Why are you publishing on this instead of salary coverage?

Whatever, get over the salaries! If you're firm hasn't matched yet, don't worry they will. Shanetta is much more interesting.

That is so bad it's hilarious.

I LOVE Shanetta stories!!

Thank you for posting something so delicious as opposed to stupid salary stuff.

Hey you - if you can't figure out who's raised what where by now no one can help you! If you didn't get a raise yet, then maybe you don't deserve one you greedy bastard. Now get back to document review! Those emails won't find themselves.

Hee hee hee. I love Shanetta - she's my fave!

Word to that. Keep these stories coming.

I interviewed with Civil Rights in the fall. Now that firms have jacked up their salaries and we see that DOJ employs raging psychopaths, I couldn't be happier at receiving my DOJ rejection.

What a joke.

shanetta cutlar is my anti-drug

I've never met Shanetta, but she sounds like a real piece of work. Like an Anna Wintour for the Justice Department. Amazing that one person can generate so many horror stories.

Does anyone ever send you anything positive (or at least neutral) about this woman? Or is it all this negative?

What do you mean by "positive"? We think it's ALL positive. We LOVE Shanetta Cutlar!!!

SYC is smart, tough, demanding, and decisive. These are all fine attributes for a supervisor to possess.

Even SYC's detractors, like Ty Clevenger, concede her intelligence (as you can see in his initial letter to Paul McNulty). Her strong will and forceful personality also can't be questioned.

Nobody has ever accused SYC of being unintelligent or wishy-washy. She is a force to be reckoned with!!!

Any intelligence on how she's taking her Above the Law fame?

I am sick and tired of all of you jelly-backed spineless weasels who write in with your "anonymous" monikers. Even you cowards who used to work for Shanetta should be man or woman enough to step up to the plate and identify yourselves instead of hiding behind the anonymous tags. How gutless!

If you carefully check the records, you will find that real substantive civil rights work is going forth in the Special Litigation Section. I would say that this is quite an accomplishment considering the current administration and its horrible record on civil rights issues. No one talks about all the in-house sniping and back-stabbing that went on when she took the job. Plenty of mud-slinging and back-biting by would-be saboteurs galore. The hope was that she would go away and guess what - she's still standing. Some of these same folks are still in the Section (some are managers) and they have to work for the same woman they hoped (and tried) to destroy.

Let's not talk about those elitist whining bags of hot air from the Federalist Society (like Ty) who assumed that they could waltz into the Section without actually having to do real civil rights work. Just show up and let the entitlements begin. When she made it abundantly clear that there would be no free ride, some "turned tail and ran" while others who could not cut the mustard were shown the door. As hard as it is to believe, some of the attorneys that came in thru the front office pipeline proved to be just as inept and useless “as tits on a bull.” Good riddance! In this arena, there is no time to entertain whimps, crybabies, or prima donnas. Not when lives are on the line.

And don't tell me that some of the attacks were not racially motivated. Check yourselves on that.

Anyway, you idiots need to get a life and leave this woman alone.

Judging from what I have read, I would say that most of you are "below the law."

Thailour Preston: It sounds like you love Shanetta Cutlar as much as we do. Great stuff!

If you'd like to add to or expand upon it, please email us. Thanks!

"[J]elly-backed spineless weasels"?

Um, so these people are supposed to identify themselves publicly -- when the allegations are that this woman viciously retaliates, destroys careers, and exacts revenge for all slights, real and imagined?

She allegedly verbally attacked a 1L INTERN for not smiling at her in the halls. And the tipsters are supposed to say, "Hi, I'm XXXX XXXX, and I worked for Shanetta Cutler?"

And you're accusing the people who decided to go to the CIVIL RIGHTS DIVISION, instead of some big law firm, of racism?!!??!

Get real. What goes around comes around. Maybe your idol shouldn't have treated people like shit if she didn't want them to start running their mouths.

shanetta provides biglaw morale at a fraction of the pay.

David, i don't get your whole "Shanetta is a fabulous diva who runs a tight ship" posture. I assume it's some effort to avoid problems of libel/defamation? Or tongue-in-cheek?

I mean, assuming every story you get is true for sake of argument, you don't REALLY think she's got, quote, "fine attributes for a supervisor to possess" do you?

I mean, she's basically destroyed her own future career with this behavior.

You think a supervisor who drives away the talent with their abuse, wasting money and hours of time, is doing a good job? That only works when the SUPERVISOR is a prodigious talent themselves, like Scott Rudin/Anna Wintour, and the abused underlings are merely there to answer phones and go fetch coffee and dry cleaning, and are completely fungible. Not when you are supervising actual talented and trained legal staff, who themselves are handling cases.

So when Scott Rudin throws a shoe at a 23 yr old, it's not the same as when a law firm partner throws a shoe at a 30 year old associate, and they walk out the door. Law organizations need talented staff. It's a pyramid shape. You can't drive them away and continue to operate successfully. See, e.g, S&C's current fears.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.

For the "anonymous" emailer with the poor punctuation who believes that every lawyer working for the Civil Rights Division is in it because they believe in the cause, I think you might be stuck on stupid. There are many dedicated folks who sign on because they have a passion for the work, but let's get real. There are many benefits to having the Department of Justice on one's resume. Punching the ticket is part of the game.

Trust me, there is barely any work going on there because of the morale and constant fear. Has nothing to do with the Bush Administration. They aren't going to spend their chits on this stuff, they just want it to run and not cause problems. No one working for her currently can post on here because DOJ has a press policy, you can't talk to them, period. So, the current crew is not going to risk their jobs because she would have them fired in a minute. One guy who left and went to an some org that SPL deals with on the other side got prosecuted for misconduct because he looked for the job and discussed it with the new employer during work hours. He went to JAIL after working for her.

It has nothing to do with race, if she were orange or blue and acted like this it'd be inappropriate just the same.

If she were tough and fair that'd be one thing, but she's unstable, mean and vindictive and that's the problem. She is an ALPHA DOG and beats down anyone who she thinks is too confident in her presence.

taking bets on the following:
- when shanetta resigns "for personal reasons."
- when shanetta sues atl

What's fascinating about this story is here's a woman of color who is, by all accounts, brilliant and very hardworking. She could be a fed judge, or run for senator, or get appointed to some top position.

But her personality problems may be her downfall.

I will never understand people like that.

Hey Thailour Preston, whoever you are:

We're not leaving this woman alone - as soon as she became a presidential appointee, which she wanted, she stepped into public life. She became a public figure who gets paid with our tax money. The fact that there has been high turnover and low morale in her department suggests that tax dollars are being wasted. Plus, I've been treated the way that woman has treated (in a job I had prior to law school) everyone in her department and what better way to fight back against this unfair, power-tripping behavior. She obviously won't be fired or forced to resign anytime soon, but she can suffer in the meantime. There is NO EXCUSE for what she does! She thinks she's doing things right when the high turnover suggests otherwise and can't see the forest for the trees. Furthermore, I despise the fact that reverse discrimination is rampant in the federal government and she is clearly only where she is because of her race and being in the right place at the right time! She is a disgrace to her race, gender and the legal profession, and a nice comfortable room in hell has been reserved for her!

Is she a political appointee or a civil servant?

If you look at one of the comments in a previous article, she is a political appointee:

http://www.abovethelaw.com/2007/01/shanetta_y_cutlar_knows_how_to.php#comments

Despite having a less than stellar record as a civil servant, she was in the right place at the right time and G.W.B. had her promoted - gotta fill those race quotas and Shanetta was just the person for it. See, the Republican Party is all about affirmative action or something now, as they can't entirely depend on the white vote anymore.

Thailour Preston . . . are you related to SYC?

While I don't agree with everything being said, I think it's important to get the facts straight. She is not a political appointee. She came in through the honors program. Nothing political about that. The best and brightest law students get into this program and it serves as a stepping stone for future DOJ attorneys. Trust me - she is no G.W.B. appointee as indicated. You should change your name to "another bitter misinformed government lawyer."

Hey Thailour - SYC only wants the names so she can sick the FBI on them. Revenge I say!! Or is it McCarthyism?

Thailour -- sounds to me like you've had more than one conversation with SYC about this whole thing . . . "Just show up and let the entitlements begin. When she made it abundantly clear that there would be no free ride, some 'turned tail and ran' while others who could not cut the mustard were shown the door" . . . seems like she had it in for them before they even showed up. NO TRAINING, you should come out of law school and know how to do these cases, even if the section has gotten their ass kicked in nearly every published opinion, including one where she was the lead attorney. Check out U.S. v. State of Mich. 868 F.Supp. 890 (W.D.Mich., 1994). She was Shanetta Y. Brown back then. Misqouting a statue to a federal court, grounds for firing because of incompetance, or worse, wouldn't ya say? How come the section wasn't successful under the Clinton Admin either?

Also, how do you explain the bloodletting of anyone she didn't get along with when she was a line attorney when she took power? The numbers speak for themselves.

I know Thailour, you go work there and report back to us. We await the truth according to Thailour.

Hey Anonymous at 6:36pm, while I may be misinformed, I am not bitter at all. I am grateful to have a job at all, in today's competitive legal world. I work for assholes but they are nothing compared to Ms. Cutlar. They don't berate people publicly, they don't keep a conference room all to themselves that no one else can use, they don't give you a hard time for using the elevator when they are on it...is there any end to it?

Shanetta technically is not a political appointee. Section chiefs are in the Senior Executive Service, and they are classified as civil service. They are the highest level below the deputy assistant attorneys general, who are political appointees outright.

As a practical matter, however, these appointments are very political. Shanetta's predecessor, Steve Rosenbaum, was transferred out by the Bush Administration because the International Association of Chiefs of Police didn't like the way Rosenbaum stuck it to police departments.

And contrary to what Shanetta may have told Thailour Preston at church last Sunday, her record of civil rights enforcement isn't so sterling. For starters, she's a lot softer on police departments than Rosenbaum was.

But Shanetta knows how to churn cases, so it looks like her section is doing a lot. Open 'em, settle 'em, close 'em. When you dig into the substance of the cases, you'll frequently find that SPL has entered into some weak settlement agreements.

One other thing: Shanetta was more than willing to drive out all the career libs that the Bush Administration wanted driven out. The vast majority of the people she ran out of SPL were not Federalist Society members.

SPL Refugee or others currently at SPL:

I've heard all of the badmouthing and complaints, yet I (and I am sure many others) would still give their firstborn to work at SPL or other Divisions in Civil Rights. You read me correctly! How do you get hired (you should not mind sharing this since you got out or want out so badly). Who is doing the hiring and how do I get in? Is it heavily ivy-leagued or all political hires? Do I have to contact my Republican congresswoman or who? Are they only hiring conservatives? I like a good challenge. TIA.

KA
P.S. - I don't know this lady, but in some ways it just sounds like she runs a tight ship and is probably trying to get some of her lazy recruits in shipshape! What the hell did you people expect... a free ride in friggin DOJ? Come on people.

Dear Not scared -

For you not to know how to get hired by the feds means you are too stupid to be scared when you should be, she'd make quick work of you and your republican congresswoman, my pretty.

Tight ship is one thing, ghost ship is another.

docket review sounds hella fun. can i sign up even though i'm not at spl?

Let's keep the discussion on this going...so much more entertaining than reading about the big pay raises in the BigLaw world. Sure I'd love to make $160,000 or more per year, but all this talk about one BigLaw firm after another matching is getting old. Shanetta Cutlar never gets old! Interesting - she is soft on various police departments in the interest of getting one settlement after another. Sounds like she is just interested in volume - wants to be able to say that her department "litigated, settled and closed XXX cases of police brutality last year." Whether the settlement was anything great, it doesn't matter, just get the numbers as high as possible.

Hey Not Scared, you wouldn't happen to be TMG, ol' church friend herself?

Thailour - that's not your real name JYJ, you're the one whose a spineless weasle who is not posting under their own name . . . stop trying to suck up.

I am glad someone finally posted a picture of this diva. The name "princess" fits her better. I am amazed the DOJ officials are just turning their heads to all of the abuse SYC has placed upon her present employees and the former ones that were lucky to escape her very abusive and unprofessional behavior. Rules were written and everyone at DOJ are instructed to follow them, but I guess the "princess" is above the law. Princess your time is coming sooner than you think.

I am glad someone finally posted a picture of this diva. The name "princess" fits her better. I am amazed the DOJ officials are just turning their heads to all of the abuse SYC has placed upon her present employees and the former ones that were lucky to escape her very abusive and unprofessional behavior. Rules were written and everyone at DOJ are instructed to follow them, but I guess the "princess" is above the law. Princess your time is coming sooner than you think.

I am glad someone finally posted a picture of this diva. The name "princess" fits her better. I am amazed the DOJ officials are just turning their heads to all of the abuse SYC has placed upon her present employees and the former ones that were lucky to escape her very abusive and unprofessional behavior. Rules were written and everyone at DOJ are instructed to follow them, but I guess the "princess" is above the law. Princess your time is coming sooner than you think.

I am glad someone finally posted a picture of this diva. The name "princess" fits her better. I am amazed the DOJ officials are just turning their heads to all of the abuse SYC has placed upon her present employees and the former ones that were lucky to escape her very abusive and unprofessional behavior. Rules were written and everyone at DOJ are instructed to follow them, but I guess the "princess" is above the law. Princess your time is coming sooner than you think.

Someone pointed out that Shanetta entered thru the honors program but failed to point out the very deputy/woman that fault to get her approved for the program, Shanetta fault against to get fired and eventually she just transferred to another Section. Despite Shanetta's tactics she is still a very successful attorney in Civil Rights.