Career of Above the Law founder and Legal Rebel takes another turn
David Lat. Photo from Above the Law.
David Lat, the former federal prosecutor who founded the blog Above the Law, has decided to become a legal recruiter.
Lat will be a managing director of the New York City office of Lateral Link, he announced in an Above the Law column Monday. The new job follows Lat’s decision to step down as managing editor of Above the Law in 2017 while still contributing to the blog as editor at large. Lat made the 2017 move after he and his husband became parents (and Lat the primary caregiver) of a baby boy.
Lat was named an ABA Journal Legal Rebel in 2009. He created his first blog, Underneath Their Robes, while he was a federal prosecutor in New Jersey. He wrote anonymously as “Article III Groupie,” creating a “male superhotties of the federal judiciary” contest, before he revealed his identity in 2005. He moved on to edit the gossip blog Wonkette before founding Above the Law in 2006.
Lateral Link was Above the Law’s first advertiser in 2007.
At Lateral Link, Lat will place lawyers at top law firms across the country and also will assist with media and public relations. A press release is here.
Lat said legal recruiting will help him participate in one of the most important forces shaping the legal industry—lateral movement. “In less abstract and more personal terms,” he wrote, “legal recruiters help lawyers become … happy! Or at least less unhappy.”
“I view legal recruiting as an extension of my work over the years at Above the Law: providing people with more and better information, both positive and negative, and helping them make sounder decisions,” he wrote.
Lat isn’t entirely severing connections with Above the Law. He will continue as “editor emeritus,” writing a column every other week, participating in Above the Law events and assisting in some projects.
See also:
ABAJournal.com: “All is not as it seems for 9th Circuit clerk in ATL founder’s new novel (podcast)”
Second paragraph corrected at 9 p.m. and on May 8 to report that Lat will be a managing director of the New York City office.
