ABA Journal

What Are Your Tales From the Bar Exam?

Many law grads are breathing a sigh of relief this week after completing the bar exam. An earthquake in Southern California rattled test-takers there on Tuesday morning. One blawgger whose test location was shaken up said he dove under the table for about 20 seconds of the quake, but that…

Jul 31, 2008 1:40 PM CDT

N.Y. Law Firms Say No to Men in Shorts, But One Lawyer Disagrees

Some white-collar employers are allowing men to wear shorts to work, but apparently New York law firms aren’t among them. The New York Times contacted Manhattan banks, law firms, stock brokerages and hospitals, and found that none of them permit shorts. That’s not the case, though, at Salt Lake City…

Jul 31, 2008 1:15 PM CDT

A Law Firm Ditches the Lockstep System and Retains More Women

A law firm that replaced lockstep promotions with a system based on competency has seen the percentage of women lawyers leaving the firm drop below that of men. Husch Blackwell Sanders had an average annual attrition of about 30 percent when it had the old lockstep system. Under the new…

Jul 31, 2008 11:04 AM CDT

96 Lawyers Laid Off at Cadwalader

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft is laying off 96 lawyers, 90 of them in the firm’s real estate and securitization practices, the Wall Street Journal Law Blog reports. The cuts are not confined to the associate ranks. The number of layoffs appears to be the highest in the current economic cycle,…

Jul 30, 2008 2:18 PM CDT

Divorce Lawyer Banished After Calling Black Court Staffer ‘A Little Monkey’

An Atlanta divorce lawyer has been banned from the entire fifth floor of the DeKalb County courthouse following an incident in which he called an African-American court staffer a “little monkey.” Two judges cited the remark in an order that bans lawyer Paul Koehler from the floor where the judges…

Jul 30, 2008 1:52 PM CDT

New Theory Why US Attorneys Were Axed: Perceived Sexual Orientation?

It wasn’t just political affiliation that some top officials at the Department of Justice may have considered when making decisions about hiring and firing. According to the Los Angeles Times, a perceived same-sex relationship based on false rumors of a nonexistent affair between two female prosecutors may also have led…

Jul 29, 2008 11:29 PM CDT

Dean of Troubled Law School Says Only First-Year Classes on Hold

The new dean of the troubled Barkley School of Law in Paducah, Ky., expects about 20 students to attend classes this fall, but none of them will be first years. Dean Larry Putt tells ABAJournal.com that previous reports of all classes shutting down are simply not true. “What I have…

Jul 29, 2008 2:49 PM CDT

NYU Students Seek Coveted Law School Classes, Will Pay Cash

At least one administrator at New York University School of Law recently has put his foot down about the practice, threatening sanctions. But students reportedly are shamelessly buying and selling seats in coveted law school courses via the Internet, in what some might consider a valuable lesson about business life…

Jul 28, 2008 8:21 PM CDT

Paychecks Rose to a Median of $108K for 2007 Law Grads in Law Firms

Median pay for 2007 law grads who went into private practice has surpassed the $100,000 mark, but salaries for their counterparts in other legal jobs still pale in comparison. The median annual salary for new law grads in private practice was $108,500, a jump of $13,000 over 2006, according to…

Jul 28, 2008 2:03 PM CDT

Supreme Court Gets First Negative Approval Rating

Only 39 percent of U.S. voters approve of the way the U.S. Supreme Court is handling its job, while 43 percent disapprove, the first negative approval rating for the court in five years of polling. The court got its highest approval rating in May 2007, when 58 percent approved of…

Jul 28, 2008 1:15 PM CDT

Microsoft’s Outside Counsel Can Earn a Bonus for Increasing Diversity

Microsoft will pay its preferred outside counsel a 2 percent bonus if they meet diversity goals. The program allows law firms to earn the annual bonus in two ways, reports The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times. One way is to increase the number of hours that women and minorities…

Jul 25, 2008 12:26 PM CDT

New Zealand Judge Renames Girl, Says ‘Talula Does the Hula’ Was Poor Choice

A fed-up judge in New Zealand thought the name “Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii” was an embarrassing name for a 9-year-old girl involved in a custody battle, so he decided to change it. Judge Rob Murfitt made the girl a ward of the court so he could make the…

Jul 24, 2008 2:51 PM CDT

What’s Your Favorite Legal Movie?

The August issue of the ABA Journal (online now!) presents a double feature, The 25 Greatest Legal Movies and How I Learned to Litigate at the Movies. To Kill a Mockingbird was the winner, according to the judges. But we wondered… What would be your top pick? After you’ve had…

Jul 24, 2008 2:13 PM CDT

Plaintiffs Lawyers Have New Target: Radon-Emitting Granite Countertops

Plaintiffs lawyers are advertising on the Internet for clients whose granite countertops are emitting high levels of radon. The lawyers see opportunity in surprising disclosures that a small number of granite countertops contain radioactive uranium that releases radon as it decays, the New York Times reports. Preliminary results from tests…

Jul 24, 2008 11:13 AM CDT

Lawyer Chases Down Columnist Novak After Accident

Updated: After syndicated columnist Robert Novak reportedly hit a homeless pedestrian with his car Wednesday morning and didn’t immediately stop, an attorney on a bicycle chased him down. “The bicyclist was David Bono, a partner at Harkins Cunningham, who was on his usual bike commute to work at 1700 K…

Jul 23, 2008 7:03 PM CDT