Screw-Ups
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Job Searches, Screw-Ups, United Kingdom / Great Britain
About That Job You Applied For Two Years Ago
Say this for lawyers: they get around to things. Sure, the process might take a while, much longer than one would reasonably expect. But at the end of the day, lawyers do their paperwork. Apparently, somebody at Squire Sanders in the U.K. has been catching up on old emails. Really old emails. Like, job application […] -
Bad Ideas, Benchslaps, Document Review, Federal Judges, Screw-Ups, Technology
D.C. Lawyers Screw Up E-discovery So Badly, It’s 'Literally Unheard Of'
If you read a lot of e-discovery articles — and I know y’all do — you know that judges are quickly losing any patience for attorneys who don’t have their act together during e-discovery (or even regular old discovery). I know that nothing about the process is simple or easy. I know e-discovery is expensive […] - 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. -
Bad Ideas, Facebook, Health Care / Medicine, Privacy, Screw-Ups, Social Networking Websites, Technology
ER Doc Forgets Patient Info is Private, Gets Fired for Facebook Overshare
I’m done whining about Facebook privacy issues. Everyone should know by now that Facebook and privacy are basically mutually exclusive. But every once in a while, someone does something stupid relating to Facebook privacy in a new, exciting way — like stealing a computer and posting photos of yourself on the owner’s page, or uploading […]
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Cyberlaw, Privacy, Screw-Ups, Technology
Hackers Probably Stole Your Email Address Last Weekend
Raise your hand if you are a JPMorgan Chase customer. Now raise your hand if you’ve shopped at Best Buy. How about Citibank, Target or Walgreens? Has everybody in the world raised their hands yet? Congratulations — your email address may have been stolen. There was a data breach at Epsilon, a Texas-based marketing firm, […] -
Grade Reform, Law Professors, Law Schools, Screw-Ups
Professor Discovers 2010 Grading Errors; Mistake Is Fixed in April 2011
You know, given the fact that most law school professors act like they are doing you a favor by grading your exams, it’s a wonder this kind of thing doesn’t happen more often. Of course, since it doesn’t happen more often, this is a noteworthy occurrence. A criminal law professor out in California figured out […] -
Biglaw, Email Scandals, listserv, Partner Issues, Rudeness, Screw-Ups
More Proof That Lawyers Will Fight Over Anything
Sometimes you just have to whip it out and wait for somebody to bring over a ruler. That’s just a part of life. But some lawyers seem to sit around all day just waiting for an opportunity to drop drawers and call for the chains. Don’t believe me? Take a look at this guy from […] -
Divorce Train Wrecks, Family Law, Screw-Ups, Sports
Law Firm Screw-Up Reveals Allegations About Gilbert Arenas
Full disclosure: Gilbert Arenas is one of my favorite basketball players. Sure, he’s a selfish, me-first player. And he seems to be one of the gun-nut whackos I would never want as a neighbor. But the man is the author of one of the best quotes of all time. Check out Deadspin for Gilbert’s full […] -
Law Professors, Law Schools, Screw-Ups
Penn Law Professor Too Lazy To Come Up With New Multiple Choice Questions Causes Exam SNAFU
As David Lat said earlier this week, “Here at Above the Law, we’re trying to help you.” Honestly, think of Above the Law as the MPRE, but for situations people in the legal community are actually likely to face. Don’t conduct sensitive firm business on a crowded train. Don’t offer hand-jobs in school-wide emails. And […] - Sponsored
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
How to best leverage generative AI as an early adopter with ethical use. -
Education / Schools, Law Schools, Media and Journalism, New York Times, Student Loans
A Notable Correction to the New York Times Article on Law School
It isn’t easy to wring a correction out of the New York Times. The Gray Lady is notoriously stingy when it comes to confessing error. [FN1] But David Segal’s very interesting and widely read article about the perils of going to law school — which still sits at the top of the NYT’s list of […] -
9/11, Crime, Drinking, Screw-Ups, Sentencing Law
Harvard Law Grad Turned 9/11 Chapel Arsonist Pleads Guilty
This year Sidley Austin gave out very good, but not ridiculously good, associate bonuses. Alas, Brian Schroeder was not there to enjoy them. As you may recall, Schroeder is the 27-year-old Harvard Law School graduate who set fire to a memorial housing the remains of unidentified 9/11 victims, on Halloween 2009. Schroeder then did the […] -
Bad Ideas, Biglaw, Email Scandals, Labor / Employment, Screw-Ups, Sex, Sex Scandals, Sexual Harassment
A Racy (But Fake?) Email About An Associate's One-Night Stand With A Married Female Partner
Last week, we started hearing about an amazing email making the rounds. In this email message, a male associate at a large law firm allegedly described, in excruciating detail, a supposed sexual encounter with a married female partner at the firm. Apparently the raunchy email was making like an STD and going viral within the […] -
Baseball, David Boies, Divorce Train Wrecks, Family Law, Screw-Ups, Sports, Trials
Drafting Fail: Court Rules Jamie McCourt Owns A Piece of the L.A. Dodgers
Well, this is not going to make Bingham McCutchen partners happy. A judge today ruled that the marital agreement between Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt and wife Jamie McCourt is invalid — and therefore Frank might not have sole ownership of the Dodgers. We wrote about Bingham’s boo-boo back in September. Some copies of […] -
Biglaw, Email Scandals, Partner Issues, Screw-Ups
Skadden Partner Accidentally Emails Confidential Evaluations to Entire Department
Those of you who have been in the legal profession long enough remember the tale of Jonas Blank. While working as a summer associate at Skadden, he inadvertently sent an irreverent email, intended for a single friend, to the firm’s entire underwriting group (partners included). Whoops. But the firm was forgiving of young Jonas. He […]
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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…
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.
Sponsored
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
How to best leverage generative AI as an early adopter with ethical use.
Sponsored
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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…
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The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
ChatGPT ushers in the age of generative AI – even for law firms.
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Bar Exams, Screw-Ups
New York Bar Examiners Admit to Accidental Release of New York Bar Results
I don’t know how the New York Law Journal managed to get through this entire story without mentioning Above the Law. But we’ll deal with that later. For now, let’s talk about the New York Board of Law Examiners (BOLE) finally admitting that the results for the July 2010 bar exam were in fact accidentally […] -
Bar Exams, Screw-Ups, Technology
NY Bar Exam Results Up Briefly on NY BOLE Website
Okay, July New York Bar Exam takers, we don’t know much — but here’s what we know. For about an hour, the results of the New York Bar Exam appeared on the official site of the New York Board of Law Examiners (NY BOLE). This was a surprise. Results aren’t expected to be released until […] -
Conspiracy Theories, Election Law, Politics, Screw-Ups, White People
Election Snafu Hurts 'Whitey'
Sometimes, typos matter — a lot. We’ve seen typos get law firms into all kinds of trouble. And now a typo might ruin the already slim gubernatorial chances of a Green Party candidate. Running on the Green Party line, Rich Whitney wasn’t likely to become the next Governor of Illinois anyway. But an error at […] -
Baseball, David Boies, Divorce Train Wrecks, Family Law, Screw-Ups, Sports, Susman Godfrey, Trials
Will a Boo-Boo By Bingham Decide the Dodgers Divorce?
It’s actually not the divorce of the Los Angeles Dodgers, but the divorce of real estate mogul Frank McCourt and his wife, Jamie. Some call it the Dodger Divorce, however, since this bitter litigation could determine the fate of the storied baseball team — an asset worth hundreds of millions. The couple is fighting over […] -
Death Penalty, Gregory Garre, New York Times, Pro Bono, SCOTUS, Screw-Ups, Supreme Court
Sullivan & Cromwell's Mailroom of Death: A Law Firm's Error Could Cost a Man His Life
Last year, we covered a mistake made in a death penalty case by the white-shoe firm of Sullivan & Cromwell. It was a noteworthy development because of the rarity of the occurrence — S&C doesn’t often make mistakes, at least not ones as elementary as missing a deadline — and because of the stakes involved. […] -
Bar Exams, Screw-Ups, Technology
Bar Exam Open Thread: So, How Was It -- Or How's It Going?
For those of you who are done with the July 2010 bar exam, congratulations! For those of you who still have another day left, our condolences — and good luck. No administration of the bar is complete without some sort of mishap. The latest tale of woe comes from California. The state that some have […] -
Reality TV, Screw-Ups, Television
Who Wants To Be a Millionaire Embarrassed?
Going on game shows offers up the possibility of great reward or eternal humiliation in the form of YouTube’s infinite archives. An Oregon lawyer by the name of Paul Galm experienced the latter, when he appeared on “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?” in 2006. (This is admittedly old, but sometimes we like to exhume […]