October is typically a prime wedding month, yet we’ve seen a precipitous and unaccountable prestige drop-off in the NYT over the past couple of weeks. You know it’s lean times when the only Ivy in the batch is UPenn, which has a big-time football program and therefore can’t be academically serious.
Also, witness this rare occurrence: a groom so unprestigious that the NYT can’t even bring itself to befoul its pages with his educational credentials! (LEWW found them here.)
But never fear, we’ve managed to find some wheat among the chaff:
Marisa Katz and Adam Bellack
Peyton McNutt and Elizabeth Healey
Kuang Chiang and Adam Supple
More on these couples, plus our comprehensive list of all the legal-eagle weddings, after the jump.
Continue reading “Legal Eagle Wedding Watch: Firm Yet Supple”
A posting on Raleigh’s Craigslist board has been flagged for abuse and taken down three times. This post doesn’t use profanity, it doesn’t offer illicit services, there’s really nothing offensive about it.
The Craigslist moderators must just think that it’s a joke. But we’ve seen these type of ads before. A disgruntled law graduate goes onto Craigslist, looking for someone to buy his law degree. It happens.
In the past, as in the case with this Georgetown Law graduate, the J.D. holder has been looking for a little bit of money to offset the massive cost of a degree which cannot be turned into a job. But this new fellow seems to have an even more reasonable request. He just wants to get some lunch out of the deal…
Continue reading “The Barter Deal From a Law Graduate Craigslist Doesn’t Want You To See”
This week, when I wasn’t taking lessons in constitutional law from Christine O’Donnell, the greatest candidate for the United States Senate ever, or honing my brief drafting skills with the help of a Ph.D., I spent the time putting together this week’s legal technology Rundown.
In this edition, we see that a lot of lawyers will be working for or against BP for quite some time, and a former Senator explains why shipping American jobs overseas is a good thing. There is also some news on Qualcomm, a little cloud talk from north of the border, Rocket Matter is in “sync,” and much, much more…
Continue reading “The Rundown: This Week in Legal Technology – 10.22.10″
Payback may be a bitch, but she rarely moves so swiftly. As we just mentioned in Fame Brief, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is fielding more allegations about his sexual preferences today, after former girlfriend Lillian McEwen made some “explosive” statements to the Washington Post about her time with the Supreme Court justice.
I put “explosive” in scare quotes, because really all we’re learning from McEwen is that Justice Thomas likes (or liked, she dated him a long time ago) boobs and porn. Is that really such a big deal? Hey, quick question: Would you rather be reading this article about Clarence Thomas and Lillian McEwen right now, or doing something that involved boobs and porn? I know what my answer is. But like most of you, apparently watching boobs and porn is “FROWNED UPON in this ESTABLISHMENT.”
But does enjoying (sorry, allegedly enjoying) the mystifying undulations of the opposite sex make Clarence Thomas unfit to sit on the high court?
Continue reading “Clarence & Ginni Thomas Learn About Karma the Hard Way”
Ginni Thomas could be accidently dialing Anita Hill in this photo.
By now it’s ancient news that Virginia “Ginni” Thomas — wife of Justice Clarence Thomas, Tea Party-er, and Heritage Club Foundation member — lost her damn mind and called Anita Hill. Many news outlets have speculated as to what in God’s name could possibly have motivated Ginni to “reach across the airwaves and the years” and ask for an apology, like some creepy ex-boyfriend from high school who hasn’t moved on.
Some of them conclude with infuriating non-theories like “only time will tell” or “we’ll never know.” That is unacceptable.
I’ve compiled a list of sung and unsung theories of the phone call and included a reader poll, so that we as a community can determine what really happened, record it in Wikipedia, and get on with our lives. Because, as Ginni herself might say, this is America. And majority rules….
Continue reading “Fame Brief: Seven Theories on Ginni Thomas’s Call to Anita Hill & A Reader Poll”
I don’t want to step on Oprah’s toes, but I have a book recommendation for you: Law of Attraction. No, it has nothing to do with this law of attraction. Yes, you will enjoy it.
This Law of Attraction is a novel by Allison Leotta, a federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C. It’s a fun, fast-paced read; I could hardly put it down, finishing it in two sittings. I concur with the blurb by Harvard law professor and criminal defense attorney Alan Dershowitz: “I loved this novel. Law of Attraction is realistic, gritty, and filled with twists and turns. Allison Leotta’s female lawyer character is compelling and engaging. This is a great read for anyone who loves legal thrillers, cares about domestic violence, or wonders how lawyers can live with themselves.”
(Disclosure: I also enjoyed Law of Attraction because it contains an Above the Law cameo. After the protagonist, assistant U.S. attorney Anna Curtis, gets in trouble, her misadventures wind up on ATL (pp. 217-18). The novel even contains fictionalized comments from the peanut gallery of Above the Law commenters — which are hilarious.)
I spoke with Leotta recently, while she was in New York to meet with her agent and do a book reading. We discussed such subjects as why, and how, she wrote her novel; the Department of Justice review process for the book; how she juggles her day job as a prosecutor, her writing career, and being the mother to two kids; and her advice to lawyers who want to become writers.
Continue reading “Law of Attraction: Meet Allison Leotta, Novelist and Federal Prosecutor”
* Robert Gates has now issued a memo saying only the heads of the Army, Navy, and Air Force may approve discharges under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Gates’ predecessor was right. Democracy is messy. [CNN]
* Ginni Thomas did not intend to call Obamacare unconstitutional. But if the health care law would like to apologize, that’d be cool. [Los Angeles Times]
* The practice of checking the credit history of job applicants discriminates against blacks, Latinos, and me. [WSJ Law Blog]
* The creator of Facebook app Farmville has been sued for being awful. Or something. I didn’t read this one all that carefully. [Am Law Daily]
* A poll of prospective law school students found that most would still apply even if they were told jobs would be scarce upon graduation. If transparency doesn’t help, will we ever truly be able to suck each other’s popsicles? [The National Law Journal]
* Homeowners in New York who win foreclosure proceedings against their lenders will now recoup lawyers’ fees thanks to a new law. Doesn’t matter who cuts the check as long as we get paid. Am I right, guys? *raises hand to high-five, remembers he’s a contract attorney, slowly lowers hand* [New York Times]
What you are about to see will entertain you. It will make you feel good about yourself. It will make you thankful that, despite whatever hurdles you have faced in your life, it never came to this.
In fact, the first comment on the YouTube clip I’m about to show you was written by the person who posted the video. It says simply “it has come to this…”
And it has. Ladies and Gentleman, I bring the video resume and hip-hop stylings of a would-be lawyer…
Continue reading “Video Resume of a Rapping Lawyer”
* Hallowed ground is not sacred? [Simple Justice]
* … Here are some things you can and cannot do around graves. [Infamy or Praise]
* I didn’t know this till I saw this happening outside the ATL offices this summer, but apparently it’s completely legal for women to go topless in New York City. Will the same liberalism come to Massachusetts? [WSJ Law Blog]
* A brief history of British legal blogging. Sorry ladies, no accents, just text. [Legal Week]
* Remember when the economy was hot enough that departure memos could be epic? [Last Day at the Office Emails]
* The guy who tried to ruin South Park pleads guilty to providing support to terrorists. I hope this guy meets Woodsy the Owl in prison. [BL1Y]
* Frisking people merely to cop a feel as a prophylactic safety measure is not cool. [Underdog]
* If you missed it earlier, please check out my editorial about bullying. I really think this is the version of the argument that will win over all but the most unrealistic of my critics. [Daily News]
We don’t usually have a lot of time to scour minute orders from the Orange County Superior Court.
But our readers do, and we rely on you guys to bring us the excellent news nobody knows about. Today, a loyal reader sent us some rulings from the Orange County last month. And one ruling caught our eye. We’re going to reprint it below, but scroll to the bottom of page 1 of this document if you want to see it in the original.
But before you look, take a second and think about the etymology of the word “piecemeal.” Don’t Google, just think. Okay, now think about whether it would be appropriate to use the word as a verb.
Okay, now consider what the judge thinks (especially if you are a lawyer in Orange County)…
Continue reading “Minute Order of the Day: Etymological Benchslap from California Superior Court”
Yesterday I was busy trying to keep bullies out of jail. Check out my editorial in the New York Daily News for a full discussion on how I would handle mean children. But while I was away, news broke that the Syracuse College of Law is conducting its very own witch hunt, which could lead to the expulsion and deportation of a kid accused of saying mean things on the internet.
I’m telling you guys, this country is going to hell, one ridiculous overreaction at a time.
If you missed the story, the ABA Journal has a nice summary of what’s going on at Syracuse. The facts are pretty straightforward: student writes a satirical blog which attributes funny, Onion-style quotes to real people. The real people get their panties in a bunch. Syracuse launches an investigation into whether or not the blog constituted libelous bullying of other students, and whether the student author should be expelled for a “code of conduct” violation.
Now, to be clear, if we are going to hold people accountable for being mean to others, expulsion (and not jail) is a far more appropriate response. But, to my mind, this isn’t libel. This is clear parody, and satire should be protected, not punished…
Continue reading “Syracuse College of Law Tries to Learn the Difference Between Satire and Libel”
I’d like to believe we live on a planet where reason dictates the choices we make as well as the policies of law firms. As numerous personal experiences and Above the Law articles have demonstrated to me, this isn’t always the case. And nowhere is this irrationality more perplexing than firm policies towards LinkedIn recommendations.
LinkedIn has a feature that allows lawyers and clients to write recommendations of each other. For a recommendation to be published online, it has to “accepted” by the person being recommended. The problem is, major law firms are prohibiting the use of LinkedIn recommendations by their attorneys (both inbound and outbound). Referrals and peer-to-peer recommendations are the lifeblood of most practices.
So why are so many firms prohibiting their use online?
Continue reading “LinkedIn Recommendations: Yay or Nay?”
Over 650 of you responded to last week’s salary survey. In poring over the results, I learned several lessons:
(1) Don’t make salary questions fill-in-the-blank. It creates a host of problems, including the inadvertent omitting/adding of zeroes, and makes data compilation and analysis unnecessarily difficult.
(2) Do include open-ended “anything else” questions; people write all sorts of amusing things given the chance.
(3) Don’t misspell “where” on question number seven.
So, let’s get to the $64,000 question: How much money are small firm lawyers making?
Continue reading “A Small Firm Salary Survey: The Results (Part 1)”
I just bought 4 bottles of wine in sweats at 530 on a monday night. F**k law school.
– a poster at Texts From Last Night
1Ls are getting settled into their routine at Columbia Law School. Apparently, that routine includes receiving super positive messages from Columbia Law Dean, David Schizer. The dean emailed all of the new 1Ls and communicated some very positive stats about the law school.
It’s never too early for law students to think about their employment prospects. And so Dean Schizer decided to tell 1Ls the employments stats of their colleagues in the class of 2010.
But can the stats be trusted? Columbia has not signed up for the Law School Transparency Project, so Dean Schizer’s numbers should be looked at with inherent skepticism. But he wouldn’t mislead current students, right?
Continue reading “Quick Question: Does Almost Every 2010 Columbia Student Have a Job?”
Jenn Sterger
* A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit spells justice, P-S-Y-C-H-E. [New York Times]
* The Arizona Supreme Court refused to order the state to disclose where they got the lethal mixture that will put Jeffrey Landrigan to death, even though it likely came from a foreign source. While Landrigan is likely upset about the outcome, he surely appreciates the irony in Arizona relying on immigrant drugs to kill him. [The Arizona Republic]
* Hoosier attorney? Indiana Democrats are sore about Barnes & Thornburg’s sweet deal to represent the state’s human services agency. [Business Week]
* Jenn Sterger has retained legal counsel to represent her in the Favre cock-troversy. [CNN]
* A judge ruled this week that Baker & McKenzie cannot go digging through a former associate’s mental records just because he sought damages for pain and suffering when suing them. I can’t wait to see what Denzel and Hanks do with this story. [Am Law Daily]
* 30 years from now, when your children ask you what a bank was, you can tell them it was a financial institution that went extinct due to mean lawyers and their depositions. [Wall Street Journal]
Megyn Kelly of Fox News
I had the opportunity to take my surprisingly controversial argument that bullies shouldn’t be thrown in jail to a television audience. Megyn Kelly, the host of America Live on Fox News and a former litigator at Jones Day, invited me on her program and gave my argument a fair hearing.
Once again, I think my core principles here are sound: children shouldn’t kill themselves, children shouldn’t be incarcerated because other children kill themselves, and children should learn appropriate coping mechanisms when faced with embarrassment and humiliation.
As we all know, I have an insatiable appetite to offend and then devour fresh souls, but I become particularly strong when I can drink the tears of children. Kelly did everything she could to keep me from sounding like a raving lunatic who likes putting babies on spikes, but some people will come away convinced that I’m a heartless sociopath.
What do you think? Take a look at the clip, and let me know just how bad karma will eventually bite me on the backside…
Continue reading “Don’t Put Bullies in Jail: Now With Video!”
Erin Andrews
* Ginni Thomas cancels a radio appearance in the wake of the controversy over her phone call to Anita Hill. [The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times]
* Consistent with its name, TheDirty website takes the view that you can’t keep (nude photos of) a good woman down. [The Not-So-Private Parts / Forbes]
* Congratulations to Stephen Dillard, who proves that it is possible to maintain a blog and still win a judicial appointment. [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]
* If you receive a crazy or funny departure memo, please send it to us — or send it to this website (especially if you don’t work for a legal employer). [Last Day at the Office Emails]
* Given my love for Lady Gaga, it should come as no surprise that I’m looking forward to speaking at Cornell Law tomorrow. [Cornell Law School]
* Law professor Jay Wexler is willing to offer Christine O’Donnell some help on separation of church and state. [Holy Hullabaloos]
