November 2011
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Admin, Announcements, Fabulosity, Holidays and Seasons, Parties, Practical Law Company (PLC)
Above the Law Holiday Party: It's Tomorrow! Are You Coming?
Just in case the giant ad bar at the top of the site wasn’t a good enough reminder about the Above the Law holiday party, I’m here to give you all of the details again. This shindig is being sponsored by our friends at Practical Law Company, and our fabulous event is going to be […] -
Job Searches, Law Schools, Romance and Dating
Law Student Breaks Up With His Law School
At some point law students have to take responsibility for their own choices in professional schools. There really is enough information floating around on the internet warning potential law students about what they are getting into. At this point in time, if you believe what American legal education is trying to sell you, it's your own damn fault.... - 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. -
Allen & Overy, Biglaw, Layoffs, Letter from London, Unemployment, United Kingdom / Great Britain
Letter from London: Jobless Lawyer Starts Occupy Movement
The Occupy movement has reached the legal profession, with an unemployed law graduate launching a campaign to occupy the Inns of Court (London’s legal quarter). “Through no fault of our own, a generation of [law school] graduates find ourselves with no jobs — or no jobs as lawyers anyway,” wrote the graduate under the alias […]
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Bonuses, Copyright, Crowell & Moring, Food, Gambling / Gaming, Gloria Allred, Morning Docket, Pro Bono, Sex, Sex Scandals, Trademarks
Morning Docket: 11.29.11
* Here’s something that’s actually worth crying over instead of your “meh” bonuses. Much like this year’s Cravath scale, Biglaw pro bono hours will likely be stagnant or cut altogether. [Fortune] * What’s the point of fleeing if you’re just going to let yourself get extradited? Ex-Crowell & Moring counsel, Douglas Arntsen, will return to […]
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7th Circuit, Benchslaps, Federal Judges, Richard Posner, Rudeness, Screw-Ups, Texas
A Reverse Benchslap? Chastised Lawyer Lashes Out at Judge Posner
On Thanksgiving Day, while you were enjoying your turkey, we wrote about a different bird: namely, the ostrich. In a somewhat snarky opinion, Judge Richard Posner of the Seventh Circuit compared a lawyer appearing before him to an ostrich. What did the lawyer in question have to say for himself? -
Federal Judges, Gay, Gay Marriage, Immigration, Jed Rakoff, Non-Sequiturs, Shopping
Non-Sequiturs: 11.28.11
* Seriously? We’re still deporting gay people who are married? Are there really people who are still in favor of this policy? [Stop the Deportations] * On the upside, these shoppers can now literally say they got somebody a gift over that man’s dead body. [Huffington Post] * When did Jed Rakoff become so godlike? […] -
Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Biglaw, Bonuses, Holy Crap, Money
Breaking: Cravath Bonuses Are Out; Welcome to the 2011 Bonus Season!
It took a little longer than most of you expected, but Cravath, Swaine & Moore just announced its 2011 associate bonuses. Barring something very unforeseen, these bonuses are what many Biglaw firms, in New York and across the land, will pay out this year to their people. Historically Cravath has set the market with respect to year-end associate bonuses at major law firms. Let's take a look at the official memorandum, and engage in some analysis.... -
Biglaw, Disability Law, Dubious Defenses, Lawsuit of the Day
Are You Allowed to Have a Biglaw Job If You Need to Sleep All the Time?
Sadly, we now live in a world where it's harder and harder to separate out the really disabled people from those who just can't get their stuff together. To cope, Elie has developed his own little test: if he wouldn't want the disability, it's a real disability. If he'd gladly take the "disability" in exchange for a cash payout, it's probably fake. So let him ask you this: would you take a cash payout from your Biglaw firm if he afflicted you with the dreaded "I'm really sleepy" disability? Yeah, this woman would too.... - Sponsored
Generative AI In Legal Work — What’s Fact And What’s Fiction?
Zach Warren from the Thomson Reuters Institute discusses the potential and the pitfalls. -
Benchslaps, Biglaw, Minority Issues, Pro Se Litigants, Racism
Benchslap of the Day: A Case of Having Too Much Flair
Remember Venus Springs? She's the former Mayer Brown associate who alleged discrimination and filed a Title VII complaint against the firm after being fired in September 2008. Well, she's back, and she's brought a whole new lawsuit to the table. So, who is Springs suing this time, and what are her allegations? We'll give you that information, plus the details of the benchslap associated with her latest case, after the jump.... -
Facebook, Google / Search Engines, Legal Ethics, Small Law Firms, Social Networking Websites, Technology, Twittering
The Practice: The Definitive (All You Need To Know) Guide (This Is It) To Social Media For Lawyers
Sorry to disappoint the snake-oil salesmen, but in this small post Brian Tannebaum will buck the trend, and debunk the fallacy of non-practicing lawyers who write books about social media for lawyers. Here, today my friends, he will tell you everything you need to know about the complicated and scary topic of: how to talk to people on the internet like a normal person.... -
Biglaw, Gender, Law Schools, Partner Issues, Partner Profits, Women's Issues
New Partner Watch: Cravath and Simpson
Being a partner at a top law firm is still highly desirable. This is especially true of partners at firms near the top of the Biglaw hierarchy -- places like Cravath, Swaine & Moore and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, with profits per partner in 2010 of $3.17 million and $2.64 million, respectively. They both announced new partnership classes this month. Let's learn about the new partners at CSM and STB. Maybe you know some of them -- from college, or law school, or a case or matter you've worked on.... -
Art, Career Alternatives, New Jersey, Quote of the Day
Quote of the Day: Building Blocks for Your Career
My worst day as an artist is better than my best day as a lawyer. — Nathan Sawaya, former Winston & Strawn attorney turned LEGO artist, commenting on his decision to leave his lucrative Biglaw career to play with toys. His latest exibition, The Art of the Brick, will be on display from December 2, […] -
Books, In-House Counsel, Shameless Plugs, Trials
Inside Straight: Oxford University Press Publishes Great New Treatise!
Yeah, I’m shameless, but I repeat: Oxford University Press has just published a great new treatise! I recently popped open a box and held in my hands an advance copy of a new treatise published by Oxford University Press: Drug and Device Product Liability Litigation Strategy (affiliate link), by yours truly and my former partner […]
Sponsored
Generative AI In Legal Work — What’s Fact And What’s Fiction?
Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
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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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Biglaw, Divorce Train Wrecks, FCC, Holidays and Seasons, Immigration, LSAT, Mergers and Acquisitions, Minority Issues, Morning Docket, Reality TV, United Kingdom / Great Britain, Violence
Morning Docket: 11.28.11
* With AT&T’s T-Mobile deal falling apart, in-house lawyer Wayne Watts could be heard singing, “it’s my merger and I’ll cry if I want to,” before more whining to the FCC. [DealBook / New York Times] * Build us a border fence, and then get the f**k over it. Arizona lawmakers are soliciting the public […]
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7th Circuit, Admin, Announcements, Benchslaps, Federal Judges, Food, Holidays and Seasons, Richard Posner, Screw-Ups
Thanksgiving Greetings from Above the Law!(And a bonus benchslap from Judge Posner.)
Happy Thanksgiving, from your friends at Above the Law. As always, we give thanks to our readers, our tipsters, our advertisers, and even our commenters. We also give thanks to Judge Richard Posner. This brilliant and hilarious jurist has just given us something to chuckle over as we munch on our Thanksgiving turkey. This opinion […] -
Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 11.23.11
* You think it’s hard out here for a pimp? Try being a junior partner. [Am Law Daily] * Turns out conservatives are just as dumb as liberals when it comes to economics. [The Volokh Conspiracy] * The problem with non-lethal weapons is that basically too many cops act like children with a new pepper-spray […] -
Billable Hours, In-House Counsel, Practice Pointers
Moonlighting: Low-Value Work (or, How to Catch Up on Glee)
Are your in-house working hours recently rivaling the billable hours you thought you had permanently discarded? Is your workload getting way too heavy — i.e., it’s really getting difficult to watch Glee on a timely basis? Do you find yourself working on pretty much the same form of contract over and over and over and […] -
Advertising, Shameless Plugs, This Is an Ad
Above the Law Gives Thanks for Its Advertisers
On the eve of Thanksgiving, we thank our wonderful advertisers here at Above the Law: Chase College of Law Delta IBM JD Match Kinney Recruiting (sponsor of the Asia Chronicles) Lateral Link (sponsor of the Career Center) LexisNexis – eReader LexisNexis – Mobile Solutions LexisNexis – MORE Reasons LexisNexis – Public Records LexisNexis – Search […] -
9th Circuit, Alex Kozinski, California, Federal Judges, Movies, Pictures, Sports, Stephen Breyer
Judge Kozinski Occupies Oakland
These days, mentioning the California city of Oakland conjures up images of tear gas and violence. It's not a place that people associate with innocent fun right now. But Oakland isn't all protesters and police. We bring you a report from a recent visitor to that city, Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.... -
Education / Schools, Quote of the Day
Quote of the Day: Happy Thanksgiving, Dad!
Josh is a very smart kid. I really doubt he would be involved in anything like that. He works hard, and he’s earned everything he’s gotten. — David Chefec, a “prominent” lawyer, commenting over a week ago on his son’s alleged involvement in the New York SAT cheating scandal. Chefec’s son, Joshua Chefec, surrendered to […]