Nixon Peabody ThemeSongGate: A Synopsis
Right now some of you are probably thinking: “Enough already about Alberto Gonzales and Michael Vick! Isn’t there anything else you can write about?”
Of course. Let’s go back to the story of Nixon Peabody, and its ridiculous law firm theme song!
(In preemptive response to those of you who are sick and tired of this story: relax. It’s on its last legs. But if the New York Times writes about us, of course we’re going to acknowledge it. Capice?)
For those of you were on vacation last week — and we know many of you were, based on all the “Out of Office AutoReply” messages we received — you missed a fun story here at ATL.
But don’t worry. If you don’t have time to read our voluminous coverage of the Nixon Peabody theme song, here are some cheat sheets.
You can read this New York Times story, by Michael de la Merced, which nicely summarizes the saga. Or this post, by Peter Lattman, over at the WSJ Law Blog.
Best of all, for those of you who can watch videos — some of you can’t, ‘cause you don’t have a private office — check out this awesome video. It appeared over the weekend, but we’re reposting it, because many of you don’t visit ATL on the weekend (and it would be a shame for you to miss it).
Unauthorized Enjoyment of Song Irks Law Firm [New York Times]
Everyone’s a Winner at Nixon Peabody! [WSJ Law Blog]
Re: Nixon Peabody [YouTube]
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lat, with all your cheesy chest-pounding and incessant "look at me-ness", you are getting dangeruosly close to Nixon Peapody territory.
Let's take it down a notch.
Good work on breaking this Lat. The whole affair is beyond absurd. As if the song wasn't bad enough, NP getting in a huff about it definitely is.
Speaking of sad. You would not believe how terribly this year's Loyola OCI is going. Even top 10%ers aren't getting a bunch of interviews. Some only got five or so. Top 10% no longer assures you a callback. The disappointment factory known as Loyola Law School is creating a new class of indebted, tier 2 graduates.
Good work on breaking this Lat. The whole affair is beyond absurd. As if the song wasn't bad enough, NP getting in a huff about it definitely is.
Speaking of sad. You would not believe how terribly this year's Loyola OCI is going. Even top 10%ers aren't getting a bunch of interviews. Some only got five or so. Top 10% no longer assures you a callback. The disappointment factory known as Loyola Law School is creating a new class of indebted, tier 2 graduates.
Lat, two NYC biglaw firms agree to merge and it gets but one post of ATL coverage? Has NP reset the bar so they have to write a horrific song to get you to pay any attention?
Loyola really should patent their hope destroying process. Never before in history have so many optimistic young people had their optimism crushed so quickly.
Lat, why did you name the spokespeople at NP in the NYT article? I thought they asked to have their names withheld and you complied in your earlier ATL posts.
L2L: I guess you are dragging everyone down with you. Congrats.
"L2L: I guess you are dragging everyone down with you. Congrats."
Yeah it's all my fault. I'm the one benefitting from $36,000/year tuitions which students can't pay off with $15/hour jobs.
hey lat-
did you forget about the lebeouf-dewey merger that your broke last week?
I know it isn't as much fun as reading a third posting about this song, but it does seem.....newsworthy?
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aMHHfGLQGhj4&refer=home
Wow!
Quite a public relations lesson for NP.
Moral of the story: Never let a baby boomer shape the firm song. (Inless you like Earth, Wind & Fire.)
NP made their bed. Now these should lie in it. This stuff is hilarious:
"It's all about the team. It's all about RESPECT."
i wonder if they play that song non stop at the holiday parties and they give an award to the one who can peebody boogey the best. i picture the winning associate as a napoleon dynamite type who busts some old school moves out of left field to claim first. owww.....
Nixon could have used this as free marketing for "we're a great place to work" instead of "we have a questionable understanding of copyright law on top of poor taste in music and like to bully people". Oh well.
Remember Lat, you can NEVER beat a dead horse too much.
Lat,
Post the cease and desist letter.
Much love to ChurchHatesTucker -- and I get the Red vs. Blue reference. N3rds rule. :-)
I just watched the napolean dynomite dance scene with the sound turned down while playing "Everyone's a winner at Nixon Peabody" in another window and it is AWESOME!!! Someone with editing skillz needs to put those two great tastes that go great together.
L2L - quit whining. All you need is one offer, not 10. And if you spent a little more energy trying to land a job (try firms outside of OCI, for example), and a little less energy wallowing in self pity, you may actually do ok.
L2L to $8.50/hour.
I think the firm's statement, as reported in the New York Times, was appropriate and should put an end to the fever.
The You Tube views on the second video now exceed 12,000 (in two days).
THEORY: Lat was but a pawn in a very clever Nixon Peabody LLP marketing ploy.
Before all of this flap--now reported in the NYT and scores of blogs, incluidng the WSJ Law Blog--Nixion peabody was not exactly a household name.
Now, I cannot get that incidious jingle out of my head.
Everyone's a winner at blanken blankadee.....
Today, the Times, tomarrow: The World. BAhaaaa
The Pony Head mp3 is very Monte Python-esque and very funny.
L2L, aren't you a 3L yet?
Also, I call bullshit on L2L having trouble finding a job if s/he is *really* top 25%. My firm (AmLaw 100) has been struggling with recruiting and picking up students from all kinds of lower tier schools. A lot of firms are having similar problems. This is the best time since the 90s to be a law student.
OK, I was all ‘so what” with the Nixon Peabody ThemeSongGate, until—researching a perhaps alternate ditty for the firm I learned—after all these years—THAT LOUIE LOUIE contains no obscene words!!!!!
NP I will NEVER forgive you for this….
Marketing ploy? The firm looks terrible. If they can't handle this small issue, what else are they going to handle wrong?
It's all about RESPECT.
8:49:
Yea, but just try to get this song out of your head.
Evil genius!!!!!
Now 14,320 views!!!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SeL6i3sHM0
I'm almost speechless. I just heard the atrocity that is the NP theme, er . . . not theme song and I'm not sure how I should feel. I thought I was prepared after reading the posts over the last few days. I was wrong. It is at once disgusting yet intoxicating in a can-you-believe-that-is-real-? sort of way.
Horrors.
8:51
So what if the song is in my head. It isn't positive marketing, which makes me want nothing to do with the brand besides laughing at it.
One of Lat's NP blog posts is the #6 hit on Google for NP.
And the YouTube parody is #7.
pwnt!
"So what if the song is in my head. It isn't positive marketing, which makes me want nothing to do with the brand besides laughing at it."
The scary part of effective advertising is that while you might profess revulsion to the song, you cannot escape it.
HEAD-ON, APPLY IT DIRECTLY TO THE HEAD.
Obnoxious yes, but effective yes again.
You are my puppet.
WHO ARE THE AD WIZARDS WHO CAME UP WITH THIS ONE?
I WORKED THERE , AND THEY SUCK !!! Like most law firms.
Plenty of lawsuits against them now too for foolish things
FU Rochester Assholes
Did Lat ever explain why he disclosed the names of the two NP people when he had apparently agreed not to? I understand they were mean to him on the phone ("We know what you're about" and so on), but it still reflects poorly on him if he broke an agreement with them.