February 2008
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Nationwide Layoff Watch: Dechert Decks A Baker's Dozen?
Don’t believe everything you read in these pages. If a gossip site isn’t flat-out wrong a sizable percentage of the time, it’s not sufficiently gossipy. But we were right about something being afoot at Dechert LLP. This morning we wrote: We’ve been hearing vague rumblings of something about to go down over at Dechert LLP. […] -
Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 02.29.08
* Arnold Schwarzenegger gets his tank back, offers rides to children. [Houston Chronicle] * The Morality of Trade: “Commerce is not a cuss word.” [Commerce Law] * Did anybody remember that it’s a leap year? [PrawfsBlawg] * Perhaps the shortest jury deliberation ever. [CNN] * Virginia Supreme Court strikes down taxation without representation. So close, […] - Sponsored
Profit Powerhouse: Elevating Law Firm Financial Performance
In this CLE-eligible webinar on April 10th, we’ll explore the most common accounting pitfalls and how to avoid them for your firm. -
Asians, Harold Koh, Kenji Yoshino, Law Professors, Law Schools
NYU Hires Kenji Yoshino as Permanent Faculty Member
NYU School of Law announced today that it has hired Professor Kenji Yoshino as a tenured faculty member. He was a visiting professor at the school last year and again this spring. Professor Yoshino graduated from Yale Law in 1996 and is influential in the fields of constitutional law, anti-discrimination law, and law and literature. […]
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Heller Ehrman
Happy News at Heller Ehrman: Bigger Bonuses, Better Billables (for First Years)
Here’s some happy news from Heller Ehrman. It appears they have heard the complaints, and they’ve done something about them. From one source: Attached is the long awaited Heller Ehrman compensation memo, and at first glance, I’m pretty impressed. They seemed to have listened to associates’ concerns and made some pretty significant changes. They reinstated […] -
Crime, Ridiculousness, Sex, You Go Girl
Texas and Alabama Still Hot and Bothered Over Sex Toys; Guns OK
Marc J. Randazza fills us in on the Texas sex toy ban, just struck down by the Fifth Circuit. According to Marc, the arguments for outlawing the sale of toys for your pleasure-parts are thus: (1) If the Texas dildo law is invalidated as an improper encroachment upon personal liberty, this will open the floodgates, […] -
Cass Sunstein, Celebrities, Harvard, Hotties, Law Professors, Law School Deans, Law Schools, Martha Nussbaum, Musical Chairs, Romance and Dating, Samantha Power, Sex
The Real Reason Cass Sunstein's Going to Harvard? He's Got the Power
We greatly enjoyed our recent visit to the University of Chicago Law School. The U. Chicago students were very welcoming and made us feel right at home, even inviting us to their law school musical — which, by the way, was delightful. (We added many of them as friends on Facebook before we were mysteriously […] -
Email Scandals
Campaign Contributions and Listervs
From one of our tipsters: Richard Rosenbaum, president of Greenburg Traurig, made the following group email faux pas. He used the company listserv to send two emails soliciting contributions for the McCain campaign, proving that law students aren’t the only bumbling souls who screw up listserv etiquette. From Rosenbaum’s first email: “As we have said […] -
Biglaw, Layoffs, Weirdness
What's Going Down at Dechert?
We’ve been hearing vague rumblings of something about to go down over at Dechert LLP. Said rumblings are reminiscent of what we heard in the days and hours leading up to Cadwalader’s Thursday Morning Massacre. Also note this comment on today’s Morning Docket: Not all Dechert associates have three days to enter their time. Some […] - Sponsored
Are Small Firms Going Big On Legal Tech?
Please help us benchmark your firm against your peers through this (always) brief and anonymous survey and enter for a chance to win a $250… -
Barack Obama
IRS is Investigating Obama Speech
The IRS is investigating the denomination Trinity United Church of Christ for hosting Barack Obama as a speaker in front of 10,000 people in June of 2007. Non-profit organizations are generally not allowed to endorse candidates, although politicos can speak at such organizations. You can find the AP article here. More press and blog coverage […] -
Bankruptcy
In re the Cross Dressing Bankruptcy Judge
As we previously mentioned, Bankruptcy Judge Robert Somma announced his plan to resign from the bench, after he was arrested for DUI (while wearing women’s clothing). We questioned Judge Somma’s decision to step down: Is this really that big a deal? When you strip away the women’s clothing, colorful but irrelevant details, you’re left with […] -
Job of the Week
Job(s) of the Week
Today we have another two-for-one Job of the Week — a unique in-house litigation position and a corporate opportunity — brought to you by ATL’s career partner, Lateral Link. This past week, Lateral Link helped its members obtain offers from D.E. Shaw (in-house) in NY, Quinn Emanuel in LA, Kirkland in Chicago, Akin Gump in […] -
Cocaine / Crack, FDA
Blow-by-Blow (Get it? Blow?)
A candy company’s been under some scrutiny lately about their new drink mix, which they innocently named “Blow.” It comes in little clear packets and supposedly gives you lots and lots of energy. Athough it probably doesn’t work as well as that Adderall you have in your desk, it is likely much cheaper. In any […] -
Announcements
Thank You Ma'am
My name is Sharon Eliza Nichols, and I’ll be co-blogging with David today. First, though, I thought I’d introduce myself. I’m a curious little blonde girl with poor impulse control. I’m also a 1L at the University of Alabama School of Law. It’s my sincere desire to contribute to the world of legal sensationalism, and […]
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Profit Powerhouse: Elevating Law Firm Financial Performance
In this CLE-eligible webinar on April 10th, we’ll explore the most common accounting pitfalls and how to avoid them for your firm.
Sponsored
Are Small Firms Going Big On Legal Tech?
Please help us benchmark your firm against your peers through this (always) brief and anonymous survey and enter for a chance to win a $250…
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 02.29.08
* Iraqi government OKs Chemical Ali execution. [CNN] * Army revamping contract process in light of fraud allegations. [MSNBC] * Obama supporter McCaskill introduces bill to officially approve birth citizenship in situations like McCain’s. [New York Times] * 1 in every 100 American adults imprisoned. [Washington Post] * Bahraini Alba sues Alcoa, alleging corruption and […]
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Lawsuit of the Day
Lawsuit of the Day: That's One Way to 'Motivate' Employees
Our tipster quips, “This guy makes Ricky Gervais look like a saint.” From the Salt Lake Tribune: A supervisor at a motivational coaching business in Provo is accused of waterboarding an employee in front of his sales team to demonstrate that they should work as hard on sales as the employee had worked to breathe. […] -
Ann Althouse, Blogging, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Law Professors, Law Reviews, Law School Deans, Linda Greenhouse, Non-Sequiturs, Politics, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Tax Law
Non-Sequiturs: 02.28.08
* Linda Greenhouse to $300K! [New York Observer via ABA Journal] * Duties of a law school dean: attend parties, appear at conferences, talk to alums. And don’t forget the herding of cats — aka law professors. [TJ’s Double Play] * Even law review editors screw up sometimes. “Constructive acceptance”? [Concurring Opinions] * Who’d have […] -
AutoAdmit / Xoxohth, Pro Se Litigants, Technology
Pro Se Litigant of the Day: 'AK47' of AutoAdmit
There’s a new development in the well-publicized AutoAdmit lawsuit. The defendant known as “AK47” has filed a pseudonymous, pro se motion to quash the plaintiffs’ subpeona. The memorandum in support of the motion appears here (PDF) Over at the WSJ Law Blog, reporter Amir Efrati — who first broke the news of this case’s filing, […] -
The Hills Are Alive / With the Sound of... Quinn Emanuel?
Several tipsters wrote us about the upcoming firm retreat of Quinn Emanuel — or the “2008 Firm Hike,” as it’s officially called. It’s taking place from July 9–13, over in… SWITZERLAND!!! From one incoming QE summer: I’m summering at Quinn, and I just found out that the annual firm hike is going to be in […] -
Law Schools
Judges as Public Figures: A Special Podcast
We’ve been on the law school speaking circuit lately. At the start of this month, we served as keynote speaker of the Mid-Atlantic APALSA Conference, at the University of Pennsylvania Law School (conference description here, photos here). Next month, we’ll be speaking at Stanford Law School, about how the web is changing the legal profession. […] -
John McCain, Politics, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Ted Olson
John McCain: A 'Natural-Born Citizen'?
Although many believe he was carried down to earth by a choir of angels, the taxalicious Barack Obama was actually born in Hawaii. So he doesn’t face the same sticky question about presidential eligibility that John McCain confronts. From the New York Times: The question has nagged at the parents of Americans born outside the […]