January 2012
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Advertising, Career Center, Intellectual Property, Lateral Moves, Shameless Plugs
Career Center: State of the Market - Washington, D.C.
Last week, we discussed the end of the legal recession, and we made some predictions about 2012. Many of you were interested in more information on your specific market, so today, we’re launching a new Career Center series: “State of the Market.” Over the coming weeks, we will discuss hiring prospects in major legal markets […] -
Small Law Firms
Size Matters: I'll Have What She's Having
Valerie Katz wondered why she in career purgatory and her colleague from law school is a partner. She found the answer in a very well-crafted article on Corporette. Is it possible to fake it until you make it at a law firm? She'll be doing an experiment to find out.... - 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. -
Biglaw, Divorce Train Wrecks, Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge, Edwards Wildman, Partner Issues, Sex, Sex Scandals, Wildman Harrold
Wild Alleged Love Triangle at Edwards Wildman
In chapter 19 of The Prince, Machaivelli suggests restrictions on the Prince's absolute power. Machiavelli essentially argues that the Prince must not take the people's sheep ("sheep" being a metaphor for the ability of peasants to have enough food) or their women ("women" being a metaphor for women). This advice applies just as easily to a totalitarian ruler of a country as it does to a managing partner of a law firm. Managing partners, ignore Machiavelli at your peril. You could end up with a full-scale revolt on your hands -- or, at the very least, an embarrassing lawsuit from a former, allegedly cuckolded partner....
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Boutique Law Firms, Fashion, Fashion Is Fun, General Counsel, In-House Counsel, Litigatrix, Pictures, Reality TV, Romance and Dating, Small Law Firms, Television, Weddings
Here Comes the Bride: Stunt Woman Turned Lawyer Featured on 'Say Yes to the Dress'
If you're a bride-to-be, you've probably seen TLC's Say Yes to the Dress. Imagine our surprise when we tuned in to watch the show, and caught a glimpse of a beautiful lawyer searching for a wedding gown. But this was not just any lawyer -- this lawyer used to have an action-packed career as a stunt woman.... -
Admin, Announcements, Blogging, California, Media and Journalism, Music
Mother, Tell Your Children Not To Read My Stories: Meet Team ATL's Newest Member
Hi everybody! I’m Chris Danzig. You might have seen me around Above The Law over the past year, covering technology and West Coast legal news. As of today, I’m excited to be the site’s newest full-time editor, joining David Lat, Elie Mystal, and Staci Zaretsky. I’m a journalist by trade, not a lawyer. I’ve spent […] -
Gay, Law School Deans, Law Schools, listserv, Rudeness
Penn State Law Students: Now Might Not Be The Best Time To Be Getting Drunk And Calling People 'Queer'
Being a student at Penn State has to be about as close as you can come to being in a World War I foxhole. Their reputation is getting bombed from all sides. Right now, kids should just be trying to keep their heads down and ride this out. But in the PSU Law foxhole, somebody just laid an egg. Apparently students at Penn State's Dickinson School of Law have already been banned from a few area hotels for drunken and inappropriate behavior this fall. And now a student is throwing around a slur on the school list-serv. It's not happy times in Happy Valley... -
Biglaw, Drinking, Letter from London, Magic Circle, United Kingdom / Great Britain
Letter from London: 'I Thought Freshfields Was a Supermarket'
“I thought Freshfields [Bruckhaus Deringer] was a supermarket when I got here,” says Kirsty Grant, a fourth-year associate in the London office of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher. Happily, Grant -- a fast-learner who got through law school in L.A. while working full-time during the day -- quickly figured out that the Anglo-German law firm, a member of the Magic Circle, wasn’t the place to fulfill her grocery needs. Not that Grant, 33, has oceans of spare cash to splash on her grocery needs. How do her finances as an American abroad compare to those of her Biglaw counterparts back home? -
Contracts, Immigration, Law Schools, Morning Docket, Pro Se Litigants, Technology
Morning Docket: 01.17.12
* How many one percenters do you think are members of the 11%? According to this poll, Congressional approval ratings have hit an all-time low. Looks like it’s time to occupy Congress. [CNN] * Wikipedia is planning a site-wide blackout this Wednesday to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act. At least they’re giving some advance […]
- Sponsored
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… -
Money, Practice Pointers, Real Estate, Small Law Firms
The Practice: How Much Money Can You Make at a Small Law Firm?
Brian Tannebaum knows when you call him, when you come to his office to discuss the “possibility of leaving,” that it’s the only thing on your mind. Sure, you want your name on the door, more freedom, more client contact. But you just have one real question. One real fear. One real concern. One thing you need to convince your better half of before you make “the jump.” Can I make the same Biglaw money at a small firm? Here’s the answer.... -
Money, New York Times, Quote of the Day, Wall Street
Fun Fact of the Day: Lawyers and the One Percent
Apparently lawyers are the fourth most well-represented occupational group among the nation's top one percent. Read on to find out some more interesting facts about the lawyers in the one percent.... -
Ave Maria School of Law, Crime, Drinking, Guns / Firearms, Law Schools, Murder, Violence
Ave Maria School of Law Student Accused of Attempted Murder
Law school, copious amounts of alcohol, and unrequited love are the ingredients necessary for a very dangerous cocktail, the effects of which can lead to much more than just a bad hangover. Just ask Robert Ringley, a man whom we believe to be a second-year student at the Ave Maria School of Law. Ringley was charged with attempted murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after allegedly threatening to kill and shooting at two of his Ave Maria Law classmates. What caused Ringley's alleged of acts violence, and what's love got to do with it? Let's take a closer look at the allegations.... -
Admin, Civil Rights, Holidays and Seasons, Public Interest
Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!
Yesterday, January 15, was the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the great American civil rights leader and Nobel laureate. As noted on the Nobel website, Dr. King was just 35 years old at the time he was honored, making him the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize. Please take some […] -
4th Circuit, Barack Obama, Election 2012, Election Law, Kids, Law Schools, Morning Docket, Murder, Old People, Small Law Firms
Morning Docket: 01.16.12
* Rick Perry’s primary ballot election law suit in Virginia was unsuccessful, but maybe the Fourth Circuit will help him out on appeal. Or not. At least Huntsman’s out of the race, right? [Bloomberg] * That didn’t take too long. The National Federation of Independent Business has officially popped the cherry on filing lawsuits challenging […]
Sponsored
The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
Navigating Financial Success by Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Maximizing Firm Performance
Sponsored
Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
Generative AI In Legal Work — What’s Fact And What’s Fiction?
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American Bar Association / ABA, Bar Exams, BARBRI, Law Schools
Thomas Jefferson School of Law Believes Its 2011 Graduates To Be Kind of Stupid
Much to the ABA's embarrassment, Thomas Jefferson School of Law released some papers to reassure students that even with a 33% first time bar passage rate (and an incomprehensible 13% pass rate for returning test takers), TJSL was still well within ABA parameters. So who is to blame for these alleged "outlier results"? According to the law school, Bar/Bri, and the students themselves.... -
Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 01.13.12
* If you can ignore the fact that Ben Stein is suing over being discriminated against by global warming believers, he’s still a pretty smart guy. [Gawker] * How long until we just conduct the entire Presidential election via Facebook? [Not-So Private Parts / Forbes] * Judge Posner gets wonderful cases. [How Appealing] * Eric […] -
Fashion, Fashion Is Fun
Sharing Ties: It's Not Just For Homeless People Anymore
Two lawyers are trying to bring the concept of shared clothing to upper middle class men. Women already have places where they can "rent" accessories, but now men have a website that allows them to rent ties. Well, not directly "rent," that probably sounds too low class, like you could also put the tie on layaway. Instead, you buy a subscription, and they send you ties. It's like Netflix! Only, don't get coffee or anything on your loaned Fendi.... -
Food, Gender, Sex, Women's Issues
It's All Fun and Games Until a Fake Penis Gets You Fired
Here at Above the Law, it seems like we've got a running repository on all of the strange things that employees can do to be fired from their jobs. And whether it's legal or illegal for an employer to do so, we love to report on these firings, because some of them are pretty hysterical. Now, we have a story of a woman who was allegedly fired for wearing a fake penis to work.... -
Biglaw, Boutique Law Firms, Small Law Firms
From Biglaw to Boutique: Why Wait?
Tom Wallerstein thinks that if you are in law school and you have the choice between working for an established firm -- big or small -- or working for yourself/starting your own firm, it’s a no-brainer that you should go with the established firm first. You can always leave the firm to pursue your own practice at any time, but the converse isn’t true.... -
English Grammar and Usage, Reader Polls
Grammer Pole of the Weak: When Did 'Their' Start Replacing 'His or Her'?
Welcome to the latest edition of Above the Law’s Grammer Pole of the Weak, a column where we turn questions of legal writing and English grammar and usage over to our readers for discussion and debate. Last week, we found out that our readers, 81% of them, in fact, couldn’t care less about being polite […] -
Law Schools, Student Loans
Running a Law School Must Be the Best Job in the World
Businessmen never rob banks you can sell s*** and get thanks that’s what I learned from the Yanks — The Engineer; Miss Saigon. As we mentioned in Morning Docket, 80% of law students would make the same mistake twice. Sorry, that’s not fair: 80% of law students can’t admit to themselves that they made a […]