Billable Hours
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Airplanes / Aviation, Biglaw, Billable Hours, California, Crime, Disasters / Emergencies, Gay Marriage, Law Schools, Money, Morning Docket, Partner Issues, Patents, Pranks, SCOTUS, Sexual Harassment, Supreme Court, Television, Trials
Morning Docket: 07.15.13
* Size matters when it comes to hourly rates. Because when you work in Biglaw, it’ll be all the more odious for your poor clients when you “churn that bill, baby.” [Corporate Counsel]
* Would you want this Cadwalader cad, a former mail room supervisor, at your “erotic disposal”? The object of his affections didn’t want him either, and she’s suing. [New York Daily News]
* In the wake of the George Zimmerman verdict, the NAACP is pressing for federal charges and a civil suit may be in the works. This trial isn’t over in the court of public opinion. [Bloomberg]
* This experience inspired George Zimmerman, fresh off his acquittal, to go to law school to help the wrongfully accused. If it makes you feel better, when he graduates, he’ll be unemployed. [Reuters]
* Here’s the lesson learned by Prop 8 proponents: If at first you don’t succeed at the Supreme Court, try, try again at the state level and base your arguments on technicalities. [Los Angeles Times]
* You do not want this patent troll — one of the most notorious in the country — to “go thug” on you. Apparently this is just another danger of alleged infringement in the modern world. [New York Times]
* Asiana Airlines is considering suing the NTSB and a California television station over the airing of “inaccurate and offensive” information (read: wildly racist) about the pilots of Flight 214. [CNN]
* Ariel Castro was slapped with an additional 648 counts in the kidnapping case against him, bringing the total to 977. Prosecutors are not yet seeking the death penalty. [Cleveland Plain Dealer]
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Biglaw, Billable Hours, General Counsel, In-House Counsel, Money, Partner Issues
On Elephantine Mating And Alternative Fees
What's the similarity between discussions about alternative fee agreements and elephantine mating? In-house columnist Mark Herrmann explains. - Sponsored
Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
The rise of remote work has dramatically reshaped the relationship between Lawyers and Law Firms, see how Scale LLP has taken the steps to get… -
Biglaw, Department of Justice, Free Speech, Law Schools, Media and Journalism, Money, Morning Docket, NALP, National Association for Law Placement (NALP), SCOTUS, Social Media, Social Networking Websites, Supreme Court, Technology
Morning Docket: 06.24.13
* With a sharp focus on the Supreme Court and the legal definition of equality, only one thing’s for sure with respect to this week’s anticipated rulings: at least one group of people is probably going to get screwed. [New York Times]
* And lest we forget, thanks to our society’s near slavish obsession with social media and knowledge on demand, we’ll salivate uncontrollably as we wait for those opinions while the justices blissfully ignore new technology. [New York Times]
* The Justice Department charged NSA leaker Edward Snowden with espionage, and now he’s pursuing political asylum in Ecuador with the assistance of legal counsel representing WikiLeaks. [NBC News]
* Biglaw firms are trying to strengthen their pricing power in a post-recession world, with average rate increases of 4.8% in 2012, and hourly rates soaring in New York City. [Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)]
* There were some bright spots in the otherwise dismal NALP job numbers for the class of 2012. Biglaw hiring is up, and so are median starting salaries. Sallie Mae is pleased as punch. [National Law Journal]
* If you’re considering law school, ask yourself these questions before applying. You should also ask yourself if you’re cool with unemployment. [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News & World Report]
* Richard Trenk, author of the “ham-fisted” cease-and-desist letter that’s been read around the world, has been honored as the New Jersey Star-Ledger’s “Knucklehead of the Week.” Congrats! [Star-Ledger]
* There’s no solace for people who have had to pay to have their mug shot “depublished” from the internet. Sorry, the First Amendment allows people to turn a profit off your misery. [Washington Post]
* This lawsuit over unpaid internships filed against Gawker will sting any gossip girl’s heart to the core. But really, isn’t the privilege of working for Gawker enough? This fangirl thinks so. [New York Post]
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Biglaw, Billable Hours, Boutique Law Firms, Money, Small Law Firms
Planning Your Law Firm: Projecting Income and Efficiency
There must be some way to figure out what your income will be when you start a firm, and Tom Wallerstein is here to help you do it. -
Biglaw, Billable Hours, Holidays and Seasons
Summertime, And The Livin' Is Easy... Unless You Work At This Firm
Getting to work on time is an irrelevant conversation when people are busy working. -
Billable Hours, Boutique Law Firms, Small Law Firms
Skin in the Game: Mixed Hourly and Contingent Fee Billing
Keeping your client invested in the litigation makes for a better relationship. -
Akin Gump, Biglaw, Billable Hours, Canada, Environment / Environmental Law, Federal Government, Guns / Firearms, Law Schools, Morning Docket, Murder, Patton Boggs, Texas
Morning Docket: 04.18.13
* “[T]hese senators decided to do nothing. Shame on them” Yesterday, the Senate blocked gun-control legislation that could have saved lives, and Gabrielle Giffords, a victim of gun violence, wrote a powerful op-ed in reaction. [New York Times]
* DLA Piper won’t be churning that bill anymore because the firm managed to settle its fee dispute with Adam Victor, but it’s certain that the firm’s embarrassment over the overbilling incident will know no limits. [DealBook / New York Times]
* Ahh, best-laid plans: Kim Koopersmith, the first woman to serve as Akin Gump’s chair, never thought that she’d be working in a law firm. In law school, she wanted to work in public interest. [Bloomberg]
* You’ll never guess which firm has the best brand in Canada according to the latest Acritas survey, but that’s probably because you don’t care. Come on, it’s Canada. Fine, it’s Norton Rose. [Am Law Daily]
* Oopsie! Burford Capital claims that it would never have funded plaintiffs’ representation by Patton Boggs in the Chevron case if it weren’t for a partner’s “false and misleading” statements. [CNN Money]
* The wife of a former justice of the peace has been charged with capital murder after she confessed to her involvement in the slayings of Texas prosecutors Mike McLelland and Mark Hasse. [Reuters]
* Baltimore Law has a beautiful new building that cost $112 million. Just a thought: perhaps more of that money should’ve been spent putting the class of 2012 to work as lawyers. [National Law Journal]
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Biglaw, Billable Hours, In-House Counsel, Money, Partner Issues
Buying In: Suicide Pricing
Desperation breeds heavy discounting. How bad has it gotten? - Sponsored
Navigating Financial Success by Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Maximizing Firm Performance
In this CLE-eligible webinar, we’ll explore the most common accounting pitfalls and how to avoid them for your firm. -
Billable Hours, Citigroup, Contract Attorneys, Money, Quote of the Day, Ted Frank
Billing That Much For Contract Attorneys Isn't 'Unusual' or 'Untoward,' It's Obscene
You will not believe the markup on the billable rates for contract attorneys these days. -
Biglaw, Billable Hours, Money, Quote of the Day
Seeking Biglaw Billables: $1,150/Hour OBO!
In this day and age, even Biglaw bills can be discounted. -
Bankruptcy, Biglaw, Billable Hours, Books, Job Searches, Lateral Moves, Law Schools, Money, Partner Issues, Partner Profits
An Interview with Steven Harper, Former Kirkland Partner and Author of 'The Lawyer Bubble'
Should you go to law school? Is working in Biglaw still worth it? A former Kirkland & Ellis partner shares his thoughts. -
Biglaw, In-House Counsel, Money, Partner Issues, Partner Profits
Inside Straight: Tone [About What?] At The Top
What's the goal of your professional services firm: Do you want to strive for perfection? Or do you want to generate revenue? Or do you bill by the hour, so it's all the same thing? -
Adam Liptak, Biglaw, Billable Hours, Books, California, Crime, Deaths, Disability Law, Gay, Gay Marriage, In-House Counsel, Job Searches, Law Schools, Morning Docket, Murder, Sandra Day O'Connor, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Texas
Morning Docket: 04.01.13
* Can you DIG it?! Well, SCOTUS can’t, at least when it comes to the Prop 8 case, but perhaps that’s what the conservative justices planned all along. You can probably expect a judicial punt on this one. [New York Times]
* The case for cameras at the high court became even more compelling last week, because people just now realized that having to “spend money to see a public institution do public business is offensive.” Damn straight. [National Law Journal]
* Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s new book, Out of Order (affiliate link), didn’t exactly get a glowing review from the NYT’s Supreme Court correspondent, Adam Liptak. It’s a “gift shop bauble”? Ouch. [New York Times]
* Oh, Lanny Breuer, you tried to be all coy by saying you were interviewing elsewhere, but we knew you’d return to Covington. That “vice-chairman” title is a pretty sweet new perk, too. [Legal Times]
* DLA Piper’s bills may “know no limits,” but in-house counsel claim that while the firm’s emails were “flippant,” they won’t have an impact their already meticulous billing review. [New York Law Journal]
* The true love’s kiss of litigation: Bingham McCutchen’s Sleeping Beauty may have found her prince in Judge Vincent O’Neill Jr., because he ruled that the firm won’t be able to compel arbitration. [Recorder]
* It’s really not a good time to be a prosecutor in Texas. Two months after the murder of ADA Mark Hasse, DA Mike McLelland and his wife were gunned down in their home. RIP. [Dallas Morning News]
* Good news, everyone! The class of 2012 — the largest on record, according to the ABA — was only slightly more unemployed than its predecessors. Cherish the little things, people. [National Law Journal]
Sponsored
Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
Navigating Financial Success by Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Maximizing Firm Performance
Sponsored
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
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2nd Circuit, Billable Hours, Blog Wars, Blogging, Books, Citigroup, Holidays and Seasons, Judge of the Day, Law Schools, Non-Sequiturs, Securities Law, Sex, Sex Scandals, State Judges, State Judges Are Clowns, Wall Street
Non-Sequiturs: 03.29.13
* To those of you who celebrate it, Happy Easter! Welcome the holiday by voting in the ABA Journal’s fifth annual “Peeps in Law” contest. [ABA Journal] * If law firm brackets aren’t your thing, check out Professor Kyle Graham’s brackets for (1) law school classes and (2) law blogs. I’m thankful for ATL’s #1 seed but terrified by who we’re up against (because they’ve ripped me a new one before). [noncuratlex] * Sorry, Judge Steiner, you wuz robbed; you should have been our Judge of the Day. It’s tough to top “allegations of a sexual quid pro quo with a female lawyer and the eye-opening confiscation of carpet from [chambers] for forensic analysis.” [OC Weekly] William Shatner * “William Shatner’s Seductive Powers Don’t Create a Fiduciary Duty.” Robyn Hagan Cain explains why. [U.S. Second Circuit / FindLaw] * Citi settles securities cases for $730 million. Matt Levine is not impressed. [Dealbreaker] * And Ted Frank is incensed by Bernstein Litowitz’s nine-figure fee request. [Point of Law] * If you’re already depressed by public ignorance about the Supreme Court, don’t look at the responses to question 9 of this opinion poll. [Penn Schoen Berland] * Steven Harper — author of a new (and very good) book about the legal profession, The Lawyer Bubble (affiliate link) — offers thoughts on the billable hour in the wake of the DLA Piper overbilling allegations. [New York Times] -
Abortion, Billable Hours, Gay Marriage, In-House Counsel, Politics, Practice Pointers, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
House Rules The Rates Are Too Damned High! (Part Two)
David Mowry examines the ACC's new initiative to protect companies from excessive billing. -
Biglaw, Billable Hours, David Boies, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Email Scandals, Facebook, Gay, Gay Marriage, Law Schools, Legal Ethics, Money, Morning Docket, Partner Issues, Patton Boggs, SCOTUS, Student Loans, Supreme Court, Ted Olson
Morning Docket: 03.27.13
* With SCOTUS justices questioning standing in the Prop 8 case, and one even stating that gay marriage is newer than cell phones and the internet, you can guess where the decision is headed. [New York Times]
* “This badge of inequality must be extinguished.” With men like Ted Olson and David Boies representing the plaintiffs in Prop 8, at least we can say that they fought the good fight. [Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)]
* OMG, remember when DLA Piper allegedly overbilled a client and got dragged through the mud over scandalous emails? Now the firm says they were totally joking. So cray. [DealBook / New York Times]
* Less than a month after handing out pink slips across multiple offices, Patton Boggs named a new managing partner in New York who just so happens to be a Dewey defector. Ominous. [Am Law Daily]
* These are great tips on negotiating financial aid, but try this: tell admissions you’ll happily enroll elsewhere, and watch them throw cash at you. [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News & World Report]
* It looks like Paul Ceglia’s zany misadventures in being fired as a client by Biglaw firms and suing Facebook may finally be at an end thanks this scathing 155-page recommendation of dismissal. [CNET]
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Billable Hours, Email Scandals, Ho-Love, Hogan & Hartson, Lateral Moves, Legal Ethics, Money, Partner Issues
Overbilling Gone Wild: Paying the (DLA) Piper
Can you believe the emails that went around internally at DLA Piper about this client's legal bill? Check them out -- along with news of lateral partner moves. -
Gay, Gay Marriage, Morning Docket, SCOTUS
Morning Docket: 03.26.13
* Amanda Knox is free, but could be retried. Can’t wait to see her Craigslist roommate ad. [New York Times] * The budget deal still screws over the courts. [National Law Journal] * You know, in 20 years, Republicans are going to be telling us that the federal government’s pot taxes are too high. [Washington […]
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Biglaw, Billable Hours, Pictures
The Biglaw Pie Chart That Tells You Where All The Hours Went
Where do all the hours go? -
Alan Dershowitz, Biglaw, Billable Hours, iPhone, Technology
Do You Want to Micromanage Your Lawyers? There's an App for That!
A new platform allows clients to receive real-time billing updates on their smartphones. That's not going to be inefficient at all.