Category: News Feeds

When we last checked in on furloughed (and later suspended) Biglaw associate Colinford Mattis and housing attorney Urooj Rahman, both charged for their involvement with a Molotov cocktail attack on a police vehicle in Brooklyn, New York, they’d been sent back to jail after originally being released to home confinement on $250,000 bond. The pair were indicted on charges of arson and use of explosives, and each pleaded not guilty. Earlier this week, their fortunes changed once again thanks to a decision made by the Second Circuit.

With support from former federal prosecutors, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and more than 850 people currently or formerly affiliated with New York University School of Law, Mattis and Rahman eagerly awaited news from the appellate court. The New York Law Journal has the details on what happened:

Judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Tuesday affirmed the ruling of a district court judge who found that the attorneys accused of firebombing an empty New York City Police Department vehicle can be released to home confinement, vacating an earlier stay that sent the lawyers to Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center.

Judges Peter Hall and Gerard Lynch wrote that they “would not have necessarily reached the same conclusion” as U.S. District Judge Margo Brodie of the Eastern District of New York, who released Colinford Mattis and Urooj Rahman to home confinement on a $250,000 bond, but they were left without a firm conviction that Brodie committed clear error.

Judge Jon Newman dissented, writing that even if the court did not reverse based on clear error, it should remand so that the district court could make “some explicit indication” as to whether the presumption of detention had been rebutted.

Mattis’s and Rahman’s families were thrilled to learn that the lawyers would be returning home from jail. We’ll continue to follow this interesting case as it progresses through the courts and provide updates when available.

Lawyers Accused of Molotov Cocktail Bombing Can Return Home, 2nd Circuit Rules [New York Law Journal]

Earlier: Lawyer Charged In Alleged Molotov Cocktail Firebombing Caught On Camera In Controversial Interview
Suspended Biglaw Associate Accused In Molotov Cocktail Attack Sent Back To Jail
Furloughed Biglaw Associate Charged In Molotov Cocktail Attack Released On $250K Bond
Furloughed Biglaw Associate Charged In New York Molotov Cocktail Attack

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 Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Students across the country are petitioning for diploma privilege to become lawyers due to the pandemic, but if your state is unwilling to oblige and do away with the bar exam this summer or fall, then completing a preparation course sometime soon will be an important rite of passage for you, one which often involves hours upon hours of lectures over the course of several months paired with intense study from voluminous outlines. It’s exactly as boring as it sounds. What if there were a new way to study for the bar exam that added an element of — dare we say — fun?

I had the pleasure of speaking to Adam Balinski, the founder of Crushendo, a bar exam prep company that’s making a big splash in the industry. Here is a (lightly edited and condensed) write-up of our lively conversation about bar review and how he started and built a successful company from the ground up just a few years after graduating from law school in 2016.

Staci Zaretsky (SZ): Describe your journey. What made you decide to start this company?

Adam Balinski (AB): The genesis story for Crushendo is pretty huge. One way you can look at it is that it started more than 10 years ago when I was doing my undergrad work at BYU. Even then, I would record my notes or my outlines. I was listening to them in between classes as I was getting ready for finals, and I found it very useful.

It helped me graduate at the top of my class, so there was no way I wasn’t going to use the same strategy during law school. As it turns out, I very quickly found that I could not do law school the conventional way and be happy with myself. I found I could not have been sitting there all day, every day, with my head in my books or down on the computer — that it just was kind of a shriveling type of experience for me and my personality.

I thoroughly enjoyed classrooms and fun with my classmates, but then came the preparation time — which is the bulk of law school, as you know — and I wasn’t really into the outlining process.

I always wanted to use my time as wisely as possible and work smarter, not necessarily longer. I felt like a lot of outlines were far too long and didn’t lend themselves well to memorization. So I would really condense it down and try to trim away all the fat I possibly could, so I could just have this nice, distilled, hour-long audio outline.

I’ve always been obsessed with efficiency and creating new processes for addressing old problems.

Three years later, the commercialization of Crushendo came about was when I was studying for the bar exam. I had a buddy come up to me and he said, “Hey, I heard you made your own audio outlines for bar prep. Could I buy those from you?” And that’s when this bar preparation startup really started.

SZ: What do you think differentiates Crushendo from the rest of the competition?

AB: It’s our audio outlines that make the differece here. There are so many more things you can do with audio learning instead of constantly having your nose in a book. You can have fun and learn everything you need to know, all at the same time. You can play basketball, you can go for a run, you can go for a hike, you can go to the beach — and you can prep for the bar exam at the same time.

I wanted to create a commercial product that is so memorable and so engaging and so efficient that it’s better memorization wise than just then taking the time to create your own outline. I want Crushendo to be the very best it can be. My goal is to have this be the very best bar prep product, period, no questions asked, and the most affordable, which is a crazy goal.

Sometimes people ask and they’re concerned about the cost of Crushendo. They want to know, why is it so cheap? If it’s so affordable, it can’t be that good, right? They think to themselves, “I want to get the best for myself, so I’ll drop $3,000 because I don’t want to roll the dice on this this big exam.” But like I said, I’m obssessed with efficiency, so if there’s a cheaper or more affordable way for us to do something as a company, we’re going do it — and then we’re going to pass our savings on to our users.

SZ: Why do you think people will benefit from doing bar prep in this way if they’re not used to learning in this way? For example, say someone is a very visual learner. What would they gain from listening to audio lectures?

AB: Everything that we have in audio form, we have in written form as well, with cool illustrations. So, regardless of whether or not you’re into the audio approach, we have something for you. We feel like it’s very engaging as a form of learning. I do think that people who haven’t traditionally used audio should at least give it a try because the payoff is so great.

It’s a lot more efficient and a lot more memorable if you can take the leap of faith and can train your brain to engage with audio.

There are people that are going to be a lot more excited about our product than some other people. For example, the podcast listeners are going to be a lot more excited about this and it’s going to not be nearly the same size of a learning curve for them. We recognize we’re asking people to do something way differently than perhaps it’s been done in the past — and to do it at the very finish line can be intimidating, terrifying, and maybe even paralyzing — but it’s worth it. We also have a 30-day, no-questions-asked, money-back trial period for you to test it out (though if you’re like 98 percent of our users, you won’t change your mind).

If you don’t believe me, reach out to Crushendo and we’ll give you access to one of our subject outlines for free.

SZ: How far off do you think Crushendo is from being the very best bar prep company?

AB: I believe that we are already there, but we certainly haven’t convinced the world yet, and most of the world hasn’t even heard of Crescendo yet. So we still have plenty of work to do. And even if we think our stuff is already the best, we want to make it even better; we have ideas for how to improve it. We are continuously improving our product and trying to make it even more efficient and more memorable.

Crushendo is a living, breathing thing, and it’s growing we’re always evolving. The Crushendo that people are experiencing this year won’t necessarily be how it is a year from now, and we’re constantly striving to outperform ourselves in how efficient the process is. That’s my vision, my passion.

***

On behalf of everyone here at Above the Law, we’d like to congratulate Adam Balinski on creating the innovative bar review program that is Crushendo. If your goal is crushing the bar exam, then this may be the bar prep program for you.

(Disclosure: Crushendo is an Above the Law advertiser.)

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 Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Ed. note: This is the latest installment in a series of posts on motherhood in the legal profession, in partnership with our friends at MothersEsquire. Welcome Rachel Dane to our pages.

When I was applying to law school, my boss at the time told me to “not bother with law school” because I was just going to “work my way up to motherhood.” While it is not always this explicit, women often get the message that they can be mommies or lawyers — not both.

This message is continually reinforced by many factors, including unequal distribution of the household workload between men and women, beliefs around traditional gender roles, and law firm culture. The purpose of this article is to discuss straightforward ways that law firm culture can better support mother attorneys.

Mothers bring valuable intellectual capital to the firms that employ them. Not necessarily because motherhood makes us better at multitasking (it does) or creative problem solving (it does that, too) but because we are intelligent human beings in our own right. Our ability to contribute intellectually does not disappear when we have children. We continue to be good attorneys that happen to have legitimate and important demands on our time. Further, most law firms have clients who are parents or who deal with subject matter that will involve parenting (however tangentially). Our inside knowledge of parenting can help with client relations and sometimes even the legal subject matter of our cases. (Pro tip: if you want to get clients — or any parents for that matter — to like you, ask them about their children and gush over pictures of them.)

Start With Understanding. Moms have a lot on their plates. My husband and I recently quantified the amount of work required to raise our daughter during the week. My toddler requires 7.5 hours of work per day. This does not include play time, snuggle time, time spent watching TV, or her time spent in daycare. This is one relatively low-maintenance child. I am the exception to the rule, in that my husband and I split this labor evenly, which makes a huge difference in my ability to thrive as an attorney. When you work with a mother, especially a single mother or a mother of a special-needs child, that woman is working the equivalent of two full-time jobs. Her mommy job requires her to be on the clock 24 hours a day and is full of emotional heartache and joy. Switching between the challenging subject matter of motherhood and law requires a high degree of emotional and intellectual intelligence. Other people may be able to disconnect and have downtime when they leave their practice, but that is not really feasible for many parents.

Lead By Example. All the supportive HR policies in the world mean very little if the culture does not support what is important to an employee. We are social beings who are acutely attuned to the customs of our workplaces. This is why, when I speak with a new hire at my firm, I make it a priority to say things like, “I am not available from X time to X time every day because I have to pick my daughter up from school. You can leave me a message if you need to, but I will not return your call until after she is asleep.” If I have a parent-teacher conference, I put it on my shared calendar as such. This way, my employees can see with their own eyes that this is acceptable behavior in my firm.

Be Flexible. Building flexibility into your office culture can help support mothers. While I would argue these procedures are good for all lawyers, they are especially beneficial to mothers. Allowing attorneys to work from home (even just a few days a week) lets them shift some of the mental load that goes into preparing for the office to focusing on their work or self-care. This also facilitates reasonable breaks better and allows attorneys to return to their work more refreshed. If you are able to, allowing mothers to work nontraditional hours is another great way to support them. Some of the best work my attorneys do takes place after their children have gone to bed. Lastly, consider part-time or contract work for mothers. That way, your firm can save resources while still retaining the intellectual capital mothers bring.

While the pros and cons of the above recommendations will vary depending on the lawyer and firm in question, it is worth at least considering paradigm shifts to support working mothers. Personally, some of the best lawyers I work with are properly supported mothers.

Rachel Dane is the founder and managing partner for The Survivors’ Legal Institute in Longmont, Colorado. Rachel and her firm represent survivors of domestic and sexual violence in family law cases. She is a mother of a beautiful toddler and passionate about feminist lawyering. You can email her at Rachel@SurvivorsLegalInstitute.com, or connect with her on LinkedIn. 

As I am sure you are aware, the trajectory of the pandemic is of increasing concern, statewide and nationally. And I know that you, like many across the globe, are feeling the impacts in your personal and professional lives. In light of this, I write to share important news about the coming fall semester.

In order to protect the health and safety of all community members and to allow students, staff, and faculty to plan in the face of uncertainty, I have made two decisions:

1. We will move all classes online in the fall 2020 (“F20”) term; and
2. We will have an on-campus presence this fall, with socially-distanced in-person engagements including community events, social activities, faculty office hours, and study opportunities, as soon as San Francisco Department of Public Health (“Public Health”) guidelines permit.

— Chancellor and Dean David L. Faigman of UC Hastings College of the Law, in an email to the law school community concerning his decision to move all Fall 2020 classes to an online learning environment. Faigman notes in his message that this decision is “final,” and that despite the switch to remote classes, tuition will not be reduced as “[t]he cost of providing an outstanding legal education for our students is essentially the same, whether it is delivered in person or online.” The school joins Harvard Law, Berkeley Law, Vermont Law, UConn Law, and Cooley Law in the decision to hold all classes online this coming fall. Harvard is being sued over its “outrageous tuition” for remote classes.

(Flip to the next page to read Faigman’s email in full.)

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 Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

How are law firms and their leaders navigating the COVID-19 crisis?

Last week, in a webinar for the New York State Bar Association moderated by my colleague Craig Brown, Managing Principal of Bridgeline Solutions (Lateral Link’s temporary staffing arm), these six managing partners offered excellent insights and advice:

• Adam T. Klein, Esq. – Outten & Golden LLP
• Wayne N. Outten, Esq. – Outten & Golden LLP
• Gregory S. Katz, Esq. – Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP
• Lawrence T. Gresser, Esq. – Cohen & Gresser LLP
• Alan Hoffman, Esq. – Blank Rome LLP
• Dauna Williams, Esq. – The Williams Group

1. Protect your people.

A law firm’s most valuable assets are its people. The panelists repeatedly emphasized how they put the health and well-being of their own lawyers and staff first.

Doing everything possible to make sure employees don’t contract the coronavirus is just the first and most obvious goal. The social isolation created by remote working can give rise to loneliness, depression, and anxiety. The managing partners talked about measures they took to make sure that their lawyers are staff remained healthy in the most holistic sense, including hosting virtual events like town halls and happy hours to promote community and connectedness.

Many lawyers found themselves taking on additional responsibilities during the pandemic, such as child care, elder care, or care for sick family members. Adam Klein said that at Outten & Golden, he and his partners told their associates and staff to put those priorities first.

2. Connect with your clients.

During times of crisis, lawyers need to let their clients know that they’re there for them. The panelists talked about the myriad ways they tried to remain connected to their clients, including email updates, check-in calls from practice group leaders, and even virtual wine tastings.

At Blank Rome, clients signed up for email updates that would inform them about important developments related to the coronavirus crisis, such as changes to government programs. These updates helped clients navigate the tumultuous times while also keeping Blank Rome top of mind, explained Alan Hoffman.

The wine tastings hosted by Cohen & Gresser have been a huge hit with clients, according to Lawrence Gresser. The firm would have wine shipped to clients ahead of time, followed by online tastings led by professional sommeliers — who in normal times would be very difficult to book, but who are more readily accessible during the current crisis.

3. Leverage technology — thoughtfully and carefully.

Law firms moved online so smoothly and successfully thanks to an array of sophisticated systems and advanced technological tools, such as VPN, Citrix, and Zoom. Lawyers learned how to use numerous new technologies, whether they wanted to or not — and this knowledge will stay with them even after the pandemic is over.

The increased use of videoconferencing has been a highlight, as Wayne Outten of Outten & Golden noted. Depositions, hearings, and arbitrations are all being done remotely during the pandemic — and even after the current crisis is over, expect videoconferencing to be used more often than it was pre-COVID-19, now that lawyers (and clients) have seen the money and time that can be saved.

But technology needs to be implemented with thought and care. For example, as Dauna Williams pointed out, you need to make sure that your tools all play well with each other. Certain applications or platforms don’t interact well with one another — and can even compromise each other’s security. Law firms should work with experienced technologists to make sure they avoid such pitfalls.

4. Have a standard reopening procedure.

Moving to remote operations was no small feat for law firms, and reopening offices will also pose a challenge. This is especially true for large law firms with dozens of offices and hundreds, if not thousands, of employees.

The key to successful reopening — according to Gregory Katz of Lewis Brisbois, which has some 3,000 employees working in 52 offices across 22 states — is to have a standard reopening procedure. Each office will reopen at a different pace, reflecting conditions on the ground, but all offices will pass through the same stages of the same process. That process must be carefully designed to consider such factors as who can return and when, where workers can sit in the reopened offices, when visitors can be allowed, and what signage should be erected.

Law firms closed down and moved online with surprising success, and law firms can and will reopen successfully as well. But reopening can’t be taken for granted or handled haphazardly. Instead, firms much approach reopening with all the intelligence, ingenuity, and innovation that they apply to solve the problems of their clients. If lawyers take reopening seriously, they will reap substantial rewards.

Managing Partner Response To COVID-19 [New York State Bar Association]

Ed. note: This is the latest installment in a series of posts from Lateral Link’s team of expert contributors. This post is by David Lat, a managing director in the New York office, where he focuses on placing top associates, partners and partner groups into preeminent law firms around the country.

Prior to joining Lateral Link, David founded and served as managing editor of Above the Law. Prior to launching Above the Law, he worked as a federal prosecutor, a litigation associate at Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz in New York, and a law clerk to Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. David is a graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School. You can connect with David on Twitter (@DavidLat), LinkedIn, and Facebook, and you can reach him by email at dlat@laterallink.com.

Lateral Link is one of the top-rated international legal recruiting firms. With over 14 offices worldwide, Lateral Link specializes in placing attorneys at the most prestigious law firms and companies in the world. Managed by former practicing attorneys from top law schools, Lateral Link has a tradition of hiring lawyers to execute the lateral leaps of practicing attorneys. Click here to find out more about us.

In February 2020, Jessica Sobhraj, the CEO of Cosynd, celebrated along with 125 of her friends, customers, and advisors. She had become the first CEO to secure an investment from We Ventures, New York City’s $30 million venture fund for diverse entrepreneurs in partnership with NYCEDC and women.nyc. She created Cosynd to be the fastest and most affordable way for content creators to protect themselves and their copyrights.

By March 2020, due to COVID-19, Sobhraj’s funding, along with the plans of so many small businesses, was put on pause. For guidance, she turned to her advisory board. “The role of an advisory board,” Sobhraj explained, “is to be willing to help in the toughest of times. They’re the brains and hands ready in the forefront.” Together, the Cosynd team and its board decided to expedite a new product launch, which has kept the company on track and ensured that all employees maintained their jobs.

This isn’t the first time Sobhraj credits her board for adding value. In fact, before Cosynd’s business model was solidified, and even before her team wrote a single line of code, she spent a year and a half assembling her advisory board to help Cosynd scale, fill knowledge gaps, and serve as “sanity checkers” ensuring the team keeps true to its core mission. Sobhraj made sure that Cosynd’s advisory board contained three categories of professionals: 1) those with expertise in intellectual property (her industry); 2) those with experience building and creating content-focused companies (her customer); and 3) those with deep knowledge of raising capital. To pitch the roles, she outlined the proposed time commitment and offered compensation in the form of equity in the company.

The Cosynd founding team, which is 80% female, 60% minority, and 20% veteran, values diversity. Of Cosynd’s 15 advisors, five are lawyers, four have technology backgrounds, 11 are women, three are minorities, and eight are over 40 (three are over 50).

Sobhraj sees her diverse advisory board foundation as integral to success. When asked for her most important piece of advice for women building a company, she recommends that they surround themselves with an incredible board of advisers from the onset. Growing a successful business is a team sport. Early-stage founders benefit from utilizing a collection of aligned experts who are committed to a company’s long-term prosperity and who can assist in navigating complexities and mitigating potential pitfalls.

Advisory Boards Vs. Boards Of Directors

An advisory board, which is sometimes known as a council, is a collection of experts responsible for guiding a founder, CEO, or company representatives. Building out an early advisory board may ensure the presence of independent advisors, which can provide strategic advantage and insulation from overreaching investors down the road. Not to be confused with an employee or a vendor, who may work on a specific project, provide deliverables, or complete day-to-day tasks, each advisory board member brings specialized knowledge focused on company strategy and success. Members attend an agreed upon cadence of advisory calls and meetings. Although an advisory board member does not traditionally have a fiduciary duty, compensation, often in the form of equity in the company, is likely for the role.

A company may begin with an advisory board before creating a board of directors, the governing body of a company. An advisory board role may evolve with the company into a position on the company’s board of directors. The directors generally advise across disciplines and aim for the company’s long-term returns. Board of directors members attend meetings, are provided with regular updates, and, as opposed to advisory board members, have fiduciary duties, abide by laws and regulations, and are more likely to be compensated in cash as well as in equity for their efforts.

In the past few years, the importance of having a diverse board of directors has received widespread media coverage. For example, a California 2018 law mandates the number of women on a board of public companies with an executive base in California. In January 2020, Goldman Sachs announced an initiative that they will not take a company public unless it has at least one “diverse” board member.

We now concretely know that diversity is not philanthropy; it’s good for business. A March 2018 study by the financial planning firm MSCI found that having a more diverse workforce and board of directors leads to greater diversity of ideas. MSCI also found that companies with three or more women on a board of directors saw a median productivity 1.2 percentage points above those in their respective industries and performed better financially. This would stand to reason for advisory boards as well.

Choosing An Advisory Board

For a startup, family business, midsize, or small company looking to scale, here are four tips to starting and growing an advisory board:

1) Commit To Building And Maintaining An Advisory Board

Your company deserves a qualified team that is dedicated to you, your vision, and your company’s long-term prosperity. The earlier you build it, the earlier you can benefit from expert guidance. Quiet the voices of doubt that may demand perfection before approaching people or suggest that you are an imposter and not worthy of a board. Commit to searching for and choosing the right advisors, providing them with regular company updates, and growing your company together.

2) Brainstorm Specific Needs

Generally, each advisory board member will bring a mix of excellent communication skills, strategic planning aptitude, industry and business expertise, a strong network, and credibility. A member must also be aligned with the company’s vision, values, and goals, while also being willing to challenge assumptions. Ideally, each person will bring a unique background and offer specific and tangible expertise evidenced by their work history. A board should not be a homogenous collection of VCs or ex-CEOs.

To prioritize your company’s immediate needs, use growth plans to identify any senior leadership knowledge gaps to specify the ideal advisor’s skill set. Determine the time commitment for the role and if feasible and appropriate, compensation. Those attributes may guide an advisory role description:

• The relevant industry (and adjacent industry), subject matter, or skill set;
• Similar roles or projects that demonstrate skills;
• Appropriate relationships and networks; and
• Game-changing introductions to a person or company.

3) Pitch And Be Pitched

Once a target is identified, it’s possible to point an arrow. To find one, reach out to a current network of colleagues and describe your advisory board needs. If you approach people who are unfamiliar with your company, drive interest and excitement via your company’s elevator pitch or product narrative. Convince them of your passion for your mission, value proposition, projected growth, and other relevant business metrics.

Before committing, you may want to test the relationship through discussions or a limited project. The goal is to ensure that an advisory board member is culturally aligned with your team and goals. You are building what will hopefully be a genuine, mutually beneficial, and long-term relationship for both parties.

4) Re-evaluate As Necessary

Like companies and relationships, advisory board member duties may evolve over time. Open communication will ensure that expectations are aligned. The goal is to thrive, not to simply survive.

Just as many small businesses are struggling post-COVID, many talented professionals and seasoned executives are finding themselves furloughed or with extra time on their hands. According to Sobhraj, now may be an opportune time to invest in cultivating advisory relationships as “there are so many people with deep expertise sitting at home, wanting to add value via virtual meetings. Once we enter a new normal, there will be a mass movement for investors to re-energize their business and support founders, like me, to help us get back on our feet.” As the proverb states, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

Sarah was the General Counsel / first Lawyer at Etsy and Vroom.  She’s a co-founder of The Fourth Floor, a creator and producer of Legal Madness, an NYU Law School Engelberg Center fellow, a board member, an investor, and a speaker. You can also find Sarah hammering silver, eating candy, and chasing her child. sarahfeingold.com.

Federal clerkships are a stepping stone to an elite legal career, but the ranks of federal clerks still remain fairly homogenous.

In this week’s episode of The Jabot, I speak with folks dedicated with diversifying clerkships: Danielle Barondess, a federal law clerk in Hawaii, and Steven Arango, a federal law clerk in Texas, who founded a new program, Law Clerks for Diversity. The organization’s mission is clear — they want more diverse candidates to be able to successfully navigate the clerkship application process:

There are hundreds of law students and lawyers from diverse backgrounds who would make phenomenal federal law clerks, but they do not know how to navigate the process, who to connect with, or how to make their applications stand out. The black-box nature of clerkships and the mindset that clerkships are “exclusive-province” must change. That is where Law Clerks for Diversity comes in. Our vision is to increase the diversity of federal clerks by helping diverse applicants navigate the process and find the right opportunities to maximize their potential to land a clerkship.

We chat about developing this mission, why focusing on federal clerkships is important, what the program entails, and how folks can get involved (spoiler alert: here).

The Jabot podcast is an offshoot of the Above the Law brand focused on the challenges women, people of color, LGBTQIA, and other diverse populations face in the legal industry. Our name comes from none other than the Notorious Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the jabot (decorative collar) she wears when delivering dissents from the bench. It’s a reminder that even when we aren’t winning, we’re still a powerful force to be reckoned with.

Happy listening!

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. 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).

* Novartis has settled a lawsuit which included allegations that the drugmaker gave money to doctors to induce them into prescribing certain medications. These claims would have spiced up the movie Love and Other Drugs… [NBC News]

* An Ohio attorney has been arrested on federal bribery and extortion charges. [Toledo Blade]

* Only seven law firm mergers and combinations have occurred during the second quarter of 2020 according to Altman Weil, likely due to the chilling effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. [The American Lawyer]

* The New York Attorney General has agreed to settle sexual misconduct lawsuits against Harvey Weinstein for $19 million. [Guardian]

* A lawyer has lost his bid to avoid the bankruptcy discharge of his $156,000 in legal fees for handling a client’s divorce. [Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly]

* A former judge and lawyer has been suspended from practice for participating in an inappropriate email chain nicknamed the “forum for hate.” Be sure to check out the messed up things that were said by the group which are included in the article. [ABA Journal]

Jordan Rothman is a partner of The Rothman Law Firm, a full-service New York and New Jersey law firm. He is also the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a website discussing how he paid off his student loans. You can reach Jordan through email at jordan@rothmanlawyer.com.