Career Alternatives
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Books, Career Alternatives, Clerkships, Facebook, Media and Journalism, Saira Rao
Tropical Depression: The Latest in 'Clerkship Lit'
Move over, chick lit. Make way for “clerk lit”! Over the past few years, we’ve seen a number of novels focused on the clerkship, a professional rite of passage for many a prestige-obsessed young lawyer. In these books, plucky law-clerk protagonists have tried to do justice while also holding on to their jobs (and their […] -
Biglaw, Career Alternatives, Pictures, Sheppard Mullin
Departure Memo of the Day: Take a Picture of Your Bank Account Because It'll Never Look This Good Again
The economy must be heating up, because lawyers are leaving their jobs to do all kinds of crazy things. I mean, maybe the legal economy is still crappy, since these people aren’t leaving for other legal jobs. But there must be a general sense of optimism if all of these people have decided to just […] - 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… -
Biglaw, Career Alternatives, Money, Public Interest, Student Loans, Travel / Vacation, Weirdness
The Skadden Associate Who Picked Up and Moved to Nepal: An Update
On Wednesday we wrote about the great departure email sent out by Brian Emeott, a former corporate associate at Skadden in Chicago. Emeott, a 2004 graduate of Harvard College and 2008 graduate of Harvard Law School, picked up and moved to Kathmandu, Nepal. Brian’s wife, Claudine Emeott, resigned from her own job in December and […]
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Biglaw, Career Alternatives, Email Scandals, Travel / Vacation, Weirdness
Another Great Departure Memo: Skadden Associate Trades Chicago for... Nepal?
Young lawyers of Chicago: What the heck is going on with you people? You seem to be losing it. Has the brutal Chicago winter driven you crazy? Do we need to put The People’s Therapist on the next plane to O’Hare? Let’s look at the evidence. You’re quitting prestigious and lucrative law firm jobs to […] -
Biglaw, Career Alternatives, In-House Counsel, Job Searches
I Demand the Answer
Ed. note: This post is by Will Meyerhofer, a former Sullivan & Cromwell attorney turned psychotherapist. He holds degrees from Harvard, NYU Law, and The Hunter College School of Social Work, and he blogs at The People’s Therapist. His new book, Life is a Brief Opportunity for Joy, is available on Amazon. I receive a […] -
Career Alternatives, Fast Food, Food, Job Searches, Law Schools
The Cupcake Stop... Stops
Today is a sad day for businesses established by lawyer-entrepreneurs. First we learned that David J. Stern, the South Texas Law grad who went on to become “Florida’s Foreclosure King,” will be relinquishing his crown and closing his once-thriving practice. And now we hear that Lev Ekster, the New York Law School alum who founded […] -
Career Alternatives, Lawyer of the Day, Money, Real Estate
Is the Florida Foreclosure King Abdicating? David J. Stern Will Close His Law Firm
Back in September 2010, we bestowed Lawyer of the Day honors upon David J. Stern, aka Florida’s “Foreclosure King.” We noted Stern’s rise into the ranks of self-made millionaires, despite not having attended some fancy first-tier law school. (Stern graduated from the South Texas College of Law, a fourth-tier school.) We marveled at Stern’s wealth: […] -
Biglaw, Career Alternatives, Email Scandals, Exercise, Travel / Vacation
Want Out of Biglaw? Take a Hike!
Reading law firm departure memos is like a box of chocolates: you never know what you’re going to get. Sometimes you taste bitterness. Sometimes the flavor is spicy hot. Sometimes you get a little Costa Rica crunch. And sometimes you get… this, which was sent to everyone at Sidley Austin yesterday by an associate leaving […] - Sponsored
The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
ChatGPT ushers in the age of generative AI – even for law firms. -
Alston & Bird, Biglaw, Book Deals, Books, Federal Government, Litigatrix, Romance and Dating, Technology, U.S. Attorneys Offices, UNC Law
Save as Draft: Meet Natalie Lee, Novelist and Federal Prosecutor
Might we be seeing a new trend, namely, federal prosecutors moonlighting as novelists? Last year, as part of Above the Law’s Career Alternatives series, we profiled Allison Leotta, an assistant U.S. attorney in D.C. who wrote a well-received thriller, Law of Attraction. Today we introduce you to Natalie Lee — an assistant U.S. attorney in […] -
Career Alternatives, Music, Non-Sequiturs, Plaintiffs Firms, United Kingdom / Great Britain
Non-Sequiturs: 12.20.10
* Looking for a last-minute gift idea for the civil-liberties-loving lawyer in your life? Kash recommends this underwear. [Forbes] * Actress Zooey Deschanel is suing footwear maker Steve Madden. Does her lawsuit have legs? [Fashionista] * Law professors might not excel at practicing law, but “they often are pretty good at the enterprise of being […] -
Career Alternatives, Law Schools, Student Loans
In Defense of Going to Law School: A Prudential Perspective (Part 2)
On the Quote of the Day posted over the weekend, a commenter wrote: “In my head I’ve changed the name of this blog from ‘Above the Law’ to ‘The law is f**king stupid and dumb and anyone who goes into it is an idiot forever and did I mention it’s dumb.’ There are still reasons […] -
Career Alternatives, Dahlia Lithwick, Law Schools, Student Loans
In Defense of Going to Law School: A Prudential Perspective
A prudential perspective, because it appeared in Slate’s advice column, Dear Prudence (alongside an inquiry from a woman dating a wonderful man who unfortunately has a “micropenis”): Dear Prudence, I am just a little over a year away from becoming a lawyer, and I’m miserable because I hate it. I wasn’t forced into the profession. […] -
Alan Dershowitz, Book Deals, Books, Career Alternatives, Crime, Department of Justice, U.S. Attorneys Offices, Violence
Law of Attraction: Meet Allison Leotta, Novelist and Federal Prosecutor
I don’t want to step on Oprah’s toes, but I have a book recommendation for you: Law of Attraction. No, it has nothing to do with this law of attraction. Yes, you will enjoy it. This Law of Attraction is a novel by Allison Leotta, a federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C. It’s a fun, fast-paced […]
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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…
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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…
Sponsored
Sponsored
The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
ChatGPT ushers in the age of generative AI – even for law firms.
Sponsored
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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Career Alternatives, Department of Justice, Federal Government, Job Searches
News You Can Use: Federal Government Job OpportunitiesAnd Open Thread: DOJ Honors Interview Decisions
Or maybe news you could have used. Apologies for not reminding you, as we’ve done in past years, about the application deadline for the Department of Justice’s Honors Program. The application deadline for the 2010-2011 program fell on September 7, 2010. [FN1] (If you’re not already familiar with how the Honors Program works, read our […] -
Career Alternatives, Deaths
Greg Giraldo, Comedian and Former Lawyer, Dead at 44
The news has been all over the place over the past 20 hours, but it seems like a lot of people want to talk about the passing of Greg Giraldo. The comedian died yesterday. TMZ reported that he died of an apparent drug overdose. What many people didn’t know was that before his comedy career, […] -
Career Alternatives, Cars, Food, Money
Is a Lawyer Turned Cupcake Baker Raking in the Dough?
A few weeks ago we wrote about Kate Carrara, who left the law to launch Buttercream, a “mobile cupcake shop” — i.e., a cupcake truck — in Philadelphia. As we mentioned in our post, a surprising number of attorneys have launched cake-baking businesses. One of the most famous and successful, whom we forgot to mention […] -
Career Alternatives, DealBreaker, Job Searches, Layoffs
From Laid-Off Lawyer to... Cleaning Lady!
A Dealbreaker reader was out and about on the Upper West Side, and something caught his eye. He moved in for a closer look, snapped a photo, and sent it to Dealbreaker. Our colleague Bess Levin has been having a grand old time ever since. Me? I just want people to see it before they […] -
Career Alternatives, Cars, Food
Ex-Lawyer of the Day: Cupcake Queen Is Not Above the Law
Meet Kate Carrara. Like a surprising number of other attorneys — e.g., Lev Ekster and Mia Bauer, of New York Law School, and Sam Whitfield, of GW Law — Carrara left the law to start a cupcake business. Alas, it appears that Carrara, a 35-year-old graduate of the University of San Francisco School of Law, […] -
Career Alternatives, Music
Career Alternatives: Starving ArtistEmory Law Grad Eugene Ahn Gives Up Labor Law for Rap
Eugene Ahn developed an alter ego to explore his creative side while working for a small litigation and employment law firm in Washington, D.C. The Emory Law grad goes by Adam WarRock in his creative projects, which include musical pursuits and a side gig as a contributor to the FakeAPStylebook Twitter account. This summer, he […] -
Career Alternatives, Food
Career Alternatives for Lawyers: Open a Museum
Are you a foodie? Are you committed enough to the gustatory world to leave the awful taste of the law behind and start a museum about your favorite food? Wisconsin lawyer Barry Levenson was that devoted. Sadly, his favorite food is mustard. Levenson got a shout-out on NPR this morning for his National Mustard Museum. […]