Well, it’s a start. If you think it’s a good thing for law schools to be more transparent about the employment prospects of their students, then you have to applaud Washington & Lee Law School. The school had been building a bit of a reputation for taking an outside-the-box approach to legal education, but that momentum seemed to stall with the departure of Dean Rodney Smolla (to become the president of Furman University).
But one good way to distinguish yourself from other law schools is to tell the truth to prospective law students. Washington & Lee just dumped 17 pages of employment information on its admitted students. A lot of it is public information, such as general statistical data about legal employment, but still.
Having led the horses to water, we’ll see if any of these kids want to take a drink…
Continue reading “Washington & Lee Law School Makes Lengthy Employment Disclosure to Prospective Students”
I guess in some ways the legal economy across the pond is just as challenging as it is in America. And it seems that some British students are just as averse to personal responsibility as American students. A graduate of Oxford Law the Oxford Institute of Legal Practice is suing the school for £100,000, claiming that the school “ruined” her legal career.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post may have given the erroneous impression that the plaintiff is suing the University of Oxford, the venerable and world-renowned institution that most people are referring to when they refer to “Oxford.” Although the plaintiff attended the University of Oxford as an undergraduate, where she studied law, she is actually suing the Oxford Institute of Legal Practice. According to a tipster who’s a graduate of the University of Oxford, the Oxford Institute of Legal Practice — which happens to be located in Oxford, UK — is not currently affiliated with the University of Oxford.
How did OXILP ruin her career? She claims that they didn’t prepare her to take crucial legal exams. Yeah, let me rephrase: she failed her exams and is now blaming the school.
You know, if Ben Kenobi was still alive, I think he’d scream, “You have done that yourself.” But let’s hear the sad tale of Maria Abramova…
Continue reading “Woman Sues Oxford Institute of Legal Practice For Ruining Her Career”
We’ve already shown you what it looks like when an associate gets laid off from a law firm. It’s not pretty.
What does it look like when a law firm fires — or tries to fire — a partner?
Well, that is even uglier….
Continue reading “Biglaw Blind Item: What Does It Look Like When A Partner Gets Fired?”
Earlier this month, we surveyed you to find out how satisfied you were with your 2010 year-end bonus. Half of all associates whose firms had announced bonus payments reported dissatisfaction with their year-end bonuses.
In today’s survey, we want to find out how many of you are actually going to put your money where your mouth is and leave your firm after collecting your bonus (whether due to dissatisfaction with your bonus or just general unhappiness with your firm). Or has all the recent buzz about springtime bonuses encouraged you to stick around for a while? As always, your responses are kept completely confidential.
For all the latest bonus news, check out the updated law firm profiles at the Career Center, hosted by Lateral Link.
If you can't do this, there's no point in getting a J.D.
Well, I think we are officially at the point in the legal economy where servicing law school debts is just like servicing an expensive drug habit. The parallels between the two are too great to ignore:
- Is it something you started because everybody else was doing it?
- Is it something you initially thought was a harmless way to kill some time?
- Did somebody make wild claims about how “great” it would be for you to try it?
- Do you find yourself whoring yourself out in order to make money for it?
In the J.D. context, we usually think of “whoring” as a figurative state. But not for much longer.
We already know that many strippers do what they do in order to get money for their drugs. Now, through the wonders of Craigslist, we’re about to see strippers baring all in order to get money for their educational debts.
Sallie Mae might be just a lending institution now, but she dreams of becoming a madam…
Continue reading “Ladies: A J.D. Will NOT Prevent You From Fulfilling Your Stripper Dreams”
In our last story on the trials and tribulations of Howrey, we expressed doubt that a full-on merger between Howrey and Winston & Strawn would take place. We suggested that Winston would probably wind up “picking up large chunks of Howrey, maybe even entire offices — just like Sonnenschein picked up 100 lawyers from Thacher Proffitt, during TPW’s final days.”
And that appears to be what’s happening now. According to The Recorder, Winston extended individual offers to a little over 75 percent of Howrey partners over the weekend.
And what about the remaining 25 percent? A recruiter familiar with the situation told The Recorder that they either have conflicts issues or aren’t interested in winding up at Winston.
What else do we know about the situation?
Continue reading “Winston Reportedly Makes Offers to Over 75 Percent of Howrey Partners”
I used to race home to have sex with my wife. Now I leave work a half-hour early so I can get home before she does and masturbate to porn.
— “Perry,” a 41-year-old lawyer, quoted in a recent New York magazine article on pornography’s effect on the male libido.
* I wish my creepy landlord spied on me. I’d be $326,000 richer after paying off my law school loans. [FloriDUH / Sun-Sentinel]
* Why deal with civil unions in Illinois before massive budget issues? Because the gays know how to plan a party, so kiss that deficit goodbye. [Chicago Tribune]
* Halle Berry is preparing for a custody battle. Most readers won’t care about this story because it doesn’t involve Halle Berry’s boobs. [New York Daily News]
* “Widener already offers Delawareans an elite, first-rate law school.” Cocaine’s a hell of a drug. [Delaware News Journal]
* Maybe Toshiba is paying its women less because they’re like the company’s computers — always acting up and giving blue balls screens. [Reuters]
* If you have to pay AT&T more money to access iFart on your iPhone, then I say it’s a fair deal. I’m a girl and even I think that’s awesome. [CNET]
* Will kicking Obamacare to the curb be our new “Sputnik Moment”? Wait, did Russia get rid of their socialist healthcare system before we did? [U.S. News]
