September 2011
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Crime, DealBreaker, Insider Trading, Reader Polls, Securities Law, Sentencing Law, Wall Street, White-Collar Crime
An Above the Law / Dealbreaker Debate: Insider-Trading Sentencing
Ed. note: This post was written by Matt Levine, the new editor on our sister site, Dealbreaker, and Elie Mystal. Matt here. You might think that Dealbreaker HQ exists only metaphorically in virtual space, or maybe in the fan fiction you’re hiding in your desk, but in fact Bess and I share a real physical […] -
Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 09.26.11
* Being a wise Latina doesn’t appear to be paying off for Sonia Sotomayor. [Adjunct Law Prof Blog] * Isn’t ending tax breaks the same as instituting tax hikes according to standard Republican logic? Well, whatever, if the power to tax is the power to destroy, let’s see if it works on Snooki. [TPM] * […] - Sponsored
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… -
American Bar Association / ABA, Job Searches, Law Schools, Quote of the Day
Quote of the Day: Law School Opacity
The ABA Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar has done a huge disservice to prospective law students, law schools and the legal profession. The legal employment rate is a basic yet crucial part of informing prospective law students. The failure to require law schools to disclose this rate legitimizes questions about whether […]
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Biglaw, Job Searches, Law Schools, Public Interest
The Best Worst Person to Take Law School Advice From Is Someone Who Didn't Attend Law School
Regardless of the brand name quality of the law schools the editors of Above the Law attended, we can each express our opinions about the costs and benefits of going to law school because we've been there ourselves. But what happens when someone who didn't attend law school -- someone who apparently doesn't even know how long law school lasts -- starts giving out career advice to prospective law students? Ridiculousness, and lots of it.... -
Antonin Scalia, Law Professors, Law Schools, Sex
Same-Sex Dorms: The Cure For Pre-Marital Sex OR The Dumbest Controversy This Month?
Speaking at Duquesne University School of Law, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that Antonin Scalia said: "I hope this place will not yield -- as some Catholic institutions have -- to this politically correct insistence upon suppression of moral judgment, to this distorted view of what diversity in America means." Apparently, this was Scalia's way of supporting Catholic University's same-sex dormitories. Because really, with all of the problems with our system of higher education, it's whether or not boys and girls reside in the same physical building that's the pressing issue worthy of supreme comment.... -
Contracts, Document Review, Litigators, Plaintiffs Firms, Technology, Trials
Prominent Plaintiffs' Attorneys Ordered to Pay Up After Losing Breach of Contract Trial
Last week, more than a dozen high-profile mass torts attorneys lost a San Francisco jury trial against a small technology company. The jury decided the attorneys had illegally breached a document review contract during the high-profile Chinese drywall class-action litigation. Tempers are still running hot, and we've got more from both sides of the dispute…. -
Caption Contests, Contests, Law Schools, Money, Pictures
Caption Contest Finalists: Money to Burn?
Last week, we asked readers to submit possible captions for this explosive photo: For those of you who are just joining us, this photo was taken across the street from George Mason University School of Law. Let’s have a look at what our readers were able to come up with, and then vote on the […] -
Bar Exams, Crime, DUI / DWI, Law Schools
Law Graduates DENIED Opportunity To Sit For Bar Because They Lied To Law Schools About Their Criminal Records
In our day and age, there are enough law schools hanging around that pretty much anybody can get in. Barriers to entry are pretty much at the level where as long as you can fill out a loan application, you can get into law school. Heck, as we reported recently, convicted murderers can get into law school. But you have to tell the truth. You can get into law school with a criminal record, but you have to tell your law school the truth about your record. Apparently, telling the truth is a problem that some people are having.... - Sponsored
The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
ChatGPT ushers in the age of generative AI – even for law firms. -
Biglaw, General Counsel, In-House Counsel, Litigators, Partner Issues
Inside Straight: My Wistful Day
In-house columnist Mark Herrmann is fast approaching the two-year anniversary of his move in-house, and he doesn't often look back wistfully on his former life as a partner at one of the world's largest law firms. But last Tuesday was different. Last Tuesday, the general counsel of an international company called him, and he started to reminisce about his Biglaw days.... -
11th Circuit, Antonin Scalia, Bar Exams, Barack Obama, Career Alternatives, Department of Justice, Drugs, Election 2012, Elena Kagan, Health Care / Medicine, Morning Docket, Old People, Politics, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, SCOTUS
Morning Docket: 09.26.11
* Will the DOJ ask the 11th Circuit to reconsider Obamacare before appealing to SCOTUS to get the president reeelected? Does a bear sh*t in the woods? [Los Angeles Times] * The verdict is in on Elena Kagan’s first year on the bench, and one thing’s for sure: the ladies love her. That’s definitely what […]
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9th Circuit, Alex Kozinski, Clerkships, Federal Judges, Job Searches, New York Times, Quote of the Day
Quote of the Day: The Early Bird Gets the Worm
At birth. — Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, explaining when he begins recruiting law clerks. (Chief Judge Kozinski is quoted in a very interesting New York Times article on the chaotic state of the clerkship application process, which we’ll have more to say about later.) UPDATE […] -
Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 09.23.11
* Don’t they know they’re lapdancing one already dead? [Legal Skills Prof Blog] * Understandable, understandable. Apple’s perfectly, understandable. Comprehensible, comprehensible. Not a bit reprehensible, it’s so defensible. [Technology & Marketing Law Blog] * There are well-heeled shooters everywhere, everywhere. There are well-heeled shooters everywhere. And an awful lot of lettuce for the fella who […] -
Clerkships, Crime, Lawsuit of the Day, Ridiculousness, Rudeness, State Judges, State Judges Are Clowns, Violence
Lawsuit of the Day: This Law Clerk Needs Thicker Skin
Reports the Billings Gazette: "A lawsuit has been filed against Fergus County District Court Judge E. Wayne Phillips by a female law clerk who alleges that the judge slapped her in the buttocks with a legal file." If the clerk's allegation is true, was Judge Phillips's action inappropriate? Certainly. Was it rude? Most definitely. But should it spawn a civil lawsuit, as well as possible criminal charges? Absolutely not. And wait until you hear what the clerk is claiming in damages....
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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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Email Scandals, Law Professors, Law School Deans, Law Schools, Rudeness
Law Professor Basically Tells Student to Stop Being Such a Whiny Little Person
Last week, we received an email titled "the problem with tenure." Elie Mystal actually thinks that this tip illustrates the problem with law students and the classic awesomeness of tenure, but he'll let you be the judge of that. Let this just be a reminder to everybody that they need to respect the chain of command.... -
Career Alternatives, Law Schools, Politics
Career Alternatives for Attorneys: Dictator?
With the legal economy in the toilet, the morale in career services offices has reached an all-time low. They all know that law school graduates are getting sick and tired of putting the "bar" in barista. They all know that law school graduates living the legal grind are busy serving lattes. Well aware of these facts, the career services brigade at one highly-ranked law school decided that it was time to put their heads together and come up with a way to make career alternatives look exciting and new.... -
Antonin Scalia, English Grammar and Usage, Reader Polls
Grammer Pole of the Weak: Substantive Footnotes
In Grammer Pole of the Weak — yes, “Grammer” is intentionally misspelled, as are “Pole” and “Weak” — we consider questions of English grammar and usage. Last week, for example, we looked at a fun an interesting topic: the adjectival use of “fun” (which over 85 percent of you support, even if traditionalists frown upon […] -
Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Biglaw, Bonuses, Citigroup, Money, Partner Issues
Biglaw Starts To Manage Expectations About Bonuses
The first bit of bonus news has leaked out of Biglaw. We're not talking about spring bonuses, and we're not talking about random mid-year bonuses. We're talking about regular, end-of-the-year, take-it-to-the-champagne-room bonuses. And sure, the early news is bad, but that's to be expected. This first report is just what Biglaw wants you to hear. But if the past year in bonus news proves anything, it's that Cravath sets the bonus market, even when they do it late.... -
American Bar Association / ABA, Law Schools, National Association for Law Placement (NALP), Unemployment
The ABA Focuses on Losing the 'Lost Generation,' One Statistic at a Time
Back in June, it became clear that the class of 2010 had some of the worst employment outcomes of the last 20 years. We knew this because of the way NALP categorized its data, differentiating between jobs that require and don't require bar passage, and between full-time and part-time jobs. But apparently the American Bar Association isn't interested in helping people understand these outcomes on a school-by-school basis. The ABA doesn't want you to know how schools fared in finding full-time legal employment for graduates of the class of 2010.... -
9th Circuit, Antitrust, Biglaw, Cars, Celebrities, Crime, Deaths, Family Law, Federal Judges, Kellogg Huber, Law Schools, Lindsay Lohan, Litigators, Mergers and Acquisitions, Morning Docket, Pamela Ann Rymer, Violence
Morning Docket: 09.23.11
* Police suspect that a client may have been the one to plant a bomb in attorney Erik G. Chappell’s car. Stay far away from family law, folks. [New York Daily News] * “How come there’s not a school where people can go if they want to become trial lawyers?” How come you don’t know […]
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Biglaw, Gandolfo "Vince" DiBlasi, H. Rodgin Cohen, Hot Document, Interview Stories, Job Searches, Practice Pointers
An Inside Look at Sullivan & Cromwell's Recruiting Process
Be careful about what you place in the trash. Law firms have paper shredders for a reason; use them. Consider this your practice pointer for the day. Earlier this month, an ATL reader sent us a collection of documents relating to Sullivan & Cromwell's on-campus interviewing program. So, what was in these documents? The contents will be of interest to partners and associates at other firms, as well as law students going through the OCI process right now....