August 2011
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California, Law Professors, Law Schools, Legal Ethics, Money, Peter Lattman, Reader Polls, Wall Street
Should UCLA Law School Accept Milken's Millions?
Ah, California. Your weather is amazing, but we don't want to deal with your earthquakes. Over at UCLA Law School, they're experiencing some earth-shaking controversy of their own. An ultra-wealthy alumnus made it rain, with a $10 million gift to the school -- but now some professors want to rain on his parade, and their objections have hit the national news media.... -
Crime, Facebook, Fashion, Kids, Money, Non-Sequiturs, Rape, Sports
Non-Sequiturs: 08.23.11
* According to the latest allegations, Hacksaw McDaniel might be Steve the Child Sex Predator. [Macon Telegraph] * Libyans. We’re very happy you took your country back, but could you pass a law saying something like “shooting guns in the air as a celebration is just f***ing dumb”? Thanks. [Huffington Post] * I absolutely do […] - Sponsored
The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
ChatGPT ushers in the age of generative AI – even for law firms. -
Advertising, Biglaw, Career Center, Interview Stories, Job Searches, Shameless Plugs, Summer Associates, This Is an Ad
Career Center: The Callback Interview - Why the Relaxed, Well Prepared Student Will Prevail
Congratulations! After enduring several hours of OCI “speed dating,” you scored a callback interview. You have done your research, gotten “in the zone,” and it’s off to the firm reception area for a day of interviews. You’re tense — which is proof that you’re alive and that you care. You’re worried that you don’t know […]
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Nauseating Things, Small Law Firms
Size Matters: Gerard Depart-Two
Who among us does not love bathroom humor? No one, however, wants to live a poop joke. And, according to a conversation that columnist Valerie Katz had with two small-firm attorneys, they are doing just that.... -
Biglaw, Billable Hours, Continuing Legal Education / CLE, Education / Schools, Law Schools
Making First-Year Associates Less Useless, One Class At A Time
One of the lasting effects of the recession has been clients wising up on the value of first-year associates (or the lack thereof). So two major law firms are going to try something different with their first-years. The first-years will get paid their usual $160K salary. But at least at the start, they'll have to go through more training.... -
Disasters / Emergencies, Holy Crap, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, UVA Law
The D.C. Earthquake of 2011!
Yesterday, a 5.9 earthquake hit Washington, D.C., and tremors were felt from the Carolinas all the way up to Maine. The White House was evacuated, courts closed, and law firms stopped operating. This thing literally rocked the legal world. Where were you when the east coast earthquake of 2011 hit? -
Biglaw, Gay, Gay Marriage, Health Care / Medicine, McCarter & English, Money, Perks / Fringe Benefits, Tax Law
Biglaw Perk Watch: The Gay Gross-Up Is All the Rage
Here in the great state of New York, marriage equality is the order of the day — as it is in five other states, plus D.C.. But due to the Defense of Marriage Act, the federal tax code does not recognize same-sex unions. As a result, as explained by the law firm of McCarter & […] -
Biglaw, Job Searches, Law Schools
At Brigham Young, OCI Is A Laughing Matter
On-campus interview season has started at law schools all across the land, and it appears that the wild and crazy kids from BYU Law are taking the stress of OCI in stride. Given the economy, there aren't really enough OCI slots to go around. Some BYU Law students decided to have a little fun with that fact.... - Sponsored
Navigating Financial Success by Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Maximizing Firm Performance
In this CLE-eligible webinar, we’ll explore the most common accounting pitfalls and how to avoid them for your firm. -
Bar Exams, Job Searches, Law Schools, Rankings, Student Loans
The 'Best Value' Law Schools of 2011
The National Jurist has released the fifth annual list of the 60 Best Value law schools. But this year, the National Jurist made some adjustments to its rankings methodology to account for "fairness." Everyone gets a trophy in this year's Best Value rankings. You may be surprised at some of the law schools that made this year's Best Value honor roll. Check and see if your school made the list.... -
Crime, Deaths, Law Schools, Murder, Police, Prisons, Violence
The Lauren Giddings Murder Investigation: Some Updates
It has been a few weeks since we last wrote at length about the investigation into the murder of Lauren Giddings. A former neighbor and classmate of Giddings, Stephen M. McDaniel, 25, has been charged with her murder. McDaniel is being held at the Bibb County jail, where he has been for several weeks. There have been a few recent developments in the case -- nothing major, but still worth noting.... -
Bar Exams, Biglaw, Clarence Thomas, Crime, Health Care / Medicine, Law Schools, Morning Docket, Politics, Supreme Court
Morning Docket: 08.23.11
* With a recommendation for dismissal filed, Dominique Strauss-Kahn hopes to bid adieu to his rape charges and say au revoir to our country. [CNN] * Apparently your law school can still be on the Best Value honor roll even if its bar passage rates suck abysmally. What up CUNY Law. [National Jurist] * It’ll […]
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Biglaw, Partner Issues, Partner Profits
Are Biglaw PPP Stats Any More Reliable Than Law School Employment Stats?
The danger in having a for profit magazine in charge of collecting and publicizing critical information is that the magazine doesn’t have any oversight audit authority to confirm that its information is accurate. As we mentioned in Morning Docket, the big scandal of the day involved the Citi Private Bank Law Firm Group unit suggesting […] -
9th Circuit, Eliot Spitzer, Federal Judges, General Counsel, In-House Counsel, Law Professors, Non-Sequiturs, Ted Frank
Non-Sequiturs: 08.22.11
* Does your fledgling company need a full-time general counsel? Lance Levy lays out some considerations. [In-House Blog] * Why is Marc Randazza “the most inappropriate man in the world”? Well, how many briefs have you filed with phallus-filled footnotes? (Say that last part ten times fast.) [Popehat] * New England Patriots defensive tackle Albert […]
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Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
If 2023 introduced legal professionals to generative AI, then 2024 will be when law firms start adapting to utilize it. Things are moving fast, so…
Sponsored
The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
ChatGPT ushers in the age of generative AI – even for law firms.
Sponsored
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
How to best leverage generative AI as an early adopter with ethical use.
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Navigating Financial Success by Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Maximizing Firm Performance
In this CLE-eligible webinar, we’ll explore the most common accounting pitfalls and how to avoid them for your firm.
Sponsored
Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
The rise of remote work has dramatically reshaped the relationship between Lawyers and Law Firms, see how Scale LLP has taken the steps to get…
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Attorney Misconduct, California, Deaths, Kids, Legal Ethics, Quote of the Day
Quote of the Day: If You Don't Have Anything Nice to Say...
What kind of people search out an attorney who, um … yeah. — Jerome Fishkin, an ethics attorney, noting that attorney Nabil Samaan’s supportive comments relating to the apparent murder-suicide of niece Madeline Layla Samaan-Fay and brother Mourad “Moni” Samaan may be detrimental to Samaan’s law practice. (The Center for Judicial Excellence has announced it […] -
Biglaw, Job Searches, Law Schools
Quinn OCI Irks Fordham Law Kids, But Maybe They Should Blame Fordham
It's time for on-campus interviewing. It's a stressful time, but law students know they can make it better if they are successful during OCI. If only they can wow the law-firm interviewers who show up on campus. The problem is that for many law students, especially those at schools ranked outside the top national institutions, their OCI fate was decided long before they shook the hand of any interviewer. One tipster is just now realizing that, and he is understandably pissed.... -
Crime, Divorce Train Wrecks, Family Law, Fashion, Fashion Is Fun, Hotties, Murder, Sex, Sex Scandals, Small Law Firms
Chicago-Area Lawyer Accused of Murder for Hire Pleads Not Guilty(And ATL readers come to his defense.)
It's not every day that a small firm lawyer is accused of murder for hire. But that's what happened earlier this month, when Illinois lawyer Jason W. Smiekel was accused of trying to put a hit out on a former client.... -
Gay, Gay Marriage, Lesbians, New Jersey, Weddings
'No Dress for You!' A New Jersey Bridal Boutique Goes 'Gown Nazi' on a Lesbian Bride-to-Be
Now that our assistant editor, Staci Zaretsky, is a member of the bridal class of 2012 (or 2013, we shall see), she can commiserate with the woes of her fellow brides-to-be. And in this case, she can't even begin to imagine what she would do if she was denied the dress of her dreams simply based on the person she loves.... -
Biglaw, In-House Counsel
Inside Straight: Keeping People In The Loop
How much do other people have to know? This question comes up in many different contexts, and answering it always requires a little judgment. At law firms, the questions often involve what the partner or the client needs to know. These people are supposed to be kept in the loop, but that task may be […] -
Election 2012, Federal Government, Litigatrix, Politics, Tax Law, William and Mary School of Law
As A Lawyer, Bachmann Worked For The Tax Collectors
We all know Michele Bachmann as the Tea Party darling running for the Republican presidential nomination. But few people know that before Bachmann became a crazy-eyed, anti-tax standard bearer, Bachmann was a lawyer. A tax lawyer. Working for the IRS. That's right, as a lawyer Bachmann helped the government collect taxes.... -
Blogging, Law Professors, Law Schools
The Tenured Law Prof Turned 'Scamblogger' Reveals Himself
Earlier this month, we wrote about an anonymous law professor -- a tenured professor, at a top-tier school -- essentially joining the ranks of the law school scambloggers. Well, as it turns out, LawProf is an actual tenured law professor, at a top 50 law school. Who is he, and where does he teach?