Welcome to the latest installment of The Rundown, a review of recent developments in the world of legal technology. Let’s plunge right in.
* Happy Birthday to Clio, a legal technology company that helps to streamline law offices. Clio is officially two years old, which is like twenty years in Biglaw.
* I pick up a lot of information about legal technology on Twitter. Two of the best people to follow in this subject area are Rob Robinson of Orange Legal Technologies and Eric Feistel of Integreon. These guys tweet out a plethora of information on a daily basis. It should be no surprise that in a past life they used to work together for another vendor.
* Another writer who has a firm grasp of e-discovery issues is Greg Buckles of ediscoveryjournal.com. This week he has an interesting post about vendor trends at LegalTech, which — hard to believe — is right around the corner.
More links, after the jump.
Continue reading “The Rundown: This Week in Legal Technology – 10.01.10″
Wow. It’s been a long time since I wrote a headline starting with the words “Nationwide Layoff Watch.” But today it’s appropriate. Above the Law has learned that Husch Blackwell let go of around 20 attorneys, associates and non-equity partners, earlier last month.
We heard rumblings that Husch was planning on making cuts as far back as this July, but it appears that the layoffs only went through in September. Thanks to our sources, some of whom contacted us on our new text message line (646-820-TIPS), we’ve now received multiple reports of layoffs at the firm.
Here’s one tipster’s report:
Husch recently gave pink slips to about 20 attorneys; a number of them are non-equity partners. The sole criteria for termination is last year’s billable hours.
Husch didn’t confirm the number of attorneys let go, but a spokesperson for the firm did give Above the Law a statement…
Continue reading “Nationwide Layoff Watch: Husch Blackwell”
As we recently discussed, we’re starting to enter the heart of darkness bar exam results season. Passing or failing the bar can mean the difference between having or not having a job — especially if you’re working for a small firm, which might be less forgiving of failure than a Biglaw behemoth (at least according to some readers).
The first state to release bar exam results, North Carolina, mailed them out on Friday, August 27. But if you’re waiting for results from one of the biggies, New York or California, you still have several weeks to go.
In the past two weeks, including today, some smaller but still sizable states announced their bar exam results. Let’s take a look….
Continue reading “Recent Bar Exam Results: Open Thread
Illinois, Indiana, Florida — any others?“
The American Lawyer Global 100 is out. It’s the list that ranks law firms around the world by gross revenue.
And this year, there’s a new name at the top. Baker & McKenzie leapfrogged a number of firms to become the top-grossing law firm in the world (based on 2009 revenue numbers). Baker narrowly edged out Skadden for this honor.
Of course, Skadden people shouldn’t be ashamed of their second-place finish. Baker & McKenzie is huge: it leads the Am Law list of most lawyers by more than a thousand over its nearest rival, Clifford Chance. Skadden ranks #9 on the “most lawyers” list, with an attorney headcount that is almost doubled by Baker & McKenzie. Skadden gets to #2 in the revenue rankings by having a much higher revenue-per-lawyer figure.
Let’s take a look at the top ten in terms of revenue, and drool over these billion-dollar businesses…
Continue reading “The Biggest of Biglaw: Greet the Global 100″
Michigan AAG Andrew Shirvell
Today brings some updates in the ongoing saga of Andrew Shirvell, the Michigan assistant attorney general who writes Chris Armstrong Watch, a blog devoted to attacking the openly gay student body president of the University of Michigan. We’ve covered the story extensively (see here and here).
First, Shirvell’s blog is now “open to invited readers only” — i.e., it’s password-protected.
Second, Chris Armstrong is seeking a restraining order against Shirvell (who has shown up at events attended by Armstrong and also at Armstrong’s home). Judge Nancy Francis declined to issue an immediate restraining order but scheduled a hearing for next week. (Shirvell has already been banned from the Michigan campus, despite his status as a UM alumnus.)
Third, and most notably, Shirvell has taken a personal leave from the Michigan AG’s office. This announcement was made today by a spokesperson for Attorney General Mike Cox — who also mentioned that Shirvell will be the subject of a disciplinary hearing when he returns to work.
The news that Shirvell is out of the Michigan AG’s office, at least temporarily, will be welcome to many. But some observers, including our own Elie Mystal, have called for more: namely, Shirvell’s firing.
Let’s pause and consider: Would it be that easy to fire Andrew Shirvell? As a former government lawyer who once blogged about judges while appearing before them as a prosecutor, I have some thoughts on this….
Continue reading “Michigan Assistant AG Andrew Shirvell Goes On Leave
And: Should AG Mike Cox Fire Shirvell?“
Ed. note: Have a question for next week? Send it in to advice@abovethelaw.com
ATL:
I am a 2L at Columbia and I am deciding amongst Cravath, Davis Polk, Debevoise (Elie should chime in now), Paul Weiss, and Sullivan & Cromwell.
I am getting married in December so I would love to work at a family-friendly firm. Like Elie, I’m a raging liberal, and I heard Paul Weiss seems to fit that bill. On the other hand, I want to be at a firm with plenty of lovely women. I am bi and my soon-to-be hubby doesn’t mind if I taste a woman’s sweet nectar. Plus I simply cannot live without a pair of supple breasts in my life. (My man is ripped so no manboobs for me.) I met many cute associates at Davis Polk too and I remember an ATL article that mentions the great number of hotties at DPW.
So many choices! Can you help me out?
– Paradox of Choice
Dear Paradox of Choice,
Nice try, but this question’s a flame because nobody uses the term “sweet nectar” unless they’re (1) referring to the drink Odysseus used to get the Cyclops drunk and poke his eye out, or (2) a copywriter at Cosmo. Nevertheless, we’ll answer it because it’s slim pickings around here this week, and it’s better than another snooze-alert “should I quit law school?” question. Of course you should quit law school. Don’t be ridiculous.
Let’s break down these firms…
Continue reading “Pls Hndle Thx: Family Friendly, Lesbian, Liberal – Is There a Firm for That?”
Time is flying. Today is the first day of October. Fall officially started over a week ago. The Supreme Court Term starts up on Monday.
We all know what this means: law firm bonus season is just around the corner. In recent years, Biglaw bonuses have been announced as early as October. Cravath kicked off the 2007 bonus season by announcing bonuses on October 29 of that year — but that was a very different time, and the news that Cravath was in a rush to announce was good (a generous combination of year-end and “special” bonuses).
Last year, Cravath was also the first major firm to announce bonuses — on November 2, 2009. But the news was a far cry from 2007. Cravath bonuses for 2009 ranged from $7,500 to $30,000 — well short of the 2007 total bonus levels, which ranged from $35,000 to $110,000.
What can we expect of bonuses in 2010?
Continue reading “Pregaming the 2010 Law Firm Bonus Season”
Last week, we asked if there was any value to getting an LL.M. The upshot seems to be that law schools have no idea whether or not their LL.M programs are any good.
In lieu of information from the schools or the ABA, we turn to where we always turn: a magazine. The New York Law Journal has stepped into the rankings fray to rank New York-based LL.M programs.
The results are somewhat surprising. NYU Law has long been considered, by U.S. News and others, to have the best tax LL.M program in the land. But that’s not how the NYLJ sees it.
Of course, there’s a big flaw in the NYLJ’s methodology. Let’s take a closer look — and also find out the winners in the other LL.M. categories….
Continue reading “New York Law Journal Ranks New York LLM Programs”
A rare moment where Mahsa has her mouth shut.
* Prisons are short on lethal injection drugs like thiopental sodium and propofol. Now we can’t kill people anymore. Thanks MJ, thanks a lot. [Wall Street Journal; New York Times]
* There’s a job opening at the Brooklyn DA’s Office. Mahsa Saeidi-Azcuy, one of the only employed contestants on The Apprentice, has left the building. Marin saw this coming weeks ago. [New York Law Journal]
* Obama makes draft picks for courts in the nation’s capital: Caitlin J. Halligan to the D.C. Circuit and Jimmie V. Reyna to the Federal Circuit. [Washington Post]
* Britney Spears is still so overprotected. Daddy Spears will continue to act as co-conservator. [Los Angeles Times]
* There are a million jobs available in the U.S. for highly skilled workers. Sure, our unemployment rate might be 9.5%, but Michael Bloomberg and Rupert Murdoch say we should give those jobs to immigrants instead. [Wall Street Journal]
* Proponents of Colorado’s Amendment 62, which would virtually outlaw abortion, brought a claim to keep voters from knowing all the facts. Ironically, a judge killed it before it became a viable suit. [Denver Daily News]
* Remember the St. John’s mom who embezzled money to pay for her son’s law school tuition? She isn’t a big fan of the Thirteenth Amendment, either. [New York Post]
