Archive for May 2010

Cardozo Law School Fights to Get Yeshiva University President to Affirm that It’s Okay to be Gay

By Kashmir Hill

While there are quite a few law schools affiliated with religious universities — see, e.g., Georgetown (Jesuit), Seton Hall (Catholic), and Pepperdine (Christian) — Cardozo Law School seems to be the school that most often encounters friction with its parent institution, Torah-embracing Yeshiva University.

Though affiliated with the Orthodox Jewish university, Cardozo is adamantly a secular institution. Yet, there are contradicting school policies — last year, a reality-game-show-winning 3L protested an administrative policy that unkosher food not be purchased for official school events by using his own funds to bring in “mouthwatering” nonkosher pizza.

Religion and godless living are clashing again at the school, and this time, it’s over something more pressing than pizza. In December, students at Yeshiva University organized a panel on “Being Gay in the Orthodox World.” The response from the Yeshiva University’s president was that there should be no being gay in the orthodox world. Yeshiva President Richard Joel issued the following statement after being made aware of the panel. An excerpt:

In light of recent events, we want to reiterate the absolute prohibition of homosexual relationships according to Jewish law. Of course, as was indicated in a message issued by our Roshei Yeshiva, those struggling with this issue require due sensitivity, although such sensitivity cannot be allowed to erode the Torah’s unequivocal condemnation of such activity. Sadly, as we have discovered, public gatherings addressing these issues, even when well-intentioned, could send the wrong message and obscure the Torah’s requirements of halakhic behavior and due modesty.

The statement did not sit well with students and professors at Cardozo Law School, who felt that the university administration’s “unequivocal condemnation” of homosexuality undermined Cardozo’s commitment to “academic freedom” and “antidiscrimination principles.” Yeah, you think?

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Non-Sequiturs: 05.03.10

By David Lat & Elie Mystal

* I absolutely do not rule out the possibility that African Americans are, on average, genetically predisposed to…. use Twitter. [Business Insider]

* The Supreme Court closes the courthouse doors — literally, not figuratively. Justices Breyer and Ginsburg dissent. [Washington Post via F1@1F]

* Speaking of SCOTUS…. Justice Stevens isn’t nearly as cute as Justin Bieber. [ABA Journal]

* If the jeans do fit, you must acquit? [The Legal Satyricon]

* Warren Buffet weighs in on Goldman. [Ideoblog]

* Joe versus the Volcano? [WSJ Law Blog]

* Calling someone a “dumb ass” is okay as far as defamation law is concerned. Learn all that and more, from Blawg Review #262. [Public Intellectual via Blawg Review]

Open Thread: 2011 U.S. News Law School Rankings (34 – 48)

By Elie Mystal

Let’s finish off the top 50 law schools as ranked by U.S. News. As many people know, U.S. News jump from its top 100 straight to the “third tier.” The jump allows many clearly “second tier” schools to claim that they are “first tier schools” even though everybody knows they are not. I’m not even sure that all the top 50 schools should be able to call themselves first tier: but I don’t make the rules, I just watch as prospective law students are fooled by them.

To refresh your memory, here are the next batch of schools:

34. Fordham.
34. Ohio State (Moritz)
34. University of Washington
34. Washington & Lee
38. Arizona State
38. Alabama
38. University of Colorado – Boulder
38. Wake Forest
42. BYU
42. George Mason
42. University of Arizona (Rodgers)
42. UC Hastings
42. Utah
47. Florida (Levin)
48. American University
48. SMU
48. Tulane
48. Maryland

These places charge like first tier law schools. But are they?

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Cameras in the Courtroom: A Television Reporter’s Perspective

By Above the Law

Ed. note: We’ve given your our views on why cameras should be allowed inside federal courtrooms. But, as bloggers, we’re not as directly affected by the current ban on cameras in court as many other journalists.

Today we bring you a guest post from a television reporter who covers the courts. Daryl Huff has been a television reporter, producer and assignments manager in Honolulu for 30 years. He has primarily covered courts, government and politics for KITV, the ABC affiliate, since 1990.

We met Huff last month in Honolulu at the District of Hawaii judicial conference, when we served together on a panel about media and the courts. We were impressed by his thoughts on cameras in the courtroom and asked him to contribute this guest post.

By Daryl Huff

There’s a fascinating trial coming up in U.S. District Court in Honolulu. It’s about an eccentric rocket scientist whose house on Maui is shaped like a B-2 Bomber. He’s accused of selling secrets to China.

I just wish I could do stories about it.

Why can’t I? After all, I’ve been covering courts or public affairs for more than 30 years. I’ve won awards. I get invited to conferences. I have basic skills and experience. I have a press pass, and my company has a large audience.

But I report for television — KITV4 News, the ABC affiliate in Honolulu, to be specific. I don’t cover many stories in federal district court anymore, because the court won’t let me bring in my tools: a camera and microphone.

This really pisses me off….

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The Harvard Email Controversy: How It All Began

By David Lat

We’re hoping the Harvard Law School email controversy has run its course — and we suspect that it has. (But we still invite you to take our reader poll on whether Crimson DNA’s email was racist or offensive.)

Before we close the door on this story, we’d like to give you the background on how it all got started. It’s disturbing — and a cautionary tale for all of us.

Our initial report on this story was missing some important pieces of information, which we did not acquire until later. This post will attempt to provide a more complete report of how one Harvard 3L’s personal email message, shared with just a handful of friends, became national news….

UPDATE: We’ve added a statement from one of the principal players, “Yelena,” after the jump.

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NALP 2010: NALP Executive Director James Leipold Talks to the ‘Lost Generation’

By Elie Mystal

I’m back in New York City — a place that has infinitely more Puerto Rican culture than a Hilton in Puerto Rico. But I still have a few more write-ups from the 2010 NALP Annual Education Conference. I’d be remiss if I didn’t bring back a little information for the hordes of lawyers laid off or shut out of Biglaw during the recession. Rest assured, you are not alone.

On Friday afternoon, I attended a panel called “The State of the Legal Economy and the Legal Employment Market.” This should have been the highlight event for the conference. The only panelist was James Leipold, Executive Director of NALP, and he was slated to talk about the hard numbers NALP has put together describing the recession. The panel was booked for the largest conference room in the hotel — the room easily sat 250 people.

Jim Leipold, of NALP

Total attendance = 12 people (I counted). The lesson: do not hold your executive summary panel at 3:30 on Friday in Puerto Rico.

Why was I there? That’s not a rhetorical question. I’m actually confused as to how I ended up covering a panel with 11 other attendees. The room was so cold (air conditioning for 250) that I’m convinced that when conference room air met the Puerto Rican humidity, it caused the tropical depression that hammered the Gulf Coast over the weekend.

In any event, I received some hard numbers for my trouble. And I got to hear Leipold’s thoughts on just how screwed the “Lost Generation” of would-be Biglaw associates are. Not good times, my friends.  Try not to finish your cup of hemlock before you hear the numbers…

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Pay Czar Kenneth Feinberg Cracks Down on Bankruptcy Lawyers at Weil, Jones Day and Milbank

By Kashmir Hill

In journalism, there are certain go-to stories that one writes around big events. At Halloween, everyone writes the “most popular costume” story. At Christmas, it’s the “most popular toy” story. At Thanksgiving, it’s the “how the community is giving back” story.

Over the last two years, a recurring event has been “the big bankruptcy.” And it seems that the journalistic go-to is the “how much are the greedy lawyers making off of this” story. We’ve seen it with the GM bankruptcy, the Tribune bankruptcy, and the Chrysler bankruptcy. Yesterday, the New York Times applied the story model to the Lehman bankruptcy, but they got pay czar Kenneth Feinberg to weigh in — and lay into the firms working on the case: Weil, Jones Day, and Milbank.

“It violates any sense of proportion,” says Kenneth Feinberg, the Washington lawyer who serves as the “pay czar” for banks bailed out by the government and whom the court appointed last June to monitor fees associated with the Lehman bankruptcy. The court asked him to participate after concerns were raised in the news media about the soaring fees in the Lehman case.

“Unemployment is over 9 percent, and to be paying first-year associates $500 an hour angers the public,” he observes. “People read about all of this and say that lawyers and the legal system are one more example of Wall Street out of control.”

The article outlines the fees that have outraged — tangential Nationwide Perk Watch: Weil attorneys get limo transport — and the new limits that have been placed on bankruptcy attorneys on the case. No first class for you!

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Quote of the Day: Creative Fictions?

By Kashmir Hill

If any profession (apart from the novelist’s) is in the business of making things up, it is the profession of the trial lawyer.

– Janet Malcolm of the New Yorker, in a riveting account of a murder trial in Queens Supreme Court.

Family Friendly Law Firms

By Elie Mystal

For the past five years, Yale Law School has produced a list of the top “family friendly” law firms. And for the past five years, men have acted like “family” issues are something only women need to worry about.

Maybe that’s true if you are a committed bachelor who never intends to procreate or know the love of a real woman. Maybe that’s true if you subscribe to some kind of 1950′s television ideal where the man works and the woman is exclusively a stay-at-home mom. Mind the pool boy, fellas.

But the majority of men will one day marry and spawn. In many cases, they’ll marry a woman of equal career ambitions. At that point, being able to take some paternity leave might be very important. Maybe their wife won’t even be a lawyer, and thus make more money than her husband (have you seen what legal salaries are like these days). Most likely we will see more and more male primary care givers, and the firms will have to adjust. We’ve heard a lot about the “mommy track,” in our professional lifetimes one expects the “daddy track” to become just as important.

So which firms are already ahead of the family friendly curve?

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Lawyerly Lairs: Skadden to CityCenter?

By David Lat

No, not that CityCenter. We’re talking about D.C., not Las Vegas.

The Washington office of Skadden might be moving. The Washington Business Journal reports:

The Skadden law firm is on the verge of agreeing to lease space at the new CityCenter D.C. project, kick-starting the first phase of the old convention center site after nearly two years of delay.

The firm signed a letter of intent to lease 350,000 square feet at the downtown project, but the nonexclusive letter is contingent upon the developer, Hines/Archstone, obtaining financing to begin construction….

But it’s not yet a done deal. What other options is Skadden considering?

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The Asia Chronicles: SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA AND ASIA U.S. ASSOCIATE OPENINGS

By Kinney Recruiting

[Ed. note: This post is authored by Evan Jowers and Robert Kinney of Kinney Recruiting, sponsor of the Asia Chronicles. Kinney has made more placements of U.S. associates and partners in Asia than any other firm in the past two years. You can reach them by email: asia at kinneyrecruiting dot com.]

Evan here. The number of US associate openings in Asia continue to increase substantially (including at two top 10 US firms coming off hiring freeze very recently), especially in HK / China, where we have been making multiple placements on a weekly basis recently. This week has been a particularly good week, with Alexis, Yuliya and I each making placements in Asia (Singapore, BJ, SHG and HK).

If you are in HK, BJ or SHG and would like to meet with Robert, Alexis or me this month, Robert and I will be in HK / China the 2nd half of May, Alexis is in Singapore next week, and she is of course based in HK permanently. Further, Yuliya (who is based in Russia) and I will be available in NYC on May 18 and I will be in NYC May 30 to June 2. If you happen to be in Las Vegas this weekend or Miami next week, well I will be there too and can make myself available.

One of our top US firm clients has asked us to help them find two US securities associates interested in relocating to Sydney. The two positions will be filled by 3rd to 5th year cap markets associates, most likely coming from a top 20 US firm in New York or another major US market. The role will be entirely US securities law and not deal at all with local law (unlike which can happen in HK and other overseas markets at some firms). This US cap markets practice in Sydney is widely considered to be the best in Australia. It is an opportunity to settle down permanently in Sydney (there is career advancement potential and this firm has a track record of promoting partners from within in busy overseas offices) or spend a few years getting interesting experience and then head back to US. While this position will be challenging and of course consist of long hours, a strong argument can be made that it is a better quality of life than working in biglaw in NYC. Past experience or strong connection to Australia not needed to apply for this position. Of course, we are happy to go over the opportunity in detail with you by phone / email if you are interested. I met with the hiring partner from this firm’s Sydney office yesterday, as he was in the US on business. He said they are prepared to move very quickly with offers for the right two candidates, so it will not be a drawn out process. Further, this particular top US firm has a track record of moving very quickly with US associate hires in Asia. double red triangle arrows Continue reading “The Asia Chronicles: SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA AND ASIA U.S. ASSOCIATE OPENINGS”

Morning Docket 05.03.10

By Kashmir Hill

Apple iPad.jpg* The SCOTUS shortlist doesn’t have ten people on it anymore. [Wall Street Journal via ABA Journal]

* An Islamic woman’s lawsuit against a Michigan judge for forcing her to remove her hijab has been dismissed. He didn’t know the significance of her “hat.” [Detroit News]

* The only thing that upset a Connecticut lawyer about the Times Square bombing was that he missed Billy Elliot. [New York Daily News]

* Forward this article to your firm to get them to buy you an iPad. [MacLitigator via Legal Blog Watch]

* Lawyers get dinged (again) for profiting from bankruptcies. [Dealbook/New York Times]

* BP trying to get out in front of lawsuits over the Gulf oil spill. [Reuters]

* National day of prayer is causing serious acrimony. [Newsbuzz]

This Week in Biglaw: 05.02.10

By Law Shucks

Ed. note: Law Shucks focuses on life in, and after, BigLaw, including by tracking layoffs, bonuses, and laterals. Above the Law is pleased to bring you this weekly column, which analyzes news at the world’s top law firms.

The big news in BigLaw this week was the release of the American Lawyer rankings.

League tables come and go, Vault rankings are for students – the AmLaw 100 is the de facto scorecard for BigLaw.

The trend we’ll be keeping an eye on is perhaps the beginning of a rift between elite and big:

[T]he top quintile of firms in PPP was the only segment of the market to show modest increases in both profits and RPL. This group includes New York’s 13-firm moneyed elite, plus such giants as Latham & Watkins, Kirkland & Ellis, and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, as well as smaller, pure litigation plays like Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and Boies, Schiller & Flexner.

There were a number of other themes in the reporting: “it could have been worse”; New York outperformed the rest of the country; and litigation was the place to be.*

* Sort of – Quinn Emanuel was #2 and Boies Schiller was #4 in the profits per partner rankings, but they also both had significant declines: -6.1% and -6%, respectively. Of the rest of the top 10, only Simpson Thacher (#8, -2.4%) and Cleary Gottlieb (#10, -0.6%) showed declines. Perhaps the high profitability is due to the firms’ leverage, rather than their practices. Boies Schiller has 240 lawyers, of which just 34 are equity partners. Compare that to #1 PPP firm Wachtell, which has almost the same number of lawyers, with 231, but more than twice as many equity partners, at 86.

But that was last year. What’s been happening this week?

After the jump, we focus on the deals, suits, and other stories from BigLaw that made headlines this week.

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