Contract Attorneys

  • Morning Docket: 01.14.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 01.14.16

    * If you were a Biglaw partner at a troubled firm who managed to escape before the sh*t really hit the fan, and you now feel bad for those you left behind, don’t worry. We know you might not be familiar with emotions, but “[i]t’s a legitimate human feeling.” [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]

    * Just when you thought Ted Cruz was eligible to run for president, some renowned legal scholars have crawled out of the woodwork to state the complete opposite — and some have even published law review articles about it. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * Those contract attorneys who sued for overtime pay at their doc review jobs made an impact, but it might not have been the kind they were hoping for. Many law firms and staffing agencies have stopped offering overtime work at all. [New York Law Journal]

    * Florida’s death row inmates are stuck in legal limbo now that SCOTUS invalidated the state’s capital punishment sentencing regime as unconstitutional. Maybe the state where people go to die should consider repealing its death penalty altogether. [Reuters]

    * Oh my God (but not his): An atheist lawyer is suing to remove the phrase “In God We Trust” from all U.S. currency because he says it violates the separation between church and state. He’s filed God-related lawsuits in the past, and lost them all. [Cleveland.com]

  • Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 12.31.15

    * In the wake of fired CEO Martin Shkreli’s arrest for securities fraud, KaloBios Pharmaceuticals has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company will be repped by Hogan Lovells (and likely won’t be charged 4,000 percent more than it should be). [Reuters]

    * “Not all of it is law at its grandest but all of it is the practice of law.” Yet another contract attorney’s suit for overtime pay has bitten the dust with a recent dismissal. This time, Quinn Emanuel was the Biglaw firm victorious in keeping doc reviewers downtrodden. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * Since Dechert decided to up the ante on first-year associate salaries, other Philadelphia Biglaw firms have responded in kind. Drinker Biddle has matched, while Pepper Hamilton and Cozen O’Connor are following close behind. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

    * Facebook needs a “dislike” button: The social media titan’s suit against DLA Piper and Milberg for their defense of alleged con man Paul Ceglia in a fraudulent breach of contract case versus Zuckerberg’s first baby was dismissed. [Buffalo Business First]

    * From “weird to wildly costly,” check out some of the craziest malpractice cases that were filed against Biglaw firms during the course of 2015. The McDermott Will & Emery elder abuse case here is particularly creative. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]

  • Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 12.18.15

    * Both Kaye Scholer partner Evan Greebel (formerly of Katten Muchin) and Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli pleaded not guilty to securities fraud charges. Now, the world is left to weep because Skhreli’s Wu-Tang album wasn’t seized. [Reuters]

    * “You are not an American because you got sworn in on a Koran.” The Hate Crimes Unit of the New York Police Department is investigating a series of threatening calls made to Judge Carolyn Walker-Diallo, Brooklyn’s first Muslim judge. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * David Lola, the contract attorney who sued Skadden and Tower Legal for overtime pay with claims he wasn’t practicing law, settled his claims for $75,000. But now we don’t know if doc reviewers are entitled to overtime pay. 🙁 [Big Law Business / Bloomberg]

    * Slater & Gordon, the world’s first publicly traded law firm, continues to watch as its stock price tumbles. The firm’s shares are now worth A$0.89 after it decided to pull its earnings guidance, and they’ve lost 90 percent of their value since April. [The Guardian]

    * That’s not how you’re supposed to examine briefs: A Maryland court commissioner was charged with visual surveillance with prurient intent and misconduct in office after allegedly using his cellphone to take an upskirt photo of a courthouse employee. [AP]

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  • Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 03.25.15

    * Dildos and cock rings. Just another day for the Eleventh Circuit down in America’s wang. [Southern District of Florida Blog]

    * Everything you need to know about today’s Alabama redistricting decisions from Professor Rick Hasen. It’s a longer and more nuanced way to say “Pyrrhic victory.” [Election Law Blog]

    * The Supreme Court is way eloquent. [Lowering the Bar]

    * Looks like we already have a real-life example of what happens when white-collar industries adopt new technology. Enjoy unemployment! [Law and More]

    * Another scintillating legal debate coming up next week: do the President’s war powers exceed constitutional authority? [Intelligence Squared]

    * If you’re in Nashville, you can see Lat in person. It’s on April Fool’s Day, so start thinking of how you want to punk him. [Vanderbilt Law]

    * Harvard Law’s Lambda chapter kills its diversity amendment. Guess it was too much to hope a bunch of law students had solved de Tocqueville’s “tyranny of the majority” puzzle. [Harvard Law Record]

    * Another installment in David’s chat with Bloomberg. Lat compares some firms to Ferraris… I’m guessing he doesn’t watch much racing unless he meant to say, “some firms spend massive amounts of money to remain woefully second-rate to Mercedes and Renault.” [Bloomberg BNA / Big Law Business]

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoS0wdteBS0

  • Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 03.20.15

    * People are dogging this, but I wholeheartedly approve. Kids need to learn that Republicans will kill any idea no matter how benign while somehow making it about abortion. It’s an important life lesson. [NH1]

    * Sometimes the help of a friend actually makes the situation worse. That’s why I make it my policy not to help. [Science of Relationships]

    * A second suspect picked up in the triple murder involving America’s Next Top Model Mirjana Puhar. Investigators plan to give him a hot mic and wait for him to take a bathroom break. [Gawker]

    * LSAC’s having a big day. After law school applications hit a 15-year low, we get the news that LSAC has changed their licensing agreement to kill LSAT PrepTest PDFs. That’ll help. [LSAT Blog]

    * When you think about it, contract lawyers are living out the white-collar version of the Industrial Revolution. And doing about as well as the first Proletariat did. [Law and More]

    * Someone thinks the country doesn’t have to be run by lawyers. This is a dangerous idea that could take down the empire we’ve all built. Thankfully it’s coming from the Transhumanist Party presidential candidate. So I think we’re safe. [Motherboard / Vice]

    * That’s not how you use Swiss cheese… [Legal Juice]

    * A new podcast discusses religious liberty bills with Professor Marci Hamilton, Verkuli Chair in Public Law at Cardozo. [RJ Court Watch]

    * Another call to do something nice and simple so you aren’t the kind of lawyer people joke about. [What About Clients?]

    * On that note, here’s a cavalcade of lawyer jokes explained. Until things get too real. [LFC360]