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Divorce lawyer says ballroom dancing is important to his 55-year marriage

Image from Shutterstock. Tampa, Fla., divorce lawyer Arnie Levine offers one of his secrets to a long-lasting marriage: ballroom dancing. Levine is “a divorce court terror in a tasteful charcoal suit,” the Tampa Bay Times reports, but he has been married 55 years to his wife, Gail. The couple goes…

Feb 14, 2014 2:10 PM CST

What makes lawyers great romance novelists? (gallery and podcast)

In honor of Valentine's Day, ABA Journal podcast editor Lee Rawles spoke with four lawyer romance novelists about their careers; how their legal training helped them as writers; and misconceptions people hold about both the law and about the romance genre.

Feb 13, 2014 5:15 PM CST

DOJ says bar officials violate ADA by asking applicants too much about their mental health

Asking would-be lawyers standard questions about their mental health, including their history of diagnosis and treatment, could violate the Americans with Disabilities Act, according to the civil rights division of the U.S. Department of Justice. In a lengthy Feb. 5 letter (PDF) to the Louisiana Supreme Court, its committee on…

Feb 12, 2014 9:30 PM CST

Lawyer suing for document-review OT applies for job with defendant; sanctions bid fails

A lawyer who filed a suit contending that lawyers in document-review jobs deserve overtime pay is still looking for contract work—and even sent his resume to one of the defendants. The resume sent by David Lola to Tower Legal Staffing spurred a sanctions bid by its lawyers, who contended Lola’s…

Feb 12, 2014 3:48 PM CST

BigLaw’s obsession with metrics is cautionary tale for doctors, article says

The legal profession is suffering because of rankings and metrics, providing a cautionary tale for medicine, according to a commentary by a doctor and a lawyer. Writing in the Atlantic, physician Richard Gunderman and lawyer Mark Mutz describe the ills affecting the legal profession: Rates of alcoholism and depression are…

Feb 12, 2014 2:49 PM CST

3Ls in New York would take early bar exam, devote final semester to pro bono in new program

New York’s Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman announced a new “pro bono scholars” program on Tuesday in which third-year law students would take the bar exam in February in exchange for devoting their last semester to pro bono work. The first-of-its-kind program has already been approved by the Board of Law…

Feb 12, 2014 1:58 PM CST

Meet She-Hulk, heroine of new comic book series who can bench-press a bus and runs her own law firm

Some might conceivably take issue with her scanty attire. But the fictional heroine of a new Marvel Comics series that debuts Wednesday is surely worthy of admiration both for her ability to bench-press a bus and the fact that she recovered from being fired from her job by establishing her…

Feb 12, 2014 12:15 AM CST

How interviewees can spot a bad boss; managing partner’s behavior warned away paralegal

Some supervisors may be able to turn on the charm during an interview with a prospective employee, but there may still be some clues that the interviewer is the boss from hell. Job hunters should look for lapses in behavior by the boss, advises psychologist Noelle Nelson, author of “Got…

Feb 11, 2014 1:03 PM CST

President-elect nominee emphasizes membership, collaboration

Paulette Brown acknowledges the symbolic value of her nomination to become the first woman of color to lead the ABA. “Whenever one is the first anything the expectations are a bit different,” Brown said in a speech to the association’s House of Delegates on Monday. The expectations will be high,…

Feb 10, 2014 9:43 PM CST

DLA Piper ends talks with Heenan Blaikie group, will look elsewhere for Canadian merger partner

A potential merger between DLA Piper and a group of lawyers from Heenan Blaikie that would have established a Canadian office for the global megafirm is going nowhere. However, DLA Piper will be looking elsewhere for a possible match to establish a Canadian office for the more than 4,000-attorney firm,…

Feb 10, 2014 6:45 PM CST

ABA President Silkenat: America’s legal response to gun violence is unacceptable

In an emotional speech to the ABA House of Delegates on Monday, ABA President James R. Silkenat criticized Congress for failing to adopt gun legislation after the December 2012 shootings in Newtown, Conn., that claimed the lives of 20 elementary-school children and six school staff members. Fighting back tears, Silkenat…

Feb 10, 2014 6:28 PM CST

Jobs Corps task force promises to do more in coming year

When James Silkenat became president of the American Bar Association in August, he identified as one of his top priorities, the creation of a job corps for new lawyers. He announced the formation of the Legal Access Job Corps to tackle the lack of adequate legal representation for disadvantaged communities…

Feb 10, 2014 5:02 AM CST

Paulette Brown seeks to make ABA the ‘go-to organization for all lawyers’

Corrected: New Jersey’s Paulette Brown was formally nominated Sunday to become ABA president in 2015. She will be the first woman of color to head the nearly 400,000-member association. Under the ABA’s constitution and bylaws, Brown’s nomination will be announced Monday when the House of Delegates meets during the ABA’s…

Feb 10, 2014 1:00 AM CST

24 percent of JDs who passed the bar in 2000 aren’t practicing law, survey finds

A third-wave survey of lawyers who passed the bar in 2000 has found a decline in the percentage of lawyers practicing law and major differences in pay based on gender, law school ranking and grades. Twenty-four percent of the surveyed lawyers were not practicing law in 2012, compared to about…

Feb 9, 2014 12:00 AM CST

‘Anxious season’ for partners as initial law firm earnings reports show modest gains

It’s the “anxious season” for partners awaiting news of how their BigLaw firms did financially last year. And that anxiety hasn’t been helped by recent news reports about struggling partners and firms, according to the Am Law Daily (sub. req.). Such developments include the Chapter 7 bankruptcy of a BigLaw…

Feb 7, 2014 10:10 PM CST