Archive for August 2011

Non-Sequiturs: 08.31.11

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* Some thoughts from our colleague Matt Levine on the Justice Department’s opposition to the AT&T/T-Mobile merger. [Dealbreaker]

* Judge Sam Sparks (W.D. Tex.), king of the benchslap — yes, we already covered his latest handiwork, so no need to email the “kindergarten party” order to us again — has blocked key parts of the Texas sonogram-before-abortion law. [How Appealing]

* Meanwhile, Allen E. Parker Jr., the lawyer on the receiving end of a recent Sam Sparks special in the abortion case, had this to say about His Honor’s saucy order. [Tex Parte Blog]

* Nice work if you can get it: a pair of incoming DLA Piper associates will get paid $145,000 to $160,000 to do pro bono work for a year. [Am Law Daily]

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA)

* Think you’re tough, NYC lawyers? “A D.C. attorney attacked a man with a live power line — downed by Hurricane Irene — during an altercation in which the lawyer used his car as a battering ram against his alleged victim, police said.” [Georgetown DC Patch]

* The ABA and Senator Chuck Grassley continue to be pen pals. Here is law librarian Mark Giangrande’s take on the ABA’s latest response. [Law Librarian Blog]

* Interesting analysis: “How the Media Treated Mexico’s Mass Murder.” [The Awl]

* I agree with Professor Eugene Volokh: “people are constitutionally entitled to speak the truth about others, even with the goal of trying to get them fired.” [Volokh Conspiracy via Instapundit]

* I found a special friend on OkCupid, but the site wasn’t as helpful to Alyssa Bereznak, who had an unfortunate experience dating a world champion of Magic: The Gathering. [Gizmodo]

* If you’d like to check out Billable Hours: The Movie, here’s your chance (until September 10). [NexTV]

* And if you prefer live entertainment, tomorrow night check out the September 1 showcase of Comedians-at-Law (bios here; maybe you know some of these guys). [Comedians-at-Law]

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Thanks to This Week’s Advertisers

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Having just celebrated our fifth anniversary, we would like to extend our thanks to this week’s advertisers on Above the Law. We couldn’t have made it this far without them, so please show them your support:

If you’re interested in advertising on Above the Law or any other site in the Breaking Media network, please download our media kits, or email advertising@breakingmedia.com. Thanks!

Watch Out: There’s a Wanker in the Library!

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And no, we’re not talking about the guy who sits in the front row of Federal Jurisdiction and always has his hand in the air.

We’re speaking more literally — about a man with his hand not up in the air, but down in his pants….

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Two Partners Leave Paul Hastings for Nixon Peabody
(Plus Paul Hastings staff layoffs.)

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During 2011, Paul Hastings has been picking up partners. We previously mentioned their acquiring two prominent leveraged finance lawyers, Michael Michetti and Rich Farley, from Cahill Gordon. Additional hires, including Michael Baker from Shearman & Sterling and Steven Park from Finnegan Henderson, are listed on the PH website.

Like any large firm, however, Paul Hastings loses partners too. We’ve just learned of two partners who are ankling PH for Nixon Peabody.

Let’s find out who they are, get the backstory on their departures, and also obtain the 411 on some PH staff layoffs….

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(Plus Paul Hastings staff layoffs.)“

Small Firms, Big Lawyers: Real Lawyers Settle Cases

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Many litigators have a bias against settlement. It’s understandable. There’s no glamor in settling cases. No one is ever going to make a TV show called “The Settler,” about a young but scrappy underdog lawyer who fiercely negotiates tough-but-fair settlement agreements and always remembers to allow a 21-day waiting period if the plaintiff is 40 or over. (On second thought … better call my agent.)

Forget TV and movies. No lawyer has ever come home with the exciting news about settling a lawsuit (at least, no defense lawyer). “Honey, I settled the Devens case!” “That’s great, dear. Now go mow the lawn.”

In the midnineties, I was a junior associate working on a contentious sexual-harassment case. While we were able to win partial summary judgment, the main claims headed to trial in federal court. During the negotiations before the trial, the partner from my firm had a conversation with the plaintiff’s lawyer, who was that sort of rough-around-the-edges attorney who prided himself on spending a lot of time in the courthouse.

Looking to put my boss in place, the guy took a shot at our firm’s litigation style. Here’s what he said …

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Quote of the Day: Leave the Law to the Lawyers

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[A] rush to open the practice of law to unschooled, unregulated nonlawyers is not the solution [to the justice gap]. This would cause grave harm to clients. Even matters that appear simple, such as uncontested divorces, involve myriad legal rights and responsibilities. If the case is not handled by a professional with appropriate legal training, a person can suffer serious long-term consequences affecting loved ones or financial security.

– William T. “Bill” Robinson III, president of the American Bar Association (ABA), in a letter to the editor of the New York Times. Robinson’s letter responds to an NYT staff editorial arguing that “allow[ing] nonlawyers into the mix” could help address the justice gap, i.e., low-income Americans’ need for legal services.

There’s No Such Thing as Bad Publicity When You’ve Got Swag

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The legal profession isn’t known for its sense of humor. On the contrary, most attorneys take themselves way too seriously. As a result, we see some pretty ridiculous attorney advertising that ends up being unintentionally funny. And while we’re happy to poke gentle fun at these websites and ads, our commentary isn’t always well received. Because another thing that lawyers aren’t known for is the ability to accept criticism.

Knoxville attorney Stephen A. Burroughs, a personal injury and auto accident lawyer and my new favorite person, is an exception to these rules. Anyone from the Knoxville area is likely familiar with Burroughs, having seen his serious, bearded face on billboards all over town.

The ads were so ubiquitous, and Burroughs’s gaze so smoldering and intense, that someone created a Facebook page devoted to Stephen A. Burroughs Memes, transforming Burroughs into Knoxville’s answer to The Most Interesting Man in the World. As the Facebook page gained popularity, the funny memes started pouring in.

Even better than the jokes, though, was Burroughs’s unexpectedly awesome response….

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UVA Law Student Cleared of Assault and Stalking Charges

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Daniel Watkins: cleared of all charges.

Back in May, around the time of the Johnathan Perkins craziness at UVA Law School, we wrote about stalking and assault charges leveled against another UVA law student (and friend of Perkins), Daniel Paul Watkins. An ex-girlfriend and female classmate claimed that Daniel Watkins assaulted and threatened her.

At the time, we quoted a friend of Watkins who counseled caution in reacting to the charges. This source stated that “there is another side to the story, which has yet to surface,” and that observers should “keep an open mind” and “not pass judgment too quickly.”

As it turns out, these words were prescient. A judge just dismissed all of the charges against Daniel P. Watkins….

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Outsourcing By Lawyers, For Lawyers

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In litigation, you probably spend an inordinate amount of time on tedious, repetitive document review tasks. Seems like a waste of high-value resources, doesn’t it?

Enter Pangea3, the most experienced provider of high quality outsourced corporate, litigation, compliance and IP solutions. Pangea3, a Thomson Reuters business, only employs full-time attorneys—now over 700 working from state of the art facilities in India and the United States. When you go to bed, hundreds of talented Pangea3 attorneys are just waking up, ready to tackle your client’s problem—one of the benefits of a 24-hour workflow.

As the gold standard among legal employers, Pangea3 recruits at the best Indian law schools, and has its pick of top Indian talent. Similarly, since it opened its suburban Dallas facility, competition for full-time U.S. positions has been fierce. Regardless of location, all candidates are hired after a rigorous interview process. Since employees are given full benefits, a transparent career track and the opportunity to do work that directly touches some of the biggest corporations and law firms in the world, Pangea3 doesn’t just attract talent, the company retains it.

Regardless of where the work is done, Pangea3 knows how to solve the problems BigLaw associates face because it was founded and is managed by experienced attorneys from Am Law 100 firms. This legal DNA enables Pangea3 to effortlessly integrate its attorneys and intelligent processes into your team to make your job easier and more predictable.

Since its founding, Pangea3 has applied a documented and repeatable process and utilized the most cutting-edge technologies, to complete work in the most efficient way possible.

This year, Pangea3 is a proud sponsor of the 2011 Legal Technology Leadership Summit. Like the intelligent processes Pangea3 uses to improve clients’ efficiency, extend their capacity and provide cost and timeline certainty, technology is a tool that should be used to make attorneys’ lives easier. Thought leaders and decision-makers will attend the summit to discuss the ever-changing impact of technology on the legal world.

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Mistrial in Massage Parlor Prosecution After Masseuse Recognizes Defense Lawyer — as a Client….

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We have the makings of a trend: inappropriate contacts between participants in jury trials. These contacts can be problematic because a jury trial constitutes a delicate ecosystem, in which contacts and communications between actors are regulated strictly to ensure the fairness of the proceedings.

We recently mentioned a case where a juror got sentenced to community service after trying to friend the defendant on Facebook. Well, at least he didn’t try to “poke” her (although perhaps a desire to poke her is what prompted the problematic friend request).

Now we bring you news of, er, more intimate contact between a witness and a lawyer — which culminated in a mistrial….

UPDATE (11:00 AM): Photo of massage therapist Liudmyla Ksenych, a petite and pretty brunette, added after the jump.

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Morning Docket: 08.31.11

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* You don’t have the right to get half naked in an airport to protest the TSA’s policies. Aaron Tobey’s lawsuit has been stripped of its Fourth Amendment claims following a dismissal. [Washington Post]

* Paul Ceglia has to give Facebook every email he’s exchanged since 2003. If Ceglia’s like most men, lawyers at Gibson Dunn will get an interesting peek at his private life. [Wall Street Journal]

* An HIV/AIDS group has been charged with improperly spending federal funds. They were supposed to open a job training center. They allegedly opened a strip club. Problem? [Washington Examiner]

* Pit bulls are cute until they bite your face off (but they do get a bad rap because of bad owners). This ADA lawsuit may help overturn residential dog breed restrictions in Colorado. [ABA Journal]

* In a case of a playboy getting hustled, a man is suing over a $28,109.60 bar tab charged on his credit card at the Hustler Club. Talk about going tit for tat. [New York Post]

A Happy Fifth Birthday to Above the Law — and Our Thanks

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Above the Law launched five years ago today, on August 30, 2006. If you like, you can take a trip down memory lane and read my letter from the editor, introducing ATL to the world.

Reaching this milestone is no small feat. If you think of Above the Law as a blog, this is a major accomplishment; in the words of one observer, the typical blog “has the lifespan of a fruitfly,” with most blogs being abandoned within a year. If you think of Above the Law as a business, this is also noteworthy; according to the Small Business Administration, new firms have about a 50 percent survival rate in the first five years.

So, on the occasion of our fifth anniversary — or “blogiversary,” as some say — we’d like to give thanks. We extend our deepest gratitude to our wonderful readers, our knowledgeable tipsters, our generous sponsors, our talented fellow journalists and bloggers, and our loyal friends. We couldn’t have made it this far without you.

That’s our main message, and you can stop reading here. If you’re interested, though, feel free to read on, as I identify five ways in which Above the Law has changed and evolved over the past half-decade.

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