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 bonus towards holiday shopping.
Let’s check out the full memo…
Continue reading “Associate Bonus Watch: Willkie Farr Matches Cravath”
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 a first-year associate, you have no skills or experience that any client reading your bio cares about. Whether you graduated Order of the Crotch Coif or have rudimentary knowledge of Latin is immaterial to whether you can send around the dial-in, make copies or create binders. I know your semester abroad in Seville and internship at Footlocker are important accomplishments to you. But to the outside world, your bio page exists solely to cover the remote possibility that the partner, senior associate and midlevel all die in a plane crash, and the client needs to shoot you an email about getting other people staffed on the project ASAP….
Continue reading “Pls Hndle Thx: If You Don’t Know Me By Now”
Marc Hanrahan, of Milbank Tweed, and Jeff Trinklein, of Gibson Dunn.
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, Cravath, Gibson Dunn, Milbank, Shearman & Sterling, Sidley, and Simpson Thacher.
Without further ado, the envelope, please….
Continue reading “Career Center Survey Results: Top Partners to Work For – New York (Part 3)”
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 their superstars and knock a potential new client’s socks off.
The firm will look to its heavy-hitters, none of whom have ever tried a case in the field in which the target client does business, or given a talk or written an article in the relevant field, or given the subject a moment’s thought.
But the heavy-hitters will go into the conference room and explain that they are the world’s finest trial lawyers, they have great trial experience, and litigation is, after all, just a toolkit. A person who can try one case can try ‘em all. Hire us.
Will it work?
Continue reading “Inside Straight: The Incumbency Advantage”
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 objects to the cause of action. Of course, it helps if the morally objectionable cause of action happens to double as the insane ravings of a madman.
The New Mexico law firm of Modrall Sperling was evidently asked if it would represent the son of God. But the firm decided not to tempt fate. Apparently, not every firm is hard up to generate business…
Continue reading “Declination Letter of the Day: Never Say Lawyers Have No Standards”
* 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 Judiciary Committee unanimously passed a bill that would extend copyright protection to such culturally important touchstones as Ed Hardy T-shirts and skinny jeans. [WSJ Law Blog]
* The F.T.C. is pushing a plan to curb monitoring of internet users by web sites. Lat and Elie are watching you. [CNET]
* The GOP will hold the extension of unemployment benefits hostage in order to re-up the Bush tax cuts. Consider this contract attorney who fully expects to get sh*tcanned tomorrow not amused. [Christian Science Monitor]
* This felon apparently sought to avail himself of the full complement of strikes and balls. [New York Times]
This is a truly innovative approach to helping at-risk children. This is a truly sad commentary on the state of our society. This is a great way to introduce children to the concept of having a lawyer. I can’t believe we need to explain to children why they need a lawyer. This is a tale of a comic book, and it is truly the best thing I’ve seen that is so terrible.
The ABA Journal has a fascinating feature about a four-page comic book called: I Got Arrested, Now What. It was created as a final project for the Youth Justice Board, a program run by the Center for Court Innovation in New York City. The board is comprised of public school high school students from the City.
One of the students on the board explained the need for this comic book:
“All of us came in with the mindset that we wanted to change something in New York City,” says Khaair, a senior at Francis Lewis High School in Queens who didn’t want his last name published. “I feel like the youth of New York City don’t have representation—and we really need a voice, especially for the stuff that involves us.”
And since this is New York City, the “stuff” that our youths need guidance on is what to do when they get arrested. You simply must check out this comic book…
Continue reading “Comic Book Walks Juvenile Offenders Through the Justice System”
Happy Chanukah, or Hanukkah, or Chanukkah!
* Job seekers: there’s nothing wrong with a good old fashioned résumé. It isn’t necessary to create an eleven-page slideshow, replete with clip art and stock photos, explaining why you should be hired (unless you wish to be mocked on the internets). [Dealbreaker]
* Remember legal secretary Jaki Nelson’s salacious lawsuit against Jones Day? Partner Frederick “Rick” McKnight, whom she accused of using the n-word, is stepping down as partner-in-charge of the Los Angeles office. [eBossWatch]
* Does Simpson Thacher’s new policy of docking pay for delinquent timekeepers run afoul of the law? [The Careerist]
* Speaking of employment laws, what do they have to say about a Norwegian boss’s practice of making menstruating employees wear red bracelets? [Law and More]
* You know things are bad when the parties dispute where to hold their alternative dispute resolution. [South Florida Lawyers]
* To our Jewish readers: Happy Hanukkah! Here’s a parody video, set to the tune of Taio Cruz’s “Dynamite,” that you might enjoy. [YouTube]
If you graduated from law school in the late 1990s, you may have warm and fuzzy feelings for Gunderson Dettmer, the high-powered Silicon Valley law firm that represents many startup and technology companies. As you may recall, back in 1999 the firm made waves by offering new associates a starting salary of $125,000 — significantly higher than the $100,000 that was standard at the time.
This pay raise then spread around the country, adopted by law firms nationwide as the new standard. Gunderson’s gutsy move generated goodwill from young associates around the country.
But these days Gunderson is getting some less favorable publicity….
Continue reading “Gunderson Dettmer ‘Blacklisted’ By Startup Accelerator”
As if law students did have enough to worry about when trying to get jobs, career services at Boston University School of Law has pointed out another potential pitfall that may terrify its students. According to BU, merely reading the WikiLeaks documents could prevent you from getting the security clearances necessary to get certain government jobs.
It sounds crazy. I’m talking “BU career services has been watching too many Oliver Stone movies” crazy. Basically, I don’t think the federal government is even competent enough to find all the Wikileaks readers and blacklist them from the federal payroll. I mean, if the FBI or CIA or whatever really was the kind of omnipresent force idealized in movies, tell me how Julian Assange is still alive, much less in a position to publish thousands of confidential documents.
But if you listen to BU, it sounds like reading Wikileaks is a risk that already desperate 2Ls shouldn’t take….
Continue reading “Could Just Reading WikiLeaks Get You Nixed From Working as a Federal Attorney?”
Paul Engelmayer, of WilmerHale, and Sandra Edelman, of Dorsey & Whitney.
Yesterday we introduced the first group of New York partners selected by our readers as the best partners to work for. Today we continue our presentation of the top New York partners.
The eight partners we present today practice at some of the country’s most well-known and well-regarded law firms: Cleary Gottlieb, Dorsey & Whitney, Fish & Richardson, Jones Day, Milbank Tweed, Schulte Roth & Zabel, Simpson Thacher, and WilmerHale.
Let’s learn who they are….
Continue reading “Career Center Survey Results: Top Partners to Work For – New York (Part 2)”
First of all, Happy Chanukah. May your candles burn bright.
It is certainly possible that some lowly internet hacker was trying to take advantage of some holiday compassion when he or she hacked the email of Harvard Law School Professor Charles Nesson. Nesson is a well-known figure in “internet and the law” circles — as well as to readers of A Civil Action, who know him as “Billion Dollar Charlie” — but today he’s just another victim of a phishing attack. An email went out to the HLS community this morning claiming that Nesson was stuck in the U.K. and in desperate need of money.
We can’t be sure if Nesson will be able to find and bring charges against the hacker, but let’s hope that if he does he isn’t forced to rely on HLS students for legal advice…
Continue reading “HLS Potpourri: Professor Nesson Victim of Phishing, While Students Fish for Constitutional Protection from the TSA”
500 West End Avenue: former home of Tina Fey, until she sold - to a law firm partner.
After suffering through a brutal recession that was fueled, in part, by the collapse of the real estate market, you’d think that nobody would want to read about real estate ever again. But that’s not what’s happening in the blogosphere, where real estate is hotter than ever.
For example, consider Lockhart Steele’s Curbed, an excellent network of sites focused on real estate and interior design. Curbed is thriving, and it recently launched a national edition.
Above the Law readers are similarly obsessed with real estate. Is it because everyone had to take Property as 1Ls? For whatever reason, Lawyerly Lairs is one of our most popular and well-trafficked features. The last installment, a visit to the $4.7 million Chicago townhouse of outgoing Northwestern Law dean David Van Zandt, continues to be a top post (even though it dates back to before Thanksgiving).
So let’s give you more of the real estate porn you want and deserve. In today’s Lawyerly Lairs, focused on ATL’s home city of New York, we look at the recently acquired, envy-inducing residences of partners at three leading law firms: White & Case, Sullivan & Cromwell, and Linklaters.
The first featured residence even has a celebrity connection: the seller was Tina Fey, fabulous television and movie star (and Sarah Palin impersonator)….
Continue reading “Lawyerly Lairs: Three Partners’ Palatial Pads”
Ed. note: This post is by Will Meyerhofer, a former Sullivan & Cromwell attorney turned psychotherapist. He holds degrees from Harvard, NYU Law, and The Hunter College School of Social Work, and he blogs at The People’s Therapist. His new book Life is a Brief Opportunity for Joy, is available on Amazon.
My client was a hard-boiled commercial litigator, a junior partner. “When you want a street fight, call me in,” was one of her mottos. She won cases. She made a lot of money. She kicked ass.
She was having issues with a second year associate.
At first, they got along. The associate was bright, and wanted to impress. The problem was deeper. As the partner put it bluntly: “She just isn’t cut out for this place.”
Yeah. That old line. But now I was sitting with the partner who was saying it, nodding my head in agreement.
Here was the situation:
The associate grew up working class – a smart big fish in a small pond. She expected to compete and win, like she always had. Her aim at the firm was to show everyone she was the smartest one there. So she worked endless hours, volunteered advice before she was asked, and chatted about French films at lunch.
The partner hated her…
Continue reading “Both Sides Now”
* One soldier responded to the Pentagon’s DADT survey by asking “How far are we going to go with this whole gay thing? Am I supposed to celebrate gayness – do they get to wear a rainbow flag on their uniform?” Just the tip, sure, and only if they earn the badge. [Washington Post]
* Interpol has put Julian Assange on its most-wanted list. The Strokes did it better. [CNN]
* A European antitrust investigation of Google shows that size matters. For Bing, there’s ExtenZe. [Los Angeles Times]
* New York judges may be getting their first raises in 12 years. [New York Times]
* Charlie Rangel’s legal team didn’t cover itself in glory. [Associated Press]
* The FCC will take up net neutrality at a December 21 meeting. Anything that might make ATL load slower must be fought with a demented sort of urgency. Everyone, write your congressmen! [Reuters]
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 media marketing.
