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Law lags other professions in minority hiring; which group is ‘most dramatically underrepresented’?

Two studies released on Tuesday and Wednesday show that minorities are making small gains in representation in law firms, but the legal profession trails others in diversity. One of the studies, commissioned by Microsoft, found that 8.4 percent of the nation’s lawyers are African Americans and Hispanics, though those minority…

Dec 11, 2013 2:12 PM CST

How do you notify clients when firms dissolve and lawyers leave? Proposed ethics rule takes this on

The Virginia State Bar is proposing a new ethics rule that governs client contacts when lawyers leave their firms or a firm dissolves. Georgetown University law professor Michael Frisch wrote about proposed Rule 8.5 (PDF) at the Legal Profession Blog and told Bloomberg News the issue has concerned lawyers for…

Dec 11, 2013 11:45 AM CST

Entertainment industry lawyer, a former Napster exec, is killed in bike crash with cop car

An entertainment industry lawyer who was formerly chief operating officer for Napster was struck and killed while riding his bicycle on Sunday. Milton Everett Olin Jr. of Woodland Hills, Calif., was pronounced dead at the scene, report the Los Angeles Daily News and the Los Angeles Times. He was 65…

Dec 10, 2013 1:27 PM CST

Former San Diego Mayor Bob Filner is fined, placed on house arrest

Ex-San Diego mayor and congressman Bob Filner has been sentenced to 90 days on house arrest followed by three years or probation and fined $1,500 for kissing or grabbing three women without their consent at campaign events or City Hall. Filner, 71, apologized to his family, his supporters, his former…

Dec 9, 2013 9:15 PM CST

Legal Education Section considers doing random audits of law school jobs data

Law schools would be subject to random audits of their graduate employment data under a draft proposal presented Friday to the governing council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar. Under the draft proposal (PDF), all ABA-accredited schools would be subject to an annual website…

Dec 9, 2013 8:26 PM CST

More BigLaw firms announce bonuses that follow Cravath scale

Cravath, Swaine & Moore set the standard when it announced associate bonuses last Monday. A handful of BigLaw firms followed with bonus announcements last week, and they appear to be following Cravath’s lead, for the most part, Above the Law has reported in a series of posts. Cravath is paying…

Dec 9, 2013 2:05 PM CST

Legal industry loses jobs for second month in a row

The legal services sector lost 1,100 jobs in November. It’s the second month of job losses for the legal industry. In October, the sector lost 400 jobs, according to revised employment figures. Originally the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 900 fewer jobs in the sector for October, the Am…

Dec 9, 2013 12:29 PM CST

Nelson Mandela, ‘a giant among men’ who taught us the meaning of the rule of law, dies at 95

Nelson Mandela, a longtime political prisoner who went on to become globally recognized as an inspirational leader of his country and win the Nobel Peace Prize, died peacefully amidst his family Thursday night at his home in Johannesburg, South Africa. He was 95 years old. Convicted and sentenced to a…

Dec 6, 2013 8:20 PM CST

When will law grads and law jobs reach equilibrium? Between 2015 and 2021, depending on who you ask

Back in October at the Midwest Association of Prelaw Advisors conference, University of St. Thomas School of Law professor Jerry Organ (who also blogs at The Legal Whiteboard) predicted that, owing to a decreasing number of law students, available jobs will meet or exceed the number of law school graduates…

Dec 6, 2013 2:30 PM CST

U of Iowa to cut law school tuition 16 percent

The University of Iowa College of Law has announced that it is cutting tuition by 16.4 percent for students pursuing a juris doctor degree beginning in the fall of 2014. The cut will apply to entering and continuing law students who are residents of the state and to entering students…

Dec 5, 2013 7:50 PM CST

$129M law school at ASU’s ‘wildly successful’ Phoenix campus to include biggest US nonprofit firm

Corrected: Plans for a new $129 million law school complex to be constructed by Arizona State University on a city block in downtown Phoenix include not only the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, which presently operates in Tempe, but a public law library, a civic center and what is…

Dec 5, 2013 6:30 PM CST

What do the 2013 bonuses tell us about the legal market? (video)

David Lat and Elie Mystal from Above the Law talk with Bloomberg Law’s Lee Pacchia about 2013 bonuses for lawyers at Cravath and Skadden, as well as some recent and noteworthy breakdowns in merger talks among several large law firms. Related article: ABAJournal.com: “Cravath to pay bonuses of $10K to…

Dec 5, 2013 4:07 PM CST

Should law firms seek to recruit the economically disadvantaged?

Law firms seek to increase diversity by recruiting women, minorities and gays. Why not expand the definition and recruit lawyers from economically disadvantaged backgrounds? That’s the suggestion from American Lawyer editor in chief Robin Sparkman in a guest blog post at the Careerist. Some institutions are already tackling the problem…

Dec 4, 2013 11:50 AM CST

Cravath to pay bonuses of $10K to $60K, the same as last year

The BigLaw firm to which others look for a lead on how high bonuses for associates should be has spoken. After a noteworthy upswing in 2012—following years in which the legal economy was faltering—Cravath, Swaine & Moore is paying exactly the same amount in 2013, between $10,000 and $60,000, the…

Dec 2, 2013 10:49 PM CST

Former ABA and Bingham leader with a ‘life-affirming bounce’ dies at 80

John J. “Jack” Curtin Jr., a longtime leader of the law firm now known as Bingham McCutchen, died last week in a senior living community in the Boston area. He was 80 years old. In addition to making a name for himself in corporate practice, Curtin was a former president…

Dec 2, 2013 10:14 PM CST