Steven Slater, the "working-class hero" JetBlue flight attendant who made a dramatic exit from a plane last month after a confrontation with a passenger, appeared in court in Queens, N.Y., today. His lawyer indicated that the defense has been involved in plea negotiations, trying to avoid any jail time.
The prosecution reportedly stated that they are receptive to the plea talks, but also stressed the seriousness of the incident that resulted in Slater's being charged with trespassing, reckless endangerment and criminal mischief. His next court appearance is scheduled for October 19.
Oh, also, Slater's lawyer wants you to know that he wasn't fired by JetBlue, but quit.
Now put your seatbelt on, sit back, relax, and enjoy the rest of your day.
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Posted by Eric Lipman on September 7, 2010 at 01:23 PM | Permalink
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Are you a Marine who's been doing something naughty? Scared you're gonna get found out and wind up face-to-face with a still-new-to-Scientology-not-yet-completely-insane Tom Cruise asking you for the truth?
If that's the case, you might want to peruse the "Manual for Courts-Martial," and get a sense of what sort of procedure you'll be up against. Assuming your hearing will not take place in the next few weeks, you're out of luck. As reported on the Suits & Sentences blog, President Obama signed an executive order on August 31, authorizing amendments to the manual. The amendments, which are effective September 30, purport to be "described in the Annex attached and made a part of this order."
But the Annex has not been made public, leading some observers to question whether the new version remains classified (not knowing a whole lot about the military, I'd guess that's unlikely). According to Suits & Sentences, a White House spokesman has stated that the Annex will be published in the Federal Register "in due time." Cold comfort to some of the commenters at emptywheel, who have invoked both Orwell and "Animal House" (no, not "Animal Farm") in opining on the issue.
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Posted by Eric Lipman on September 7, 2010 at 12:23 PM | Permalink
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Welcome back from your Labor Day holiday. One can debate whether what lawyers do can actually be considered "labor," but I'm gonna consider this a calendar-appropriate post regardless.
This morning on Am Law Daily, we get a sneak peek at an exhaustive review of three years worth of attorney timesheets. Some company called CT TyMetrix has compiled the 2010 Real Rate Report, and it is a doozy.
What's in the report? You could watch the video on the CT TyMetrix website to find out. But when I tried, I was lulled to sleep by the soothing voice of Dan Currell, managing director of the company's Legal and Compliance Practice. So maybe you should just read below:
The Real Rate Report is based on empirical data gathered from $4.1
billion in invoicing generated by over 3,500 law firm and 90,000
individual billers over three years (2007-2009). This comprehensive data
encompasses 51 metropolitan areas, companies ranging in size from one
to 1,940 and from over twelve industries including energy,
entertainment, finance, insurance, healthcare, manufacturing,
pharmaceutical, retail and technology.
The "empirical data" was collected from 36 big corporations who pay boatloads of money to outside law firms. And while you will have to buy the report (for $4,500) to get the full flavor, Am Law Daily pulled some of the highlights. To wit:
- Inflation of associate rates outpaced that of partner rates by almost 2 to 1 from 2007 to 2009 (17 percent to 9 percent).
- Two unidentified first-year litigation associates are billed out at $650/hour.
- 85 percent of lawyers charge different clients different rates for the same type of work.
- Clients that spend more with a particular firm, rather than getting volume discounts, actually pay a higher average rate.
OK, $650. For a first-year. That is comedy gold. My faith in man's inherent lack of common sense is restored. Let's celebrate with
some fireworks.
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Posted by Eric Lipman on September 7, 2010 at 11:35 AM | Permalink
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While the scambloggers may be trying to convince the world at large that the value of a legal education can be measured in Stanley Nickels, Lawyerist has some practical advice for those who have already taken the plunge and are looking to start paying back their loans.
How can you get a job? Throw your diploma and your interview suit in a rucksack, toss it in the bed of your truck, and head for the nearest small town.
There's some logical appeal to the suggestion. Small town law firms don't generally have access to the sort of recruiting pool that your major metro area firms do. And (I'm paraphrasing here), all them hayseed farmers need a whole mess a' legalizin' to sell they acreage and divvy it up amongst they kinfolk and whatnot, I reckon.
Plus, you can be a legitimate generalist, and live like a king for a fraction of the cost of that high-rise studio apartment in the big city.
Are there drawbacks? Sure. Lawyerist rightly points out that the dating scene might not be so vibrant in a place where the livestock show draws the biggest crowd on Saturday nights. But I'm guessing Lawyerist bloggers don't listen to a lot of country music, so aren't aware of the upside potential:
I'll be sending out my resume today.
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Posted by Eric Lipman on September 7, 2010 at 10:45 AM | Permalink
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I like Venn diagrams. I was kind of jealous when Bruce got to use one on Tuesday.
Luckily, D.A. Confidential apparently likes Venn diagrams as well. He picked up on the same one Bruce wrote about, comparing what lawyers publish in their bios with what clients are looking for in said bios.
And based on that, he was inspired to create his own. So, without alteration or elaboration, I present the "Lawyer/Witness Disconnect" from a prosecutorial perspective:
Have a great long weekend. I'm off to start drinking, and get a naked girl tattoo that looks like Elena Kagan.
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Posted by Eric Lipman on September 3, 2010 at 12:46 PM | Permalink
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It's the Friday before Labor Day weekend. I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that some of you readers are going to be doing a little imbibing over the holiday.
I'm not much for fancy mixed drinks (with the exception of anything involving vodka and jalapenos), but I'm enough of a fan of the consumption of alcohol generally to have been offended by the idea of copyright protection for drink recipes, as discussed in this article in The Atlantic. (The Atlantic article, written by a food columnist, was a little light on the legal niceties. See this post at Techdirt for some clarifications and scathing criticism.)
Exclusive rights to the "Long Island Iced Tea," anyone? Sorry, but that's ridiculous. Don't take my word for it. Felix Salmon at Reuters (via Overlawyered) thinks so too. So does Ezra Klein at the Washington Post.
The drink copyright movement appears to be spearheaded by a gent named Eben Freeman (pictured above), who doesn't think he gets enough recognition for his innovative recipes. In honor of Eben, I say we all make a variation on his American Beauty this weekend. Swap out the orange juice for a dash of self-importance, add a jigger of delusions of grandeur, and voila! We'll call it the "Pretentious Prick." Bottoms up!
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Posted by Eric Lipman on September 3, 2010 at 12:07 PM | Permalink
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Well, at least those in the private sector. While the Brooklyn DA's office is all up in arms about the bedbug infestation in its building, some New Yorkers -- including an attorney -- are putting on brave faces and getting out there on the front lines.
You know, buying old crap. From the New York Times (via the ABA Journal), comes a story about what effect the citywide bedbug invasion is having on the bottom line at vintage clothing stores and thrift shops. While some shoppers interviewed for the story expressed hesitation at buying clothing and furniture of questionable provenance, a lawyer named Lisa Slocum bit the bullet and shelled out $33 for a ("This is beautiful, what is that") velvet coat.
Demonstrating that lawyers are either incredibly courageous or a little dense, Slocum did this despite having "lived through bedbugs a couple of years ago." Her bedbug experience threw a little fright into her, but she powered through it, as she might have through a particularly lengthy and repetitive privilege log:
The infestation was enough for her to stop making the rounds of vintage
shops “for a while,” even though she had no evidence they came from the
stores she had frequented. “I’m a hard person to stop from secondhand
shopping,” she said as she left the City Opera shop on East 23rd Street.
Good on you, Lisa! I was prepared to include a lengthy lament about the state of our profession when lawyers can't afford new outerwear and, instead, are forced to rely on threadbare secondhand goods to survive the city's cold and cruel winters. But the Journal helpfully pointed me to Slocum's LinkedIn profile, from which it appears that she's one of those "artsy" types. All her legal jobs are listed as "past," and there are links to her home accessories website and the like. So I'm guessing she wears used clothing by choice.
Enjoy your velvet, Lisa. If you ever want to get back to practicing, I think there's a niche for you.
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Posted by Eric Lipman on September 3, 2010 at 11:17 AM | Permalink
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And if it is, can I go back to bed?
I raise the question because some esteemed legal bloggers have been chewing on it recently (that's a legitimate basis, right, Bruce?). Bob Ambrogi, who in the not-too-distant past patrolled the hallways here at LBW, proclaimed on Wednesday that "reports of blogging's death have been greatly exaggerated," and, as evidence, cited 15 legal blogs of relatively recent vintage that he believes to be of value to the legal community.
Scott Greenfield took issue with Bob's proclamation yesterday. Obviously, not with the notion that legal blogs continue to exist, and people keep right on starting up new ones, but with the notion that many of them serve a useful purpose. Here are Scott's thoughts on a random sample of the 15 blogs Bob listed:
What I found was distressing. No conversation. No synergy. Limited
analysis and little effort. But what struck me clearly between the eyes
is that the ones I looked at could have been taken out of the social
media marketer's handbook. Trying to look informative, these were
created for the purpose of self-promotion, marketing.
Having clicked on a couple of the links myself (no way of knowing if they're the same ones Scott tried), I agree. Some of the blogs Bob mentioned appear to be designed to drum up business. Scott is pretty clear that he finds this distasteful:
It's not that Bob's position is necessarily wrong; they are new and they
do contain posts with information. They just aren't part of any
blawgosphere that I recognize or want to be involved with. These could
have been written by some paralegal at a law firm who was paid to spend a
couple hours a week to craft a blog so that the law firms involved
could say they were right there, on the bandwagon, with all the other
cool law firms. And this is what Ambrogi sees as a thriving
blawgosphere.
But is blogging for client development purposes a crime? I, obviously, have perused quite a few legal blogs in the course of my duties here at LBW. And I can usually tell pretty quickly whether one is primarily a "marketing" blog or one designed to generate discussion and debate. Isn't it OK that both kinds of blogs exist for their intended audiences? Or is the wheat truly getting buried in chaff?
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Posted by Eric Lipman on September 3, 2010 at 10:15 AM | Permalink
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Here are today's three
burning legal questions, along with the answers provided by the
blogosphere.
1) Question: My wife pronounces the name of our home state as "Ne-VAH-dah," while I say it as "Ne-VAD-a." Who is right?
Answer: You are, of course, but please reassure your wife that the Nevada Legislature has "submitted a bill draft request for the 2011 legislative session for a
resolution that asserts while the preferred pronunciation of the state's
name is 'Ne-VAD-a,' pronouncing it 'Ne-VAH-da' is also acceptable." (Lowering the Bar, Nevada Legislator Proposes Bill on How to Pronounce "Nevada")
2) Question: Darn these airport security scanner machines! Why do they keep beeping when I walk through with no metal on me? Should I try the machine over here to the side where you go through horizontally?
Answer:
Sir, that is for baggage only! (Consumerist, Man Passes Self Through Airport X-Ray)
3) Question: I'm being kidnapped, but my foolish captors forgot to take my cell phone -- I can call 911 and have the police apprehend them! Ha!
Answer: Before you make the call, make sure that your "captors" aren't actually police officers giving you a ride home because you are too drunk to drive yourself. (FAIL Blog, Emergency Fail)
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Posted by Bruce Carton on September 2, 2010 at 01:43 PM | Permalink
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Back in my day, we had to walk to school barefoot, in the snow -- uphill both ways. That made our feet cold. Then the kids started riding on those newfangled "buses," which seemed like a good thing until parents realized there was a 45-minute period when they did not know the exact whereabouts of their children. Now even that problem has been solved, thanks to GPS technology and identification cards that are now issued to all elementary school bus riders in places like Palos
Heights, Ill.
The Chicago Tribune reports (via Consumerist) that in Palos Heights, school officials have assigned ID tags to 400 students in preschool
through 5th grade. Each child clips the card to their book bag, and the card/child is then "logged in" upon boarding the bus. This "allows a
transportation supervisor sitting miles away to track when and where
each student in Palos Heights School District 128 stepped on and off the
bus." The location of the bus itself is also known to the transportation supervisor through GPS technology.
The combination of the students' ID cards and the buses' GPS system allows:
transportation director Barbara Lynch [to] check when a student boards or
exits a bus or when a bus leaves the school. If a parent calls to
inquire about a late student, Lynch or the school secretaries -- the only
ones able to log into the system -- can determine the bus's location
along the route and whether a particular child is on board. The system
updates every 30 seconds, she said.
The total cost of the technology now being used on 10 school buses is $16,000, including the cards, which cost $3.25 each. Transportation director Dallas Rackow of Freeport School District 145, which also uses the system, said that in the future, the
district may enable parents to check on their own child: "That
is where this is going. I would guess within the next year, that will
be something we can make available to parents."
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Posted by Bruce Carton on September 2, 2010 at 01:17 PM | Permalink
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