Technology

If It Sounds Too Good To Be True, It Probably Is

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laptop computer coffee newspaper Abovethelaw Above the Law.jpgSeveral readers drew our attention to this fascinating article from our local free weekly, the Washington City Paper:

Wanted: Gullible Lawyers
By Arin Greenwood

I was hired over e-mail. A boss I never met promised me $14,000 a month. How could I fall for that?

Two tipsters have done an especially good job teeing it up, so we’ll just quote from their plugs:

“Have you read this? Very entertaining story about a lot of people who got scammed on craigslist, a sizable portion of which were lawyers. Most interesting is the author’s take on what the goal of the scam was.”

“This is so interesting! Even if you don’t write about it (which you should: any story that includes a hapless and pathetic Columbia law grad, an Indian lesbian, Rupert Murdoch, and 15 lawyers embroiled in a scam de l’amour deserves the full treatment from ATL, no?), you just must read this! Delicious!”

We concur. It’s a bit long, but a wild (and worthwhile) story. Check it out here.

Wanted: Gullible Lawyers [Washington City Paper]
the fake job.. turned into a real article [Arin Greenwood]

77 Comments

To Blackberry, or Not to Blackberry? That Is the Question

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Blackberry Crackberry Blackberries baby Above the Law blog.JPGRecently submitted to Fortune magazine by “Bored in BlackBerryLand”:

I am a recent law-school graduate and, though I’m not yet working at a law firm, I have friends who are. I understand that things in international firms happen 24/7, 365 days a year, and I want to be as supportive of my friends’ careers as I expect them to be of mine.

My question is, to what degree in social settings, on a regular basis, should friends be checking their BlackBerries, and at what point should I say something? What’s rude and what’s truly necessary?

So, readers, whaddya think? Check out what the expert had to say, express yourselves in the comments, and take our poll — after the jump.

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106 Comments

The Latest on Laptopgate

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laptop pink girl woman Abovethelaw Above the Law blog.jpgSo whatever happened to people caught up in the recent, ill-fated administration of the New York bar exam? One test taker wrote us:

“I imagine you’re getting a slew of forwards on these cold-comfort NYBOLE [New York Board of Law Examiners] emails, but just the same, here you go. I didn’t have laptop problems myself (knock on wood), but for those applicants who claimed to have their essay answers swapped or overwritten, this might just be salt in the wound.”

And the message:

From: New York Bar Exam Administration
Date: 23 Aug 2007 13:05:43 -0400
Subject: Your July 2007 Bar Exam Essays have all been received.
To: [redacted]

BOLE ID:B1000xxxx

This will confirm that we are in receipt of all of your printed (and/or handwritten) answers to essay questions 1 through 5 and the MPT

Sincerely

New York State Board of Law Examiners

But apparently some exam takers weren’t so lucky. From a second source:

Any updates on Laptopgate? A friend of mine that took the NY bar at the Javitz got an email yesterday saying that additional information is needed from their computer. That doesn’t sound promising.

We haven’t seen one of these “more information please” emails. Have you? If so, we’d be grateful if you could send it to us by email. If we get one, we’ll post it here. Thanks.
Update: The text of the cryptic email appears after the jump.
Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of bar exams (scroll down)

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38 Comments

Wachtell and Wikipedia: Not So Perfect Together?

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Wachtell Lipton Rosen Katz WLRK Above the Law blog.jpgOver on AutoAdmit (via Concurring Opinions), folks have been talking about Wikiscanner. This neat application allows you to see recent edits to Wikipedia and who made them, in terms of the editor’s IP address (which often reveals their employer).

As Professor Dave Hoffman notes at Concurring Opinions, law firm lawyers seem to love playing with Wikipedia. A tipster is more specific:

Apparently members of Vault 15 law firms have been making, umm, questionable edits to wikipedia. For example:

– Vandalizing Ann Coulter’s page
– Shameless self-promotion
– Editing articles on BDSM (WTF?)
– Hiding links to Skull and Bones
– Taking shots at Noam Chomsky
– Taking shots at other firms

Eric Turkewitz, over at the NY Personal Injury Law Blog, zeroes in on edits made from computers at Wachtell Lipton (where we once worked). He accuses the firm of “duplicity,” since someone at WLRK is making (flattering) edits to the firm’s page, even though the firm claims it doesn’t engage in advertising or marketing.

But what if the edits were made not by Wachtell firm management, but by a mere associate? Would that be as problematic? Should Wachtell, or any other law firm, prohibit firm employees from touching up firm write-ups in Wikipedia (at least from law firm computers)?

With respect to the Wachtell Wikipedia edits, we have some interesting speculation. Check it out, after the jump.

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40 Comments

Non-Sequiturs: 08.09.07

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chart stock market plunge Abovethelaw Above the Law blog.gif* Lawyer opinions solicited: Is this an effective ad for malpractice insurance? [Copyranter]
* Another ugly day for the stock market. [Volokh Conspiracy]
* On that subject: Is the vast family fortune of Rachel Kovner, ATL’s official It girl, in jeopardy — as recently rumored by our sibling site? Not exactly. But if Bruce Kovner’s legendary fund is up only 3 percent year-to-date, things could certainly be better. [DealBreaker]
* What? The iPhone is not God’s greatest gift to man? Bite your tongue! [Althouse]
* Ignoring a handslap will get you a benchslap. See page 15, footnote 7. [U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (PDF)]

6 Comments

Laptopgate, and the New York Bar Exam: The Aftermath

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laptop pink girl woman Abovethelaw Above the Law blog.jpgWe recently posted about technical difficulties surrounding last week’s administration of the New York bar exam. About ten minutes ago, candidates who sat for the exam received this email:

From: New York Bar Exam Administration
Date: 30 Jul 2007 17:03:09 -0400
Subject: NYS Bar Exam Laptop Program

As you may know, some candidates taking last Tuesday’s bar examination experienced technical problems with the Securexam software during the examination, and some also experienced problems after the examination when attempting to upload their work. The State Board of Law Examiners has been working with Software Secure to resolve the problems.

Our primary focus during these past few days has been collecting exam files from candidates’ computers and confirming that we have all of the essay answers. Software Secure is in the process of sorting through and reviewing the thousands of files that were either uploaded or transferred to them through the utility that was described in an email sent by Software Secure on July 25, 2007.

For those of you who are interested, the rest of the message appears after the jump.

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79 Comments

New York Bar Exam Horror Stories

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laptop pink girl woman Abovethelaw Above the Law blog.jpgWe’ve received three of them thus far. It appears that the bar examiners have been having, er, technical difficulties — some pretty serious computer problems. Needless to say, the hapless test takers are not happy campers.
For those of you who are interested, we reprint the stories after the jump.

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186 Comments

Don’t Sue Facebook, We Like It

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Facebook logo MySpace Friendster Abovethelaw Above the Law blog.jpgAre you addicted to Facebook? You’re not alone.
Hopefully the site’s legal troubles will not interfere with its continuing viability. Facebook withdrawal could be almost as severe as Blackberry withdrawal (which loomed until the RIM litigation was settled).
If you’re an ATL reader and Facebook user, check out a top ten list of recommended Facebook groups, after the jump.

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7 Comments

Programming Note: Off to AEI

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American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research AEI Abovethelaw Above the Law blog.jpgWe’re going to be offline for a few hours. If anything big happens while we’re gone, and we don’t write about it immediately, now you know why. (Posts that we drafted earlier will be published while we’re gone.)
We’re going to attend this event, about the economics of internet advertising — which, of course, is what pays the bills around here. If you enjoy reading ATL, please support our advertisers.
Yes, the event is sponsored by AEI, a right-of-center think tank. But the topic isn’t terribly partisan.
American Constitution Society for Law and Policy ACS Abovethelaw Above the Law blog.jpgAnd to atone for this visit to the premises of AEI, guess what? We’re going to spend the better part of two days later this month (July 27-28) covering the 2007 ACS National Convention, here in DC. If you’d like to attend, it’s not too late to register; you can do so by clicking here.
(If you’re planning to attend the ACS convention, look out for us — we’ll be easy to spot. We’ll be snapping photographs of the fabulous Judge Marsha Berzon, as if she were Angelina Jolie on the red carpet.)
Update (2:30 PM): We’re back. Today’s event was co-sponsored by the left-leaning Brookings Institution, so our conscience is clear.
The Economics of Internet Advertising: Implications for the Google-DoubleClick Merger [American Enterprise Institute]
Fifth Annual ACS National Convention: Toward a Just Future [American Constitution Society]

12 Comments

Brokeback Lawfirm: Is Charney v. S&C Being Used for MySpace Spam?

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From a reader who uses MySpace (no, not a 14-year-old girl in Manassas):

Totally random, and not necessarily newsworthy, but the attached MySpace profile appeared randomly on my “cool new people” list when I logged in.

Strange, huh?

MySpace Aaron Charney weirdness Abovethelaw Above the Law blog.jpg
(Random spam like this, in the form of fake profiles — usually of attractive women from ex-Soviet republics, but apparently now of people who follow Charney v. S&C — is one of the many reasons we prefer Facebook.)
facebook is better than myspace group [Facebook]

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