Bad Ideas
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Bad Ideas, Education / Schools, Lawyer of the Day, Rudeness
Dad v. Mean Girls
What happens when mean girls gossip about a lawyer's teenage daughter at school? They get sued, of course! Good job, dad, you've probably ensured that your daughter will spend the next half-decade ostracized by her peers. -
Bad Ideas, Crime, Facebook, Social Networking Websites, Technology
Do Your Facebook Pictures Prove You're A Criminal?
File this one under “Disappointing, but not really surprising.” According to a new study, it turns out that quite a few law students not only break the law, but also post the evidence on Facebook. We’ve already covered why this is a bad idea. For some reason I keep hoping Facebook has been around long […] - 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… -
Advertising, Bad Ideas, Lawyer Advertising, Romance and Dating
Can't Get Hired? Tell Them Who You've Dated!
We all know that the legal market is dismal these days. People will go to almost any lengths to land jobs. A perfect résumé touting your strongest attributes is key. Most lawyers implicitly understand that this means legal attributes – you know, things that portray a sense of professional competence. But every now and then […]
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Bad Ideas, Benchslaps, Document Review, Federal Judges, Screw-Ups, Technology
D.C. Lawyers Screw Up E-discovery So Badly, It’s 'Literally Unheard Of'
If you read a lot of e-discovery articles — and I know y’all do — you know that judges are quickly losing any patience for attorneys who don’t have their act together during e-discovery (or even regular old discovery). I know that nothing about the process is simple or easy. I know e-discovery is expensive […] -
Bad Ideas, Crime, Law Schools, Legal Ethics, Minority Issues, Police, Racism, Reader Polls, UVA Law
What To Do With The UVA Law Student Who Cried Wolf?
What would Sally Hemings say to Johnathan Perkins? -
Bad Ideas, Crime, Law Schools, Legal Ethics, Minority Issues, Police, Racism, Reader Polls, UVA Law
A Law Student Plays the Race Card -- And Gets Busted, Big Time
UPDATE (10/3/2017): We now know much more about what happened to Johnathan Perkins back in 2011 than we did at the time, and it majorly changes how he and the situation should be viewed. See this new story, Was UVA Law Alum Johnathan Perkins Pressured By The FBI Into Recanting His Account Of Racial Profiling? […] -
Bad Ideas, Facebook, Health Care / Medicine, Privacy, Screw-Ups, Social Networking Websites, Technology
ER Doc Forgets Patient Info is Private, Gets Fired for Facebook Overshare
I’m done whining about Facebook privacy issues. Everyone should know by now that Facebook and privacy are basically mutually exclusive. But every once in a while, someone does something stupid relating to Facebook privacy in a new, exciting way — like stealing a computer and posting photos of yourself on the owner’s page, or uploading […] -
Bad Ideas, Education / Schools, Quote of the Day, Sex
Quote of the Day: Why Don't They Have A Lap Dance Section on the MPRE?
I don’t know, just kind of laying on top of him. Not laying on top of him but straddling him. It was like a lap dance, you could say. — a sophomore describing the “ethics symposium” hosted by Jack Rappaport, a business professor at Lasalle University. You can read more about Rappaport’s alleged activities over […] - Sponsored
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Lexis Create provides simple access to internal and external knowledge — directly within Microsoft Word. -
9/11, Advertising, Bad Ideas, Lawyer Advertising, Pictures
Law Firm Ad Achieves Pinnacle of Bad Taste (And It's Not Even True)
Have you no sense of decency, sir? Have you left no sense of decency, Worby Groner Edelman & Napoli Bern? The law firm that “specializes” in World Trade Center aftermath issues has already drawn the ire of the judicial system. The firm represents workers injured in the WTC cleanup, and a federal judge previously benchslapped […] -
Bad Ideas, Bar Exams, BARBRI, Facebook, Law Schools, Money, Student Loans, Temple University, James E. Beasley Law
Law Student Witch Sells Spells for Bar Exam Prep Course Money(And begs her classmates for cash, too.)
Law school is expensive. We get it. Preparing for the bar exam is expensive too. We know. What’s a law student to do? Taking out more loans is the obvious answer, but at a certain point, one cries out, “!No más!” Some have turned to, for lack of a better word, begging — like this […] -
Bad Ideas, Lawyer of the Day, Politics, Rank Stupidity
Lawyer of the Day: Another Midwestern Prosecutor
What is up with state prosecutors in the Midwest? Over the past year or so, they’ve been making huge fools of themselves. See, e.g., Wisconsin’s Ken Kratz (of “I am the prize” fame); Michigan’s Andrew Shirvell (of “homophobic nut job” fame); and Indiana’s Jeff Cox (of “Use Live Ammo” fame). Our latest Midwestern prosecutor to […] -
Bad Ideas, Crime, Facebook, Rank Stupidity, Social Networking Websites, Technology
World's Dumbest Criminal Would Like to Add You As a 'Friend'
The following tale of legal technology took place in our nation’s capital, although it seemed to draw more attention overseas. Last December, as winter’s grip began to take hold over Washington, D.C., Rodney Knight Jr. found himself in serious need of a heavy jacket. So he did what any of us would have done in these circumstances: he […] -
Attorney Misconduct, Bad Ideas, Bar Exams, Law Schools, Lawyer of the Day, Legal Ethics, Pro Se Litigants, Traffic Accidents, Trials
Would-Be-Lawyer of the Day: Don't Put ☺ in a Court Filing
Here’s some good news for lawyers who enjoy blogging or instant-messenger services like Gchat. It’s right in the headline of this here National Law Journal story: Smiley face, snark, don’t render law grad unfit to practice. Many of us get snarky in our personal writing, and many of us employ emoticons in email messages or […]
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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…
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Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
How to best leverage generative AI as an early adopter with ethical use.
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How Generative AI Will Improve Legal Service Delivery
Learn how emerging tools will likely change and enhance the work of lawyers for years to come in this new report.
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This AI-Powered Document Tool Will Meet You Where You Are
Lexis Create provides simple access to internal and external knowledge — directly within Microsoft Word.
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Bad Ideas, Drinking, Law Schools, Minority Issues, Parties, Racism, UVA Law
Do You Really Need Confederate-Flag Decor at Your Law School Party?
On Friday we wrote about the settlement agreed to by Cure Lounge, a club in Boston that was accused of discriminating against African-American patrons. In the comments, it seemed like some of our Southern readers where all too happy to point out that this example of racist behavior took place in the North. Lord knows […] -
Bad Ideas, Law Schools, Rank Stupidity
A Miami Law Student Wants a 'Student Bill of Rights.' Really?
Usually I’m happy to stand with law students against the slings and arrows of outrageous law school administration. But not this time. This time, instead of a noble law student fighting the good fight, I see an annoying whiner who wants law school to be about teddy bears and rainbows. A student at the University […] -
Bad Ideas, Craigslist, Job Searches, Money, Nude Dancing, Women's Issues
Ladies: A J.D. Will NOT Prevent You From Fulfilling Your Stripper Dreams
Well, I think we are officially at the point in the legal economy where servicing law school debts is just like servicing an expensive drug habit. The parallels between the two are too great to ignore: Is it something you started because everybody else was doing it? Is it something you initially thought was a […] -
Bad Ideas, Crime, Law Schools, State Judges
Massachusetts Law Student Engages in Epic Judicial Intimidation
I don’t know where Ray Wolfe goes to law school, and I don’t want to know. This guy seems unhinged and dangerous. You don’t have to take my word for it; you can look at the letters this guy sent to judges in Missouri. According to court documents, Wolfe was a law student in Massachusetts, […] -
Bad Ideas, Email Scandals, Law Schools, Social Networking Websites
Networking 101: Don't Send Networking Emails Like This One
Here at Above the Law, we’re still enjoying the awesomeness of 1Ls and 2Ls going to war over the appropriate use of a listserv. Today we’ve got an email more mundane in subject matter, but no less objectionable. It’s from a 1L (of course), who is trying to “network” with fellow 1Ls. And it’s written […] -
Bad Ideas, Lawsuit of the Day, Videos, YouTube
Potential Lawsuit of the Day: 'Fountain Lady' Might Sue the Mall
Hopefully everybody had a chance to see “Fountain Lady” before YouTube removed the clip. It’s the kind of thing that made YouTube famous: a woman is texting and walking and she falls right into a fountain at a mall. It’s funny. And the woman walks away soaked, but unharmed. Normally, that would be the end […] -
Bad Ideas, Biglaw, Cellphones, Partner Issues, Rudeness
Acela Bob, Meet Acela Jim: Kelley Drye Managing Partner Conducts Confidential Conversation on Packed Train
Here at Above the Law, we’re trying to help you. We write about lawyers who do embarrassing things so that you can learn from their examples. Heck, you should get ethics CLE credit for reading this site. One of our most widely-used lessons — now part of new employee training at a Wall Street firm, […]