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Insiders Outing Their Law Firms
Used to be that large firms operated under a shroud of secrecy, as lawyers feared that revealing negative information about inside operations would sink their careers. That's still a problem, of course, but with the rise of blogs, there's also a means for insiders to disseminate unflattering tidbits about their firm -- and some instances retain the cloak of anonymity. This article from The National Law Journal, Law Firms Get Their Share of Attention From Bloggers (8/6/07), covers a recent trend of blogs that cover internal law firm disputes and gossip.
Of course, the most well known of this genre is David Lat's Above the Law -- where tipsters can provide internal memos and gossip anonymously. But the article also reports on the blog The Life of A US Lawyer at a Chinese Law Firm by Jeff Brauer, which was initially launched as a way for Brauer to collect $150,000 in unpaid compensation for a firm where he'd served as counsel. Some commenters say that Brauer's decision to air dirty laundry is highly unprofessional -- but Brauer says that the blog has now become an outlet for other foreigners who had similar problems. Yet in a recent posting, Brauer still continued to cover the dispute and said that he'd reveal more information if he was not paid. Another relative newcomer to the scene is Skadden Insider -- though a recent posting reveals no postings for the past two months (does that mean that the firm is busy -- or that the authors just lost interest?).
These insider blogs aren't very professional, but they do serve a necessary purpose in today's legal climate. The blogs are an outlet for lawyers who don't like a policy and need to vent -- and they give comfort to lawyers who aren't earning $160k that life at a large firm has its drawbacks.
Posted by Carolyn Elefant on August 6, 2007 at 05:22 PM | Permalink
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