2007 Beastly Behavior Award: Joan King

In light of Loyola 2L's victorious win of the WSJ Lawyer of Year Award: http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/12/19/the-law-blog-lawyer-of-the-year-loyola-2l/, I found it proper and fitting that the Tom the Temp 2007 Beastly Behavior Award could only go to one of the conniving and profiteering snakes at one of the TTT law schools.

In October, TTT law school administrator, Joan King, publicly criticized WSJ reporter Amir Efrati's professionalism and integrity. Efrati, in an article detailing the dismal state of the legal job market for graduates of non-elite schools, criticized the way in which King was pitching a $150K law school investment to naive 22 year olds. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119040786780835602.html

King's post-graduate career statistics were portrayed as being incomplete, for failing to disclose the critical fact that only half of her graduates had responded to post-graduate surveys. King was also criticized for her failure to disclose the fact that many of her figures were puffed up through the inclusion of temporary lawyers, many of whom do grunt work, make low hourly wages, put up with abuse from egomanical bosses, and work in cockroach infested basements. King claimed the amount of contract attorneys was "minimal" but declined to give a number:

"Declined to give a number? When annual tuition for full-time students at schools like Brooklyn hover{ing} around $40,000 before expenses (which tack on another $20,000)? That says it all. If these were for-profit companies trying to raise funds from clueless investors and publishing questionable data in their prospectuses, the SEC would be all over them. Universities get away with a lot, so buyer beware." http://www.iveyfiles.com/2007/09/feast-or-famine.html

As Loyola 2L so aptly put it, "If you sell the wealthy a bad investment – you will get sued. They have the Securities Acts to protect them. They can sue in so many ways: for the way you offered it to them, for misleading statements, even for statements you thought were correct, but which turned out to be wrong. As if all these private claims weren’t enough, they even have a massive government agency protecting them!

But poor 22 year old college grads? They have nothing. Feel free to prey on them to heart’s desire. You want their $120,000 of borrowed money? Go get it. You can lie about your employment stats, you can lie about it being “a good investment for the vast majority of your graduates,” you can even lie about your victims. The 90% of your grads who work miserable low paying jobs didn’t get ripped off, they’re just stupid and lazy.

It’s great that the wealthy, those who can afford to invest in securities, get these protections. No one should get ripped off. But when are the poor, who invest in higher education, going to get something?"

Make no mistake about it, without Joan King and her slick TTT shysters puffing up statistics and selling bags of fake goods, there wouldn't be a massive glut of debt-ridden and desperate sheep plowing into the crowded, miserable, and exploitive "Lex-Pollution" and Paul Weiss sweatshops. Unfortunately, until people like Joan King are frog-marched in front of a federal jury, there will always be a need for negative blogs like this.

Mickey's (of Simpson Thacher) Christmas Carol

I want to wish everyone a happy holiday season. Hopefully, like was done in years past at the old Satan's Workshop, you won't be asked to come in and review Vioxx documents on Christmas Day.

Speaking of Satan's Workshop, for those of you that spent any significant time at 65 Broadway, you may want to enjoy this Christmas, as this may be your last:

"I hear 65 shut down a month ago. I think the building was actually shut down so they could do renovations. I think asbestos was the issue...can you say "MESOTHELIOMA"?"

What about World Trade Center dust?

Nora's Girls

"The New Girls' Network is an alliance of female leaders who individually and collectively promote the advancement of women in the practice of law. Founded by Nora Plesant, Principal of Lexolution LLC, the New Girls' Network hosts frequent seminars, panels and breakfasts on cutting edge topics faced by the women who are redefining the legal marketplace. The New Girls' Network also provides the opportunity to mix and mingle with the best and brightest in the today's legal community.

-Lexolution website"

Once again, we have yet another marketing scheme cooked up by our friends at the "Lex-Pollution" temp agency. See the "Nora's Girls' Network" for what it is: nothing more than a niche marketing campaign designed to get Nora in front of female biglaw partners, so that she, Krowitz, and Osman can sell "Lex-Pollution" services and increase the "Lex-Pollution" bottom line.

Examine the lives of the real "Nora's Girls" (those who actually work for "Lex-Pollution"), and you get quite a different picture. As a real "Nora Girl," if you get pregnant, and take too many bathroom breaks, you may very well find yourself fired and blacklisted. God forbid you actually have a child; good luck trying to insure it under the stingy, overpriced, and non-subsidized "Lex-Pollution" family health care plan. You can also forget about ever seeing the kid; as a real "Nora Girl," you will be nothing more than a potted plant, grounded in front of a dull, luminescent computer screen for 12 hours straight in the crowded "Lex-Pollution" sweatshop.

2007 Beastly Behavior Award

While it will be hard to top a cockroach infested basement, a public defense of blocked fire exits, and a mass retaliatory firing, nominations are now being accepted for Tom the Temp's 2007 Beastly Behavior Award.

In other news, I was contacted by an AMLaw 100 firm and they are looking to hire 15 Document Review Attys in NYC directly on a full time salaried basis, $72K, plus holiday, benefits, vacation and OT ($60/hr) after 35 hours. If you are interested, send me your resume ASAP (before the agency snakes get wind of this and dish out their bribes), and I will forward it over.

Loyola 2L

The Wall Street Journal Lawyer of the Year nominations are up! Send a clear message to the snakes at the ABA by voting for Loyola 2L:

"L2L has brought attention to the systemic problems in law, from law school to law practice, to the rampant outsourcing of legal jobs and the miserable life in the large firms. The legal industry is beset with greed and dehumanization at every step. And no, it has not always been this way, there used to be a collegiality in the law. To be entirely focused on greed is unacceptable."

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/12/14/the-law-blog-lawyer-of-the-year-the-nominees/

An Update Legal Christmas

12/14/07- Is a Temp Attorney walkout viable? The Viacom "permalancers" pulled one off last week. Discuss.


------------------------------------------------------------


From the comments section:

"Just in time for the holidays, Update Legal decides to Scrooge us over.

Late last night, an overly cheery Update Legal staffer calls us to tell us that we will receive a retroactive raise to $40 an hour plus OT. Our first thought was, Sweet! Many of us had worked well over 3000 hours on the year meeting deadline after deadline. Some of us had put in over 6000 hours over two years. So, we figured we were overdue for a raise. But knowing how everything in Tempworld is the opposite of what it might seem, we kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. Sure enough, this morning, Maria and Will come by to report that there is no raise and that all caps on hours remain the same.

Maria apologized for Update's error -- even though she clearly had nothing to do with it. She even said she would look into getting us a free lunch. Maria is total class -- she's about the only woman who could give Jackie O a run for her money in that department.

But for Update, this is just completely unprofessional. There is no excuse for this! On Friday night the Update Legal crew was laughing it up in their fake tans and white sundresses getting "low" to Crank that Soldja Boy. Today, they they show us how low they can really go."

Ms. Pig

Apparently, all of this talk about the grand, stately "Lex-Plantation" at 16 E. 40th Street, 10th Floor is driving all of the other bloodsucking temp agencies green with envy. De Novo's Evelyn (Ms. Pig) just put out her very own desperate plea, calling all gulag overseers to help her expand her rapidly growing network of deteriorating sweatshops:

http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/lgl/502026527.html

Take that Krowshitz! Maybe Evelyn will spark a bidding war, and successfully lure "Aunt Tom Kim Powe" and "Debbie - Sharp Knife In Your Back" away from Lex-Pollution. Only time will tell.

While she's at it, Evelyn should also look into starting a partnership with Jack Zaremski, president of Hanover Legal Personnel Services, who was recently quoted in an article stating that, "there are plenty of attorneys who are happy to accept very low-level, mind-numbing positions doing whatever's at the bottom of the barrel." http://www.nysun.com/article/67423?page_no=1

That's exactly who we need running one of these dangerous, miserable, cockroach infested sweatshops: someone who actually believes that slaves are somehow "content" with working 12 hours a day in miserable, benefitless, dead end temp jobs. Evelyn, make the call!

The "LEX-Pollution" Wall of Shattered Dreams

"HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!

"Please join your friends at

LEXOLUTION for a Holiday Open House

Drop by, share some holiday cheer, and pick up a holiday gift from Lexolution!

Also, beginning in early 2008, Lexolution’s website will feature some of the unique talents, skills and passions that our LEXtraordinary candidates pursue outside of their legal careers. We’ll be collecting information about this at our Holiday Open House, so please bring any information you’d like to share.

We look forward to seeing you all…"


Once again, we have yet another example of how "Lex-Pollution," and its primary founder Scott Krowitz, attempt to carry on the charade that they actually have a vested interest in the personal and professional development of their candidates. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. As someone previously mentioned, the sole aim of an organization like "Lex-Pollution" is to add yet another layer of profit between the law firm clients and the "Morlock" grunt-working temps.

While we struggle to pay loan sharks exorbitant monthly student loans, and suffer through an endless series of demeaning, dead-end temps jobs, all the while trying to make it through flu season without health insurance, the stakeholders at "Lex-Pollution" sit back in cushy offices, get rich, and plot new and creative ways of shoving newly minted, fresh-faced JD's into crowded sweatshops.

Krowitz's claim that he actually cares about the individuality and the "LEXtraordinary" talents of his employees would be laughable, if it wasn't so tragic. People like Krowitz are nothing more than highly compensated industrial meat grinders, people who grease the wheels of biglaw, and lead a steady stream of cheap, docile, and highly disposable sheep into the economic and professional slaughterhouse.

Those who in anyway question the modus operandi of Krowitz are immediately blacklisted. Leave work often enough to attend to one of your "LEXtraordinary" talents and you will find yourself blacklisted. Criticize a dangerous "Lex-Pollution" work site, such as the one on East 44th Street that was cited last summer by the NYC fire marshal, and on the blacklist you go.

So, who will attend the "Lex-Pollution" holiday party this year? Who will fall victim to Krowitz's chummy b.s., or be bought off by a "gift," most likely in the form of a cheap bottle of Lex-Pollution booze? Remember, an inebriated sheep is a docile sheep. More importantly, who will give away any last shred of human dignity and contribute to the "LEXtraordinary Wall of Talent," which in my opinion, should more appropriately be called the "LEXtraordinary Wall of Shattered Dreams"? Will it be you?

The HireCounsel Funeral Dirge

Last weekend, a friend I grew up with unexpectedly passed away. As sad as it was, I was able to attend to my business and pay my condolences.

Unfortunately, one of my temporary attorney colleagues wasn't so lucky when she had to attend a funeral several years ago. At the time, she was working for the HireCounsel temp agency. In the middle of the funeral, piercing high above the somber chants of Dies Irae, went the ring of her cell phone. Apparently, it was Denise Fischler, who was demanding to know when my friend was going to return to work. My friend kindly informed her that she was in the middle of a funeral, and that it wasn't the best time for a conversation. After hanging up, Ms. Fischler immediately called back, and left a message on voice mail requesting that my friend mail back in her employee I.D. badge! Talk about nerve.

I had my own personal run in with this crackpot, when I quit the Paul Weiss gulag. Despite sending in a kind, professional e-mail to Ms. Fischler, informing her that I didn't take my doc. reviews with cockroaches, I received a nasty, scathing telephone call from her, at 10 P.M. She berated me like a child, scolding me for walking off a project. "How dare you just quit like that," she sneered. I was so exasperated, I merely apologized. Surprisingly, one week later, she called me for another assignment.

Fortunately, Ms. Fischler no longer works for the HireCounsel temp agency; remember, only the good die young, and Denise probably went off, crawled under some rock, and will in all likelihood survive the next nuclear winter. Just be thankful, however, that you will never again have to hear the HireCounsel funeral dirge.

Plaintiff's Work

"De Novo Legal is searching for attorneys for an upcoming document review project. Candidates must be admitted to the bar of a US state and be flexible for OT. Work will be on the plaintiff’s side of a class action with an expected duration of 6-8 weeks."

Note to newbies: If you plan on involving yourself in the temporary attorney racket, STAY AWAY from plaintiff's side class action firms. Not only do many of these smaller firms treat you like shit, but they will conflict you out of many future projects on the defense side. I know it may be tempting to work through the holidays, but if you take this short 6-8 week project, you may very well be spending the next few years living out in a van down by the Hudson River.

Sullivan & Cromwell Idol

Dear Tom the Temp,

Here at Sullivan & Cromwell, the many temp attorneys face the typical downsides of legal temping in New York City -- a general lack of respect, horrible work areas, crap cafeteria food, and ridiculous super-temp coworkers.

In addition to all that we have an Administrative Assistant/Receptionist extroardinaire, who goes the extra mile to make our lives miserable.

Dressed in a way that slightly bends the rules? Forget to sign your time sheet once? Have food or drink at your desk? Using the dreaded internet? The administrator is on it and will be sure to report it to the highest authorities!

What I don't understand is why someone who participates in a system of second class employee subjugation would publicly expose themself in an embarrassing on-line youtube video with their male titty showing?

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=_KTwfJwk4Oo

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

On a more serious note, the WSJ blog had an interesting posting regarding temp. attorney outsourcing:

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/11/27/temp-attorneys-the-india-edition/

Conversations With Update Legal

From blogger John Bungsolaphagus, here is a typical phone conversation with the Update Legal temp agency:

Hi [XXXXXX] from Update! Sure, I can begin working
tomorrow.

(They NEVER EVER seem to have the ability to give you
at least a couple of days notice...and they lie to
railroad you into a shit project.)


Yes, I can work 12 hour days for six days a week and
half days Sundays.

(Plus, they demand Saturdays which does not work for
many of those of the Jewish persuasion...surprising
that Update would do such...but then again..maybe
that's why they insist that I, a non-jew must work on
Saturdays...to fill in for the Jews who won't. Hmmm.
Of course they don't give a fuck about those who might
actually practice Christianity on the Sunday Sabbath.
I am a heathen so I can work on Sunday but that's not
good enough for Update. They keep trying to ram rod me
into Saturdays. I make more money on Saturdays on
nonlegal endeavors than many make in a week in the
law. So I refuse to give them Saturdays. Hence, I have
not yet worked on an Update project, nor do I intend
to do so.)


No, I do not have any vacations planned for the next
six months, nor do I intend to take any days off in
the next six months.

(Vacation? In law land? Please! They even asked me
sarcastically, "you don't have any doctors
appointments for the next several weeks do
you?"...Snakes.)


Thank you so much for this opportunity!

(Update counts on young attorney desperation. This is
where I fail with them every time. I do not say the
above when they offer a shit project and I catch them
contradicting each other on the material terms of a
project. One person will call and say the pay is $X
and the bad cop will call later and say that the pay
is really $X minus $5 or $10 per hour. Or the good cop
will say that Saturdays are not required and the bad
cop will start asking you if you can work half of a
Saturday and why not if you say no. The bad cop then
says that Saturdays are required after the good cop
told you that they weren't. That's when I pass because
who knows what the reality is when you actually get
stuck on a shit project? When they offer me shit or
they get caught in a lie I politely say to them "no
thanks, I'll pass"...and this puzzles them...they
can't believe that I have better and more profitable
things to do than to be jerked around by them.)

Happy Thanksgiving

I want to wish everyone a happy and healthy Thanksgiving!

Snakes may sliver in and out of your professional and personal lives, but true friends and family are forever!

-----------------------------------------------------------------

On a side note, check out what this spoiled 2nd year associate posted on the Abovethelaw blog. Spoiled, overpaid associates make me sick:

"I am now a second year doing
online doc review of the client's production. Really
didn't have to do much of this during my first year.
But is it natural for me to want to kill myself after
having only done 1-3 hours of it in a day? I want to
kill myself, but realize dinner is coming up soon, so
I've decided death now isn't necessarily a good idea
since I like to eat."

Try working in the cockroach infested Paul Weiss basement with 1/5th the pay, for 14 hours a day.

The Highest Court

Where a carrier fails to timely request verification of an assignment of benefits, that carrier is precluded from contesting the validity of the assignment. Even when the assignment lacks the signature of the assignor. So sayeth the Court of Appeals today in Hospital for Joint Diseases v. Travelers Prop. Cas. Ins. Co., 2007 NY Slip Op 09067 (Ct. of App., 2007). While The Hon. Eugene F. Pigott, Jr. offers a dissent, six other Judges on the Court side with the majority opinion. The opinions serve as a concise primer on both sides of the issue.

This is, to be sure, a rather extreme result of the line of thinking originally set down by the Court of Appeals in Presbyterian Hosp. in City of N.Y. v. Maryland Cas. Co., 90 N.Y.2d 274 (1997). Nevertheless, the Court has obviously looked into the abyss of the last 10 years and still hasn't blinked.

Shitty Temporary Attorney Dental Plans

Last month, we discussed shitty temporary attorney HMO plans. Today, I want to discuss shitty temporary attorney dental care/dental plans. Recently, one of my temporary attorney colleagues woke up and discovered that the side of her face was puffed up like a chipmunk. She hadn't been to the dentist in over three years, and had to be rushed to the emergency room to undergo an emergency root canal.

It's A Regional Thing

"Hi Tom,

I'm a doc reviewer out in California. I like reading your column
for the horror stories, but sometimes they leave me in disbelief.

Is this a regional thing? Out here in the SF Bay Area, what you
describe sounds like another planet to me, or at least a distant,
third world country. My DR experience has been the complete opposite.
Our firm treats us so well, you could almost cry.

Just yesterday they invited us to a special Thanksgiving lunch
with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, whipped cream and
even wine. And this isn't the first time they've done something like
this. They feed us all the time.

In addition to that, we get $40 an hour, generous overtime, and
even double time (which is allowed at the moment). They're flexible
with your work schedule, they let us work from home evenings and
weekends, they let us listen to satellite radio on the job and we have
our own offices.

At this point, I'm making a heck of a lot more money than even
the associates. And I don't have half the responsibility they do.
This job is as close to paradise as I could imagine. The worst thing
about it is that it makes it tough to get motivated to find a
permanent job."


Yes, when it comes to being a contract attorney, we in NYC are living on another planet. We have to constantly deal with the crowded/dangerous working conditions, tyrannical bosses, high cost of living, and tightly controlled blacklists. Only N.Y. could spawn off the likes of Lily, Frankendine, Poxolution (a.k.a. Lex-Pollution), and the Paul Weiss cockroaches. Even Florida gets to have Mickey Mouse, and not Mickey from Simpson Thacher.

D'oh-shi

On March 16, 2007, the Appellate Term, 2d Department issued its decision in Doshi Diagnostic Imaging Servs. v State Farm Ins. Co., 16 Misc.3d 42 (App. Term, 2d Dep't, 2007). In sum, the Court held that, where timely claim verification requests are made to a third party, and such verification is never supplied, a provider's suit for reimbursement of such a claim remains premature.

On August 21, 2007, the App. Term denied Doshi Diagnostic's application for leave to appeal to the Appellate Division. See Doshi Diagnostic Imaging Servs. As Assignee of Laticia Vazquez v State Farm Ins. Co., 2007 NYSlipOp 76290(U) (App. Term, 2d Dep't, 2007).

Now, on November 14, 2007, the Appellate Division has likewise denied Doshi Diagnostic's application for leave to appeal. See Doshi Diagnostic Imaging Services v State Farm Insurance, 2007 NYSlipOp 83478(U) (App. Div., 2d Dep't, 2007).

D'oh!

In other news, the App. Div., 2d Dep't also recently issued its decision in Westchester Med. Ctr. v Countrywide Ins. Co., 2007 NY Slip Op 09024 (App. Div., 2d Dep't, 2007). The decision reads as a basic cut-and-paste of various other App. Div. no-fault decisions, containing standard holdings regarding the sufficiency of proof of mailing and waiver of defenses related to assignments of benefits. In the typical fashion of no-fault appellate decisions, without the benefit of seeing the record on appeal, the holding is rather worthless in a vacuum.

Satan's Workshop Closed?

Could it be true? Satan's workshop closed? 200 debt-ridden souls suddenly dumped out on the sidewalk just in time for the holidays?

At least this case settled. At Paul Weiss, dozens of people were fired because someone dared to speak to the media about dangerous and unfit working conditions. Paul Weiss will forever be the true Satan's Workshop.

Deflate the Rate!

Welcome to Deflate the Rate! Someone has to pay for Lily's and Rohini's bonus, and you can rest assured it won't be the partners. Our first contestant is Compliance's Kevin Dantzler:

Category: Attorney Reviewer
Location: New York, NY 10038
Description:
Work Days: Monday,Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Hours:
Pay Rate: $31.0000 per hour
Estimated Start Date: 2006-06-12 00:00:00.0
Duration (in weeks): 0
New Employees: Apply Online
Current & Past Employees please contact Kevin Dantzler at 646.375.2471

Chicken Coop

If you find yourself trapped in the Lexolution chicken coop this holiday season, be sure to get a flu shot!

"I would appreciate if you would let the temporary attorneys know that free flu shots are given in NY. I have posted the website below, where they can check and find out the locations. Also, before they go to these locations, they should call and find out the best time to go. The clinics require people to fill out a couple of forms. If you are allergic or have some other reason, then you are excluded. However, I hope the temporary attorneys will get the free flu shots, and that they remain healthy and won't infect their co-workers. Please let everyone know about it. (I want to remain anonymous, so please don't post my email address.) Thank you."

http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/home/home.shtml

SPEED IT UP!

"Tom,

Someone recently said that Simpson Thacher was one of the better employers in the city to temp for. I beg to differ. When I read that this morning, I nearly spit Cheerios out of my nose.

The atmosphere of fear and paranoia that was generated in that place was extreme. The woman that staffed many of the projects, Kathryn McCarthy, must have been geneologically related to Joseph McCarthy, in that people were constantly being purged and blacklisted, left and right. When a new group arrived, only about a 1/3rd would remain after three weeks. She certainly must have kept De Novo busy with all the hiring and firing that was going on.

Mickey was a jerk. As a woman, I felt very uncomfortable. As someone alluded to in an earlier post, he maintained a close cadre of boys (a true old boys network, in every sense of the word) to fully brief him on the environs and ins and outs of other temps. Everything became a weird, twisted masculine-defined large penis contest. People would constantly compete with one another to see who could review the most number of documents. At the end of every 12 hour day, my hand would literally ache, and I would feel dizzy. Those that couldn't keep up with the extreme review #'s were fired. I felt like I was living an 'I Love Lucy' episode where the documents were being pushed on us, faster and faster."

Edwards Nofaulthands

New York City Civil Court, Kings County Judge, the Honorable Genine D. Edwards, has had two no-fault trial decisions from this week picked up for publication today by the NYS Law Reporting Bureau.

All-Boro Med. Supplies, Inc. v Progressive Northeastern Ins. Co., 2007 NY Slip Op 27458 (Civ. Ct., Kings Cty., 2007), which will be published in the Miscellaneous Reports, concerns EUO requests and also touches on a carrier's burden in proving a lack of medical necessity. Judge Edwards comes to the conclusion that EUO request letters must be sent out within thirty (30) days of receipt of a bill for treatment. Since it seems that the patient actually appeared for the EUO, it's a much tougher call to make than the more often litigated situation of an EUO no-show where non-compliance vitiates coverage.

Delta Diagnostic Radiology, P.C. v MVAIC, 2007 NY Slip Op 52143(U) (Civ. Ct., Kings Cty., 2007), which will not be published in the Miscellaneous Reports, concerns the situation where a carrier issues a proper denial based on a provider's failure to submit a timely claim, containing the requisite language informing the provider that the untimeliness will be excused for reasonable justification, but the provider never actually bothers to submit such information. It appears that the Plaintiff did attempt to submit written justification one month prior to trial, but presumably this would not avoid the conclusion that the Complaint itself remains premature.

FWIW, now might be as good a time as any to mention that I began operations of Law Offices of Damin J. Toell, P.C. a few months ago. For the most part, I'm currently handling no-fault cases on behalf of providers. The business contact info is as follows:

Law Offices of Damin J. Toell, P.C.
P.O. Box 245112
Brooklyn, New York 11224
516-204-4775 (phone)
516-394-0855 (fax)

Business-related email should be directed to: djtoellpc @ gmail . com

Have a good weekend, all.

Washington City Article

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/display.php?id=34054

If you ever want to feel good about your life, however bad it is, read a blog by Tom the Temp, a New York based temp document review lawyer.

In Tom the Temp’s blog, which you can read at temporaryattorney.blogspot.com, I read about temporary attorneys slaving away in sweatshops, about cruel and inhumane workplace conditions including locked fire exits, filth, and blocked toilets. I also read that temp document review attorneys become stigmatized by their temp work—that once they’ve been temp document reviewers for a year or two, they can never move on to anything else—meaning they become an underclass of attorneys.

“The conditions were horrific. There were about 15 of us…packed into a small, windowless conference room,” the blogger writes. “It appeared as if the room had previously served as a supply closet.…Talking was forbidden. A heavy-set paralegal would periodically come around and bellow out in a deep, baritone voice to do, “more workin’ and less talkin’.” Like a child, you had to sign out to use the restroom.…One day, a middle-aged woman, who had recently been laid off from her in-house job, broke down in tears.”

About a project unexpectedly coming to an end: “Apparently, after having been promised six months of steady employment (many of us turned down other projects based on this assumption), over 100 of us were suddenly, without notice, dumped out onto the sidewalk just three weeks after the project had commenced…”

And describing a firm’s attempt to discover the identity of Tom the Temp and the ubiquity of same: “When you look with disdain at the ‘Temps’ or you encourage your employees to do so, you illustrate your morality. These ‘temps’ are people too, many of whom had dreams to be Perry Mason, Alan Dershowitz, F. Lee Bailey, Clarence Darrow or Marty Lipton and not Perry Doc Review.…Look in the mirror, Tom the Temp is on every project, he is sitting next to you, he is a paralegal, he is an associate, he is a she, he has a friend who is a temp, he is your friend and he is your enemy and he may at times even yes, be YOU. I pray for a world where Tom the Temp is not necessary but unfortunately that may never happen.…WE ARE ALL TOM THE TEMP.

The "Pox"olution Puppet

"Hi Everyone,

As you may know, Weil has selected 7 people on the project to be part of a second- review team who will continue on the project until the end of November. (If you are one of the 7, you would have received an email from Weil last night or this morning). Weil has informed us that they will be adding additional people to this group of 7 later in the week, so there is still a chance that some of you who were not previously selected will be chosen to remain on the project. Keep checking you email.

I will keep everyone in mind for any projects starting after November 14, but right now, I don’t have anything.

Thanks,

Kim"

Bull Shit. Who actually believes this? "Pox"olution wants to drain money (blood) out of people until the very last minute. Those who believe this schtick will be unemployed just in time for the slow holiday season. I wonder who is pulling Kim's puppet strings? Could it possibly be "Dickhead"? Krow-shitz?

Document Review Being Outsourced

Finding the document review market a little slow? While you were busy busting your hump and clicking away on the "Anita" project, Kirkland was coming up with a way to outsource your jobs:

Jones Day, Kirkland Send Work to India to Cut Costs (Update1)

Aug. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Bruce Masterson, chief operating officer of Socrates Media LLC, asked his outside counsel to customize a residential lease for all 50 U.S. states in 2003. The firm's estimate: about $400,000. He rejected that price tag and hired QuisLex, in Hyderabad, India, which did it for $45,000.

"It was good quality," said Masterson, whose Chicago-based company publishes legal forms on the Internet. "We've been working together ever since."

Clients are pushing law firms like Jones Day and Kirkland & Ellis to send basic legal tasks to India, where lawyers tag documents and investigate takeover targets for as little as $20 an hour. The firms are reacting to a trend that will move about 50,000 U.S. legal jobs overseas by 2015, according to Boston- based Forrester Research Inc.

"The objective is to have only the most valuable people in London or New York, and the others in India, China or Columbus, Ohio," said Robert Profusek, co-head of the mergers and acquisitions practice at Jones Day in New York, who sends low-end work to the cheapest locations and plans to open a document center in India. "Lawyers are service providers. We are not gods."

Companies with in-house legal departments in India include Wilmington, Delaware-based DuPont Co., San Jose, California-based Cisco Systems Inc., and New York-based Morgan Stanley, according to ValueNotes Database Pvt. The Indian legal services industry will more than quadruple to $640 million by 2010 from $146 million in 2006, Maharashtra, India-based ValueNotes said.

General Electric

General Electric Co. sends about $3 million a year in routine legal work to its Indian affiliate, said Janine Dascenzo, the Fairfield, Connecticut-based company's managing counsel for legal operations.

"India has very talented lawyers," she said. "But it's a misconception that you can just send work there and it gets done. You need proper supervision and security."

Kirkland & Ellis, the seventh-largest U.S. law firm, works with offshore attorneys at the client's request, said Gregg Kirchhoefer, a senior partner in the firm's outsourcing and technology transaction practice.

"I'm not an advocate of offshoring legal services, but having worked in this area for so long, I understand the value of the model," he said. Typically, clients hire a provider and Chicago-based Kirkland helps manage the attorneys, Kirchhoefer said.

Markup Disclosure

U.S. law firms are required under ethics rules to disclose markups on what they pay foreign attorneys who aren't licensed to practice law in the U.S. Such rules don't apply to legal work performed by lawyers admitted to practice in U.S. jurisdictions.

Traditionally, law firms pay U.S. contract attorneys $50 to $65 per hour and bill clients up to three times the fee. For work performed by associates at the law firm, firms typically bill clients about $250 to $400 an hour.

Armed with the knowledge of how little law firms might pay for offshore work, corporations can use the threat of cutting them out and sending legal tasks overseas on their own to force law firms to reduce fees.

"Law firms can earn more by using labor they can mark up without disclosure," said Stephen Gillers, professor of legal ethics at New York University School of Law. "But clients are knowledgeable about costs, and they want to negotiate the markup on these charges."

Trend

Not every law firm has accepted the trend.

"Some firms are spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt," says David Perla, co-chief executive of Pangea3 LLC, an offshore legal services company based in New York and Mumbai. "They see any competition as bad and they'll raise any issues as to why you shouldn't go offshore."

Of the 10 highest-grossing U.S. law firms, seven declined to comment on outsourcing. Only one, Chicago-based Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw, said it doesn't use the practice.

"I don't think law firms are ashamed of offshoring," Perla said. "The firms that are having success with it aren't talking, because they view it as a competitive advantage."

Of about 100 third-party legal services providers in India, clients give top marks to Pangea3 and New York-based Integreon Managed Solutions Inc., according to The Black Book of Outsourcing, a survey published in July by Clearwater, Florida- based Brown-Wilson Group Inc.

About 80 percent of Pangea3's clients are corporations and 20 percent are law firms, Perla said.

In-House

"Some firms are coming to us because in-house clients suggested it or pressured them," Perla said. ``Others want to come to the client first and offer a solution.''

Integreon, which provides legal services in India, the Philippines and Fargo, North Dakota, has long-term contracts with about 45 companies and 15 law firms, said CEO Liam Brown.

Law firms contribute 45 percent to offshore revenue, while corporate law departments contribute 36 percent, ValueNotes said.

Integreon recruits lawyers from second-tier law schools in India and managers from the litigation practices of firms such as New York-based Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Brown said. After training in India, managers relocate to New York or Los Angeles.

In India, legal education is based on common law, conducted in English, and requires two or three years of classes. The country produces about 80,000 law school graduates a year, according to ValueNotes, compared with about 44,000 in the U.S.

Offshore companies charge $10 to $25 an hour on low-end work and $25 to $90 an hour on advanced jobs. Junior Indian lawyers might earn as much as $8,160 a year, according to ValueNotes, compared with the $160,000 average salary for associates in major U.S. cities.

Janice D'souza, 26, a lawyer in Pangea3's litigation and research department in Mumbai, says she makes three times as much as she would at an Indian law firm.

``At an Indian law firm, generally your potential is not recognized at an early stage,'' D'souza said. ``Here it's talent- based. In the near future, I think I will be a department manager.'

The Portable Blacklist

"De Novo is circulating the blacklist at Simpson Thacher to associates in the hopes of maligning people. I know for a fact that Mickey the animalistic staff attorney at Simpson keeps a list because I saw him a couple of times write down the names of people in my presence."

Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto -- Lying, Low Class Sweatshop

Highlighted from the comments section:

"BEWARE of the firm Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto!

This is a firm that this past week started a '6 day project, through the weekend, with intensive hours' on a Thursday (so they won't have to pay any OT), then 'breaks the news' on Friday that 'there will be no work on the weekend and your services won't be needed until Monday night at 6 pm (?) or Tuesday morning for one day.'

This bullshit is occurring right now.

The project was staffed by Special Counsel, which doesn't seem to be a problem agency, at least not as much of a problem agency as FrankenDine, Update, or Lex. It seems that Fitzpatrick might have played them, too.

But you never know with these scumbag agencies - I'm sure common sense would've told them that they'd never be able to staff the project if they gave the real terms.

People have said that Fitzpatrick Cella plays this bait & switch game a lot."


"Horrible. We were shoved into a tiny room with no a/c. Air was stale and hot. We were watched constantly, and leaving the building was extremely difficult, if not impossible. We were cheated out of overtime, and the woman that ran the project tried to deny us our food and transportation, even though we were initially promised the stipend and even though we were required to work past 10 pm."


"Second that!

I was on a case for those assholes months and months ago. They would constantly run out of docs and send us home for a day or more while they reloaded.

While those problems might be IT/Hudson related, there was this asshole:
http://www.fitzpatrickcella.com/attorneys/bio.cfm?id=239

He roamed the cubicles and would literally knock on our cubicle walls if we were talking. Then one day he came up while I was eating my lunch and playing solitaire, very clearly on a break, and yelled at me for wasting billable time. Ironically, that was one of the few times when I wasn't on the clock and wasting billable time, but what did he know.

Anyway, I left that project and despite being called by Alan, Julie and Brett to come to another Fitzpatrick job I turned them down."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto motion passed 48 - 4.

Happy Halloween

"The Wicked Witch? Who could that be? Evelyn from De Novo, Nancy from Update, Nora from Lex?"

I'll get you, my pretty. And your little dog too! Off to the blacklist you go!

Motions

Dechert motion passed 53 - 18.

Hudson Legal motion passed 58 - 37.

Rumors

"Is the TTT school/legal world fraud coming to an end?

A "toilet-law" documentary, 2 posters doing doctorate/academic research of the law school statistical fraud and legal market crash, 'rumors' of the San Francisco DA investigating Contract/Temp Agencies, 1 lawyer jumping off the Empire State Building during the summer, a law student shooting up a law school, and someone mentioned talking w/ book publishers about doing a book about all this along with sending letters to 60-Minutes at CNN. Of course, not to be outdone by the Wall Street Journal Cover last month. Is the facade cracking? Will any change actually happen? If so, what?"

I want to hear more about the San Francisco D.A. investigation rumor. Where are the California Tom the Temps?

Going Bonkers In Brussels

Come to think of it, someone did flip out this summer. Good thing they weren't carrying a loaded weapon.

The "incident" didn't occur in America, but rather overseas on Chelsea Silverman's Brussels project. See the world is flat now, and misery is exported. 12 hour days, stressful and hostile legal work environments are now a global phenomena.

Reports have it that the two suspects were ok separately in small doses. But the combination of the two of them was explosive. They just rubbed each other the wrong way and the bad feelings between them just grew and festered. Neither of them wanted to take the high road.

So when they were alone they just went for it. Rumor has it that there was slapping, screaming, and vicious hair-pulling.

The aggressor, a Jamaican woman who is notoriously colorful, loud, and extremely overbearing with a reputation for being aggressive, was deported back to America.

The San Francisco Sweatshop Overseers Flee To New York

The New York Quinn Emanuel project could never be pulled off quite so diabolically in San Francisco. Unlike New York, overtime is required for any time worked over 8 hours in any ONE day - any time worked over 12 hrs. would require double time. Paid 30 minute breaks are required, so Quinn's shenanigans of docking people when they take a quick bathroom break wouldn't be tolerated. Furthermore, after 30 hrs worked, employees are entitled to one hour of sick leave http://www.laboremploymentlawblog.com/employee-benefits-san-francisco-voters-mandate-paid-sick-leave-for-employees.html. Universal health care is also in the works. E.P. Dine's unenforceable labor contracts (where they try to dock you for 2 weeks of pay, if you dare leave one of their crappy temp gigs) and Lexolution's locking of fire safety doors would engender public protest, or possibly even criminal prosecution.

In reality, what we have is Quinn Emanuel fleeing these worker rights obligations and, with the help of Dickhead Osman, setting up a notorious white-collar sweatshop in the heart of New York City. Tired, worked to the bone, overtaxed, middle class New Yorkers send San Francisco millions of dollars in partner profits, and what does New York get back in return? Haley.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Who is ready for another week of document review?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=TfKTVqKXz4o&mode=related&search=.

Agencies Behaving Badly

Increasingly, certain agencies are secretly paying their contract employees on 1099 so they can increase their profits and not pay unemployment.

Going Postal

"An Indiana University law student suspected of firing shots outside of an apartment building on Bloomington's southwestside today is in custody, police said.

Jesse Sneed, 27, Wood River, Ill., is charged with criminal recklessness with a weapon. He was arrested about 8:15 a.m. when he tried to sneak out of the building and drive away in a vehicle, police said. Police officers secured the scene about 11:30 a.m.

According to sources in the local prosecutor's office, Sneed was shooting his law books, with an automatic rifle."

--Above the Law Blog

I fear it's only a matter of time before someone like this shows up on one of the document review sweatshops. Combine someone who is emotionally unstable and debt-ridden with stressful, crowded, 80 hour a week working conditions, and you have a real recipe for disaster. Whenever I land in one of these sweatshops, I always make sure to be near an exit - if it's not locked by management, that is. If someone loses it and snaps (which is becoming increasingly likely with tuition/debt loads skyrocketing and hourly wages stagnating), I want out.

It's Shitty HMO Time

"Hi Tom,

I have a question that a lot of temps I know are interested in: What are the better (best) health plans offered by the various agencies?

Given the ability to keep health insurance through COBRA and that temps frequently switch agencies when moving from one project to another, many temps are interested in knowing which agency offers the best health plan for their dollar. The reason they would seek to work for agencies that offer preferable plans would be to keep the coverage benefits through COBRA.

Agency web sights almost never offer details (ie price and selection) of the plans they offer. Moreover, most people (attorneys too) don't have enough knowledge about important coverage distinctions to make intelligent and cost savvy decisions. As the recent movie Sicko demonstrates, not all health care plans are created equal and some plans (especially HMO's) do not offer sufficient coverage to warrant the premium they charge.

Do you have any information on this?"

Great idea. It's time for another chart. Plop down agency, city, and HMO plan in the comments section. Thank you for your help.

As far as retirement goes, I would also be interested in hearing what everyone has to say. Tom the Temp personally tries to invest in a Roth IRA through the Vanguard family of funds. http://www.vanguard.com Does anyone actually invest in the agency 401(K), where you have to buy temp agency stock? Bad Idea!

65 Broadway - Satan's Workshop

Dechert is the firm now doing all the production. Hughes Hubbard used to hire people for that project, but now it's entirely done by Dechert. The office is down at 65 broadway and it's an incestuous little place.

All the people doing relevance are in one big room being watched/heavily monitored by a hudson legal person. They are all treated like crap. The people doing priv review are in a different room and are treated better. One of the staff attorneys (who is rumored to be cheating on her husband with a para half her age) used to be a temp so she's buddy buddy and favors some of the lifers (we're talking like 4 years on the same project). TOTAL MESS, to say the least. The people there don't have to be admitted so you get a lot of random desperate stupid people who can't pass the bar and can't leave because they'd never get a job anywhere else.

Alot of projects have weird socially inept people but having been at several jobs since then I can safely say that the people over at 65 Broadway have a high ratio of freaks compared to normal people. They fire randomly and the temps are always fighting with each other (this obese girl used to full on yell and swear at people in the middle of the office but she was "old school" so she'd never get fired).

Joan King

"I thought you would be interested in hearing about a BLS Career Services breakfast held this morning. Apparently the director of Career Services at BLS, Joan King, was asked about her reaction to the WSJ article. (Note: this breakfast is an annual event, and was not held as a reaction to the article).

Ms. King said she was contacted in the research-gathering stage by the WSJ author, who interviewed her about the job market for BLS students. She believes that there were some omissions in the article, and that the writer had an agenda: to prove his hypothesis, without highlighting some additional facts.

[Ms. King] argued that the treatment the article gave to contract attorney work was too derogatory in tone. The article ignored the facts that (1) contract attorney work can be rather lucrative, not only in monetary terms, but in terms of opportunities; and (2) many lawyers like contract attorney work, because of the freedom it allows (and again for the money it offers). She went on to say that they have not heard that the market is being scaled back in hiring, and that the outlook is good."

--Abovethelaw.com


Does this woman ever stop spinning?

Lucrative? While document review hourly rates certainly help puff up a law school's career statistics, contract attorney work really isn't all that lucrative. Unlike Ms. King's cushy position, we have to subsidize our own retirements, pay for our own health insurance, and subsidize own bar dues/CLE's. We don't accrue sick/vacation days, we are repeatedly denied OT pay, and many of us have to repay massive student loans. During a recessionary period, long stretches of unemployment are not uncommon. After the tech bubble bust, a law firm in Silicon Valley staffed a document review for as little as $12 an hour. As outsourcing steams ahead, this is only going to get worse.

The opportunities? In the legal profession, putting "contract attorney" on your resume is akin to smearing shit all over it.

The freedom? The required 80 hour work weeks, the lexolution document review torture chamber, the blacklists, the random mass firings, the moles, the constant micromanagement, the being treated like second class citizens, the lack of internet, the having to sign out to use the bathroom, the cockroaches, etc, etc. Let freedom ring!

Many lawyers like contract attorney work. Has Joan King ever stepped into the Paul Weiss basement? "Like" isn't exactly the word I would use.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

A gift from an anonymous JDUnderground poster:

ODE TO JOAN KING
("They Built This Toilet")

http://youtube.com/watch?v=TxGGckAc1rs.

by Hardship (Deferment)

Chorus:

They built this toilet, they built this toilet, on fraud an' loans
Built this toilet, they built this toilet on fraud an' loans

Say you don't owe me, say that I'm a fool
Say you don't care who goes that kind of school
Neck deep in the quicksand, living in your car
Too many graduates passing that damn bar

Joan King she plays her marks now, lies an' don't ya know, don't you forget her
They built this toilet, they built this toilet on fraud an' loans

Chorus:

They built this toilet, they built this toilet, on fraud an' loans
Built this toilet, they built this toilet on fraud an' loans

Someone's always playing accreditation games
Who cares, no one will ever take accreditation blame
We just want a job now, someone stole the work
They call us self-entitled, write us off as jerks

Ol' Valvoline Dean, he spins tha stats now, lies, an' don't ya know, don't you forget it
They built this toilet, they built this toilet on fraud an' loans

Chorus:

They built this toilet, they built this toilet, on fraud an' loans
Built this toilet, they built this toilet on fraud an' loans

It's just another workday, in a tired old street
Insurance Defense has got the chokehold, and we just lost the beat!
Who counts the money, the kickbacks to the Bar?
Who outsourced our jobs to Third World bazzars?
Don't tell us you need us, 'cos we're just simple fools
Look out America, we're coming for the TTT schools

Don't you forget now (forget now)
The deans they spin the media, listen to the lies they tell, don't you forget now
They built this toilet, they built this toilet, on fraud an' loans

Chorus:

They built this toilet, they built this toilet, on fraud an' loans
Built this toilet, they built this toilet on fraud an' loans

Chorus:

They built this toilet, they built this toilet, on fraud an' loans
Built this toilet, they built this toilet on fraud an' loans

(They built, they built this toilet) built this toilet (they built, they built this toilet now) (repeats out)

Enjoy The Slammer, Mel

"A few years back, when I was on a doc review project at Milberg Weiss, they made all of the contract attorneys wear IDs hanging around our necks. They were bright yellow and said TEMP.

I hope the sleazy Milberg partners recently indicted do prison time."

DLA Piper

Another student commits suicide over massive student loan debt:

http://www.suntimes.com/news/education/571489,CST-NWS-SUICIDE24.article

"When he graduated in summer 2006, he was unable to find a job despite sending out dozens of resumes. Meanwhile, he watched his loan balance grow. He moved back in with his mom, who lives in a small trailer home in Normal. When the collectors called, they asked him, 'When are you going to pay? Can't you get your mom to sell her house? Late last month, in the middle of the night, Yoder apparently let himself into the ISU lab. Then he hooked up a tube to a nitrogen valve and ran it inside a plastic bag around his head.

Before his death, although Jason helped set up a fledgling tea room his mother runs with her sisters, he was wary of taking a job outside of his field because he feared his wages would be garnisheed. That could tip potential employers to his credit woes. Collinge said many employers won't hire people with bad credit."

Which sort of reminded me of DLA Piper's highly intrusive background check in which they "need" to know if you have any defaults, bankruptcies, or credit issues all for a friggin TEMP JOB!

Quinn Emanuel

Lexolution is looking to herd another flock of sheep into the Quinn Emanuel project next week. Apparently, they want to cook up another batch of roasted sheep meat. Be careful, be very careful. Don't say you weren't warned.

Fraudulent Fraud

At the suggestion (almost a threat, really) of David M. Gottleib, Esq., I'm reposting a comment of mine from the previous entry. An anonymous insurance defense attorney asked: "Provider fraud should NEVER be waived. When did fraud stop being fraud?" I said:

The better question is actually: when did fraud start being fraud? Answer: when catchphrases got the better of good lawyering.

You won't find the word "fraud" anywhere in the majority or concurring opinions in Central General Hosp. v. Chubb, 90 N.Y.2d 195 (1997). You'll find a single variation of the word, namely "fraudulent" in Presbyterian Hosp. v. Maryland Cas. Co., 90 N.Y.2d 274 (1997), but only in the majority opinion, and not in the way carriers like: "The tradeoff of the no-fault reform still allows carriers to contest ill-founded, illegitimate and fraudulent claims, but within a strict, short-leashed contestable period and process designed to avoid prejudice and red-tape dilatory practices." New York's seminal no-fault cases don't create a solid foundation for anything that should be referred to as a "fraud defense."

Indeed, "fraud" isn't the word you want to use if you're a good insurance defense attorney. You want to say "lack of coverage." The Appellate Division, Second Department has reminded us a few times of this distinction, but it still goes basically unnoticed. Then again, "lack of coverage" isn't a catchphrase that instills fear in anyone's heart.

All of that said, I think there's a solid lack-of-coverage argument to be made in the carriers' favor in Fair Price. Nevertheless, the defense bar is getting itself wrapped up too much in the language of fraud, and to the detriment of their clients' interests.
--
As an addendum to those comments, I'd recommend that eager defense attorneys begin their research with App. Div. decisions such as Matter of Eagle Ins. Co. v. Davis, 22 A.D.3d 846 (2d Dep't, 2005). There, regarding an allegation, made as part of a petition to stay a UM arbitration, that an alleged collision was fraudulent in nature, the Court held: "When a petition raises an issue of fact as to whether the automobile collision giving rise to the underlying request for arbitration was deliberate or intentional, the issue of fraud is subsumed under the coverage issue. Evidence of such fraud should be considered in determining the broader coverage issue." Id. (internal citations omitted).

Law School Fraud - Contact Attorney General Cuomo

Yesterday's WSJ article provided compelling evidence and raised serious questions as to whether law schools are deliberately fudging their post-graduate career statistics.

I urge you to e-mail Attorney General Cuomo (or your own State Attorney General), and ask him/her to extend their probe of the student loan industry to include an examination of the marketing and recruitment practices of institutions of higher education.

http://www.oag.state.ny.us/

Wall Street Journal Cover Story: The Dark Side Of The Legal Job Market

"For graduates of elite law schools, prospects have never been better. But the majority of law-school graduates are suffering from long-term economic trends are suppressing pay and job growth. The result: Graduates who don’t score at the top of their class are struggling to find well-paying jobs to make payments on law-school debts that can top $100,000. Some are taking temporary contract work, reviewing documents for as little as $20 an hour, without benefits. And many are blaming their law schools for failing to warn them about the dark side of the job market.

That’s the subject of a page-one story in the Journal Monday. The story includes lots of data and real-life examples showing how life outside BigLaw has gotten tougher, and how some law schools are doing their best not to let the word out. The 2,300-word story even has a shout-out to the infamous Loyola 2L, who has been beating a drum of discontent about the legal market around the legal blogosphere.

The culprit appears to be, in part, a slack in demand: Growth in legal sector has lagged the broader economy since the late 1980s. At the same time, more lawyers are entering the work force with greater and greater amounts of debt, thanks to hefty tuition hikes. The story cites surveys and government data showing wage stagnation for lawyers across the nation.

The only employment data that many prospective law students see come from school-promoted surveys that provide a far-from-complete portrait of graduate experiences. For example, Tulane University (pictured) reports that its law-school graduates entering the job market in 2005 had a median salary of $135,000. But that is based on a survey that only 24% of that year’s graduates completed, and those who did so likely represent the cream of the class, a Tulane official conceded.

Some law-school academics are calling for the distribution of more-accurate employment information. “Prospective students need solid comparative data on employment outcomes, [but] very few law schools provide such data,” says Andrew Morriss, a law professor at the University of Illinois who has studied the market for new lawyers."

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/09/24/the-dark-side-of-legal-job-market/

Article here - http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119040786780835602.html

Demented Santa

It was a dangerous summer to be a young attorney in NYC. Not only did we have someone jump off a skyscraper, not only were dozens of people put at risk of being roasted alive at Lexolution's state of the art document review torture chamber, but now it is apparently okay to physically assault your employees in toilet law. For those of you that haven't heard, here is what went down:

"OH, sorry, forgot to explain how this whole thing truly started: The short version is this: So they hired a summer associate and shoved him in my closet, I mean office. The boss abuses me on a regular basis. Obviously, if you put someone in the office w/ me they are going to see this 1st hand. Also, of course, I'm going to talk shit about the boss (who resembles a demented Santa) because of this. The summer associate turned down the "offer" they made him. (It was $45K). He said it was the money. However, the partner thinks it's all my fault.

Then, he was in the midst of berating me for billing 165 hours for the month of July. I was explaining how, if you count in July 4th, a holiday, thus couldn't be billed, and that I took two days off for a family members funeral (true, not a close family member, but still), then I would have been in the 190's. He thought my math was wrong, thus I was dyslexic.

Truth is, he tosses crap around his office so often that occasionally it hits people. This particular time, we were yelling at each other back and forth. He claimed I was a "dyslexic idiot" and said "read this you moron", which is when the book was tossed in my direction, although, maybe in hindsight he didn't mean to hit me in the face, but the fact is he did. Gotta love it......

It's the fact that "professionals", or ANYONE who has a shred of humanity, should not act like that. This is what "law" has become. The Animal (my pet name for the partner), likely thought he could do whatever he wanted since I'd never leave, as there are no jobs out there. After he tossed the book. I yelled at him (can't recall exactly what I said), and walked out."

- "Wally"

What should have "Wally" done?

A) Throw the book back in the partner's face?

"As probably 1/2 dozen other posters mentioned, there was nothing to be gained from "defending" myself. So you people are seriously suggesting that after I got hit in the face w/ the book, I should have walked behind his desk a punched a 60+ year old upside the head?! Yeah, that looks great.

Just like another poster said; After someone called the police, who do you think they would have believed? The guy who looks a little bit like a demented Santa Clause, or the 20-something year old attorney?

This wasn't a street/bar fight. I still believe, if if no one else does; that you should at least attempt to act professional. Just because someone-else doesn't shouldn't push you to act like an animal. You simple stoop to their level. Also, like I said, I was in a bit of shock. Don't you even think of telling me anyone of you people wouldn't have been. Its not every day an old-man busts your nose with a book for not calculating billables using Enron math."

B) Report him to the bar?

"Face it folks, once you have that Esq. placed next to your name and once some prick bastard firm hires you, you have become a N----- who is subject to the fickle beyatch like whims of massa partner(s) and there ain't shit you can do about it.

Suppose Wally would have thrown something back or would have hit the prick. Might have made Wally feel like he grew some balls all of a sudden.. . Might have felt justice and euphoria........BUT, prick boss can do what any white beyatch can do in the street when a black kid steals her purse, point at any black kid walking by and say "that ------ stole my purse" and that kid gets arrested on white chick's word only.

Wally's prick partner boss can call the cops and say, "I was in my office and Wally, my -------, I mean associate, for no good reason, throws a fucking book at me and hits me with it." Cop, will believe the white person, uh I mean partner who is older, is a businessman, who the cop might even know for god's sake!. The ------'s word, uh...I mean Wally's word will count for nothing. Same thing goes for telling the Bar but even worse. Who will they believe? Some entry level ------ like Wally or one of their long time dues paying prick bastard friends who helps them perpetuate the B.S. law setup as it is now? What if his boss actually sits on various bar committees? One of my abusive ex-bosses sat on many state bar commitees, had lunch and dinner and played golf with various court judges."

C) Sue him?

"I'm not going to sue or really do anything. I know, I know, everyone here says I should, but seriously, would you? How would I benefit from it? Would I win/settle for a great deal of $? No. Should any firm hear of this, will they want to hire me, regardless of fault? No. It's nearly impossible do get a decent job as it is; Do I really need the stigma of suing a former boss? No."

D) Seek out Witnesses?

"Someone mentioned something about witnesses above. The guys secretary was in the other room and heard the whole thing. She asked if I was ok, got me a papertowel for my nose and called the other partner to tell her what happened. However, as the previous poster said, she wouldn't put herself in a position to say something against the guy for fear of losing her $35K a year secretary job. Neither would the non-equity partner. These shit-hole ID places are really just solo-practices w/ "non-equity" partners under the head guy."

E) Call him out on a blog?

"Don't do it Wally. If you honestly don't believe there will be a benefit from naming names, don't. First off, ID in NYC is a close-knit group, even though there are 100's (likely thousands) of us, we all talk. The story will get out sooner or later and you don't want to be the guy who started it. I have a sinking feeling I know who your talking about, although maybe I'm wrong. I still think you should keep it to yourself, for no other reason then it sets a bad precedent for sites like these. Anyone remember JDJive? Don't name names unless you have to."

Ultimately, "Wally" did nothing.

More and More Appealing

In a move that likely fell under most radars, the Appellate Division, 2d Department has granted the defendant's motion for leave to appeal their decision in Fair Price Medical Supply Corp. v. Travelers Indem. Co., 42 A.D.3d 277 (2d Dep't, 2007) to the Court of Appeals. The App. Div. has posted the motion decision.

I have a feeling that the judges are going to get less and less sympathetic to the defendant's position the higher up the appeal goes on the food chain. Personally, I don't see the Court of Appeals reconsidering the underlying rationale of Presbyterian Hosp. in City of N.Y. v Maryland Cas. Co., 90 NY2d 274 (1997), no matter how much some of us would like that to occur in light of the state of things ten years on.

The "Jim Crow" Legal Profession

African-American Lawyers Working as Temps in Law Firms Signals Possible Trend

High representation in contingent work may be indicative of a broader trend in which African-American lawyers, for various reasons, are opting to work for temporary staffing agencies instead of at law firms. Lack of opportunity could be a factor.

By Irwin Speizer

Julian S. Brown, president of development at legal staffing company Compliance Inc., in Arlington, Virginia, recently checked up on a job that called for five lawyers to work on a temporary assignment. Four of them, it turned out, were African-American.

"That's not rare," Brown says. "It turns out that there are a higher percentage of minority attorneys who are temping. Typically, on one of our projects, we will have 30 percent who are African-American."

The rate of participation by African-American lawyers in temporary jobs at Compliance Inc. is the opposite of the situation at most large law firms in the U.S., where only a fraction of the jobs are held by African-Americans. Brown says Compliance Inc., which is owned by international staffing company Vedior, has made no special effort to recruit African-American lawyers. Rather, he believes the situation at Compliance is indicative of a broader trend in which African-American lawyers, for various reasons, opt to work for temporary staffing agencies instead of at law firms.

"I would argue that it is not going well at law firms [for African-Americans], or else they are not getting opportunities at law firms," Brown says.

While some temporary staffing firms say they also have noticed higher participation by African-American lawyers than might be expected, others say they have either not noticed the trend or else haven't studied the ethnic makeup of their contract workers. The American Staffing Association, which conducts research on the contingent labor workforce, says it does not collect statistics on participation by African-American lawyers.

But Brown and other staffing professionals say that they are convinced that African-Americans and other minorities are clearly over-represented in the temporary legal staffing field.

Nancy Molloy, president of legal staffing company Legend Global Search Inc. in New York, says that more than 40 percent of her contract lawyers are African-American and minorities overall account for more than 60 percent of her contingent workforce. While she hires some African-American attorneys for temporary placement straight out of college, many more arrive after leaving jobs at law firms.

"There is a high turnover of African-American attorneys at law firms," Molloy says. "I think what happens is, there is no mentoring. There is just a very small percentage of partners of color."

In its 2006 survey of the private law firm workforce, the National Association for Legal Career Professionals surveyed more than 1,500 law offices around the country. Of more than 60,000 partners at those firms, only 1.5 percent were African-American. Of about 60,000 associates at those firms, 4.5 percent were African-American.

A separate study by NALP found that African-American lawyers leave jobs at law firms at a much higher rate than others. While the overall attrition rate for associates was 43 percent, it was 68 percent for African-American men and 64 percent for African-American women.

"African-Americans don't last as long at law firms," Brown says. "In terms of going from associate to partner, there are very few who make it."

Leon Spencer, an African-American lawyer from South Carolina, says he stumbled upon contingent legal work after leaving a job a few years ago with a law firm in Columbia, South Carolina. He moved to Washington in hopes of landing a job with a nonprofit or public interest group. To make ends meet, he took a temporary assignment with Compliance Inc.

"It was steady income and I could start paying down my student loans," Spencer says. He never left. Today he is a staffing director at Compliance.

Is the Legal Profession Promulgating A Jim Crow Caste Structure?
	Yes -- Biglaw is creating a sub-class of people that are being treated like second class citizens and are disproportionately minority.
	No -- This is all nonsense.
Free polls from Pollhost.com

The Omnipresence Of Tom The Temp

"The unusual preoccupation that many law firms and individual lawyers have with regards to the individual identity of Tom the Temp illustrates simple ignorance and the inability to grasp the greater significance or relevance of what is truly important.

Robert Reich, President Clinton’s former Secretary of Labor once stated that the most valuable thing an individual has to give is their labor. In a fair and just society an employee is rewarded for their earnest and legitimate spirit of hard work. When an individual is respected for their hard work with a fair wage, honorable treatment and good working conditions, the continued loyalty and devotion of the worker are inspired resulting in increased productivity and profits and less turnover. When there is insincerity in approach, a hostile working environment or an effort to profit excessively off of that effort without sharing it with the employee the equation breaks down. While the long term profitability of the company/firm is paramount, there is no honor when the profits are not shared equitably. Employees at every level are critical to sustain long term profitability of an entity. Profitability and equitable treatment are not diametrically opposed concepts.

The Legal Profession in modern America unfortunately resembles “The Boulevard of Broken Dreams”. Many legal professionals are ambitious people who worked hard, borrowed a great deal of money that they may never be able to pay back for programs in American law schools that provided and continue to provide unrealistic expectations about the opportunities available to graduates upon graduation. The educational establishment is bankrupting a generation and the Treasury with the illusion that an investment in their tuition supporting their professors and administration is a wise investment, all while the default rate on student debt continues to climb and desperation mounts with so many scavengers and predators who have created a Ponzi scheme where recruiters and firms gorge themselves on the backs of temporary workers. When you look with disdain at the “Temps” or you encourage your employees to do so, you illustrate your morality. These “temps” are people too, many of whom had dreams to be Perry Mason, Alan Dershowitz, F. Lee Bailey, Clarence Darrow or Marty Lipton and not Perry Doc Review. So consider how you treat that individual who is driving up the profits of your firms, enabling your lifestyle and treat them with respect. They are not necessarily living their dream working for you but many do come with a strong work ethic to work hard, earn money to pay their rent, payoff their student loans and otherwise try to make a living.

There are many firms where legal professionals are leased to law firms by the agencies at rates upwards of $75 per hour while the firms themselves turn around and bill these interim staffers to their clients at the rates of a first or second year associates in excess of $200 per hour, all while the interim staffers have their rates pushed down as close to rates as close to the $30 per hour level as possible. Furthermore, they are often asked to work in conditions where they are watched like hawks, have limited break time and have to deal with supervisors who create a hostile working environment. Acknowledge that sometimes a firm will hire the wrong temp but that also they may have hired the wrong Supervisor with a questionable agenda that is contrary to the interests of others.

So while you go consider going on a Witch Hunt to uncover the whistle blowers in your firms, remember that you illustrate your morality when you intimidate your own employees from being able to speak up in earnest, without fear of retribution, so that they have no choice but to see a therapist, take anti-depressants or write into a blog. What does that say of your firm culture that people leave, get fired and are otherwise undermined if they question the conduct and treatment of your supervisors all while you look the other way at their numerous indiscretions. Instead you direct your focus on review of their email and auditing their internet usage. If you bill them out like associates maybe you ought to treat them like associates or at least professionals, rather than indentured servants.

Tom the Temp is Omnipresent. Tom’s spirit lives in every firm where Fair Employment Practices are not their to protect us.

So look in the mirror, Tom the Temp is on every project, he is sitting next to you, he is a paralegal, he is an associate, he is a she, he has a friend who is a temp, he is your friend and he is your enemy and he may at times even yes, be YOU. I pray for a world where Tom the Temp is not necessary but unfortunately that may never happen..... WE ARE ALL TOM THE TEMP."

-Anonymous Comment

Pregnant And Fired

"I have been doing doc review since I graduated law school. I am a few months pregnant and was recently fired from a big project in NYC because I didn't work enough hours and apparently "was in the bathroom too much." Do I have any recourse? Are their any jobs I can do from home? Any information you can provide is appreciated.

{Agency said} I have done good work for them before so when they asked about the lateness and bathroom use I explained I was pregnant, but I did not tell the client. {Agency} was the one that mentioned to me about the possibility of working from home because they like the work I have done for them, but have no opportunities currently available."

--JD Underground

Rehab

"Employees who drink heavily or who abuse or are dependent on alcohol can undermine a workforce's overall health and productivity. To better understand the reasons behind employee abusive drinking and to develop more effective ways of preventing problem drinking in the workforce, researchers have developed a number of paradigms that guide their research. One such paradigm is the alienation/stress paradigm, which suggests that employee alcohol use may be a direct or indirect response to physical and psychosocial qualities of the work environment.

In the alcohol literature, work alienation and work stress typically have been treated as separate paradigms. The work-alienation paradigm focuses on work characteristics that lead to unenriched jobs, such as those in which workers use only minimal skills, have little job control (lack control over the pace of work or its content), and have little or no input into decisionmaking. In contrast, the work-stress paradigm emphasizes other potentially aversive work conditions, which are labeled "work stressors." Common work stressors include dangerous work conditions; noxious physical work environments (conditions that are too hot or cold, noisy, or dirty); interpersonal conflict with supervisors or coworkers; heavy workloads; unfair treatment regarding pay, benefits, and promotions; and job insecurity (threat of layoffs)."

-- National Institutes of Health

As a Contract Attorney, I drink
	Everynight
	Several Times A Week
	Once A Week
	Never
Free polls from Pollhost.com