American Bar Association / ABA
-
American Bar Association / ABA, Biglaw, Boring Stuff, Conferences / Symposia, Document Review, Technology
Letter From LegalTech: The Thrills of E-Discovery
Should lawyers be held to a standard of technological competence? -
American Bar Association / ABA, Job Searches, Law Professors, Law Schools, Money, Quote of the Day, Student Loans, Unemployment
Quote of the Day: The Law School Dream Is Dead
Joblessness, debt, and bitter rage: just some of the shiny, new things a law degree will get you in 2013. - 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… -
American Bar Association / ABA, Clarence Thomas, Contracts, Facebook, Non-Sequiturs, SCOTUS, Sex, Sexual Harassment, Supreme Court
Non-Sequiturs: 01.18.13
* Is this contract for sex based on Facebook likes enforceable? [Gawker] * Speaking of unenforceable contracts, what in the hell does Bilbo sign before his unexpectedly long journey? [Wired] * And Jesus, you certainly can’t barter legal services for sex! I think everybody needs to go home and read the Second Restatement. [Indianapolis Star] * Now you can hear for yourself the three words that Clarence Thomas spoke. It’s at the 41 minute mark. [The Supreme Court] * Ms. JD is offering lawyers and law students the chance to submit questions to ABA President Laurel Bellows that will be answered at an event on January 31 (with viewing parties around the country). [Ms. JD] * How to answer a question when an interviewer asks you something that you don’t have to answer. [Lawyers.com] * Litigation can be a good excuse to get your client to do things they should have been doing all along. [What About Clients?] * North Carolina dean claims she was forced to underreport sexual assaults at the college. When reached for comment, the Duke Lacrosse team said, “We kind of have the opposite problem.” [Salon]
-
Adam Liptak, American Bar Association / ABA, B for Beauty, Biglaw, Deaths, Law Professors, Law School Deans, Law Schools, Mergers and Acquisitions, Money, Morning Docket, Reality TV, SCOTUS, Sonia Sotomayor, Suicide, Supreme Court, Technology, Television, Texas, You Go Girl
Morning Docket: 01.14.13
* “I’m a New Yorker, and I jaywalk with the best of them.” Don’t be fooled by the rocks job that she’s got — she’s still, she’s still Jenny Sonia from the block. The Supreme Court’s very own wise Latina, author of a new memoir (affiliate link), is proud of her city. [New York Times; 60 Minutes]
* If you’re looking for an M&A adviser, you’d be wise to seek out counsel from Skadden Arps. The firm sweeped three separate rankings lists based on the total value of its clients’ 2012 M&A transactions. [Am Law Daily]
* Only in the world of legal education could the dean of a law school that isn’t even numerically ranked by U.S. News have the highest salary of all law deans nationwide. (We’ll likely have more on this later.) [Boston Globe]
* Arizona schools will allow 3Ls to take the bar exam, but New York schools may soon do away with 3L year altogether. Of course, the ABA will find a way to muck it up, but still, hooray for progress! [National Law Journal]
* Remember “Made in Jersey,” the show about a stereotypical Jersey girl who made the jump to Biglaw? Yeah, neither does anyone else. Hopefully “Staten Island Law” won’t face the same fate. [New York Daily News]
* “Sexiness is all about being a woman of character.” Our congratulations go out to DaNae Couch, the Texas Tech law student who advanced to the Top 10 of the Miss America competition. You go girl! [Lubbock Online]
* Aaron Swartz — Reddit co-founder, friend of Larry Lessig, felony hacking defendant — RIP. [New York Times]
-
Airplanes / Aviation, American Bar Association / ABA, Antitrust, Arnold & Porter, Biglaw, Confirmations, Crime, Deaths, Department of Justice, Hate Crimes, John Roberts, Law Schools, Morning Docket, Murder, Patents, SCOTUS, Student Loans, Supreme Court, Travel / Vacation, Trendspotting, Violence
Morning Docket: 01.02.13
* While Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts made a plea to keep funding for the federal judiciary intact, we learned that student loan default cases have fallen since 2011. You really gotta love that income-based repayment. [WSJ Law Blog (sub. req.)]
* Introducing the Asia 50, a list of the largest firms in the Asia-Pacific region. When it comes to the firms with the biggest footprints, only one American Biglaw shop made the cut. Go ahead and take a wild guess on which one it was. [Asian Lawyer]
* Congratulations are in order, because after almost a year of stalling, Arnold & Porter partner William Baer was finally confirmed by the Senate as the chief of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. [Bloomberg]
* Our elected officials might not have allowed the country to fall off the fiscal cliff, but the American Invents Act was put on hold, so if you’re a patent nerd, you can still be mad about something. [National Law Journal]
* Remember when Rutgers-Camden Law said “many top students” were making bank after graduation? Yeah, about that: Law School Transparency just filed an ABA complaint. [Thomson Reuters News & Insight]
* Here are some law school trends to look out for in 2013. FYI, the applicant pool is smaller because no one wants to foolishly gamble on their careers anymore. [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News & World Report]
* In the latest NYC subway shoving death, a woman was charged with second-degree murder as a hate crime, and allegedly bragged about other hate crimes she’s committed to police. Lovely. [New York Times]
* Next time you’re trapped on a plane that’s literally filled with other people’s crap for 11 hours, don’t bother suing over your hellish experience — you’re going to be preempted by federal law. [New York Law Journal]
-
American Bar Association / ABA, Law Schools, Student Loans
Medical Schools Make Reforms While Law Schools Make Excuses
One university helps its medical students while continuing to fleece its law students... -
American Bar Association / ABA, Bankruptcy, Biglaw, Crime, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Divorce Train Wrecks, Law Schools, Morning Docket, Sentencing Law, Texas, UVA Law
Morning Docket: 12.20.12
* “As a lawyer, this is very sad for me.” Al Togut, the prominent attorney pulling all of the strings behind the curtain of the Dewey & LeBoeuf bankruptcy filings, wishes that there was some way that the firm could’ve been saved. [Am Law Daily]
* Guys at my law school used to break into the registrar’s office to steal transcript paper all the time; it was no big deal. No really, as far as sentencing goes, apparently doing such a thing isn’t that big of a deal in Virginia. [Daily Progress]
* That’s some nice lipstick you’ve got there, pig: Lincoln Memorial University’s Duncan School of Law is still trying to get ABA accreditation by changing everything it can, including its lax admissions standards. [Knoxville News Sentinel]
* Even though Peter Madoff’s supporters showered the court with with letters filled with compliments ahead of his sentencing, the Ponzi victims aren’t exactly showing him the same kind of love. [WSJ Law Blog (sub. req.)]
* This law firm in Texas is trying to make getting divorced a more pleasurable experience, so they invented something called the “Divorce Resort” — because there’s nothing like a four-star train wreck. [Huffington Post]
-
American Bar Association / ABA, Biglaw, Deaths, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Guns / Firearms, Law Firm Mergers, Law Schools, Morning Docket, SCOTUS, Student Loans, Supreme Court, Tax Law
Morning Docket: 12.18.12
* Change may be coming soon in light of the Newtown shooting, but any talk about new federal restrictions on guns will hinge on the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Second Amendment through the lens of the Heller case. [National Law Journal]
* Joel Sanders and the Steves are facing yet another “frivolous” lawsuit over their alleged misconduct while at the helm of the sinking S.S. Dewey, but this time in a multi-million dollar case filed by Aviva Life and Annuity over a 2010 bond offering. [Am Law Daily]
* Always a bridesmaid, never a bride: Pillsbury has had the urge to merge since February, and now the firm may finally get a chance to walk down the aisle with Dickstein Shapiro. [Thomson Reuters News & Insight]
* Income-based repayment is a bastion of hope for law school graduates drowning in student loan debt, but when the tax man commeth, and he will, you’ll quickly find out that the IRS doesn’t have IBR. [New York Times]
* Is the premise of graduating with “zero debt” from a law school that hasn’t been accredited by the ABA something that you should actually consider? Sure, if you don’t mind zero jobs. [U.S. News and World Report]
* Daniel Inouye, Hawaii’s Senate representative for five decades and a GW Law School graduate, RIP. [CNN]
- Sponsored
Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
If 2023 introduced legal professionals to generative AI, then 2024 will be when law firms start adapting to utilize it. Things are moving fast, so… -
American Bar Association / ABA, Law School Deans, Law Schools, Quote of the Day
Quote of the Day: The Top Eight Things Wrong With Law Schools
A law school dean admits that law school is too expensive -- and identifies other problems with legal education, in a hard-hitting letter to the American Bar Association. -
American Bar Association / ABA, Law School Deans, Law Schools
The Most Famous Law School You've Never Heard Of
A look back at the now-defunct law school that graduated many of the early political figures in American history. -
American Bar Association / ABA, Law Schools
Fun Fact of the Day: The Incredible, Shrinking Law Schools
The stats show that prospective law students are starting to get it. -
7th Circuit, American Bar Association / ABA, Bankruptcy, Barack Obama, Baseball, Deaths, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Disasters / Emergencies, Family Law, Federal Judges, Judicial Nominations, Law Schools, Morning Docket, Pro Bono, S.D.N.Y., State Judges, State Judges Are Clowns, Texas
Morning Docket: 11.15.12
* In a move to “end the vacancy crisis,” one week after being reelected, and one day after the Senate returned to session, Barack Obama nominated seven people for open seats on federal district courts, including two S.D.N.Y. slots. [Blog of Legal Times]
* Dewey know how much the Los Angeles Dodgers will have to pay the now defunct firm for its work on the team’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case? About $13M — the equivalent of their pitcher’s salary, or 62% of their first baseman’s pay. [WSJ Law Blog]
* Which Biglaw firms in the Am Law 200 are the most LGBT friendly? Overall, of the 145 firms that participated in the Human Rights Campaign’s survey, 71 received perfect scores. Absolutely fabulous! [Am Law Daily]
* The American Bar Association’s Task Force on the Future of Legal Education wants to know what should be done about law schools. This is a time to keep it simple, stupid: change EVERYTHING! [National Law Journal]
* The New York Court of Appeals invoked the Major Disaster Rule for the first time ever, allowing out-of-state attorneys to perform pro bono services for Hurricane Sandy victims. [Thomson Reuters News & Insight]
* William Adams, the Texas family court judge who got caught beating his daughter, returned to the bench yesterday after a year-long suspension. At least he won’t get physical abuse cases, anymore. [Fox News]
* John Coffey, Senior Status Judge of the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, RIP. [Journal Sentinel]
-
American Bar Association / ABA, Biglaw, Disasters / Emergencies, Pro Bono, Public Interest
Lawyers and Law Firms Contribute To Hurricane Sandy Relief and Recovery Efforts
What are lawyers and law firms doing to contribute to Hurricane Sandy relief and recovery efforts?
Sponsored
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
Navigating Financial Success by Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Maximizing Firm Performance
Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
Sponsored
Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
-
American Bar Association / ABA, Eugene Volokh, Labor / Employment, Law Reviews, Law Schools, Non-Sequiturs, Technology, Twittering, Vanderbilt
Non-Sequiturs: 11.05.12
* Stop drinking the FCPA Kool-Aid. Kool-Aid doesn’t even taste good anyway. Unless you add booze. But I digress. [FCPA Professor] * Is it illegal to lie on Twitter? Some thoughts from Professor Eugene Volokh. [Volokh Conspiracy] * So you wanna get published in a law review, huh? Well, check this out, young padawan. [Prawfsblog] * Who are the top employment lawyers in America? [eBossWatch] * The ABA and New York Law School are butting heads on how to deal with time lost due to Sandy. [Legal As She Is Spoke via Constitutional Daily] * Lat is giving a talk at Vanderbilt Law School tomorrow. It’s open to the public and free, just like the pizza (but if you take the pizza, you have to stay for the event). [Vanderbilt Law School] -
American Bar Association / ABA, Disasters / Emergencies, Law Schools
NYU Law Students Can Blame Sandy (And The ABA) For Their Super-Long Classes
NYU Law School introduces a grueling new schedule to make up for the class days lost thanks to Hurricane Sandy. -
Advertising, American Bar Association / ABA, Google / Search Engines, Law Schools, Rankings
Ranking The Worst ABA-Accredited Law Schools
Which law schools are the worst ones in all the land? Does your law school appear on this top (or bottom) ten list? -
American Bar Association / ABA, Holy Crap, Hot Document, Law Schools
Former Thomas Jefferson School of Law Employee Alleges Falsification of Employment Statistics
A former Thomas Jefferson Law employee admits that she fabricated employment data, and all hell breaks loose. -
American Bar Association / ABA, Law Schools
Law School Litigation Update: Will New York's Chief Judge Be Able To Fix The Legal Academy's 'Systemic Failure'?
If the ABA won't do anything about the legal academy's "systemic failure," maybe the chief judge of New York's highest court will... -
American Bar Association / ABA, Bankruptcy, Biglaw, California, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Election 2012, Election Law, Harvard Law Review, Law School Deans, Law Schools, LeBoeuf Lamb, Morning Docket, Nude Dancing, Partner Issues, Politics, Texas, Weddings, William Birdthistle
Morning Docket: 10.11.12
* Everyone’s happy about the Dewey & LeBoeuf settlement except the Ad Hoc Committee and its LeBoeuf retirees, who called Judge Martin Glenn’s attempt to slap them down an “insult to injury.” [WSJ Law Blog]
* While South Carolina’s voter ID law wasn’t found to be inherently discriminatory, its enforcement was still blocked because people will be unable to get their sh*t together in time for the election. [Bloomberg]
* VP debate moderator Martha Raddatz’s 1991 wedding guest list has come under fire because Barack Obama was invited. Clearly there’s a conflict of interest worth arguing about here. [Washington Post]
* This man is nobody’s “butt boy”: Tom Keefe, the interim dean over at Saint Louis Law School, will be footing a $14,212 bill for his students in the form of ABA Law Student Division memberships. [National Law Journal]
* Strippers in California, Florida, Idaho, Kentucky, Texas, and Nevada will be making it rain, because they just scored a $12.9M class action settlement. That’s a whole lot of “college tuition”! [Courthouse News Service]
-
American Bar Association / ABA, Bankruptcy, Biglaw, Books, Copyright, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Education / Schools, Edwards Wildman, Federal Judges, General Counsel, Google / Search Engines, Morning Docket, Partner Issues, State Judges, State Judges Are Clowns, Texas
Morning Docket: 10.05.12
* Dewey know when Judge Martin Glenn will issue his ruling on the failed firm’s proposed partner contribution plan? If all goes according to plan, we can expect to learn if the PCP’s been approved or rejected as early as next week. [Am Law Daily]
* Hot on the heels of Google’s digital-book settlement, the company announced that it would be appealing its copyright infringement jury verdict in the Oracle trial. One thing’s for sure: Judge Alsup will be angered terribly by this. [Bloomberg]
* David Askew, formerly the director of Edwards Wildman’s pro bono program, will now lead the National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms as CEO and general counsel. [Corporate Counsel]
* The American Bar Association submitted an amicus brief in support of using race as a factor in college admissions, because diversity in college education is a must for diversity in law schools, duh. [ABA Journal]
* Remember the family law judge who got caught beating his daughter in a video that went viral? Now he wants the Texas Supreme Court to reinstate him, over his ex-wife’s objections. Good luck with that. [CNN]