February 2012

Happy Valentine’s Day to you if you have a date lined up tonight! For the rest of you, Happy Staying-In-To-Watch-A-Movie-And-Drink-With-Your-Single-Friends Day. Last year, two Washington lawyers actually let me set them up on a V-Day date. This year, with my pool of Chicago candidates, I didn’t bother. I wouldn’t wish the boring Chicago dating scene […]

* A father who shot his daughter’s laptop stands by his actions. I think I’d stand with him… it’s safer than standing opposite. [Huffington Post] * Scott Greenfield is saying goodbye to blogging. Five years is a long time in blog years. [Simple Justice] * There’s a grassroots movement to save Judge Andrew Napolitano’s Fox […]

Maintaining a good work-life balance can, in some cases, determine your longevity at your current job. Whether you’re a second year or a partner, the fact is everyone needs to balance work and life. This also means both parents and non-parents can take note of some of the tips we have in mind for you. […]

Just a few weeks ago, Magistrate Judge Andrew Peck (S.D.N.Y.) spoke to several hundred people at LegalTech New York about the importance of predictive coding for the future of electronic discovery. He expressed his hope that a federal court would, sooner rather than later, officially encourage using the technology in a case. Shortly after participating […]

There’s no Valentine’s Day exemption to the sexual harassment laws. — Labor and employment attorney Steven Palazzolo, commenting on what not to do in the workplace on Valentine’s Day.

Back in December 2010, we reported that tuition at the University of Maryland School of Law would not be subject to the four percent hike for the 2011-2012 academic year that was thrust upon the rest of the programs doing business at the university's Baltimore campus. At the time, we gave Maryland Law major kudos for protecting its students from tuition increases. Now, we wonder if a just little more tuition money would have prevented this career services nightmare....

Last Thursday, Above the Law opened its ATL Firm & School Insiders Survey and so far, so good. Students at nearly 100 law schools and lawyers at about 200 firms have responded. As previously noted, this survey is one of the first data-gathering tools we’ll be using to create a new, expanded ATL Career Center. As our data accumulates, we look forward to slicing and dicing it in myriad ways, in order to find patterns of interest to our readership, but more importantly, for useful insights for anyone researching legal education and careers.

The people over a Thomas M. Cooley Law School have a long and illustrious history of inventing ridiculous law school rankings that magically show Cooley Law at or near the top. It's pretty pathetic to make up your own ranking and rank yourself. But now a third party has put together a ranking where Cooley has risen to the top. A Georgetown professor has ranked all the websites from ABA-accredited law schools. The top of the list isn't only about law schools that are trying dazzle students into making a ruinous financial decision. The rankings mainly seem to reflect whether or not law schools care about their website at all....

It was just another day at Shearman & Sterling. Daniel England, a British trainee lawyer based at the firm's Singapore office, took a break from whatever thrilling piece of work he was doing to email his friends about their forthcoming vacation in Dubai. Being a rules-obsessed lawyer, he included a list of "do’s and don’ts" for the group -- two of whom work in London's financial district, the City -- to follow on the trip. A few days later, the poor fellow found the email plastered across the British press....

Yesterday was Valentine's Day. That means different things to different people. For a married man, it's a day when you can only get in trouble for underperformance. For a single woman over 30, it's a day to make you feel like you are going to die alone. For a single man with money, it's a day to shoot fish in a barrel. For a young woman, it's a day of presents. For Hallmark, florists, and chocolatiers, it's a day of straight cash, homey. For lawyers? Well, it's a day to enter into a non-binding contractual agreement for affection and fellatio, silly....

* A bill to legalize gay marriage in New Jersey has passed in the state Senate. If this passes in the state Assembly, will Chris Christie put the kibosh on it? Someone better make him a faaabulous offer he can’t refuse. [Wall Street Journal] * They might not be the most stylish bunch, but without […]

The mega-firm of Baker & McKenzie has a global footprint, with 70 offices in 42 countries. It’s one of the world’s largest law firms, in terms of both headcount and revenue. But are Baker’s 70 offices about to become… 69? For weeks, reports have been circulating about the possible demise of the firm’s outpost in […]

* Looks like Obama has reached a compromise position on birth control. It’s not right, but it’s okay. [WSJ Law Blog] * Apple gets so emotional baby, every time it thinks of Samsung. [eWeek] * Greece begrudgingly signed austerity legislation while lamenting, “Didn’t we almost have it all.” [What About Clients] * The Bearcat would […]

According to MSNBC, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer was robbed at knife point while on vacation: The Supreme Court has confirmed that Justice Stephen Breyer, his wife and several family friends were the victims of a knife-wielding robber at the Breyer vacation home on the island of Nevis in the Caribbean. Jesus, was the criminal […]

At any job, there are various levels of misconduct that an employee can usually get away with or at least occasionally pull off without repercussions. Then there are things you cannot do. Period. Things that any competent employee should simply know are unacceptable. Included in this category of utterly verboten workplace activities are watching porn during a rape trial when you're the on-duty court clerk. The list would also include falling asleep during a youth justice hearing -- when you're the judge running the proceeding....

In preparing for this august occasion, I asked one of my colleagues, a veteran of these events, ‘What is one supposed to say at the Midway Dinner?’ This colleague proposed three main themes: first, encourage the students to enjoy the rest of law school; second, encourage the students to take classes ‘across the midway,’ in […]

Now comes the time when law schools tell students that the 2012-2013 academic year will cost more than the 2011-2012 academic year, even though the schools will be providing no additional professional help to struggling graduates. We don't track every tuition hike, because just about every law school raises tuition every year for one reason or another. But when a law school is brazen enough to raise tuition by a higher rate than other institutions at the university -- and expects law students to be too stupid to notice how they're getting taken advantage of -- we tend to notice....

It might have seemed impossible, but things have gotten worse for those involved in the News of the World phone hacking scandal. In addition to all the other evidence against the now defunct newspaper, which was run by James Murdoch, the son of everyone’s favorite terrifying Australian media baron, new email evidence — that investigators […]

Brian Tannebaum used to be frequently asked, “Hey, I want to get involved in the community, can you tell me how?” He doesn't get asked that much anymore. “Community” is considered “the Twitter community,” or “the blawgosphere.” While the tech hacks haven’t yet declared community involvement “dead,” the fact that the result of becoming involved in the community is often organically-developed, real relationships with other like-minded people that may lead to business, is unattractive to those that have bought in to the notion that a collection of followers and friends online is a quicker path to lots of phone calls. So if there are any lawyers left out there that are still contemplating community involvement, Tannebaum offers the following....

Biglaw benefits haven't been frozen in time since 2007. We have extensively reported on the "gay gross up" (or “tax equalization for same-sex health benefits”) trend. But there have been some interesting health benefit trends happening at law firms beyond extending basic fairness to same-sex couples. Adam Okun has done a round-up of Biglaw perks on the blog Frenkely Speaking. It's not going to come as a galloping shock that Biglaw is punishing to families....