Gender: Female
Industry: Law
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How (not) to be a lousy lawyer

Dan Hull of What About Clients (http://www.whataboutclients.com/) has presented on his blog a handy list of 7 things to do if you want to become an ineffective attorney.

1. Be risk-averse at all times. Clients have come to expect this from their lawyers. It's tradition. Honor it.

2. Tell the client only what it can't do. Business clients are run by business people who take risks. They need to be managed, guided, stopped. Don't encourage them.

3. Whatever you do, don't take a stand, and don't make a recommendation. (You don't want to be wrong, do you?)

4. Treat the client as a potential adversary at all times. Keep a distance.

5. Cover yourself. Write a lot to the client. Craft lots of confirming letters which use clauses like "it is our understanding", "our analysis is limited to..." and "we do not express an opinion as to whether..."

6. Churn up extra fees with extra letters and memoranda and tasks. Milk the engagement. (If you are going to be a weenie anyway, you might as well be a sneaky weenie.)

7. As out-house counsel, you are American royalty. Never forget that.

According to legend, this list was found in an abandoned church and dated back to the mid-19th Century. Hull casts doubts on the legend because of the word "weenie," but the list is still worth contemplating.

06-28-2006

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Lawyers in love

Anonymous Law Student (http://anonymouslawstudent.com/) has offered up a blog entry about the hazards attorneys face in their romantic relationships. The blogger sent out a questionnaire about attorneys and their wives, husbands, boyfriends, and girlfriends. The responses painted a rather bleak picture for lawyers in love.

The majority of the respondents claimed that the pitfalls of legal practice, particularly as a young associate, were enough to kill most romantic relationships. The long hours in the office mean less time to spend with a significant other. Most respondents claimed that criminal litigation was the worst practice area to balance with a love life, though nearly all agreed that any big law practice could suffocate a relationship.

Another major complaint was about taking work home. Even when a lawyer can manage to take time away from work for a romantic dinner, they are likely to be distracted by a big case. Inability to separate one's self from their work was reportedly a huge contributing factor to the dissolution of relationships.

The nature of a lawyer's training also made sustaining a relationship a challenge. Law school teaches attorneys to argue effectively. Big law firms make attorneys fiercely competitive. These traits can make for trouble in a relationship.

Of course, some respondents felt that the risks of relationships for attorneys were not much different than the risks facing other professionals. Lack of communication and trust can be a problem for any couple, regardless of what they do for a living. Probably the best responses to Anonymous Law Student's questionnaire came from E. Thomas Kemp of the Kemplaw blog (http://www.kemplog.com/). He said that some people are just screwed up, attorneys or not, and they will find trouble in any relationship.

06-27-2006

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Touched by Scalia

Some attorneys would be honored to be cited by a Supreme Court Justice. Professor Sam Walker, a leading criminologist, was not so pleased when Justice Scalia quoted him in the Hudson decision, which ruled that police are capable of regulating themselves.

Scalia quoted from Walker's book "Taming the System: The Control of Discretion in Criminal Justice," to prove that the courts don't need oversight of police because police forces have internal discipline systems. What the book actually says, however, is that internal police discipline systems were only created because judicial oversight forced them to do so.

Walker says he was horrified to learn that his work was being used to support claims opposed to the ones in his own book. He sees Scalia's citation as a misuse of the quote.

06-26-2006

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Video on Judged

Check it out. We've added streaming video to our homepage.

You'll find crazy video of dudes wiping out on motorbikes, freaks going bananas, George Bush saying something dumb, celebrities making fools of themselves, and whatever crazy crap we feel like throwing up there.

The videos will be updated a couple times each day. So check back often. If you miss a day or something, we have an archive of all our videos that you can see here(http://www.judged.com/jdvideoarchives.php) .

06-23-2006

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Changes to Judged law firm listings on main page

If you haven't noticed, we've modified the main page a bit.

We're trying to keep the site as comprehensive as possible but also easy to navigate. Previously, on the main page, we had the top and lowest ranked law firms listed. We had all the firms from our database, the big firms, the mid-sized firm, and the small firms all ranked together.

We've modified it slightly. Now, on the main page, you'll see the top and lowest ranked big major firms. You can still check the overall highs and lows on the Judged Elite page... but the main page is now just rankings for the mega-huge firms. People were complaining that they just wanted to check like Cooley Godward and Jones Day, for example, and if they weren't one of the top toppest or low lowest firms that week, they'd have to search for them.

Now its easier to find the rankings of the big big big firms on the main page. And all the overall rankings are still available, just not on the main Judged homepage.

06-23-2006

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