October 2010
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Books, Erwin Chemerinsky, Non-Sequiturs, Stephen Wermiel
Non-Sequiturs: 10.06.10
* Burberry sues Body Glove over an iPhone cover that makes your phone look like the inside of a Burberry trench coat. If Body Glove ever makes a condom packet that looks like the inside of a Burberry trench coat, married men will be interested in the proceedings. [Fashionista] * The new biography of Justice […] -
Cars, Judge of the Day, Minority Issues, Racism, State Judges
Judge Rejects Plea Deal as Something 'That Only Goes to White Boys'
If you spend any time around criminal defense lawyers, progressive lawyers, or people in a black barber shop, you’ll hear the claim that African-American criminal defendants receive harsher sentences than their white counterparts. People have done studies about this, people have written reports about this, people have held conferences about this institutional expression of discrimination. […] - Sponsored
Navigating Financial Success by Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Maximizing Firm Performance
In this CLE-eligible webinar, we’ll explore the most common accounting pitfalls and how to avoid them for your firm. -
Advertising, Shameless Plugs, This Is an Ad
Thanks to This Week's Advertisers
Thanks to this week’s advertisers on Above the Law: American Express BarMax Columbia Business School: EMBA Delta Kinney Recruiting Lateral Link Lexis Nexis – Discovery Solutions Lexis Nexis – Law Firm Marketing Products Lexis Nexis – RLS Specialized Law Lexis Nexis – Search Advantage & Hosted Litigation Mercedes-Benz WestlawNext If you’re interested in advertising on […]
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Law Professors, Law Reviews, Law Schools, Rankings
Ranking the Law Reviews
All law reviews are not created equal. We all know this. But the prestige of your law review isn’t directly correlated to the prestige of your law school. One obvious case of that is the fact that the Harvard Law Review is widely considered to be the most prestigious law review, even though Yale has […] -
Lesbians, New York Times, Weddings
Legal Eagle Wedding Watch: Green Day
First, a couple of notable non-legal nuptials: Kelly McGillis (of Top Gun and Witness) married her long-time girlfriend. Short ceremony, long write-up. There’s also perhaps the most painfully stylish wedding we’ve ever come across. The bride is the daughter of modernist architect Richard Meier, who keeps his homes “very relaxed and casual but everything has […] -
Biglaw, In-House Counsel
A Sick and Boring Life
Ed. note: This post is written by Will Meyerhofer, a Biglaw attorney turned psychotherapist. A former Sullivan & Cromwell attorney, he holds degrees from Harvard, NYU Law, and The Hunter College School of Social Work. He blogs at The People’s Therapist. There’s a scene in John Waters’ classic film, Female Trouble, in which Edith Massey, […] -
Biglaw, Job Searches, Rankings, Summer Associates, Willkie Farr
Summer Associate Job Survey: The Kids Are Still Stressed
The American Lawyer just released its annual summer associate job survey. Back in the day, law students paid a lot of attention to how summers before them enjoyed their summer associate experience. Of course, back in the day the summer associate experience used to be a 12-week-long recruiting event. Now, it’s a 12 (or 10, […] -
Clerkships, Neal Katyal, SCOTUS, Solicitor General's Office, Supreme Court, Supreme Court Clerks
Quote of the Day: Except Baristas Don't Get 'Venti' Bonuses
[T]hat’s how law clerks are hired. That’s how baristas at Starbucks are hired. You have to ask these open-ended questions because as an employer, you don’t really know… where the pressure points or danger spots in an individual application are. — Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal, comparing hiring law clerks to hiring Starbucks baristas, during […] - 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… -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 10.06.10
* There isn’t a defense attorney on earth who could spare Steven Hayes from the death penalty. [CBS News] * The Times Square “bomber” warned against more failures like him at his sentencing. Be afraid. Be VERY afraid. [Associated Press] * For homeowners living near wind turbines, the future’s so loud, they gotta wear earplugs. […]
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Attorney Misconduct, Legal Ethics, Sex, Texas
Texas Tries to C**kblock Lawyers from Getting Their Freak on With Clients
Today many people made time to talk about Texas legal ethics — specifically, a proposal in front of the Texas bar that would prohibit lawyers from having sex with their clients. It’s a rule most jurisdictions have in one form or another. It’s not obvious that getting this rule enacted in Texas would be a […] -
DealBreaker, Jews, Non-Sequiturs, Yolanda Young
Non-Sequiturs: 10.05.10
* An interesting way of thinking about your law firm experience, from Yolanda Young (of Young v. Covington & Burling fame). [On Being A Black Lawyer] * Some advice for lawyers: be sure to give your secretary a really nice holiday gift. [Young Lawyers Blog] * Do you prefer a Jewish lawyer? You’re in good […] -
American Bar Association / ABA, Law Schools, Student Loans
Someone at the ABA Is Aware That New Law Schools Make No Sense
A year ago (almost to the day), we learned that Belmont University in Nashville was planning to start a new law school. At the time, I asked: “[H]ow colossally dumb are the people who sign up for a Belmont law degree next year?” Well, there’s an article in the Tennessean today suggesting that the new […] -
Contests, Hotties, Law Schools, Media and Journalism
Cosmo's Bachelor of the Year Contest -- With Hot Law Students and Lawyers
Objectifying men is hot right now. The Duke F**k List, recent Duke grad Karen Owen’s candid appraisal of the various men she slept with, is burning up the internet. Here at Above the Law, we’re getting a ton of traffic to a silly little post about some hot male ass in Chicago. This seems like […]
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Navigating Financial Success by Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Maximizing Firm Performance
Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
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India, Law Schools, Outsourcing, Quote of the Day, Student Loans
Quote of the Day: Well, the Economy Is In the Toilet....
“Knowledge Economy” An environment in which a person has run up $150,000 in student loans to pay for a law degree only to see jobs exported to India whose citizens are apparently very knowledgeable about the U.S. legal system. Example: “The best job in the knowledge economy is plumbing because nobody with an advanced degree […] -
Asians, Crime, Eavesdropping / Wiretapping, Education / Schools, Gay, Hate Crimes, Pranks, Privacy, Suicide
Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei Could Escape Hate Crime Charges in the Tyler Clementi Case
Prosecutors looking into Tyler Clementi suicide indicated yesterday that they might not be able to charge Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei with a hate crime. Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan told the Newark Star-Ledger that his office was trying to see if they could charge Ravi and Wei with a second degree bias crime, but […] -
Advertising, Biglaw, Career Center, Job Searches, Job Survey, Shameless Plugs, This Is an Ad
Career Center Survey: Is Associate Morale on the Mend?
Good news: the recession is officially over– and actually has been since June 2009, according to a group of economists. Are Biglaw associates everywhere breathing a collective sigh of relief? Or does the recovering economy have little effect on associate morale? This week, in our ATL / Lateral Link survey, we ask whether morale among […] -
Celebrities, Divorce Train Wrecks, Fame Brief, Family Law
Fame Brief: Mel Gibson’s Celebrity Goodwill Hunted
In this week’s installment of “What the Hell is Wrong with Mel Gibson?“, our tragic hero took a break from allegedly beating the sh*t out of ex-girlfriend Oksana Glengarryglenrossgrivioa (and following up with typo-ridden text apologies) to hash out his divorce settlement with soon-to-be ex-wife Robyn. The settlement is on track to be the largest divorce payout […] -
Craigslist, Gay, Hotties
The Best Butt in Biglaw?
So, where’s it at? Which firm is harboring the most luscious buttocks in all of Biglaw? Might it be yours? -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 10.05.10
* Sacrebleu! The Société Générale trader who lost billions for the bank was convicted and sentenced to at least three years in prison today. [New York Times] * Justice Kagan made her presence felt on her first day on the Supreme Court bench. Meanwhile, Justice Thomas was one Breyer away from filling his Gunner Bingo […]
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Biglaw, Civil Rights, Gay, Job Searches, Lesbians, Rankings
Almost 100 Biglaw Firms Are Perfectly Gay
The Human Rights Campaign has released its annual Corporate Equality Index, which assesses corporate America’s progress towards equal treatment of the LGBT community. It’s a pretty great day to be gay and searching for career advice. Gawker has a list up right now on the top ten gay colleges, and the Human Rights Campaign is […]