2012

* Greg Kelly stands accused of an alleged rape that supposedly took place at a “lower Manhattan law firm.” While we wait for the tips machine to fire up, who’s up for kegs and eggs and Good Day New York tomorrow morning? [Gothamist] * Classes in space colony law coming in 3… 2… 1… [Buzzfeed] […]

As mentioned previously, these State of the Market posts by Lateral Link, as compiled by Director Gary Cohen, will focus on one of the country’s largest states — Texas. The strongest market in Texas is Houston, with some of the strongest candidates being those with corporate, capital markets, or finance experience. A close second is […]

According to the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.), small law firms have adopted the mantra: merge or die. Indeed, the number of law firm mergers is staggering. Yet, small firm to large firm mergers are not the answer for all small firms. Valerie Katz notes that the article featured several potential problems....

Landing a Summer Public Interest Legal Job: hotsexyskippy@yahoo.com is not an appropriate email address to have on your résumé. LOL. — PSLawNet, offering job search advice over Twitter.

The “commenters” at Above the Law are — as you know if you’ve ever looked — a tough crowd. If you’re a partner at a big firm, then you’re a loser, because you’re a workaholic stiff with no life. If you’re a partner at a small firm, then you’re a loser, because you couldn’t succeed […]

The great thing about free stuff is that it is free. Nobody cares what kind of plastic junk they’re getting as long as it’s free. Why do sports fans go nuts over t-shirt cannons, even though the shirts are ugly as hell and always XXL? Duh, because they’re free. To me, it seems logical that […]

In late 2011, television viewers expressed outrage over the pageant industry's tendency to sexualize children. After all, with mothers dressing their daughters like surgically-enhanced country singers, fake breasts and all, or hookers with hearts of gold, how could viewers be anything but horrified? In all honesty, some of these little girls look like complete prosti-tots. This backdrop brings us to today's Lawsuit of the Day, where the mother of one of these tiara-toting toddlers alleges that a well-known celebrity gossip site had a hand in scandalizing her daughter....

U.S. Attorney's Offices around the country have been posting unpaid Special Assistant United States Attorney positions for some time now. We covered them last May. David Lat defended the SAUSA gigs, arguing that the nonpaying jobs might not be as bad as they seem. It's fun, exciting work, and it provides valuable experience and serious professional credibility. There is a crucial, ominous difference between then and now, though. Previous SAUSA jobs were generally aimed at entry-level or fairly junior attorneys. Now we've got a recent opening that's asking for more.…

You know how people make jokes about DLA Piper having offices in all sorts of random places and Third World countries -- er, developing nations? Well, if you like those jokes, you are going to love this story. At one DLA Piper office, they ran out of running water. No water to wash your hands, no water to flush the toilets. But the associates still had to show up for work. Can you guess which office?

Wednesday, we covered a controversy at Yale Law School over an Administrative Law class with an oversubscription problem. The course wound up with a waitlist of about 100 students. Some 3Ls who were denied admission into the class were quite upset, since this represented their last chance to take Admin Law. The situation was described to us as a "near riot." Yesterday morning, we brought you an update to this story -- which has a happy ending, we're pleased to report....

* Illinois is suing Standard & Poor’s, accusing the financial services company of misleading investors and putting the country in the poorhouse thanks to its high ratings for mortgage-backed investments. [Washington Post] * CHECK YOU LATERALS: William Burck, who served in the White House counsel’s office under President Bush, is leaving Weil to co-manage the […]

Supreme Court opinions can be loooong! But at least the justices have their trusty Supreme Court clerks, three dozen or so of the nation's brightest young legal minds, to help get everything done. Thanks to everyone who responded to our recent request for tips about law clerk hiring activity at SCOTUS. Let's take a look at what we've learned, shall we?

* You wonder if the Supreme Court justices who went to the State of the Union even noticed Gabrielle Giffords last night, much less were humble enough to learn anything from her example. [Slate] * Rapelisberger Roethlisberger settles his case. [NBC Sports] * Let me get this straight, first conservative parents want the magical creation […]

We’d like to take a moment to thank our wonderful advertisers here at Above the Law: BarMax Chase College of Law eLawgic IBM JD Match Kinney Recruiting (sponsor of the Asia Chronicles) Lateral Link (sponsor of the Career Center) LexisNexis – Mobile Solutions LexisNexis – MORE Reasons LexisNexis – Search Advantage Shoeboxed.com Themis Westlaw If […]

Hey ladies, next time you are tipsy, need a ride, and can’t find a cab, just hail a cop. If you are pretty, he might just pick you up and take you anywhere you want to go, provided you flash him your boobs, of course (duh). There is a bizarre story coming out of Central […]

The crash of the cruise ship Costa Concordia January 13 was a real tragedy. More than a dozen people died, and more are still missing. The overturned ship is still languishing off the Mediterranean coast, like a set from an old disaster movie. For most people, a tragedy like this might lead to feelings of […]

Stephen M. McDaniel, the Mercer Law School graduate accused of killing classmate Lauren Giddings, made an appearance in court this morning. As you may recall, Giddings’s decapitated torso was found on June 30 in Macon, Georgia, and thus far, police have been unable to recover the rest of her body. Last month, we mentioned that […]

This column will be published the day our year-end numbers are made public. Word on the street (and the Street) is that we should beat expectations. If true, that would be a very good thing. This isn’t inside information; it’s been opined and published in several national media outlets, and in any event, I am […]

Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg is one of the most respected law firms in Canada. It's consistently ranked highly on the Chambers list, and the firm has a low partner-to-associate ratio. People who work at Davies are called "Slavies" because of how hard they work. The advertising people at Davies decided to have a little fun with the moniker. Now some people are calling the ad insensitive to, oh, we don't know, slaves?

Right now, students at one top law school are in a "near riot" -- our tipster's words, not ours -- because they feel they're being denied the education they're paying so dearly for. The institution in question: Yale Law School. As for what's upsetting the students there, we'll turn the floor over to a source....