Author: TSA Press

When the Ken Burns documentary about the Central Park Five came out in 2012, there was a petition put up by Columbia Law students to get Elizabeth Lederer — the chief prosecutor in the case — removed from her position as a lecturer at the law school.

The school did nothing. Lederer, who is also still a senior counselor in the Manhattan D.A.’s office, continues to teach at Columbia Law.

Now, with release of Ava Duvernay’s Netflix miniseries When They See Us, Columbia students are once again asking that the law school cut ties with this disgraced woman who helped put five children in jail for a crime they didn’t commit.

Here’s part of a letter from the Columbia Black Law Students Association:

Since Lederer’s integral role in the case has received a national spotlight, there have been multiple efforts urging Columbia Law School to take action. In 2013 a petition was circulated, which gained thousands of signatures and demanded the removal of Lederer. Instead of taking decisive action to address the issue, Columbia Law School simply removed the Central Park jogger case from Lederer’s online bio. Now, with the release of Ava Duvernay’s When They See Us on Netflix, Columbia’s inaction on this subject shows a disconnect between the values Columbia purports and the actions the Law School takes. Another petition, circulated by our brothers, sisters, and non-binary friends at Columbia University Black Students’ Organization, has gained thousands of signatures and again demands for the removal of Elizabeth Lederer.

Before some of you conservatives pull out your “scholarly debate” violin, let me stop you. There is no “scholarly” debate here. There is no academically defensible position that says “sometimes, you just gotta round up all the n***ers and see which one of them breaks.” There’s no scholarly position that says “once you’ve been proven wrong, by direct scientific evidence, you should never apologize or speak about your errors, and instead keep going like nothing ever happened.”

Lederer is emblematic not just of how the white legal system hunts and predates on black and brown children, she’s not only emblematic of how prosecutors use and abuse their discretion, she’s emblematic for how prosecutors are taught to defend their past transgressions even in the face of clear and convincing evidence that they were wrong. It has been SEVEN YEARS since DNA evidence exonerated the Central Park Five. Seven years! There have now been two films detailing how Lederer and the rest of her cronies railroaded these kids. That’s given Lederer more than enough time to apologize. That’s given her more than enough time to learn from her mistakes, try to make amends, and start her long path to redemption.

Instead, she can’t even be bothered to publicly comment on the issue, and all Columbia Law can do is scrub her bio.

If Lederer had reckoned with her mistakes and apologized for them, I could see an argument for keeping her on as a lecturer. After all, lawyers are going to make mistakes. They’re going to pursue the wrong leads. They’re going to defend the wrong people or prosecute the wrong people. How they ethically deal with their bad calls is at least as important as how they make the good calls. There’s a universe in which people could learn something from Elizabeth Lederer.

But first she’d have to learn something herself. And it appears she’s unable or unwilling to do that. NOTHING can be gained by the students at Columbia Law from a teacher who remains so pigheaded who can’t even apologize to the victims of her failure. Columbia should not be teaching their students that being a lawyer means never having to say you’re sorry. And God forbid that anybody graduates from Columbia Law secure in the knowledge that if they shamelessly railroad unaccompanied minors into false confessions, future employers will look the other way as long as their conviction rates are high enough.

Lederer, in her current form, has no business being in the arena of any law student, much less an allegedly elite school like Columbia. By keeping her on, Columbia Law sends a message to its black and brown students that those who prey upon their communities will be rewarded.

And if that’s not enough of a reason for Columbia Law to cut ties with her, we need to ask why Columbia Law school is willing to defend a person who, at the very least, was terrible at her job and hasn’t bothered to learn anything from her experience. I mean, Columbia is supposed to be a SCHOOL, right? Not a halfway house for disgraced lawyers involved in high-profile malfeasance. Who are they going to hire next, Bill Barr?

You can read the full BLSA letter on the next page. Maybe this time Columbia will do what it should have done seven years ago.

A reputable California law firm is seeking an experienced labor and employment associate for its Sacramento office.

The ideal candidate will have 4-7 years of experience defending employers against claims for wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment and retaliation.

Must have strong writing and research skills and taking and defending depositions. Must be barred in CA.To be considered, please submit your resume to jobs@kinneyrecruiting.com.

William Gibbs McAdoo, the founding partner of what white shoe Biglaw firm, is also known for his political career, having served as Treasury Secretary under Woodrow Wilson? He also ran for the Democratic nomination for president in 1920. Though he led in the first ballot at the convention, his nomination was ultimately blocked by Wilson — who has also McAdoo’s father-in-law. [Awkward.] Wilson had hoped a deadlocked convention would lead to calls for him to serve a third term in office.

Hint: McAdoo is also known for serving as general counsel for the founders of United Artists, taking a 20 percent share of the venture for the effort.

See the answer on the next page.

Kirkland & Ellis is raking in the dollars these days and isn’t ashamed to let everyone know about it. Kirkland’s so far and away ahead of the competition that a recent study suggested that it’s worth almost double its nearest competitor, even dunking on Toys R Us. No one is missing the newsflash that it’s now Kirkland’s world and we all live in it.

At least until the private equity space collapses.

But we’ve received reports that the firm must have worried that U.S. associates were missing out on the news because the firm convened its routine firm meeting and offered an hour-long town hall to tell everyone about how rapidly the firm is growing, how efficiently the firm has cut costs, and how much more the partners are taking home in profits. Equity partners, anyway.

It’s the sort of presentation that one wouldn’t expect an associate would need to forfeit a billable hour to attend… unless it was setting up some exciting news. Perhaps this was the prelude to: “And therefore without even dimming our dreams of a new summer home in the South of France, we’re giving you all $5K to spend this summer!”

Alas, the presentation just sort of ended after telling all the young lawyers about the partner largesse. During the Q&A period, someone allegedly asked about summer bonuses and the firm responded that those certainly weren’t planned unless the market moved, prompting Gunderson Dettmer to wonder when they became chopped liver over here.

Apparently associates overlooked the small part they had inadvertently played in “how efficiently the firm has cut costs.”

While Kirkland is, in many ways, the model of “Biglaw firm as corporate business,” taking as many cues from the Fortune 100 as it does the Am Law 100, an all-hands meeting to gloat about share price is one they probably should have left on the cutting room floor. When a megacorporation invites everyone to see how profitable the company is, the reason that doesn’t end in guillotines is that even the lowliest staff members have some stock options in their pockets and see the slightest profitability jump as impacting them directly — if ever so slightly. But when the partners in a law firm boost PPP by another $200K, the associates don’t get anything out of the deal.

Unless they get a gratuitous summer bonus, that is.

Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

Joe and Elie chat with Ryan Steadman of Zero about legal technology and how to drive adoption among a profession that’s notoriously averse to tech. Zero manages email retention by automatically filing communications with the help of a practical AI system — the sort of inbox management that used to require an afternoon of labor or setting up a million rules. Ultimately, the key to legal tech adoption may be gravitating toward the familiar rather than loading up on flash.

Have you heard of Legal Geek? Maybe not. But they have been shaking up the European LegalTech scene since 2016 thanks to their now-legendary Legal Geek Conference in London. And on June 25th the U.S. legal tech sector will have the chance to see what all the fuss is about as Legal Geek is holding a North American edition for the very first time in Brooklyn, New York.

The event will bring together some of the most influential figures from the European and North American legal tech communities for one day only.

It’s a big deal because the Legal Geek approach to legal conferences has A LOT of fans in Europe. Legal Geek is different because they build their events solely around the experience of the delegate.

What does that look like? Well, for one, the conference will feature 40+ international kick-ass speakers, keeping to 8-minute speaker slots – TED Talk style – whom Legal Geek has encouraged to keep their content real.

This isn’t a conference for futurists.

This approach forces each speaker to deliver crystal-clear messages, which helps keep delegates engaged and asking for more. It also brings out people’s creative sides. At their 2017 London conference, for example, Kira Systems CEO Noah Waisberg brought an avocado and a toaster on stage to illustrate his talk. It’s the sort of an event that has even trended on Twitter.

Legal Geek’s ethos includes maxims such as “friends first, business after” and “come to learn and to teach.” It also encourages the legal community not to wear a tie – a small but significant act that helps build a relaxed atmosphere at the event and still facilitate dynamic discussions.

Moreover, the event only has three sponsors, all of whom add value: Thomson Reuters, Clifford Chance, and Tessian. As Legal Geek’s founder Jimmy Vestbirk says in this video promoting Legal Geek North America “this isn’t a trade show”:

To put a tagline on the event, it is designed for both technologists and lawyers (both in-house and private practice) to learn about what legal technology is out there and how (not why) it can help you right now.

If you want to find out more about the event, check out Legal Geek’s event page, and make sure you book your ticket here!

Above the Law is going and we encourage you to join us. You will definitely have your eyes opened to the legal tech scene on both sides of the Atlantic.