@BlawgWhisperer

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

Should small firms be the ones to close the access-to-justice gap? | How to be a great local counsel

Corrected: Last week, the New York City Bar Association announced some new pilot programs: a New Lawyer Institute, which would offer a yearlong comprehensive CLE curriculum for 2014 law grads, and a law firm incubator that would “enable new lawyers to address the unmet civil legal needs of the middle…

Nov 22, 2013 2:30 PM CST

Do most litigators have ‘impostor syndrome?’ | Men vs. women on ‘having it all’

At Associate’s Mind, Alabama lawyer Keith Lee notes how many young professionals suffer from “impostor syndrome” in which the person feels as though they’re secretly unqualified for their responsibilities. Houston criminal defense lawyer Mark Bennett noticed the post and points out at Defending People that the syndrome (“you call it…

Nov 15, 2013 2:29 PM CST

Police don’t pay judgments against them, article says | A bulletproof business suit? Is that legal?

Corrected: When University of Denver law professor Nancy Leong teaches criminal procedure, she always arranges for a police officer to come to class. “I remember one time in particular when a student asked an officer whether the officer would be more unhappy if evidence he found was excluded from trial…

Nov 8, 2013 2:30 PM CST

Is the law firm associate model being phased out? | Encrypt laptop for ethics’ sake, blogger writes

The notion of creating a new class of associates that receives more training, less pressure to bill and less pay has taken hold at Greenberg Traurig as an alternative to the “quasi Hunger Game” model (as a Forbes writer put it this week) in which elite associates spend a brutal…

Nov 1, 2013 2:17 PM CDT

Tips from two serious women rainmakers | Should students not be law review editors?

In posts Tuesday and Thursday at the Careerist, Vivia Chen shared the insights of Sheila L. Birnbaum and Nina M. Gussack about women and business development. “As we know, Gussack (a partner at Pepper Hamilton) has $65 million in business, while Birnbaum (a Skadden Arps legend who joined Quinn Emanuel…

Oct 25, 2013 1:30 PM CDT

Blogger shares skills future solos need | Legal-eyed TV recaps | ‘Are word limits for suckers?’

Washington, D.C., solo Carolyn Elefant notes that she wasn’t asked for a quote by the New Republic on how to improve law school. But prepping students to work for BigLaw is not the way of the future, she writes at My Shingle. “Hate to break it to you, law schools,…

Oct 18, 2013 1:30 PM CDT

Writing briefs with the iPad in mind | Taking your dog to the office | What is true innovation?

Most judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals read legal briefs on iPads, New Orleans appellate lawyer Raymond P. Ward wrote at Louisiana Civil Appeals. “But before the briefs are downloaded to the iPad, they are run through a program that automatically turns all the legal citations into…

Oct 11, 2013 1:30 PM CDT

How to be a boss | More hot coffee lawsuits on horizon?

Corrected: The LexisNexis offer of six free months of LexisNexis Firm Manager described at Robert Ambrogi’s Lawsites and announced at the ABA GPSolo fall conference is not a member benefit and is not endorsed by, or offered in cooperation with the ABA or the ABA GPSolo fall conference. The ABA…

Oct 4, 2013 1:29 PM CDT

Would solos take a hit if limited licensing of nonlawyers were allowed?

While the recommendations in the ABA Task Force on the Future of Legal Education’s draft report (PDF) regarding law schools is what grabbed the most headlines, it also called on courts, state bars and bar-admitting authorities to come up with frameworks for licensing of limited legal service providers. But Richard…

Sep 27, 2013 3:30 PM CDT

Where do you get the best Twitter stats? | How an ‘equal opportunity jerk’ won a discrimination suit

How does one find lawyers to follow on Twitter? Robert Ambrogi’s Lawsites has always sent people to LexTweet and Legal Birds. Though Ambrogi notices that “neither of these sites is up-to-date on Twitter ‘stats’—most notably, number of followers. The number of followers someone has on Twitter does not matter much…

Sep 20, 2013 1:30 PM CDT

Is Missouri bill gunning for the First Amendment? | Audience member sues, alleging Blue Man goof

One aspect of a proposed Missouri law that would override federal gun laws would make it a misdemeanor to “publish the name, address, or other identifying information of any individual who owns a firearm” or who has applied for a firearm license, University of California at Los Angeles law professor…

Sep 6, 2013 2:05 PM CDT

Would losing the 3L year really reduce students’ costs? Bloggers discuss

Discussion of a two-year J.D. has picked up since President Barack Obama said in a speech at Binghamton University in New York that he thought “that law schools would probably be wise to think about being two years instead of three years.” He suggested that students would be better off…

Aug 30, 2013 1:30 PM CDT

How one firm successfully recoups its costs; ‘Breaking Bad’ legal fan-fiction?

Attorney at Work asked lawyers from four different firms about their most effective cost-recovery methods. “The clients in one of our practice sectors especially do not appreciate being ‘nickel-and-dimed’ with charges for photocopy, fax, postage and online legal research. But these clients have no problem paying an ‘administrative fee,’” said…

Aug 23, 2013 1:30 PM CDT

Law prof creates ‘experimental’ calculator for bar exam-takers to predict whether they’ll pass

Will you pass the bar? At WITNESSETH, University of Pepperdine law professor Robert Anderson has posted an “experimental bar passage calculator” to help recent bar exam-takers calculate their odds. “This bar examination calculator designed to predict the probability of passing a particular state bar examination based on LSAT, law school…

Aug 16, 2013 1:30 PM CDT