Careers

Was It Worth It? With Debt of Up to $250K, Some Law Grads Are Dubious

Zack Leshetz would like to get married and buy a home. But his $175,000 in student loan debt is a significant roadblock, reports the Wall Street Journal in a lengthy article about the growing educational debtload being shouldered by young Americans. Even though some of his loans are in forbearance,…

Sep 4, 2009 6:20 PM CDT

Blogger Asks His Readers: Is Work-Life Balance ‘So Last August?’

A law firm consultant suggests that work-life balance issues wax and wane with the economy and asks his blog readers to weigh in on the issue. Writing at Adam Smith, Esq., blogger and consultant Bruce MacEwen wonders if the work-life phenomenon has become “hopelessly ‘last August.’ ” His theory is…

Sep 4, 2009 5:41 PM CDT

N.D. Law Dean Disputes No. 2 Rank on US News List of Clerk Feeder Schools

Updated: A surprising new ranking suggested that aspiring lawyers yearning to clerk for a judge may want to consider law school at the University of North Dakota or the University of Wyoming. Both were among the top five on a U.S. News & World Report list of law schools with…

Sep 4, 2009 4:23 PM CDT

NALP Group to Review Law Firm Recruitment, OCI Schedule

A new NALP commission will examine law firm recruiting issues, including the timetable for on-campus interviews by law firms. NALP created a suggestion box for its members to leave comments for the commission and got the ball rolling with this question: Is the current early interview week, which typically takes…

Sep 4, 2009 3:15 PM CDT

Lowered Expectations Make Grads of Less Elite Schools Happier in BigLaw

Graduates of elite law schools are less satisfied with their jobs at large law firms than graduates of less selective schools, according two researchers for the American Bar Foundation. Researchers Ronit Dinovitzer and Bryant Garth offer a solution to the unhappy lawyer problem: BigLaw should try hiring more graduates from…

Sep 4, 2009 2:38 PM CDT

Bryan Cave Offers ‘Resources’ for Deferred Grads, Doesn’t Confirm $70K Figure

A management partner at Bryan Cave says the law firm is taking steps to ensure that deferred associates have appropriate “resources,” but isn’t confirming a report that the law firm is paying $70,000 to disappointed new hires. Above the Law published the $70,000 amount, based on a tipster, but a…

Sep 4, 2009 2:10 PM CDT

Tex Parte Does the Math, Says Baker Botts Is Down 25 Associates

When Baker Botts announced layoffs last week, the firm declined to say how many attorneys were being let go. But the Tex Parte blog of Texas Lawyer has done some number-crunching and come up with a figure. Based on comparisons of the firm’s website on Aug. 26 and Sept. 1,…

Sep 3, 2009 11:26 PM CDT

Associates at One Florida Law Firm Get Pay Hikes Averaging 8 Percent

One Florida law firm is bucking the lower-pay trend by giving its associates raises averaging 8 percent. The Orlando-based law firm GrayRobinson gave merit-based pay hikes to 90 percent of its associates, and some of the raises were as high as 15 percent, the Miami Daily Business Review reports. GrayRobinson…

Sep 3, 2009 6:35 PM CDT

Partner Promotions at Top UK Firms Fell 33% Over Past Year

A number of British law firms have recently added up the numbers for fiscal years that run from 2008 to 2009 and, after a year of economic turmoil that has hit the legal industry particularly hard, the picture isn’t pretty. Partner promotions plunged among the United Kingdom’s 50 largest firms…

Sep 3, 2009 5:06 PM CDT

White-Collar Defense Titans Bennett and Rauh Jump from Skadden to Hogan

Robert Bennett, one of the nation’s most prominent trial lawyers, is jumping to Hogan & Hartson along with another white-collar titan, Carl Rauh. Above the Law calls Bennett an “uber-attorney” in its post breaking the news. “His client list reads like [a] CNN promo: Enron, Bill Clinton, Judith Miller, Caspar…

Sep 3, 2009 4:41 PM CDT

ABA Should Publish Better Job Info for Naive Law Students, Prof Says

Some critics say the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar accredits too many law schools, producing more graduates than there are good jobs available. Indiana University law professor William Henderson notes antitrust problems with slashing accreditation, and offers a different suggestion: The ABA should publish detailed…

Sep 3, 2009 3:36 PM CDT

These Lawyers Who Jumped to New Careers Tested the Waters First

A common theme emerges among the stories of many lawyers who jump to new careers: They test the waters first, trying out their new career as a sideline while still employed as lawyers. Two lawyers profiled by the National Law Journal tried out new careers before giving up their day…

Sep 3, 2009 2:52 PM CDT

Female Lawyers with Masculine Names May Have a Better Shot at Judgeships

Women lawyers with masculine-sounding first names have better odds of becoming a judge than their counterparts with feminine names, at least in South Carolina, according to a study by two economics researchers. The study finds that changing a woman’s name from something feminine, such as Sue, to a gender-ambiguous name…

Sep 3, 2009 1:45 PM CDT

Judge Rules In-House Chief Patent Counsel Is Protected by Age Bias Law

A federal judge has ruled that the forced retirement of a company’s in-house chief patent counsel violated the law barring age discrimination because the lawyer did not qualify as an executive who is exempted from protection. U.S. District Judge Vanessa Bryant of Connecticut ruled Aug. 27 in the case of…

Sep 3, 2009 12:37 PM CDT

First Women Elected to Simpson Thacher’s Executive Committee

Women partners at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett are celebrating the election of two women to the firm’s executive committee. Sarah Cogan and Laura Palma are the first women to join the 12-member committee in the firm’s 125 years of existence, the Am Law Daily reports. “It was a gaping hole…

Sep 3, 2009 11:55 AM CDT