Novalawcity

Michael Clayton and the legal profession

Frank Pasquale over at Concurring Opinions has published an interesting post analyzing what the film Michael Clayton says about the current status and public perception of the legal profession.

Akerman Senterfitt Growing Pains

This National Law Journal reports that eight partners have recently resigned from the Miami office of Akerman Senterfitt. Entitled 'Mutiny in Miami' the story can be accessed here: NLJ (Call Library if Password required).

Need info on a future employer?

The NALP Directory of Legal Employers is a great resource for researching law firms.  It provides a vast array of useful data for job seekers.  Employer demographics and diversity, recruiting contacts, partnership track info, whether pro bono work is encouraged, whether and when part-time employment is allowed, billable hours required, where the employers interview, firm histories...and much more.  Bookmark it, and be prepared for your next interview!

New Lawyers Attrition at Major Firms

Just an interesting examination of why most lawyers leave the big firms within five years by the Legal Times.

Grading your future employer

The New York Times reports that Stanford law students have embarked on grading their prospective employers.  The "diversity report cards" rank law firms based on how many women, minority, and openly gay lawyers they employ. 

“Many of the firms have atrocious, appalling records on diversity,” said Michele Landis Dauber, a law professor at Stanford and the adviser for the project, called Building a Better Legal Profession. The rankings are at www.betterlegalprofession.org.

Yet the rankings system is neither foolproof nor without controversy.  Herrick Feinstein disputed its grade because despite employing gay lawyers, they didn't collect that demographic data.  A Hastings College of Law professor noted that firms could end up "violating employment discrimination laws in the process of trying to improve their rankings."

What do lawyers think about their jobs and their lives?

Want to know what over 800 practicing lawyers think about their lives, career satisfaction, trends in the profession, the court system, and whether they'd recommend the profession to others?

October's ABA Journal cover story, Pulse of the Legal Profession, contains answers about these issues and more. The online edition includes a section with a few additional answers.

Florida Bar to post disciplinary information

Florida lawyers, new and experienced, should be aware that lawyer disciplinary information is going to be more readily available for searching and viewing.  Robert Ambrogi's blog, Lawsites, points to this new development.  According to Ambrogi, via the Jacksonville Daily Record, a 10-year disciplinary history will be available for each Florida Bar member.  This is in addition to the brief disciplinary news posted on a regular basis in the Florida Bar News. The older disciplinary information is not yet available as of this post. 

$145,000

The New York Times reports that first year associates in New York City will receive a wopping $145,000 to start. The story, For New Lawyers, the Going Rate Has Gone Up indicates that the increases started last year when a litigation firm in California decided to raise its salaries for its New York office.  Other law firms in New York followed suit.  The NALP survey released Aug. 1 says that first year associate salaries for other cities is $10,000 less.

Legal Jobs blog

Looking for a law job?  The author of Tech Law Advisor has created a Legal Jobs blog.  The blog posts some job ads and will also point to articles and links about the legal job market.

Start your own law practice?

The ABA's Young Lawyer Division 2004-2005 project theme is Unlock Your Potential.  It's goal is to help young lawyers better determine whether or not law is the right career choice.  A terrific Resource Guide (79 page .pdf) delves into the details of starting your own law practice.  The introductory set of questions may assist a new lawyer with finding out if solo practice is right for them.