The Shark

ATL jacking photos from minnesota law student?

[cynthia]

Jansen Dennis, a 2L at University of Minnesota, must've felt pretty thumbs up when he stumbled upon a photo he took posted on Above the Law. He might've felt less thumbs up when he realized they didn't credit him. 

Hopefully, the oversight will be rectified soon. Keep it classy, ATL.

orrick defers current summers, pushes back OCI.

[cynthia]

As if the firm got together and read the AmLaw Daily item on the subject, Orrick has announced that they will move OCI to late fall/early spring next year. Additionally, they have announced that they will defer current summers' offers to 2012. For those of you keeping track at home, that'd be firm #3. Really, I will start a chart here in a sec.

You can read the full memo at Above the Law or after the jump. Shark contributor Petra has more on this story at Cal Law (free reg. req.).

1,000+ law profs vote yes on sotomayor.

[julie anne]

Turns out that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor - or "So So" as some talking heads have dubbed her - is better than just so so, at least in the eyes of some legal scholars.

Today, more than 1,000 legal brains from law schools across the country sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee expressing their support for the confirmation of Judge Sotomayor to the highest court in the land, according to the SCOTUS Blog.

In the letter, Sotomayor is lauded for her work as a federal judge and certain soft factors she brings to the table, which are best summed up by UC Irvine School of Law dean Erwin Chemerinsky in an opinion published in the LA Times in May:

"Sotomayor has a life story unlike anyone who ever has sat on the Supreme Court. She will be a wonderful role model for girls, Latinos, those with lifelong serious illnesses and children being raised by families of modest means. She will bring all of this to the bench, and the Supreme Court will be much better off for it."

Other law deans and professors agreed. Here's a bit from the letter, which was signed by - in addition to Chemerinsky - professors and deans at the University of Berkeley School of Law, Yale Law School, Stanford Law School and Harvard Law School, among others.

"As a federal judge at both the trial and appellate levels, Judge Sotomayor has distinguished herself as a brilliant, careful, fair-minded jurist whose rulings exhibit unfailing adherence to the rule of law. Her opinions reflect careful attention to the facts of each case and a reading of the law that demonstrates fidelity to the text of statutes and the Constitution. She pays close attention to precedent and has proper respect for the role of courts and the other branches of government in our society.  She has not been reluctant to protect core constitutional values and has shown a commitment to providing equal justice for all who come before her.  

... Judge Sotomayor will bring to the Supreme Court an extraordinary personal story, academic
qualifications, remarkable professional accomplishments and much needed ethnic and gender diversity. We are confident that Judge Sotomayor’s intelligence, her character forged by her extraordinary background and experience, and her profound respect for the law and the craft of judging make her an exceptionally well-qualified nominee to the Supreme Court and we urge her speedy confirmation."

Read the letter in full at the SCOTUS Blog.

share your inspiration and get $10,000 for law school.

[julie anne]

Looking for other ways to fund your law school education, but can't make it on the Gameshow Network anytime soon?

Why not take a video camera, your sense of humor (or, if you're already a law student, what's left of it) and your story of what inspired you to go to law school and film a video for Access Group's "My Inspiration" contest.

If you win the competition, you get $10,000 to pay for law school expenses.

Here's a bit more about the competition from the press release:

"Access Group, a nonprofit graduate loan specialist, is asking law students throughout the country to think about what motivated them to pursue a legal career and create a short video showing the world the source of their enthusiasm. ... Submissions can include inspirational moments ranging from arguments won on the school playground or high school debate team to dealing with environmental challenges and more.

... Entrants can submit their videos through July 15, 2009. Then, a panel of judges will review the submissions and select ten finalists from all eligible entries received. The finalists' videos will be posted on YouTube and voted on by friends, family and the general public. The $10,000 scholarship for law school will be awarded to the entry receiving the most votes; voting begins on YouTube on August 3, 2009 with the scholarship winner announced by September 1, 2009. Up to five additional honorable mention scholarships of $1,500 each may also be awarded by a panel of judges.

The contest is open to U.S. residents 18 years of age or older who are law students (enrolled or matriculated as of August 1, 2009) and candidates for law degrees (JD or LLM) at American Bar Association provisionally approved and fully approved law schools in the United States (including the 50 states, District of Columbia and Puerto Rico)."

As of today, only six videos were posted to Access Group's YouTube page, so you may have a good shot.

You can find complete contest rules, an entry form and additional information are available online at Access Group.

army reserve major sworn in to michigan bar from baghdad's green zone.

[julie anne]

Hey, law students and recent grads. Think you've got it tough? Try being a husband, a father of three, a major in the Army Reserve getting ready to be deployed to Iraq, and a recent law school graduate getting ready to take the Michigan bar exam, which you almost miss because of said impending deployment.

Try being recent Thomas M. Cooley graduate Miles Gengler.

In true Army fashion, Gengler continued rolling along despite fighting a multi-front battle, and passed the two-day exam. Trouble is, he couldn't be sworn in to the state bar in a traditional ceremony.

That's because when he learned he was a eligible to practice law in May, Gengler was 6,000 miles away in Baghdad's Green Zone.

But with a little help from technology and Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Marilyn Kelly, Gengler was sworn in via video, according to Associated Press reporter David Eggert.

Kelly and National Guard officials told Eggert they were unaware of such a video swearing-in happening before anywhere else in the United States.

Read the rest of the article here. 

updates on depaul and university of illinois scandals.

[cynthia]

While we're all still feeling gross about Mark Sargent with prostitutes, let's take a moment to update ourselves on two more lingering law school administration scandals.

TaxProf is reporting that DePaul interim dean, state appellate judge Warren Wolfson, has rejected requests from some faculty members for his resignation. 

Wolfson, who was appointed without any involvement by the faculty after the university provost ousted Dean Weissenberger for being inadequate, wrote the following letter to those who requested he step down:

I have considered your oral and written requests that I resign my appointment as Interim Dean of the College of Law.  I respectfully decline.
You said in your letter that harm has been done to the law school's good name.  If so, the best way to repair the damage is to let go of whatever has occurred and work with me to enhance the school's future.
I assure you my first and only priority as interim dean will be to build on the accomplishments I inherit and to work to elevate the law school's standing in the national legal community. I will need the wholehearted cooperation, advice, and support of the faculty.  All of it.  When it comes time to sleect a permanent dean the faculty will, as President Holtschneider has promised, "play a full and traditional role in the search for a new dean."
I made only one commitment when I accepted the appointment. I said I would do my best to make this a law school the students and alumni can be proud of. With your help, I will keep that promise.

No movement yet on the various Facebook groups created to support ousted Dean Weissenberger.

The faculty over at University of Illinois has been busy with a letter-writing campaign, as well. A three-page letter to the Chicago Tribune, criticizing the paper for, er, over-criticizing the school made its way onto the paper's opinion pages. U of I recently made news when its law school's admissions office was revealed (by the Tribune) to be engaging in preferential admissions policies that resulted in the admission of underqualifed politically-connected students.

The letter insists that preferential admissions happen at many public universities (stating that none of the signers had ever worked at a university where they didn't happen), and even charges the Chicago Tribune to deny that its senior staff has never used the paper's reputation to assist in gaining a golden ticket to a university. 

The letter is co-signed by 16 faculty and staff, and has been identified (by me) as an "angry missive."

villanova dean's resignation coincides with report of involvement with "prostitution business."

[cynthia]

In addition to admissions scandals and inter-school wars over firings reaching Facebook, we now have a dean who resigned from his position around the same time as information leaked that he hired a hooker. 

This summer has run pretty low on summer associate scandals, but man have we had some administrator drama. I guess those in the sheltered world of academia feel better about misbehaving than all of you out there struggling to get offers. Okay.

The ABA Journal reports that Villanova Law Dean Mark Sargent has been identified as a customer of a known "prostitution business", according to a Philadelphia Police Department report. Sargent, whose resignation announcement cited personal and medical reasons for his leaving the school, paid $170 for 35 minutes of sexual contact back in November of 2008. He was lucky enough to do so on the same day as a police raid.

After the raid, Sargent provided information to the authorities (including citing "curiosity" is his reason for procuring the services), and was subsequently not charged.

According to Tax Prof, Sargent was a celebrated Catholic legal scholar, who "authored an article in the Villanova Law Review titled 'Lawyers in the Moral Maze,' which focuses on why corporate lawyers often engage in behavior that violates their own ethics. "

2010 class deferrals: already rolling in.

[cynthia]

Above the Law reported earlier today that Ropes & Gray is deferring current summer associates to 2011. 

The firm has indicated that although it does not aniticpate that it will make fewer offers to current summers than previous years, it will not be setting start dates to earlier than January 2011, leaving open the possibility that it could defer associates even more than that.

No deferment stipends have been announced. Looks like Ropes & Gray summers should ready themselves for some sitting on their hands. Take heart, though. It's happening to every overachieving kid, in every industry.

Ropes deferred its 2009 first year start dates to January 2010 back in March.

With this news, and the news of Cravath announce mandatory deferrals to this year's class of summers, looks like the 2010 deferral party has begun. We'll ready the new table of doom.

roll the dice: will you have a job after law school?

[julie anne]

The old adage that everything is bigger in Texas may not hold true for the legal market, at least for the time being.

Texas Lawyer recently talked to two recent law school graduates and one soon-to-be grad to get their perspective on the job market for newly-minted lawyers.

The article's finding after speaking with the three students?

"(N)o matter which school you go to and what grades you get, the search for a law job in 2009 takes patience, persistence and some luck."

University of Houston graduate Linda Nguyen graduated in the middle of her class and couldn't find anything in the field of law. She took a non-law job as a a project manager with Houston's Entergy Texas Inc.

Texas Wesleyan University School of Law graduate Matt Smid ranked in the top 10 percent of his class and is working as a paid intern at the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office. He doesn't have a guarantee that there'll be a paid position waiting for him at the end of his internship.

And Baylor University Law School soon-to-be graduate Cindy Yen ranked in the middle of her class and is still making calls to alumni and law firms. She has yet to find a job for when she graduates this August.

The group of students interviewed are not a representative sample of the law students in Texas, and are certainly not representative of students across the nation.

But based on previous stories that have appeared on this blog, (here's another one), and comments posted on law-related message boards, the experience of the three is not uncommon.

So where does that leave 0Ls like myself besides crossing our fingers, praying, pouring libations and giving blood sacrifices in the hope that the job market turns around?

We can take a cue from Smid, who said that even while in law school he aimed to distinguish himself with the job market in mind.

And I hate to keep bringing it back around to my journalism experience, but the journalism job market when I graduated in 2007 seems similar to the legal job market now: tons of bright-eyed, bushy-tailed graduates, very few jobs.

Based on that experience, I learned the value of not just having your ear to the ground, but also of having your foot in the door. (I worked as a news assistant at a local newspaper after graduation while waiting for a reporting position to open up.)

One of Nguyen's classmates is doing just that by clerking unpaid for a judge during the day and waiting tables at night.

Or, as Jack Hough of the New York Post suggests, rather than risk not finding a job after school, we could just forgo school and the debt that goes with it. Law school grads may earn more per annum, but, over the course of a lifetime, the non-law worker may earn more because they're not saddled with tons of debt.

Nah. I'll be different. But I'll keep my fingers crossed nonetheless.

Read the full article at Law.com.

whoopsy, i owe $400k to sallie mae!

[petra]

Can you say "a mountain of student debt?"

One former Hastings law student has made it into the New York Times, picture and all, for $400,000 in student loans earned over 26 years. 

The paper describes the lifetime of misfortunes that helped steer Robert Bowman, who’s 47, toward that astronomical sum.

His road to becoming a lawyer involved a childhood spent in foster homes, two tragic accidents and years of rehab, Hastings law school and international travel. He passed the New York bar exam in February 2008 on his fourth try.

While the committee of New York lawyers that reviews bar admission applications found his tenaciousness awesome, a group of state appellate judges didn’t agree.

They denied Bowman entry into law practice in the spring. “Applicant has not presently established the character and general fitness requisite for an attorney and counselor-at-law,” the NYT quotes them.

Bowman is now preparing to sue his way to practice, which, we’re guessing, won’t help lower that debt load. Any guesses on when he'll make his very first payment?

Petra is a Cal Law reporter.