Wait, did Charlie Sheen get a Cravath bonus too?
* While Cravath reignites competition over associate bonuses, Howrey associates are starting to wonder if ATL is running any kind of Nationwide Severance Watch. [Washingtonian]
* Is the Cravath bonus big enough that we could call it the “Live Charlie Sheen’s life for a day” bonus? [Radar Online]
* Hillary Clinton completed the “full Ginsburg” on Sunday; we’ll see if S&C goes the full Cravath before the week is out. [Political Wire]
* I’m not surprised a couple of Harvard students were the first ones to try and use computers to get laid back in 1965. Even today, few Harvard students understand that the key to getting chicks to pursue you is to get a job at Cravath. [GQ]
* With the Superbowl in town, Dallas judges are limiting their requests for jurors in an effort to ease traffic. Or they could just tell them that they’ll only be receiving a Skadden bonus for their time; that should keep people from showing up. [Star-Telegram]
Amy Chua
* I’m not in favor of strict constitutionalism, but for the first time in a while, strict Cravathism might be good for the Biglaw market. [Bell and Bar]
* Hearing Larry Summers fight with Amy Chua over how to educate young girls is like hearing Weil Gotshal lecture Cravath on how to be a market leader in associate compensation. [Wall Street Journal]
* This week’s Blawg Review addresses nasty internet commenters. Sounds like the Blawg Reviewers are hearing a lot of stuff from DPW associates as opposed to peer, Cravath commenters. [Koehler Law via Blawg Review]
The venerable firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore — still widely regarded as setting the market for associate compensation at large law firms, even if other places pay more — has announced springtime bonuses. These bonuses are on top of the recent year-end bonuses that Cravath paid in December 2010.
And get this: the CSM bonuses are higher than the spring bonuses previously announced by Sullivan & Cromwell. Wow!!!
For the classes of 2010 though 2008, the bonuses are on the S&C scale. But for the class of 2007 on up (more senior), the Cravath bonuses are more generous than SullCrom’s.
It seems that Cravath has gotten the memo: Cachet is nice, but cash is nicer.
So how generous are the Cravath bonuses for the more senior classes?
UPDATE (8:45 PM): After the jump, we have added a table comparing the Cravath total bonus to the Sullivan & Cromwell / Simpson Thacher / Cleary Gottlieb total bonus.
Continue reading “Associate Bonus Watch: Cravath Enters the Bonus Wars — and Beats S&C!”
Well this should be fun. Florida federal judge Roger Vinson has struck down the heart of Obama’s health care reform plan, finding that the individual mandate part of the bill is unconstitutional and therefore the whole thing is unconstitutional.
As Ashby Jones points out on the WSJ Law Blog, that makes the score 2 – 2. Two federal judges have upheld the law; two others have struck it down.
You know what that means? It means that very soon America will be operating under the Anthony M. Kennedy health care system. Does Justice Kennedy think that I have a right to health care? Does he think that pre-existing conditions should be covered? Is he comfortable having an entire nation’s health care system held hostage by a few insurance giants?
Exciting questions! I can’t wait to see how a man who nobody elected will decide our medical futures….
Continue reading “Florida Judge Strikes Down Obamacare”
Above the Law’s coverage of small law firms is about to ramp up. We will soon be announcing our two new writers on the small firm beat.
(If you responded to our open call for new columnists, we thank you for your interest. We received a slew of excellent applications, which made the selection process very difficult.)
Also on the topic of small firms, I recently had the pleasure of judging the LexisNexis Ultimate Law Firm Marketing Makeover contest, open to solo practitioners and small law firms across the country. I was joined on the judging panel by legal marketing guru Larry Bodine; Carolyn Elefant, of MyShingle.com; and David Palmieri and Carol Eversen, both vice presidents at LexisNexis.
So who won the grand prize — a suite of LexisNexis law firm marketing services, valued at $50,000?
Continue reading “Congratulations to the Winner of LexisNexis’s Small Law Firm Marketing Makeover!”
Judge Gary Sharpe
Do you think there is a child porn “gene”? It’s an interesting scientific question (although I don’t really care, because I don’t believe in genetic determinism). I’m sure that one day science will give us some kind of answer.
But it is not this day. At this point we don’t know if there are any genetic predispositions that explain why sick-ass people are sexually excited by naked children.
This limit in our scientific understanding did not stop U.S. District Judge Gary Sharpe from sentencing an offender based on his belief about what science will one day uncover.
Well, the power of judges may be inscrutable, but it’s not absolute. They can’t make entire sequences of DNA show up on demand. They can’t see into the future. And apparently they can’t keep their sentences from being overturned on appeal when they base their decisions on science that does not exist…
Continue reading “Judge of the Day: Sentence Based on Judge’s Genetic Theories Overturned”
Job openings in the legal industry are up by 97 percent (December 2010 over December 2009).
— A Sign of Hope for More Hiring, New York Times
(Speaking of jobs, Above the Law has a new jobs board. If you’re looking for a new job, check out all the listings over here. If you’re an employer with a position you’re looking to fill, please email winnie@breakingmedia.com. Thanks.)
Confucius say: "Sit down and watch my home video of my Carnival cruise or I'll sue you."
Chinese New Year is this week (February 3rd). May the year of the rabbit bring you health and good fortune. Holiday preparations are well underway, and hopefully people will take the time to reconnect with family and friends.
And if you don’t visit your parents, they might sue you. A new proposal from the Chinese Civil Affairs Ministry seeks to mandate parental visits from Chinese children. And if the children don’t regularly visit their parents, the parents can sue.
We shouldn’t look at this as a new law: it’s just a modern update on an ancient law. Old people have long tried to find ways of forcing their kids to pay attention to them. Some societies use laws, others use the magical threat of eternal damnation. Some parents merely trust that their own skills in psychological torture will keep the kiddies hanging around on the off chance that one day mommy or daddy will be “proud” of them.
But as modern medicine artificially extends life, every society is wrestling with the problem of what to do with old people nobody cares about anymore. China has a long history of trying to regulate the most intimate of familial interactions, so when you think about it, this proposal isn’t really shocking…
Continue reading “‘Tiger Mothers’ Hoping to Sue the Children Who Grow Up to Hate Them”
Ed. note: This is the latest installment of Inside Straight, Above the Law’s new column for in-house counsel, written by Mark Herrmann.
It’s odd to be one of the legal world’s shoulders to cry on.
This began when I went in-house a little more than a year ago. I started getting calls from lawyer-friends asking me how I’d managed to pull this off and how they could replicate the move. Then Lat and Mystal invited me to write this column, and complete strangers started to pose the same questions to me.
It’s like being Ground Zero for the disaffected.
This gives you a skewed view of the world, because folks who are delighted with their jobs don’t chime in (or, at least, don’t chime in to express disaffection). But being on the receiving end of so many bad vibes does make you sensitive to how many unhappy lawyers exist.
This made me a keen observer last week at a presentation about how workforce happiness affects operational results….
Continue reading “Inside Straight: Human Resources and the Law”
* Lawyers, just as an FYI, downgrading from a Porsche to a Beamer won’t make you look poor. [New Jersey Law Journal]
* Representing Porsche and then punching another lawyer in the head? That’s another story. [Times-Tribune]
* Repeal this, bitch. The Ninth Circuit has politely flipped the DOJ the bird over its request to suspend a DADT lawsuit. [Washington Post]
* Stiffing a stripper after getting a stiffy is just bad form – $32,000 worth of boners plus interest ain’t cheap. [New York Post]
* Being asked to “gay it up” on American Idol isn’t so bad. Ryan Seacrest makes $15M a year for doing that. [Toronto Sun]
* Patent laws might change, but I’m more interested in the invention in the picture. What’s a Lapkin? [Philadelphia Inquirer]
* After striking out against Irving Picard, the Mets are looking to sell. “MAYBE FINALLY THESE MORONS CAN SELL THE TEAM ALREADY!!!! SELL THE TEAM!!!!!!!!!!!” [New York Daily News]
* The first rule of law in Egypt is that you do not talk about rule of law in Egypt. [Chicago Sun-Times]
Ed. note: Gabe Acevedo will be covering LegalTech for Above the Law this year. If you are interested in communicating with someone from ATL about LegalTech coverage, please contact Gabe at gabe@gabesguide.com. Thanks.
The pregame show for LegalTech New York 2011 has been in full swing the last few weeks. Vendors and their PR reps have been constantly reaching out via emails, text messages, phone calls, and smoke signals, to contact industry experts, “thought leaders,” law firm decision makers, members of the media, and, perhaps most importantly, knuckleheads like me. All are doing their best to generate “buzz” before they announce their new products, alliances, services — fill in the blank as you see fit — at the conference.
Then, at 9:00 AM on Monday, LegalTech New York will open with what I am certain will be a riveting keynote address from Gabriel Buigas, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel of Hewlett Packard, entitled Legal vs. IT: Turn the Battle into a Solution to Meet Compliance. At that point, everything will reach a crescendo.
Well, not exactly.
Don’t get me wrong; I am sure Gabriel Buigas will give an excellent speech. But the real action will begin at 10 AM, when the doors to the exhibit hall open. That is when all hell breaks loose, and hundreds of technology vendors will be eagerly waiting to share with you the great news about their respective companies.
With that as a backdrop, here is some of what I expect to see at this year’s LegalTech….
Continue reading “The LegalTech Pregame Show”
Justice Sonia Sotomayor
* Professor Carlton Larson has a great new paper exploring possible constitutional limitations on state laws regulating baby names. Could parental rights to name a child “Dumb Motherf**ker,” “Preserved Fish,” or “Latrina” be protected by the First Amendment? [SSRN via Legal Blog Watch]
* Speaking of the Wise Latrina, Justice Sonia Sotomayor is a fan of bipartisan seating at the State of the Union. Her colleagues’ email skills? Not so much. [How Appealing]
* Illinois law professor Larry Ribstein on the Rahm Emanuel ruling: “Illinois law is better interpreted to say that before a Washington pol runs again in the midwest he needs some time reacquaint himself with the real world.” [Truth on the Market]
* Congratulations to DLA Piper, which will become the world’s largest law firm after a merger Down Under. [Bloomberg]
* And congratulations to former DLA partner Ted Segal — he’s moving over to regional firm Stradley Ronon, in part because of client concerns over billing rates. [Washington Business Journal]
* Wow, that was fast. Rep. Dennis Kucinich has already settled his lawsuit over olive-triggered dental damage. [Dave Weigel / Slate]
Sean Combs aka Diddy
* This complaint makes Jonathan Lee Riches v. Jared Lee Loughner sound like the height of sanity. A woman is suing P. Diddy, blaming him for the collapse of the World Trade Center. [Radar Online]
* A state transit agency in Virginia that has paid Williams Mullen more than $6.5 million over the past five years might be shifting legal work away from the firm. [Virginian-Pilot]
* You can call Above the Law “the most worst legal website published in the State of New York,” and we won’t sue you for defamation. (Cue jokes about truth as a defense in 3, 2, 1….) [New York Law Journal via ABA Journal]
Ed. note: Have a question for next week? Send it in to advice@abovethelaw.com.
Dear ATL,
I’m an associate at a mid-sized law firm, and I recently received an offer from a much larger and more prestigious firm. I’ve decided to accept. My question is: should I ask for a signing bonus, and if so, how large? The salary bump from what I’m earning right now is already huge, so I feel greedy asking for more, especially in this economy. But if I can get it, why not, right?
– Money Never Sleeps
Dear Money Never Sleeps,
Here’s a sample of some of the items that landed in my inbox this week: One reader wanted to know whether to ask the firm where she was contracting at to upgrade her to associate. Somebody else requested an opinion on whether law school was still a bad idea given that he currently makes $16,000 a year and manages a coffee shop. And Mint.com, my passive-aggressive personal finance site, emailed me to “let me know” that I was over budget for “Alcohol & Entertainment” expenditures in January. And then I received your question. Yeah….
Continue reading “Pls Hndle Thx: Should You Ask for Lateral Signing Bonuses?”
In our coverage last month of top law firm partners to work for, Wilson Sonsini did well. See here and here.
(Speaking of Wilson Sonsini partners, the firm recently announced nine new ones — including Rick Frenkel, of “Troll Tracker” fame. Congratulations!)
Not only does WSGR have some great partners to work for, but they will also pay you if you work there. Getting paid is… nice.
How much will Wilson Sonsini associates receive in 2010 bonuses and 2011 base salaries?
Let’s look at the memo that went out yesterday….
Continue reading “Associate Bonus (and Salary) Watch: Wilson Sonsini”
Earlier this week, we told you about a class action lawsuit filed against Taco Bell over its taco fillings. The lawsuit alleges that Taco Bell inaccurately claims to be selling “seasoned beef” when in fact it is selling “taco meat filling.”
We didn’t think Taco Bell would take these allegations lying down. The WSJ Law Blog tells us that Taco Bell lawyers are thinking outside the bun box and contemplating a countersuit.
But today brings news of a more traditional response from the fast food giant: an all-out media blitz to assure customers about the quality of its food.
Taco Bell is issuing press releases, taking out full-page ads in newspapers, and even has their president talking about the Taco Bell “seasoned beef” recipe on YouTube. Sadly, Taco Bell isn’t available on SeamlessWeb here at the office — so I can talk about the ad campaign, but can’t experience it in my belly…
Continue reading “Taco Bell Launches Meaty Offensive Over Its Beef”
This week brought annual reviews and individual bonus news for associates at Morgan Lewis & Bockius. Today (Friday) is payday, so everyone at MLB should know their bonus by now (or fairly soon).
Back in November, firm chairman Francis M. Milone stated that 2010 bonuses would be “substantially larger” than last year. So that set expectations fairly high.
Did the MLB bonuses live up to the hype?
Continue reading “Associate Bonus Watch: Morgan Lewis & Bockius”
I know lots of guys fantasize about boinking “barely legal” teenage girls. Not me, I like women: fully formed, adult women. There’s just something unseemly about older men salivating over girls who could have been in high school a year ago. Call me crazy, but it’s just more interesting as an adult to be intimate with other adults.
Similarly, I like my lawyers to actually practice law. There’s something unseemly about watching market forces turn law school graduates into glorified paralegals and secretaries. Call me a prude, but there’s just something gross about seeing young, nubile attorneys going around begging for document review positions. These people spent three years of their lives and six figures of their (or someone else’s) money to get law degrees; they should have something to show for their efforts.
But even if I don’t like to look, I can’t deny that this is happening. We are all living in a time that will be studied by future generations: a time when attorney career paths bifurcated, between traditional partnership-track associates and what I’ll call “barely legal” career paths….
Continue reading “Law Graduates: Welcome to Your ‘Barely Legal’ Future”
* Rahm’s back. And now you’re all in big BIG trouble. [Chicago Tribune]
* It was a resounding victory for Rahm Emanuel, but two justices didn’t think the majority needed to benchslap so hard. [Chicago Sun-Times]
* No more jokes about Allen Stanford. Still, that picture reminds me of a Geto Boys album cover. [TPMMuckraker]
* All your Facebook pics are belong to us. [Reuters]
* Arizona is like that racist uncle who won’t shut up about immigrants and refuses to leave even after peeing in the corner of your mom’s dining room. Don’t act like your family is better than mine. [Arizona Republic]
* So this kid dumped a piano onto a sandbar off the coast of South Florida, all for a college application. The art school equivalent of a 180. [New York Times]
Developments are flying fast and furious out of Howrey. Yesterday we passed along reports that Howrey’s merger talks with Winston & Strawn were off. Today we’re hearing that they might be back on (or that they never stopped in the first place).
According to the U.K.-based Legal Week (via the ABA Journal), the talks are ongoing. The parties are represented by Thomas Fitzgerald, managing partner of Winston, and Sean Boland, vice chairman of Howrey. Winston is apparently attracted to antitrust at Howrey, an area where Winston wants to expand.
Corroboration of continued Winston / Howrey discussions from a U.S. source, plus some interesting internal emails from Howrey leadership, after the jump.
Continue reading “Howrey Going to Make This Merger Happen?
(Plus two interesting internal emails.)“
