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

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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!

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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."