“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 knows how to use Drano.”
– a Yahoo! Finance article on office buzzwords to avoid
Molly Wei didn't stop her friend for using her computer; now she could end up in jail.
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 so far they don’t have enough evidence to support such a charge.
Right now, Ravi and Wei are charged with invasion of privacy, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in jail.
Given that some people have pushed for prosecution that goes all the way up to homicide charges, the possibility that Ravi and Wei won’t be charged with a hate crime (or burned at the stake, or whatever the hell will satisfy people’s revenge impulse) will disappoint many — perhaps including prosecutor Kaplan, who said: “Sometimes the laws don’t always adequately address the situation. That may come to pass here.”
And sometimes the public’s outrage completely outstrips the actual crime committed. I’ve already shared my thoughts about Dharun Ravi’s crime. Now let’s take a closer look at Molly Wei — a girl who, as far as we know, is guilty of letting a high school buddy use her computer…
Go... Firm!
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 associates has changed since last year, and what it is about your firm that is either bothering you or bolstering your spirits. Please take our short survey to give us your input (as always, survey responses are kept completely confidential). We’ll bring you the survey results next week.
We’ll use the information to update the ATL Career Center and bring you the results next week.
If you have information about your firm that you want to share with other career center users, please email us at careercenter@abovethelaw.com.
Robyn and Mel Gibson; in happier, younger times.
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 in Hollywood history, with Robyn to get at least half of the almost $1 billion Mel earned during their 28-year marriage (community property, go go Gadget Family Law class).
But, as with everything Mel-related as of late, there’s a slight problem…
Continue reading “Fame Brief: Mel Gibson’s Celebrity Goodwill Hunted”
So, where’s it at?
Which firm is harboring the most luscious buttocks in all of Biglaw?
Might it be yours?
Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network.
* 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 card. [CBS News]
* Eleven charged in Alabama scheme to buy votes. Teeth sold separately. [CNN]
* A legal primer on The Social Network, or “How Facebook could end up putting more lawyers’ children through college than asbestos.” [THR, Esq.]
* The Westboro Baptist case goes before the Supreme Court on Wednesday and, in the meantime, bikers will continue to hold counter-protests against the gay-bashing goofballs who picket military funerals. The bikers’ hearts are in the right place, but I wish they had a bit more Altamont in them. [Washington Post]
* Drug companies are being investigated for an international payola scheme that makes the Opium Wars look like Grenada… or something. [Wall Street Journal]
* Raj Rajaratnam is going to put the SYSTEM on trial, man. [Bloomberg]
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 trying to help you figure out where to work when you’re done with law school.
This year, 97 Biglaw firms (out of 130 who responded to the survey) received a perfect score from the HRC. That’s up from last year and makes the legal field the best industry when it comes to LGBT issues. Banking was next and retail finished third.
Check here to see if your firm made the list.
Granted, you’d expect law firms — what with their expert understanding of “laws,” and such — to be leaders when it comes to gay and lesbian equality. But the legal field was able to achieve this distinction notwithstanding a somewhat controversial rating philosophy that may have prevented other firms from achieving perfect scores…
Continue reading “Almost 100 Biglaw Firms Are Perfectly Gay”
Mmm... burger...
* Professor Dan Filler offers an interesting proposal for how to handle laptop access in class. [The Faculty Lounge]
* Trial started today in Steptoe & Johnson v. Rogue States (aka Super-Smelly Burger Joint). [Young & Hungry / Washington City Paper]
* Marquette Law School Dean Joseph Kearney discusses the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s recent reaffirmation of the “diploma privilege” (which allows graduates of Wisconsin and Marquette’s law schools to become licensed attorneys without taking the bar). [Marquette Law Faculty Blog via Proof and Hearsay]
* When corporate law professors attack: J.W. Verret goes after Brad DeLong for going after Todd Henderson (of $250,000 ≠ rich fame). [Truth on the Market]
* Do law firms have “embarrassingly low” standards when it comes to client service? [What About Clients?]
* Kilpatrick Stockton swallows up a 10-lawyer construction law firm (Bell, Rosenberg & Hughes). Golf claps. [ABA Journal]
* Will Eliot Spitzer talk about being Client #9, or will he just stick to his CNN talking points? [Fordham Law]
Judge Jack Camp: Don't be fooled by his grandfatherly exterior.
The allegations against Judge Jack Camp (N.D. Ga.), which we mentioned earlier today, are far more salacious than we expected. In fact, they’re hard to believe.
“Learned Paw” posted this tongue-in-cheek comment, inspired by Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, on our earlier post:
I am not surprised by the bust of Judge Camp, considering the last trip I took with him. We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a saltshaker half-full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers . . . Also, a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether, and two dozen amyls. Not that we needed all that for the trip, but once you get into locked a serious drug collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can. The only thing that really worried me was the ether….
There’s no indication that the 67-year-old Judge Camp tried ether. But if the allegations of law enforcement are to be believed, Learned Paw / Hunter S. Thompson is not far off the mark.
According to the criminal complaint in the case, Judge Camp used a wide range of controlled substances — in the company of an exotic dancer / prostitute, who turned out to be a confidential informant….
Continue reading “Did Judge Jack Camp Pay for Coke, Pot — and Sex?”
There are a couple of interesting employment discrimination suits floating around the blogosphere today. One is continuing on behalf of a dead, obese woman. The other involves leaky breasts. Sound like fun?
The claim that is being pursued by the estate of a dead woman is slightly more newsworthy because the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is taking the position that a worker for a non-profit was fired because she had a disability. According to the EEOC — in my head, the EEOC sounds like Jame Gumb (a.k.a. Buffalo Bill) — Lisa Harrison was fired for being a great big fat girl.
Harrison died after filing the suit, but it is being carried on by her estate.
We’ve talked before about how fat people are on the fast track to protected class status. Protected class status is one thing, but are we sure we want to call fat people disabled?
Horribly embarrassing for everybody, but this guy (who topped the 'F*** List')
When Tom Wolfe wrote I Am Charlotte Simmons, he interviewed his Duke daughter and Stanford son about their college experiences, and tried to capture what university life would be like for a highly intelligent, young, innocent virgin at an elite school obsessed with frat parties and athletics. It was an enjoyable read. If you want something similar to that, but a non-fiction version with less innocence and more alcohol, check out An education beyond the classroom: excelling in the realm of horizontal academics.
2010 Duke grad Karen Owen facetiously called it her “Senior Honors Thesis.” I summarized it over at my new bloggerly digs:
Owen kept detailed notes on her sexual adventures with 13 members of Duke’s lacrosse, baseball and tennis teams over the last four years. She then put those notes, along with the athletes’ names and photos into a 42-slide PowerPoint presentation, that concludes with a ranking of the 13 on what she calls her “F*** list.” (Congratulations, I suppose, to this guy for topping the list.)
Owen sent it by email to three friends, and then because it was too brilliant, hilarious, and painstakingly-elaborate to keep among four friends, one of them forwarded it on. Like an STD in a frat house, it went viral…
Continue reading “Will the Duke F**k List Lead to Lawsuits?”
According to news reports out of Atlanta, which have been confirmed by U.S. Marshal Richard Mecum, Senior Judge Jack Camp (N.D. Ga.) has been arrested on federal drug charges by the FBI. He’s scheduled to appear in court later today.
Nominated to the federal bench by President Reagan, Judge Camp has been a judge for a long time — over two decades, since 1988. He has presumably presided over countless drug cases. If Judge Camp ends up pleading guilty to anything, that will be one interesting Rule 11 colloquy.
Let’s have a look at His Honor, shall we?
Continue reading “Judge of the Day: Federal Judge Jack Camp Arrested on Drug Charges”
Last month, Marin broke down the Paris Hilton defense to a drug possession charge. Put simply, saying “it wasn’t me” when confronted with drugs found on your person strains credulity.
Especially if those drugs are found in your ass. Which is what happened to a Florida man over the weekend…
Continue reading “The Shaggy/Paris Hilton Defense, Supercharged”
[A] résumé need not be destiny.
– Linda Greenhouse, former Supreme Court correspondent for the New York Times, discussing the Roberts Court.
Well, that was fast. Last week we learned of preliminary merger discussions taking place between Akin Gump and Orrick. But this morning, spokespersons for each firm released the following joint statement (which differed only in which firm’s name came first):
[The firms] have mutually agreed to conclude preliminary discussions regarding the possibility of a merger. The firms appreciated the opportunity to have the discussions, which confirmed their mutual respect for one another. However, the firms have determined not to proceed.
For an assessment of the pros and cons of an Akin / Orrick union, see here.
So what exactly happened here?
Continue reading “Breaking: Orrick and Akin Call Off Their Merger Talks”
Yes, yes it is. At least that’s what I gather based on the relative volume of commentary I received on the subject since the inception of this column about small law firms. I’ve been avoiding the topic, mostly because salary discussions usually degenerate into little richard-measuring contests but, in addition to the comment wars that spilled out of my posts on hours worked and billable hours, I’m still getting emails like this one:
I’m not sure all this “small law, low pay” stuff is accurate. Certainly, it’s true if we are assuming the small/mid law is in the same market as Big Law, but I’m not sure how often that is the case. Small/mid-sized legal market tends to have a much lower cost of living, which means the magnitude of the paycheck tells you little about its value. How about a post that captures and attempts to balance this concept?
Okay, fine. Now that I’m back from the Canadian wilderness, let’s talk about it…
[Ed. note: This post is authored by Evan Jowers and Robert Kinney of Kinney Recruiting, sponsor of the Asia Chronicles. Kinney has made more placements of U.S. associates and partners in Asia than any other firm in the past two years. You can reach them by email: asia at kinneyrecruiting dot com.]
Notes Regarding Recent News from Hong Kong/China
Greetings to our readers. Robert Kinney here. I’m fresh from a visit to our Hong Kong office, where Evan Jowers and I had a big week with literally dozens of client meetings over 10 days. It is difficult to conceive of for most of our readers who are not in Hong Kong/China already, but the legal market there is red-hot. It is probably hotter in many ways than in the boom-times of 2006-2007. The pockets of activity are more hidden than before though, and the requirements are much tougher.
Evan Jowers will be speaking this evening (Monday, September 27, 2010) from 7:30 to 9:30 PM at NYU’s Vanderbilt Hall (40 Washington Square South, Room 204) as part of a panel discussion on the best strategy to land a job in the current job market in Asia. As always, we are grateful to the US-China Legal Exchange Foundation, as well as well as the NYU Asia Law Society and the NYU APALSA for the opportunity to speak as part of this panel. Any of our readers who are located in New York and are interested in hearing the latest information about the job market in Asia, particularly Hong Kong/China, please feel free to attend the discussion. It will certainly be instructive.
For the benefit of those readers who are not in New York but are still interested to hear what has changed in Asia, I have the following notes regarding current openings. Please feel free to follow up with me if you have any questions or want to drill into deeper into the needs described:
• Many of our clients are looking for Hong Kong qualified capital markets associates. The most impressive mid-levels to seniors in HK are now perhaps in more demand than any other group of biglaw associates, due to the current trend of top US firms building HK local practices (we know of two US firms about to make announcements regarding lateral HK partner hires).
• A number of our clients want US capital markets associates; several of these offer a mix of M&A and capital markets work. Continue reading “The Asia Chronicles: Quick Notes”
* A new Supreme Court term begins today and the Court has plenty of juicy issues to address. Like how to haze that noob, Kagan. [New York Times]
* Speaking of Kagan, she’s recused herself from nearly half the cases accepted for the new term so far. Because women are lazy. [Washington Post]
* There is no such thing as a free public defender. That’s Econ 101, folks. [USA Today]
* Monkey Boy Steve Ballmer and Microsoft are suing Motorola for infringing nine patents. [Wall Street Journal]
* A survey of international lawyers found that nearly half believed corruption affected fellow attorneys in their countries. Because foreigners are corrupt. [Associated Press]
* A crunk as hell gun owner being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of an old rummy to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. [New York Times]
* Verizon will pay up to $90 million in refunds to customers improperly charged for data usage. Something something something “Can you hear me now?” something. [Reuters]
Gov. Schwarzenegger should have a pretty mellow retirement.
It’s Friday, many of you ain’t got no job, and California is going to let you get high!
Don’t let the somewhat tepid headline fool you. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger took a major step towards decriminalizing marijuana possession today.
If you don’t smoke up, the news can seem kind of minor. Schwarzenegger signed a bill that reduces possession of an ounce or less of weed from a misdemeanor to an infraction. That doesn’t make recreational use of marijuana legal or anything — and that’s too bad, because that means broke-ass California can’t slap a sin tax on pot and thereby get its financial house in order.
But the ramifications of the legislation are still significant for recreational pot users…
* Orrick and Akin aren’t the only two who are talking. The firms of Reed Smith and Thompson & Knight are also in merger discussions. [Am Law Daily]
* A “cite-checking battle” actually sounds… kinda fun. [Laws for Attorneys]
* There’s a motion for leave to amend the complaint in the Robert Wone civil case. [Who Murdered Robert Wone?]
* Why your job is making you depressed. Maybe because it sucks? [CNN]
* Women of Biglaw: think you have it bad? Your sisters on Wall Street may be even worse off. [The Careerist]
* Speaking of women in the legal profession, nominations are now being accepted for InsideCounsel’s Transformative Leadership Awards, which “honor women general counsel and law firm partners who have demonstrated a commitment to advancing the empowerment of women in corporate law.” [SuperConference]
In 2009, a small group of Harvard Law School students noticed an absurd monopoly in the bar prep space, held by an unchallenged leader with a non-evolving product. In response, these students teamed up with Harvard Law alumni to launch BarMax on January 14, 2010.
The mission: democratize bar prep by embracing new technologies to provide the very best bar exam review courses at a fraction of the cost normally associated with these courses.
Since then, with the encouragement of thousands of students and an unwavering commitment to their success, BarMax has established itself as a comprehensive alternative to the stagnant, over-priced status quo.
As we continue to expand, we do not want to lose sight of the basic premises that led us to create BarMax in the first place. If you are a law student who believes that there is something fundamentally wrong with being forced to take out yet another loan to pay for a $4,000 bar exam prep course, you are not alone.
Ed. note: This post is authored by Evan Jowers and Robert Kinney of Kinney Recruiting, sponsor of the Asia Chronicles. Kinney has made more placements of U.S. associates and partners in Asia than any other firm in the past five years. You can reach them by email: asia@kinneyrecruiting.com
Happy Chinese New Year! We were extremely busy the past few months, including most of our US based team working from our Hong Kong offices during November and December.
As a follow up from our recent post, which listed our 62 US associate and counsel placements in Asia last year (vast majority in HK / China), please note that thus far in January ’12, we have already made seven US associate and counsel placements in Asia. This is an especially impressive number, considering the biglaw lateral hiring market in Asia is down right now (see state of the market brief overview below). These new placements are of new hires in Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai, who were interviewing with their new firm for a month or more and they are spread out among different practice areas, including project finance, litigation, fund formation, M&A and cap markets. We are close on four additional new associate placements, in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Shanghai, that we expect to close soon. We do not discuss partner placements in these articles, but the pace of partner recruitment in Asia (a large part of our business) has continued.
Hedge Fund In-House Openings in Hong Kong
We are seeing a small run of new in-house openings in Hong Kong at hedge funds. We are currently filling three different in-house positions at three different hedge funds in Hong Kong, two of these searches we are handling on an exclusive basis. All three will most likely be filled by a US associate, with about 4 to 6 years of experience. Mandarin not required. Candidates from NYC and London will be considered, but at one of these funds the new hire will likely come from Hong Kong / China or Singapore (with HK being the strong preference).
Please feel free to reach out to us at asia@kinneyrecruiting.com if you are interested in these hedge fund openings. As you probably would expect, the competition for these spots will be fierce and the funds will be very selective when choosing which candidates to interview.
