A 'best place to work': outside, when the weather's nice.
Since 2008, Crain’s has been producing a list of the 50 Best Places to Work in New York City. Each year, a few law firms manage to sneak their way onto the list, much like what we’ve seen thus far with Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For list.
This year, seven law firms made Crain’s list, and as we told you back in January, only four made Fortune’s. Three firms are new to Crain’s list, while the other four moved up or down in the rankings. Just two of those firms overlap between Crain’s and Fortune’s lists.
It appears that congratulations and condolences are both in order. So, which law firms are considered the cream of the crop in New York City?
Continue reading “Crain’s 2011 ‘Best Places to Work in NYC’ List Includes Seven Law Firms”
“Privacy is for paedos,” announced tabloid journalist Paul McMullan, formerly of Rupert Murdoch’s now defunct British tabloid News of the World, while speaking last week at an enquiry set up in response to this summer’s phone hacking scandal. Firmly unapologetic for having harassed celebrities via an impressive range of mediums, McMullan continued: “Fundamentally, no one else needs it. Privacy is evil.” He fast became the villain of what the Financial Times has dubbed as “the best free show in London.”
As for the heroes, well, none of the celebrities who have given evidence so far — including Divine Brown blow jobee Hugh Grant, comedian Steve Coogan, author JK Rowling, and Tony Blair’s former press secretary Alastair Campbell — have shone particularly. Most of the army of lawyers in attendance, meanwhile, have been, well, lawyerly.
Notably, one junior lawyer at the enquiry, Carine Patry Hoskins, did steal the show for a few hours last month, albeit on account of her good looks rather than any show of heroism, when she became one of the world’s most popular topics on Twitter during the Hugh Grant’s testimony. Having caught the attention of Tweeters, the attractive brunette was given the hashtag #womanontheleft — which quickly shot to most read thread in the U.K., before trending prominently worldwide….
Continue reading “Letter from London: ‘Privacy Is For Paedos’”
Rima Fakih: should she go to jail?
* Close, but no cigar? The ABA has updated the way that it will collect graduate employment and salary data from law schools, but the new method could still use a few tweaks. [National Law Journal]
* Kilpatrick Townsend is expanding into Saudi Arabia. I don’t really have anything witty to say about this, but now the “Arabian Nights” song from Aladdin is stuck in my head. [Atlanta Business Chronicle]
* British barristers behaving badly: Kevin Steele, a former Mishcon de Reya partner, was convicted of fraud and forgery charges in connection with a $28M loan scam. They don’t serve tea and crumpets in jail. [Legal Week]
* Joshua Monson, the serial defense attorney stabber, was in court yesterday for sentencing. Still no word on whether he was wheeled in on a Hannibal Lecter-esque gurney to prevent more stabby behavior. [CNN]
* No, Ophelia, when you’re a transgender prisoner in Virginia, the state is not going to pay for your sex change operation, no matter how many courts you appeal to. [Houston Chronicle]
* Will Rima Fakih, 2010′s Miss USA, have to do jail time in Michigan for reportedly being a “super-drunk”? Check back after we get the results from the swimsuit competition. [MLive.com]
As they say in the Pokémon movie, you gotta catch ‘em all.
That’s how we approach bonus news here at Above the Law. Today is shaping up as a day that will be full of bonus news. We’ve heard some rumblings about some big, Cravath topping bonuses at a well known shop, but for now, we’ve got a standard Cravath match.
Shearman & Sterling, come on down. You’re on “The Price Is Meh”…
Continue reading “Associate Bonus Watch: Shearman & Sterling Matches”
Last week, we asked you to pick your choice for the worst law school in New York. It turned out to be one of most active polls on the site. So many of you had strong opinions.
Your choice for the worst law school was overwhelming — so strong that one would hope that the administration would notice and do something to improve the school’s reputation in the community.
But the battle for the worst school in the five boroughs was heated. Let’s check out the results….
Continue reading “Landslide Choice For Worst Law School In New York”
* People who go to Harvard can be mean when they’re trying to be funny. This is not news to anybody who reads this blog. [Just Enrichment]
* The cops still haven’t gotten the memo that policing hippy-dippy white people is bad news for public relations. [Faculty Lounge]
* Sometimes, even if you go to law school for all the wrong reasons, you can still be a winner. And by “a winner,” I mean “saddled with debilitating debt for the rest of your life.” As long as you’re happy in the end, though, right? [Carlotaworldwide Creativity Yenta]
* Sexpionage: it exists. It also means that you’re not as good-looking as you think you are, and all of those beautiful women who seem so into you have some ulterior motives. [Legal Blog Watch]
* An interview with “Getting to Yes” author Willam Ury. Suggestion for next book title: “Getting to… Ugh, I Don’t Even Care Anymore, Just Pay Me.” [What About Clients?]
Last week, the tech world caught fire with the newest in an increasingly long list of electronic privacy scandals. Carrier IQ, a small Silicon Valley software company with its product installed on millions of cell phones, made headlines when a young programmer posted a video allegedly showing the software’s ability to log keystrokes and collect other, very personal information from phones.
By the end of last week, the controversy had already sparked an angry letter from democratic Senator Al Franken, two class-action lawsuits, and a flurry of denials and explanations from the software company as well as major mobile phone carriers. We briefly mentioned the story in Friday’s Non-Sequiturs, but it deserves a deeper look.
Is Carrier IQ as bad as it sounds? Good question….
Continue reading “This Cell Phone Software Company Might Know Everything About You”
I hate this man's movies, but he'd make an excellent mall lawyer.
Here’s the movie pitch: Matthew McConaughey plays a slick business man with a law degree. More like his character from Tropic Thunder than Lincoln Lawyer, but with a little bit of Two for the Money thrown in, and none of the Time to Kill earnestness.
Anyway, McConaughey comes up with this idea of renting a kiosk at the mall and putting lawyers there. It’s bringing the law to the people. It’s a straight money grab, and the only way it’ll turn a profit is if he hires the cheapest lawyer available.
Enter Kevin James, a laid off autoworker who went to law school at night and still doesn’t have a job. Via chance, they meet, and McConaughey has his guy. Hilarity ensues as mall lawyers becomes insanely popular, but because James is telling regular people that they don’t need a lawyer to handle most of their issues.
Wouldn’t you watch that? I mean, I wouldn’t because I only watch good movies, but I bet I could get that script greenlighted by Paramount or somebody.
And trust me, the movie would be way more fun than “The Law Booth” at the Boynton Beach Mall in Palm Beach….
Continue reading “New From Florida: Mall Lawyers”
Let’s keep the bonus news rolling. On Friday, our sources reported that Proskauer Rose matched the Cravath 2011 bonus scale. We now have the official firm memo.
Apparently this news is likely to anger many Proskauer associates. Given that fact, I’m not exactly sure why the firm was eager to be one of the early adopters of Cravath’s bonus scale….
Continue reading “Associate Bonus Watch: Proskauer Matches”
John B. Quinn, founding partner of Quinn Emanuel, is one of our favorites here at Above the Law. We like people who have personality.
We also like people who are so rich they just don’t give a f**k. Quinn seems to have gotten to the point where he can legitimately start a Twitter account called “rich people problems.”
We have evidence of his tribulations from the the San Francisco reception desk of Quinn Emanuel….
Continue reading “Can Somebody Break a Hundred for John Quinn?”
When you are representing someone you have love and affection for, you’re going to work twice as hard and there’s no question about it. It is not a detriment to the relationship. My advice to a woman going through a divorce is, find a competent trial lawyer and make him your boyfriend.
– Zenas Zelotes, a bankruptcy attorney, giving reported testimony to the Connecticut Statewide Grievance Committee about his “intimate” client relationships. Needless to say, the Committee recommended disciplinary action. Zelotes is appealing the decision.
Prior to discussing my topic this week, I’d like a moment with Mr. Big Shot what’s-his-name “Lat,” and that idiot Mystic, or whatever her name is, about my arrangement here. I would appreciate if consideration could be given to not posting my important prose on the same day that news breaks about the amount of end-of-year welfare money given to a bunch of crybaby, self-entitled, snot nosed, sit-in-your-office and overbill clients you’ve never met for work you’ve done six times on another “matter,” I hate my life Biglaw drones who couldn’t make a coherent legal argument to a meter maid.
Thank you.
Now on to more important matters….
Continue reading “The Practice: BREAKING NEWS — There Is No Breaking Small Firm/Solo Bonus News”
Our law student readers are well aware that finals season is underway. People have already started camping out at the library as they meticulously prepare and organize their outlines and note cards. They’re double- and triple-checking their professors’ slides to make sure they haven’t missed any important information. And for the average law student, poring over pages and pages of text can get mind-numbingly boring very quickly.
Apparently one controversial professor at a D.C. law school figured that out, and decided to add a bit of excitement to his lecture slides. Because nude pictures are great study aids….
Continue reading “Nude Pictures: The Best Way to Help Students Study for Finals”
Here’s a puzzle for you. What decade am I discussing in the following paragraphs?
I’m doing something a little different here. The entire text of this column appears before the jump. I’ve hidden only the citations after the jump. Ponder while you read these paragraphs when the source materials supporting these words were written:
The excessive cost of legal services is not a function of the economy that will abate as the recession finally fades. In the words of one recent report, “Don’t fool yourselves that when the recession passes things will return to normal.” That report quoted the general counsel of a major financial institution as saying, “The way we are now is the way it is now, not a temporary situation . . . . [I]n the [decade omitted] we’re going to see straight hourly billing die.”
Surveys confirm the concerns about the high cost of legal services. For example, in a [year omitted] general counsel survey conducted by [the firm you know as PriceWaterhouseCoopers], a majority of the 350 respondents agreed that “legal fees have gotten out of control and are crippling businesses,” and pressure to reduce costs was a “major theme” of the survey responses. Surveys of corporate law departments conducted by Endispute, Inc. in [two years omitted] reveal that a third of the respondents faced actual cuts in their legal budgets and that, as the size of the legal departments increased, so too did the pressure to reduce legal costs. A [year omitted] Louis Harris survey of executives and legal officers of Fortune 500 service corporations reveals cost containment as a top priority for law departments, and a survey of major corporate clients in the United Kingdom demonstrates that this is now a worldwide issue.
The pressure to move away from standard billing, based on the billable hour, is likely to increase. Indeed, [name omitted], the recently appointed general counsel of [company name omitted], is leading an intense campaign to adopt alternative billing mechanisms. Her efforts have been broadly publicized and resulted in a highly visible panel at the [year omitted] ABA meeting.
In what years did these things occur? What decade are we discussing? And who the heck was the recently appointed general counsel of what company? Those citations and more after the jump….
Continue reading “Inside Straight: Things Will Not Return To Normal After The Recession!”
For most law students, finals start this week. For the class of 2014 1Ls, it’s their first finals period.
Good luck to all.
I had a very strict, almost superstitious, regimen to get myself in the mood to take a series of eight hour exams for 100% of my grade. Before finals period, I would watch the fight at the end of the first Rocky. Because the point of finals period isn’t necessarily to win, it’s to go the distance.
My motto was always, “you can learn a lot in eight hours.” My school generally had eight hour take-home exams for 100% of your grade.
The students at Rutgers Law about to encounter their first finals period have a different sort of motto. It’s a very good one….
Continue reading “Let’s Get Ready For Finals”
* Apprenticeship programs sound great (especially to Lat), but will they help you to become a lawyer? Of course they will, but only if you don’t mind failing the bar exam a few times. [National Law Journal]
* According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 100 jobs were added to legal sector in November. Cue unemployed lawyers singing: “Santa baby, slip a law job under the tree, for me?” [Am Law Daily]
* Things you can sell as a practicing attorney: your soul, your dignity, and your standards. Things you can’t sell as a practicing attorney: babies (but it sure is a great way to abort your career). [Daily Mail]
* When you earn $1.50 in attorney’s fees, it’s just not worth it to be nice. Something to remember before you take out six figures of loan debt to become a public interest lawyer. [Wall Street Journal]
* A lesson to be learned by all mothers-in-law: you do not question a man’s sexual prowess, even if there’s a chance that he might be shooting blanks. [New York Post]
You can keep your Siri fantasies, I'll hold out for an iChristina Hendricks.
* Sketchy lawyer billboard photo essay. [Copyranter]
* I bet most Congress people would find a way to lose money in the stock market even if they were allowed to trade based on their inside information. [Politico]
* Siri, the iPhone’s voice-activate software that comes in a pleasing female voice, is apparently a sexist male fantasy. Maybe, but that male has a pretty boring fantasy life. I don’t want my fantasy iSlave to find me coffee, I want her to bring it right to my desk. Naked. And then have sex with me. And then bring me another cup of coffee because the first one got cold. [Not So Private Parts / Forbes]
* Jerry Sandusky’s lawyer seems to be a real odd ball. [ESPN]
* Does this mean Samsung has been watching me through my television all this time? I swear I watch Cinemax movies for the tight plotlines. [NPR]
* Dude, we’re running out of Scotch. WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF SCOTCH! Somebody do something!! [Huffington Post]
Specialty bar associations can be great opportunities for in-house lawyers to grow their network and develop their careers. Unlike some mega bar associations, they tend to feel more intimate and collegial, even if their membership numbers are pretty large, because the members share a common interest.
A couple of weeks ago, I attended the NAPABA (National Asian Pacific American Bar Association) convention in Atlanta. This organization represents the interests of over 40,000 attorneys and about 65 local bar associations. And let me tell you, they had a lot going on at their annual gathering. And I don’t just mean the after-hours partying….
Continue reading “Moonlighting: Specialty Bars, Attractiveness May Vary”
Today’s Job of the Week is for a Biglaw trained corporate associate who is looking to relocate to the Chicago office of a Chamber-rated, international firm. This firm’s busy and well-respected, public M&A practice has an international platform with a major cross-border practice. Plus, Lateral Link recruiters have a solid relationship with the firm’s corporate partners. Don’t forget, you’ll receive a $10,000 signing bonus when you use Lateral Link to find you a new job!
Position: Corporate Associate
Location: Chicago, IL
Description of Position: Our client is seeking a mid-level corporate associate with 3-6 years of experience in corporate M&A. Candidates must have large law firm experience and excellent academic credentials. Relocators from major markets (New York and California) are encouraged to apply.
This opportunity is brought to you by Lateral Link Director John Thurmond. To work with John and to apply to this opportunity or other opportunities in Chicago, please register at www.laterallink.com and select him as your preferred recruiter. You can also reach out to him directly via email at jthurmond@laterallink.com. If you already are a Lateral Link member, see position position #10501 or contact your recruiter for more details.
'Til billable hours requirements do we part.
Since getting engaged, I’ve been wondering whether we should even bother trying to get into the New York Times wedding section. I’m sure that almost every newly engaged couple has similar thoughts, especially the blushing bridezillas in training. After all, the NYT wedding section is the place to announce your upcoming nuptials. Being featured in those hallowed pages is viewed as the ultimate sign of marital prestige.
You literally cannot go wrong with a write-up in the NYT wedding section (unless, of course, you end up with a Sex and the City situation and it looks like you’re a woman with a Hitler-esque mustache). So is there an easy way to get into the esteemed wedding section?
As proven by our very own Legal Eagle Wedding Watch, lawyers seem to have been featured in abundance. But that’s just the first part of the equation, according to a new demographics study….
Continue reading “Easiest Way to Get into the NYT Wedding Section? Be an ‘Elite’ Lawyer”
