Careers

Ex-Cop, Now a Law Student, Says Albuquerque Civil Rights Lawyer Mary Han May Have Been Murdered

Was a civil rights attorney, found dead in her Albuquerque, N.M., home in 2010, a murder victim? Her family thinks so, and has filed a civil lawsuit against the city’s police department, contending that it botched the investigation of Han’s November 2010 death, which was ruled a suicide. And a…

Sep 19, 2012 3:58 PM CDT

Group of Ex-Howrey Lawyers Ready to Fight Clawback Claims on Ground They Weren’t Really Partners

A lawyer representing about 60 former contract attorneys and nonequity partners at Howrey says they weren’t really partners. Cecily Dumas, a partner at Dumas & Clark, notified the federal bankruptcy court in San Francisco of her representation in a court filing on Friday, according to the Wall Street Journal blog…

Sep 19, 2012 3:00 PM CDT

Partner Pay Gaps Growing in BigLaw; Average Compensation Is $681K

Updated: The pay gap is growing larger among different classes of partners at BigLaw firms, according to a new survey. Average compensation is $681,000, but the figure doesn’t tell the whole story, according to the survey (PDF) by Major, Lindsey & Africa and ALM Legal Intelligence. The Am Law Daily…

Sep 19, 2012 2:17 PM CDT

Kyle McEntee Challenges Law Schools to Come Clean

Scourge of the Status Quo

Sep 19, 2012 2:00 PM CDT

Kingsley Martin’s Analysis Software Spots Contract Flaws

A Better Benchmark

Sep 18, 2012 2:00 PM CDT

Ahead By $1.4M After Working for Retiree a Little Over a Year, Lawyer Is Sued and Counterclaims

Attorney Lee Levenson Jr. was making a base salary of $100,000 when he left a Florida law firm and went to work for Billy and Barbara DuBois in 2007, at an annual salary of $350,000. By the time Levenson stopped working as a private attorney for the wealthy retired farm…

Sep 17, 2012 6:34 PM CDT

Woman Who Sued Newsweek to End Ban on Female Writers Questions Purported ‘Ambition Gap’

In the 1960s, aspiring women journalists at Newsweek were limited in their career choices. One of those women was Lynn Povich. “At Newsweek, women were hired on the mail desk to deliver mail, then to clip newspapers, and, if they were lucky, became researchers or fact checkers,” Povich tells NPR…

Sep 17, 2012 11:00 AM CDT

Law Firms Have Added $30K to Big-Bucks Bonuses for Supreme Court Clerks

Supreme Court clerks jumping to law firms are being enticed with a bonus that now stands at a whopping $280,000. The going-rate figure is $30,000 higher than the amount typically paid for the past several years, the National Law Journal (sub. req.) reports. While some firms offered $280,000 in 2011,…

Sep 17, 2012 10:30 AM CDT

Nearly a Third of Surveyed Lawyers Anticipate Hiring in Fourth Quarter

Nearly a third of law firms and corporations plan to hire full-time legal professionals in the fourth quarter, according to a survey of 200 lawyers with hiring authority. Half of those surveyed by Robert Half Legal were from law firms of 20 or more employees, and half were from corporations…

Sep 14, 2012 11:56 AM CDT

Ford Foundation Funds Public Interest Fellowships at Four Law Schools

The Ford Foundation is funding a new fellowship program at four law schools that will give students a chance to gain experience in public interest law. The four law schools are Harvard Law School, the New York University School of Law, Stanford Law School and Yale Law School, according to…

Sep 14, 2012 10:30 AM CDT

Working with a Whiner? Try These Tips

Whiny workers may seem like a nuisance, but their influence goes beyond that. A Gallup poll of more than 30,000 workers found that about 18 percent are “actively disengaged,” negative and likely to complain, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports. When work groups have high negativity, productivity tends to…

Sep 13, 2012 1:48 PM CDT

Summer Associate ‘Worry Levels’ Peak, Survey Finds; Some Criticize Abundant Activities

Summer associates responding to a survey are reporting record-high worry levels and concerns about too many fun events. About 4,000 associates surveyed were asked to rank their “worry level” on a 1-to-5 scale, the Am Law Daily reports. Their average response was a 3.95. That’s a record high since the…

Sep 13, 2012 1:04 PM CDT

US Ambassador to Libya, a Former Lawyer, Is Killed in Attack by Protesters

U.S. Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens has died in an attack by protesters reportedly angry over an anti-Muslim film. Stevens was killed along with three other Americans, report the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.), CNN, AFP and the Washington Post. CNN identified the three as security staffers. President Obama…

Sep 12, 2012 10:46 AM CDT

Nicole Bradick Helps Small Firms Get Part-Time Help from Lawyer-Moms

Balance Builder

Sep 11, 2012 2:23 PM CDT

Telecommuting Is the Norm at the US Patent Office

Patent reviewers and trademark examining attorneys who work for the federal government are likely doing their jobs from home. About 66 percent of employees at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office are telecommuting, the Washington Post reports. The office is an exception to the norm for federal workers; only about…

Sep 11, 2012 12:34 PM CDT