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Articles by Tom Ogburn
Bottomline and Ecliptic Redefine Insurers Expert Management
Leader in business payments and legal spend management, Bottomline and Ecliptic Technology, the London Market choice for global expert management and spend insights, today announced a strategic relationship to offer the Bottomline Expert Bill Review solution to insurers using the Ecliptic GEMINI platform to drive further payments and process improvements for market businesses. The Ecliptic GEMINI platform is highly popular among insurance participants.
An Elite Law School Education At A Discount? Not Bad!
According to data collected by Law School Transparency, which T14 law school gives the most discounts to students? Hint: 87.5 percent of the students there receive some discount of their tuition, and the median discount is $27,000. See the answer on the next page.
Mike Lee Is Pissed Off At Chief Justice Roberts’s Sense Of Decorum
(Photo by Jabin Botsford – Pool/Getty Images) I’m grateful to the Chief Justice. He did a good job. His demeanor was great; he maintained his patience. I thought it was unfair of him to direct that at both sets of counsels. It felt like collective punishment for isolated guilt.
Oh, That’s Right! Bunches Of Biglaw Firms Still Haven’t Announced Bonuses.
There was a day when the annual holiday bonus meant an “annual holiday bonus.” Firms would announce associate bonuses well in advance of the holidays and pay them out with ample time to help everyone have a festive holiday season. These announcements would often come out right before the firm holiday party so everyone could walk up and thank the partners for sharing the wealth during the happiest season of all.
Book Review: Make LinkedIn Work For You In 2020
What a long strange trip it’s been since the book I co-authored with Carolyn Elefant, Social Media for Lawyers: The Next Frontier, was published in 2010. Back then, trying to convince lawyers to use social media for any reason was a tough sell. Very few lawyers used social media and most wanted nothing to do with it.
Biglaw Partner Accused Of Sexual Harassment By Former Grammys CEO
Deborah Dugan (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images) Greenberg Traurig partner Joel Katz is the center of a new sexual harassment Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint.
Cloud-Based Firm Thinks It Can Compete With Skadden
We’re not out here to try and be the biggest firm in the world or get the scraps of Big Law. We see ourselves as white-shoe law firm 2.0. —Co-founding partner and CEO of alternative law firm Rimon, Michael Moradzadeh, sounding off about the cloud-based firm’s ability to compete with Skadden. Rimon has made a series of international lateral hires as part of their aim to be a full-service firm for clients in finance, tech, entertainment, and the international corporate space.
What To Do At Legalweek 2020
Legalweek is two weeks away and there’s plenty of things to do for people interested in legal technology. For the unenlightened, Legalweek is American Lawyer Media’s annual conference devoted to everything related to legal technology. It used to be called simply Legaltech, but now it has morphed into three conferences in one week: Legaltech, LegalCIO and Legal Business Strategy.
Authorities Have Thrown Michael Avenatti In The Hole - Attorney Asks To Move Him To Gen Pop
When Michael Avenatti got arrested in California last week for unspecified violations of his pre-trial release, he was remanded to New York’s MCC, the prison where Jeffrey Epstein may or may not have killed himself. According to his attorney H.
Now That The Jury’s Picked, What To Expect In The Harvey Weinstein Trial
(YANN COATSALIOU/AFP/Getty Images) It took a few weeks to hand out questionnaires and vet hundreds of potential jurors but considering the sturm und drang surrounding the Harvey Weinstein sex-assault case, a jury was picked relatively quickly, queueing things up for testimony to begin Wednesday.
‘The Best And Most Serious People’ - See Also
How to Change a Tire on Moving Vehicle: Transition Your Firm’s Financial Software Without Disrupting Your Business How to Change a Tire on Moving Vehicle Upgrading your practice’s financial software can feel like trying to change a flat tire while driving on the highway: at best, it will slow down your forward movement and it might even lead to a disastrous crash.
Ken Starr And Alan Dershowitz Scheduled To Murder Irony At Senate Impeachment Trial
Just in time for the Senate impeachment trial, the White House has announced its dream team of Trump defenders. Let’s meet this motley crew of legal eagles! Quarterback Pat Cipollone, current White House Counsel, will reprise his role from the House impeachment hearings. If history is any guide, he’ll confine himself to shouting “Congressional oversight is ILLEGAL!” in response to any and all questions. You pay his salary.
Redesigning The Law
Olga V. Mack is the CEO of Parley Pro, a next-generation contract management company that has pioneered online negotiation technology. Olga embraces legal innovation and had dedicated her career to improving and shaping the future of law. She is convinced that the legal profession will emerge even stronger, more resilient, and more inclusive than before by embracing technology.
Supreme Court Awkwardly Attempts Humor - See Also
How to Change a Tire on Moving Vehicle: Transition Your Firm’s Financial Software Without Disrupting Your Business How to Change a Tire on Moving Vehicle Upgrading your practice’s financial software can feel like trying to change a flat tire while driving on the highway: at best, it will slow down your forward movement and it might even lead to a disastrous crash.
Don’t Take A Walk In This Lawyer’s Shoes
What fictional attorney — who appeared on both television and the big screen — the personal lawyer of the local hospitality concern the “Great Northern,” was a devoted family man until his inner demons compelled him to kill his daughter and niece? Hint: He could’ve been caught earlier if people checked the log more. See the answer on the next page. Love ATL? Let's make it official. Sign up for our newsletter. We will never sell or share your information without your consent. See our privacy policy.
Harvard Law School Students Protest Paul Weiss Recruiting Event
Years ago, students chatting during the precious breaks in on-campus interviewing cattle calls would ponder who among them would really be interviewing with Chadbourne & Parke. The now-deceased firm — sucked up into the Norton Rose Fulbright megalith — was on everyone’s radar as one of the firms representing big tobacco against allegations that the company had willfully deceived the public about health risks for decades.
New Year, New Look For This Biglaw Firm
Who doesn’t love a shiny new makeover? The Biglaw firm formerly known as Wiley Rein has decided to go bold in the new decade, shortening their name (at least in marketing materials) to Wiley and using the .law exchange (a move they believe to be a first for an Am Law 200 firm). Wiley.law is also shaking up their look.
Here’s A Good One For Trivia Today
Continuing our series of questions on fictional lawyers, what fictional attorney graduated top of the class from Georgetown Law in 1992 before taking almost a decade off from the law before rejoining the workforce as an associate in a law school friend’s firm? Hint: Over the course of the character’s story, there are other firms and a brief foray into government. See the answer on the next page. Love ATL? Let's make it official. Sign up for our newsletter.
How Would You Retool The Bar Exam?
While we lawyers disagree about many things, one thing that all of us, whether lawyers of whatever vintage, law students, law professors, “thinking about law school” peeps, agree on: the nightmare that is the bar exam, that last hurdle to getting licensed (assuming you’ve passed the moral fitness test and whatever other things lurk in the shadows). The bar exam: destined to freak out the most stoic, stolid, and calm.
International Law Expert Thinks Donald Trump Might Not Understand How Any Of This Works
(Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP/Getty Images) Trump’s ignorance about international law governing the use of force is extreme even by U.S. standards. — Arnold & Porter partner John Bellinger III explaining to Newsweek just how out of touch the current administration is with basic international standards.
Morning Docket: 01.15.20
(Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) * President Trump is assembling a legal “Dream Team” to defend him in his impeachment trial. [NPR] * A California lawyer has trademarked a moniker used by Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. Quite the entrepreneur. [Fox Business] * Jay-Z’s lawyer has filed a lawsuit in support of Mississippi prisoners. Since Jay-Z taught us all about the Fourth Amendment in 99 Problems, this is not surprising.
Sometimes Biglaw Should Be More Passive-Aggressive - See Also
Associate Wishes Biglaw Was A Thankless Job: Or at least one punctuated with some periods of finality. Alcohol Police To The Rescue: Linklaters has sober chaperones for their drinking parties. What’s So Bad About Clickbait?: Larry Lessig sues the Times. Game Of Thrones May Be Gone: But its terrible legal takes continue. More On Kirkland’s Non-Equity Situation: We talk about it in podcast form if you want your ATL content faster and while you commute. Love ATL? Let's make it official.
A Judge And A Hero
What fictional judge made their debut in comics in 1977 and has appeared in multiple media formats including movies, novels and video games? Hint: The character got their start in comic books, and in 2011, IGN ranked them 35th among the top 100 comic book heroes of all time. See the answer on the next page. Love ATL? Let's make it official. Sign up for our newsletter. We will never sell or share your information without your consent. See our privacy policy.
Law School Professor Sues New York Times For ‘Clickbait’
The New York Times building (photo by David Lat). I love the Times. I know that journalism is hard, and deadlines are short. So I when I asked the Times to correct these two false and defamatory statements, I fully expected they would, and I fully expected that would be the end of it. And I so I was astonished when they not only refused to fix the mistake, but doubled down on the absurdity of their justifications.
3 Takeaways From Unified Patents’ 2019 Dispute Report
Effective IP litigators stay abreast of trends in their area of practice. They can then make sure that they are advising clients based on current, rather than stale, information. Thankfully, there is no lack of easily accessible statistics for IP litigators to digest these days, whether via the IP media or from IP-focused organizations, such as law firms or IP service providers.
Trump Judge Tries To Put Reasonable Spin On ‘I Don’t Like Trans People,’ Fails
When a pro se federal prisoner’s name change motion reached the Fifth Circuit, the appellant made the additional request that the court employ feminine pronouns. At this point, the court could — without much trouble — just use feminine pronouns.
Law Firm Leaders Think It’s About Time To Completely Freak Out
The U.S. economy brought to you by Thanos of Titan. Kent Brockman: Professor, without knowing precisely what the danger is, would you say it’s time for our viewers to crack each other’s heads open and feast on the goo inside? Professor: Yes I would, Kent.
Giving Up On Your Lawyer Dreams For Big Money? That Sounds Pretty Accurate.
What sitcom character’s career evolved from law student to judge over the course of 9 seasons? Hint: The fictional character’s career path also included the very realistic turn of stifling his public interest aspirations for a corporate gig. See the answer on the next page.
Suicide In The Legal Profession Is All ‘Too Common’ A Story
Ian was no different from you—a brilliant, driven, professional struggling internally to meet the demands of work he loved and feeling unable to seek help because of intense fear around the stigma of mild mental health issues and diabetes. His story is also not too different from that of countless men (mostly) and women in the law who have also taken their own lives. He was coping reasonably well until suddenly he wasn’t, and it was too late.
Esteemed Legal Scholars Giuliani And Pirro Urge SCOTUS To Decree Impeachment Illegal Under Marbury v. Madison
The universe of people who make Rudy Giuliani look sane by comparison is pretty small. Luckily Fox News runs a full-employment program for the differently competent, and so it was that the president’s pro bono lawyer spent Saturday night on Judge Jeanine Pirro’s Howler Monkey Power Hour airing his new theory of the case. Apparently, Marbury v. Madison dictates that Chief Justice Roberts must now descend like an avenging angel and declare that impeachment is illegal.
20 Things Top Of Mind In 2020
“Come senators, congressmen, please heed the call / Don’t stand in the doorway, don’t block up the hall / For he that gets hurt will be he who has stalled / The battle outside ragin’ will soon shake your windows and rattle your walls / For the times they are a-changin’.” — Bob Dylan The new year often makes one think about the last year, the present, and what the future holds.
NY Sexual Assault Defamation Judge To Trump: FUHGEDDABOUTIT!
(Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images) Well, that didn’t take long. On Friday afternoon, Donald Trump’s lawyers filed a motion to dismiss E. Jean Carroll’s defamation suit against him based on a claim that New York courts lack personal jurisdiction over their client.
Morning Docket: 01.10.20
* Troutman Sanders and Pepper Hamilton have merged to form Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders. Congrats to all involved, but they could work on their name… [The American Lawyer] * A Florida government lawyer has been fired after his arrest on child porn charges. [Tallahassee Democrat] * The jury is out about whether Harvey Weinstein’s female lead defense lawyer might help him beat criminal charges. [Reuters] * The lawyer for Covington Catholic families is also suing a former CNN host.
Law Schools Are Losing A Buttload Of Money
From 2010 to 2016, how much in annual revenue did law schools lose? Hint: The study, Competitive Coping Strategies in the American Legal Academy: An Empirical Study, looked at the tuition and discounting data to arrive at the conclusion that law schools are doing a lot worse over that time period. See the answer on the next page. Love ATL? Let's make it official. Sign up for our newsletter. We will never sell or share your information without your consent. See our privacy policy.
Women Need To Not Take What Law Firms Give Them At Face Value
I’ve very rarely had a male candidate accept the offer terms as they were given. Men will negotiate every point of an offer, while women a lot of times will take whatever the offer is at face value. —Shannan Rahman, managing partner at The Partners Group, told Law.com how negotiation effects the compensation of men versus women.
In Memoriam… To All The Law Firms We Lost Last Decade
With the 2010s wrapping up, Joe and Kathryn focus on all the law firms we’ve lost over the last decade. Industry pressures, bad strategies, and fraud allegations managed to put several former mainstays to rest over the last 10 years. What lessons can we take from the demise of these once-proud firms? Where is this whole profession heading? Will this next recession finish off what 2009 started? Love ATL? Let's make it official. Sign up for our newsletter.
Maybe Hiring Sidney Powell Was A Huge, Monstrous Mistake For Michael Flynn
Gen. Michael Flynn (Photo by the Defense Department via Wikimedia) Based on the defendant’s conduct since the time of the December 18, 2018, sentencing hearing, the government also does not believe the defendant should receive credit for acceptance of responsibility. Indeed, the government has reason to believe, through representations by the defendant’s counsel, that the defendant has retreated from his acceptance of responsibility in this case regarding his lies to the FBI.
Florida Felon Disenfranchisement F*ckery Backfires
Be careful what you wish for, Florida Man! In 2018, voters in the Sunshine State passed a constitutional amendment restoring voting rights to felons who have completed their terms of parole and probation. There are 1.4 million disenfranchised adults in Florida, including 1 in 5 of the state’s black voters. And in 2018, the GOP candidates took the state house and senate race by fewer than 35,000 votes each. So naturally, the state’s Republicans swung into action.
Tales From The Left Coast
I haven’t written about California lawyers and judges for at least a couple of weeks (“bowl of dicks,” anyone?). Yes, I know lots of readers could care less about lawyer life here in California, especially since our cut score is the highest, second only to Delaware, but to use the title of a 1960s Lesley Gore song, ‘it’s my party,” and the East Coast bias that ATL shows prompts me to write about life west of the Hudson.
Carlos Ghosn Lashes Out At Latham & Watkins
Carlos Ghosn Photo by: BsBsBs [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)] If you went into a coma on Christmas day, and just woke up now, the story of Carlos Ghosn is probably the one you’d have the hardest time believing.
Iran May Retaliate Against Trump Brand, Making Trump First President Since Eisenhower To Risk Most Important Thing In The World To Him
If you’d asked me two weeks ago who Qassem Soleimani was, I wouldn’t have had a clue. Oh, you know more about world events than me? OK, name three currently serving top generals of foreign countries we are not at war with. Go ahead, I’ll wait. Remember, you can’t use your smartphone. That’s cheating. Alright, I think we’ve sufficiently established that nobody here knew who Qassem Soleimani was before Donald Trump decided to drop a bomb on him without asking whether it was okay with the rest of us.
Gaming Billionaire Gambles On Stiffing His Lawyers… Loses
Kazuo Okada made billions in gambling, as the tech geek who figured out how to make slot machines register a “near miss” to prompt the weak willing to shovel another quarter into the maw of avarice. Before it was all said and done, Okada’s slot machine company owned roughly 20 percent of Wynn Resorts and had its own independent casino in Manila. But his latest gamble — not paying his $50 million legal fees — didn’t pay off.
Morning Docket: 01.08.20
(Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images) * A donor connected to President Trump’s inaugural committee has plead guilty to obstruction of justice. [Fox News] * A Long Island lawyer has been charged with stealing 300k from a former client. That’s not even a lot of money for “Strong” Island. [Newsday] * The San Francisco City Attorney has ordered that a rebel e-scooter company cease and desist operations. What a buzzkill.
Latest Law School Rankings Are Nonsense - See Also
USNWR Has More Law School Rankings: Spoiler alert — these ones are silly. Big Money: Mediocre law school. FedSoc Has More Plans For The Judiciary: This should (not) work out well. Arrest Made In Case Of Slain Attorney: Police believe the lawyer was able to save two children before he died. Author And Yale Law School Grad Elizabeth Wurtzel Died: Rest in peace. Love ATL? Let's make it official. Sign up for our newsletter. We will never sell or share your information without your consent.
Skadden Partner Laterals Rather Than Face Mandatory Retirement
There was a desire on my part to continue a very active practice and do so unencumbered by institutional requirements that ran contrary to that. When you add in the respect and affection I have for people here [at Mayer Brown] from prior experiences, it was a relatively easy decision.
Update: Driving Forward With A Right Of Election Claim In Cars’ Ric Ocasek’s Estate
Ric Ocasek Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images) As anticipated, Paulina Porizkov, wife of Cars rocker, Ric Ocasek has filed a Right of Election claim against the deceased’s estate in New York County Surrogate’s Court. Porizkov and Ocasek were married for 30 years, but allegedly separated when she discovered him dead, in his Manhattan home on September 15, 2019.
‘Slap A Number On It, Who Cares?’: The US News Law School Ranking Story
It’s hard to believe, but U.S. News & World Report used to be a publication that delivered domestic news and a world report. But almost no one remembers USNWR for that role. For most people, the only time the USNWR even crosses their mind is when they’re scanning the latest rankings release of the best colleges, business schools, med schools, or, obviously, law schools.
Elizabeth Wurtzel, Literary Lioness And Lawyer, Dies At 52
Elizabeth Wurtzel (photo by me, taken at a party I hosted years ago) Elizabeth Wurtzel, the celebrated writer who skyrocketed to fame with her 1994 memoir, Prozac Nation, passed away today at a hospital here in Manhattan. As her husband, Jim Freed, told the Washington Post, the immediate cause of death was leptomeningeal disease (cancer spreading to the cerebrospinal fluid); the more long-term cause was breast cancer, which Wurtzel had struggled with over the years. She was 52.
Law Professors Swarm The Beltway
I think everyone was in a bit of a funk this AALS. 2019 was hard on everyone. That mostly isn’t the fault of AALS. For those not in the know, the American Association of Law Schools (AALS) Annual Meeting takes place in early January. This year it was in Washington, D.C. Many people I spoke with felt a little off. Hey, look at me, vying to be a TV journalist by using the phrase “some people are saying!” Maybe it was the hotel.
The Gotcha Moment They’ve All Been Waiting For
Recharged and refreshed after a long winter’s break, I’ll admit that my new year kicked off with a bit of a bang. The questions posed were simple enough: “What are the minimum purchase requirements, and when can we terminate the agreement without penalty?” The answers were not so simple. You see, after the junior counsel threw up his hands in unequivocal surrender, I spend hours putting together a masterpiece of a matrix of one of the most complex and sloppily drafted contracts I’ve ever seen.
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