Recession
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Job Searches, Layoffs
Some Lawyers Still Hit Hard By Joblessness After The Recession
Which group of professionals has had the most trouble getting back into the workforce after the recession? -
Ask the Experts, Job Searches, Law Students, Technology
From Across the Desk: An Apprenticeship to Practice -- That Works
Bruce MacEwen discusses one apprenticeship that seems to be working for law school graduates. - 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… -
10th Circuit, Celebrities, Constitutional Law, Gay Marriage, Job Searches, Law Schools, Morning Docket, NALP, National Association for Law Placement (NALP), Social Media, Sports, Trademarks, Twittering, Utah
Morning Docket: 04.11.14
* A three-judge panel of the Tenth Circuit seemed a bit torn as to the constitutionality of Utah’s same-sex marriage ban during oral arguments yesterday. This one could be a contender to go all the way to the Supremes. [New York Times]
* Another concussion lawsuit has been filed against the National Hockey League by a group of former players, this time alleging a culture of “extreme violence.” The pleadings are a bit… odd. We’ll have more on this later today. [Bloomberg]
* “We’re not going back to 2006 anytime soon,” says NALP executive director Jim Leipold. The legal sector lost lots of jobs in the recession, and they’re not likely to come back. Happy Friday! [National Law Journal]
* It’s never too soon to start writing your law school application essay. Please try not to bore the admissions officers — make sure you have a “compelling” topic. [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News]
* Katherine Heigl (remember her?) probably needed some cash, so she filed a $6M lawsuit against Duane Reade for posting a picture of her carrying one of the drugstore’s bags on Twitter. [Hollywood Reporter]
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Bar Exams, Bernie Madoff, Biglaw, California, D.C. Circuit, Immigration, Money, Morning Docket, Murder, New Jersey, Pictures, Pro Bono, Senate Judiciary Committee, Trials, War on Terror
Morning Docket: 05.22.13
* A bipartisan immigration reform bill made its way through the Senate Judiciary Committee and will head to the Senate floor. Of course, the amendments in support of gay marriage didn’t make it in, but that may be moot soon anyway. [CNN]
* IRS official Lois Lerner may not be very “good at math,” but at least she seems to know the basic principles of constitutional law. She’ll invoke her Fifth Amendment rights before the House Oversight Committee today. [Politico]
* The D.C. Circuit ruled that the top secret Osama bin Laden death photos will remain top secret, but the internet’s desperate cries of “pics or it didn’t happen” will live on in our hearts. [Thomson Reuters News & Insight]
* Attention naysayers: it may be time to face the music. According to the latest Altman Weil survey, most law firm leaders think all of these fun recession-driven changes are here to stay. [Am Law Daily]
* Twenty-two law firms are banding together to fight against fraudulent financial products on a worldwide scale. It’s too bad this legal alliance didn’t exist before the Bernie Madoff scandal. [New York Times]
* It looks like New Jersey may soon be hopping aboard the pro bono work before bar admission train. You better hope you get your clinic placements in order, people. [New Jersey Law Journal (sub. req.)]
* The results for the February 2013 bar exam in California are out, and they’re frightening. It’s time to try that acting thing again, because only 41 percent of all test takers passed the exam. [The Recorder]
* Jodi Arias is now begging jurors to allow her to live out the rest of her days in prison. She wants to contribute to society by painting, recycling, and… not slashing additional throats. Lovely. [Fox News]
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2nd Circuit, Abortion, Bar Exams, Barack Obama, Biglaw, Books, Crime, Disasters / Emergencies, Holland & Knight, Job Searches, Joe Biden, John Roberts, Law Professors, Law Schools, Money, Morning Docket, Parties, Politics, SCOTUS, Sonia Sotomayor, Student Loans, Supreme Court, War on Terror
Morning Docket: 01.22.13
* “Given health care, I don’t care if he speaks in tongues.” Chief Justice John Roberts botched Barack Obama’s presidential oath at his first inauguration, but this time he managed to get it right. [New York Times]
* What was more important to Justice Sonia Sotomayor than swearing in Joe Biden as VP at noon on Sunday? Signing books at Barnes & Noble in New York City. Not-so wise Latina. [Los Angeles Times]
* D.C. Biglaw firms — like Holland & Knight, Covington, K&L Gates, and Jones Day — allowed others to bask in their prestige at their swanky inauguration parties. [Capital Business / Washington Post]
* It’s been 40 years since SCOTUS made its ruling in Roe v. Wade, and this is what we’ve got to show for it: a deep moral divide over women being able to do what they want with their own bodies. [Huffington Post]
* The latest weapon in the fight against terrorism is the legal system. The Second Circuit recently issued a major blow to those seeking to finance militant attacks in secret. [Thomson Reuters News & Insight]
* “Firms don’t just hire a body anymore.” The 2012 BLS jobs data is in, and if you thought employment in the legal sector was going to magically bounce back to pre-recession levels, you were delusional. [Am Law Daily]
* Three months have come and gone since Hurricane Sandy rocked law firm life as we know it in Manhattan, but firms like Fragomen and Gordon & Rees are still stuck in temporary offices. [New York Law Journal]
* This seems like it may be too good to be true, but it looks like New York’s chief judge may be on board to grant law students bar eligibility after the completion of only two years of law school. [National Law Journal]
* Law professors may soon be in for a nasty surprise when it comes to their salaries if their schools follow Vermont Law’s lead and remove them as salaried employees, paying only on a part-time basis. [Valley News]
* Resorting to a life of crime in order to pay off your law school debt is never a good thing — unless you’re doing it while waring a Bucky Badger hat. We’ll probably have more on this later. [Wisconsin State Journal]
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Biglaw, Document Review, In-House Counsel, Outsourcing, Technology
Inside Straight: Nearly A New York Times Op-Ed On The Future Of Biglaw
Are the reports of Biglaw’s death greatly exaggerated? In-house columnist Mark Herrmann shares his thoughts on whether times have permanently changed for Biglaw firms. -
ATL Career Center Survey, Job Survey, Start Dates, Unemployment
The Great Non-Deferral of 2012
Are start dates for first-year associates at major law firms back to normal, i.e., where they were before the Great Recession? And what about the class sizes for entering associates? -
Canada, Deaths, Law Professors, Law Schools, Layoffs, LSAT, Morning Docket, Partner Issues, Patton Boggs, Politics, Staff Layoffs
Morning Docket: 08.28.12
* Patton Boggs partner Benjamin Ginsberg serves as the Mitt Romney campaign’s top lawyer, and he’s taking flak for GOP rules revisions that have been likened to “killing a fly with a sledgehammer.” [Am Law Daily]
* “I am still shocked that I did everything right and find myself on the brink of destitution,.” This just in from the Things Everyone Already Knew Desk: even law firms have been hit hard by the recession. [Washington Times]
* The lead lawyer in the inquisition against Madam Justice Lori Douglas turned in a resignation letter. Perhaps he grew tired of being part of judicial farce that’s spread wider than Her Honor’s legs. [Canadian Press]
* Penn State Dickinson School of Law might not be losing its accreditation, but it will be reducing enrollment and consolidating all first-year classes at its University Park campus. [Central Penn Business Journal]
* A would-be law student wants to know if he has a good chance of getting into a top 20 school with a low 150s LSAT and an average GPA. You’ll get in everywhere you apply! [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News]
* Roger Fisher, Harvard Law School professor and co-author of “Getting to Yes,” RIP. [WSJ Law Blog]
- 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… -
Bankruptcy, Biglaw, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Dewey Ballantine, Dissolution, Law Firm Mergers, LeBoeuf Lamb, Money, Partner Issues, Reader Polls
Gone Dewey Gone: ATL Readers Dish the Blame
Who is at fault for the Dewey debacle? Above the Law readers speak out. -
Biglaw, Conferences / Symposia, Headhunters / Recruiters, Job Searches, Law Schools, NALP, National Association for Law Placement (NALP), Paralegals, Summer Associates
NALP 2012: Good News, We've Probably Hit the Bottom
Elie Mystal is at the 2012 National Association of Law Placement conference. Every year, NALP tells conference attendees the trends in legal hiring. This year, the numbers are worse than ever! And that’s the good news.... -
Divorce Train Wrecks, Locke Lord, Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell, Money, Partner Issues, Quote of the Day
Quote of the Day: Paying $14K/Month to the Woman You Used to Bang Certainly Has Its Pitfalls
Alimony definitely has its downfalls, especially if when you're forced to leave your Biglaw firm. -
Advertising, Lawyer Advertising, Money, Real Estate, Small Law Firms, Utah
Kick ’Em When They’re Down
What’s the most sure-fire way to make money in a bad economy? Capitalize on the misery of others. As the Kobra Kai taught us, strike first, strike hard, no mercy, sir! Today’s Legal Sweep the Leg Award goes to Kick’em Out Quick, a “One Stop Shop” for tenant evictions and collections based in Ogden, Utah. Kick’em Out Quick is an online marketing company that strives to drum up eviction numbers for member attorneys who pay for the privilege of bearing the Kick’em Out Quick name.... -
American Bar Association / ABA, Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Bloomberg, Bonuses, Job Searches, Law Schools, Partner Issues, Partner Profits, Unemployment, Videos, YouTube
Is the Legal Recession Finally Ending?
At the start of this new year, what is the outlook like for legal employment? There's certainly a fair amount of bad news out there, particularly for recent law school graduates. But what about for denizens of Biglaw, the lawyers fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to work at the nation's largest law firms? What does 2012 hold for them? Earlier this month, Elie made some predictions for the legal profession. Lat will follow in his footsteps and venture some prophecies of his own for the year....
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The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
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Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
Navigating Financial Success by Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Maximizing Firm Performance
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Law Professors, Law Schools, Quote of the Day
Quote of the Day: It's the End of the World as We Know It
The jolt to the legal profession is real, and the world is not going back to the way it was. — Thomas D. Morgan, professor of law at George Washington University Law School, commenting on the state of legal education during a plenary session at the annual meeting of the Association of American Law Schools. […] -
American Bar Association / ABA, Back to the Future, Billable Hours, General Counsel, In-House Counsel
Inside Straight: Things Will Not Return To Normal After The Recession!
Here’s a puzzle for you. What decade am I discussing in the following paragraphs? I’m doing something a little different here. The entire text of this column appears before the jump. I’ve hidden only the citations after the jump. Ponder while you read these paragraphs when the source materials supporting these words were written: The […] -
Feminism, Gender, Small Law Firms, Women's Issues
Size Matters: Them Lazy Broads?
Are women working in small law firms lazy bums? Survey results say that they might be, but columnist Valerie Katz doesn't agree with that assessment.... -
American Bar Association / ABA, Law Schools, National Association for Law Placement (NALP), Unemployment
The ABA Focuses on Losing the 'Lost Generation,' One Statistic at a Time
Back in June, it became clear that the class of 2010 had some of the worst employment outcomes of the last 20 years. We knew this because of the way NALP categorized its data, differentiating between jobs that require and don't require bar passage, and between full-time and part-time jobs. But apparently the American Bar Association isn't interested in helping people understand these outcomes on a school-by-school basis. The ABA doesn't want you to know how schools fared in finding full-time legal employment for graduates of the class of 2010.... -
Craigslist, Lawyer Advertising, Partner Issues, Solo Practitioners
Partners for Sale on Craigslist
It’s no secret that the legal market is still in the tank. Unemployed associates have grown accustomed to scrounging the Internet for any and all job openings that might materialize - even sketchy postings offering $35,000 salaries to sharp dressers. Just how bad has the economy gotten? Bad enough that Craigslist isn’t just for associates anymore.... -
Biglaw, Caption Contests, Contests, Law Schools, Pictures
Caption Contest: What Can You Do With a Fordham Law Degree?
Week in, and week out, without fail, we write about the state of the legal economy. Sometimes we have good news about employment prospects for law school graduates, but the reality of the situation is that things are probably going to get worse before they get better. And these days, apparently you can run into career trouble even if you go to a top-tier law school in a major city. Here's the photo for out latest caption contest.... -
Biglaw, Job Searches, No Offers, Parties, Quote of the Day, Summer Associates
Quote of the Day: For The Times They Are A-Changin'
Before the recession, summer associates didn't have to work so hard for their offers. They were more interested in partying. Now, it is the work that counts, and the partying is just an added bonus....