July 2010
-
Associate Salaries, Killing Lockstep, Texas
Baker Botts Releases New Merit-Based Compensation Levels
Back in November, Baker Botts told us that they would be moving away from a lockstep associate compensation system and instituting a new merit-based system. Yesterday the firm released the base salary levels for its new four-tiered system. Here’s the statement from the firm regarding the basic changes: The next phase of a talent management […] -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 07.29.10
* The Seventh Circuit benchslaps Judge James Holderman mid-trial. [Chicago Tribune] * Last night, we asked if there was a loophole in the Financial Reform Bill for the SEC with respect to public disclosure requests. The answer: no. [Washington Post] * Have you wondered what the man who claims he owns a big chunk of […]
- Sponsored
Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
If 2023 introduced legal professionals to generative AI, then 2024 will be when law firms start adapting to utilize it. Things are moving fast, so… -
Bar Exams, Screw-Ups, Technology
Bar Exam Open Thread: So, How Was It -- Or How's It Going?
For those of you who are done with the July 2010 bar exam, congratulations! For those of you who still have another day left, our condolences — and good luck. No administration of the bar is complete without some sort of mishap. The latest tale of woe comes from California. The state that some have […]
-
Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 07.28.10
* Saggy pants never hurt nobody. [New York Law Journal] * Is there a loophole in the Financial Reform Bill for the SEC with respect to public disclosure requests? [Fox Business] * Puff, puff, pass. That’s some great medicine. [Underdog] * Dancing lawyers. Look, it’s funny in Canada. [Legal Blog Watch] * Accountants have to […] -
Vault 100 Open Threads: 2011, Vault rankings, White & Case
Fall Recruiting Open Threads: Vault 11 – 20 (2011)
The 2011 Vault prestige rankings are out, giving meaning and purpose to those whose firms ranked in the top 20, and giving those further down the list inferiority complexes. (We’re talking to you, #21-formerly-#18.) This thread covers the firms ranked #11 through #20. This is your chance to discuss these firms — their upsides and […] -
Cars, Privacy, Quote of the Day, Weirdness
Quote of the Day: Acura-ate Description?
It’s an entry-level luxury vehicle. It’s the sort of car you might see a first-year lawyer driving. — Jalopnik editor Ray Wert, discussing Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s Acura TSX. Since Zuckerberg has professed not to believe in privacy and has helped to eradicate it with Facebook, Gawker gave him the paparazzi treatment, and discovered that […] -
Immigration
Federal Judge Tells Arizona to Hang On A Second
This is going to come as a major surprise to many of you, but the Obama administration just won a victory in Federal Court. I know, it’s crazy, but a federal judge actually sided with the Obama administration’s request for a preliminary injunction that will stay the effects of some provisions in Arizona’s controversial new […] -
Law Professors, Lawyer of the Day
Lawyer of the Day: Hero Professor Saves Plane Crash Survivor
University of Chicago law professor Randall Schmidt and his wife, Kristen Berg, can rightly be called heroes. That’s what you call people who rescue others from plane crashes on Lake Michigan. Their incredible story was picked up in yesterday’s Chicago Daily Herald: The Park Ridge couple, who rescued the only known survivor of a plane […] - Sponsored
Profit Powerhouse: Elevating Law Firm Financial Performance
In this CLE-eligible webinar on April 10th, we’ll explore the most common accounting pitfalls and how to avoid them for your firm. -
Kids, Politics, State Judges
Daddy Issues Now on the Platform in a Judicial Race in Oklahoma
Meet John Mantooth. The University of Oklahoma Law School grad and former JAG is running for a district judgeship in Oklahoma. Now meet John Mantooth’s daughter and son-in-law, Jan and Andrew Schill, creators of a website called Do Not Vote for my Dad. On July 20, Jan Schill wrote: District 21 judicial candidate John Mantooth […] -
Elizabeth Wurtzel, John Yoo, Law Schools, Politics, Richard Epstein
Liberal Bias in Law Schools: Thoughts from Richard Epstein, John Yoo, and Liz Wurtzel
Last week, Elie and I debated the subject of liberal bias in legal education. Does it exist? Does it matter? Many of you continued the debate, in the comments. Since our discussion, a number of notable thinkers have also tackled the topic. They include what we’d describe as the legal world’s answer to the McLaughlin […] -
Advertising, McKool Smith, Shameless Plugs, This Is an Ad
Thanks to This Week's Advertisers
Thanks to this week’s advertisers on Above the Law: Bonobos Kaplan Test Prep Kinney Recruiting Lateral Link Lexis Nexis – Discovery Solutions Lexis Nexis – Law Firm Marketing Products Lexis Nexis – Martindale Lexis Nexis – RLS Specialized Law Lexis Nexis – Search Advantage & Hosted Litigation MasterCard MarketPlace McKool Smith Rocket Matter Sunshine Suites […] -
Associate Salaries
Covington & Burling: Salaries Thawed in D.C.
When I wrote the open thread on the Vault top ten, I wanted to say that none of the top firms froze salaries during the recession. But I couldn’t, because back in November Covington & Burling surprised many people by freezing associate salaries outside of New York. But as we mentioned at the beginning of […] -
Federal Judges, Health Care / Medicine, Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 07.28.10
* A team of federal investigators called the “BP Squad” is starting up a criminal investigation into BP and its pals, Transocean and Halliburton. [Washington Post] * The four justices of the Utah Supreme Court have reversed the rape convictions of polygamist leader Warren Jeffs. No word yet on their response to his marriage proposal. […]
Sponsored
Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
How Generative AI Will Improve Legal Service Delivery
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
Sponsored
This AI-Powered Document Tool Will Meet You Where You Are
Profit Powerhouse: Elevating Law Firm Financial Performance
-
Law Schools, Martha Minow, Rankings
Can Stanford Overtake Harvard and Yale and Become the #1 Law School?
Hello, West Coast readers! How’s it hangin’ out there past the Rockies? Here at Above the Law, we try to overcome any suggestion of East Coast bias by consistently publishing a post later in the day for our readers in the Pacific time zone. And we try to be generally aware of West Coast firms […] -
Baseball, Cozen O'Connor, Non-Sequiturs, Rod Blagojevich
Non-Sequiturs: 07.27.10
* Lawyer of the Day: Chicago attorney Matthew Campobasso (pictured) catches a foul ball in one hand — while holding his seven-month-old son in the other. [Hammervision] * Speaking of foul things in Chicago, guess how much Rod Blagojevich spent on clothes over a six-year period. [Chicago News Cooperative] * A Colorado woman by the […] -
4th Circuit, Blogging, Daniel Solove, Eugene Volokh, Free Speech, Privacy
Fourth Circuit Decides First Amendment Trumps Social Security Number Privacy
Court clerks in Virginia may be shaking their fists at the Fourth Circuit today. In an interesting ruling on free speech, privacy, and public records, the court ruled that an angry blogger has the right to publish public officials’ and court clerks’ Social Security numbers in order to protest the fact that Virginia puts records […] -
Labor / Employment, Technology
A Website That Laid-Off Associates Might Like To Know About
When you apply for a job, your potential employer gets to check you out — running background checks and credit checks, calling up past employers, asking for your measurements and a demonstration of your sexual prowess… What? Is that not normal? But what do you find out about your potential boss? You get a sense […] -
Quote of the Day
Quote of the Day: I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
If you’re a new grad or a laid-off attorney, you have my prayers and condolences. — Joe Ankus, a legal recruiter quoted in the Miami Herald. (Ankus helpfully adds that “if you’ve got a book of business of over $1 million, there is a fever pitch to hire you.”) -
Biglaw, Rankings, Vault rankings
Vault Practice Group Rankings
We’re taking a break from our march through the Vault prestige rankings to look at another way of pitting law firms against each other: practice group strength. It’s an approach that’s favored by groups such as Chambers and Partners. Instead of focusing on overall firm prestige, these rankings focus on which firms are great at […] -
4th Circuit, Fabulosity, Federal Judges, In-House Counsel, J. Michael Luttig, Lawyerly Lairs, Real Estate, Supreme Court Clerks
Lawyerly Lairs: Luttig in Lap of Luxury (Plus info about his current compensation.)
In May 2006, then-Judge J. Michael Luttig made major news in the legal world by resigning from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to become senior vice president and general counsel of aerospace giant Boeing. Luttig served as a Fourth Circuit judge for almost 15 years, during which time he reigned as […]