Recent Headlines from Above the Law
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Law Schools
New York Is Officially GRE Country
A fifth New York law school will now accept the GRE for admission. -
Law Schools
Law School Dean Knows He's A Loser
This dean loves politics, but is staying in legal academia. -
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Law Schools
Stats Of The Week: Job Outlook Looking Up For Lower-Tier NYC Schools
NYC law school grads seriously outperformed the national average in job outcomes. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 05.06.16
* “I find it highly amusing and somewhat heartening to know that Donald Trump is indirectly subsidizing the defense of undocumented immigrants.” Jones Day may be representing presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, but the firm is also fighting for the rights of more than 100,000 undocumented refugees, all of whom Trump would likely want to see deported if he were to be elected as president in November. [Yahoo!]
* Believe it or not, but Donald Trump’s political career in the Republican Party closely tracks that of a Biglaw legend of the bar. In 1940, Wendell Willkie of Willkie Farr & Gallagher fame was an outsider presidential candidate with absolutely no public service experience to his name — just like Trump. Willkie later went on to lose the election, and only time will tell if Trump will suffer a similar fate in Election 2016. [Big Law Business]
* Professors at George Mason University have demanded that the law school’s renaming to honor the late Antonin Scalia be delayed until school leaders answer their questions about the funding of scholarship monies being tied to the ongoing service of the current dean, but according to law school senior associate dean David Rehr, “[e]ven with this action, we are moving forward … and expect a favorable resolution.” [Washington Post]
* After receiving the largest gift in its history, Pace Law has been renamed in honor of an environmentalist, and will now be known as the Pace University Elisabeth Haub School of Law. The donors do not want the amount of their gift to be disclosed, but Pace says it’s comparable to the $30 million and $25 million gifts George Mason and Villanova respectively received for their recent name changes. Congratulations! [WSJ Law Blog]
* The trial between Sumner Redstone and Manuela Herzer over the media mogul’s mental competence is slated to begin today and will last for a week. With lurid allegations about the 92-year-old’s supposed sexual proclivities, his penchant for eating steak through a feeding tube, as well as his incontinence, this is sure to be an incredibly salacious matter that will play out in the public eye. [DealBook / New York Times]
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Bankruptcy, Student Loans
Broke Law Grad Gets Bar-Study Loan Discharged In Bankruptcy
Thanks to this judge, there's now a chance you could shed your bar-exam loans in bankruptcy. -
Bar Exams, Law Schools
Stats Of The Week: New York State Bar Exam Results By School
A school-by-school look at the latest grim New York State bar passage rates. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 08.31.15
* Good news if you’ve made it to midlevel associate — survey says you’re happier than ever. [American Lawyer]
* Amal Clooney lost a case in Egypt, her client was one of three Al-Jazeera journalists sentenced to prison for their coverage of the 2013 uprising. Clooney warned the sentence sends a “dangerous message.” [People]
* More and more Pennsylvania firms are getting on-board with the $160k pay scale. [Legal Intelligencer]
* Chalk another victory up for the Amazing Schneiderman — that’s New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. This time, retail giant Gap Inc. has fallen in line. [Fashionista]
* A happy ending for David Powers, whose admission to St. John’s Law was revoked after officials there found out about a drug conviction. He’s starting at Pace Law today. [New York Times]
* When a client announces a new general counsel, law firms should consider that a wake-up call — or get fired. [Corporate Counsel]
* In truly horrific news, two Indian sisters were sentenced to be gang raped as punishment for their brother eloping with a woman of a different caste. The (hopefully) good news is the women have appealed to the Indian Supreme Court for protection. [Jezebel]
* What do in-house counsel need to know about the recent NLRB decision expanding the concept of joint-employers? [Law360]
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Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 03.19.15
* A look at the ethical issues that arise when Saul takes a detour into “elder law.” [The Legal Ethics of Better Call Saul]
* Guess the law firm whose D.C. managing partner just said, “You would be hard-pressed to find another law firm of almost 200 lawyers that gets less name recognition than we do.” [National Law Journal]
* Everything is bigger in Texas — including the number of lawyers (300!) behind the effort to overturn the one-year suspension of prominent capital defense lawyer David Dow. [Slate]
* Linda Greenhouse on the Supreme Court’s “identity crisis” on voting rights. [New York Times]
* In defense of Pace Law’s “fire sale” for prospective students with strong GPAs and LSAT scores. [Jane Genova]
* Congrats to Professor Will Baude on landing a regular gig for the New York Times! [Volokh Conspiracy]
* Several members of the Philippine American Bar Association (PABA) took to television to discuss Supreme Ambitions (affiliate link), as well as PABA’s great work:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMak8hayBOs
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 03.19.15
* A Connecticut attorney was cited for dropping two ounces of weed on a courtroom floor, and he blames it on his client’s son. They were apparently going to stage an embarrassing intervention, but it was the attorney who wound up being embarrassed. [Hartford Courant]
* While Charleston School of Law bides its time and attempts to resist a buyout from the InfiLaw System, the school has offered many of its existing faculty members buyouts. We’ll have more on this interesting development later today. [Charleston Post & Courier]
* Pace Law is going to slash its tuition for incoming students with qualifying GPAs and LSAT scores to match the tuition of the in-state public law school of the student’s home state. Sorry, folks, but this tuition “fire sale” is only for new students. [WSJ Law Blog]
* Hiscock & Barclay is “dating,” “not engaged,” and “not even close to to getting married” to Damon Morey. There may not be “anything close to official,” but this seems like the very hesitant precursor to an arranged marriage, if I do say so myself. [Buffalo Law Journal]
* Per a recent study, the closer your law firm is to your law school, the more likely it is that you’ll make partner. In fact, it doesn’t even matter if you went to an elite law school — you’re still more likely to make partner if your alma mater is nearby. [New York Times]
* Appalachian Law may be a “fourth tier” school, it may be much smaller than it once was, and it may have lowered its admissions standards, but you better believe the little law school that could is going to be just fine. Don’t stop believin’, Appalachian! [WCYB]
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Law Schools, Oy, Rudeness, Sexism, State Judges, State Judges Are Clowns, Women's Issues
A Law School Dean Turns A Judge's Sexist Snafu Into A Teachable Moment
A judge tells a woman lawyer that he thinks she would look good in leather. Oy. -
Law School Deans, Law Schools
Pace Hires Taxi Man As New Law School Dean
New law dean should offer a 'law student's bill of rights.' -
Fabulosity, In-House Counsel, Lawyerly Lairs, Money, Public Interest, Real Estate
Lawyerly Lairs: A $12 Million Duplex, Renovated By A Starchitect
How did this stay-at-home mom turned in-house lawyer afford a $12 million Manhattan apartment? -
Biglaw, Law Schools
Which Law Schools' Grads Run Biglaw? An ATL Infographic
An aquatic look at which law firms' alumni have the top spots at the largest U.S. law firms. -
Biglaw, Boutique Law Firms, Brown Rudnick, California, Law Schools, Media and Journalism, Mergers and Acquisitions, Morning Docket, Pro Bono
Morning Docket: 04.09.13
* Oh mon dieu, Justice Breyer was inducted as one of just 12 foreign members of France’s Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques. C’est très chouette pour un Américain, non? [New York Times]
* Man, for a four-seeded firm that got knocked out of our March Madness competition after the Sweet Sixteen, Davis Polk is looking great in 2013′s first quarter as far as legal advising in M&A deals goes. [Am Law Daily]
* Brown Rudnick picked up a California boutique, and it’ll be doubled in size through lateral hiring. No layoffs are currently expected, but no one really advertises that as a merger selling point. [National Law Journal]
* The New York Times: bringing you last month’s news, today! South Dakota is offering a subsidy for law school tuition to keep lawyers in the state. Here’s our post from two weeks ago. [New York Times]
* Pace Law School’s “low bono” residency program was praised by New York’s Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, but if you’ve got other job offers, Dear Lord, take one of them. [New York Law Journal]
* AIG wants to prevent Hank Greenberg from suing in its name, probably because it’d prefer not to be known as “the poster company for corporate ingratitude and chutzpah.” [DealBook / New York Times]
* “[D]o I cover this really important story and maybe go to jail?” That’s the choice Jana Winter is facing after reporting on James Holmes’s massacre notebook and refusing to reveal her sources. [CNN]
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Cardozo Law School, Career Center, Career Files, Law Schools, Law Students, Pre-Law
Who Are the Happiest Law Students in New York City?
Tales from the ATL Insider Survey: where can you find the law students with the biggest smiles on their faces in NYC? -
Career Alternatives, Job Searches, Kids, Law Schools, Old People, Women's Issues
Law School Program Puts Mommies Back To Work
Putting mothers back to work probably means their adult children will have even more trouble finding a job. -
Crime, Deaths, Jury Duty, Kids, Media and Journalism, Nancy Grace, Television, Trials
Trials and Error: The Casey Anthony Case
So what was that Casey Anthony case all about anyway? Here's a short primer. -
Blogging, Constitutional Law, Fat People, Food, Insider Trading, Law Schools, Media and Journalism, Money, Morning Docket, Pro Bono, Violence
Morning Docket: 11.16.11
* One of the reasons that members of Congress are so filthy rich is because they’re only technically breaking the law, but Scott Brown wants to try to curb Congressional “insider trading.” [CBS News] * In other Congressional news, pizza is now considered a vegetable. And fat people the world over rejoiced by stuffing their […]