings bear little relationship to reality.
But Paul Caron of Tax Prof Blog has looked at Princeton Review’s underlying data, and he’s come up with some interesting info about how much law students are studying.
Here are the top ten schools in terms of study hours per day:
Study hours per day top.jpg
Villanova law students, you guys are lying. You cannot possibly average 7.5 hours of study a day unless you are (a) skipping class or (b) really dumb.
After the jump, let’s take a look at the schools that report the least amount of study time.

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Lawsuit of the Day: Miss California’s Breasts Are Entered into Evidence

By Kashmir Hill

miss california carrie prejean.jpgThe legal issues swirling around the Miss California pageant are as messy and troubling as the state’s budget problems. Carrie Prejean was crowned Miss California 2009, and was first runner up in Donald Trump’s Miss USA 2009 contest. But her beauty has not been able to distract from controversy.
Topless photos of her emerged on the Internet. She told Miss USA celebrity judge Perez Hilton that she didn’t believe in same-sex marriage during the contest in April. And pageant officials dethroned her in June, giving the Miss California crown to the 2009 runner-up.
Prejean sued the Miss California USA organization in August. She has accused them of religious discrimination — claiming they fired her because of her beliefs about same-sex marriage — and invasion of privacy — for revealing to reporters that her breasts were fake.
Now the organization is firing back with a countersuit, reports CNN. The organization lent Prejean $5,200 for her breast enhancement, and they want their money back. They also deny invading her privacy:

The truth about Prejean’s breasts “ceased being private during the swimsuit competition of the nationally televised Miss USA pageant, in which Ms. Prejean walked the stage in a bikini,” pageant lawyers said.

We present exhibit A — before and after photos — after the jump.

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Thanks to This Week’s Advertisers

By Above the Law

thank you post it note.JPGA quick word of thanks to this week’s advertisers on Above the Law:

If you’re interested in advertising on Above the Law or any other site in the Breaking Media network, download our media kits, or email advertising@breakingmedia.com. Thanks!

Musical Chairs: Joe Robinson and Bob Shaffer from Darby & Darby to McDermott

By David Lat

Joseph Robinson Joseph R Robinson Joe Robinson Darby McDermott Will Emery.jpgWe’ve covered in these pages the many challenges faced by standalone intellectual property firms. One of them is competition from Biglaw shops seeking to scoop up top talent in the IP field.
Yesterday morning, Robert C. Sullivan Jr., president and managing principal of Darby & Darby, sent around an internal email announcing the departure of two prominent partners, Joseph Robinson (pictured) and Robert Shaffer. Robinson and Shaffer, who specialize in patent litigation, counseling and procurement, are joining the New York office of McDermott Will & Emery.
It’s not happy news for Darby, which a tipster describes as “one of the last IP boutiques of any meaningful size, [but] gasping for breath as it is.” Robinson, a biotech expert and noted patent litigator, is said to have been one of the firm’s top-grossing partners, “probably to the tune of about $4 million.” Darby is holding a town hall meeting to discuss the defections.
A source issues this warning to Robinson’s new colleagues at MWE:

[Robinson] is a control freak who wields the power he gets from high earnings with an iron fist…. He is a significant reason for the many partner and practice group defections at Darby in the past few years, and now he’s gone too. McDermott will love the revenue, hate the attitude.

In Robinson’s defense, does he sound all that different from many top partners or successful litigators?
Robert Sullivan’s email announcing the departures, after the jump.

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Squire Sanders: Deferral Extensions, Impending Layoffs and Assorted Sundries

By Elie Mystal

Squire Sanders logo.JPGSquire, Sanders & Dempsey already deferred its incoming class of 2009 to January 2010. Yesterday, the firm informed half of those incoming associates that they were getting the Bird — i.e., the firm indefinitely deferred half of its incoming class.
But before the firm decides what it will do with half of its incoming associates, Squire Sanders needs to make a decision about whether to keep its current associates. SSD’s chairman, James J. Maiwurm, told associates to expect layoffs over the next 45 days.
Above the Law has received the official Squire Sanders statement. Take a look after the jump.

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Morning Docket: 10.21.09

By David Lat

Bernie Madoff Bernard Madoff.jpg* SCOTUS has agreed to decide whether federal courts can order Guantanamo detainees to be released into the United States, which raises separation of powers issues (because the political branches are in charge of passing and enforcing immigration laws). [How Appealing (linkwrap)]
* A big loss for Exxon Mobil (and its lawyers at McDermott): a jury issues a $104.7 million verdict, after finding the company liable for poisoning NYC water wells. [Bloomberg]
* Weekend at Bernie’s: lawsuit alleges drug use and debauchery at the Madoff offices. [ABA Journal]
* The Galleon / Raj Rajaratnam insider trading case lands in Judge Rakoff’s court. Could this create complications for the SEC? [WSJ Law Blog]
* The FAA is investigating last week’s Balloon Boy incident. [CNN]

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Fighting Illini Chancellor Richard Herman Stops Fighting

By Kashmir Hill

richard herman university of illinois chancellor resigns.jpgEarlier this summer, we wrote about the University of Illinois College of Law admissions scandal. Former Illinois governor (and soon to be ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ star) Rod Blagojevich pressured University of Illinois Chancellor Richard Herman and Heidi Hurd, former dean of the University of Illinois College of Law, to admit underqualified students who were politically connected.
In the eyes of some, it wasn’t all bad. Hurd was reluctant to accept under-performers. In exchange for her willingness to admit TTT students, university officials attempted to obtain jobs for struggling law school grads and offered scholarship money to recruit better students. The admission of one underqualified student meant jobs for five offer-less law grads.
Herman’s severance package isn’t too bad either:

Herman will continue to receive his current salary in a new position: special assistant to the interim president, Hardy said. But he will forgo a $300,000 retention bonus that was due in June.
In June, when his chancellor contract would have been up, he will take a one-year paid sabbatical at a new faculty salary of $244,444. The following year, he will be required to teach two courses a year as a tenured mathematics professor, fewer than his original contract that called for teaching four courses a year.

U. of I. President B. Joseph White and six university trustees have already been replaced. Asked why it took him so long to step down, Herman basically said he doesn’t believe he did anything wrong. He told the press that he believed he “‘was serving the greater good’ of the university by not alienating powerful people who wanted favors.”
Earlier: University of Illinois College of Law Scandal: Now With Emails
U. of I. Chancellor Herman resigns, will join faculty [Chicago Breaking News]

Non-Sequiturs: 10.20.09

By David Lat

Eric Holder Obama AG.jpg* A Las Vegas legal celebrity sighting: Can Attorney General Eric Holder make it rain in the club? [Main Justice]
* Professor Ann Althouse weighs in on the Obama Administration’s new approach to marijuana prosecutions. [Althouse]
* Additional proof that S&C’s Rodge Cohen is God. [Am Law Daily]
* Is the boundary between insider trading and legitimate market research fuzzier than some might think? [Professor Bainbridge]
* When our toilets are unclean, we blame Dealbreaker. [Gawker]

Lawsuit of the Day: Williams & Connolly v. IDT Corp.

By David Lat

Williams Connolly LLP Abovethelaw Above the Law blog.JPGThe litigators at Williams & Connolly are known for being a hard-charging bunch. So it’s probably not a wise idea to dare them to make your day — because they probably will.
From the BLT:

It’s not uncommon these days to see law firms suing former clients over unpaid legal bills (see, for instance, McDermott Will & Emery’s recent $606,000 case). Still, this latest bit of legal fee litigation seems remarkable: Williams & Connolly is taking a former client to court over $2 million after the company practically invited the firm to sue.

According to the complaint, Williams & Connolly and its ex-client, IDT, worked out a payment plan for $3 million in legal fees. IDT made the first $1 million payment, but then stopped paying on the debt.
So what happened next?

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Musical Chairs: Jan Crawford Greenburg from ABC to CBS

By David Lat

Jan Crawford Greenburg ABC News CBS News.jpgOne of our favorite legal affairs journalists is switching networks. As first reported by Mediabistro, the fabulous (and fabulously talented) Jan Crawford Greenburg is leaving ABC News for CBS News. Greenburg, author of the excellent and bestselling Supreme Conflict (2007), will become Chief Legal Correspondent at CBS, as of January 4, 2010. Meanwhile, back at ABC, her Supreme Court beat will be picked up by Terry Moran.
Greenburg’s move to CBS is something of a homecoming, since she worked at the Tiffany Network prior to her three-year stint at ABC. At CBS she’ll work once again with Bob Schieffer, described by Fishbowl DC as her longtime friend and mentor.
Congratulations and good luck at your new (old) home, Jan!
JCG’s farewell email to her colleagues at ABC, plus the press release announcing her hire at CBS, after the jump.

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IRAC Your World: Or, a female law student’s ‘compelling brief’ in support of sex.

By David Lat

Craigslist small.jpgThink back to taking law school exams as a 1L. Remember the IRAC method — Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion?
One horny creative female law student in Los Angeles has decided to deploy IRAC towards carnal ends. Via craigslist, she recently filed a brief in the matter of You & Me Doing It v. You & Me Not Doing It (2009).
Read her brief, an eloquent attempt to get inside a classmate’s briefs, after the jump.

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Quote of the Day

By David Lat

Jeff Zucker NBC Universal.jpgFrom Jeff Zucker, president and CEO of NBC Universal:

Getting rejected by Harvard Law School was “the greatest thing that ever happened to me.”

Winning admission to HLS is the dream of many a college student (not just Elle Woods). Being a Harvard Law alum puts you on the fast track to a prestigious law firm job with a $160,000 starting salary (and allows you to attend exclusive dating events).
So why was HLS rejection Zucker’s lucky break? Click on the link below for the full story (and a possible implicit dig at UVA Law, which Zucker got into but never attended).
Jeff Zucker [Digital Facility]

Do You Date Only Ivy?

By Kashmir Hill

love matchmaking sex ivy league.jpgWhen we tried to launch the ill-fated Courtship Connection, a matching service for ATL readers, we were stymied. Matchmaking was hard (especially when people didn’t respond to our e-mails).

Maybe we should have organized singles parties instead. That’s how the Ivy Plus Society operates. Whereas Courtship Connection sought to match up legal types, this dating society wants to bring together potential mates from elite universities. It had its inaugural D.C. event on Friday, reports ABC News:

Requirements for membership in TIPS are strict. Attendees must have attended one of the eight Ivy League schools or a handful of other TIPS-approved institutions. The University of Chicago and the Naval Academy qualify for the list.
If you were a graduate University of Virginia School of Law graduate, OK, you can attend. But, if you studied at UVA only as an undergraduate, sorry. UVA doesn’t make the grade.

[UPDATE: As noted by a commenter, UVA undergrad is now on the list. Perhaps there was an outcry over its original omission?]

“You can only be so superficial for so long,” said one young college graduate at Friday night’s event, who preferred to remain anonymous. He said he’s tired of trying to meet potential mates at general admission bars and parties. “I would like to find people of equivalent educational background — too dicey to go to a bar and find that. It’s nice to know, generally, people are going to be closer to your intellectual range.”

Because it’s not superficial to date only people from top-ranked schools…

So which law schools make the cut for Ivy League Plus?

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Career Center: What’s in Store for New Associates

By Above the Law

Career Center AboveTheLaw Lateral Link ATL.jpg
Last week’s Career Center survey asked whether you think there will be enough work for the class of incoming associates at your firm.  The good news is that, despite the all the hype about some firms indefinitely deferring new associates, the vast majority — 91% — of new associates are starting at their firms in Fall 2009 or are scheduled to start in the first half of 2010.   The bad news is that a majority of respondents think there won’t be enough work for all this new blood, at least not in the practice areas they want to work in. 
Check out the full survey results after the jump, and visit the Career Center, powered by Lateral Link , for more on which firm unexpectedly pushed up start dates, the latest firm to offer new associates "walk-away" money, and a firm that has made major changes to their lock-step compensation structure. 
Survey results, after the jump.

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Small Law Firm Open Thread: Bankruptcy

By David Lat

bankruptcy boutique.jpgTime to resume our series of open threads covering small (or smaller) law firms, focused on different practice areas. We’ve already written about small law firms in general, insurance law, personal injury law, trusts and estates, immigration, real estate, intellectual property, ERISA / employee benefits, and family law / divorce law. Some of these threads are still active (or could be resuscitated), so do check in on them.
Today we turn to the booming field of BANKRUPTCY. This practice area might seem depressing, given its focus on financial distress, but some people find it quite sexy.
A long time ago, the field was generally shunned by large firms, so that most firms doing bankruptcy were on the smaller side. But Biglaw embraced bankruptcy years ago, and it’s probably glad it did. The bankruptcy departments of large law firms are super-busy these days, providing a partial hedge to the weakness on the transactional side.
What about bankruptcy boutiques — how are they doing? Some material to kick off the discussion, after the jump.

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Legal Eagle Wedding Watch: August and September Couples of the Month

By Laurie Lin

champagne glasses small.jpgAs tends to be the case every year, August and September were fabulously prestigious months here on the Legal Eagle Wedding Watch. Three SCOTUS clerks were featured in this space during that period (two in the same announcement!), as well as a minor AutoAdmit celebrity, an astrophysicist, and Biglaw names like Cravath, Mayer, Jenner, and Covington.
Today, we’re asking readers to sort through all this excellence and choose the two most impressive couples of the bunch to advance to the Couple of the Year round.
After the jump, you’ll find recaps of our write-ups on each set of newlyweds, as well as two reader polls, one for each month. Voting ends on Thursday at midnight; we’ll announce the winners on Friday.

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Morning Docket 10.20.09

By Kashmir Hill

Rod Blagojevich illinois law above the law.JPG* Judge James Zagel okays Rod Blagojevich’s being a contestant on Donald Trump’s “Celebrity Apprentice” despite his pending criminal trial, but warns him to be careful during the confessional portions. [Chicago Tribune]
* Kirkland & Ellis rips shreds in Hope case. [Am Law]
* Balloon Boy hoax charges will include conspiracy, attempting to influence a public servant, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and false reporting to authorities. Their attorney warns that arresting the Heenes in front of their children would be child abuse. Perhaps the kids could just hide in the attic during the arrest. [Seattle Post-Intelligencer]
* Is getting into Florida A&M law school worth filing a lawsuit over? [National Law Journal]
* Chris Rock’s documentary “Good Hair” can grow. Judge Dale S. Fischer watched it and “Nappy Roots” — the premise of which Rock is accused of swiping — and didn’t see significant similarities. [E! Online]

At Stanford Law School, It’s a Whole New Game of Quarters

By Elie Mystal

Stanford_Law_School_Logo.pngStanford Law School is one of the best law schools in the country. SLS is ranked #3 in the latest U.S. News law school rankings. Stanford graduates are generally intelligent, capable, and employable individuals (with some exceptions).
But are they smart enough to miss the first few weeks of Bar/Bri? The law school has changed its academic calendar to a quarters system. Stanford University already followed a quarters system, but the law school had been on a semester-based academic calendar.
The change could result in some conflict between 3L classes and the beginning of bar review courses. One student explains:

Stanford Law School changed to the quarter system, leaving their students in very precarious position vis a vis the bar exam. Classes do not end until several weeks after the California bar review courses start. Aside from the fact that this puts an extra burden on all SLS 3Ls, who will have to study for the bar at the same time they are attending classes and studying for finals, it creates a real mess for those students who are not remaining, or cannot remain in the immediate area. to study for and take the California bar.

This is because the bar review curricula differ from location to location. Accordingly, a student who is planning to take the bar review course somewhere other than in the Bay Area cannot take the first few weeks of the bar review course in the Stanford area and then move to wherever it is they are planning to move and finish up the bar review course at that location. Moreover, many of the students have leases on their apartments that end before the bar exam; thus, even those students who have the flexibility and financial wherewithal to change their relocation plans and remain in the Stanford area through the bar exam may not have any place to live (and how many of those do you think there are?) Stanford Law School refuses to address this issue head on, attempting to placate their students with vague promises that they’re “looking into it.”

We spoke to officials at Stanford Law School, and it appears that the school has “look[ed] into it.” Overall, the school feels that the benefits outweigh the burdens, and the burdens can be mitigated.
Look at it from Stanford’s perspective, after the jump.

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A Pair of West Coast Events

By David Lat

San Francisco small Golden Gate bridge.jpgAlthough Above the Law is based in New York, we adore our West Coast readers. We try to post stories that would be of special interest to them as often as possible, typically later in the day to account for the time difference. (We have one such post coming out after this one; we’re not done for the day.)
And we regularly visit the Left Coast. For information about two upcoming events that we’ll be participating in later this week — a talk at King Hall on Thursday, and a social networking conference at Boalt Hall on Friday — check out the links below.

P.S. As previously explained, we generally don’t do event plugs on the ATL main page, unless we or one of our advertisers is involved. But if your event is free / non-commercial, you can promote it in ATL’s Community section. If your event is not free, you can advertise it with us. E.g., the Legal Reform Summit in D.C. (October 28), or the ABA Law Firm Marketing Strategies Conference in Philadelphia (November 12-13). Thanks!

Non-Sequiturs: 10.19.09

By Elie Mystal

Addicted to blackberry.jpg* People are still responding to the Quinn Emanuel Check BlackBerry Always situation. I have one question for those addicted to BlackBerry usage. How long do you wait to check your device after intercourse? [Josh Blackman's Blog]
* Everybody who thinks Santa Claus works at their law firm, please raise your hands. GUARDS! Arrest these clinically insane associates before they cause harm to themselves or others. [TechnoLawyer]
* “The world, unfortunately, is much like a playground at a third-rate junior high school in a mixed neighborhood.” [What About Clients?]
* I used to decorate my law firm office with inspirational messages like “You didn’t want to make partner anyway,” and “You’ll survive the jump from the window, so you’ll just end up working remotely from the hospital.” But I’ve never had a flair for interior design. [Litination]
* It’s conflict resolution week at Blawg Review. “I, Elie Mystal, do hereby resolve to seek out conflicts be they big or small, whether they involve me directly or not. And I resolve to do all of this without allowing conflicting emotions to sway me from my conflict starting agenda.” [Settle It Now via Blawg Review]