May 2012
-
In-House Counsel
Moonlighting: The Many Paradoxes of Managing Others
The in-house attorneys who invest the energy to train group members don’t end up reaping the full benefits of their investment. Why is that? -
- 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. -
Blogging, Fabulosity, Law Schools, Time Suckage
As If You Really Needed a New Distraction, Please Say Hello to #WhenInLawSchool (Like You Haven't Already)
Today’s your lucky today, because this week, we spoke to the anonymous internet diva behind the latest law school craze, #wheninlawschool….
-
Charlotte, Madonna, Music, Rudeness, Small Law Firms
Epic Departure Memo Follow-Up: A Five-Page Fax Says The Boss Is A Great Guy
DeMayo defense in a five page fax... -
Bar Exams, Biglaw, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Divorce Train Wrecks, John Edwards, Law Schools, Money, Morning Docket, Texas, Trials, Women's Issues
Morning Docket: 05.04.12
* My Big Fat Dewey Compensation Guarantee: it’s like a movie that no one wants to watch, except it’s happening in real life. But at least the partners got their draws, right? [Reuters; DealBook / NYT]
* Why didn’t John Edwards’s former aide disclose to the government that he refused to lie under oath about his affair? “Because you never asked.” Best. Response. Ever. [MSNBC]
* Maybe Mintz Levin didn’t belong on the list of the Top Ten Family-Friendly Firms after all. The firm’s been sued twice in recent years for sexual discrimination. Oops. [Careerist]
* Baylor Law claimed the top pass rate on the Texas bar exam for the fifteenth time since 2001. Unfortunately, Baylor Law cannot claim a top pass rate on disclosure of private student information. [Baylor University]
* In America, lawyers are pissing off state bar associations by offering their services on Groupon. En México, no es un problema. There, you can buy gift cards for the gift that keeps on giving… divorce! [Huffington Post]
-
Bankruptcy, Biglaw, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Dissolution, Job Searches, Summer Associates
Dewey Have Career Advice for Incoming and Summer Associates?
What should law students who were scheduled to be working at Dewey & LeBoeuf do now? -
Bar Exams, John Yoo, Labor / Employment, Non-Sequiturs, Sports, Texas
Non-Sequiturs: 05.03.12
* Of course no one likes the new pro bono requirement for would-be New York lawyers. But it is also an abuse of regulatory discretion? Maaaaybe… [Ricochet] * Attorneys settle a personal injury case for $350,000, just minutes before jury returns a $9 million verdict. All hell breaks loose, Satan rides in on a chariot pulled by dragons, all the light bulbs explode, and now they are arguing over whether to retry the case. [The Recorder] * Texas bar exam results are out! [Texas Board of Law Examiners] * The jury judge has spoken. Woe and mockery to those in Pennsylvania’s 49th Judicial District who fail to use the Oxford comma. [Constitutional Daily] * Do robots dream of electric anti-Semitism? A new lawsuit filed by a French antidiscrimination group apparently thinks so. The group is not happy that Google apparently suggests “Jewish” as an autocomplete result if you look up celebrities such as Rupert Murdoch and Jon Hamm. I wonder if Godwin’s Law applies to computers. [Daily Dolt] * The Ninth Circuit says John Yoo, author of the so-called “torture memos,” is immune from a lawsuit filed by an American who was allegedly tortured. [Thomson Reuters] * Interesting employment law tidbit: you might be able to destroy a surprising amount of your employer’s property before you get fired (gavel bang: Amar’e Stoudemire). [Dealbreaker] -
Bill Clinton, Canada, Crime, Hotties, Judge of the Day, Nude Dancing, Pornography, Prostitution, Sex, Sex Scandals, Sexual Harassment, Small Law Firms, Solo Practitioners
Allegedly Lusty Legal Ladies: Updates on Reema Bajaj and Madam Justice Lori Douglas
What do Reema Bajaj, the Illinois lawyer accused of prostitution, and Justice Lori Douglas, the Canadian judge whose nude photos wound up on the web, share in common with Bill Clinton? - Sponsored
The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
ChatGPT ushers in the age of generative AI – even for law firms. -
Biglaw, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Law Professors, Money, Quote of the Day
Quote of the Day: Mo' Money, Less of Everything Else?
What causes a large, storied law firm to fail? Could part of the problem be too much money, but not enough history or shared values? -
Biglaw, Boutique Law Firms, Small Law Firms
From Biglaw to Boutique: Go Fish
Sometimes helping the "competition" might actually be helping yourself, too... -
Drinking, Facebook, Privacy, Social Media, Social Networking Websites, Technology, United Kingdom / Great Britain
If You Want to Go to the Clubs, Bring Your ID Facebook Page
Bouncers in the U.K. have started cross-checking IDs with patrons' Facebook profiles. I smell a privacy dispute… -
Lawyer of the Day, Rudeness, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
Lawyer of the Day (Part Deux): SCOTUS Victor Has Choice Words for Losing Litigant's Lawyer
Last month, Steve Filarsky earned our Lawyer of the Day title after he sent a letter to a losing SCOTUS litigant, advising him to read the opinion “eternally from hell.” As it turns out, Filarsky wasn’t quite done with his vicious letter-writing campaign... -
American Bar Association / ABA, Law Schools, Southern New England School of Law/Umass
Accreditation Recommended for UMass Law
Umass Law moves one step closer to accreditation...
Sponsored
Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
Navigating Financial Success by Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Maximizing Firm Performance
Sponsored
Generative AI In Legal Work — What’s Fact And What’s Fiction?
Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
-
Dewey & LeBoeuf, Lateral Moves, Law Firm Mergers, Mergers and Acquisitions, Musical Chairs, Partner Issues, Partner Profits, United Kingdom / Great Britain, White & Case
Dewey Still Have the $6 Million Man? Nope: Mort Pierce Is Out the Door (Plus Other Partner Departures)
M&A star Mort Pierce is decamping from Dewey. Where's he heading next? -
Biglaw, Caption Contests, Contests, Pictures, Reader Polls
Caption Contest Finalists: Biglaw Beach Blanket Bonus Bingo
Many lawyers are hoping that Cravath, the former market leader on spring bonuses, will leave Sullivan & Cromwell all wet. Here are the finalists for our latest caption contest... -
Books, In-House Counsel
Inside Straight: The Annoying Ramblings Of An Uber Douche
Business meetings: We have them all the time, and people misuse them. How can we fix this? -
11th Circuit, Biglaw, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Fashion, Fashion Is Fun, Federal Judges, Law Schools, Morning Docket, Trademarks
Morning Docket: 05.03.12
* With the SNR Denton merger talks dead, partners waiting only to be paid before they leave, and sad, empty tables at events, LeBoeuf seems to be cooked. [DealBook / New York Times; Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)]
* A gem from the Eleventh Circuit: if you believe it’s newsworthy, it is. Even naked pictures of dead girls. Now stop hoping a hot girl dies, sickos. [CNN]
* If there’s one thing federal judges are good at, it’s keeping their law clerks white. They’ve made zero progress in increasing diversity. [National Law Journal]
* Some law school grads bitch and moan about the “student loan scam,” but others just do what they went to school for, and sue about it. [ABC News]
* The social media machine that is Mark O’Mara can’t be stopped — judge’s orders. And George Zimmerman is going to like and retweet that until the cows come home. [Boston Herald]
* Here’s infringing on you, kid. British fashion house Burberry insists that a California company stop Bogarting its rights to Humphrey’s trademark and likeness, all for the sake of promotional materials. [Bloomberg]
-
Bankruptcy, Biglaw, Crime, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Dewey Ballantine, Dissolution, Kimba Wood, Law Firm Mergers, Law Firm Names, LeBoeuf Lamb, Money, Musical Chairs, Partner Issues, Partner Profits, White-Collar Crime
Dewey Know Whom To Blame? Some Say 'Steve'
How much blame do former chairman Steven Davis and executive director Steve DiCarmine deserve for the Dewey & LeBoeuf debacle? -
Affirmative Action, Copyright, Intellectual Property, Marijuana, Non-Sequiturs, Student Loans
Non-Sequiturs: 05.02.12
* There is a difference between being “insensitive” and being wrong. It’s more important and less obvious than you might think. [Volokh Conspiracy] * Is it harder to go to college in America today if you are a minority — or if you are poor? [Forbes] * I live in Oakland, so I’m more surprised when a day goes by that I don’t see someone with marijuana sticking out of their pants. [Legal Juice] * The finalists in the ABA Battle of the Bands sound pretty darn good. My vote will probably to go to Jenner & Block partner Joe Bisceglia rocking out to some old Chicago blues. [Legal Blog Watch] * Uggs just won a $686 million judgment against counterfeiters. But for some reason, after years of asking every woman I know, no one has been able to explain to me why people insist on wearing them when it is more than 25 degrees outside. I just don’t understand the appeal. [Fashionista] * It seems like NYU Law really doesn’t want to give up all of its employment data. Reminds me of playing “keep away” when I was seven, and specifically how the game always ended in shouting matches and damaged egos. [Law School Transparency] * In other ping pong related news… [DealBreaker] -
Advertising, Shameless Plugs, This Is an Ad
Thanks a Lot to This Week's Advertisers
Above the Law thanks its advertisers.