October 2011
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In-House Counsel, Job Searches, Money
House Rules: In-House for Life?
So you’ve decided to take the plunge in-house. You have likely had to accept a pay cut. Not the worst thing to have happen, given that you’re about to get your life back. But most in-house counsel do not make the mid-six figure salaries of senior associates, or junior partners.... -
Bankruptcy, Barack Obama, Education / Schools, Law Schools, Politics, Student Loans
Obama's 'New' Plans For Student Debt Are Not New In Any Way
Yesterday, President Obama announced "new" programs to help students in debt. At least, he wants the media to report these programs as "new." Those who have been paying attention, such as debt-saddled law students, will recognize that there is very little "new" about these programs.... - Sponsored
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
How to best leverage generative AI as an early adopter with ethical use. -
In-House Counsel, Romance and Dating
The Dæmon Lover
The People's Therapist, Will Meyerhofer, wants you to know that this happens a lot. It begins with the standard set-up. You feel trapped. Hate your life. Nerves shot. Self-esteem shredded. You know the drill: Biglaw. That's when the dæmon lover appears. It doesn't end well....
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Animal Law, Insider Trading, Law Professors, Lindsay Lohan, Morning Docket, Music, Racism, Sentencing Law
Morning Docket: 10.26.11
* Rajabba is appealing his insider trading convictions and prison sentence, but someone needs to suffer for this outrage. Where are Solo and the Wookiee when you need them? [Bloomberg] * PETA is suing SeaWorld on Thirteenth Amendment grounds for enslaving killer whales. Oh, so the only marine animals you’ll help have to be black […]
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Advertising, Google / Search Engines, Law Schools
One Law School's Guerrilla Advertising Campaign Makes It Look Kinda Silly
As I’ve mentioned before, there are all sorts of restrictions on what lawyers can do to advertise to the general public. Law schools have no such concerns. They can say pretty much whatever they want, wherever they want — and when they get sued for their alleged misrepresentations, they can just kick blame to the […] -
Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 10.25.11
* Schools are using the fear of school shootings to get students to disregard the fact that their lockers are being searched. It’s so hard to protect rights when people are so afraid that they’ll give them away. [Simple Justice] * Given the above, I guess it shouldn’t be surprising that now the government wants […] -
Airplanes / Aviation, Disasters / Emergencies, Email Scandals, Technology
Airline E-mails Could Play a Big Part in Buffalo, NY Plane Crash Lawsuit
I’ve been writing about electronic discovery for almost three years now. I’ve learned that most of the time, it’s not worth trying to interest non-attorneys in the subject. My friends’, family’s, and girlfriend’s eyes glaze over pretty quickly when I started mentioning the EDRM model or document review. So when I saw the story early […] -
Clarence Thomas, Constitutional Law, John Yoo, Quote of the Day, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Wall Street Journal
Quote of the Day: Hope There Weren't Any Coke Cans on the Table
Clarence Thomas set the table for the tea party by making originalism fashionable again. — Berkeley Law professor John Yoo, in an interesting Wall Street Journal piece discussing how his former boss, Justice Clarence Thomas, has defended the Constitution and embraced originalism during his twenty years on the high court. - 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… -
Small Law Firms, Technology
Size Matters: Be the Guy That Writes the Book
Valerie Katz interviewed a small-firm attorney, wondering if one can turn a niche practice specialty into a twenty-one-year career. If you are Fred Hopengarten, the answer is yes. Becoming an antenna zoning lawyer, while perhaps not the most obvious specialization, was a natural fit for Hopengarten.... -
Advertising, Biglaw, Career Center, Chadbourne & Parke, Partner Issues, Reader Polls, Shameless Plugs, This Is an Ad, White & Case
Career Center Survey Results: Top Partners to Work For – New York (Part 3)
Today we conclude our coverage of the top New York partners to work for, as selected by our readers (see earlier coverage here and here). These seven partners are proof that you can be a good partner who is good to associates while working at premier Biglaw firms like Chadbourne & Parke, Cadwalader, White & […] -
Fashion, Fashion Is Fun, Fashion Victims Unit, Guilty Pleasures, Law Schools, Reality TV, Shopping, Television
A Crime of Fashion: When Law Students Dress Like Hookers
One of our tipsters alerted us to an episode of TLC's What Not to Wear -- the world's greatest guilty pleasure television show -- that we seem to have missed when it aired last year. The show featured a 2L from a southern law school, but this girl dressed more like a prostitute facing arraignment (sorry, Reema) than the lawyer representing her. So who is she, was she hot, what law school did she attend, and were Stacy and Clinton able to change this girl from a hooker to a looker? -
Biglaw, Cheapness, Divorce Train Wrecks, Hotties, Money, Partner Issues, Pictures, Slideshows
A Cadwalader Partner, His Deaf Daughter, and His Playboy Bunny Ex-Fiancée
Ira Schacter is back in the news. He's accused of refusing to pay for his teen daughter's $12,000 hearing aids, while dropping $215,000 on a diamond engagement ring for his Playboy-bunny fiancée. If true, that's pretty shoddy behavior -- the very embodiment of cheapness, from a big-time Biglaw partner who can easily afford twelve grand.... -
American Bar Association / ABA, Bar Exams, Law Schools, New York Times
New York Times Op-Ed Advocates Letting Everybody Play 'Lawyer'
Occasionally lawyers have to deal with op-eds like the one just featured in the New York Times. Clifford Winston of the Brookings Institution argues that everybody should be allowed to practice law. Seriously, everybody. No law school, no bar exam, if you want to do legal work, go right ahead. Somehow Winston believes that allowing untrained dumbasses to take advantage of poor people who don't know any better will magically help poor people....
Sponsored
Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
Navigating Financial Success by Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Maximizing Firm Performance
Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
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The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
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Jews, Letter from London, Money, United Kingdom / Great Britain
Letter from London: Our Greatest Fear
When Hitler came to power in January 1933, more than half of Berlin’s 3,400 lawyers were of Jewish origin. All of them, alongside the thousands of other Jews practising law throughout the rest of Germany, were forced to re-apply for admission to the national bar. At which point, only German-Jewish lawyers who had qualified before […] -
Antitrust, Biglaw, Divorce Train Wrecks, Drugs, Guns / Firearms, Morning Docket, Oral Sex / Blow Jobs, Solo Practitioners
Morning Docket: 10.25.11
* Cloudy with a chance of dismissal for Steve Sunshine, Sprint’s Skaddenite. During oral argument, a judge reminded him that antitrust law didn’t exist to protect competitors. [Wall Street Journal] * Oh, the things you’ll argue to get around a motion to dismiss: Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s accuser now contends that diplomatic immunity isn’t a pass for […]
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Biglaw, California, Crime, Health Care / Medicine, Kids, Partner Issues, Sexual Harassment, Small Law Firms, Solo Practitioners, White-Collar Crime
Bad News for Former Biglaw Partners on the West Coast
Many former partners at major law firms spend their post-Biglaw years living large -- as well they should. After all, they worked very hard, for many years, to amass seven-figure, eight-figure, or even nine-figure fortunes. After leaving behind the life of billing 2000+ hours a year, they finally have time to enjoy the fruits of their labor. But not all ex-partners find themselves on Easy Street. Take, for example, these two ex-partners in California -- one whose civil suit against her former firm isn't going so well, and one who might be going from Biglaw, to a small firm, to the Big House.... -
Airplanes / Aviation, Boalt Hall, Health Care / Medicine, Jury Duty, Law Schools, Malpractice, Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 10.24.11
* The TSA must be stopped. They’re now leaving creepy notes when they spy personal items in your luggage. [Not So Private Parts / Forbes] * Law students, trust me, there’s nothing on your Facebook page that three more points on the LSAT won’t fix. [WSJ Law Blog] * Berkeley Law 1Ls are playing an […] -
Bad Ideas, Law Schools, Ridiculousness, Rudeness
Georgia State Law Students Poke a Little Fun at Their Classmates
Last week, we told you about some law students who were holding tryouts -- and charging a $20 application fee -- to fill the final two spots in their study group. The students in the group were roundly mocked. But students at the Georgia State University College of Law didn't feel the need to defend their school or the silly students in the study group. Instead, they chose to have a bit of fun with it. Confidence and a sense of humor are beautiful things.... -
Bad Ideas, Crime, Facebook, Rank Stupidity, Social Networking Websites, Technology
Wannabe Rapper Convicted of Making Criminal Threats on Facebook
I am constantly amazed at how dimwitted some criminals can be. We have covered them in these pages before, from the guy who left evidence of his violent plans open on his desktop, to the robber who reached out to his victim via Facebook. On Thursday in Pennsylvania, a federal jury convicted Anthony D. Elonis […] -
9th Circuit, Election 2012, Politics, Quote of the Day
Quote of the Day: Doing It in the Dark Makes Citation Sexy
Congress can say, “All right, in the future, the Ninth Circuit can meet, but it will have no clerks. By the way, we aren’t going to pay the electric bill for two years. And since you seem to be rendering justice in the dark, you don’t seem to need your law library, either.” — Newt […]