* A forthcoming report from the inspector general’s office alleges inappropriate and illegal conduct by employees of the Minerals Management Service, the federal agency that regulates offshore oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. [New York Times]
* The White House has lent its support to a possible compromise worked out between legislators and the Defense Department aimed at repealing the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. [Washington Post]
* Is the design and application of custom tattoos protected under the First Amendment? A tattoo parlor owner is taking his case to the Ninth Circuit. [Los Angeles Times via WSJ Law Blog]
* The Coast Guard has suspended its search for a missing lawyer, Irell & Manella partner Thomas Kirschbaum, whose unmanned sailboat ran aground Sunday at Venice Beach. [ABA Journal]
* Vivia Chen asks: “Maybe [Elena] Kagan is married to her job. And maybe it’s a deliriously happy marriage. Anything wrong with that?” [The Careerist]
* Meet 54-year-old James Bain, who was recently released after spending 35 years in prison for crimes he did not commit. [CNN]
Memorial Day weekend is almost here, and we all know what that means: the arrival of summer. And we all know what summer means: people taking their clothes off, at the beach or pool.
People taking their clothes off got us thinking about one of our favorite personalities here at Above the Law: Deidre Dare, the sexy ex-associate in the Moscow office of Allen & Overy, who started writing about erotic exploits on the internet. Dare presented her work as fiction, but she did hint that it was in part autobiographical (a point she underscored by posing online in her undies).
Alas, the powers-that-be at A&O were not amused by Dare’s literary endeavors. After seeing that the project finance lawyer’s writing talents extended to sex scenes as well as sale-leasebacks, they terminated her employment. Dare then turned around and sued the firm, seeking £3.5 million in damages.
And now Deidre Dare is once again in the news….
Continue reading “A Deidre Dare Update: Allen & Overy Lawyer Turned Sex Columnist Makes Controversial Claims About Rape”
* Wait, fat people are a protected class in Michigan? I am so going to move to Michigan, where nothing bad can ever legally happen to me again. [WSJ Law Blog]
* A provocative new article about judicial review, written by Professor Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz and published in the latest issue of the Stanford Law Review, is getting lots of love from the legal blogosphere. [Legal Theory Blog and Volokh Conspiracy; article at SSRN]
* Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the fairest public servant of them all? [Main Justice]
* Is there any way to make CLE something that isn’t totally boring and useless? [TechnoLawyer]
* This article made me think: if there was a “female Viagra” pill that increased a woman’s sexual desire, arousal, and satisfaction, and you slipped such a pill into a woman’s drink, and then you had mind-blowing awesome sex with her … would that be consensual awesome sex, or date rape? I mean, it’s clearly battery at the very least, right? [True/Slant]
* Here’s an article on patent law that you don’t need a hard science degree in order to read. [Genomics Law Report]
* Oh, it’s trademark week at Blawg Review. This year the INTA Annual Meeting is in Boston, a city whose depressing fog over an unimpressive skyline should be its trademarked image. [The Trademark Blog via Blawg Review]
I’d rather not get into it. You’d fall off your chair.
– Leading First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams, declining to discuss with the New York Times what he and Cahill Gordon are charging the ratings agency S.& P.
So far, it looks like Jones Day has weathered the recession quite well. At the very least, we know Jones Day is proud of itself and feels like it will have a recruiting advantage. It managed to avoid the crazy layoffs and deferrals that have plagued Biglaw, and to top it all off, the firm secured a major Supreme Court victory today.
On Friday, Jones Day hiring partner Gregory Shumaker sat down with The Careerist (gavel bang: ABA Journal) to give people the 4-1-1 on how to snag a job at one of Biglaw’s most secretive firms. Apparently, the people at Jones Day don’t like new lawyers who think too highly of themselves:
What turns you off about a candidate during an interview?
If I sense entitlement; if they think they’re better than their colleagues or if they are too focused on themselves.
Right, because the last thing you want is self-confident people who think they are better than their classmates and entitled to decent treatment and the prevailing market wage in exchange for their hard work and commitment.
But it’s an employer’s market, and Jones Day can afford to be choosy. Therefore, it’s not just low self-esteem that helps you get a job at Jones Day; you also have to buy into the firm’s culture of secrecy…
Continue reading “New Recruits at Jones Day Better Make Great Pets”
Here’s a bit of happy news to start the new week off on the right foot. The well-regarded, Atlanta-based firm of Morris Manning, which canceled its summer program in 2009, due to the economy, has reversed course for 2010.
From the firm’s press release:
Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP is pleased to announced that it is hosting a ten week program for its incoming summer associate class.
“Like many major law firms, MMM elected not to host a summer program in 2009,” said Vanessa Goggans, the firm’s HR Partner. “Since then we have experienced significant economic improvement and the firm is excited and encouraged that we have business demands to support nine summer law students.”
Of the nine summer associates, three are from Emory, five are from the University of Georgia, and one is from the University of Florida. Almost all, seven out of nine, are 2Ls; one is a 1L, and one appears to be a post-3L pre-bar. Check out the full list here (PDF).
And what is the broader significance of the Morris Manning move?
Continue reading “A Sign of the Times? Morris Manning Reinstates Summer Program”
A month ago, I was surprised by Great Britain’s new Drinking Ban Order. The restriction feels like a little too much government control of our personal lives. But I guess the United States has similar authority to impose draconian restrictions on legal activity — at least if you are a celebrity with a known history of making terrible movies drunk driving.
A Los Angeles judge put some alcohol related conditions on Lindsay Lohan’s bail application stemming from a 2007 drunk driving charge. Apparently, Lohan now needs to be collared like a dog…
Continue reading “Lindsay Lohan’s Bail Conditions”
Lawyers are obsessed with rankings. When the new U.S. News law school rankings come out each year, our readers swarm around them like sharks who smell blood in the water.
And with good reason. Where you went to school matters in this profession. In our series of open threads about the rankings, Elie commented in the posts on the third tier and fourth tier schools that only a lucky few of their graduates would be able to score jobs that pay the big bucks.
So how good exactly do you have to be to appeal to employers?
Shell Oil is currently advertising for an in-house position. Shell is willing to accept applications for graduates from all four tiers — unlike U.S. News, Shell recognizes and defines the “Tier II” schools (#51-#100) — but the lower down your school is on the U.S. News rankings, the closer to the top of your class you have to be.
So exactly what rank do you have to be to qualify for a BigOil law job?
Continue reading “The Tier System Within The Law School Tiers (According to Shell Oil)”
Last week, we told you about a Cornell contracts exam gone bad.
It’s just one exam, but you know that Cornell law students can be somewhat skittish. The school is ranked #13 by U.S. News, and so their spot in the top-14 is always under attack.
After our story about the contracts exam, one Cornell law student did some research about the school and its competitors. He put together a pretty interesting rankings of law schools — based entirely on Above the Law coverage.
Below, we reprint his (admittedly nutty) message to the Cornell listserv in full. If members from other schools want to do something similar, feel free to check out our archives for ammunition against your competitors.
For now, enjoy this humorous take on law school rankings:
Continue reading “Cornell Law Ranked #4 By Cornell Student Who Reads Above the Law”
I’ve invested six prime time years of my life into Lost, and I can’t recall a single legal angle. None of the characters were lawyers — no matter which reality you look at. More than that, I can’t even recall a single legal concept the show explored.
Last night’s series finale was no different.
But, everybody, everywhere is talking about it. So, we wanted to serve our community water cooler function and let you lawyer Lost fans discuss the series. Already, the dominant question from the finale is: “What the f*** just happened?” I’m sure you guys have some ideas…
Continue reading “Open Thread: The Lost Series Finale”
* No charges will be filed against certain and current and former AIG executives. [Wall Street Journal]
* Elena Kagan’s wardrobe isn’t a topic just for legal tabloids anymore. [Washington Post]
* The New York Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo, is officially running for Governor. [New York Daily News]
* There’s a new nominee for deputy U.S. Attorney General. [BLT: The Blog of the Legal Times]
* Firms are starting to hire associate laterals again, but they’re pushing back on recruiting fees. [American Lawyer]
* Have you seen this Sarah Ferguson bribery thing? I’ll never understand why Britain hangs onto this vestigial monarchy. [New York Post]
Spending $50,000 for an education you can’t use is really frustrating.
– Jade Stier, a teacher who went to nursing school after spending three years trying to find a job teaching at an elementary school.
Texas exists so I don’t have to make up headlines like the one above. Khou.com reports:
Simkins Residence Hall is the last all-male dormitory at the University of Texas. Tucked into a quiet corner of campus along Waller Creek, it was the first men’s dorm with air conditioning.
It is notable for another reason as well: Simkins is named for a UT law professor who was a leader of the Ku Klux Klan.
Yeah, no average Klan sympathizer can get his name on a dorm in Texas. You’ve got to be a Klan leader for that kind of recognition.
Administration officials claim they only recently became aware of the Simkins’s supremacist background. That’s probably true. But something tells me that 55 years ago, when the dorm opened, somebody at UT damn well knew that this law prof was a Klansman…
Continue reading “University of Texas Considers Renaming a Dorm Honoring a Klansman Law Professor”
* Law school exam hypothetical: Should a church lose its tax-exempt status if it uses its Twitter account to support a political candidate? [Going Concern]
* What is it about New York Law School grads and cupcake-making? Well before Lev Ekster, there was Mia Bauer, founder of the celebrated Crumbs bake shop. [Forbes]
* Is the Obama Administration trying to curry favor with Justice Kennedy? Guess who’s coming (or came to) the state dinner. [Gawker]
* Next Management and Ford Models duke it out — not on the runway, but in court. [Fashionista]
* Who says law reviews are good for nothing? For one former employee of American University, they were good for $400,000. [WTOP]
* Chief Judge Michael Mills, of the Northern District of Mississippi, knows how to administer stinging benchslaps. [NMissCommentor]
* Can Subway trademark the term “footlong”? In the sandwich context, maybe; in the sexual context, not so much. [Blogonaut]
With Kagan’s nomination set, and all oral arguments for the October 2009 Term completed, we are still waiting for some major decisions — specifically, McDonald v. Chicago, Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, Free Enterprise v. PCAOB, Bilski v. Kappos, and Doe v. Reed. In this post, we will offer predictions for these huge cases. Additionally, our statistics might also give us an insight into what is causing the delay within the SCOTUS on handing down these opinions.
Continue reading “FantasySCOTUS: What’s Taking Them So Long? Predictions for McDonald, CLS, PCAOB, Doe, and Bilksi”
Every now and then, we like to offer our readers some career alternatives — things you can do with your law degree and legal training that don’t involve, say, working in a large law firm or as a contract lawyer. We’ve profiled a wide range of individuals, from lawyers who have left the law for everything from football coaching to CEO-ing to therapy (giving, not receiving).
A number of past profiles have involved attorneys turned entrepreneurs. We’ve looked at lawyers who have started restaurants and gone into college admissions consulting. We’ve profiled a lawyer who makes hot tamales, and a lawyer who is a hot tamale.
Today we continue down the path of attorneys who have gone from representing companies to launching them. Our latest interviewee has started a company, Urban Interns, that might be of interest to any ATL readers who are looking to hire interns — or any ATL readers who are looking for internships, which can provide valuable experience and/or a paycheck (of great value during these times of still-high unemployment).
Meet Cari Sommer, a Biglaw alum who last year launched Urban Interns….
Continue reading “Career Alternatives: Internship Market Maker”
Ed. note: Have a question for next week? Send it in to advice@abovethelaw.com.
Hey Above the Law,
I am a litigation associate at a well-respected established Denver firm. My computer is 6 years old. Yes, six, as in SIX M*****F*****G YEARS OLD.
It is safe to guess that I spend at least 10% of my time waiting for the computer to do something stupid, like print or open a word document. All of this time, of course, is billed to the client. A win-win for the firm, no? Not only do we not buy a computer, but we get higher bills because it takes longer to do a mundane task! Yippee!
My question, for you to handle of course: is it ethical to bill a client for time spent waiting for a six (yes six) year old computer to do some stupid little task? Should I be instructing partners to cut my time by at least (an additional) 10-20% based on the computer?
– Reboot
Dear Reboot,
As I type this on my five-year-old piece of garbage IBM Thinkpad that whirs as if it’s about to take flight at any moment, I feel your pain. It took me literally three hours to upload pictures to Facebook the other day, and the entire time my computer panted like a fat person on an elliptical. Will I get a new computer any time soon? You bet your sweet bippy I won’t…
Continue reading “Pls Hndle Thx: Ok Computer”
Google has stepped in the privacy sh*t again. The Google cars collecting data for Google Maps’s nifty Street View service have also been inadvertently collecting information off of people’s unsecured wireless networks. If someone’s Wi-Fi account lacked a password and encryption, the cars had the ability to snatch some data.
Google claims the Wi-Fi sniffing was inadvertent, that this was a programming error, and that it didn’t realize it was stockpiling the personal info. It was discovered by German investigators and now has EU regulators up in arms, says Ashby Jones at the WSJ Law Blog. It’s unclear how much data exactly was sniffed during brief drive-bys of houses. It’s also unclear why anyone would set up a Wi-Fi account without password protection these days. But there’s no law banning stupid/lazy people from filing invasion of privacy lawsuits.
Two West Coast plaintiffs filed a class action suit in Oregon on Monday, asking Google to “pay up to $10,000 for each time it snatched data from unprotected hotspots.” It includes a TRO preventing Google from deleting the data, which the company otherwise had planned to do. (Irony alert.)
The news led ABC 7 in Washington, D.C. to go around and ask people on the street how they felt about Google snooping on their Wi-Fi accounts. One person they asked was a federal judge; if Google comes around his house, it better be packing…
Continue reading “Google’s Privacy-Invading Street View Cars Should Avoid Judge Larry Burns’s House”
