Category: News Feeds

Mental health disorders are fatal, [but they are treatable.]

People around you care about you more than you think.

— Eric Lang, a former Biglaw attorney who now runs his own practice in Georgia, in comments given at a recent talk entitled “Confronting Mental Health Issues in Your Profession.” Several years ago, Lang attempted to die by suicide, but survived the ordeal and feels lucky to have found doctors and colleagues who have helped him.

(If you are a state bar member and you are concerned about yourself or another bar member, the Lawyer Assistance Program’s confidential helpline is 800-327-9631.)

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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.

Contracts Everywhere: How to Survive in a Do More with Less Environment 

Fill out the form to view the webinar now

Overview:

In a world of “do more with less,” corporate legal operations teams are often faced with an increasing contract volume but with no additional resources. Whether you use a homegrown or an older solution that’s just not working anymore, or you have no solution at all, chances are that the growth in your contract volume and complexity are difficult to manage and resource intensive. In this webinar, we will focus on:

• Why you need a simple, yet scalable, solution that you can configure and maintain on your own
• How consumer-style business tools are revolutionizing the operational experience 
• What AI is NOT capable of, namely, the replacement for your contracting expertise

The LSAT may be changing its ways by eliminating or significantly changing the logic games portion of the exam, but that doesn’t mean that law schools are going to stop deciding to accept the GRE for admissions purposes. It seems like it may only be a matter of time before the majority of law schools embrace the GRE. Which law school has decided to accept the alternative entrance exam now?

It’s the University of Akron School of Law, making it the first public law school in Ohio to accept the GRE (which means THE Ohio State University hasn’t made its move on the GRE yet). In its press release, Akron also touts the fact that it’s the first law school in the country to accept the GRE whose annual tuition for all students is under $25,000, which is a big selling point. Here’s more from the school’s press release:

“Because many more students take the GRE than the LSAT, we believe use of the GRE will make legal education more accessible to students with a greater diversity of backgrounds,” [said Christopher J. (C.J.) Peters, dean of Akron Law.] “Now, more students can consider law school along with other graduate programs without devoting extra time and resources to prepare for and take another test. Moreover, students can use a GRE score they received in the last five years when applying to Akron Law.”

Early indications from other law schools that began accepting the GRE as an alternative are that it can help increase the pipeline of qualified applicants from all fields. Because the GRE has a math section, applicants may be more plentiful from science, engineering and math areas. And the GRE clearly measures skills that are important to law schools, such as verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, critical thinking and analytical writing, said Peters.

The list of law schools that are expanding their horizons beyond the LSAT is now quite long. Here are the 30+ schools that accept the GRE for admissions purposes:

And we are likely to only see this trend continue. According to a survey by Kaplan Test Prep, a full 25 percent of law schools have plans to accept the GRE. Another Kaplan study determined 49 percent of students surveyed support the move to the GRE.

Even though more and more law schools are on board with the GRE, the  body responsible for law school accreditation, the American Bar Association, hasn’t officially weighed in on using anything other than the LSAT in admissions. ABA accreditation Standard 503 currently mandates that law schools require admissions testing and that the test used be “valid and reliable.” (In August, the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar officially withdrew a resolution before the ABA House of Delegates that called for the removal of Standard 503.) Whether the GRE meets that standard, the ABA hasn’t officially said. But with this much momentum, stopping the GRE ball from rolling will be a monumental task.

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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.

Lawyers live in constant fear of details.  Superior attention to detail makes lawyers money; a lack of attention to detail makes for malpractice.  But, as law practice becomes more and more complex — contracts amass, details proliferate — it becomes more and more difficult to spot those small mistakes that can come back to bite you.  Of course, smart lawyers understand that technology is the solution for information overload.  Once you’ve figured that out, it’s just a matter of picking the right technology.

If you’re sweating your contract drafting like you’re walking through a field of land mines, Donna offers peace of mind, and protection against those backbiting oversights that keep you up at night.

What Is It?

Donna is a contract editing software, whose purpose is to provide context and relevant information when you need it in order to spot those easy-to-overlook mistakes. Because, let’s face it, when you’re reading a 50-page contract, it’s not quite as enthralling as “Avengers: Endgame”; so, it’s understandable that your mind might drift, and that you’d overlook an inconsistency or misinterpretation that could that could come back and haunt you.  Donna is there to watch your back, to make sure you’re consistently addressing even the most minute variables.

Donna is a cloud-based product that comes as a convenient Microsoft Word plug-in, available for both premise-based (traditional) versions of Word (like Word 2016 and Word 2013), as well as Word Online. And, because Donna is a plug-in that doesn’t require special permissions, it’s super easy to install.  I mean, you could probably install it without even asking your IT person… But, you didn’t hear that from me, okay?  So, when you do tell your IT person (you will, won’t you), it’s still just a one-step download.

Once you download Donna for Word, that’s when the magic happens.

What Does it Do?

What magic, you ask?  Good question.  THIS kind of magic:

After you’ve downloaded Donna, you’ll find a new Donna button on the far right-hand side of the Microsoft Office ribbon; you toggle Donna off and on by clicking that button.  When Donna is turned on, opening any document will automatically set it to work.  Donna will bring up potential suggestions and other interesting details, by generating colored highlights in your document. Clicking these highlights opens up matching snippets in the Donna sidebar. For instance, suggestions are highlighted in yellow and clicking them, Donna explains the potential problem discovered.  Donna will even link other relevant snippets such as related issues or definitions. Every snippet has a “focus” button that allows you to jump to the exact spot in the document where the Donna highlight exists.  Using this information, you can decide to make a change based on Donna’s suggestion, or to skip the suggestion, and optionally any suggestions like it.  In this way, Donna becomes your second set of eyes for contract review — eyes that don’t glaze over thinking about the upcoming weekend’s plans — but, it’s ultimately your choice as the lawyer to make or reject changes related to Donna’s operations. Donna of course can’t write the agreement for you, AI lacks something people like to call “common sense”. But Donna isn’t your typical AI, its Assistive Intelligence, because it ultimately leaves the decision making in the capable hands of the lawyer.

Donna’s baseline is simplicity: it issue-spots, gives you relevant information, and otherwise doesn’t disturb you getting the job done.  You can easily parachute into and out of potential change options by navigating the snippet, focus, and skip options.

And although you’ll be drawn to Donna’s yellow suggestions there are lots of other things Donna can highlight. A favorite seems to be defined terms in light blue. Clicking on this highlight gives you a snippet of how the term was defined in the side-bar. Nod “yes” if you’ve ever frantically scrolled up and down in an agreement trying to find what a term means. Now nod “yes” if you’d be happy to never have to do that again.

By filtering on a single category within Donna, a user can complete their review via the sidebar, rather than struggling through the massive scrolling and scanning challenge presented by traditional document review.  In this way, Donna delivers to you only the information you need, when you need it. With Donna, you can get into and out of your contract documents quickly, with increased accuracy and decreased malpractice risk.

What’s Next?

Donna currently has clients in 50 countries, with additional language capabilities coming.  And, with a $2.5 million capital raise recently secured, Donna will be investing even more resources into designing intuitive workflows as well as adding some great new features. A couple of things on the roadmap are:

– Compatibility with Google Docs and Word for Mac.

– Ability to link related documents and external resources. Imagine clicking on a reference to a specific law and having the relevant text available right there.

– Knowledge sharing features — Donna could allow users within a firm to look for inspiration from other clauses that have been drafted by colleagues for a particular client.

Want to Find Out More?

Schedule a demo or just download Donna today: https://www.donna.legal/

Donna is only $15/user, with enterprise solutions available.

Support options include in-app chat.

. . .

Ritchie Valens really loved Donna, but you might love her even more.

John Dowd informed the House Intelligence Committee that he wouldn’t be producing his two clients, Igor Fruman and Lev Parnas, in a short letter written in Comic Sans to the shock and dismay of the class of legal professionals who had never seen John Dowd work before. And while Dowd’s writing style, legal research, and all around conduct may leave a lot to be desired, his instincts remain as sharp as ever — his boys were picked up by authorities on campaign finance violations.

Fruman and Parnas are soldiers in the Giuliani family, which is like a lot of operations accused of organized law-breaking, except instead of using influence and intimidation to dominate Vegas, they use bumbling and Epoch Times headlines to litter a presidency with incriminating evidence. They’re a bit less RICO and a lot more LOCO. Fruman and Parnas are described in the press as Giuliani “associates” which is never a flattering title outside of the law firm setting (and is it really all that flattering there?) who allegedly set Giuliani up on the wild goose chase in Ukraine that threatens to end in the historical stain of impeachment:

Starting in November 2018, Giuliani told CNN, Parnas and Fruman introduced him to former and current Ukrainian officials who provided information that Giuliani claims is damaging to some of Trump’s political enemies, including Biden. House Democrats have subpoenaed documents from Giuliani relating to those interactions.

From earlier subpoenas, we’ve already learned that Giuliani’s arrested pals leaned on a congressman to push for the recall of the ambassador to Ukraine in part at the behest of the Ukrainian government, which is essentially the burglary in this here Watergate ensuring that Fruman will end up with a talk show deal as the G. Gordon Dimwitty of this operation.

But again, hats off to Dowd who kept his guys from delivering testimony to the House that would only risk undermining their defense efforts. Now he’s got to manage the much more difficult task of keeping their jail time to a minimum (or keeping them out of jail… though the case looks pretty damning at this juncture).

It might be time to write the prosecutors about setting up a proffer to discuss Giuliani. Might I suggest Times New Roman for that one?

Two men connected to Giuliani’s Ukraine efforts arrested on campaign finance charges [CNN]

Earlier: John Dowd Writes Letter In Comic Sans Because He’s Through Pretending He’s Not A Clown

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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.

The heat is getting turned up on DLA Piper. When partner Vanina Guerrero wrote an open letter to the leaders of the firm accusing a fellow partner, Louis Lehot, of sexual assault, she also asked the firm to release her from the mandatory arbitration agreement which is a condition of employment at DLA Piper. So far, the firm hasn’t responded to this request, but that silence hasn’t gone unnoticed.

Kamala Harris, who is married to DLA Piper partner Douglas Emhoff, weighed in on the subject in support of Guerrero’s right to go to court rather than confidential arbitration. And now a group of student activists organized as the People’s Parity Project (formerly the Pipeline Parity Project) have taken to the streets in front of three of DLA Piper’s offices to protest the firm’s use of mandatory arbitration agreements.

This isn’t the first time law school students have protested DLA over their arbitration agreements. An online campaign urged fellow law students to #DumpDLA and there were organized protests earlier this year. But with the attention currently focused on the firm, and a specific case and victim that wants to use the court system but is being barred from doing so, well, the time’s ripe to pound the pavement.

In their statement about the action, students focused on the harms of mandatory arbitration:

DLA Piper has been a longtime target of the People’s Parity Project for its refusal to end its policy of forced arbitration, but the firm has stood proudly behind the practice. Ms. Guererro’s account of the firm’s hostile environment is a powerful reminder of how important it is for workers to be able to hold corporations accountable. “We now know why firms like DLA Piper refuse to give up forced arbitration,” said Elisabeth Campbell, a 2L at New York University School of Law. “Forced arbitration enables bad actors to cover up and avoid accountability for their gross misconduct.”

And they intend to keep up the fight:

Grace Bennett, a 1L at Harvard Law School, said that law students showed up because we have the power to change the legal profession for the better. “Law firms like DLA Piper have shown that they won’t change their policies without a fight. They have to be forced to, and we have to keep showing up because people like Vanina Guerrero shouldn’t have to fight for their basic rights on the job.”

They’ve also started an online petition at coworker.org for others that want to amp up the pressure on DLA Piper.

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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).

Meet Daniel. He’s a 36-year-old Harvard Law graduate who works in New York as an attorney (but lives in New Jersey to avoid NYC taxes). You wouldn’t know it from looking at him because his suits are so threadbare that they’re falling apart, but he makes $270,000 a year. Unlike the rest of his colleagues who work in large law firms, Daniel isn’t exactly fast and loose with his six-figure salary. He survives on a diet of rice and beans and beats himself up when he “splurges” on Chipotle. The most expensive pair of work shoes he owns cost $60, and the rest are from thrift shops. He doesn’t turn on the heat in winter; he just puts on additional layers of clothing. He doesn’t even own a TV.

Daniel’s frugal life may sound incredibly boring and, well, awful, but here’s a little secret about him: He’s saved 70 percent of his salary over the years, his IRA has been maxed out for almost 20 years, and he’s got more than $400,000 ready for the future.

Daniel plans to retire in the next three years.

How did he save so much money? According to a profile piece in the New York Post, Daniel subscribes to the financial independence, retire early movement (FI/RE):

The money philosophy — essentially, save fast and early so you can quit working young — is gaining traction among millennials who have had a taste of office drudgery and want nothing to do with it. Followers combine investment hacks with old-fashioned penny pinching to build up enough savings to quit their 9-to-5, well before their 60s. They’re also committed to a monastic existence, even amid NYC’s many social temptations — drinks with co-workers, workout classes and even the odd fast-casual Friday lunch.

Daniel’s stingy lifestyle has been quite detrimental to his social life — or complete lack thereof). He’s single (“My previous ex-girlfriend never really got on board. Her concept of what I was doing was being cheap, and depriving myself and her.”) and has trouble relating to his coworkers (“They talk all the time about the fancy restaurants, bars and Broadway shows they’re going to.”). At least soon he’ll be able to leave the Biglaw life behind and trade his long working hours for more leisurely pursuits.

But for now, the all-consuming FI/RE life is what what keeps him going: “I’m trying to get to a point where nothing besides death can stop me.” Best of luck, Daniel.

Inside the strange, secretive lives of rich millennial cheapskates [New York Post]

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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.

It is that time of year at Vanderbilt Law where 1Ls trudge across the street to Career Services for their initial appointment with their assigned counselor.  This weeks-long cavalcade is valuable for me as I can put a face with each name on my Excel spreadsheet while also beginning a relationship that will not just last for the next three years, but ideally for the foreseeable future as the student graduates, goes off into legal practice, and starts recruiting the next generation of Vanderbilt students.  The intrinsic value of these numerous meetings has only been amplified this year as they provide me with a much-needed distraction from watching the President of the United States repeatedly admit to crimes, and other impeachable actions, on national television while also melting down on Twitter and in press conferences, behavior which has quickly morphed from “you hate to see it” to “the person in charge of the most powerful military in human history is really losing his mind, isn’t he?”

Almost exactly a year ago today, I discussed what 1Ls should be seeking from their CSO during an initial meeting.  This column looks at the other side of the table — or in my case, office desk — what I, and those in CSO more generally, are/should be looking for from this first conversation with students.  I start these introductory meetings the same way — yes, having conducted these for more than four years, and with literally hundreds of students, I have developed a script in my mind that I could recite while half asleep if need be, a skill that can come in handy after a long day while living that #4fourandunder lifestyle — explaining that the first half of the discussion consists of me asking the student a bunch of questions and the second is mainly me talking at them to explain how our office operates.  The second half of this conversation is going to vary from school to school and probably of little interest to a broader audience, though 1Ls have been THRILLED to learn they are going to be the guinea pigs for the post-NALP Guidelines world after the organization’s stunning abdication last year.  However, the first half of the conversation is something worth diving into.

So, what are some of the questions I ask during an initial CSO meeting?  First, I want to know a bit about a student’s background.  Where are they from?  Where did they go to college, and why?  What did they study?  Not only does it help me understand the student a bit more and, ideally, find something relatable between the two of us, but also because certain undergraduate majors for attorneys are in far greater demand than others.  While I, and the rest of my CSO colleagues around the country, might know that a law student with an electrical engineering degree is as close to instantaneously employable as exists in Biglaw, that might not be self-evident to a 22-year-old who graduated from college three months prior and has no foundational understanding of the legal recruiting world.

I also like to get a sense from students why they decided to come to law school.  Is this a lifetime passion of theirs or was it the default option for a smart kid who couldn’t stand the sight of blood?  That is a question that comes up in nearly every legal job interview, regardless of the employer, so it is best to start perfecting that answer now.

My curiosity over their law school enrollment extends to why they picked Vanderbilt.  What was it about the school that stood out and how might that correlate to the type of employer for which they are best suited?  Students who valued the school’s collegiality and small class size will, ideally, become deeply enmeshed into the fabric of the law school during their time on campus, likely making them an excellent resource for future matriculants at Vanderbilt Law.  Also on the list of questions is what other schools they were considering aside from Vanderbilt.  While law school rankings can serve some purpose, I guess, I think a far better metric is to sort schools by tiers based on what other schools a 1L was considering.  It is no surprise that the vast majority of Vanderbilt students say they chose us over a pool of roughly six to 10 others law schools.

Inquiring about a student’s past work experience lets me know who has been in a professional environment before, and thus likely knows that the key to excelling therein is often based on performing basic acts of professionalism such as showing up to work each day and answering emails that are sent your way.  This is not to say that students who come straight through from undergrad cannot excel in a professional setting, but sometimes they might need professionalism concepts that seem rudimentary to many explained in a deliberate manner.

I tell students that while I know that they have only been in law school for a month or so at that point, I am curious as to their post-graduation plans, in both the short term and the long-term.  As I mention to all students, the Vanderbilt CSO is designed to help students obtain the job they are looking for in any corner of the legal industry, but there are some areas in which I, and our office in general, have greater expertise.  For example, since the vast bulk of Vanderbilt students want to go into Biglaw, we have cultivated a knowledge base and established a recruiting program that makes such jobs quite obtainable.  For those students who wish to go into an alternative field, I am more than happy to assist in their search, but we also have other resources available that will be especially helpful, if a student knows of, and utilizes them — for example, we have a faculty member who is the dedicated federal clerkship advisor and whose tireless efforts have allowed Vanderbilt to repeatedly rank as one of top law schools in the nation for churning out federal law clerks, as well as having a Public Interest Office who works directly with those students seeking to use their law degree for the greater good in public service.  A corollary question is in what geographic area a student would like to practice.  Again, while Vanderbilt is national law school which sends people to destinations across the U.S. and the world, there are certain areas in which we have alumni bursting from the seams and have specific structures in place to help students secure a job.  Other markets are obtainable, it will just require a different strategy and a realistic understanding of how those markets operate.

Finally, after asking about foreign language skills, I ask students to tell me something about themselves I would not be able to discern from any of their paper application materials (i.e., résumé, cover letter, transcripts, etc.)  While many students are befuddled by the question and might be wondering about its relevance, there is a reason it holds a place in the script.  By in large, employers know that nearly all members of a given Vanderbilt 1L class can do the work required of an attorney at an Am Law 100 firm, a boutique practice, governmental service, the nonprofit sector, or elsewhere.  So the interview process can be more about finding a colleague than a competent attorney.  Being able to express who you are outside of your academic and professional accomplishments and help employers determine who they are going to want to pull all-nighters with and who they think will mesh well with their culture.  Plus, as more and more legal employers increasingly use behavioral questions, students have to be prepared to talk about more than what their favorite class is or why they came to law school.  Beginning to think about who you are outside of the classroom and your life experiences that brought you to law school can help you stand out during the interview process in a way your peers will not.

So, I look forward to meeting my cohort of Vanderbilt Law 1Ls and finding out all about who they are, why they came to law school, and what they hope to accomplish upon graduation.  Besides, it provides a respite from finding out no one in the highest levels of the U.S. government heeded Stringer Bells’ reprobation.

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Nicholas Alexiou is the Director of LL.M. and Alumni Advising as well as the Associate Director of Career Services at Vanderbilt University Law School. He will, hopefully, respond to your emails at abovethelawcso@gmail.com.

When investors eagerly snapped up $2.75 billion worth of Argentine hundred-year bonds two years ago, they figured the country only had to honor the first 12 years and they’d be fine. Seemed a pretty decent bet to some: After all, Argentina defaults at an average rate of once every 16 years and 8 months, giving them a nice four-and-a-three-quarter-year cushion. Also, the country had just elected an avowedly pro-business president who was sure to fix everything right away and usher in a new era of capitalist success and on-time-bill-paying.

It has all worked out so well in one heavily-indebted crisis-racked country that recently elected a pro-business leader that the bond market thought it would be good to give another a try. And rather than waiting around to see exactly how many years it would have to wait before losing money on the bet, it just decided to lose the money upfront.

The Greek government issued €487.5 million ($535.31 million) of three-month debt at a yield of minus-0.02%….

The election of a pro-business, center-right government under Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis this July has further contributed to a sense that normality is returning….

Doubts remain over the sustainability of Greece’s debt in the long term, because its huge, cheap bailout loans from eurozone governments must eventually be replaced with market financing at uncertain cost….

“If Greece continues to do well and credit risk continues to go down, you could see rates go even more negative,” Mr. Farmakis said.

A Seven-year Jubilee

In a joint pastoral declaration titled, “Call for national Sabbath for trust and confidence-building in Zimbabwe,” the leaders of the umbrella Christian denominations namely, the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC), Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference (ZCBC), Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe (EFZ), Union for the Development of Apostolic Churches in Zimbabwe (UDA-CIZA) are calling for a Biblical Jubilee season of seven years.

During the seven years, Zimbabweans would have the opportunity to rebuild trust and confidence; reset the way of doing politics and chart a shared way forward towards comprehensive economic recovery. The Jubilee would be characterised by a non-competitive political environment.

Suspend constitutional provision for national elections

The non-competitive political environment proposed by the Church involves suspending periodic elections. The Church leaders, however, say consent would need to be obtained from citizens through a referendum

“The SABBATH proposal entails the suspension of the constitutional provision of elections, but such a (provision) will be redressed through a national referendum. The national referendum question would seek to ascertain from all Zimbabweans whether (or not) they agree with a proposal for a seven-year suspension of all political contestation for the sake of rebuilding trust and confidence by healing of all hurts of the past, and executing a shared constitutional and political national reform agenda,  and establishing and implementing a shared national economic vision,” the Christian Church leaders recommend.

Without collaboration, the country’s political paralysis will continue

According to the Church leaders 7.7 million Zimbabweans need food assistance and the country as a whole is experiencing enormous political, economic and social challenges that warrant a new approach.

“The current political paralysis and logjam characterised by the failure of the ruling party and the main opposition party to find a workable collaborative model is an issue of great concern. The fact that the two main political parties remain stuck in the post-election mode and will soon embark on a new election mode means that Zimbabwe is unlikely to realise any meaningful engagement between these parties towards a shared constitutional alignment agenda. Without a shared approach to national processes, the efforts by one are undermined by the other, while any positive contribution towards the national good is read only within a party-political perspective. We foresee that, whichever political party wins an election, the paralysis will remain, if the opposing parties do not learn to collaborate. It is the people who will continue to suffer if as a nation, we fail to establish unity in diversity,” said the Church leaders.

Toxic political relations

Relations among Zimbabwe’s political players have become so toxic that Church leaders believe only radical reform can redeem them.

“Having looked at these issues in a holistic fashion, the Church leaders have observed that the current environment does not allow for meaningful political reforms, nor is it conducive for inclusive economic participation for ordinary citizens. Such an environment of toxic political relations also renders our international re-engagement process futile, which international isolation inhibits investor confidence and slows economic growth. Such a polarised environment weakens respect for national institutions such as the courts, the police and the security sectors. Once such institutions are viewed as partisan and lacking in independence, it becomes impossible to elicit cooperation among the policy and political actors to drive a national reform process in the best interests of the nation,” reads part of the statement.

The Church leaders insist that Zimbabwe has not yet undergone healing from the past periods of national hurt. What the country requires urgently, they say, is a complete break with the current paralysis and a move towards real renewal and transformation.