Category: News Feeds

When
Golden
Gate
University
School
of
Law
decided
to
close
its
doors
and
funnel
its
remaining
students
to
nearby
accredited
institutions,
a
small
group
fought
hard
to
pry
the
Gate
back
open.
A
judge
recently
decided
whether
an
injunction
would
be
successful.

Reuters
has
coverage:

Golden
Gate
University’s
shuttered
law
school
will
remain
closed
after
a
judge
on
Monday
denied
an
injunction
to
reopen
it,
as
a
group
of
former
students
and
alumni
had
asked.

It’s
“unlikely”
that
the
plaintiffs
will
be
able
to
secure
a
court
order
to
reopen
the
123-year-old
San
Francisco
school
following
California
Superior
Court
Judge
Richard
Ulmer’s
latest
ruling,
said
Golden
Gate
Law
alum
Ryan
Griffith,
who
is
representing
the
plaintiffs.

It
has
been
a
honorable
fight,
but
the
judge
is
right
to
frame
the
practicalities
of
rehiring
faculty
and
administrators
needed
to
run
the
school
as
“disruptive.”
Even
if
it
did
reopen,
would
you
want
to
go
to
Golden
Gate?
Even
if
you
managed
to
pass
the
bar,
would
employers
respect
the
name
on
the
diploma?
This
isn’t
the
closure
the
plaintiffs
wanted,
but
at
least
there’s
some
closure.
The
door
remains
open
for
remedies
by
other
means;
stay
turned
for
the
hearing
on
Oct.
22nd
to
see
if
and
how
the
case
will
proceed.

California
Judge
Rejects
Bid
To
Reopen
123-Year-Old
Law
School
[Reuters]

Earlier:

Even
Golden
Gate
Law’s
Exit
Strategy
Has
A
Low
Passage
Rate

---

Chris
Williams
became
a
social
media
manager
and
assistant
editor
for
Above
the
Law
in
June
2021.
Prior
to
joining
the
staff,
he
moonlighted
as
a
minor
Memelord™
in
the
Facebook
group Law
School
Memes
for
Edgy
T14s.
 He
endured
Missouri
long
enough
to
graduate
from
Washington
University
in
St.
Louis
School
of
Law.
He
is
a
former
boatbuilder
who
cannot
swim, a
published
author
on
critical
race
theory,
philosophy,
and
humor,
and
has
a
love
for
cycling
that
occasionally
annoys
his
peers.
You
can
reach
him
by
email
at [email protected] and
by
tweet
at @WritesForRent.

The
last
three
years
haven’t
been
great
for
Cahill,
Gordon
&
Reindel.
The
New
York
mainstay
saw
its
revenue
take
a
20%
dive
over
that
period,
thanks
to

the
decline
in
the
high-yield
and
leveraged
loans
markets.
But
the
problem
went
deeper
than
a
decline
in
billables
—
they
also
lost
~12
partners
to
the
lateral
market.
And
as
managing
partner
Herbert
Washer

told
Bloomberg
Law,
that
“woke
us
up
to
the
realities
of
the
legal
market.”

Historically,
Cahill
is
on
the
smaller
side
of
a
Biglaw
firm
—
under
300
attorneys
—
and
eschews
the
lateral
market.
That
strategy
paid
off
with

sky-high
profits
per
partner
and
a

reputation
for

sharing
the
wealth
with
associates
via
generous

special
bonuses. 
But
in
the
year
of
our
lord
2024,
would
the
tried
and
true
(105
years
strong!)
strategy
still
work?

Well,
Cahill
decided
it
was
time
to
mix
it
up
—
adding
15
lateral
partners
and
expanding
into
the
private
credit,
bankruptcy,
M&A,
project
finance,
white-collar,
cryptocurrency,
congressional
investigations,
and
intellectual
property
litigation
practice
areas.
As
Washer
said,
“If
the
lateral
market
is
going
to
try
to
pull
people
from
Cahill,
well,
we
can
go
ahead
and
look
to
see
if
there
are
opportunities
for
us
to
pull
partners
from
other
law
firms.”

That
required
tweaking
the
firm’s
compensation
system.
And
it
sure
sounds
like
younger
attorneys
are
the
beneficiaries.

“We
have
very
high
profit
margins,
which
effectively
means
that
we
can
pay
our
partners
a
greater
percentage
of
our
revenue
than
many,
if
not
most,
of
our
peers,”
Washer
said.
“That
allows
us
to
offer
competitive
compensation
to
lateral
partners
because
we
have
the
profit
margins.”

The
firm
also
tweaked
its
compensation
system
to
allow
for
more
rapid
ascension,
so
lawyers
don’t
necessarily
have
to
wait
until
they’re
a
partner
in
their
50s
to
get
paid
top
dollar,
Washer
said.

Washer
noted,
“It’s
important
to
pay
people
what
they’re
worth
when
they’re
worth
it.”

And
the
new
outlook
is
already
paying
off.
“By
all
metrics
—
demand,
value
of
time,
billing,
revenue
—
I
think
the
firm
is
up
substantially
over
2023,”
said
Washer.
“We’ve
not
just
sustained
the
business
—
we’ve
grown
the
business.”
Plus
it
doesn’t
hurt
that
the
syndicated
loan
market
is
rebounding.

But
the
firm’s
expansion
doesn’t
mean
it’s
trying
to
be
all
things
to
all
people.
They
still
want
a
focused
—
and
elite
—
practice.
“We
want
to
be
top
tier
in
the
things
that
we
do,”
Washer
said.
“History
suggests
that
being
very
profitable
and
being
targeted
are
not
mutually
exclusive.”

---

Kathryn
Rubino
is
a
Senior
Editor
at
Above
the
Law,
host
of

The
Jabot
podcast,
and
co-host
of

Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
AtL
tipsters
are
the
best,
so
please
connect
with
her.
Feel
free
to
email

her
with
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments
and
follow
her
on
Twitter

@Kathryn1 or
Mastodon

@[email protected].

Law
firms
are
merging
like
crazy
with

announcement
after

announcement
after

announcement.
What’s
driving
this
big
push
and
is
this
just
going
to
be
the
way
of
the
future?
Also
a
judge
invites
us
to

meet
the
new
racist,
same
as
the
old
racist
and
we
discuss
the
next

must
have
for
anyone
taking
depositions.

Earlier
this
week,

Sean
“Diddy”
Combs,
the
man
behind
many
of
the
greatest
90s
rap
hits,
was

arrested
and
charged
with
three
criminal
counts
in
a
federal
indictment,
accusing
the
music
mogul
of
sex
trafficking,
racketeering,
and
transportation
to
engage
in
prostitution.
The
Bad
Boy
Records
founder
pleaded
not
guilty
during
his
arraignment
hearing
and
was
denied
bail
—
but
not
for
lack
of
effort
from
his
legal
team.

In
a

10-page
letter
to
Judge
Robyn
Tarnofsky
of
the
Southern
District
of
New
York,

Marc
Agnifilo
and

Teny
Geragos
of
Agnifilo
Intrater
proposed
that
Combs
be
released
on
a
$50
million
bond,
claiming
that
the
rap
impresario
is
not
a
flight
risk.
Agnifilo
and
Geragos
go
on
to
detail
Combs’s
history
and
characteristics,
speaking
of
his
philanthropic
efforts
and
the
many
ways
that
he
has
“championed
minorities
and
underrepresented
communities.”
Unfortunately,
this
segment
of
the
attorneys’
plea
to
curry
favor
for
their
client
was
marred
by
an
embarrassing
editing
error.

Hmm…
what’s
that?
It
seems
that
someone
forgot
to
turn
off
track
changes
in
the
document,
leaving
behind
a
little
comment
bubble.
Let’s
take
a
look
and
see
what
it
says.

Yikes!

“This
reads
awkwardly
to
me,
and
I’m
not
quite
sure
what
it’s
going
for.”
Katie
Renzler
represents
Diddy
in
another
case,
but
his
attorneys
in
this
case
apparently
ignored
her
comment
because
can’t
nobody
take
their
pride,
can’t
nobody
hold
them
down,
oh
no,
they’ve
got
to
keep
on
movin’.

Lawyers,
please
let
this
serve
as
a
reminder
to
turn
off
track
changes
before
submitting
documents
that
will
be
widely
read
in
incredibly
high-profile
cases.
This
is
cringeworthy.

Sean
‘Diddy’
Combs
indicted
on
federal
sex
trafficking
charges
[Courthouse
News
Service]

---

Staci
Zaretsky is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law,
where
she’s
worked
since
2011.
She’d
love
to
hear
from
you,
so
please
feel
free
to

email
her
with
any
tips,
questions,
comments,
or
critiques.
You
can
follow
her
on

X/Twitter
and

Threads
or
connect
with
her
on

LinkedIn.

Post-divorce
fallouts
and
negotiations
can
get
ugly,
but
they
should
never
get
“if
you
try
and
depose
my
new
girlfriend,
I’ll
revenge
leak
your
nudes”
ugly.
That’s
just
blackmail.
“Negotiation
tactics”
like
that
are
begging
to
go
in
front
of
a
judge
under
normal
circumstances,
but
nothing
expedites
the
punishment
quite
like
your
former
spouse
being
a
judge.
Yup,
you
read
that
right:

ABA
Journal
has
coverage.

A
Florida
judge
[Marni
Bryson]
has
settled
her
lawsuit
against
a
lawyer

she
sued for
allegedly
trying
to
blackmail
her
with
nude
photos
chronicling
her
pregnancy.

…

According
to
Bryson,
she
was
told
that
her
nude
photos
and
other
damaging
information
would
be
released
if
she
insisted
on
taking
a
deposition
of
the
then-girlfriend.
She
sought
punitive
damages
against
the
defendants.

I
do
not
have
the
words
to
express
how
fundamentally
stupid
it
is
to
even

suggest
blackmailing
a
judge
by
threatening
to
leak
their
nude
pregnancy
photos.
I
do,
however,
have
a
short
video
clip:

While
the
details
of
the
settlement
are
sparse,
the
lesson
to
be
learned
is
clear:
If
you
hire
a
lawyer
who
lacks
common
sense,
you
will
pay
for
it
in
dollars.

Judge
Settles
Suit
Accusing
Lawyer
Of
Threatening
To
Release
Her
Intimate
Photos
In
Bid
To
Scuttle
Deposition
[ABA
Journal]

---

Chris
Williams
became
a
social
media
manager
and
assistant
editor
for
Above
the
Law
in
June
2021.
Prior
to
joining
the
staff,
he
moonlighted
as
a
minor
Memelord™
in
the
Facebook
group Law
School
Memes
for
Edgy
T14s.
 He
endured
Missouri
long
enough
to
graduate
from
Washington
University
in
St.
Louis
School
of
Law.
He
is
a
former
boatbuilder
who
cannot
swim, a
published
author
on
critical
race
theory,
philosophy,
and
humor,
and
has
a
love
for
cycling
that
occasionally
annoys
his
peers.
You
can
reach
him
by
email
at [email protected] and
by
tweet
at @WritesForRent.