Eliza Gray

Posts by Eliza Gray

Economic Downturn Continues to Hammer Law Schools

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Will Work for Food 2 Above the Law blog.JPGKaren Sloan over at the National Law Journal has an interesting report on how the economic crisis continues to cause pain to the nation’s law schools:

Instead of an expected 1% budget increase, the dean of the Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law learned that she would need to cut about 2% of the budget for the current academic year. The reductions were necessary because the Pennsylvania government — facing a major budget shortfall — was preparing to cut funding to the university by more than 4%.

Great. Just when the declining legal market might suggest (ahem) a reduction in law school tuition costs, budget shortfalls make it almost certain that legal education will remain ridiculously expensive.

And if public schools are feeling the pinch, you best believe that private schools are crying tears of poverty all over your tuition check for this semester. More after the jump.

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Cleary Gottlieb Profits

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Cleary Gottlieb logo.jpgWe know what Cleary is doing for associate compensation: they are paying Cravath bonuses but have decided against freezing salaries. Is anybody interested in what the partners will be taking home this year? According to AmLaw:

Gross revenue is up roughly 8 percent to $965 million; profits per partner increased about 12 percent to $2.4 million. Revenue per lawyer, however, was basically flat, down less than 1 percent.

$2.4 million in this economy? Where do I sign up?

More on Cleary and money after the jump.

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Morning Docket 1.15.09

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* Jackpot! “A Mississippi woman thought she had won a slot machine jackpot when a display lit up $1 million, but the casino says the maximum payout was clearly posted: $8,000.” [The Associated Press]

* Eric Holder, President-elect Obama’s appointed attorney-general, will have his confirmation hearing today. Senate Republicans are expected to accuse him of partisanship. [Bloomberg.com]

* London’s Clifford Chance signed a “best-friends” agreement with India’s AZB promising that they will recommend each other to international clients. [The Financial Times]

* Female lawyers, hold on to your pay checks. Today the Senate will discuss equal pay for equal work. [The Rutland Herald]

* Be nice to your secretary. A former office manager/secretary at a Madison, Wisconsin firm admitted to embezzling $57k from the firm. She says she took the money to pay for financial troubles, but later admitted she spent some of it gambling at casinos. [The Capital Times]

* For all those legal nerds interested in Prop. 8, check out this column by George Will. [Seattlepi.com]

* The Minnesota Senate recount might have been unconstitutional. [The Wall Street Journal]

Morning Docket 1.14.09

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* The Madoff case will garner lawyers lots of money in fees. “This is a financial 9/11 for our clients” said a Proskauer Rose litigation partner, licking his lips. [Bloomberg.com]

* Meanwhile, the U.S. is challenging the New York Judge’s decision to keep Madoff free on bail. [Bloomberg.com]

* Legislators in Maine are introducing a bill that would recognize same-sex marriage. [The Boston Globe]

* Obama and Biden will visit the Supreme Court this afternoon to meet with the Justices and get a tour. The elephant in the chambers: Obama and Biden voted against Roberts’ confirmation. [The Washington Post]

* Al Franken asked the Minnesota Supreme Court to let him get to the Senate without waiting for the resolution of opponent Norm Coleman’s legal challenge. His lawyers argue that Senator’s will need Franken for comic relief in the midst of our trying times (just kidding). [The Associated Press]

* Dozens of suspected terrorists released from Guantanamo have returned to terrorism says the Pentagon (gulp). [CNN]

Morning Docket 1.12.2009

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* Law firm Thompson Wigdor & Gilly has moved in to a loft that looks more like a start-up than a law firm. Their light, spacious, white leather studded office doesn’t fool anyone….or does it? [The New York Times]

* SCOTUS will hear a major reverse discrimination case brought by white fire-fighters who say they were not promoted because of their race. [The Christian Science Monitor]

* A South African appellate court reinstated corruption charges against Jacob Zuma, the leader of the ruling party and probable next president. [The New York Times]

* U.S. government regulators are urging Citigroup to replace chairman Winfried Bischof in hopes that it will restore investor confidence in the bank. [International Herald Tribune]

* Los Angeles litigator William W. Vaughn, who defended Dan Rather against slander in 1983, died last week. [Los Angeles Times]

* New York judge Ronald Ellis will decide today whether to revoke Madoff’s bail and send him to prison. Ellis has made thousands of bail rulings including a case involving a French acrobat whose paraglider got caught on the Statue of Liberty’s torch. [Bloomberg.com]

* Thanks to ATL’s night and weekend readers, we’re making a surge in the 2008 Weblog Awards. It’s time to get the morning voters involved. Remember you can vote once every 24 hours. [2008 Weblog Awards]

Morning Docket 1.2.09

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* London-based law firm Linklaters was the leading law firm in mergers and acquisitions this year, taking the number 1 title from Sullivan and Cromwell. [Bloomberg]

* Former UK attorney general Lord Goldsmith says the UK should take in prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay prison camp if it will help the U.S. close the prison. [BBC News] Australia is not likely to take any prisoners says prime minister Kevin Rudd. The U.S. has asked a 100 countries to help clear the prison. [BBC News]

* Guinea pigs may smell bad but should you go to jail for owning one? Probationers in California could end up in jail for failing to report owning harmless pets like hamsters or goldfish thanks to a ruling by the California Supreme Court. [San Francisco Chronicle]

* A chinese court convicted 11 people for running a counterfeiting ring that “manufactured and distributed pirated Microsoft software throughout the world.” [The New York Times]

* Associates were not the only people in the legal community that were displeased with compensation this year. Federal judges lost their request to Congress for a pay raise to account for inflation. Chief Justice John Roberts says the frightfully low pay for judges threatens the quality of the court. [The Los Angeles Times]

* Life at law firms is not looking good for 2009, sorry to say. Lay-offs and lower bonuses will likely continue in the New Year. On the bright side–less work could help you meet that New Year’s resolution to go to the gym. [The Chicago Tribune]

Morning Docket 12.31.08

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fruitcake.jpg* The chairwoman of a Chinese dairy company pleaded guilty to selling tainted milk. [Reuters]

* A federal judge declined Tuesday to release two detainees from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, finding that the U.S. government had proved that they were enemy combatants. [The Washington Post]

* Senate Democrats will not accept the appointment of Roland Burris because he is tainted by the corruption of Gov. Blagojevich. Obama publicly agreed with their decision, despite Rep. Bobby Rush’s (D-IL) contention that the U.S. Senate shouldn’t turn away a black man. [The Associated Press]

* The 9th Circuit rejected the outrageosly long 28-years-to-life-sentence for a California sex offender who registered his address late to local police. The court says it was “cruel and unusual punishment” for a technical violation. [Los Angeles Times]

* Instead of sending their client’s fruit baskets for the holidays, Boston firm Conn Kavanaugh Rosenthal Peisch & Ford donated $10,000 to a local charity. [The Boston Globe]

* An 85-year-old man from New Jersey admits he passed U.S. nuclear secrets to Israel after gaining access to a military library in Dover, New Jersey. [Bloomberg]

Morning Docket 12.30.08

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* SCOTUS may hear the case of a Texas woman who claims that an extreme religious group forced her to “exorcise her demons”, disturbing her so much that she later attempted suicide. [The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

* On Wednesday, the federal court in Manhattan will start considering information that will infect the investor’s in Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. Furthermore, Judge Louis L. Stanton of the U.S. District Court will consider whether people who invested in “feeder funds” with other Wall Streeters who invested in Madoff’s fund will be covered under the Securities Investor Protection Corporation–a federal fund that protects investors in cases like these. [The New York Times]

* The federal government announced a settlement over a developers who build projects on wetlands in Michigan’s Midland and Bay counties–a case that has gone on for decades. [The Chicago Tribune]

*Former New York City police Commissioner Bernard Kerick pleaded not guilty in a federal court to charges of tax evasion and corruption. [CNN.com]

* Store vendors angered by department store’s mark-downs may make the stores cover more of the losses. If they succeed, they could get back $ 1.2 billion from Macy’s, Saks Inc., Dillard’s, Nordstrom, Kohl’s and JC Penney. [Bloomberg.com]

* “The 6th Circuit struck down a vehicle safety law in Michigan that banned drivers from hanging any view-obstructing baubles from their rearview mirrors. [Courthouse News Service]

Morning Docket 12.29.08

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* Anti-government demonstrators in Thailand swarmed around the Parliament building Monday, delaying the new legislature’s first meeting. [International Herald Tribune]

* Bloggers beware! A Maryland court will decide whether authors who write critical comments on-line under pseudonyms will have to reveal their identity. (yikes!) [The Baltimore Sun]

* New York chief court judge Judith Kaye officially retires Wednesday. Now a highly celebrated Judge, Kaye was not an easy sell when Cuomo appointed her to the state court of appeals. [The New York Times]

* US Courts will stil see a steady flow of terrorism threat cases, even when Obama is president. [The Washington Times]

* In light of recent events in Gaza, the Iranian cabinet has decided file suit against Israeli officials in international courts. [Trend News Agency]

* Holiday sales were the worst in 40 years, so expect to see a ton of bankruptcies and take-overs in the near future. [Bloomberg]

Morning Docket 12.19.08

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* The White House has raised the prospect of “pushing the cars into a managed bankruptcy as a solution to save the companies from financial collapse.” [The International Herald Tribune]

* The Iraqi journalist who threw the shoe at President George W. Bush will go on trial for insulting a foreign leader, which could get him up to two years in prison. Another case may be brought against the people who beat him after the incident. [The Associated Press]

* “Deep Throat” W. Mark Felt Sr., the second highest official in the FBI during Watergate, and the famous anonymous source who led journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein through the “crimes and coverups” of Richard Nixon died yesterday at 95. [The Washington Post]

* The 9th Circuit ruled that the U.S. courts might not be the appropriate place for Papua New Guinea citizens to sue British mining company Rio Tinto for inciting a “savage” ten- year civil war. [Courthouse News Service]

* A California jury acquitted surgeon Dr. Hootan Roozokh, who was accused of trying to accelerate an organ donor’s death. [The Los Angeles Times]

* Remember DC Judge Roy Pearson’s pants suit? The D.C. Court of Appeals rejected it yesterday…no surprise there. [The Associated Press]

* First there was the recession, then there were the bankruptcy’s, followed by the lay-offs, and now here are the scandals. The DOJ charged four people in an insider trading scheme incolving a Lehman broker.[CNN]

Morning Docket 12.18.08

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* A couple is suing United Airlines for “overserving” the husband by serving him red wine every 20 minutes on the flight. They say this is what caused him to beat his wife on the way to customs. [Chicago Tribune]

* “Federal judges in some parts of the United States are delaying the swearing-in of new citizens, apparently so that courts can keep millions of dollars in naturalization fees paid by immigrants, according to a new government report.” [The Washington Post]

* A Rhode Island family sued their cable provider for hooking up the Playboy channel, which plays hardcore porn. [Courthouse News Service]

* Investors in Madoff’s ponzi scheme might be able to get back some of their money by filing for a U.S. tax refund. As if the U.S. government isn’t paying out enough money these days…[Bloomberg.com]

* The high court in Europe says a UK couple should be bound by the ruling of judge in southern Cyprus that they demolish their vacation home. The house is built on land that belongs to a Greek Cypriot who claims it was taken from him during the Turkish invasion in 1974. [BBC News]

Morning Docket 12.17.08

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* Conversations about impeachment of Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich were postponed until today so that Blago’s lawyer Ed Gerson could be present, or so that prosecutors could make sure that the impeachment committee could interfere with his criminal case. [The New York Times]

* Judges tighten their belts. Gov. Patterson of New York praised New York’s judiciary for presenting such a tight budget request, despite the influx of financially-related cases. Maine’s judiciary didn’t see any cuts in the budget, but the Gov.’s failure to grant them a shortfall could make cases take longer. [Law.com]

* Former Amgen Inc. patent lawyer Darrell G. Dotson, who claims that he was fired for blowing the whistle on the company’s unethical activity, will be able to pursue his case in court, a Superior court judge rules. [The Los Angeles Times]

* Marc Dreier’s law firm, “scandalized” by his fraud charges, will file for bankruptcy. [The Associated Press]

* The recent killings of three Latino immigrants prompted Latino leaders to ask Congress to extend the federal hate crimes law. [FOX]

* Sarasota city commissioners abolish the city’s law against spitting. [The Associated Press]