Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
* Judge Martin Feldman, who put the kibosh on Obama’s deep-water drilling ban, previously disclosed investments in Transocean, Halliburton, and other energy companies. [Associated Press]
* All former solicitors general have endorsed current solicitor general Elena Kagan for the Supreme Court, with one exception: Bork, J., dissenting. [WSJ Law Blog and The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times]
* What former attorney general Alberto Gonzales is doing on his summer vacation. [Texas Lawyer via ABA Journal]
* San Francisco passes an ordinance requiring cellphone retailers to disclose the radiation levels of cellphones. [Associated Press via SFGate]
* David Johnson, former aide to New York Governor David Paterson, has invoked the Fifth Amendment in his (Johnson’s) domestic violence case. [New York Times]
Warning to the female readers of Above the Law: the reading of this post may lead to the rending of your inappropriate clothing and pulling out of your questionably-styled hair.
Earlier this month, lady lawyers gathered in Philadelphia for the ABA’s Women in Law Leadership Academy. Gina Passarella of the Legal Intelligencer was in attendance and reported on a session featuring esteemed female judges offering advice to their trial lawyer counterparts (gavel bang: ABA Journal).
U.S. District Judge Norma L. Shapiro criticized women for being too timid in the courtroom. She said that “women lack the confidence that men seem to have.” Apparently the solution is the same one that women employ when they lack enthusiasm and confidence in certain other situations:
“You pretend. You fake it,” Shapiro said, adding that being prepared helps.
If faking confidence in the courtroom is as easy as feigning pleasure in the bedroom, perhaps many more women will soon be coming across as master litigators.
The judges had other advice. When a whole bunch of women get together, they just can’t help but complain about other women’s outfits and hair, after all….
Continue reading “Career Advice for Women Lawyers: Fake It.”
Toss exams down the stairs, and assign grades accordingly.
* More evidence that professors hate performing the most basic student service. [Law Librarian Blog]
* To make grading easier on the profs, here’s a modest proposal from Brian Cuban. [The Cuban Revolution]
* Today’s judicial smackdown over the drilling moratorium should help Obama convince people that the Office of the President is fundamentally weak and kind of powerless. And the quest to find an elected liberal that has evolved a backbone continues. [Salon]
* So you want to sell the Texas Rangers? Not so fast, my friends. [Am Law Daily]
* If diversity initiatives are ever really going to work, white males need to be on board. [Going Concern]
* It’s been five years since Kelo changed eminent domain as we know it. So what’s happened since? [Institute for Justice]
* Maybe the New York Times should start acting more like Farmville. [Breaking Media]
Baker & McKenzie’s incoming class of 2009 can no longer fool themselves. If they haven’t started at the firm by now, they are never going to start.
Back in September, we reported that 12 of the 18 members of the 2009 Baker & McKenzie class still waiting to start had been re-deferred until June. At the time, Baker gave these people an ominous warning (emphasis added):
Starting in January, 5k stipend plus benefits for up to six months. at ANY time during six months, MAY get a call from b&m, have 1-2 weeks to report to work, but absent a major bump in work, not likely to happen. If after June, no call from b&m, “the relationship will end.”
Well, it’s June, and it appears that the relationship between Baker & McKenzie and 11 of the 12 re-deferred incoming associates has, in fact, ended…
Continue reading “Baker & McKenzie Re-Deferrals Turn Into Rescinded Offers”
Article II, meet Article III. Hope you enjoy the pwnage. CNN reports:
A federal judge has blocked a six-month federal moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
Several dozen plaintiffs had sued the Obama administration, arguing the ban would create long-term economic harm to their businesses.
Well, think of it this way: the chances of another one of these rigs exploding and creating an environmental catastrophe that is beyond our ability to fix is like really, really small…
Continue reading “Deep-Water Drilling Is Back on the Table”
Judge Richard Posner made one remark that stole the show at a panel about regulation at the recent American Constitution Society conference. We summarized his quip on Twitter:
Judge Posner at ACS panel: For my home equity loan, I got 100s of pages of documentation; I didn’t read, I just signed. #ACS10 #Posner #LOL
This generated laughter from the crowd, due to Judge Posner’s status as one of the greatest legal minds of his (or any other) generation. It was amusing to imagine the brilliant Posner flipping page after page of paperwork and mechanically scribbling next to every “Sign Here” flag, without even bothering to read what he was signing. It’s the kind of behavior one would expect from a person earning $35,000 and a buying a $600,000 home two hours outside of Phoenix, circa 2006 — but not from one of America’s leading jurists.
As it turns out, Judge Posner isn’t the only boldface name of the legal profession who skips over the fine print in form contracts….
Continue reading “Do Lawyers Actually Read Boilerplate Contracts?
Richard Posner and Evan Chesler don’t; do you?“
New Jersey is taking over the world of reality television programming. Though it would surely be sheer torture to be locked in a room with a bunch of Jersey folk, their ridiculous antics and outsized attitudes make for great entertainment when confined to the small screen.
The Real Housewives of New Jersey is by far the most popular of the Housewives series. It’s now in its second season, and it appears that many of our Above the Law readers are fans. We received a landfill’s worth of emails about the legal hook in last night’s episode. One of the Real Sons of the Housewives of New Jerseys — Albie Manzo, son of Caroline Manzo — was in law school. As he said in an interview on the Bravo website, in response to a question about his love life: “School makes the likelihood of any relationship working slim. I always tell my friends, sometimes I feel like I’m dating law school.”
Alas, Albie just got dumped by Lady Justice — he failed out of law school after only one semester, as viewers learned last night. Here’s a clip of Albie breaking the news to his mom. The reality TV hottie claims to have a learning disability that causes him to take three times as long as normal people to absorb information, resulting in a shameful GPA in his fall semester.
While the LD sounds like it could help Albie rack up some serious billable hours, the school wasn’t supportive. A tipster reports:
Albie said the administration told him that if he couldn’t cut it with his learning disability, lawyering probably isn’t for him.
Which law school had such harsh words for the learning-impaired Jersey boy?
Continue reading “Real Ex-Law Student of New Jersey: Albie Manzo”
It has come to our attention that a local comedy club is holding a contest to determine “the funniest lawyer in New York.” Could this be a train wreck of epic proportions? Based on the tagline in the event poster, all signs points to “yes.”
Oh boy. You know what they say: those who can, do; those who can’t, show up and make fun of those who can…
Continue reading “Funniest Lawyer in New York? This is Why God Invented Heckling.”
It’s the kind of fight that wouldn’t have seemed possible just ten years ago. The New York Daily News reports that right now the Democratic candidates vying to replace Andrew Cuomo as New York State Attorney General have started fighting over who can be “softest” on drugs:
Five otherwise intelligent people are competing to be the top prosecutor of a state that has seen a worrying uptick in violent crime, much of it drug-related.
Yet all they seem to argue about is who has fought harder to keep cocaine and heroin dealers out of prison and on the streets.
Okay, obviously Daily News writer Bill Hammond still thinks that the Rockefeller drug laws are not blatantly unfair and ineffective. Whatever. The important thing here is that five potential prosecutors are seemingly done with this simplistic approach to the drug problem, and the people of New York seem to be on board…
Continue reading “New York AG Candidates Strive to be the Softest”
No, this isn’t about a lawsuit arising out of the writing of Animal Farm II: Sharks on Retainer — but who knows, my original thought for a post title might be subject to trademark infringement.
More on that later; for now, let’s turn our attention to this delicious product offered by ThinkGeek (which went on sale April 1, 2010):
As a connoisseur of unicorn delicacies, I was annoyed when the ThinkGeek people exposed this product to the general pubic. We’ve already got the Care Bears on our ass; we certainly don’t need PETA getting wind of this tasty treat.
But who knew that this entirely fictional April Fool’s joke would come to the attention of the National Pork Board and their legal representatives at Faegre & Benson…
Continue reading “Misadventures in Trademark Law: Faegre & Benson Helps Pigs Fight Unicorns”
* The NYT takes a look at law schools’ overnight grade inflation “grade reform” efforts (and includes a nice shout-out to Above the Law). [New York Times]
* Faisal Shahzad, the would-be Times Square bomber, pleads guilty to all ten counts against him. [WSJ Law Blog]
* Recaps of the four Supreme Court opinions handed down yesterday, plus Lyle Denniston’s take on Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, which upheld the federal law banning “material support” to listed foreign terrorist groups. [SCOTUSblog; SCOTUSblog]
* The Obama Administration is quietly using executive orders and administrative agency reinterpretations to vindicate gay rights — with the latest change, a broader interpretation of the Family and Medical Leave Act, being announced this week. [Washington Post]
* A family portrait of the Kagans: smart, liberal, argumentative. And from the Upper West Side. [New York Times]
* Arent Fox adds nine lawyers in New York (including four partners). [New York Law Journal]
Our recent suggestion that Justice Clarence Thomas consider a presidential run in 2012 has caused some chatter in the legal and political blogosphere (as well as the ATL comments section, where the commenter “President Obama” took all comers). Despite this healthy buzz, CT has not yet indicated any plans to slap a campaign poster on his RV this summer.
We submitted inquiries about our proposal to Justice Thomas, through the Supreme Court’s Publication Information Office, and to Mrs. Thomas, through Liberty Central, her new conservative nonprofit. Neither had any comment. We hear through the grapevine, however, that the idea of “Thomas for President” has been proposed to the justice by clerks in years past (and not embraced by the justice; apparently His Honor is content to remain a justice, despite his conspicuous silence from the bench).
Law professors had interesting things to say about our idea of a Thomas presidential run. George Mason law professor Ilya Somin took us very seriously (perhaps a little too seriously). Northwestern law professor Steven Lubet pointed out that Charles Evan Hughes isn’t the only SCOTUS justice who has previously given up a seat at One First Street for a shot at the Oval Office. And although we suggested that Thomas shed his robes to make his run for the Republican presidential ticket, UCLA law professor Stephen Bainbridge noted that CT could keep them on…
Continue reading “More on ‘Clarence Thomas in 2012′”
* If this site is any indication, BAR/BRI is not really holding people’s attention this summer. [Stuff To Do During BAR/BRI]
* Some advice on staying trim at a law firm. Apparently it’s very important that you are uncomfortable at all times. [TechnoLawyer]
* When sitting Supreme Court justices chime in on a future colleague, what do they say? [Huffington Post]
* How to succeed as a summer associate. [The Lawyerist]
* Do you believe in life after law? We do. [Ex-Lawyers Club]
* Another reason juries aren’t racially representative — and this one doesn’t involve racist prosecutors. [WSJ Law Blog]
* It’s the Summer Solstice, World Music Day, and time for another Blawg Review. All we need is a Corona to complete the latitudinal change. [IPTA Blog via Blawg Review]
Over on Am Law, The Careerist has been doing a series of interviews with hiring partners at Biglaw firms. They are fun reads, at least if you like to see the extreme hubris exhibited by hiring partners during this buyers’ market for fresh associate talent. A month ago, Jones Day’s hiring partner gave a really good interview, one that sounded much more badass before JD popped its layoff cherry.
In today’s spotlight is the indomitable Skadden Arps. Skadden hiring partner Steven Glaser made it clear that he expects job seekers to know something about Skadden before they sit down for an interview:
Ever had a candidate who was great on paper but who blew the interview?
Yes. The ones who were totally unprepared and knew nothing about Skadden. Someone asked us about our T&E practice, which we don’t have.
There’s just one little problem with that cocksure answer from Glaser….
Continue reading “Skadden Needs Interviewees to be More Prepared Than Its Hiring Partner”
Welcome to the latest post in our series on the results of the 2010 ATL/Career Center Associate Satisfaction survey. We’ve used the survey results to revamp the Career Center, powered by Lateral Link, with completely updated profiles and each week, we are highlighting insider information that Members shared about their firms in the eight key areas of associate satisfaction covered by the Career Center.
Today, see if you have what it takes to make it: Partnership Prospects.
- At this "elite" California firm, which does not have non-equity partners, while “hours,” “work ethic,” and “client retention” are important factors in making partner, Members report that it ultimately comes down to being a “hellaciously good lawyer.”
- At this firm, known for its high-tech and IP practices, there is one partnership track and no up-and-out policy: the firm does not consider a deferral in consideration unusual or a sign that the associate will not ultimately make partner.
- This employment-law only firm bills at a lower rate than its Big Law counterparts, and in 2010, several partners defected from DLA Piper to the firm, in part because of this perceived competitive advantage.
- This "smart and small" firm, with just two California offices, has no set time for when associates will be considered for partner, but generally considers associates for partnership after anywhere from four to seven years at the firm, a "refreshingly brief partnership period" compared to most Big Law firms.
Additional highlights, after the jump.
Continue reading “Career Center: Can You Make It to the Top?”
Yes, we’ve been gone. Where we’ve been — poetry workshop, rehab, hiking the Appalachian Trail? — doesn’t matter. What matters is that we’re back, and our team of interns has diligently kept track of the nuptial triumphs and travesties that have occurred in our absence. We’ve identified the very best of the best couples from this spring, and hereby present the top five pairings for your edification and enrichment:
1. Monica Youn and Whitney Armstrong
2. Jennifer Ku and Peter Rubin
3. Vikeena Bonett and Matthew Wolfe
4. Brian Distelberg and Ryan McAuliffe
5. Naomi Seiler and Eric Columbus
Feast your eyes on these prestigious couples’ pictures and bios, after the jump.
Continue reading “Legal Eagle Wedding Watch: Best of Spring”
Did you enjoy your BAR/BRI lecture today? Do you wish it could have gone just a little bit faster? You are not alone. A tipster reports that he too is bored to death by the interminable BAR/BRI lectures, and he’s not going to take it anymore:
After starting my Barbri Evidence lecture yesterday, I realized that the slower the lecture, the longer the lecture, and the more difficult it is to pay attention. So after 4 hours of searching the web and reading every blog available, I realized that ever since Barbri changed the software they use for the lectures, no one could adjust the speed at which these videos are played.
After about an hour of work, I pieced together a quick and easy way to watch the lectures at 1.5X speed. I am not only saving time, but I feel like it is actually easier to pay attention when they are moving through the material quickly.
Here’s the secret solution to making BAR/BRI go 50% faster…
Continue reading “BAR/BRI Like It Oughta Be”
Perhaps treating job seeking like online dating isn’t such a bad idea. Many readers were skeptical when a New York-based 3L posted a Craigslist ad seeking employers who matched his criteria for a perfect boss. To “be considered for this opening as [his] new boss,” he wrote in the ad, employers had to satisfy 21 requirements — such as not being a lunatic, jerk, or screamer — and be willing to pay for his services.
One ATL reader wrote:
Boy, today’s generation of law students really do feel entitled. The real world is really going to smack this guy around.
In fact, some members of the “real world” actually liked the ad. The law student has an interview this week…
Continue reading “The 3L Desperately Seeking Perfect Boss on Craigslist Has an Interview”
We realize that an open bar and free food are nothing new to summer associates, even in these relatively restrained times. But Above the Law and Practical Law Company are hosting a summer party offering both, here in New York on July 12th. We promise you it will be more fun than watching your associate mentor calculating his meal stipend.
Here are the details:
Monday, July 12, 2010
6 PM – whenever
Amity Hall (80 West 3rd Street, New York, NY 10012)
The event is free, but space is limited, with priority given to summer associates. Please RSVP by email, to rsvp@abovethelaw.com.
Thanks. We look forward to seeing you on the 12th!
