Angelica Marie Cecora, Oscar's latest lady-friend
* A bill to repeal DOMA made it past the Senate Judiciary Committee, but members of the Senate don’t do dick (unless it’s in an airport bathroom), so it’s probably not going anywhere. [Blog of Legal Times]
* Next on the gay rights news beat, after waiting around for 18 months, WilmerHale attorney Edward DuMont has refused to be the last belle at the ball. He’s asked Obama to withdraw his Federal Circuit nomination. [ThinkProgress]
* “Be careful of what you do, ’cause the lie becomes the truth.” Sound familiar? Conrad Murray says the King of Pop deceived him. Oh, boo hoo. Come on, MJ warned you about this stuff via song lyrics back in the eighties. [CNN]
* When a lawyer’s wife allegedly hires you to kill her husband, the easy way out isn’t to burn down his law firm. You kind of need to make sure that he’s in there first. [KBZK]
* Oscar de la Hoya’s got bigger problems than this kinky lawsuit. He’s probably more worried about getting runs in his stockings, to be honest. [New York Post]
* Snitches don’t get stitches in Mexico. They get their freakin’ heads chopped off. And now I wait for a drug cartel to come and murder me. [Daily Mail]
Dear police officers: next time you simply must beat unarmed protesters who are not threatening you, maybe you shouldn’t do it in front of a law school.
Many of you have heard about the beatings that took place at UC Berkeley’s Occupy Berkeley protests on Wednesday night. The police brutality wasn’t particularly brutal, so much as it was entirely uncalled for.
The Berkeley legal blog Nuts & Boalts sums up what should be the feeling of any person concerned about the laws of this country: “Regardless of how you feel about the Occupation, this behavior by police against unarmed, non-violent protestors is not only illegal, but is shameful.”
If you haven’t seen the video, it’s below. Just as disturbing as the actual footage is the facile message Berkeley Law students received before the event that was a warning that the police were going to be totally unreasonable about the situation….
Continue reading “The Berkeley Beatings”
* Can someone give us some good news about women in the legal profession? Please? Come on, this is just sad. [The Careerist]
* Yep, even a bunch of lawyers should be able to identify this as disgusting. [InjuryBoard Kansas City]
* Should they have catering in law school libraries? Great, because the last thing fat-ass law students need is help avoiding the walk to a vending machine or a dining hall. [Life in the Law School Lane]
* The first burning legal question of the day should inspire Biglaw bros to plan a trip to Australia in the very near future. [Legal Blog Watch]
* This isn’t called an inability to take bad news well, but I’m pretty sure it’s called being high on meth. [Legal Juice]
* An app that provides instant criminal background checks on people? And it’s only for Pennsylvania records? Use it on a creepy loverboy (or a creepy boy-lover, as the case may be). [Associate's Mind]
* In Soviet Russia, the booth polls you. [Copyranter]
When doing research for my columns, I spend a lot of time thinking about how small-firm attorneys can get the right kind of attention. I can easily find examples of getting the wrong kind of attention: Kim Kardashian, Conrad Murray, and that child-bride who married the guy from Lost. Then, I received an email from a young small-firm lawyer practicing in Winston-Salem who provided me with a positive counter-example.
Michael Wells, Jr. practices personal injury law, litigation, and estate planning at Wells Jenkins Lucas & Jenkins PLLC. Wells is the youngest lawyer at this ten attorney firm. One of the other ten is his father, Michael Wells, Sr. Early on in his career, Wells set out to distinguish himself from his highly successful father and he has succeeded. The lessons he learned along the way can provide a useful road map for young attorneys….
Continue reading “Size Matters: Get Attention for the Right Reasons”
Everyone knows that “there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.” But what about a free breakfast? That’s what one New York lawyer is insisting upon in a $730,000 lawsuit filed on Tuesday against his posh gym, the Setai Club & Spa Wall Street….
Continue reading “There’s No Such Thing as ‘Free Breakfast’ When You’re a Lawyer”
There has been justifiably a lot of talk over the last few days about U.S. v. Jones, and the privacy issues it raises. Our editor emeritus Kashmir Hill was fortunate enough to hear oral arguments at the Supreme Court in person, alongside top legal reporters such as Jeffrey Toobin and Adam Liptak.
But when it comes to electronically tracking people, Jones is just the tip of the iceberg. Law enforcement also often follow American citizens through their cell phones. The practice has become so widespread that some magistrate judges are reconsidering their willingness to authorize it….
Continue reading “Judges Are Getting Concerned About ‘Undeniably Creative’ Warrantless Cell Phone Tracking”
Chief Judge Amanda Williams
Because of your disdain for the young man’s use of the term ‘baby momma,’ you ordered that the defendant be summarily jailed.
– An excerpt from a Judicial Qualifications Commission complaint filed in Georgia against Chief Superior Court Judge Amanda Williams, who oversees the operation of state’s largest drug court. Williams faces an ethics complaint for “using tyrannical partiality” on the bench.
Yesterday we brought you the story of a 2L at Cardozo Law School who has taken out Google ads promoting himself, in an attempt to find a summer associate job. Here’s what his ad looks like (as displayed to an Above the Law reader who alerted us to his campaign):
We reached out to Eric Einisman to ask him: What was he thinking?
Continue reading “An Interview With the 2L Who’s Advertising Himself on Google”
If they hanged Joe Paterno from a tree and gave little boys a bat and said “whack that man like a piñata,” it probably wouldn’t hurt as much as what’s actually about to happen to JoePa.
Because while the former head coach of the Penn State football team has escaped criminal penalty in the Jerry Sandusky scandal, civil liability will be a whole different ballgame.
Penn State is going to be hit with so many civil suits over this mess that the only mirth in Happy Valley will belong to the lawyers. The only people who should be standing on Paterno’s lawn are attorneys on retainer. Things are going to get so ugly for the old football coach — and everybody on his staff, and pretty much every university official — than he can’t possibly fully appreciate it. I just hope he’s more prepared for his depositions than his press conferences.
Obviously, we don’t yet have all the facts. But just looking at the Grand Jury report should tell you that civil actions are coming….
Continue reading “Joe Paterno Better Lawyer Up”
After making our way across the country, which included stops in New York, Washington, D.C., and California, the final leg of this Career Center series on the Top Partners to Work For will cover some of the smaller legal markets.
Today we head back to the east coast to focus on Boston’s best Biglaw partners who work at the following top firms: Foley Hoag, Proskauer Rose, Skadden, Mintz Levin, Cooley, Greenberg Traurig, and Ropes & Gray.
Let’s see which partners made the cut….
Continue reading “Career Center Survey Results: Top Partners to Work For – Smaller Legal Markets (Part 1)”
Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Associates are hoping that Cravath will kick off this year’s bonus season with news that engenders gratitude.
We’re also entering the season when major law firms announce their new partners. As we did last year, we’ll keep track of some of this action. Feel free to email us with information about the new partners at your firm and what the picks say about the firm’s direction and priorities.
At Wachtell Lipton, which announced its new partners on Tuesday afternoon, three lawyers can give thanks for being named to the powerhouse firm’s partnership. With profits per partner in excess of $4 million, they are the 1 percent.
Who are the new WLRK partners?
Continue reading “Congratulations to the New Wachtell Lipton Partners”
Has anybody significantly changed their mind on the topic of abortion since they first formed their opinion on the issue? One believes what one believes on the issue, and any mind changing that happens occurs among the privacy of friends and family.
You know what’s never happened? A rational discussion about abortion rights that started because a Student Bar Association president sent an email. The only thing that happens when somebody starts screaming about abortion is that somebody else screams back.
Luckily, the SBA email about a defaced abortion poster that we’re about to show you is so over the top that it’s more funny than annoying….
Continue reading “Abortion: Exactly the Kind of Thing You Want to Talk About in a Bitchy Email”
I saw this all the time at law firms: I’d be in the middle of preparing to argue an appeal — reading key cases, studying the excerpts of the record, and thinking about likely questions from the bench. My mind was completely engrossed in what I was doing. And someone would walk into my office and say, “It went well.”
I had only one reaction: “Who are you again, and what are you talking about?”
Now that I’m in-house, I see this even more frequently. Cases — or legal issues, or administrative inquiries, or whatever — cross the desks of many in-house lawyers at a frantic pace. The things that an outside lawyer, or some other in-house colleague, is thinking about, may not have flitted across your mind in six months. But folks figure that you’re thinking about whatever happens to be on their mind at the moment.
Here’s an example….
Continue reading “Inside Straight: Who Are You Again, And What Are You Talking About?”
We recently found out that a student group from a New York area law school is holding a Man Auction this Friday. We hear that this event has gone off without a hitch in the past, but this year, the group has changed the name of the event to the “Cake Sale.” Maybe they got in trouble with the administration, but who can resist a beefcake sale?
Our question is: what kind of a law school allows one of its student organizations to hold an annual Man Auction? An awesome one!
Though it appears some of our readers disagree with that characterization….
Continue reading “What Kind of a Law School Has a ‘Man Auction’?”
* Joe Paterno’s legal innocence is irrelevant. [Toy Department / Baltimore Sun]
* But there will be a lot of lawyering to do before Jerry Sandusky is brought to justice or clears his name. [Litigation & Trial]
* Process servers: another job that computers will make extinct. [Lexis Nexis]
* In Flori-duh, they think mens rea is optional. [Overlawyered]
* Women who work jobs where they are likely to be sexually harassed earn more money. If you don’t think about it too deeply, it means slapping a female colleague on the backside while calling her “sugar tits” is actually helping the ladies earn what they deserve. [Washington Post]
* … I say that because I’m not talented enough to engage in “invisible” sexism. [Simple Justice]
* I bet if a Tiger Mother did this, some would praise her aggressive parenting techniques. [Huffington Post]
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The voting for the best legally themed Halloween costume was close this year.
Very close.
The contest pitted a group against a couple. It pitted NYU Law against the University of Minnesota Law School — Big City v. Heartland. And when all the votes were counted, the final margin was seven votes, out of over 2,400 votes cast!
Should we have a run-off? Hell no! This isn’t youth soccer. The votes are final and winner takes all. Let’s see who gets the coveted Above the Law t-shirt(s)….
Continue reading “2011 Legally Themed Halloween Costume Contest Winner”
I recently spent a week in Denver over two days (“ba dum bum”). The day I arrived, the temperature hit a record high of 80 degrees, and it snowed several inches the next evening. I was supposed to be attending (and enjoying) the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Annual Meeting, but instead, I was frantically trying to close deals for month end. A constant barrage of emails and calls from clients kept me from really focusing on the innumerable offerings at the conference.
I have written before in this space about my membership in ACC, and no, I don’t get paid to mention what a wonderful organization it is, and has been, for this fairly new in-house attorney. I cannot stress enough the importance of an organization like ACC for a new in-house counselor. Not only are there countless resources available on the ACC website — everything from forms, templates, e-groups, and career services — but there are also any number of networking opportunities for the enterprising lawyer….
Continue reading “House Rules: The Mile-High Club”
I am a maverick and a reformer so I started a new program for U of I undergrads to apply in their junior year and we don’t require the LSAT. We have additional essays and an interview instead. That way, I can trap about 20 of the little bastards with high GPA’s that count and no LSAT score to count against my median. It is quite ingenious.
– Paul Pless, former dean of admissions at the University of Illinois College of Law, in a 2008 email about iLEAP, a program that offered early admission to University of Illinois undergraduates with high GPAs (and no LSAT scores).
(The reaction of the other party to the correspondence, after the jump.)
Continue reading “Quotes of the Day: Quite Ingenious — and Quite Busted”
