Trendspotting
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Trendspotting
I, For One, Welcome Our New Toilet Overlords
Unisex bathrooms are a thing of the future. Also the present. -
Biglaw, In-House Counsel, Kramer Levin, Morning Docket, Reality TV, Staff Attorneys / Discovery Attorneys, Television, Trendspotting
Morning Docket: 03.03.14
* If your firm has not yet given in to the demands of corporate clients for more reasonable billing structures, please be aware that a) your firm is behind the times, and b) you better be prepared to get your white shoes scuffed. [Boston Globe]
* Mirror, mirror, on the wall, which is the fairest firm of them all? According to the 2014 Acritas Brand Index survey, Skadden is the firm on everyone’s mind — for the third year in a row. They must be doing something right. Congrats! [Am Law Daily]
* Part of this former staff attorney’s discrimination suit against Quinn Emanuel was dismissed, but as our editor, Elie Mystal, mused when he first heard of this case, it’s likely “the only color Quinn cares about is green.” [New York Law Journal]
* Trendspotting: Because fast-growing technology equals fast-growing money when it comes to the law, LeClairRyan is the second firm in the U.S. to open up a drone practice group. [Richmond Times-Dispatch]
UPDATE (1:00 p.m.): Actually, Kramer Levin launched its Unmanned Aircraft Systems Practice Group back in December 2013, as noted by the ABA Journal and Bloomberg News.
* Bachelorette-in-waiting Andi Dorfman was granted an unpaid leave of absence from her job as an ADA to star in this summer’s edition of the reality show. We guess her boss gave her career a rose. [Daily Report]
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How AI Is The Catalyst For Reshaping Every Aspect Of Legal Work
Findings from the "Future of Professionals Report," based on a survey of 1,200 professionals from North and South America and the UK. -
Biglaw, Duval & Stachenfeld, Job Searches, Trendspotting
More Jobs, Better Training, Lower Pay: Welcome To The Future Of Biglaw
Good news: a major law firm is hiring! The salary might not be "market," but a job's a job, right?
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Law Schools, Money, Reader Polls, Student Loans, Trendspotting
Why Take Out Student Loans When You Can Finance Law School as a 'Sugar Baby'?
Go get a sugar daddy or a sugar momma to pay for your law school tuition -- because what else are you going to do with yourself? -
Airplanes / Aviation, American Bar Association / ABA, Antitrust, Arnold & Porter, Biglaw, Confirmations, Crime, Deaths, Department of Justice, Hate Crimes, John Roberts, Law Schools, Morning Docket, Murder, Patents, SCOTUS, Student Loans, Supreme Court, Travel / Vacation, Trendspotting, Violence
Morning Docket: 01.02.13
* While Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts made a plea to keep funding for the federal judiciary intact, we learned that student loan default cases have fallen since 2011. You really gotta love that income-based repayment. [WSJ Law Blog (sub. req.)]
* Introducing the Asia 50, a list of the largest firms in the Asia-Pacific region. When it comes to the firms with the biggest footprints, only one American Biglaw shop made the cut. Go ahead and take a wild guess on which one it was. [Asian Lawyer]
* Congratulations are in order, because after almost a year of stalling, Arnold & Porter partner William Baer was finally confirmed by the Senate as the chief of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. [Bloomberg]
* Our elected officials might not have allowed the country to fall off the fiscal cliff, but the American Invents Act was put on hold, so if you’re a patent nerd, you can still be mad about something. [National Law Journal]
* Remember when Rutgers-Camden Law said “many top students” were making bank after graduation? Yeah, about that: Law School Transparency just filed an ABA complaint. [Thomson Reuters News & Insight]
* Here are some law school trends to look out for in 2013. FYI, the applicant pool is smaller because no one wants to foolishly gamble on their careers anymore. [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News & World Report]
* In the latest NYC subway shoving death, a woman was charged with second-degree murder as a hate crime, and allegedly bragged about other hate crimes she’s committed to police. Lovely. [New York Times]
* Next time you’re trapped on a plane that’s literally filled with other people’s crap for 11 hours, don’t bother suing over your hellish experience — you’re going to be preempted by federal law. [New York Law Journal]
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American Bar Association / ABA, Animal Law, Deaths, Law School Deans, Law Schools, Morning Docket, Pro Bono, Real Estate, Trendspotting
Morning Docket: 05.02.12
* Starting next year, if you want to be a lawyer in New York, you’re going to have to work for free. Because nothing says “we care” like indentured servitude. Thank God for law school clinic hours… maybe. [New York Times]
* Mo’ law schools, mo’ problems? That’s what Dean Wu thinks. Here’s a new trend to watch: UC Hastings will be joining forces with lower ranked law schools in an effort to reduce its incoming class sizes. [USA Today]
* MOAR TRANSPARENCY! Support has been shown for the ABA’s proposed changes to law school disclosure requirements. All the better for those “sophisticated consumers,” eh, Judge Schweitzer? [ABA Journal]
* “Dogs are always happy to see you, no matter how you do on your Evidence exam.” Only real bitches would throw shade. Emory has joined the therapy dog pack for finals. [11 Alive News]
* In trying to dismiss a $50M suit against billionaire George Soros, his lawyer claimed that his ex would have had to suffer an “unconscionable injury.” Dude, she did. She banged an octogenarian. [New York Daily News]
* Ann Richardson, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the UDC School of Law, RIP. [Washington Post]
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5th Circuit, Abortion, California, Clarence Thomas, Law Professors, Loyola Law School, Morning Docket, New Jersey, Pregnancy / Paternity, Reality TV, Supreme Court Clerks, Trendspotting
Morning Docket: 11.02.11
* “Rising tuition. Misleading employment statistics. Inadequate skills training.” So what are legal educators doing about it? Blogging, of course. [Law School Review] * Trendspotting: cute judges on the federal bench? The Senate has confirmed Loyola Law professor Stephen Higginson for a seat on the Fifth Circuit. [National Law Journal] * People in New Jersey […]
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Biglaw, Outsourcing, Trendspotting
Is On-Shore Outsourcing the Biglaw Wave of the Future?
Hot on the heels of support staff layoffs and on-shore outsourcing efforts at O’Melveny & Myers, we have news of another law firm doing the exact same thing. Except this law firm has figured out a way to do it with half the tears and way less relocation angst. On-shore outsourcing might be better for […] - Sponsored
Document Automation For Law Firms: The Definitive Guide
Legal document automation is no longer only for the exclusive few. -
John Marshall Law School, Law School Deans, Law Schools, Trendspotting
Trendspotting: Will Law Schools Continue to Defend Questionable Employment Data?
It was just last week that Jesse Strauss and David Anziska announced that in addition to their class action suits against Cooley Law and New York School of Law, they intended to sue 15 more law schools over their allegedly deceptive post-graduate employment statistics. In the days that followed, everyone wanted to know when these […] -
Attorney Misconduct, Benchslaps, Holidays and Seasons, Judicial Divas, Rudeness, Sam Sparks, State Judges, Trendspotting
Judge-Ordered Remedial Civility Classes = The New Killing It
Last week, we reported on the most recent benchslap from Judge Sam Sparks. In his order, Judge Sparks invited attorneys to a “kindergarten party." Other judges have apparently taken notice. Now comes Judge Peggy Ableman of Delaware. She has called for attorneys appearing before her to attend "a 'special' emergency refresher course in first year ethics and civility." What's really going to make the allegedly childlike attorneys squeal is that Judge Ableman scheduled her remedial class during the middle of Labor Day weekend.... -
Law Schools, Money, Student Loans, Trendspotting
Private Funding of Public Law Schools = Bad News For Future Law Students
Do you know an easy way for moderately priced public law schools to make even more money? Charge more for tuition. Do you know an easy justification for jacking up tuition rates? Say that you are moving to a “private funding model” while you bemoan the lack of public support for your institution. After that, […] -
Law School Deans, Law Schools, Trendspotting
Trendspotting: Will Law School Start Decreasing The Supply of Unemployable New Lawyers?
If the American Bar Association was serious about protecting its members, it’d be trying to do something to stop the influx of market-depressing new attorneys. America might need more lawyers willing to work for next to nothing to help those who can’t currently afford legal representation, but the last thing current attorneys need is even […] -
John Yoo, Law School Deans, Law Schools, Money, Student Loans, Trendspotting
A Trend in the Making: Shrinking Law Schools?
Critics of the legal-education industrial complex would probably like to see some radical changes in the U.S. law school system. They’d probably want a few dozen law schools to shut down entirely, to reduce the glut of lawyers in this country. Barring that, they might want to see law schools reduce tuition dramatically — not […]
Sponsored
How AI Is The Catalyst For Reshaping Every Aspect Of Legal Work
Profit Powerhouse: Elevating Law Firm Financial Performance
Are Small Firms Going Big On Legal Tech?
Sponsored
Document Automation For Law Firms: The Definitive Guide
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
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Ave Maria School of Law, Law Schools, Money, Student Loans, Trendspotting
Law Schools Join the Ranks of Institutions Averse To Profiteering During a Rough Economy
You can’t call it a trend just yet, but the University of New Hampshire School of Law has joined Maryland Law and Miami Law in the fight to keep law school tuition down during a still-recovering economy. The school reports it will not be raising tuition for the 2011-2012 academic year. It’s a sad state […] -
Citigroup, Education / Schools, Law Schools, Student Loans, Trendspotting
Citi Sells Student Loan Division: Can't You Hear the Bubble Bursting?
In a couple of years, we might look back on today as the first point where the giant, unsustainable bubble that is the student loan market began to burst. Check out this press release: The Student Loan Corporation (NYSE:STU – News), a subsidiary of Citibank, N.A., and a leading originator and servicer of student loans, […] -
Crime, Trendspotting
Always a Trendsetter, Cadwalader Now Experiencing Thievery
Here at Above the Law, we like to know what’s going to happen, before it happens. We therefore pay special attention to Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. The firm is a trendsetter of sorts — at least for things that are bad. Few remember, but Cadwalader faced down a bed bug epidemic back in 2007, long […] -
Bar Exams, Travel / Vacation, Trendspotting
Open Thread: Bar Trips and Summer Vacations
Hello? Anyone home? Right now it feels like everyone is on vacation, even though Labor Day is still two weeks away. C’mon, folks, this isn’t freakin’ Europe. Maybe some people are still on their “bar trips” — multi-week (or even multi-month) post-bar-exam vacations, to some exotic destination (or destinations; I have friends who have traveled […] -
In-House Counsel, Job Searches, Trendspotting
Hewlett-Packard Picks New In-House Lawyers Fresh Out of Law School
In the movie The Untouchables, Sean Connery counsels Kevin Costner: “If you don’t want to get a rotten apple, pick one fresh off the tree.” Apparently, Hewlett-Packard is taking the same advice; instead of hiring in-house attorneys seasoned in Biglaw firms, HP is getting its next crop of legal help directly from the nation’s top […] -
Law Schools, Money, Student Loans, Trendspotting
New Tuition Trend: Will 1Ls be Willing to Subsidize 3Ls?
Last week, we set up an open thread for people to discuss the next round of tuition hikes at their law schools. Sadly, it appears that many schools are indeed raising tuition despite the soft economy for legal jobs. Once again, the cost of legal education is proving to be recession proof. But another, even […] -
Copyright, Fashion, Intellectual Property, Trendspotting
All the Rage: Fashion Design Litigation?
What should be done to protect fashion designers from copycats? Law professor Gerard Magliocca would probably say nothing, but other observers are more sympathetic to the designers. Law profs Scott Hemphill (recently married) and Jeannie Suk (half of celebrity couple Feldsuk) propose what they call “the squint test.” Although fashion designs don’t currently enjoy copyright […]