Career in the Law Consider an unusual career in law. Television networks enhance a glamorous stereotype of the legal profession in such programs as Law and Order, Family Law, and The Practice. However, television networks-and movie production companies as well - take this perception to extremes in such sitcoms as Ally McBeal and Ed, and such movies as The Firm. These same productions stress... (4 views)
How Administrative Agencies Function In Sync with the Legal System Most federal and state administrative agencies have regional field offices that provide information to the public, receive complaints, conduct investigations, and carry out other functions assigned them. The regional offices of the Food and Drug Administration, for example, have investigation units, which conduct inspections of manufacturing and processing plants; research... (56 views)
Administrative Agency Activities and the Legal System The rise of administrative bodies probably has been the most significant legal trend of the last century and perhaps more values today are affected by their decisions than by those of all the courts. . . . They also have begun to have important consequences on personal rights. . . . They have become a veritable fourth branch of the Government, which has deranged our... (166 views)
Protecting Reputation of the Profession The bar has some problems. None is more acute than that of its professional reputation. In the jargon of the day the term employed is its "public relations," but a simpler expression is preferred. The reason it is important to you is that it is going to affect your behavior, to govern your conduct, and to impose some very real obligations upon you. In other words, just as... (8 views)
Recent Changes in Law Practice The practice of law has changed dramatically in the past decade. As you prepare to enter the profession, it is critical to be aware of the changes within and outside the legal field and how lawyers and firms are responding to these new developments. (442 views)
Attorney Donations and Guidelines Virtually every attorney or firm makes contributions of some kind. Establishing guidelines for donations, however small they may be, can increase the benefit of the donation to both the recipient and the attorney. Methods are direct donations of cash to the organization's general fund or sponsorship of an advertisement or activity that in turn supports the group. (134 views)
The Legal Job Marketplace Who has not heard that there are too many lawyers? Part of the reason that the legal job market has continued to expand may be attributed to the increasing complexity of society and the concomitant demand placed upon it for legal solutions to problems. (10 views)
How Viable is Law Practice Still as a Noble Profession The life of a lawyer is hardly happy-go-lucky. First, you are a human, and then, you are a lawyer. This simple fact continually fails in registering itself, while we are engrossed in doing our daily tasks and meeting deadlines. So stress keeps piling up, substance abuse becomes common, families break down, tripping up and getting caught in the web of professional... (2317 views)
General Counsel Pay Becoming More Performance-Oriented The recent Law Department Compensation Survey released the Association of Corporate Counsel clearly proves that the recession might be over for many businesses, but the lessons learned from the recession are here to stay. Resources and cost optimization have become a greater priority than ever before. So, compensation strategies are being designed keeping cost... (469 views)
Why General Counsel Support ''Convergence'' in External Law Firms From the middle of the 1990s, more and more large businesses have started discarding the trend of having a large number of external service providers, or external law firms to handle their work, and are instead emphasizing on the ''convergence'' model. To an extent, this shift has been both proposed and encouraged by general counsel to reflect the trend of having their pay... (311 views)
Things Are Looking Up For Law Firm Associates This holiday season is looking good for law firm associates. It seems, the drought is ultimately over with Cravath awarding year-end bonuses to first-year associates that are at least 33% higher than bonuses awarded last year. For senior associates at Cravath, the hike in bonuses has exceeded 60%. (51 views)
The Legal Profession is Low in Diversity and only Slowly Growing A new study looking at diversity in the legal profession has discovered it remains lamentably poor. Despite the leadership and the sort of litigation issues brought out by lawyers, they remain one of the least diversified of professions. According tot he Institute for the Inclusion in the Legal Profession (IILP) women make up 47.3 percent of awarded JDs in 2011 but only... (1288 views)
What a New Survey Says about Women in Law Equality in the workplace is perking up in the legal industry, according to the 2012 Working Mother & Flex-Time Lawyers Best Law Firms for Women. Though the people behind the survey are still hoping firms will meet "critical mass" they are pleased that the stats are heading in the right direction. (1 views)
KPMG Survey Shows Role of GCs Growing Beyond ''Necessary Evil'' In a recent survey report released in November 2012 by KPMG, named “Beyond the Law,” and reporting “KPMG’s global study of how General Counsel are turning risk to advantage,” it was observed that General Counsel are definitely on the path to becoming an integral part of business, rather than being viewed as ''necessary evil.'' (18 views)
General Counsel Having Better Pay in 2012: Equilar Survey The 2012 In-Depth Top General Counsel Compensation Report published by Equilar, a well-recognized executive compensation research firm, shows the median compensation for General Counsels at Fortune 1000 companies to be $1.4M, and outpacing the growth of compensation for CEOs. Now that’s something to think about, and something quite far from the doom and gloom preached... (26 views)
Who is a ''Supervisor'' for Employer Liability? All Eyes Are Glued to Vance v. Ball State University For an in-house counsel vicarious employer liability for the acts of a supervisor is an important issue and currently there seems to be a split between the circuit courts in the definition of a “supervisor” when it comes to employer liability. The matter of Vance v. Ball State University is scheduled to come up for hearing on Nov. 26, 2012, and it is important because... (18 views)
Planning to Pursue a Legal Career In The United States? Painting a Realistic Picture The past few years have witnessed tremendous economic turbulence around the world. The economy, broadly speaking, has been very tumultuous, making survival a big question for many businesses and organizations in the United States and globally as well. The same can be said about legal education, law firms and legal services industry in the country. Today, as the world... (39 views)
The Changing Face of Law Firm Compensation The recently released Partner Compensation Survey, 2012, by Major, Lindsey & Africa, exhibits some definitive changes in the ways partners and attorneys look at law firm compensation – changes that are interesting for attorneys in comparing what others think to their own perceptions. (93 views)
Attorney-Client Privilege and the Ohio State University Scandal Attorney-client privilege is a serious matter and not to be trifled with, as Columbus lawyer Christopher T. Cicero is learning to his chagrin while fighting to keep his law license. To be an attorney, sometimes, it seems to be a task of being human and inhuman at the same time. Human, because we need to empathize with our clients in order to serve them, and inhuman because... (25 views)
The Rise and Fall of In-house Counsel Salaries, 2012 In-house counsel almost always have a cash component in their salaries and another component that includes “stock options exercised and stock value realized” (as put by the 2012 GC Compensation survey by Corporate Counsel). The real rise and fall happens in the second component of in-house salaries, which quite often is greater than the cash component, and also subject... (421 views)
Are You Ready for the Bench: The Implications of Low Judicial Salaries Many attorneys consider the career option of becoming a federal judge, or at least spend some time thinking about it. The prestige, the power, the trappings of authority and social respect associated with a position in the judiciary is obvious, however, more often than not, it’s a secure and certain pay package at the end of the month that seems most attractive about the... (40 views)
Diversity in Law Firms - Myth vs. Reality Diversity has been one of the most discussed topics in law firms over the past few decades. Firms like Skadden established policies that supported diversity long before the concept of “diversity in workplaces” was universally recognized. The reason was simple – human beings do differentiate themselves into groups based on race, ethnicity, and gender and bond with... (39 views)
The Generation Y Legal Professionals Though the distinction is a bit questionable because it does not presuppose a homogenous class with uniform class attributes, there is enough commonality in attitudes and perspectives of those born in the mid- 1980s and after to be categorized separately as Generation Y. Generation Y is also referred to as the Millenials, is considered to be more than 70 million in number,... (15 views)
In-House Counsel Salaries As the latest NALP reports have already shown, the percentage of law graduates in jobs requiring an attorney license is the lowest since 1974, and similarly, the percentage of law graduates in non-lawyer jobs and jobs that do not require an attorney license is the highest ever. The in-house counsel remains somewhere in between – many in-house positions do not require an... (6635 views)
How Does 2012 Measure Up for GCCs? I remember an article I read in 2007, where the vice president of Hughes & Sloan Inc had commented, ''For corporations looking for lawyers, it's a buyer's market, so they can be picky about who gets in-house legal jobs.'' 2007 was when the economy had suddenly realized and sullenly admitted that it was already in the depths of an acute recession. (1 views)
Workplace Discrimination Remains Strong In an ideal world, we would have reached a point in the modern workplace where discrimination issues no longer exist. However, as evidenced by the ongoing need for agencies such as the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Labor Department, this is far from true. (5 views)
Market Outlook for Legal Profession Jobs in 2012 The new year is upon us, and that can mean only one question is at the forefront of most people's minds interested in the legal profession: do you really want to become a lawyer? With tuition rates on the rise and the American Bar Association telling people to think carefully before applying to law school, it would behoove you to give the question its fair due. (43 views)
LawCrossing Salary Survey of Lawyer Salaries in Best Law Firms A recent LawCrossing Salary Survey of Lawyer Salaries of Best Law Firms survey asked attorneys about their experiences working for 94 different law firms. While the survey asked a variety of questions regarding associate life, vacation time, benefits, and firm demands, one of the more interesting components involved the salary and bonus assessment. What follows is a... (4567 views)
Burgeoning Opportunities in Environmental Law In recent years, there's been a huge upswing in the need for all things environmental - and that includes not only those educated and experienced in environmental law - lawyers and paralegals included, but law students in schools all over the country. (110 views)
Attorneys: Alternative Career, Anyone? In the recent nationaljurist.com article, ''More lawyers seeking alternative careers'', former attorney and author Hillary Mantis discusses the fact that about seventy percent of the law graduates from 2010 are employed at jobs for which passing the bar is a requirement, according to the National Association for Law Placement employment report. Since NALP began collecting... (43 views)