Posted on November 26, 2007 by eric
BigLaw powerhouse Baker Botts (”as in former Secretary of State James Baker”1) made its bones representing Texas oilmen. So it should come as no surprise that the firm has been dipping its toes in the Iraqi oil fields. The firm recently helped client Hunt Oil Company arrange a deal with the Kurdistan Regional Government for [...]
Filed under: Put Out More Flags | Tagged: iraq, law firms, politics | No Comments »
Posted on November 9, 2007 by eric
Wal*Mart has written its outside legal counsel, complaining about recent pay hikes for law firm associates. The retail giant — which, coincidentally, labels its own wage-slaves “associates” — is unhappy that the firms have tried to pass along the cost in the form of higher billing rates. Wal*Mart — which, coincidentally, is currently the defendant [...]
Filed under: Bleak House | Tagged: corporations, employment, law firms | No Comments »
Posted on November 1, 2007 by eric
Commenting on my earlier post about the “Better Legal Profession” project, Stanford Law Professor Michelle Dauber, a member of the project’s board, defends the mission of advocating for greater diversity in attorney hiring by BigLaw firms. Her response highlights the severe limits of the project’s scope and the fundamentally conservative nature of its ambition.
Michelle suggests [...]
Filed under: Bleak House | Tagged: law firms, law school | 2 Comments »
Posted on October 30, 2007 by eric
A group of Stanford Law School students are issuing report cards to law firms based on the gender, racial, and sexual diversity among their attorneys. So students from elite law schools will know at which firms woman, people of color, and LBGT people have the best opportunities to make bucketloads of money working on behalf [...]
Filed under: Bleak House | Tagged: law firms, law school | 5 Comments »
Posted on August 9, 2007 by eric
Forget “Sioux, Grabbit & Runne”, “Dewey, Cheatum & Howe”, and their kindred spoofs. Payne & Fears is the real deal.
Filed under: Bleak House | Tagged: law firms | No Comments »
Posted on May 15, 2007 by eric
The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has lambasted mega-law firm O’Melveney & Myers (whose website boasts, “We are a values-driven law firm, guided by the principles of excellence, leadership, and citizenship”) over an unconscionable arbitration clause it imposed on employees. Having spent the past [...]
Filed under: Bleak House | Tagged: employment, law, law firms | No Comments »
Posted on April 26, 2007 by eric
Toni Bowers at TechRepublic writes:
Liz Ryan, in her column for BusinessWeek, keeps a list of the best and worst corporate policies that she has encountered while being a consultant. This month, she added referral bonus programs to her list of Best Corporate Policies and anti-moonlighting policies to her list of Worst Corporate Policies.
We’ve all seen [...]
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Posted on March 20, 2007 by eric
I was greatly amused to learn that Pittsburgh-based law firm Eckert Seamans has hired former Sen. Rick Santorum as a “consultant”. I spent two years as an associate at Eckert’s Philadelphia office. I’d burnt out after a mere five years of union-side labor practice, and thought I might be better off doing something less emotionally [...]
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