Above The Law's Top 10 Most Popular Posts Of 2015
What were the 10 biggest stories about the legal profession in 2015, according to readers of Above the Law?
Welcome to 2016. Let’s hope it’s a great year for the legal profession (even if our very own Mark Herrmann predicts rough seas ahead for certain practice areas).
What can we say about 2015? All in all, it was a pretty good year. On the Biglaw front, firms did decently. The closely watched Am Law 100 rankings won’t appear for a few months, but based on brisk M&A activity and solid bonuses — at most firms, the same as or even a little higher than last year — expect robust profits per partner. On the law school front, the trend of declining applications might finally be reversing — and not a moment too soon, if you believe the theory that smaller and weaker applicant pools are to blame for the big dip in bar passage rates in 2015.
Here at Above the Law, all of this news generated an increase in traffic in 2015 over 2014, in terms of both pageviews and unique visitors — welcome news, especially since 2014 saw sizable growth in traffic over 2013. We will now share with you the 10 biggest stories at ATL over the past year — an annual tradition we’ve done in 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, and 2009.
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Before looking at individual news stories, let’s review the top general discussion topics here at ATL. After the homepage, our next most-visited destination was the category page for Biglaw — popularity driven by anticipation of bonus news, we believe. This was followed by our 2015 law school rankings, the category page of law schools, and the category page for bonuses.
This brings us to our top 10 individual stories for 2015,[1] in ascending order of popularity, measured in pageviews as reported by Google Analytics. Click on the title of each post to be taken to the original story. Note that pageviews do not necessarily match up with importance or seriousness. For example, you won’t see any mention of Obergefell v. Hodges, King v. Burwell, or other major Supreme Court rulings from 2015.
10. The Official Lawyer’s Guide To Getting Drunk Watching Donald Trump Debate. One of the biggest stories of 2015 was the rise of The Donald. Not surprisingly, Joe Patrice’s drinking game for the first, eagerly anticipated Republican debate went viral, garnering more than 5,000 Facebook shares.
9. Biglaw Partner Gets Wasted On Plane, Causes Mid-Atlantic Flight Diversion. In case you’re curious, the partner in question is no longer with the firm — per LinkedIn, she has hung a shingle.
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8. The 2016 U.S. News Law School Rankings Are Here! We prefer our own law school rankings, which rank schools based on the employment outcomes of their graduates, instead of library books or LSAT scores. But we admit that U.S. News still calls the tune to which law school deans must dance.
7. NY To $190K!? Which Firm May Be Raising First-Year Salaries? Simpson Thacher, the firm that brought Biglaw its last major pay raise, denies any current plans to raise salaries again — but Biglaw associates, saddled with huge student loans, won’t stop dreaming.
6. Why Are Lawyers So Good At Sex? We eagerly await the promised rebuttal from columnist Gary J. Ross’s girlfriend, “Why Are Lawyers So Bad At Sex?”
5. Lawyer Arrested For Doing Her Job. This deeply troubling story, featuring shocking video of a lawyer being hauled off in handcuffs for trying to represent her client, also went viral, earning almost 11,000 Facebook shares.
4. Pro Se Filing Of The Day: ‘Notice To F*ck This Court And Everything That It Stands For.’ This pro se filing is pretty epic; just read it already, okay?
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3. Biglaw Firm Makes Big Joke Out Of Work/Life Balance. This top firm’s April Fools’ Day joke went over very, very badly — and even triggered an apology from the firm’s executive partner.
2. Associate Bonus Watch: Cravath Announces Its 2015 Associate Bonuses! This news was a long time in coming — see Associate Bonus Watch Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, and Day 5 — but good things come to those who wait. Market leader Cravath maintained last year’s high bonus levels and many associates seemed pleased, if unsurprised (but note the existence of some dissent).
1. California Bar Exam Cut From Three Days To Two. We reported the news of what’s arguably the nation’s toughest bar exam making life a little easier on aspiring California lawyers, starting July 2017. Will making the CA bar a two-day affair help with the abysmal pass rate, which fell below 40 percent for some ABA-accredited schools? Only time will tell.
So there you have it: the 10 most popular stories of 2015. If you have a favorite Above the Law story from last year that didn’t crack the top ten, please feel free to give it a mention in the comments.
And please help us continue to cover the legal profession with the wit and insight that have helped Above the Law become one of the largest legal news sites in the country, as well as the world. If you hear of an interesting story, just email us or text us (646-820-8477). Thanks, and we look forward to enlightening and entertaining you in 2016.
[1] For purposes of this listing, intended to serve as a look back at 2015’s biggest stories, we excluded posts published in prior years that racked up major traffic in 2015 — e.g., so-called “evergreen content” like The Best Bar Exam Prep Courses, 9 Non-Legal Jobs You Can (Really, Truly) Do With a Law Degree, and — shudder! — The Best Online Law Schools.
Earlier: Above the Law’s Top 10 Most Popular Posts of 2014
Above the Law’s Top 10 Most Popular Posts of 2013
Above the Law’s Top 10 Most Popular Posts of 2012
Above The Law’s Top 10 Most Popular Stories of 2011
Above The Law’s Top 10 Most Popular Stories of 2010
Above The Law’s Top 10 Most Popular Stories of 2009
