David Lat & Elie Mystal

Posts by David Lat & Elie Mystal

Non-Sequiturs: 01.06.11

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'BAM's new Chief of Staff William Daley

* Predictions for the legal industry for 2011, from some “legal media stars” — Dahlia Lithwick of Slate, Robin Sparkman of The American Lawyer, Jenna Greene of the National Law Journal, Marisa Kashino of Washingtonian, and our very own David Lat. [Hellerman Baretz]

* A third bedbug lawsuit against the Waldorf-Astoria. And a travel tip: if you stay there, avoid room 1651. [Gothamist]

* Congratulations to the finalists in LexisNexis’s Legal Marketing Makeover — in which Lat is serving as one of the judges, along with Larry Bodine, Carolyn Elefant, and David Palmieri and Carol Eversen, vice presidents at LexisNexis. [Larry Bodine Law Marketing Blog]

* Court order affirms the right of Rhode Island police to harass students who throw loud parties. I know what you’re thinking: “they have loud parties in Rhode Island?” [Chronicle of Higher Education]

* Dude, if you are going to sell a law degree on Ebay, it needs to be at least nominally related to the worth of the thing. Only law schools can get away with selling them for 10 times their value. [NetNet/CNBC]

* The “Big Boobs Friday” case has settled, so now you can get a better handle on how much your great idea for an office party will cost you. [CTwatchdog]

* Is Obama friends with anybody who is not from Chicago? [NPR]

* Don’t friend you victim on Facebook. [Lowering the Bar]

* Not really legally related, but the shroud of Turin of underwear has been found, and we wanted you to know about it. [Gawker]

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Associate Bonus Watch: Skadden Matches Cravath

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Bonuses have just been announced at Skadden. The following memo went out earlier today to all Skadden partners, from executive partner Eric Friedman:

To All Partners:

The attached memo announcing a year end discretionary bonus will be sent to associates in North America on a class by class basis today. Bonuses will range from $7,500 to $35,000 and will be issued in mid-December. While the same bonus schedule will be applied in all offices, communication to our international offices is being handled on an office by office basis. Counsel bonuses will be announced next week.

Bonuses are announced by class, but the range of $7,500 to $35,000 strongly suggests that Skadden is simply matching the Cravath bonus scale for 2010.

The form memo to associates that just went out, plus confirmations of bonus amounts for specific class years, after the jump.

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Cravath Bonuses Are Out: The 2010 Bonus Season Is Under Way!

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We’ve had to wait a long time for this announcement. Last year, Cravath kicked off bonus season on November 2nd. This year, bonus news took longer to arrive.

Was it worth the wait? Cravath just announced its bonuses, this afternoon.

So, what are the Cravath year-end bonuses looking like for 2010?

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A Response to the Boycotters of Above the Law

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Above the Law is currently experiencing its first organized boycott. Surprisingly enough, it’s coming from readers who hate typos believe that ATL has shown insensitivity towards the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

UPDATE: We are pleased to report that, after some productive dialogue, the boycott appears to be over. Details below.

This came as something of a shock to us. Above the Law has several LGBT writers, and our parent company, Breaking Media, has multiple LGBT employees. If you read through our archives for LGBT issues and for marriage equality, you’ll come across coverage that is extremely supportive of and sensitive to the concerns of LGBT individuals.

So what are the boycotters upset about? Let’s find out….

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Non-Sequiturs: 10.06.10

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Is that a Burberry check or are you just happy to see me?

* Burberry sues Body Glove over an iPhone cover that makes your phone look like the inside of a Burberry trench coat. If Body Glove ever makes a condom packet that looks like the inside of a Burberry trench coat, married men will be interested in the proceedings. [Fashionista]

* The new biography of Justice Brennan, by Seth Stern and Stephen Wermiel, sounds like it was worth the decade-long wait. [New York Times]

* UCI Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky has a new book out too. Progressives should have some nice reading material when they take their long international vacations after the November elections. [Los Angeles Times]

* If you’re at the point where you need a career counselor to remind you to shower, you probably need us to remind you to put your clothes back on, after your shower, before you go to your interview. [The Careerist]

* Unemployment can ruin a bunny’s birthday. [Tortbunnies]

* If you think about it, Jesus was actually a crap motivator. Seriously, he rallied what, a dozen out-of-work fishermen and a prostitute? Bill Belichick motivates more people to risk their lives for him every Sunday. Federal employees should think about that next time they organize a speaker series. [Out of the Storm News]

* This slideshow of terrible self-promoters includes a couple of lawyers. [Huffington Post]

* Congratulations to Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who will be honored by the ABA next week for her work promoting the rule of law. [American Bar Association]

* Are you a current law student interested in juvenile justice policy and legal research? Help a sister out. [Dissertation Study Post]

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Non-Sequiturs: 09.13.10

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* Biglaw girls just want to have fun, but a good man is hard to find. Some follow-up thoughts on Sweet Hot Justice’s question, “Does This Law Degree Make My Ass Look Fat?” [Technolawyer]

* This is what happens when Sabermetrics genius Bill James turns his attention to crime and punishment. [Slate]

* Major business employers are shifting their recruiting efforts away from the Ivies and towards state schools; should Biglaw firms do the same? [Law and More]

* A very well-done (albeit depressing) Blawg Review, by Keith Lee of An Associate’s Mind. [An Associate's Mind via Blawg Review]

* LeBron isn’t the only star performer who’s in demand. Did you know that Justice Ginsburg just signed with the U.S. District Court for Nebraska? [Laws for Attorneys]

* Professor Dave Hoffman on “the quickly unraveling clerkship market.” [Concurring Opinions]

* Is being called out by former attorney general Alberto Gonzales “a badge of honor”? Quite possibly, according to Professor Tung Yin. [The Yin Blog]

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Non-Sequiturs: 09.10.10

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* Gawker is now offering Donald Trump money to shut up. You could say that Gawker is not getting any consideration in this deal, but you’d be very wrong. [Gawker]

* Alice Lingo, the lawyer-turned-cleaning-lady we posted about yesterday, has a Biglaw background. [Law Shucks]

* Professor Jonathan Adler has a detailed write-up of Sonia From the Block’s recent talk to Case Western law students. Justice Sotomayor: clerkship offers or it didn’t happen. [Volokh Conspiracy ]

* Meanwhile, Lady Kaga might only be working part-time for her first Term. [WSJ Law Blog]

* A California federal judge ruled DADT unconstitutional — making it the perfect time check out this 2009 NYU Law Revue skit. [YouTube]

* If it is possible to stop with political, religious, and racial fighting (and other assorted crap) for just one day, could that day be tomorrow? [Associated Press]

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Cut Your Losses, or Finish Law School? An ATL Debate

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Martin Luther dropped out of law school - and so can you.

At what point should you give up on your dream of becoming a lawyer? It’s a question on many people’s minds lately. Whether they were laid off during the recession and haven’t been able to get back in, or if they’ve just graduated law school to the triumphant sounds of crickets, people are wondering when it’s time to stop throwing good money (and effort) after bad.

It’s a question some people start asking before they even graduate from law school. With the school year getting underway, returning law students are once again wondering whether or not they made the right choice when they matriculated to law school in the first place.

Earlier this week, Lat received this question from a 2L at a top-eight law school:

Hi David. I’ve got a dilemma and it’s really eating me up and I was wondering if you could give me some advice. Here are the salient points:

* I’m at [redacted] — an awesome school.
* It’s a crappy economy and I don’t anticipate getting a job anytime soon.
* My 1L grades are A-, B+, B, B, B-, B-, B-, B-.
* I’m not sure I really want to spend my life being a lawyer. It seems like such a boring profession.
* I think I would be really happy being a public interest attorney, like working at the DA’s office or on Capitol Hill. I get excited about those jobs — but they pay nothing and are super-hard to get.
* I’m about $70K in debt — so I’ve invested so much!

People tell me that a JD is a great credential to get. I just don’t know if it’s worth it to finish the degree. It’s so darn expensive. Realistically, if I stay the course I’ll graduate with $170K in debt. If I don’t finish, I’ll never have the degree and the prospects that come with it.

I feel that long-term, over a 40-year career, it could be good to have the law degree — it’s from [redacted], not from a lower-ranked school.

Should I finish law school or walk away?

Mwahahaha — David isn’t here, Mrs. Torrance.

Just kidding. Lat is here, and he will answer your question in a second. But first, let Elie explain why you should run, now…

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Non-Sequiturs: 09.02.10

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* Wasn’t there a guy — black guy, big ears — who specifically tried to stop this kind of thing from happening? [AltTransport]

* Are you a Biglaw associate with a family? You should despair check out this advice. [Life's Work]

* Tiny crustaceans have been found in New York City tap water, possibly rendering it unfit for consumption under the dietary laws of kashrut (kosher). Elie’s take: “I refuse to believe in a God who cares about this s**t.” [OUkosher.org via Consumerist]

* The “Top 100 Women of Weed” features four fierce females: Jessica Corry, Allison Margolin, Jeralyn Merritt, and Marjorie Russell. [CelebStoner via TalkLeft]

* Barry Scheck — the DNA evidence expert who helped free O.J. Simpson, and who also founded the Innocence Project — talks about the 258 cases in which the Innocence Project has secured post-conviction DNA exonerations. [Big Think]

* Are you an aspiring law professor? Here’s a conference that might interest you. [Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law / Arizona State University]

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Fall Recruiting Open Threads: Vault 81 – 100 (2011)

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Readers, we’ve reached the end of the road. After this post, we will have exhausted the Vault 100 law firms — the one hundred most prestigious large law firms in the country. We’ve been doing a series of open threads on these firms so that readers can discuss, in the comments, how these firms stack up against each other.

We were impressed by the quality, but not the quantity, of the comments on our last law firm open thread. Will the final 20 generate as much discussion? Here they are:

81. Arent Fox LLP
82. McGuireWoods LLP
83. Venable LLP
84. Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP
85. Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP
86. Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP
87. Baker & Hostetler LLP
88. Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP
89. Seyfarth Shaw LLP
90. Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP
91. Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP
92. Blank Rome LLP
93. Bracewell & Giuliani LLP
94. Dorsey & Whitney LLP
95. Kilpatrick Stockton LLP
96. Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo P.C.
97. Dickstein Shapiro LLP
97. Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP
98. Squire, Sanders & Dempsey L.L.P.
99. Troutman Sanders LLP
100. Fenwick & West LLP

Let’s kickstart the conversation by pulling out some tasty tidbits from their Vault write-ups….

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