On the Job
ATL's new employment law center
-
Labor / Employment, Minority Issues, Racism, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, White People
Paula Deen's New Argument Seems To Be That White People Are Immune To Racism
Don't look now, but Paula Deen is asking a fundamental question about the legal definition of racism... -
Department of Justice, Election Law, John Roberts, Labor / Employment, Non-Sequiturs, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, UVA Law
Non-Sequiturs: 06.28.13
* Half-Law office, Half-Barbershop. That makes sense, I’ve seen some haircuts that should be crimes. We hear they even have a $5 haircut special called “The Misdemeanor.” [New Britain Herald] * The editors of Ramblings on Appeal give their takes on Shelby County. Rarely has truer legal analysis been offered than characterizing Roberts’s decision as, “Oh and I have five people on my side, you only have four, so take that.” [Ramblings on Appeal] * UVA law professor Chris Sprigman has co-authored an op-ed calling out the NSA. Oh, that guy’s phone is getting tapped. [New York Times] * The Expert Institute continues to draw from popular culture to coach expert testimony. This time it’s Game of Thrones. It’s a handy set of lessons, but “Never Trust a Frey” deserved mention. [The Expert Institute] * The Justice Department is bringing on unpaid attorneys because slave labor is awesome and unpaid internships are never elitist and discriminatory. [Pro Publica] * On that note, Bar President calls for an end to unpaid 3L internships. Video after the jump… -
Labor / Employment, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Samuel Alito, Supreme Court
If Unpaid Interns Don't Like Their Bosses, They'll Hate Justice Alito
Let's fast forward to Justice Alito rolling his eyes. -
Affirmative Action, Anthony Kennedy, David Boies, Jeffrey Toobin, John Paul Stevens, Labor / Employment, Minority Issues, Nina Totenberg, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Samuel Alito, Sandra Day O'Connor, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Ted Olson, Texas
The Wait For Fisher Is Over, And It Was Not Worth The Wait
In case you missed the earlier coverage, here's an eyewitness report on what took place at the Supreme Court today, from Above the Law's SCOTUS correspondent, Matt Kaiser. -
Crime, Deaths, Health Care / Medicine, Labor / Employment, Suicide, Violence
Labor Lawyer Found Dead in Cell After Being Denied Mental Health Care
What happened in his underlying case? -
Biglaw, Books, Clarence Thomas, Deaths, Google / Search Engines, Immigration, Labor / Employment, Morning Docket, Murder, Partner Issues, Partner Profits, Pro Bono, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
Morning Docket: 06.19.13
* You think you know Justice Clarence Thomas, but you have no idea. Here are several myths about the silent Supreme Court star that he was capable of busting in just this term alone. [WSJ Law Blog (sub. req.)]
* According to the CBO, the immigration reform bill being considered in the Senate would allow eight million immigrants to gain legal status and lower the deficit by billions. But alas, dey still terk er jerbs! [NPR]
* Google is doing its best to try not to be evil by asking the FISA court to ease up on gag orders preventing the internet giant from telling the world about what it’s required to give to the government. [Washington Post]
* Florida firm Becker & Poliakoff will withhold 20% of equity partners’ pay, a move that made some lawyers cry. The firm is apparently planning to save the cash for a rainy day. [Daily Business Review]
* Paul Mannina, an attorney with the Labor Department charged with sexually assaulting a coworker, was found in his cell with his throat slashed. Police are investigating the death. [Washington Post]
* FYI, your aspirational pro bono hours — or complete and utter lack thereof — will now be public record in New York, and you must report them on your biannual registration forms. [New York Law Journal]
* Coming soon to a law school near you: really old books from the 13th century that’ll probably turn into dust if you dare try to read them. You can find this nerdgasm over at Yale Law. [National Law Journal]
* The family of Lauren Giddings, the slain Mercer Law graduate, has filed a $5 million wrongful death suit in federal court against accused killer Stephen McDaniel in the hopes of finding her remains. [Telegraph]
-
Elena Kagan, Fashion, Labor / Employment, Mergers and Acquisitions, Non-Sequiturs, Patents, Securities and Exchange Commission, Supreme Court
Non-Sequiturs: 06.13.13
* How often are you sitting around wondering about all the legal ins-and-outs of the assassination of James Garfield? Wonder no more. [The Legal Geeks] * A love poem with citations to the U.C.C. You know, if you never plan on getting laid again. [Law Poetry] * Justice Kagan dials 867-5309. [Slate] * Underage models in New York are now covered by child labor laws. In related news, American Apparel stops making any ads whatsoever. [Fashionista] * When a bank nixes your merger, just go ahead and do it another way and bury the bank’s opinion. There’s not much the SEC can do about it anyway. [Dealbreaker] * Pepper Hamilton’s Nina Gussack is making it rain. [The Careerist] * Eric Posner has no beef with the NSA. [Constitutional Daily] * States: The New (Patent) Troll Slayers [Slate] -
Harold Baer, Labor / Employment, S.D.N.Y.
Uh-Oh! Federal Judge Says We Might Have to Start Paying Interns
Two big rulings strike a blow for the rights of interns. -
Affirmative Action, Labor / Employment, Law Schools, Non-Sequiturs, SCOTUS, State Judges, Supreme Court
Non-Sequiturs: 06.07.13
* Crafty trial tactics out of C-Town. A Cuyahoga County prosecutor was fired after he admitted to posing as a woman in a Facebook chat with an accused killer’s alibi witnesses in an attempt to persuade them to change their testimony. [Cleveland Plain Dealer] * If you post on Facebook asking your employer to fire you, you can’t get mad when they, you know, fire you. [IT-Lex] * Yeah. Where the hell is Fisher? [PrawfsBlawg] * It’s a week late, but congratulations to whatever genius is behind UChiLawGo on graduating. [UChiLawGo] * Once again, you can’t pay your bill with pennies just to get revenge. [Legal Juice] * Some tips on turning your basketcaseness into eustress, which apparently means “good stress.” [Associate's Mind] * New York eyes raising the retirement age for judges to 80. [New York Times] -
Animal Law, Barack Obama, Blank Rome, Craigslist, Fast Food, Intellectual Property, Job Searches, Labor / Employment, Law Firm Mergers, Law Schools, Non-Sequiturs, Politics
Non-Sequiturs: 05.30.13
* Burger King sells burgers by celebrating that they are built with fictional union labor while actively interfering with workers forming real unions. This would be too much hypocrisy for some, but Burger King gets to have it its way. [Buzzfeed] * I cannot top the subject line from the tipster: “Obama calls the nation to arms on trade secret theft, but the nation is at the mall.” [Orrick] * A review of Logan Beirne’s new book Blood of Tyrants: George Washington & the Forging of the Presidency (affiliate link). I wonder what George Washington would say if the Senate blocked his judicial nominees? [Washington Times] * Step One: Collect cash from government for doing business in downtown Manhattan. Step Two: “Close” the firm and move all the partners and cases to Blank Rome. Step Three: Refuse to pay back the money. [Thompson Reuters News & Insight] * Why does everyone want to go to law school? I figured it was just to compete in the ATL Law Revue competition. [The League of Ordinary Gentlemen] * Be nicer to the sea cows! [Lowering the Bar] * This Craigslist job posting under “Legal/Paralegal Jobs” in San Diego: Accidental listing or sadly prophetic commentary on the legal job market? Just in case someone removes the listing, I’ll post a screenshot after the jump… -
American Bar Association / ABA, Job Searches, Labor / Employment, Money, Pro Bono, Quote of the Day
By All Means, Allow Law Students and Grads to Work for Free
Should private law firms be able to use unpaid interns to staff their pro bono cases? The ABA thinks so. -
Food, Labor / Employment, Money
This Tipping Automatically, It's For The Birds
Watching Starbucks employees fight for tips is like watching homeless people fight over a sandwich.... -
Boutique Law Firms, Labor / Employment, Litigators, Plaintiffs Firms, Sex, Sex Scandals, Small Law Firms
The Delaware Court Of Chancery Seems Annoyed With Juan Monteverde
If you're a defendant in a salacious sexual harassment lawsuit, should you disclose that when seeking pro hac vice admission? -
Biglaw, D.C. Circuit, Election Law, Environment / Environmental Law, Eric Holder, John Roberts, Labor / Employment, Law Schools, Non-Sequiturs, SCOTUS, Small Law Firms, Supreme Court, Technology
Non-Sequiturs: 05.24.13
Ed. note: Above the Law will not be publishing on Monday, May 27, in observance of the Memorial Day holiday. * Manhattan Justice Paul Wooten has ordered CBS to produce all emails between it and the Brooklyn DA’s office concerning “Brooklyn D.A.” and ordered a hearing this afternoon. CBS attorneys are irritated. Now they know how everyone feels when they have to watch Two and a Half Men. [WiseLaw NY] * Lois Lerner, the embattled IRS supervisor at the heart of the recent scandal, invoked the Fifth Amendment in her congressional hearing, but in a way that may open the door to contempt. Ironically, maintaining innocence while invoking the Fifth opens one up to “heightened scrutiny.” As noted in Morning Docket, she’s been put on administrative leave. [Simple Justice] * T.J. Duane of Lateral Link was named one of the 17 Stanford business students who is going to change the world. Duane is working on technology to “provid[e] solo and boutique attorneys the benefits without the drawbacks of big law.” That’s much better than my proposal to provide solo and boutique attorneys the drawbacks without the benefits of big law, which is just a device that passive-aggressively second-guesses every decision a lawyer makes. [Business Insider] * The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has asked the Supreme Court to uphold the D.C. Circuit’s decision holding Obama’s NLRB recess appointments unconstitutional because the appointments caused “major confusion for both employers and employees alike.” They’ve got a point. Not having a quorum on the NLRB because the Senate refuses to confirm anyone and plays parliamentary games does provide certainty… the certainty that the NLRB cannot function and its a free-for-all against workers. [Free Enterprise] * Law school applications are down, but not as drastically as expected. [Faculty Lounge] * In any event, law schools are facing an economic reckoning dubbed “Peak Law School.” [Lawyers, Guns & Money] * A new CBO report analyzes the impact of a carbon tax, in case you’re preparing to start papering cap-and-trade deals. [Breaking Energy] * Do potential clients really care about social media? I “Like” this story. [Associate's Mind] * Courtesy of the ABA Journal, you can check out the swag Chief Justice Roberts and Eric Holder got from foreign nations in 2010 after the jump… -
Biglaw, Disasters / Emergencies, Federal Judges, Gender, Mergers and Acquisitions, Morning Docket, Murder, Pregnancy / Paternity, Tax Law, Technology, Trials, United Kingdom / Great Britain, Women's Issues, You Go Girl
Morning Docket: 05.21.13
* Our thoughts and prayers go out to the people of Oklahoma. [CNN]
* The IRS and the Treasury Department better watch out, because it seems that the “next logical step” for the tea party victims of heightened scrutiny leads right up the courthouse stairs. [ABC News]
* #Whatshouldwecallme after advising on the $1.1 billion Yahoo/Tumblr deal? Kind of a big deal. The Biglaw firms doing the underlying legal work are Simpson Thatcher and Gunderson Dettmer. [Am Law Daily]
* The Mirena MDL judge thinks female attorneys should be on the all-male executive committee. If this is “strategic gender placement,” the strategy is to look bad publicly. [Thomson Reuters News & Insight]
* The Travers Smith trainee who was fired for getting pregnant is due in court this June to find out what type of compensation she’ll receive for being discriminated against by the firm. You go girl! [Daily Mail]
* Wherein the parents of a 0L who’s got doubts about her employment prospects are counseled that she can “work not just in law.” ::facepalm:: [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News & World Report]
* There’s trouble in paradise: lawyers in the Jodi Arias case unsuccessfully attempted to get a mistrial and withdraw from representation — for the second time — during its punishment phase. [Fox News]
-
Biglaw, Labor / Employment, Litigators, Partner Issues, Weirdness
A Partner's Bizarre Departure Memo
This is quite the bridge-burning departure memo. Can you believe it was sent by a prominent employment lawyer? -
Guns / Firearms, Labor / Employment, Morning Docket, Police
Morning Docket: 05.01.13
* Gun nuts want to prevent THE PENTAGON from buying too many bullets. [Talking Points Memo]
* Subway employees can be held liable for not helping police officers. I’m a legal genius. [New York Law Journal]
* Employment lawyers get catty on their way out of the door. [Thomson Reuters News & Insight]
* Do top firms even have compliance departments? [Corporate Counsel]
* Colleges are cracking down on Adderall abuse. So… it only took administrators about a decade to figure out that was going on. [New York Times]
* Okay, now Obama is going to close Guantanamo. And by “close,” I think he means “finds other excuses to leave it open.” [SCOTUSblog]
-
Boutique Law Firms, Defamation, Labor / Employment, Media and Journalism, Oral Sex / Blow Jobs, Plaintiffs Firms, Sex, Sex Scandals, Small Law Firms, Vanderbilt, Women's Issues
Can This Litigation Get Any Uglier? Alexandra Marchuk Amends Her Complaint Against Faruqi & Faruqi
Alexandra Marchuk isn't taking the Faruqi & Faruqi counterclaims lying down. Here's her vigorous response. -
Biglaw, Pregnancy / Paternity, Secretaries / Administrative Assistants, Women's Issues
Lathamed Secretary Alleges Pregnancy-Related Discrimination
This former secretary alleges that her supervisor said her pregnancy complications "were not his problem." -
Job Searches, Labor / Employment, Law Professors, Law Schools, Quote of the Day
Wherein Law Professors Feel Like Law Grads Because No One Will Hire Them
There must be a reason why law schools aren't hiring labor and employment law professors, but what is it?