February 2010
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Magic Circle, Musical Chairs, United Kingdom / Great Britain, White & Case
Musical Chairs: White & Case Loses Lawyers to Latham in London
Our coverage of the London legal market tends to be episodic. We tried offering more regular coverage for a while, with our Letter from London column, but we put the feature on hold to focus on domestic developments. (We might revive the London column if we can find a sponsor for it.) We will, however, […] -
Football, Morning Docket
Morning Docket 02.08.10
* Feminist lawyer Gloria Allred was not a fan of the Focus on the Family anti-abortion Super Bowl ad. [Orlando Sentinel] * ABA President Carolyn Lamm is making big efforts to improve loan assistance for law students — and is making no effort to follow sports. “I don’t even know who’s playing,” she said on […]
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In-House Counsel, Patton Boggs, Quote of the Day, Sports
Quote of the Day: Isn't it more like a Hail Mary play?
[Brett Favre] decided to play the game at his age and all that goes with it, and the effect he had on Minnesota and on that team and a lot of sports fans was enormous. I think the excitement and the challenge is something that is very alluring, and if I can play a small […]
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Law Shucks, Layoffs
This Week in Layoffs: 02.07.10
Ed. note: Above the Law has teamed up with Law Shucks, which has done excellent work translating all of the layoff news into user-friendly charts and graphs: the Layoff Tracker. Regular readers of this column are well aware by now that the overall unemployment rate isn’t a particularly good indicator, but it’s the most-commonly discussed […] -
Bad Ideas, Disasters / Emergencies, LSAT
Snowpocalypse LSAT at Georgetown
We were beset by technical difficulties here at ATL yesterday (as we explained in our Twitter feed). We apologize for the site outages; hopefully the situation will be better next week. At least we didn’t have to go out in the snow. Our brethren in D.C. were not as fortunate. The Washington Post reports: The […] -
Clarence Thomas
Clarence Thomas Clarifies: His Clerks Aren't 'TTT'
Perhaps to avoid the snowpocalypse in D.C., Justice Clarence Thomas went down to the Sunshine State this week, where he spent time speaking with law students at Stetson University and the University of Florida. Though he’s the sphinx of the High Court, Justice Thomas is loquacious when not in oral arguments. He’s an engaging speaker: […] -
Parties, Quote of the Day, Sex
Quote of the Day: Lawyers Play Rough
Men, women, transgender, heterosexuals, gays, bisexuals. Every ethnicity. White-collar and blue-collar. It’s really very, very diverse — though we do have an unusually high percentage of lawyers. I don’t know why. — Susan Wright, founder of the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom, discussing the people who attend erotic BDSM — bondage and discipline, dominance and […] -
Fantasy SCOTUS
FantasySCOTUS: Testing the Wisdom of the Crowds
Ed. note: ATL has teamed up with the 10th Justice to predict how the Supreme Court may decide upcoming cases. CNN has called FantasySCOTUS the “hottest new fantasy-league game.” How large of a crowd do we need before the crowd becomes “wise”? In this week’s 10th Justice, we will be check how accurate our members […] - Sponsored
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Celebrities, Law Schools
Is Cornell the Lady Gaga of Law Schools?Plus: celebrity comparisons for other law schools.
This is not a typical lede for a post on the Wall Street Journal Law Blog. Ashby Jones writes: Cornell is the Lady Gaga of the law-school world. Both are white hot, but the explanations behind each’s popularity don’t fully add up. Dem’s fighting words, Ashby. You’re not a bad guy, but Lady Gaga has […] -
Partner Issues, Partner Profits
Boston Legal Enjoys Record Profits Per Partner
More 2009 profit numbers are in, this time for law firms based in Boston. And, as we’ve seen elsewhere, partners in Boston are enjoying record-breaking profits. The Boston Globe reports: Senior lawyers at three of Boston’s biggest law firms had their most profitable year ever in 2009, despite widespread job losses in the city’s legal […] -
Biglaw, Disasters / Emergencies, Holidays and Seasons
Winter Storm Warning: D.C. and Philly Firm Closings?
I’m not a meteorologist, or a groundhog, but it looks like D.C. and Philadelphia are totally screwed today. A D.C. tipster called it a “snowpocalypse.” (Judge for yourself – the image above links to Weather.com’s live radar map.) Our own Kashmir Hill — who has lived in D.C. and, inexplicably, liked it — claims that […] -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 02.05.10
* Unemployment falls to a five-month low of 9.7 percent. [Reuters] * Ten Americans have been charged with child abduction and criminal conspiracy after trying to take 33 Haitian kids out of Haiti without government permission. [New York Times] * The legal battle over a John Edwards sex tape, which allegedly shows the disgraced politician […]
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Blog Wars, LSAT, Rudeness
Flame War: Testmasters v. Top Law Schools
Internet message boards tend to be rough-and-tumble places. Enter at your own risk. (This includes Above the Law comments — if you don’t like them, don’t read them.) There may be employment risks for posters at Top Law Schools (“TLS”), a message board for gunners planning to apply to law school. This is one of […]
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Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 02.04.10
* Oh, sure, now Carlos the Jackal wants to avail himself of legal remedies. Funny how life in jail limits a person’s vigilante terrorism. [Guardian] * What type of greeting should you use in a cover letter? I used to go with “If you ever want to see your kids again, please read,” but that […] -
Email Scandals, Job Searches, Law Schools, Screw-Ups
3L Achieves Networking Failure: Disaster Preserved via Email
Times are difficult for 3Ls. The legal economy is in shambles. Their debts are about to come due, and they have no reasonable opportunities for legal employment. Many third years have resorted to cold, unsolicited résumé dumps, hoping against hope that they’ll get lucky. There is a lot of pressure on 3Ls. But handling enormous […] -
Start Dates
Mintz Levin: Defers Class of 2010 to ... 2012
If you spent your summer at Mintz Levin in 2009 and received an offer, congratulations! You must be very proud. Now wrap it up very tightly and put it in a safe place, because you won’t be pulling it out again until 2012. Multiple sources report that Mintz just deferred its 2009 summer associate class […] -
pls hndle thx
Pls Hndle Thx: The *Other* Gang Bang
Ed. note: Have a question for next week? Send it in to advice@abovethelaw.com. ATL – I am a first-year litigation associate at a large law firm. Although I never really had any interest in doing transactional work, it has recently dawned on me that working in litigation severely limits my ability to transfer to my […] -
Department of Justice, Federal Government, Job Searches, Lawyer Advertising, Rank Stupidity
Mentally Retarded? The Justice Department Wants YOU.
Many job seekers would love to work as lawyers for the federal government but haven’t had luck landing a position. Openings for attorneys on USAJOBS attract hundreds of applicants. In light of massive law-firm layoffs and the relative stability of government employment, high demand for federal jobs is unsurprising. You have to be a positively […] -
Lawyer Advertising, Technology
You're Not Just a Piece of Meat at MoFo. You're the Whole Cow.
When we reviewed Morrison & Foerster’s new website yesterday, a commenter advised us to check out the firm’s career page for those who think they might have “that MoFo mojo” (in the words of the firm). The commenter was amused by MoFo’s comparing new lawyers to pigeons, and its advice on how to avoid being […] -
Contracts
Open Thread: Lawyerly Housing Woes
Last month, as your ATL editors were leaving work, we ran into a fresh recruit to Biglaw, newly arrived in New York with a January draft date. He was at the corner of Mott and Houston after having looked at a possible apartment for rent. He recognized us as chroniclers of Biglaw’s troubles and complained […]