Reader Polls

Charney v. Sullivan & Cromwell: Another Poll for Your Consideration

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Aaron Charney 2 headshot Aaron B Charney Aaron Brett CharneyIf you haven’t already done so, you can still vote in our poll asking you whether you support Aaron Charney or Sullivan & Cromwell in Charney v. S&C. Click here to vote in that poll (or to view the results if you’ve already voted).
After we posted Charney v. Sullivan & Cromwell: The $15 Million Question, a number of you started to debate in the comments:

How much is Aaron Charney’s lawsuit really worth?

Here are some of your thoughts:

“5-10 mil seems like a fair sum to ask for in this matter.”

“I’d let partners say much more degrading things to me for $5M. I’d also allow myself to be left out of the summer mentoring program. ABP’s sandwiches are not bad at all. Esp. that chicken mozzarella one.”

“Does anyone have statistics on the average employment discrimination award in NYC? Include not just the cases that won millions, but also the cases we never hear about.”

“$15 million? Sheesh. I’d take it up the butt for $15 million, much less tolerate a few comments about bending over.”

We realize that what we’re about to do is completely unscientific and unreliable. We don’t know all the facts of the case. Nor do we have any data concerning the average size of employment discrimination awards in New York City (as one of you expressed an interest in seeing). So we don’t have any solid basis for comparisons.
But please, humor us; we’re curious. For what it’s worth — and we admit it may not be worth much — please take our latest poll:


Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of Charney v. Sullivan & Cromwell

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Your December 2006 Couple of the Month

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Legal Eagle Wedding Watch NYT wedding announcements Above the Law.jpgFor the second month in a row, ATL’s “Couple of the Month” contest was a total snoozefest. Once again, the winning couple prevailed with approximately 50 percent of the vote. Unlike certain past races, there was no exciting, eleventh-hour victory by an underdog.
There was a last minute surge by Sandee Brawarsky and Barry Lichtenberg. But they were unable to catch a certain Supreme Court clerk and her high-powered hubby:
atl poll results december 2006 couple of the month.jpg
Congratulations to ATL’s newest couple of the month: Theane Evangelis and Teddy Kapur!!!
Earlier: Legal Eagle Wedding Watch: December 2006 Couple of the Month
To read past editions of Legal Eagle Wedding Watch, click here, and scroll down.

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Charney v. Sullivan & Cromwell: 125 Broad Street Is a Gay Paradise!

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David Braff David H Braff Sullivan Cromwell.jpgMove over, Fire Island. See ya later, Provincetown. Rehoboth Beach, you’re all washed up.
The gay destination of choice for summer 2007? This may come as a surprise to you, but it’s 125 Broad Street, New York, New York — home of the estimable law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell (plus the ACLU’s LGBT Rights Project).
From Aaron Charney, the plaintiff in Charney v. Sullivan & Cromwell:

I am informed by numerous sources that David Braff (at right), on behalf of certain gay S&C partners, circulated a memorandum stating that such partners are pleased with the work environment at S&C.

Big Gay Al South Park Comedy Central.jpgWhat exactly makes Sullivan such a fabulous workplace for gays? Is it the subsidized gym? The proximity to S&C client Goldman Sachs, home to countless cute banker boys with seven-figure incomes? The complimentary cosmos served in the firm cafeteria?
If you have a copy of this memo, please send it our way, by email.
We’re looking forward to seeing it. But Charney seems less than impressed:

Braff’s memo directly misses the point. My complaint concerns the discrimination and retaliation perpetrated by S&C against me. S&C clearly has no defense against the allegations enumerated in my Complaint and instead seeks to muddy the waters by trying to divert people’s attention away from the issue at hand. S&C’s campaign of diversion is the latest example of S&C’s unwilling[ness] to enforce the firm office manual’s anti-discrimination policy and confirms why I was left with no choice but to pursue this legal matter.

Charney’s willingness to speak freely about the case — or to try it in the court of public opinion, as his critics claim — may explain why he seems to be winning the PR war, at least at the current time. In our reader poll, which is still ongoing, about two-thirds of respondents support him over S&C.
(But that is down somewhat from the 75 percent support that Charney enjoyed earlier in the afternoon. Could an anti-Aaron backlash be developing?)
Update: One of you has posted what appears to be the gay partners’ memo in the comments. Thanks!
Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of Charney v. Sullivan & Cromwell (scroll down)

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ATL Reader Poll: Charney v. Sullivan & Cromwell

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As the Times of London noted, reactions of Above the Law commenters to Charney v. Sullivan & Cromwell have been all over the map, “var[ying] from encouragement to contempt.” Some of you have hailed Charney as a hero, while others have attacked him vociferously (using terms we won’t repeat here).
But commenters aren’t necessarily representative of the larger readership. So we’d like to obtain a more accurate sampling of public opinion about this high-profile lawsuit. (If you need to read up on the case first, click here to access our past coverage.)
Disclaimers: We are not social scientists. This poll is highly unscientific. The question is vague. Few of the facts about the case are known, and many are in dispute. Discovery has not yet commenced (and won’t start for a while).
But for what it’s worth, and based on what you currently know (or think you know), please take our reader poll:


P.S. Speaking of reader polls, please cast your vote for ATL’s December 2006 Couple of the Month, if you haven’t done so already. Thanks!
Sullivan & Cromwell hit with gay bias suit [Times (U.K.)]
Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of Charney v. Sullivan & Cromwell (scroll down)

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Legal Eagle Wedding Watch: December 2006 Couple of the Month

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Legal Eagle Wedding Watch NYT wedding announcements Above the Law.jpgWe’ve named all the winners in Legal Eagle Wedding Watch for the month of December 2006. So now it’s time to vote for the December “Couple of the Month.”
We expect this to be a highly competitive contest. There were actually five wedding weekends in December, and in one of the weeks, we had a tie. So there are no fewer than six couples in competition, with similar overall scores (two 8.90s, two 8.75s, one 8.70, and one 8.37).
If you’d like to review the couples one more time, our original write-ups — with scores, links to their NYT wedding announcements, and photos (in some cases) — appear after the jump.
But if you’re ready to vote, here’s the poll:


To check out the field one more time, look at their profiles, which appear after the jump.

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Legal Eagle Wedding Watch: December 2006 Couple of the Month”

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ATL Poll Results: Everybody Loves a Feeder Judge

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Nothing could win you over. Not Judge Bruce Selya’s impressive vocabulary, Judge Juan Torruella’s magnificent yacht, Judge Kermit Lipez’s niceness and decency, nor Judge Sandra Lynch’s personal charm steely intellect.
In the end, you all turned into prestige whores. You succumbed to his fancy title of “Chief Judge,” as well as his strong track record as a feeder judge to the Supreme Court:
ATL poll results First Circuit 1st Circuit 1st Cir.JPG
Congratulations to Chief Judge Michael Boudin, your favorite First Circuit judge!
Earlier: ATL Reader Poll: Who’s Your Favorite First Circuit Judge?

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ATL Reader Poll: A Nickname for Noah and Jeannie

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Noah Feldman Noah R Feldman Jeannie Suk Jeannie C Suk Above the Law.JPGEarlier today, we bestowed the nickname of Noajeannie upon celebrity law professors Noah Feldman and Jeannie Suk — the Brangelina of the legal academy. But some of you backseat bloggers suggested other names for this overachieving couple, such as “Feldsuk” and “Jeannoah.”
We like “Noajeannie” for several reasons:

1. It scans exactly like “Brangelina.” Compare no-ah-JEAN-nie with bran-juh-LEE-nuh.

2. It puts his name before hers, since his star arguably shines slightly brighter than hers (although, quite obviously, both of them are amazing).

3. Celebrity nicknames tend to work best with first rather than last names. This is why “Bennifer” and “Brangelina” are superior to “Vaughniston.”

Nevertheless, we will adhere to the democratic process. Hence this poll:

What’s the best nickname for celebrity law professors Noah Feldman and Jeannie Suk?
Feldsuk
Jeannoah
Noajeannie
Sukfeld
  
Free polls from Pollhost.com


One name we definitely don’t like: Sukfeld. It sounds like a pornographic version of “Seinfeld.”
(For the record, though, “Suk” is pronounced “sook” rather than “suck.” We happen to know this ’cause we went to school with Jeannie Suk’s similarly brilliant little sister, Julie Suk (now a law professor at Cardozo). Like her big sis, Julie Suk was a Marshall Scholar and a law clerk to Judge Harry Edwards (D.C. Cir.). But Julie Suk went to Harvard College and Yale Law School, whereas Jeannie Suk did the reverse: Yale College, Harvard Law School.)
P.S. Speaking of polls, if you haven’t done so already, cast your vote for your favorite First Circuit judge. We’ll close this poll tomorrow at 3 PM Eastern time. Thanks.
Earlier: Lawyerly Lairs: It’s Still Good to be Noah and Jeannie

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ATL Reader Poll: Who’s Your Favorite First Circuit Judge?

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First Circuit 1st Circuit 1st Cir seal.jpgIn reviewing our coverage of the federal judiciary, we noticed that we don’t give the First Circuit enough love. For those of you who haven’t memorized this map, the 1st Circuit includes four New England states and Puerto Rico.
Perhaps we don’t cover the First Circuit that much due to its small size. With spots for only six active judges, it’s the smallest of the thirteen U.S. courts of appeals. Or maybe we don’t write much about it because it’s a fairly collegial court — and we like to cover benchslappery.
Regardless of the reasons for it, we’d like to remedy this deficiency in our court coverage. As a first step towards that goal, we bring you this rather random reader poll:


We also invite you to send to us, by email, any good gossip or fun facts about the First Circuit and its members. Thanks!
Update (12:15 PM): As pointed out by this comment, and confirmed in his FJC bio, Judge Bruce Selya took senior status a few days ago (this past Sunday).
We’ll leave Judge Selya in the poll, because many votes have already been cast, and removing him would screw up the results. But if Judge Selya gets the most votes, we’ll declare him the “honorary” winner, and name the runner-up as your favorite active First Circuit judge.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit [official website]

5 Comments

ATL Poll Results: Greedy Associates Aren’t THAT Greedy

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ATL poll results law firm associate bonus 2006.jpegBefore the holidays, we asked the Biglaw associates among you to tell us how you feel about your bonuses. (We’d use “boni,” since it sounds cooler, but we don’t think it’s a real word.)
We conducted a reader poll. The results, which we realize aren’t terribly exciting, are reproduced at right.
The most popular response, although not by an overwhelming margin, was “Neither Satisfied nor Dissatisfied.” The rest of the responses formed a bell-shaped curve around that general sentiment of “Eh” (but with slightly more votes on the dissatisfied rather than satisfied side).
What does this all mean? We think it shows that as far as the Greedy Partners are concerned, associate bonuses were “just right.” If they had been “too generous” — from the perspective of partners, that is — there would have been more satisfied responses, from pleasantly surprised associates. And if they had been “too stingy,” in a way threatening to firm morale, there would have been more dissatisfied responses.
Instead, associate sentiment in response to this year’s bonus levels fell right in the middle. This suggests that associate expectations were perfectly met — neither missed nor exceeded. So, as far as the firms are concerned, the 2006 bonuses weren’t so big as to eat into profits per partner, but just enough to keep the associate proletariat toiling away.
Are year-end bonuses the opium of the Biglaw masses?
Earlier: Associate Bonus Watch: How Does That Bonus Make You FEEL?

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ATL Week in Review: December 18-22

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kwanzaa happy kwanzaa kwanza candles.gifThe week before a major holiday is usually pretty slow. And the Friday before the holiday weekend is usually dead — the perfect time for Mike Nifong to announce he’s dropping the rape charges against the Duke lacrosse team defendants.
Other highlights from the past week in legal news and ATL:
* Get to know this year’s Alito clerks!
* And help us get to know the current Breyer clerks.
* Dean Harold Koh’s Christmas gift to Yale Law School conservatives: newfound warmth and friendliness.
* Speaking of Yale Law School, YLS grad Yul Kwon just won Survivor. Congrats, Yul!
* Stuff you knew already: Supreme Court clerks are cooler than you. Lawyers have mediocre sex lives. Pro se litigants are insane.
* Last week dragged in a few more law firm bonus announcements, but nothing exciting. To skim the coverage, click here, then scroll down through the headlines.
* On the subject of bonuses, Biglaw associates: Please take our 2006 bonus poll (first announced here):

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HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

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