Imelda Marcos Law Students

Tier II school will only allow prospective student to borrow $56,278 a year. Student upset.

Loyola LA (Class of 2010):

"Hollywood, sunshine, and a BMW. Who said law school can't be fun?

I actually went to the financial aid office yesterday and that is why I was so confused. The lady made it sound like we were not allowed to take out PERSONAL PRIVATE LOANS. She made it sound like they estimated the Cost of Living as $56,278, and minus Federal Loans ($20,500) the difference is $35,778.

I wrote her an email asking her if I could take out a GradPLUS for the $35,778 and then get a private loan on my own that I didn't tell the school about for the rest. I'm about $13,000 short for yearly rent. However she probably won't respond until Monday. "

http://www.lawschooldiscussion.org/prelaw/index.php/topic,73076.msg2253241.html#msg2253241

Does this girl have any idea of the misery that is awaiting her in the bowls of the document review sweatshops?

Update Legal Voted Worst Temp Agency In On-Line Poll

No surprise there. People have been complaining about the underhanded tactics of this agency for years. Courtesy of http://tempatty.com:

"Half the attorneys I know have been "blacklisted" by these overly sensitive Bedford Wives."

"This is a wild place. I have heard that they blacklist folk."

"By far it is the worst, unprofessional and dishonest agency that I had to deal with. I worked for 3 months/ 12 hours a day/6 days a week in sweatshop like conditions, but when I had to see a doctor and "only" came in for 8.5 hours - they black listed me, told me the project is over "for me", refused to let me go back to collect my things, and tried to deny my unemployment benefits."

"I feel very let down and misused by update. My experience on my present assignment is negative. They have crammed 150 of us into a space that the fire marshall has approved for only 75 persons. There are only 6 bathroom stalls for 150 people!!! We are lined up table to table like a sweatshop. To leave my seat I must squeeeze through chairs and ask my colleagues to move their carcasses out of the way. Update does not have the contractors' interests at heart. They are simply here to enforce the desires of the hiring lawfirm. We must work 58-66 hours but the site is open only to 8:00pm so to avoid giving us carfare or dinner. In effect, we are forced to work until 8:00 at least 4 days per week until 8:00 - to leave earlier means not being able to make one's hours. "

"Don't ever tell them anything they do not wish to hear or you will be blacklisted. They can be unprofessional."

"Worst agency EVER. I have worked with several agencies and this was by far the worst. The yelled at me and threatened me - partly because I picked up my cell phone to answer *their* call (I knew it was them because they are the only blocked number that would call me) and because I was accused of socializing too much - approx. 30 min during the course of 10 hour days. Avoid like the plague."

"Don't forget, they will blacklist you for not taking a project that pays below market rate. I've overheard conversations that were bizarre! I have successfully worked with 5 or more agencies. Only with Update, my first (and last) experience with them had been a nightmare."

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THE NOTORIOUS UPDATE LEGAL BLACK LIST is very real and my premise is that it ultimately is disservice to the legal profession, individual lawyers who are unfairly discriminated against for consideration of employment as well as law firms and their clients. How you ask? The Blacklist "spin" is that agencies use it as a "quality control" or "QC" technique to weed out undesireable candidates who less than stellar workers. Nothing could be further from the truth. In point of fact, Update Legal staffers, most of whom are not lawyers, paralegals and not only have never worked in the law firm enviornment but many lack actual workplace, human resource and real life professional experience. Yet these very same people often make wrong or discriminatory decisions about qualified people. Many are young sales girls who see your overtime as their next pair of shoes and will sooner try to staff that guy who always finds a way to get 14 hours of work out of 9 hours than the professional who is a tad more ethical. Firms like Update Legal reward mediocrity by assigning greater value to those who do not rock the boat, bill the most hours (regardless of whether the work justifies it) and never leave a project for a better opportunity.

ISSUE: How does the Update Legal Black List or lists of such kind impact a law firm's and their client's bottom line?

ANSWER: Many agencies seek exclusives or semi-exclusives to staff a project. The problem is granting an agency that has a questionable means of blacklisting qualified and desireable candidates means that said law firm will never see the resumes of many people who might be of greater assistance to that law firm than those presented. What they are getting is the people whom that agency has most control over. While many think of doc review as a skill-less exercise, it is usually the first layer of review of evidence in a case. Hence, the eyes reviewing your client's evidence might be relevant. I would not have believed it if I would not have seen and experienced first hand how Update drones are regularly staffed while highly qualified people remain on the sidelines.

SOLUTION: Law firms should require agencies to sign an agreement that their screening and qualification criteria does not discriminate unfairly against candidates based upon highly subjective and personal criteria (reminder: screening is often by a 24 year old sales girl). Law firms should eliminate exclusives and semi-exclusives and look into whether those making decisions about what agencies to use or not use are not receiving kick backs, payments and/or and gifts from Update Legal, Lexolution etc. Law firms should instead staff their projects on a rotation basis with several agencies so that they will see a more diverse and more qualified applicant pool. And lastly, they should consider seriously the ergonomics of the work space for interim staff and whether it enhances the success of their overall effort.

Biglaw's Jim Crow Caste Structure: Part 2

Are Firms Missing Out On a Diverse Talent Pool?
The Legal Intelligencer
By Gina Passarella

May 25, 2007

One of the most common reasons large firms cite as a cause for their lack of diversity is a limited talent pool from which to draw.

There are only so many qualified candidates and only so many of those are minorities, they say.

Could that pool be deepened by looking to the skills of contract attorneys? Some say yes. Others aren't so sure.

One black contract attorney from Washington, D.C., who has been working in the field for almost five years said the contract attorneys he's worked with on firm matters have been disproportionately diverse compared to groups of associates at those firms.

Part of that, he said, is due to financial constraints that keep students from all backgrounds out of the top-tiered schools, and subsequently out of the top-tiered firms.

Bob Nourian of Coleman Nourian, a recruiting firm that places both contract and permanent attorneys, said contract attorneys are naturally going to be more diverse because "you're pulling in from a greater percentage of a whole [graduating] class."

Katherine Frink-Hamlett of Frink-Hamlett Legal Solutions in Teaneck, N.J., said contract attorneys are more diverse because the larger law firms are losing minority attorneys at high rates and they have to go somewhere. She said contract attorney work is often used to fill in the gaps.

Not everyone has found it easy to find diversity in the contract-attorney ranks.

Cynthia Scott, founder of Choice Counsel in Pittsburgh, specializes in placing contract attorneys. She said she wishes there was a more diverse pool from which she could draw.

"Our percentage of minorities is not nearly what we wish it could be," she said.

Offering a rough estimate, Scott said minorities on the matters she staffs typically do not comprise more than 10 percent of the group. The Washington, D.C., contract attorney put that number at 50 percent in his experience.

Scott said she has found that it is more difficult in Pittsburgh to build diversity numbers because the larger cities woo talent away.

Ah yes, talent. Despite the most sincere efforts of firms to increase their diversity, talent and quality understandably remain the foremost criteria for hiring associates.

Nourian said firms are looking to find both diverse and nondiverse candidates, while maintaining the same criteria for talent.

The problem with looking to the contract-attorney field for candidates, minority or not, is that the hiring criteria for those attorneys are not as stringent as for associates, he said.

"Unless firms are going to dramatically change their hiring criteria for full-time, partnership-track associates, I don't think the contract attorney pool will help them," Nourian said.

He said his firm has done a lot of temporary-to-permanent conversions once contract attorneys work for a firm and prove they are associate material. It is difficult to stand out, however, when there are 30 or 40 attorneys doing document review, he said.

Frink-Hamlett, whose company handles diversity audits and offers diversity solutions for firms, said she recommends her clients look at contract attorneys to meet diversity needs, but said it might only be for a short-term solution.

"These are very often folks with Ivy League credentials or somewhere near there, but their resume doesn't meet the permanent-resume requirements," she said.

Attorneys with gaps in resumes or those with master of laws ( LL.M) degrees who are here from other countries are often viable permanent candidates who may have taken some time off to pursue other endeavors or are new to the country's legal system, Frink-Hamlett said. That often makes them unviable permanent candidates in the eyes of large firms, she said.

"I think it's going to be imperative for law firms and law schools to recognize [that] contract attorneys are a force in the industry," she said.

So if the war for talent is at an all-time high, some argue it might be worth training contract attorneys at large firms to help them meet the associate-hire criteria in order to increase the talent pool.

"You have this entire untapped pool of legal talent . . . and nobody's making the investment to train them," the contract attorney said, adding later, "In a global war for talent, no stone can be left unturned."

Another minority contract attorney in Washington said there is no training available on projects to help elevate her to the next level. She said there would always be someone to hire her, possibly at a smaller firm, but student loans often make large firms the only option.

Frink Hamlett said bar associations need to replicate for contract attorneys the committees or commissions on diversity or women in the profession that now exist in order to help with networking and empowerment.

Networking among other contract attorneys, however, doesn't help elevate their status, Nourian said. Contract attorneys need to affiliate themselves with the same groups as full-time associates in order to make contacts in hopes of finding a full-time position, he said.

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"Bar Associations need to replicate for contract attorneys the committees or commissions on diversity or women in the profession." Exactly.

Dear Tom,

I have spoken with Barry Kamins at ABCNY about setting up a contract attorney committee. ABCNY has a subcommittee of a larger executive committee, which deals with forming new standing committees.

The problem is that I, although I am barred in New York, I am {out of country/personal reasons}. My first impulse is to identify responsible people in New York who could spearhead this.

The next step is to submit a proposal to Mr. Kamins, which he would then forward on to the subcommittee. I would be delighted to help with the proposal. Do you have any ideas as to who might spearhead this? Obviously, we want responsible people organizing this committee. You have wide access to a number of contract attorneys, so I thought you might be a good person to ask.

I would be interested in participating in an ABCNY committee dealing with Contract Attorney issues?
	Very Interested
	Somewhat Interested
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How To Land A Document Review Position

While it is often quite difficult to screw up an agency/law firm screening interview (typically, many jobs are just seeking out those with a license and a pulse), here are some answers that will guarantee you that coveted doc. review position:

Q. What makes you want to undertake document review work?

A. I have alot of student loan debt that I need to pay off.

Q. Are you interested in long-term or short-term work?

A. I'll take anything.

Q. Do you have any future ambitions? Do you plan on looking for permanent work?

A. No, I am too fixated on my student loan debt to worry about the future.

Q. Do you have any outside interests or any other professional undertakings?

A. No, I have too much debt to concern myself with any of that.

Q. (A favorite of Update Legal): The client is very flexible (an obvious lie) and would just like to know for scheduling purposes if you plan on taking any days off in the coming months?

A. No, I have nothing going on in my life in the next six months.

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In other news, Cardozo and Fordham jacked their tuitions up over the $40,000 mark for the first time today.

"Nuke' em"

Meet William Neukom. "Nuke' em" is president-elect of the American Bar Association. "Nuke' em" has a long history of trying to screw over contract attorneys. Several years ago, Seattle firm Preston Gates, which "Nuke' em" is the chairman of, was successfully sued for denying overtime pay and rest breaks to many of its contract attorneys.

"Nuke 'em" will head an organization which directly affects the day-to-day lives of thousands of contract attorneys. In the past, the ABA standing committees have given law firms carte blanche authority to mark up the costs of contract attorneys by over 300%, allowed law firms to successfully outsource contract attorney work to India, and have allowed the law schools to continue their practice of falsifying graduate career statistics. In short, the ABA has been instrumental in providing biglaw with a steady stream of disposable (disproportionately minority), cheap labor. Is it any wonder why we have now reached a point where profits per partner have truly become "recession proof"?

I wonder what policies "Nuke 'em" will advocate for during his reign of terror?

Is the Legal Profession Promulgating A Jim Crow Caste Structure?

method="post">---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: diversetemps diversetemps >
Date: May 17, 2007 12:01 AM
Subject: Contract Attorneys and Diversity

Morrison & Foerster prides itself on ethnic and cultural diversity yet, below the surface, it does little to tap deep enough into the applicant pool to develop and retain diverse candidates.

Indeed, as evidenced by the email below, Morrison and Foerster actually stifles diverse attorneys' career development by limiting internet and telephone access, which are critical for pursuing opportunities beyond document review.

This firm seems to operate from a fixed paradigm: that early success in law school is an irrefutable predictor of future career success and, thus, other lawyers who come in to pick up the grunt work are not worthy of any sort of dignified treatment. This could not be further from the truth. Good lawyering, as with any other skill, can be learned irrespective of where someone went to law school or what rank they were in law school. Lawyering is not an innate skill. It is a mistake to assume that there is not diverse talent to be developed amongst the ranks of contract attorneys. In fact, the reason why law firms have such a difficult time attracting diverse candidates is because they are myopic in their approach.

While associate salaries, law school tuition, and profits per partner have grown exponentially in recent years, the hourly rates of contract attorneys have remained stagnant. Interestingly, the ranks of contract attorneys are up to five times as diverse as the ranks of full-time associates. Yet, contract attorneys receive little substantive training and mentoring. This is an issue which can no longer be ignored.

Too many discussions about diversity at law firms are focused solely upon associates. It is time for the discussion to be expanded. Instead of stifling the career opportunities of this diverse pool of lawyers, Morrison and Foerster, other law firms, clients, and bar associations should be devising ways to develop them.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: The Posse List
To: distribution@theposselist.com
Date: Wed, 16 May 2007 22:21:05 -0400
Subject: A complaint from a Posse member

...From a Possemember:

The Morrison Foerster Project at Compliance is an affront to the dignity of the 50 contract attorneys working there. Compliance's Project Manager's behavior, tone and tactics are reprehensible. From Day 1, the Project was adversarial in tone. Internet access was removed, only 2 computers provided for nearly 50 people to use. Phone call access is relegated to a balcony where there is absolutely no privacy. Compliance provided 2 keys for access to the women's restroom, only 4 key cards are provided for egress from the building after 6:00 p.m., and constant monitoring of every attorney's action, conversation and even look. The atmosphere is dismal, morale low and self-esteem constantly attacked.

Despite the minimum 50 hrs. and maximum 60, there is no food provided for after hours, unlike most large law firms' policy. Attorneys are urged to limit their lunch to 30 minutes to ensure "getting-in the 50 hour minimum," and any deviation from the 1/2 hour rule must be reported to the "Drill Sergeant" Project Manager. I've worked on several Compliance projects, and many others for large staffing agencies, I've heard many a horror story, but this one takes the cake. Most of the Project Attorneys are eager to jump ship at the first opportunity--if you're listening out there--PLEASE HELP!!!

Contract attorneys create value for staffing companies like Compliance, and their respective clients, not the other way around.

*The Posse List, based in D.C. , is 6 years old and its membership now exceeds 3,200 lawyers.

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What Impact Are These Blogs/Message Boards Having On The Temporary Attorney Staffing Industry?
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When You Sign Up With New York Law School, You Sign Up With The Devil

New York Law School is one stinky toilet. Despite the fact that it is a tier 3 school and provides little in the way of opportunity for its graduates, New York Law School has the audacity to charge one of the highest tuition of any law school in the United States -- higher than even NYU and Columbia!

The dean of the school, Richard Matasar, is a scumbag of the worst kind, making a comfortable living by destroying the lives of naive 21 year olds. (Matasar has a reputation of maximizing profits and endowments, at the expense of students; during his tenure at Chicago-Kent College of Law (1991–96) , while tuition soared, the school’s endowment rose from $5 million to more than $17 million.) As someone else so aptly put it, Matasar takes the hope, optimism, and vulnerability of young people and wipes shit all over it.

One of Matasar's victims recently graduated from the NYLS toilet with over $198,000 of student loan debt. He makes only $48,000 a year, and over 60% of his after-tax income goes to pay for student loans. He is considering suicide and is trying to decide whether bullets or carbon dioxide would be a better way to carry it out.

I suppose going to work for the Legal Options agency could be an option for him, but if he did undertake this "opportunity," he would have to bill 48 hours a week (every week, no holidays or unexpected unemployment) just to make his minimum monthly loan payments. Only then could he even begin to think about paying for such necessities as food, rent, and health insurance.

College grads, be forewarned! When you sign up with Matasar, you sign up with the devil!

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Ode To The Valvoline Dean

In the tradition of a Seton Hall dean,

Scrub your stats squeaky clean,

Send 'em glossy brochures,

Lots of big firms out there willing to hire,

Milk all you can out of college kids' desire,

And in a few years, they'll cry out:

Doc review!

--Author Unknown

Legal Options Ad: $15-18 an hour

LEGAL OPTIONS AD: "They changed their email in the listing from resumes@legaloptions.com to the anonymous craigslist email. That's kinda weird."

Admitted Attorneys- Temporary Document Review Projects

Reply to: job-331960047@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-05-16, 9:29AM EDT

Admitted attorneys needed for document review projects at large firms in the city. Must be flexible for long hours, OT including weekends, and be admitted in one U.S. state. No unadmitted JD's at this time. Please forward resumes to the address above.

Location: Manhattan
Compensation: $15-18 an hr. + OT
Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
Please, no phone calls about this job!
Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

The market rate in NYC is a flat rate of $41.80 an hour, or $35.82 an hour + OT. See- http://temporaryattorney.googlepages.com Is this placement agency advertising ridiculously below-market compensation in an effort to maniuplate the well-established market rates in the NYC document review market?

ABA Law School Tuition Gouging

With the help of the inflation calculator http://www.westegg.com/inflation/, here is concrete proof of some of the massive tuition gouging that has been going on during the last 9 years at some ABA approved NY area law schools:

1997 Tuition / '97 Tuition in '06 $'s / Actual 2006 Tuition

Albany: $18,905 / $23,489 / $35,079
Brooklyn: $20,640 / $25,645 / $37,525
Buffalo: $7,350 / $9,132 / $12,170
Cardozo: $19,780 / $24,576 / $36,900
CUNY: $4,840 / $6,014 / $8,900
Columbia: $25,128 / $31,221 / $40,024
Cornell: $23,100 / $28,701 / $39,690
Fordham: $22,600 / $28,080 / $36,670
Hofstra: $21,182 / $26,318 / $35,260
NYLS: $20,770 / $25,807 / $40,478
NYU: $24,740 / $30,739 / $38,980
St. John's: $21,000 / $26,092 / $35,900
Syracuse: $21,136 / $26,261 / $35,120
Touro: $19,150 / $23,793 / $32,300

Tuition gouging increases student debt loads, which will only help to proliferate the growth of vicious biglaw temporary sweatshops:

"Or maybe what attracts employers to college {and law school} grads is the scent of desperation. Unless your parents are rich and doting, you will walk away from commencement with a debt averaging $20,000 {$150,000 - law school} and no health insurance. Employers {Lily, Anita, Youngwood, Piggy, etc.} can safely bet that you will not be a trouble-maker, a whistle-blower or any other form of non-'team-player.' You will do anything. You will grovel."
http://ehrenreich.blogs.com/barbaras_blog/2007/04/the_higher_educ.html

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In other news, another stressed-out associate bites the dust:

Stressed-Out Associate's Death Ruled an Accident (?)

New York Lawyer, May 15, 2007

An associate at the London headquarters of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer who fell to his death at the city's famed Tate Modern gallery was suffering from cannabis-induced depression, the Evening Standard report. That conclusion was reached in a coroner's finding that the death of George Matthew Courtney, 27, after falling from his perch on a bannister while using his Blackberry PDA, was accidental. But the associate lifestyle may have played a part, as Courtney was one of several associates who had reportedly approached firm management about the stress of grinding out 14 hour days to hit billable targets in the weeks before his death in February and had also discussed the problems he was having with his long hours and sleeplessness to his psychologist.

Cannabis-induced depression, what the hell?

They Want Sheep, Not Bulls

"That is why some of the agencies have some of the most unethical, lazy people on their staffs. Many of the people they retain aren't necessarily the best workers, but people that can be counted on to follow the agency/firm's modus operandi.

As someone so aptly put it, agencies/firms want sheep, not bulls. I was once on a project where some of the agency "darlings" were skipping over entire boxes of documents. What they were doing was clearly unethical. Because they were buddy-buddy with the project supervisor and because the agency could count on them to bill excessive amounts of hours, they were not only retained, but the people that brought the problem to the attention of the agency were ultimately fired. I quickly learned that I needed to put my head down, keep clicking, and never again open my mouth.

That is when I ultimately discovered that the temp. racket wasn't for me."

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More sheep:

"It is not just the law schools that are in predator mode. It is the entire legal education and licensing industry. From LSAC 5 yr limit on LSAT scores to the state bar examiners use of intimidation tactics on C&F and licensing, not to mention egregiously intrusive questionnaires, to the nonprofit law schools that charge tuition based on WHAT THE MARKET WILL BEAR, to corrupt entanglement of the law schools and universities with the student loan institutions (as evidenced by the lack of transparency), to the textbook/bookstore industry that has evolved to produce textbooks that cannot possibly be read by the students during the semesters (and ARE NOT READ), textbooks that are overstuffed to generate REVENUE, to the hostile and intimidating atmosphere generated by each of these corrupt legal industry institutions, all the better to induce a sheep like state in the students as they are led to the economic slaughterhouse..."

Student Loan Crisis: Creation of the American Indentured Slave Class

Hi Tom, I enjoy your blog. I was reading an NYT comment board that you should consider contributing to. (BTW, I have no connection to the NYT -- I just created a temporary Gmail address as a return address so I could post my own comment there.)

It seems that the Times thinks that lawyers have no problems paying off their student loans.

Here's the story and the comment board: http://news.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/05/08/when-student-loans-dont-pay-off/

Keep up the excellent work. Best.

Diane Barrasso: Benedict Arnold

Benedict Arnold was a general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He is perhaps the most famous traitor in the history of the United States.

Meet Diane Barrasso. Diane Barasso, of Barasso Consulting, runs a notorious temporary sweatshop out in Westfield, New Jersey. Barrasso pays a benefitless wage well below market rate. Barrasso is able to offer such measly local wages by pitting heavily indebted recent American law graduates against cheap, overseas Indian labor.

http://www.barrassoconsulting.com/blog/PermaLink,guid,1a0c6e76-aec0-48b3-9ff6-e8ee4773d882.aspx

At a time when our country is on the brink of a financial catastrophe, where health insurance costs are skyrocketing, and where American taxpayers will soon be on the hook for millions in defaulted student loans, Barrasso is getting rich by helping "McJob" yet another American industry.