David Gelfand: Worst Person of the Week

Last week, Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy laid off several attorneys in its staff attorney program. These jobs were good, stable, middle-class positions that provided benefits. When asked about the firings by Above the Law's David Lat, Gelfand stonewalled:

http://abovethelaw.com/2008/04/correction_milbank_hearts_staf.php

Let's not be too hard on David Gelfand, however. Maybe he was busy? Perhaps, he was attending outsourcing conferences, learning how to ship these very same jobs overseas:

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Faculty Includes:
Chairperson:
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Partner and Co-Chair of Technology Practice
Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP

Bodhi Global Services Ltd.
Computer Associates
CPA
Deutsche Bank AG
Equifax, Inc.
Home Depot
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LawDocsXpress
Legal Electronic Document Institute
Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy LLP
Outsourcing Today
Seyfarth, Shaw LLP
The Clutch Group
White & Case LLP ATTEND AND BENEFIT BY:

• Acquiring New Strategies on How Legal Outsourcing
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• Establishing and Utilizing Proper Communication
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• Gaining Insights into the Future of Legal Outsourcing
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Sometimes It's Necessary To Jump Ship

I wholeheartedly disagree with the following blog posting:

http://www.myattorneyblog.com/it-might-be-tempting-but-its-never-a-good-idea-to-jump-ship/

Sadly, for one's own economic survival, it's oftentimes necessary to jump off a sinking sweatshop. Two weeks ago, David King stood in front of the McCarter/Hudson project on a Friday afternoon claiming that there was more work to be done, and then turned around and axed everyone over the weekend via a cowardly email. To add insult to injury, in order to avoid having to hear from the angry masses, rumor has it that certain Hudson recruiters went off on vacation the following week. Are these the kind of people that you owe your loyalty to?

As someone so aptly put it,

"Unfortunately, loyalty in the contract attorney business means mostly loyalty to yourself. It’s your survival that you should care about because most of the agencies and firms could care less about you. I think most contract attorneys learn that very early on."

Many of the people that screwed Hudson over and left McCarter early are now comfortably working on other projects. Those who were loyal and stayed on are now scrambling for work in a recessionary job market. This is the nature of the beast.

Angry Judges: New York Judges Deliberate Bid To Organize

"Judges of New York, unite!

Frustrated over salaries that have been frozen for almost 10 years, a group of state Supreme Court justices are talking about starting their own union.

In an email dated April 7th that was obtained by The New York Post, Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Wayne Saitta wrote to his colleagues that 'a few of us in Brooklyn have been trying to get together an organizing effort,' but to date it has not gone anywhere.

Judge William Erlbaum expressed his support. 'This is some shit we should not eat.'"

- Larry Celona, New York Post, 4/15/08

The Hudson Legal Propaganda Podcast

Upset about outsourcing, wage stagnation, shitty benefits, asshole bosses, crowded/cockroach infested basements, and 14 hour work days? Never mind that, according to a recent propaganda piece put out by the Hudson Legal Chicago office:

http://career-advice.monster.com/job-industry-profiles/legal/contract-temporary/Audio-The-Pluses-of-Legal-Contracti/home.aspx/

Help Train Your Foreign Replacements

"Now Quislex, one of the first and largest Indian LPOs, has teamed up with Strategic Legal Solutions, a pioneer in the U.S. temporary lawyer marketplace, to form SQ Global Solutions. With offices in New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Los Angeles and Hyderabad, India, SQ Global has a unique international outsourcing network of attorneys. All of your high volume, labor intensive legal tasks can now be outsourced to our state of the art Hyderabad facility where we employ over 150 full time permanent attorneys. You can also combine our Indian resources with our nationwide candidate pool of highly credentialed and experienced U.S. temporary attorneys to create a unique onshore/offshore legal project team."

The Hudson Legal "Newark" Project: Bloody Friday

4/06/08-

"Dear Tom,

I was one of the recipients of the email axe from Hudson yesterday, and I guess I'm as pissed off as any of the rest of us who received the same message. They obviously didn't have the nerve to tell anyone in person. What wimps! The irony (for lack of a better word) is that, after a day without almost any assignments, David King stood in front of us on Friday and announced that the office was closing at 5 p.m. But he was quick to reassure us that that there's still lots of work ahead and that he'd see us all on Monday. The humane way of handling this situation would have been to end things then and there, and do the honorable thing by telling us the truth. At least that way we'd have had the opportunity to gather up our belongings and leave with some dignity. Now I'm put in the uncomfortable position of having to return to the office to retrieve my personal possessions when I no longer work there. I refuse to feel humiliated, but it sure will be uncomfortable.

Being treated this way is no way to thank those of us who worked extra hours and worked hard. Last time I checked, it doesn't cost extra money to treat people respectfully and professionally."

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

The axe has fallen, and the anger is palpable.

"Fucking scumbag thieves (Hudson) said this project would last 4 to 6 months and send a fucking email when axing everyone. Pussies can't even call people.

David King and Vlad (The impaler) claimed that there was plenty of work....

I should have jumped ship a month ago.

Now the market is going to be flooded with us loser coders.

Read that a few people have mentioned the Newark project. Well, hate to break it to you, but make sure you have your welcoming mat down, because about 200 + contract lawyers just got fired this weekend, and they are saying the project is winding up...

Remember there are 800 of us."

Place McCarter & English on the "Temporary Attorney Sweatshop" list?
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Sleazy Recruiter Of The Year -- Final Vote

The Sleazy Recruiter Of The Year Is.......
	Julie Dailey
	Scott Krowitz
	Allan Cohen
	Wanda Lin
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