The Shark

hoping for an end-of-summer offer? chances are getting bigger that it'll come with a deferral

[pam]

OK, I think we are seeing the harbingers of critical mass. Morgan, Lewis did it. Orrick followed, and so did Hogan & Hartson. And now Weil Gotshal is telling its current summer associates, Hey, if you're lucky enough to get a full-time offer at the end of this summer, don't think you're lucky enough to be start within a year of graduation.

ATL reported this morning that Weil has jumped on the second-round-of-deferrals bandwagon. (And that Covington & Burling swears it won't.)

One thing that seems to set Weil apart, though, is that it's calling this deferral -- until January 2012 -- optional.

We paraphrase the Weil highlights, culled from the ATL item:

* Each summer associate who gets an offer at the end of the summer will have the option of deferring his or her start date from January 2011 to January 2012.

* Those who elect to defer will receive health care benefits.

* If you wanna use your year off to travel or something, health care is all you get.

* But if you spend 1,000 hours during the deferral year performing some form of firm-approved public service, you'll get a $75,000 stipend, too.

Pam Smith is an associate editor for Cal Law.

your profs suffer the economy's wrath right along with you, and some of them would prefer layoffs to pay cuts

[petra]

With pay cuts on the way, most University of California law professors won’t be happy puppies come fall.

But to hear two law deans tell it, students will hardly notice a thing (unless, we’re guessing, the professor ranks start thinning).

The UC Regents voted today to endorse UC President Mark Yudof’s proposal to cut all UC staff and faculty salaries by 4 to 10 percent and force them to take furlough days for the next academic year.

Two Boalt faculty have said that smart organizations choose layoffs over across-the-board pay cuts. Robert Cooter and Aaron Edlin propose in an L.A. Times opinion piece today that layoffs can help a bloated organization get rid of deadwood, while salary cuts encourage the best to leave.

Dean Michael Schill at UCLA's law school admits that no one is excited about these developments. Most of its professors will see a reduction in their pay ranging from 8 percent to 9 percent. According to tables from the UC finance committee, salaries in that range fall between $90,000 and $240,000. [Salary tables can be viewed here (.pdf)]

Asked whether he worried this will make some bolt to better-paying jobs, Schill said he’ll do whatever it takes to hang on to professors and attract new ones. “They know that I’m committed to competitive salaries,” he said. “I am committed that this will just be a blip.”

As the entire UC system deals with an $813 million hole in state funding, Schill and Boalt Dean Chris Edley maintain that students' services and programs will be spared.

Both say alumni have stepped up. Schill said UCLA law has just wrapped up its second most successful fundraising year. “Alumni understand that the only way we will be competitive with our peer institutions will be through philanthropy,” he said.

Edley says Boalt’s also in better shape than other Berkeley schools because the school’s in the fourth year of raising tuition to be closer to market.

“Our $120 million construction project, with no state support, continues apace, but in other respects we are tightening our belts in ways that will protect the student experience and sustain our competitiveness,” Edley wrote in an e-mail yesterday. “This is tough, but not frightening.”

Petra Pasternak is a Cal Law reporter.

Berkeley Law comes out with its list of helpful whatnots for students and alums in a financial pickle this year

[petra pasternak]

Berkeley Law may not be the first school to roll out help for its financially strapped students and grads, but it is thorough.

Last Friday, Dean Chris Edley sent a memo to Boalties describing a bunch of measures the school is working on to alleviate some of the pressures that students and recent grads have been straining under.

Though the help may be more meaningful to younger students, there’s a bit of something for people in various stages of their careers.

Details, and link to the memo, after the jump.

linx: why wait for work? reasons abound for kissing butt in law school

[pam smith]

• A California law school uses the don't panic button pencil as a way to help its people pass the Bar. And it works! (O.C. Register)

• On thinking 20 years ahead: You should be really nice to everyone now, because some day they might end up being president, or at least advising the president. Then again, if everyone thought that way, you'd have to wonder if your law school buddies really like you, or if they're just hedging their bets in case you end up surprising everyone and doing something amazing one day. (Politico, The Harvard Crimson, The Stump blog #1, #2 and #3)

• We know where Elena Kagan is going. But who will take her place? (Boston Globe)

• Judge to lying, texting mayoral aide: No law school for you! (ABA Journal)

since law school doesn't teach you this, i will

[brian lauter]

How often have you had to tell an inquisitive friend or relative, “I haven’t taken that class,” or “we didn’t have to learn that?” Probably quite a bit.

As law students, we’re rarely responsible for knowing and understanding current laws that actually relate to people we know.

Lucky for you, I’m here to help. The following is a summary of a few of the more interesting California laws taking effect in 2009. More comprehensive reviews can be found here and here.

1. No texting while driving

2. Chain restaurants with more than 20 locations must post nutritional information (effective July 1, 2009)

3. If you are on probation for DUI and are pulled over with a BAC of .01 or higher, the DMV may suspend your license for a year and impound your car

4. GPS units in cars must be located in the lower five inches of the left side of your windshield or the lower seven inches of the passenger side of your windshield

5. Schools may suspend and recommend expulsion of students who engage in cyber-bullying

6. Companies with business interests in Sudan are prohibited from bidding on state contracts for goods or services

7. Insurers may not refuse to pay the medical expenses of those injured while under the influence of drugs or alcohol

The texting law has been pretty well publicized, but you never know when your little brother will need a cease and desist order to ward off a cyber-bully, or your crazy uncle will get wasted and break his collarbone trying to pop a wheelie on a forklift.

At any rate, that should be enough to keep you and yours on the right side of the law in 2009. Excuse me while I dump my stock in the Bank of Sudan.

linx: so does this mean U.S. News should give points for ropes courses?

[pam smith]

For your Monday morning procrastination news fix:

• East Coast-West Coast rivalry: Are Harvard’s Elena Kagan and ex-Stanfordite Kathleen Sullivan headed for a smackdown over the solicitor general’s job? (Boston Globe)

• A call for more “trust falls”: Smarty-pants lawyers can totally fail if their J.D. didn't come with interpersonal skills and “emotional intelligence” (American Lawyer)

• Someone else bashing U.S. News: And no, that’s not coming from a law school. It’s coming from the chairman of K&L Gates who, we’d like to note, is also apparently a fan of emotional intelligence (National Law Journal)

• Will everyone just get off U.S. News' back for one day? U.S. News seems to be a lightning rod in every single law school controversy. Like this story that touches on the debate about whether law schools that court lots of transfer students are being all sneaky … (Chronicle of Higher Education blog)