Hourly Rates

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 10.02.17

* Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families, friends, and colleagues of the victims of the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, which took place last night in Las Vegas, Nevada. [New York Times] * "There’s only one prediction that’s entirely safe about the upcoming term. It will be momentous." The Supreme Court's October Term 2017 begins today, and it will be Justice Neil Gorsuch's first full term. The docket features issues like voting rights, religion and discrimination, workers' rights, and digital privacy, and Trump's DOJ has radically flipped its position from that of prior administrations in many of the cases, which hasn't happened in decades. [New York Times] * Jeffrey Toobin wonders, "How badly is Neil Gorsuch annoying the other Supreme Court justices?" Based on the junior justice's behavior thus far -- from his seemingly politicized appearances to his domination of oral arguments to his dissenting jab at Justice Kennedy -- the answer could very well be PRETTY BADLY. [New Yorker] * You may have grown up, but you're still a Toys “R” Us kid at heart, so you'll want to know how much these Biglaw firms are charging Geoffrey the Giraffe for their representation in the toy store's bankruptcy. Partners and of counsel are billing up to $1,745 per hour, and associates are billing up to $1,015 per hour. [Am Law Daily] * Biglaw salary wars are heating up across the pond, with Clifford Chance having recently decided to boost pay for newly qualified associates to £87,300 (~$116,933.99) a year in total compensation. Other firms like Freshfields and Linklaters have also instituted salary hikes, while Slaughter & May has frozen associate pay. [Law.com] * "This, all of this, allows me to prove my story is useful." Reginald Dwayne Betts, the Yale Law School graduate whose dreams of being able to practice law after passing the bar exam were deferred thanks to a decades-old felony carjacking conviction, was finally admitted to the Connecticut bar. Congratulations! [Hartford Courant]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 07.11.16

* In case you haven't been keeping score like we have, these are the firms that recently raised salaries: Duval & Stachenfeld; Seyfarth Shaw; and Foley & Lardner. If you’re worried you’ve missed any of our coverage on pay raises, check out our omnibus 2016 salary chart where we collect these stories. [2016 Salary Increase / Above the Law] * Lawyers are "the best-paid writers in the world," so grammar god Bryan Garner suggests they emulate one of the greatest language snoots of them all: the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Garner identifies with Scalia's textualism because "[he] believe[s] that words have meaning, and that we should take them seriously." [Wall Street Journal] * According to constitutional law scholar Dean Erwin Chemerinsky of UC Irvine Law, SCOTUS may be at a turning point since the next president will likely be able nominate up to four justices. "Whether you see yourself as conservative or liberal ... this affects all of us, our most intimate and important aspects of our lives." [Los Angeles Times] * Lawyers for Led Zeppelin are seeking about $800K in costs and legal fees for their defense of the seminal rock band in the "Stairway to Heaven" copyright infringement suit. Peter Anderson, the band's lead counsel in the case, claims that his $330 per hour rate is "actually below" the going rate for this caliber of high-profile work. [Ars Technica] * Venezuelan authorities have arrested a woman connected to Mossack Fonseca, the firm at the center of the Panama Papers scandal, for allegedly being "in charge of seeking customers to invest illicit funds in outsourcing-type business arrangements." She's been charged with illegally obtaining funds in violation of banking regulations. [Reuters]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 02.09.16

* Demand for corporate work may be down, but that's not stopping senior Biglaw partners from ramping up their hourly billing rates. Partners at some firms have rates that exceed $1,400 per hour. They're not making it rain, they're making it monsoon! [WSJ Law Blog] * No law license, no pretty huge problem: Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane's license to practice law is still suspended, so the state Senate has scheduled a historic vote for her removal. For her part, Kane, of course, thinks this is "unwarranted and unconstitutional." [PennLive.com] * Herbert Sudfeld Jr., an ex-partner at Fox Rothschild, was convicted of insider trading. He'd apparently eavesdropped on discussions related to a firm merger client and purchased stock based on what he'd overheard. [Legal Intelligencer via ABA Journal] * Washington & Lee Law settled a suit filed by a former student who claimed he was dismissed as a result of a campus judicial proceeding because he was accused in a sexual assault case. The terms of the deal won't be disclosed. [Richmond Times-Dispatch] * When your firm's founding partners have been disciplined by the state Supreme Court a few times too many, you should probably hurry up and change the firm's name to something kooky like LawyerASAP to distract your existing clients. [Orlando Sentinel]

By Staci Zaretsky
Bar Exams

Morning Docket: 01.13.14

* While we’re celebrating recently anointed Biglaw partner classes, let’s take a minute to call out the firms that haven’t bestowed the honor upon a single woman this year. Cheers, jerks. [Am Law Daily] * The results of the NLJ’s Law Firm Billing Survey are out, and lo and behold, one of the top partners in the country is pushing $2,000 an hour for his services. Congrats, Ted! [National Law Journal (sub. req.)] * Everyone’s buzzing about the federal law clerk who’s been accused of attempted aggravated rape and solicitation of a minor under 13. Don’t let that legendary 4.0 GPA go to waste. (More on this later.) [Times-Picayune] * Congratulations to Gerchen Keller Capital, the litigation finance firm founded by former SCOTUS clerks and hedge-fund alumni, on raising $260 million for its new fund. [DealBook / New York Times] * Iowa is thinking about allowing law school grads to practice immediately instead of having to take and pass a bar exam. Paired with its recent tuition cuts, the Hawkeye State is looking better and better. [Des Moines Register] * If you’re in the unfortunate situation of still having to look for a law job once OCI has ended, then you might want to start considering applying for some of the other law jobs that don’t want you. [Mashable] * The incarceration of a blogger known for making salacious allegations against federal judges raises First Amendment concerns. [New York Times]

By Staci Zaretsky
Banking Law

Morning Docket: 11.15.13

* Despite the fact that the overall demand for legal work was down by five percent during the first nine months of the year, law firms still raised their hourly rates. Hey, what can we say? Math is hard. [Am Law Daily] * After instructing his lawyers not to speak during what he called a “sham sentencing,” Whitey Bulger received two life sentences plus five years. Don’t worry, the appeal won’t be a sham. [National Law Journal; CNN] * Attention c/o 2015: the New York City Bar Task Force is considering throwing commercial paper out the window in favor of administrative law. Something something arbitrary and capricious. [New York Law Journal] * What is law school for, aside from collecting gigantic mountains of non-dischargeable student loan debt? Apparently it’s for creating a more meaningful life, because with poverty comes clarity. [WSJ Law Blog] * In the very near future, you might need a license to conduct business with virtual money like bitcoin. The Brothers Winklevii are probably already preparing their paperwork to file. [DealBook / New York Times]

By Staci Zaretsky
Airplanes / Aviation

Morning Docket: 07.15.13

* Size matters when it comes to hourly rates. Because when you work in Biglaw, it’ll be all the more odious for your poor clients when you “churn that bill, baby.” [Corporate Counsel] * Would you want this Cadwalader cad, a former mail room supervisor, at your “erotic disposal”? The object of his affections didn’t want him either, and she’s suing. [New York Daily News] * In the wake of the George Zimmerman verdict, the NAACP is pressing for federal charges and a civil suit may be in the works. This trial isn’t over in the court of public opinion. [Bloomberg] * This experience inspired George Zimmerman, fresh off his acquittal, to go to law school to help the wrongfully accused. If it makes you feel better, when he graduates, he’ll be unemployed. [Reuters] * Here’s the lesson learned by Prop 8 proponents: If at first you don’t succeed at the Supreme Court, try, try again at the state level and base your arguments on technicalities. [Los Angeles Times] * You do not want this patent troll — one of the most notorious in the country — to “go thug” on you. Apparently this is just another danger of alleged infringement in the modern world. [New York Times] * Asiana Airlines is considering suing the NTSB and a California television station over the airing of “inaccurate and offensive” information (read: wildly racist) about the pilots of Flight 214. [CNN] * Ariel Castro was slapped with an additional 648 counts in the kidnapping case against him, bringing the total to 977. Prosecutors are not yet seeking the death penalty. [Cleveland Plain Dealer]

By Staci Zaretsky