A prophet, who now goes by the name “Rael,” once encountered space aliens who told him the secret of life. Later, his followers, “the Raelians,” set up an advocacy group to expose pedophilia in the Roman Catholic Church. But the group’s work was frustrated when Pope Benedict XVI (a.k.a. Joe Ratzinger) covered up the crimes of Catholic priests, in an effort to discredit the Raelians and suppress their message.
If I were writing fiction, this would be about the point where Tom Hanks holds a black light up to a window in Washington National Cathedral to reveal the precise location of Area 51. But before he can tell anybody, Al Pacino (heretofore unobtrusively sitting in a pew, drinking a glass of orange juice) makes Hanks an offer he can’t refuse.
But this isn’t fiction; this is the real world. In the real world, there is only one way to handle this kind of massive conspiracy, cover-up, and intrigue: a lawsuit.
And so it is that today, on the thirteenth of September in the year of our Lord two thousand ten, that Pope Benedict XVI finds himself sued in the High Court of Justice: Queen’s Bench Division, for tortious interference with business…
Continue reading “Lawsuit of the Day: Space Alien Followers v. Pope Benedict (No, Seriously)”
Any of you guys want a job at the law school?
If I reported that Duke Law School was turning to Craigslist to find its next dean, the U.S. News people would issue “revised” rankings to knock Duke out of the top tier. Heck, if I told you that Duke Law was looking for a new 1L contracts professor on Craigslist, at the very least that report would be met with widespread ridicule.
Of course, Duke would never grab a new dean off of Craigslist. Deans are in charge of making the law school money, and there’s no way Duke would rely on Craigslist, even in part, to fill that responsibility. And picking up a law professor off of Craigslist would make the school look intellectually weak, so there’s little chance of that ever happening either.
But when it comes to providing services that Duke Law students actually need — well, then Duke is just fine leaving the professional futures of its students in the hands of whomever Duke can find hanging out on the CL….
Continue reading “Duke Law Turns to Craigslist to Fill Key Administrative Role”
Please hire us! We're Americans! Want to see our passports and birth certificates?
It’s that time of the year again: clerkship application season. Here is the requisite open thread for discussion, where you can trade news and gossip about which courts and judges are hiring, which ones are done, which clerkships are great, and which clerkships you’ll hate.
Pursuant to the 2010 Law Clerk Hiring Plan for federal judges, applications could be received last Tuesday, September 7. Today, September 13, is the first day when judges can contact applicants to schedule interviews. The calls were allowed to go out at 10 a.m. Eastern time (sorry, Californians). Interviews can be held and offers can be made starting on Thursday, September 16, at 8 a.m. Eastern time (again, our sympathies to Californians; but think of it like Christmas morning, when waking up early brings joyful news of a gift).
Word on the street is that the Plan is starting to break down, with an increasing number of judges, including some of the most prestigious and popular ones, hiring ahead of the deadlines. Getting federal judges to follow rules isn’t easy; they’re used to making the rules, not obeying them.
Furthermore, the Plan by its terms “does not cover applicants who have graduated from law school”; these applicants may be interviewed and hired by judges at any time. More and more judges are going down this path and hiring law school graduates rather than 3Ls, which (1) gives them clerks with more experience, either in practice or in another clerkship, and (2) allows the judges to avoid the mad scramble for talent under the Plan.
How competitive will the hunt for federal judicial clerkships be this year? Let’s discuss….
Continue reading “Clerkship Application Season: Open Thread
(And a tricky issue re: non-citizen law clerks.)”
I graduated law school in 2006 at the same time as a close friend. We’ll call him Brian, since that’s his name. Brian went to a top five law school; I went to a… well, not a T-5. He took a Biglaw job in Manhattan; I moved home to Georgia, where I ended up in Small Law. Having used each other as sounding boards throughout law school, it only made sense that we’d continue to do so as we transitioned into our respective practices. We shared many of the same fears and growing pains. For example: Did I pass the bar exam? Am I handling this issue correctly? What work am I allowed to, or even supposed to, hand off to a paralegal/secretary?
Beyond those general issues, I was surprised at how different our worlds really were on both a macro and micro level. Most of you have heard or been a part of discussions on the general differences that Small Law is supposed to provide: better hours, less pay, more freedom, etc. I want to move past broad generalities and share some of my actual experiences as compared with Brian’s, as a means to jump start a discussion. There have been some very thoughtful comments attached to the first two posts, and I hope that trend continues here.
This will be the first of several posts dedicated to a deeper dive into the world of Small Law and how it measures up to its Biglaw counterpart. Let’s start with…
Continue reading “Great Expectations? Small Firm Practice v. Biglaw Practice (Part 1)”
Monty: It's a dog's life at Yale Law School.
I routinely make fun of the U.S. News law school rankings for taking into account the size of a law school library when ranking law schools. We live in a world where you can get everything online.
Well, not everything. Leave it to the perennial U.S. News darling, Yale Law School, to come up with a library offering worthy of the school’s number 1 ranking. Here’s the wonderful catalog listing:
NOT CHK’D OUT – Ask at Circ. – DOG BASKET BEHIND CIRCULATION DESK – ASK AT CIRC:
Description
1 dog (border terrier mix) : brown hair, 21 lbs. ; 33 cm at shoulder.
Yep, at the Yale Law School library you can check out a dog…
Continue reading “Yale Law School Going to the Dogs?”
Last week I had dinner with a friend who used to work at a large law firm and now has a non-legal career. I asked her what, if anything, she missed about life in Biglaw.
“Just one thing: the paycheck,” she said. “I miss being able to go crazy in the shoe department of Bloomingdale’s.”
It’s a common sentiment among people who leave jobs at large law firms (in terms of missing the paycheck; not sure about the shoes). Most people who leave large law firms, with the notable exception of finance folks, end up with lower incomes in their new lines of work. But many refugees of Biglaw report higher job satisfaction, as well as overall happiness.
An article in yesterday’s New York Times touched upon the trade-off between money and job satisfaction — and revealed a “magic number” of sorts, namely, the income level at which additional income does not bring you additional happiness….
Continue reading “Money v. Job Satisfaction: How Much Do You Need?”
* Due to some baby mama drama, Floyd Mayweather posed for a modeling headshot mug shot after being arrested in Vegas. [Los Angeles Times]
* Joey Lo, SMU Law’s anti-abortion warrior, was deemed unfit to stand trial. Gee, ya think? [Dallas Morning News]
* Petey Pablo puts another notch on the rapper’s stupidity belt after trying to bring a stolen 9mm aboard a plane on September 11th. [Associated Press]
* Bedbugs briefly pause their plans for world domination to bite Martha Stewart in her patent-infringing ass. [Bloomberg]
* Hit my baby, one more time! The latest lawsuit against Britney Spears alleges child abuse and sexual harassment. Time to tighten the conservatorship leash, Daddy Spears. [CBS News]
* After dissing Ahmadinejad, the Iranian judiciary says it will release an American hiker if the U.S. pays $500,000 for nukes — oops, I mean bail. [New York Times]
* Michael Newdow’s most recent Establishment Clause lawsuit doesn’t have a prayer in the First Circuit given his losing streak in the courts. [National Law Journal]
* With violent, dueling rallies overshadowing the anniversary of 9/11, the whole mosque debate has really jumped the shark. [New York Post]
I worry America has too many lawyers. I don’t want to spend time having people sue me every day.
– Terry Gou, billionaire and CEO of Chinese electronics company Foxconn.
Ed. note: Law Shucks focuses on life in, and after, Biglaw, including by tracking layoffs, bonuses, and laterals. Above the Law is pleased to bring you this weekly column, which analyzes news at the world’s top law firms.
Most executives will agree that cutting expenses is the far easier way to increase profits. Growing revenue is far more difficult.
According to Citi’s Midyear Law Firm Review, law firms have picked the low-hanging fruit and will have to figure out how to increase productivity if they want to return to profit growth on pace with previous years’.
The key trends to keep an eye on: firms with strong BRIC presences are poised to cash in on a growth opportunity; clients are demanding firms support lower-cost strategies (e.g., firms handing off routine work to smaller/lower-cost firms, and interfacing with outsourcing providers); value-based billing (alternative fee structures or just lower cost); increased lateral hiring (hmm, someone should track those); and value-added services, like knowledge management, CLE and after-action reviews.
Those are the outward-facing trends.
There’s potentially troubling news on the "taking care of our own house" front (speaking of which, anyone know a lawyer who’s good with a broom?), which we detail after the jump, as well as some of the highlights and lowlights of the past few weeks in Biglaw.
Continue reading “This Week in Biglaw: 09.11.10″
I recently wondered, on Twitter, whether it’s only a matter of time before everyone in Manhattan has bed bugs. Bedbugs are like death and taxes: they will get you eventually, and the only question is when.
For lawyers and staff in the legendary Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, the answer may be: soon. An employee in the office informs us that a bedbug-sniffing canine was brought into the 80 Centre Street building this afternoon — and that the dog alerted to the presence of bedbugs in multiple locations. Furthermore, rumor has it that (1) the powers-that-be in the office have known about bedbugs at 80 Centre Street for at least a week, and (2) the main building, at One Hogan Place, has had bedbugs for even longer.
(Right now Robert Morgenthau is probably thinking to himself, “Thank God I left that dump for Wachtell.” Morgenthau’s sucessor as DA, Cyrus Vance Jr., is probably scratching himself.)
“Several offices apparently came back positive for bed bugs,” said our source. “But, bizarrely, they are only going to fumigate those specific offices — not the entire building, like they should.”
Um, why the heck not?
Continue reading “Move Over, Muppets: Bedbugs Take Manhattan (D.A.’s Office)”
* Gawker is now offering Donald Trump money to shut up. You could say that Gawker is not getting any consideration in this deal, but you’d be very wrong. [Gawker]
* Alice Lingo, the lawyer-turned-cleaning-lady we posted about yesterday, has a Biglaw background. [Law Shucks]
* Professor Jonathan Adler has a detailed write-up of Sonia From the Block’s recent talk to Case Western law students. Justice Sotomayor: clerkship offers or it didn’t happen. [Volokh Conspiracy ]
* Meanwhile, Lady Kaga might only be working part-time for her first Term. [WSJ Law Blog]
* A California federal judge ruled DADT unconstitutional — making it the perfect time check out this 2009 NYU Law Revue skit. [YouTube]
* If it is possible to stop with political, religious, and racial fighting (and other assorted crap) for just one day, could that day be tomorrow? [Associated Press]
If you are new to Above the Law, you might not remember Yolanda Young. She’s an African-American woman who used to work as a staff attorney at Covington & Burling. Some time ago, she sued the firm for racial and gender discrimination. You can read all about her claims here.
Regular readers of this site are already thinking: “Wait, didn’t that suit get dismissed?” ATL veterans are working on their obese/race-baiting/marine mammal mad libs as we speak.
But before we get to those fresh horrors, you all should know something: a federal judge has reinstated part of Yolanda Young’s case against Covington…
Continue reading “Yolanda Young Is Once Again in Covington’s Face”
This was the only full body photo of Shelly Sindland available in all of internet-land.
A year ago, we brought attention to the sexual harassment claims of Shelly Sindland. Sindland was a local television reporter in Connecticut who claimed she was discriminated against by Fox 61 News due to her age and gender. Here are some of the highlights from the complaint:
* On or about January 30, 2009, during a meeting with reporters and anchors, on information and belief, [News Director Bob Rockstroh] stated that the Friday newscasts looked like “Big Boob Fridays,” and that as a result of at least one female reporter wearing a tighter shirts on Fridays, the station’s ratings did well on Fridays. On information and belief, [General Manager Rich Graziano] was present and stated “hey, whatever works.”
* On or about February 25, 2009 the respondent held a photo shoot for several of its news anchors to be used in promotional pieces. During this shoot, on information and belief, the female anchors were told to be more “sexy.” On information and belief, male anchors were not instructed to be sexy.
We’ve seen a lot of sexual harassment suits that either get thrown out quickly, or quickly settle. Since Sindland was suing a news organization, you had to figure that if there was any merit to Sindland’s claims, Fox 61 would pay and make the issue go away.
Yet here we are, over a year later, and Sindland’s claims just keep chugging along…
Continue reading “‘Big Boob Friday’ Complaint Has Legs”
Should you drop out of law school? In last week’s debate, I argued against the proposition, and in favor of staying in school.
But the decision to drop out of law school works out well for some people. Take Stewart Rahr, the subject of a recent, interesting profile in the New York Observer.
Back in 1969, Rahr dropped out of NYU Law School, to work for his father’s pharmacy in Brooklyn. Where is Stewie Rahr today?
Continue reading “From Law School Dropout to Billionaire: Meet Stewart Rahr”
Ed. note: Have a question for next week? Send it in to advice@abovethelaw.com
ATL,
I was wondering if you could do a post about when/how we should tell our firms that we have accepted a clerkship offer — particularly if the clerkship is not a super prestigious one (i.e., fed magistrate), and if we have not yet started at the firm (in my case, because I chose to defer for a year).
I am nervous about telling my firm, before I start, that I plan to leave to clerk less than one year after starting. Even after starting, I have heard stories of people who tell their firm they are clerking getting taken off of all interesting work (the explanation being that they may not be there by the time the matter goes to trial). Please advise!
– My Baby’s Got a Secret
Dear My Baby’s Got a Secret,
Today is Day Two of Rosh Hashana — an especially bad day to tempt fate. You see, on RH, God tentatively pencils you into either the Book of Life or the Book of Death. Not that I’m accusing God of stealing the whole concept from One-Minute Mysteries and Brain Teasers, but honestly it DOES sound suspiciously like the riddle on page 43 with the doors to heaven and hell and one of the guards is a liar and you can only ask one question…
Continue reading “Pls Hndle Thx: Secret Clerkship”
Call it RICO not so suave. One of the nation’s biggest legal headhunting firms, Major, Lindsey & Africa, is withdrawing its RICO action against a former employee — after a federal judge offered a somewhat snarky assessment of the merits of MLA’s case.
As reported by Leigh Jones over at the National Law Journal, on Thursday attorneys for MLA submitted a notice of dismissal to Judge Colleen McMahon (S.D.N.Y.). The notice declared Major Lindsey’s intent to withdraw its claims against former Sharon Mahn, a former managing director at MLA, without prejudice, in order to bring such claims in arbitration and/or state court.
Perhaps MLA read the writing on the courtroom wall. The move to dismiss came after Judge McMahon ladled out some judicial sauce….
Continue reading “Major Lindsey Drops RICO Action Against Ex-Employee”
Fear not, unemployed attorneys of New York City! The recession is over! Work has arrived! No more breadlines for you, Roxana!
A couple days ago, a colleague forwarded the following email to me. Names have either been changed or redacted to protect the not-so innocent.
To: [Redacted]
Subject: Document Review Project – Immediate Need
We have a document review project for [XYZ Legal Technology Company] starting in our offices ([redacted], NY, NY 10001) Monday, September 13th @ 900am.
Woo-hoo! Happy days are here again! Or not…
Continue reading “Legal Technology Company Takes New Approach to Hiring Contract Attorneys”
The Democratic primary for the new New York Attorney General is on Tuesday. Earlier this week, I broke down the candidates and liveblogged the debate between the five Democratics that want to follow in the footsteps of Eliot Spitzer and Andrew Cuomo.
I wasn’t particularly impressed with the frontrunner, Nassau County DA Kathleen Rice. But I’ve got nothing on retired Brooklyn criminal judge, Amy Herz Juviler. Judge Juviler is definitely not going to vote for Rice. And she doesn’t want her friends to vote for her either. Freed from the bench, she’s been emailing her friends encouraging them to avoid Rice like the plague.
In the email, Judge Juviler gets right to the point:
Friends —
In considering who to vote for in the Democratic Primary, eliminate from your consideration Kathleen Rice.
Bang! Politico has the full email, let’s take a look…
Continue reading “Retired Brooklyn Judge Blasts NYAG Candidate Via Email”
* Elie mentioned this yesterday. When the third tier toilet stopped being a metaphor. [New York Daily News]
* Look at this f**king free speech warrior. [WSJ Law Blog]
* Missouri ranks 49th in the nation for per capita spending on public defense. Take that, Mississippi! [New York Times]
* After some quality cybersex, I like to lay back and enjoy a nice, refreshing e-cigarette. The FDA might put the kibosh on this little ritual of mine. [Los Angeles Times]
* Ebay wins partial victory against Craigslist. Never trust a guy selling his bike, that pill is poison. [Bloomberg Businessweek]
* “Death by Stoning, Legal Rape Aren’t Coming to U.S.” Darn? [Bloomberg]
