Archive for May 2010

The Elena Kagan Look-A-Like Contest: Who does she most resemble?

By Kashmir Hill

Le Fou and Le Kagan

Solicitor General Elena Kagan is a woman to be respected. She’s a product of Princeton, Oxford, and Harvard Law School. She’s one of the Elect (OT 1987 / Marshall). She’s taught at two of the nation’s top law schools and served as dean of one of them. She’s America’s lawyer, and if confirmed this summer, she’ll become the 112th justice of the U.S. Supreme Court — and the fourth woman to hold that position.

She’s inspiring.

She inspires in other ways too, though. Ever since photos of her started gracing websites and newspapers across the land, she has inspired comparisons to numerous other people and fictional characters when it comes to her looks, ranging from Kevin James of King of Queens to Kathy Bates.

She just has one of those faces. BuzzFeed picked up on our post about who she looks like and came up with a list of 24 people she resembles.

Let’s settle this. Who does she MOST resemble? Vote, after the jump.

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Job of the Week: Going to Miami

By Above the Law

The Job of the Week is located in beautiful Miami, Florida, where the legal economy is booming right now. Lateral Link has added many new lateral opportunities, litigation and transactional, in Miami and surrounding cities. If you are interested in this or other positions in Florida, contact Scott Hodes, at shodes@laterallink.com, for more information about the Florida legal market.

Position: Litigation Associate

Location: Miami, FL

Description: Top Miami firm has an opening for a litigation associate. A minimum of four years of litigation experience is required. Experience in state and federal courts is a plus. Strong academic credentials and writing skills. FL Bar preferred, not required. This firm is open to laterals who would like to relocate. If you are a Lateral Link member, please see Position #6251 on the Lateral Link site. If you are not a Lateral Link member, you can sign up for free at www.laterallink.com. If you would like more details about the position, please reach out to Scott Hodes directly.

Earlier: Prior Jobs of the Week

Update: ATL Not Required Reading at Michigan Law

By David Lat

The Washington Post has described ATL as a “must-read legal blog.” And it seemed that this was literally true for students in a course entitled “Law Firms and Legal Careers,” taught at the University of Michigan Law School by Karl Lutz, of counsel to Kirkland & Ellis.

The course description on the Michigan Law website included this sentence, which we highlighted yesterday as our Quote of the Day:

Students are expected to become completely familiar with and prepared to discuss in class the blog “Above the Law.”

As it turns out, according to Lutz, this sentence is not supposed to be in the course description. We received a phone call this morning from Lutz, who said that this language was added to his course description without his knowledge or consent. It was not in the course description that Lutz submitted to the law school; it was subsequently added (how or by whom, Lutz doesn’t know). Lutz has contacted Michigan Law to notify them of the problem.

Lutz also shared with us his opinion of Above the Law….

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SMU Will Pay You To Hire Their Graduates

By Elie Mystal

It was only a matter of time.

SMU Dedman School of Law is now officially willing to pay law firms to hire its graduates. The school is calling its new program “Test Drive,” which adds a nice layer of hilarity: Toyota wouldn’t pay me to test drive a Camry.

Even the logo for this program screams sadness:

Let’s look at the blast email from SMU career services…

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You Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Law Degree to be on the Supreme Court

By Kashmir Hill & David Lat

Now that the question of Elena Kagan’s sexuality has been settled (kind of), critical attention seems to be turning to her lack of judicial and litigation experience. Although ABA President Carolyn Lamm tells NBC that she doesn’t think “not being a judge is particularly persuasive one way or the other,” some Republican senators have expressed concern over the fact that she’s never warmed a bench.

It’s not as if Kagan doesn’t know what a courtroom looks like, though. She clerked on the powerful and prestigious D.C. Circuit, for the legendary liberal J. Abner Mikva, and then spent time at One First Street, clerking for Justice Thurgood Marshall (OT 1987). As solicitor general, she’s argued before the High Court a half dozen times (although she wasn’t able to win over the Five of the Nine in Citizens United v. FEC).

But hey, at least she has a law degree. Not that she needs it to sit on the bench at One First Street…

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Morning Docket: 05.14.10

By Elie Mystal

* Working overtime will kill you. [Boston Globe]

* No more ethnic studies in Arizona? Cool, I thought European history was boring anyway. [New York Times]

* Fewer birther requests in Hawaii? Cool, I thought Freedom of Information requests weren’t at all that important to our democracy anyway. [Washington Post]

* The fate of Law & Order is up in the air. [Wall Street Journal]

* Lawyers need to learn to not overreact to internet commenters. [ABA Journal]

* Can someone please stop the oil from leaking into the ocean? [CNN]

Summer Associate of the Day: Kaavya Viswanathan (Aka the Alleged Harvard Plagiarist)

By David Lat

Remember Kaavya Viswanathan? She’s the Harvard graduate who, while still in high school, landed a two-book deal worth a reported $500,000. The first book, a young adult / chick-lit novel entitled How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life, was published in April 2006, during Viswanathan’s sophomore year at Harvard.

And then things fell apart. To quote the blog Sepia Mutiny, “Kaavya Viswanathan got rich, got caught, and got ruined.” Shortly after the publication of Opal Mehta, the Harvard Crimson reported that various passages in the book appeared “strikingly similar” to portions of two young adult novels by Megan McCafferty.

Viswanathan was widely accused of plagiarizing — not just from McCafferty, but from Sophie Kinsella, Meg Cabot and Salman Rushdie. Her subsequent fall from grace, including the cancellation of her book and movie deals, made national and even international headlines (due to coverage back in her native India). She claimed that the similarities between her book and prior published works were unintentional, but given the number and extent of the apparently borrowed passages, some were incredulous. (For samples, see Wikipedia.)

After graduating from Harvard College in 2008, she went on to Georgetown Law, where she’s a member of the GULC class of 2011. Her arrival at Georgetown made Newsweek in February 2009:

Viswanathan is a first-year law student at Georgetown University, where Stephen Glass earned a J.D. after being fired from The New Republic for fabricating a series of articles….

How’d she manage to get accepted? Applicants can submit supplemental essays to explain themselves to the admissions committee, says Dean of Admissions Andrew Cornblatt. “It’s impossible to get amnesia about what we may have heard,” he says. “But in all cases we treat them just like any other applicant.”

It seems Georgetown isn’t the only institution treating Viswanathan “just like any other applicant.” Despite the tough fall recruiting season and her controversial past, Viswanathan, who just finished her 2L year, has landed a coveted summer associate position at a top law firm — one of Biglaw’s biggest and best names, in fact….

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Non-Sequiturs: 05.13.10

By Elie Mystal

* Fortune’s epic failure at being thankful for a favor. Or: Fortune’s epic failure at threatening copy”write” infringement. [TechCrunch]

* Hey Law Revue types, get paid for your videos (if you win). [ACS Constitutional Video Contest]

* Starved of case opinions from Kagan, we’ve devolved into trying to make judgments based on her sarcastic notes in the margins of memos. I hope somebody finds her junior high school copy of Moby Dick where she wrote “I think white whales are impressive” and then we can have a real brouhaha. [Politico]

* Meanwhile, Harvard Law Professor Charles Ogletree defends Kagan from people criticizing her record on civil rights. [The Root]

* Woman who worked at a mammography center claims she was fired for pumping breast milk. I’ve got no joke to add here. [Adjunct Law Professor]

* Goodwin Liu clears a hurdle, more to come. [WSJ Law Blog]

* Curiosity kills the cat. Overconfidence just throws it in a massive vat of milk and then laughs while the cat tries to churn it into butter. [Law and More]

* If you are a deferred lawyer working for a non-profit, you might want to remind your bosses that Monday is very important. [Going Concern]

* Relaunch of the European Court of Justice Blog. [What About Clients?]

* Lawyer in need of a kidney. [Main Justice]

New York Law School Student Trying to Scalp Graduation Tickets

By Elie Mystal

How much would you pay to go see graduation at New York Law School? Nothing? Don’t be so sure. What if I asked: how much would you pay to go see a very slow moving trainwreck where you had no moral or ethical duty to save any of the passengers?

Ah ha, see, you’d pay something to see that. And one New York Law Student wants to know how much. From Craigslist:

COME SEE 300 OR SO UNEMPLOYED LAW GRADS SWEAT OUT PAYING BACK THEIR LAW SCHOOL LOANS!

Graduation is tomorrow and tickets are still available! Let’s check out all the details…

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Quote of the Day: Required Reading

By Kashmir Hill

Students are expected to become completely familiar with and prepared to discuss in class the blog “Above the Law.”

– From the description for “Law Firms and Legal Careers,” a University of Michigan Law course taught by Kirkland & Ellis of counsel Karl Lutz

UPDATE / CORRECTION: According to Lutz, the course description on the Michigan Law website was doctored to include this sentence, which was not supposed to appear in the description. For more details, see here.

Career Alternatives for Attorneys: Football Coach

By Elie Mystal

We’ve written before about how cheerleading for football teams is a possible career for J.D.s, but what about coaching football teams? A Detroit Lions assistant secondary coach, Daron Roberts, has done just that. The Harvard Law graduate and former Biglaw attorney is coaching in the NFL, notwithstanding the fact that he had no prior coaching experience before he left Biglaw behind. ESPN the Magazine reports:

Roberts got the bug when he tagged along with a friend who was working as a counselor at Steve Spurrier’s prep camp in South Carolina. He had long been a gridiron fanatic; in high school, he spent twice as many hours at football practice as he did studying. But working at Spurrier’s camp, he began to entertain thoughts of becoming the next Jon Gruden (whose book, Do You Love Football?!, was a big hit with Roberts). Something inside the law student changed during those three days. “The best part was sitting with the campers at night,” Roberts says. “Our talks would switch from zone technique to girlfriends. That’s when I realized football is the most powerful conduit for reaching young men in America, and that I had to be a coach.”

You’ll forgive me if I feel a little kindred connection with Roberts. Here’s a guy who had a law degree and a high-paying job and gave it up to pursue something he truly loved. His story is further proof that you can break out of the Biglaw box, if you want it badly enough…

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An Explosive Federalist Society Lunch at Michigan Law?
And another scatological law school tale at UT.

By Kashmir Hill

You’d think those in the law would know by now not to send out embarrassing emails. But a Federalist Society officer at University of Michigan, whose name we’ve replaced with a pseudonym, seems oblivious. Apparently, Fed Soc served up some E-coli tainted lettuce at a recent lunch:

Subject: [lawopen] Fed Soc Lunch/ e. coli “episode”
Date: Fri, 16 Apr 2010 19:39:35 -0400
To: [Unofficial Law Listserv]

Hi Law Open,

The Federalist Society would like to extend an apology to anyone who had to experience the wrath of uncooked Pancheros over the last few days. I am among the many victims, spending three days in agony in the bathroom…. (TMI?)

Hope you all feel better!

Best,
WOLVERINE WITH DIARRHEA (OF THE MOUTH)
Federalist Society Vice President

“TMI?” Yes. Yes, it is.

Another scatological tale from UT Law, after the jump. Someone truly thinks the place is a third tier “toilet”…

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And another scatological law school tale at UT.“

The Perks of Small Law: Tuesday Masseuse and Tagging Events

By Kashmir Hill

While there are a few offbeat Biglaw firms out there (think Venable and rooftop bocce ball), the quirkiest firms tend to be the small ones. Childress Duffy Goldblatt is a litigation shop that does insurance recovery work. Its Chicago office just moved to a new location where it’s rolling out new perks.

One quirky perk? From RE Journals:

A massage table remained in a small office on Wednesday. Childress explained that a masseuse typically visits the office on Tuesdays.

“She just grabs you if you look like you need a massage,” Childress said.

If there’s going to be spontaneous grabbing at the office, it’s best done by a professional. (Speaking of, does Sidley still offer chair service?)

There are some other interesting aspects of this new location: no walls, a roof deck, and an upcoming “tagging” event — attorneys will be let loose with spray cans to decorate…

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What’s the Difference Between an Email and a Pager? (Revisited)

By Gabe Acevedo

“We’d all be a lot happier if we had some romancing foreplay pre-trial and left the rough stuff for trial,” said Ariana Tadler, a partner in the New York office Milberg LLP.

That quote came from an article published yesterday entitled, Show Us the Love to Avoid Discovery Fights, Attorneys Urge, from Leigh Jones of The National Law Journal. Jones was covering the 2010 Conference on Civil Litigation, held this year at Duke University.

Whether or not you agree with Ms. Tadler’s choice of words, her point has been gaining steam in the world of e-discovery.  The Sedona Conference, e-discovery’s premier think tank, issued a Cooperation Proclamation in July 0f 2008. One of the most prominent federal judges who comments on e-discovery issues, Paul W. Grimm, talks of lawyers being like dinosaurs.  If lawyers do not do something to work together to help ease the burden and cost of e-discovery, the profession, itself, will simply wind up extinct.

So what does this have to do with Biglaw, or better yet, what opportunity does this present for law students? Quite a bit actually, especially on the judicial end of things. I’ll explain, after the jump.

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Lawyerly Lairs: Law Student Edition

By David Lat

Are you tired of reading about lawyers and law students struggling under massive educational loans? The debt-saddled law student has become something of a walking cliché — and the stereotype is not universally true. According to the 2009 Law School Survey of Student Engagement (p. 14), between 10 and 15 percent of full-time law students have zero law school-related debt.

One such lucky law student is “Jimmy,” featured this week in Urban Turf, a D.C. real estate blog:

[Jimmy is] a 27-year-old law student who is about to graduate and join a corporate DC firm with a starting salary of $160,000. Jimmy has excellent credit with a FICO score of 781, and has $140,000 in the bank for a down payment. He is in the fortunate position of graduating without any student loan debt. Given these factors, a loan for his target price of $450,000 to $550,000 (less his down payment) should not be a problem.

Wow — Jimmy is in a great position. He’s snagged a Biglaw job, in a job market that’s still a bit tough, in Washington, which ATL readers crowned the best city for lawyers. He has $140K in the bank, a strong credit score, and zero educational debt. Did he have a lucrative pre-law school career, some well-to-do (and generous) parents or relatives, or both?

Given his income and savings, his target price range is fiscally conservative — which is a good thing. If Jimmy ever wants to leave Biglaw, he won’t have to worry about golden handcuffs.

So what kind of digs can Jimmy get for his money? Help him decide between three options….

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Mean Blog Comments End Quest to Go to Law School for Free

By Elie Mystal

A week and a half ago, we ran a story about a student who was soliciting donations so she could go to UNC Law School without incurring student debt.

She dreamed a dream, but the tigers come at night. The would-be law student, Sarah Allen, was ripped apart in the press, and now wants no part of the law. The ABA Journal reports:

Allen’s video explaining her pursuit of a debt-free life—and a debt-free legal education—is no longer on the Upromise site. Her blog, Going to Law School Debt Free, is no longer live. “I’ve just shut everything down,” Allen tells the ABA Journal.

Allen withdrew from the contest on Monday because stories about her quest drew mean-spirited comments on several blogs. “When I read certain things, it was just so much hate, and coming from nowhere,” she says. “It stunned me.”

In an email to Above the Law, Allen went even further about her reasons for withdrawing her requests for tuition donations…

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Morning Docket: 05.13.10

By Kashmir Hill

Vernon Jordan, Akin Gump senior counsel and Good Wife star

* New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo is keeping banks’ lawyers busy. [New York Times]

* Akin Gump senior counsel and former Clinton adviser Vernon Jordan had a star turn on the Good Wife. [Washington Post]

* Defendants in the Robert Wone murder trial prefer not to be judged by a jury of their peers. [BLT: Blog of the Legal Times; Who Murdered Robert Wone]

* LimeWire just got strung up. [Wired]

* Is cerebral palsy to blame for a lawyer’s grabbing a judge’s butt? [Gothamist]

* No class action in the Pennsylvania high school spycam scandal. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

* Delaware attorney general Beau Biden, VP Joe Biden’s son, suffered a mild stroke this week. [ABC News; Associated Press]

* Plaintiff lawyers discuss strategy in the Toyota recall litigation. [OC Register]

* Mark Cuban vs. Ross Perot Jr. [Star-Telegram]

Orrick Will Abandon Publishing Profits Per Partner Next Year

By Elie Mystal

Are profits per partner the appropriate metric to measure law firm success? It’s been a long time since firms seriously looked at the question. I didn’t know my Skadden from my Sullivan back when American Lawyer founder Steve Brill first started shining a light on the black box of top American law firms back in 1987.

For as long as most of us can remember, PPP has been the definition of law firm financial success. And despite all of the pressure on the law firm business model over the past couple of years, PPP seems as resilient as ever. We can scream about the billable hour, we can change the nature of associate compensation, but there aren’t a lot of people giving us a better statistic than profits per partner to talk about when it comes to the success of the law firm business model.

That could be changing. This afternoon, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe announced it would not be reporting PPP numbers next year.

What will replace it? We talked to Ralph Baxter, Chairman and CEO of Orrick, about what — if anything — can or should replace our fascination with PPP…

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Non-Sequiturs: 05.12.10

By Elie Mystal

Nate Silver: Dork King of Kings

* Nate Silver, already one of the best writers/thinkers/statisticians alive, has totally outdone himself with this one. He has come up with a new stat: Value Over Replacement Justice. Look on his works, ye Mighty, and despair. [FiveThirtyEight]

* Kagan is boring (despite Lat’s attempt to nickname her “Lady Kaga”), so let’s start talking about that! [Mediaite]

* This morning, the Washington Post whined about the Harvard Yaleness of the Supreme Court. It should come as a shock to no one that I think the anti-elites should stash their pitchforks and sit this battle out. [True/Slant]

* The ABA is gearing up for the Divine Miss K. [ABA Now]

* Rapping about the law. No, I’m not doing it, my flow is so stuck that I could chug a gallon of Pennzoil and still be in danger of high viscosity and thermal breakdown. Instead, I’m talking about actual rappers rapping about the law. [Rap Genius]

* I can’t believe so many people are concerned that Faisal Shahzad received Miranda warnings. Don’t people remember that whether or not people say it, American citizens still have rights, Miranda Rights. [Infamy or Praise]

* I’ve got your “defective” constitution, right here. [Underdog]

Stroock Strikes Back? The Firm’s Client Sues Andrew Cuomo in Federal Court

By David Lat

We’ve previously covered a sticky situation involving an alleged drafting error by real estate lawyers at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan. The dispute pits the buyers of luxury condos at the Rushmore, on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, against the development company Extell, Stroock’s client. (Our prior coverage appears here, here, and here.)

When we last checked in, the New York Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo, had sided with the buyers and ruled against Extell. But instead of just rolling over, which is what most folks do when attacked by the New York AG, Extell is fighting back. From the Real Deal (via Am Law Daily):

In a last minute and stunning move, the developers of the Upper West Side’s Rushmore condominium filed a federal lawsuit [on Monday] against state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo seeking to reverse his April rescission order to refund more than $16 million in escrow funds to buyers.

The developers, Extell Development and Carlyle Realty Partners, operating under the name CRP/Extell, also filed a motion in U.S. District Court seeking a temporary restraining order that would block the release of the funds, which include down payments for more than $110 million worth of apartments.

In its moving papers, Extell kind of throws Stroock under the proverbial bus — but just a little bit….

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