* No Boomer, no! Judge refuses to help a Pennsylvania man become a dog. [Post Gazette]
* Women are breaking through the GC glass ceiling. [Corporate Counsel]
* Just a friendly flick? “Bottom-flicking” Georgia judge retires, while clarifying that he does not consider improper touching to be sexual harassment. [ABA Journal]
* This week in the law: Prop 8, Google and Verizon v. net neutrality, the broken justice system and the bad science which serves it. [Infamy or Praise]
* University of Chicago Law School antitrust professor Randy Picker jumps on the taco truck bandwagon. [Chicago Tribune]
* First Amendment expert Floyd Abrams takes on Wikileaks, Hillary Clinton, dog fighting, and freedom of speech. [Big Think]
Michelle Marie Danicek
Sometimes law firm outings can get pretty crazy. It seems like this is especially true in Canada. Who would have thought, eh?
Last month, we wrote about a bottles-and-models party in Toronto that led to one associate losing his Canadian cookies in a cab, and a partner allegedly grinding (inappropriately) on female associates. Maybe those ladies just needed thicker skins or, in that case, booties?
Meanwhile, as we mentioned briefly this morning, a female lawyer in Vancouver did not have a thick enough head. In 2001, Michelle Marie Danicek, then 32, was a law clerk at Alexander Holburn Beaudin & Lang LLP. According to the Vancouver Sun, in April 2001 she went out dancing at the Bar None nightclub, after a firm-sponsored associates’ dinner at an oyster house.
As many of you know, lawyers are not always the best dancers. The lawyers got their grooves on, and one of Danicek’s fellow maladroit associates stumbled into her, perhaps while he was doing the “running man” (that seems Canadian).
This caused her to fall to the ground — and sustain a $6 million injury….
Continue reading “Here’s One Way To Get A Big Bonus From Your Firm”
Chief Judge Vaughn Walker (N.D. Cal.), who struck down Proposition 8′s ban on gay marriage in California, has denied a motion to stay his judgment pending appeal. This means that same-sex marriages in California can start immediately after August 18 at 5 PM, assuming the Ninth Circuit doesn’t grant a stay.
UPDATE (3:45 PM): No immediate gay weddings — see court order below (after the jump). Judge Walker denied a full stay pending appeal, but he did enter a stay of his judgment until August 18, 2010, at 5 PM PDT. This will give Prop 8 proponents time to appeal to the Ninth Circuit…
UPDATE (4:25 PM): Do they have standing to defend Prop 8 on the merits in the appellate court? There is a rub here. Read more after the jump.
A link to the court order and excerpts, after the jump.
Continue reading “Breaking: Judge Walker Won’t Stay Prop 8 Ruling Pending Appeal!”
“Believe me, kiddos, this is bad news for all of us.”
As many websites and blogs (including ATL) mentioned last week, The New York Times published an article by Heather Timmons entitled “Outsourcing to India Draws Western Lawyers.” The quote above was from the blog Shilling Me Softly giving its take on the article. As you can probably discern from The Times headline, the piece was very favorable toward legal outsourcing taking place overseas…
Continue reading “Could Technology Turn The Tide Against Legal Outsourcing Overseas?”
Let’s be clear. My client is tall, brunette and has an ample breast and is therefore going to naturally be sensuous when she applies cream to her chest.
– Italian lawyer Gianluca Arrighi in defense of a topless sunbathing client, who applied sunblock in a way that “troubled” two boys, 12 and 14.
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The Proposition 8 case — a ruling on the motion to stay judgment pending appeal is expected any minute now — isn’t the only gay-related litigation going on these days.
As reported in the New York Times, lawyers for Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach filed a lawsuit yesterday in federal court in Idaho. They’re seeking a temporary order blocking his discharge from the Air Force for violating the military’s ban on homosexuality.
Discharge. Hehe. The NYT article actually contains several fun double entendres.
But there are interesting legal issues here, too….
Continue reading “Air Force Colonel Sues To Block His Discharge Under ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’”
I have to, it’s my job. I mean what would I do? I don’t know what I would do.
– Seventh Circuit Judge Richard Posner, when asked at trial how he could carry on after feeling threatened by radio host Hal Turner’s comment that Judge Posner and two of his colleagues “deserve to be killed.”
Donald Duck tends to be cranky; he’s not the most friendly of the Disney characters. But a Pennsylvania woman, 27, contends that Donald got way too friendly with her during a 2008 trip with her family to Epcot Center.
In a complaint posted by the Smoking Gun, April Magolon claims that she asked Donald for an autograph — who actually asks people in costumes for autographs? — and that he then grabbed her boob, “molested her,” and then made gestures “indicating he had done something wrong.” Magolon’s suing in excess of $50,000 for negligence, battery, and infliction of emotional distress. More bad news for Donald: We’ve heard that Daisy Duck is considering filing for divorce.
Gawker picked up the story and pointed out that creepy behavior on the part of Disney’s costumed characters is a bit of a trend.
The legal papers includes [sic] a helpful list of other Disney character transgressions, like the time Tigger molested a 13-year-old girl. In other news, a guy just wrote a memoir about dealing drugs while costumed as Winnie the Pooh at Epcot, and how his co-workers were furries who liked to have kinky sex in their costumes.
Disney characters are not without their defenders, though. As Mickey Mouse has not appeared to put in a good word for his furry and feathery friends, William Saletan at Slate stepped in and did some investigative reporting. He says that this may in fact be a false Tigger trigger…
Continue reading “Lawsuit of the Day: Has Donald Duck Been Unfairly Accused?”
That’s one of the topics covered by an impressive trio of law professors — Richard Epstein, Glenn Reynolds, and John Yoo — in an interesting, wide-ranging discussion over at PJTV. Although they all hail from the right side of the aisle, they disagree on a number of issues. Here’s a summary:
Are law schools creating a new generation law fools? Is the bar exam the best measure of a lawyer? Are the best law schools even worth the money? Law professors John Yoo and Richard Epstein of Richochet.com discussion the legal profession on this episode of Instavision.
One of the most interesting parts of the discussion takes place when Professor Reynolds mentions that he decided to attend Yale Law School over free rides from Duke and Chicago. He asks Professors Epstein and Yoo: What advice would you give to a prospective law student facing a similar choice today?
Continue reading “Is Law School Becoming a Fool’s Errand?”
* Will wedding bells be ringing soon in California? Judge Vaughn Walker will rule today on extending the Prop 8 stay. [Associated Press]
* A 32-year-old Canadian lawyer was awarded $6 million after a law firm colleague knocked her down on the dance floor. [The Post]
* The Seventh Circuit testifies again in New York. [New York Times]
* Venture capitalists feeling more adventurous. [National Law Journal]
* Blago jury may be hung. [Chicago Tribune]
* LiLo judge recuses herself. [Los Angeles Times]
* The search for Geronimo’s bones will not be aided by the courts. [Yale Daily News]
* Justin Peacock, a lawyer-turned-novelist whom we’ve profiled, has a Harvard lawyer starring in his latest book. [Bloomberg]
* Hug a lawyer. Get charged with assault and battery. [Boston Herald]
Skadden partner Hilary Foulkes
Longtime Skadden partner Hilary Foulkes, recognized by Chambers and Partners for his expertise in cross-border M&A work, is quite distinctive-looking. And so is his Cape Cod vacation house, in Chatham — which is causing some trouble with the locals.
Hilary and Tina Foulkes — we thought they were lesbians, until we saw his photo — have given their house a very unusual paint job. The Cape Cod Times describes it as containing “[s]hades of neon green, lime green and citrus yellow.”
Village resident Norm Pacun calls the house “hideous” and “not what’s appropriate.” It certainly stands out in a neighborhood of New England white clapboards.
What do you think? Check out a photo and find out why the Foulkeses may have painted the house this way, below the fold….
Continue reading “Lawyerly Lairs: A Skadden Partner’s ‘Hideous’ House Causes Cape Cod Controversy”
* And you thought you had a hard time explaining a work gap on your résumé… [Piercing the Veil / Forbes]
* Before you exit Biglaw, make sure to check these 50 items off your bucket list. And then go ahead, deploy the slide and take a few brewskis for the road. [Technolawyer]
* Do you not understand that whole Google-Verizon net neutrality dealio? Here’s a guide. [Concurring Opinions]
* Career alternatives for attorneys: playwright? Arlene Violet, former Rhode Island attorney general, has written a musical about the Mafia that’s being produced. [Providence Journal]
* National security letter gag comes off after six years. Well, sort of. [Wired]
* Professor Brian Fitzpatrick wonders: Do class action lawyers make too little? [SSRN]
* Are you thinking about starting your own law practice, but intimidated by the administrative work involved? Read this. [NexFirm (sponsored content)]
Though there are signs that things are looking up for the legal market next year, the economy remains troubled. This week the recession claimed 18 at intellectual-property boutique Brinks Hofer.
We spoke with firm president Gary Ropski, who confirmed that seven attorneys, one patent agent, and ten staff were laid off this week. [FN1] Most of these layoffs took place in the firm’s main Chicago office. The firm spoke individually with every person let go, and had a firm-wide conference call yesterday to discuss the layoffs.
“It’s the toughest part of my job,” said Ropski. This was less than 5% of the total workforce of the firm, which has 400 employees nationally.
There’s been much talk in the legal sector about problems for IP boutiques as bigger firms encroach on their turf. Earlier this year, IP firm Darby & Darby dissolved. We asked Ropski whether he was worried about the outlook for IP boutiques in today’s economy….
Continue reading “Nationwide Layoff Watch: Brinks Hofer Bids Farewell to 18″
The alleged foot tapper
A pair of motions are bouncing around email inboxes this week, thanks to the “foot-tapping lawyer.” (This has nothing to do with Larry Craig, so read on without fear.)
It all started in July, when Florida law firm Rasco Klock sent a paralegal to Wilmington for a deposition. The firm is representing a plaintiff suing an insurance company, but one of their lead attorneys, Juan Carlos Antorcha, had to remain in Miami and conduct the deposition by video, with the paralegal handling the exhibits in person.
During the deposition of a witness for the defense, a strange noise caught the attention of the Perceptive Paralegal. After hearing clicking, he peeked beneath the table and saw a defense attorney’s foot tapping the foot of the deponent. He snapped a photo with his smartphone and sent it to Antorcha, who confronted the defense and halted the deposition. Rasco Klock then filed a very angry motion for sanctions, accusing the defense attorney of coaching the witness through foot tapping.
From the motion:
Before accusing a lawyer of acting in an unethical and unprofessional fashion, a fellow lawyer must think long and hard. Was the breach intentional? What were the circumstances? Was there any sense of contrition? Could the offending lawyer believe that his conduct had been appropriate?
The lawyer accused of foot-tapping is Brown Sims shareholder Kenneth Engerrand. On every single page of the 13-page motion for sanctions against him is the incriminating footsie photo…
Continue reading “Will Footsies During a Deposition Lead to Sanctions?”
We touched upon this issue in Morning Docket, both today and yesterday: Is Steven Slater — the JetBlue flight attendant who reportedly unleashed a profanity-laced tirade over the airplane’s public-address system, before fleeing the plane via the emergency-evacuation chute, beer in hand — a criminal?
Slater was hit with felony charges of criminal mischief and reckless endangerment, on the reasoning that the deployed evacuation chute could have hit someone below. But his lawyer argues that there was no endangerment, since Slater — a flight attendant with about 20 years of experience, since he entered the business at age 19 — checked to make sure nobody was below before deploying the slide.
Let’s explore the legal issues a bit more — with the help of one of our favorite commentators, memoirist turned litigatrix Elizabeth Wurtzel….
Continue reading “Did the JetBlue Flight Attendant Go Down the Slippery Slope Slide to Criminality?”
Part of the frustration is this incredibly long build-up to nothing. Like, ‘Why did I spend 22 years getting A’s and studying for the chance to eat canned chili?’
… I was in the airport watching people move bags from the curb to the curbside check-in, thinking, ‘At least they do something all day long, and I have $450,000 in education and fancy everything, and I’m sitting around all day and watching 2.5 movies a day?’
– Brad, a 28-year-old New York lawyer who was unemployed for six months. (Gavel bang: The Careerist.)
In anticipation of the release of the summer associate survey results, last week we highlighted the firm with the highest response rate among summer associates, Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman. Today we want to congratulate and feature WilmerHale, for having the highest overall number of respondents to the summer associate survey. In a time when firms have scaled back their summer programs to the point that you might blink and miss them, WilmerHale’s 56 summer associate responses are particularly impressive.
So what exactly did so many summer associates have to say about WilmerHale’s summer program? For one, the best part of the summer program was the attorneys. Summer associates unanimously praised the “supportive, friendly culture” and the “bright” yet “down-to-earth” people. WilmerHale also treated summer associates to a lot of good, old-fashioned fun, such as feasting on crab after a sailing trip on the Chesapeake Bay, whitewater rafting and camping, ziplining on Catalina Island, and spending a firm-sanctioned “skip day” at the beach.
But it wasn’t just fun and games all summer long. Summer associates at WilmerHale proved to be more than just overpaid, wannabe lawyers, by completing an average of 10 “substantive” and “important” assignments over the course of the summer. Spoken like a true Biglaw associate, one WilmerHale survey respondent noted that “it can be tricky to balance events, assignments, and life outside the firm.
To find out more about the associate experience at WilmerHale or other firms, head on over to the Career Center. And be sure to look out for summer associate survey results in the next few weeks.
Some people — such as the many anti-law-school bloggers, or my colleague here at Above the Law, Elie Mystal — think there are too many law schools. I’m not as much of a pessimist; I take a more measured view. Although I share the concern that perhaps too many schools are cranking out too many debt-saddled graduates, releasing them into an already saturated legal job market, I think there are some perfectly good reasons to go to law school.
Should I be even more optimistic? Is it possible that we need more law schools? Maybe law degrees are like clean water or good health care: everybody needs them, so we have to make sure that every part of the country has a source.
If that’s the thinking, then this week brings some good news: a law school is coming to Shreveport. With a population of 200,145, this bustling metropolis is the third-largest city in Louisiana.
Let’s learn more about the fabulous Louisiana College School of Law….
Continue reading “A Law School Is Coming to Shreveport — Hallelujah!”
Forget about prestige (momentarily). Which firms have the best quality of life?
Vault has compiled its annual Law Firm Quality of Life Rankings, based on associate surveys. Associates were asked to rate their firms on “overall satisfaction, associate/partner relations, firm culture, hours, compensation, office space, training, and pro bono and green initiatives.”
Williams & Connolly managed to get into the top ten on both the quality of life (#2) and prestige (#8) lists. (UPDATE: Vault sent along a new list without ties.) Here are the top five on the “Quality of Life” list:
1. Ropes & Gray
2. Williams & Connolly
3. Morrison & Foerster
4. Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto
5. Shook, Hardy & Bacon
At which two other firms can you let your hair down, but keep your nose in the air?
Continue reading “The Best Firms To Work For, When It Comes To ‘Quality of Life’”
