From the Career Files: Talent Assessment at Law Firms
Noah Messing of Yale Law School, author of a new book on legal writing, explores how law firms might reassess how they select junior associates.
Buying In: An Interview with an In-House Insider (Part 2)
The Anonymous Partner speaks with an In-House Insider about the value of junior associates, work-life balance, and other issues.
How MyCase’s Smart Spend Can Help Increase Your Profits
This tweak to your financial management seems like a no-brainer.
Inside Straight: The Managing Partner On Billing Time
Mark Herrmann imagines what a managing partner might say to the troops about billing time.
Buying In: More Associates… Making Less
Anonymous Partner floats an interesting and innovative proposal for restructuring the hiring and utilization of junior associates.
The Great Non-Deferral of 2012
Are start dates for first-year associates at major law firms back to normal, i.e., where they were before the Great Recession? And what about the class sizes for entering associates?
Clients Won’t Pay For What Law Schools Churn Out
You spend three years of your life going to law school. You spend over a hundred thousand dollars on getting that education. You take a difficult entrance exam to prove that you are qualified to practice law. You'd think that after all that you'd be able to convince sophisticated clients of your value as a lawyer. You would, of course, be wrong....
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Position your firm for long-term growth with better financial visibility and control. Learn how to track performance, manage spending, and plan strategically—download the full e-book now.
Small Firms, Big Lawyers: Don’t Trust Your Young Associates!
Are your Millennial associates busy IM'ing, Facebooking, and streaming music while at work? Small firm columnist Jay Shepherd has some advice on what you should do....
Small Firms, Big Lawyers: How to Handle Senior Associates
My first job out of law school was at a five-lawyer employment-law boutique: two partners, two other associates, and me. (OK, it was my only job out of law school; I started my firm after four years at this boutique.) The other two associates were third-years when I started. To be sure, they were both […]
Inside Straight: Vive La Différence
Ed. note: This is the latest installment of Inside Straight, Above the Law’s new column for in-house counsel. When I moved in-house ten months ago, my phone started to ring off the hook — and not just from folks I hadn’t spoken to in years, who thought that I’d now be itching to retain them. […]
Career Center: First-Year Associate Survey Results
Members of the “lost generation” who managed to snag those elusive Biglaw offers are generally being viewed as welcome additions to their firms. According to our survey results, the majority of respondents report that Class of 2009 and 2010 associates started on time, and have enough billable work. Although most of the more senior associates […]
Best Practices In Trust Accounting: What Every Lawyer Needs To Know
Learn legal trust accounting best practices to ensure compliance and protect client funds. Discover expert tips to set your firm up for success.
Duke Law School Dean David Levi Comes Out Swinging for Young Lawyers
Law schools — as Elie likes to remind readers on a frequent basis — are businesses. Like any good CEO should, Duke Law School dean David Levi has written an editorial defending his product: young lawyers. In the National Law Journal, he starts off by acknowledging that the legal market for young lawyers is in […]
Sheppard Mullin ‘Anomaly’ Leaves First-Years Making Less Than Summer Associates
It’s pretty tough being a first-year associate these days. You’re working hard, you’re terrified of getting Lathamed, and you can’t even complain, because everybody thinks you should be grateful to have a job. But at least you don’t have to deal with bright and unbroken summer associates, rolling through your office with smoke billowing up […]
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 […]
The Coming Law Firm Staffing Shortage?
There’s a reason why our weekly column by Law Shucks has been retitled from “This Week in Layoffs” to “This Week in Biglaw.” The pace of law firm layoffs has slowed dramatically. They haven’t stopped completely, and we suspect that many firms are still conducting “stealth layoffs” (which we welcome tips about — just email […]
Outsourcing: It’s Not Just About the Money
It’s been a while since we checked in with the coming junior associate apocalypse that is legal outsourcing. Rest assured, LPOs around the globe are working hard to make sure that the Biglaw junior associate becomes extinct — at least as we know it. There’s a fascinating article on Law21 that discusses the evolution of […]