December 2010
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Associate Bonus Watch 2010, Biglaw, Bonuses, Money
Associate Bonus Speculation: Will Cahill Double the Market In Secret?
Bonus season is in full swing, and it appears that most Biglaw firms are falling in line behind Cravath. The chances of a firm besting the Cravath scale in any meaningful way grow slimmer everyday. But according to one tipster, there is still hope for associates, and it’s coming from an unlikely place. A tipster […] -
Billable Hours, Brown Rudnick, Partner Issues
Brown Rudnick Shows Steven Pesner How to Inspire Time Keeping Compliance
Last month, we profiled Steven Pesner, a partner at Akin Gump who sounded like an egomaniac while threatening associates who did not promptly enter in their time. Prior to Pesner, Simpson Thacher threatened to dock the pay of timekeepers who are delinquent. Entering time is important, but sometimes you can get more flies with honey […] - Sponsored
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Gay, Law Schools, Quote of the Day, Richard Posner
Judge Posner Clarifies Remarks on Homosexual Priests
Earlier this week, we selected as a Quote of the Day a controversial quip from a post by Judge Richard Posner on The Becker-Posner Blog. The quote read: The problem of priests’ sexually molesting boys would be solved if priests were allowed to marry and if women could be priests, because then the priesthood would […]
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Law Schools, Vermin / Rodents / Pests
Why Did the Bedbug Cross the Road -- and Enter New York Law School?
Yesterday we received this horrified email from a law student at Seton Hall: “Have recently been informed that NYLS has bedbugs. EWWW!” When you’re the object of scorn emanating from Newark, you know you’ve got problems. [FN1] But the news appears to be true. Yesterday the New York Law School community was notified of a […] -
Boutique Law Firms, Contract Attorneys, Small Law Firms, Technology, Williams & Connolly
Could Hardinger & Tanenholz Represent the Future of E-Discovery in Biglaw?
Earlier this week, I had the chance to sit down with David Tanenholz, one of the co-founders and partners at Hardinger & Tanenholz LLP (H&T), which is one of the few firms — if not the first — to promote itself solely as “discovery counsel.” And with their experience as Biglaw alumni, the two founders […] -
Job Searches
Interview Season Will Start Even Earlier at Harvard Law School
If we all try really hard, maybe we can get 2L interviewing season to start immediately after 1L finals. For the second time in three years, Harvard Law School has decided to start it’s early interviewing program (EIP) earlier in the year. But this time they’ve also decided to push back the start of fall […] -
Associate Bonus Watch 2010
Associate Bonus Watch: MoFo Promises to Match, Even in Markets Where It Doesn't Know What It Will Be Matching
Late last night, Morrison & Foerster announced its bonus structure, kind of. The firm will be matching the Cravath bonus in New York, it hopes. And it will be matching the market in other markets, whatever that market turns out to be. You can tell that a lawyer (as opposed to a PR professional) wrote […] -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 12.03.10
* Irving H. Picard, captain of the USS Sue JP Morgan. [New York Times Dealbook] * For some, the DREAM is a college education and citizenship. For others, the DREAM is that Home Depot doesn’t start enforcing an anti-loitering policy. [CNN International] * The U.S. government has continually broken legal limits while spying on citizens. […]
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Airplanes / Aviation, Constitutional Law, Hotties, Videos
Slightly Crazy Blonde Disrobes for TSA
I’m surprised we’re not seeing more of this. As TSA continues to scan and/or feel-up everybody who gets on a plane, raising questions under the Fourth Amendment, an Oklahoman woman stripped down to her underwear to prove a point. According to a report by News 9 – Oklahoma, Dr. Tammy Banovac, 52, arrived at the […] -
Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 12.02.11
* Charlie Rangel is brilliant. He’s bitched about this censure so much that some people might actually believe this punishment is an acceptable substitute for the expulsion he so richly deserves. [Los Angeles Times] * Professor Stephen Bainbridge schools Judge Posner on Catholicism. [Professor Bainbridge] * Crime dramas for every law student. [Legal Skills Prof […] -
Associate Bonus Watch 2010, Biglaw, Bonuses, Money
Associate Bonus Watch: Proskauer Rose Matches
Proskauer Rose just announced its 2010 bonuses. Drama? Suspense? Tension? Please. A rose by any other name still smells like Cravath. Proskauer matched the Cravath bonus scale. Had Proskauer beaten the market, It would have been more surprising than learning that life can use arsenic as a fundamental building block. We don’t have the full […] -
Intellectual Property, Quote of the Day
Quote of the Day: Thank God for the Collective Action Problem
My dream would be to have 10,000-20,000 people file all three documents to the lawyers and severely cripple the entire process and show them that you shouldn’t be allowed to join so many defendants. — Graham Syfert, a lawyer who created standardized documents to help people defend themselves from illegal download lawsuits without having to […] -
Admin, Fabulosity, Holidays and Seasons, Parties, Practical Law Company (PLC)
Invitation to the ATL Holiday Party
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. No, not because we enjoy wasting time and money trying to buy off family members with presents. It’s a great time of year because we are about to have an opportunity to interact with our readers, face-to-face. That’s right, it’s time for a holiday party. Our friends […]
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Blogging, Small Law Firms, Social Networking Websites, Technology
Attention Small Law Firms: Beware the Social Media Marketer
Small law firms have many of the same management issues as Biglaw firms, but often deal with them differently — for example, setting billable hour requirements and adjusting pay scales to keep their lawyers happy (or at least just happy enough not to quit). One such issue that keeps coming to my attention is social […] -
Associate Bonus Watch 2010, Biglaw, Bonuses, Money, Willkie Farr
Associate Bonus Watch: Willkie Farr Matches Cravath
The memo is just coming in now, but the news is not shocking. Willkie Farr has decided to match the Cravath bonus scale, continuing the trend of everybody mindlessly doing whatever Cravath tells them to do. The bonuses will be paid on December 17th, so Willkie associates will still have some time to put the […] -
pls hndle thx
Pls Hndle Thx: If You Don't Know Me By Now
Ed. note: Have a question for next week? Send it in to advice@abovethelaw.com Dear ATL, I am a first-year associate tasked with writing my bio page for our website. Do you have any tips on how to write a bio that is not god-awful? — Autobiography of a Face Dear Autobiography of a Face, As […] -
Advertising, Biglaw, Career Center, Partner Issues, Shameless Plugs, This Is an Ad
Career Center Survey Results: Top Partners to Work For – New York (Part 3)
Today we wrap up our coverage of the partners at New York law firms whom you have nominated as being the best to work for. You can see the earlier coverage here and here. The eight partners we present today are making associates’ lives better at the following fabulous firms: Alston & Bird, Cleary Gottlieb, […] -
Biglaw, In-House Counsel
Inside Straight: The Incumbency Advantage
Ed. note: This is the latest installment of Inside Straight, Above the Law’s new column for in-house counsel, written by Mark Herrmann. Think for a minute about business development for law firms. Your firm wants to expand its litigation presence in a particular practice area. What do you do? Many firms figure they’ll march out […] -
Religion
Declination Letter of the Day: Never Say Lawyers Have No Standards
Just so you guys know, lawyers don’t represent every client who walks through the door. Really. I know that the public perception of lawyers is that they’ll take just about any client, but it’s not true. And not just because some cases are “dogs.” Sometimes lawyers turn down clients simply because the law firm morally […] -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 12.02.10
* Milkshakes off the Atlantic coast and in the eastern Gulf of Mexico will remain undrunk through 2017. [Washington Post] * The Illinois Senate approved legislation that recognizes gay and lesbian civil unions yesterday. A separate institution enforcing many of the same rights as marriage. Separate but equal. Morally unimpeachable. [Chicago Sun-Times] * The Senate […]