It's hard pleasing everyone at Kirkland & Ellis. Sure, K&E offers oodles of prestige, cutting-edge work, and above-market bonuses. When we asked our associate readers what firm other than their own they'd most want to work for, Kirkland took third place.

But people will always find something to be upset about -- and often there's a political component to the K&E complaints. For example, some people think Kirkland tilts too far to the right, thanks to its association with prominent conservatives like Ken Starr and John Bolton.

Others think the firm tilts too far to the left, bowing down before the forces of political correctness. These critics object to the firm's Diversity Networking Forums, its Big Gay Cocktail Parties.... and, most recently, its just-circulated "Diversity Census," asking lawyers for their demographic data.

From a tipster:

Many of us at K&E find this [Diversity Census] offensive. Clients who inquire about the race or sex of the attorneys working on their matters should be told it's none of their business and that the firm does not staff its matters in accordance with the racist or sexist quota requirements of its clients. If a client asked that no blacks work on its matters, presumably the firm would fire the client, but when the shoe is on the other foot, K&E partners are all too happy to oblige.

But is this really the purpose of the Diversity Census? No, according to the firm. We contacted Walt Lohmann, co-chair of the Firmwide Diversity Committee at K&E, who explained that "participation in the Kirkland Diversity Census is voluntary and anonymous (unless a respondent chooses to self-identify for purposes of receiving materials and event notifications)." Furthermore, "responses are not used in staffing decisions."

Fair enough. But what if they were -- would that be problematic? As reported last year by the American Lawyer:

Over the last few years, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., and others have raised the stakes for outside counsel, pressing firms to increase diversity in their ranks or risk losing clients. In one case... Wal-Mart dumped an outside firm that didn't adequately adhere to the company's diversity program.

Do efforts like Wal-Mart's merit commendation or condemnation? Feel free to opine in the comments.

More information about the K&E Diversity Census, plus a copy of the Census, below the fold.

We realize we're late to the party on this one. The WSJ Law Blog wrote about it last week. We linked to it today in Morning Docket, but based on the email we've received about it, clearly many of you have more to say about it.

News flash: Wal-Mart is cheap. From the Law Blog:

Before any more law firms match the latest bump in associate compensation, they may want to take stock of this memo issued yesterday by Wal-Mart. [T]he memo raises concerns about the recent increase in associate starting pay to $160,000.

“The salaries that law firms choose to pay their junior associates are none of our concern,” writes Miguel Rivera Sr., associate general counsel for the retail chain.

Oof! But Rivera continues, “Based on the size and frequency of the rate increase requests that we have seen over the past three years, it appears that many of the requested increases are largely attributable to the steady, nationwide increases in junior associate salaries.”...

“We are today announcing a moratorium on across-the-board rate increases. Until further notice, we will only consider reasonable, individual requests for rate increases for those attorneys in your firm who are performing at an exceptional level and whose experience and knowledge is adding substantial value towards meeting Wal-Mart’s legal objectives.”

Update: Due to your requests, we've placed the rest of this post -- which includes a rather disgusting picture of diseased feet, so consider yourself warned -- after the jump.

* Lower wages for women? Always. [MSNBC]

* Trial date set for only charged Abu Ghraib officer. [Jurist]

* Racial controversy: the breakfast of champions. [WSJ Law Blog]

* Gay groups not really satisfied about Super Bowl ad; Snickers pulls it. [AP via Findlaw]

* North Dakota, now slightly less boring, but not really, issues hemp permits. [AP via Yahoo!]

* When you use YouTube to bootleg 24, the terrorists win. [WSJ Law Blog]

* North Carolina doctors refuse to play executioner; executions temporarily blocked. [Jurist]

* Wal-Mart agrees to cough up $33 million for overtime violations. [FindLaw]

* This wasn't the law already?. [AP via Yahoo!]

* Seven defendants, including the estate of Kenneth Lay, dismissed from Enron shareholder derivative suit. [Jurist]

* Can someone please fix the damn clock in the Lewis Libby courtroom, before every news outlet turns it into a metaphor? [New York Times]

They don't know what they want. They show up unprepared. They're lacking in enterprise and courage.

But is this true? Consider some evidence to the contrary:

Largo, Florida - Police are looking for a little girl who pulled a knife on a Wal-Mart clerk as she tried to steal two boxes of Lego toy blocks.

It happened [at] the Missouri Avenue [store] around 9:00 pm Tuesday night. Police say the 7 to 8-year-old girl hid the toys under her coat and tried to walk out the door.

A store employee was watching and approached the child, asking her to turn over the Lego blocks. Police say the little girl then opened her jacket and displayed a combo carving knife with a forked point and a 10" blade, saying she was armed for protection.

The employee talked the girl into putting down the knife and the toys.

The article's final sentence is priceless:

The girl rode away on her bicycle.

Was that with or without training wheels?

Little girl flashes knife as she tries to steal toys [Tampa Bay's 10 via Drudge Report]