Health Care / Medicine

Judges of the Day: Aaron Bowden and Donald Moran

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gavel judge Above the Law blog.jpgToday we bring you not one, but two Judges of the Day. We can’t decide who is more deserving of the honor. From the Florida Times-Union:

Twelve days before Christmas, Circuit Judge Aaron Bowden fired his 17-year judicial assistant, who had been on leave since August with cancer. The Jacksonville judge said he feared her prolonged illness would leave him without an assistant at a time when the state had implemented a hiring freeze.

But his decision left Christine Birch, 54, with no medical, life or disability insurance and has created a firestorm at the courthouse.

Chief Circuit Judge Donald Moran responded by calling Bowden “a no-good son of a bitch,” prompting Bowden to respond with a blistering e-mail (PDF) defending his decision and calling Moran’s criticism irresponsible, unprofessional and unseemly.

Other judges’ assistants were also appalled by Birch’s firing. They raised money to pay her rent this month….

Birch declined comment Thursday. But she thanked Moran in a handwritten note last week for putting her back on the courthouse payroll in a rotating judicial assistant’s position. Birch was paid about $3,275 a month in her old job, and the state paid her health insurance premium. Her new rotating position pays $750 less a month and requires her to pay her own premiums.

Our tipster writes:

Best quote from the article: “He said if she died while on the payroll, he would have been without an assistant for two months, ‘not an ideal situation for a judge.’” I guess dying wouldn’t have been an ideal situation for her, either.

To get both sides of the story, check out the email from Judge Bowden in which he defends his actions (and rips Chief Judge Moran a new one). You can access his message — in which he benchslaps Chief Judge Moran for his “effrontery” and his “irresponsible” comments, made “precipitously [and] without authority” — by clicking here (PDF).
P.S. Speaking of cancer, here’s a PSA from ATL, and bad news for Biglaw associates and paralegals: according to cancer researchers, overnight work and sleep deprivation may raise your cancer risk.
Judge fires his assistant, draws criticism [Florida Times-Union]
Email from Judge Aaron Bowden (PDF) [Florida Times-Union]

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Ding-Dong! The Peanut-Hating Witch Is Dead Visiting at Another Law School for a Year

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Some etiquette tips for law school deans:

peanut Mr Peanut warning contains peanuts you will die Above the Law blog.jpg1. If you send one of your students to another law school, for a year-long stint as a visiting student, don’t “apologize” for it — even if that student has a severe peanut allergy, requiring the receiving school to “peanut-proof” itself for the year.

2. If you really must issue an “apology,” do so by phone or in person, not by email.

3. If you really must issue an “apology” by email, send it to the individual dean. Do not send it to a listserv consisting of the deans of ABA-accredited law schools.

Because it might get leaked to ATL:
peanut allergy email snafu Above the Law blog.jpg
ATL readers: Please take this opportunity to engage in a spirited debate over whether schools, airlines, and other institutions go too far — or not far enough — in accommodating people with extreme food allergies. Thank you.Peanut Girl Dean Mark Sargent Villanova University School of Law.jpg

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Morning Docket: 10.31.07

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staph infection staphylococcus Above the Law blog.jpg* Family to sue NYC over staph death. [CNN]
* Nader sues DNC for trying to win 2004 Presidential election conspiring against him in 2004. [AP via Breitbart]
* Should law school be more like business school? [WSJ Law Blog]
* Georgia to $336,000 in child support! [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]
* Yep, de facto moratorium. [New York Times]

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Federal Government Perk Watch: Germ-y Gyms

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gym sign gymnasium exercise room law firm Abovethelaw Above the Law blog.jpgIf you’re an employee of the U.S. Department of Justice, and your name isn’t Susana Lorenzo-Giguere, your job probably doesn’t have many perks. They toss a few four-dollar meatballs your way, and public outcry ensues.
And now you can’t even go to the office gym, thanks to a potential outbreak of staph infections, aka “Staphylococcus aureus.” All three DOJ fitness centers are being closed for “a thorough cleaning” (which makes you wonder how “thorough” the regular cleanings are).
First the rat-ridden day care center, and now this. What next for the DOJ’s beleaguered employees?
These are not the easiest times to be at the DOJ. In the wake of the U.S. Attorneys firing controversy, the Justice Department has been plagued by a leadership vacuum (not just in terms of no Attorney General, but a very high number of acting AAGs). It has also suffered from a loss of public respect and low employee morale.
But no gym? To quote Justice Scalia, “this is really more than one should have to bear.”
The memo, which includes tips for preventing infection that everyone should read, appears after the jump.

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Biglaw Perk Watch: Flu Shots!

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flu shot injection syringe inject Above the Law blog.jpgOur parents keep reminding us to get a flu shot (which we haven’t gotten yet this year). If we worked for a law firm, maybe we wouldn’t have to worry about this. From a tipster:

My firm provides flu shots for all of its employees every flu season. I was wondering if this was typical.

The idealist in me wants to think that the firm actually cares about my health and well-being. On the other hand, the skeptic in me believes the firm doesn’t want me to get sick so that I won’t miss work.

They make you sign a consent form (of course).

Forget about the free iPhones and subsidized gym memberships. Flu shots are clearly what separate the men from the boys.
So… does YOUR firm furnish free flu shots? Please discuss, in the comments.

88 Comments

An Explanation for Bizarre Biglaw Behavior?

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sleeping girl sleep nap napping Above the Law blog.jpgWhenever something like this happens, people speculate that perhaps the poor associate was sleep-deprived. Now there’s some scientific research to support such speculation. From the BBC:

Brain scans can show how the brain gets “tired and over-emotional” when someone is deprived of sleep. US researchers kept volunteers awake for 35 hours and found huge increases in brain activity when shown images designed to make them angry or sad….

The researchers found that the parts of the brain linked to emotional reactions – the amygdala – showed bigger reactions (over 60% more) to the cards compared with a normally-rested volunteer.

Researcher Matthew Walker said: “The size of the increase really surprised us.”

“It is almost as though, without sleep, the brain reverts back to a more primitive pattern of activity, becoming unable to put emotional experiences into context and produce controlled, appropriate responses.”

Do you feel you get enough sleep? Take our reader polls, after the jump.

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Non-Sequiturs: 10.18.07

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Ave Maria School of Law Abovethelaw Above the Law blog.jpg* Holy Lawsuit, Batman! Professors sue Ave Maria. [AveWatch.org]
* TMI indeed; spare us talk of that burning sensation. Just say you have a doctor’s appointment, and leave it at that. [Nasty, Brutish & Short]
Patrick J Fitzgerald 2 Patrick Fitzgerald Pat Fitzgerald Above the Law blog.JPG* Just because you’re a 46-year-old man who has never been married doesn’t mean you’re gay. Plamegate prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald — whom we met earlier this month, btw — is engaged. Congrats, Pat! [WSJ Law Blog]
* Milberg Weiss and the Democrats: politics makes for not-so-strange bedfellows. [Overlawyered; Overlawyered]
* Some undergraduates earn cash by selling their class notes online. How long before this trend takes hold in law schools? [Conglomerate]
* Who says Yale Law grads can’t be funny? [Wonkette]

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Morning Docket: 10.11.07

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* Politician busted for cheating in marathon. Seriously. [Sports Illustrated] [FN1]
* iPhone sued over exclusivity. [MSNBC]
* Hospital employees suspended for violating HIPAA after Clooney visit. [CNN]
* Suspected killer escapes to St. Martin, so far evades extradition. [CNN]
[FN1] Shameless plug: Speaking of marathons, David is running the New York City marathon next month, to raise funds for cancer research. If you’d be willing to support him with a tax-deductible donation, please click here.

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ATL Public Service Announcement: Avoid the David W. Dyer Federal Courthouse

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Miami courthouse David W Dyer federal courthouse Above the Law blog.jpgAs noted yesterday, we’re smack in the middle of clerkship hiring season. Perhaps some of you are applying to judges based in Miami. Clerking in a tropical paradise — what’s not to like?
Possibly deadly toxic mold, that’s what. From an article by Julie Kay in the Daily Business Review (via SDFLA Blog):

Two studies performed at the historic David W. Dyer federal courthouse in downtown Miami show there are significant mold and air safety issues at one of Miami-Dade County’s oldest courthouses and suggest parts of the building are beyond repair.

The studies… were commissioned by the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Florida after U.S. Magistrate Judge Ted Klein became ill and died last year of a mysterious respiratory illness, and his fellow magistrate judges raised concerns about the building’s environment.

Additional discussion appears after the jump.

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Smile If You Work at Wilson Sonsini

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teeth grinding tooth Wilson Sonsini Goodrich Rosati Above the Law blog.jpgHere’s an amusing anecdote from a West Coast reader:

Went to visit a dentist in Palo Alto for a routine cleaning the other day. When I told him I was an attorney, he quipped: “So, do you grind your teeth? Lawyers are notorious for grinding teeth.”

And then, unprompted and somewhat gratuitously, he added, “Especially those guys at Wilson Sonsini — they’re the worst.”

Granted, my dentist’s views could be somewhat skewed given WSGR’s major presence in Palo Alto. Nevertheless, I hope WSGR has a good dental plan.

And that recruiting has figured out how to use the bcc field.

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