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A Well-Traveled Path From Ivy League to Supreme Court
Law School News |
2010/09/05 23:23
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pJustice Clarence Thomas recalled the reaction from “self-proclaimed smart bloggers” when he looked beyond the Ivy League to hire law clerks from Creighton, George Mason, George Washington and Rutgers for the Supreme Court term that started in 2008. /pp“They referred to my clerks last year as TTT — third-tier trash,” he told students at the University of Florida in February. “That’s the attitude that you’re up against.” /ppJustice Thomas’s hiring was certainly out of step with that of his colleagues. About half of the law clerks who have served the justices since Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. joined the court in 2005 attended two law schools — Harvard and Yale. Another quarter attended just four others — Virginia, Stanford, Chicago and Columbia. /ppIn remarks to law students at American University Washington College of Law last year, Justice Antonin Scalia was unapologetic about this trend. /pp“By and large,” he said, “I’m going to be picking from the law schools that basically are the hardest to get into. They admit the best and the brightest, and they may not teach very well, but you can’t make a sow’s ear out of a silk purse. If they come in the best and the brightest, they’re probably going to leave the best and the brightest, O.K.?” /ppJustice Thomas said he took a different approach. “I have a preference, actually, for non-Ivy League law clerks, simply because I think clerks should come from a wide range of backgrounds,” he said. “I don’t have that pedigree. I’m not part of this sort of new or faux nobility.” /ppJustice Thomas, who grew up poor in rural Georgia, attended Yale Law School, as did Justices Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Sonia Sotomayor. The other justices all attended Harvard Law School, though Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg transferred to Columbia and graduated from there. Justice Ginsburg has said that she has chosen clerks based in part on recommendations from David Schizer, a former clerk of hers who is now dean of Columbia Law School, and from Justice Elena Kagan when she was dean of Harvard Law School.
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'Train geeks' give railroad agency high marks
Lawyer News |
2010/09/05 23:17
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| pOn the top three floors of an office building wedged between the railroad tracks and the Southwest Freeway in Washington, a tight-knit staff of lawyers, economists and analysts churns out reviews and decisions in one of the most obscure corners of the federal government. /ppThis year, the Surface Transportation Board has held hearings on coal shippers who ignore rules on coal-dust dispersal and a railroad's request to abandon a freight line in Northern Maine. It has investigated community complaints about the merger of Canada's national railway with a Chicago area railroad. /ppPretty dry stuff. Yet the 150 bureaucrats tasked with the economic regulation of U.S. freight railroads came out on top among small federal agencies last week in a survey by the Partnership for Public Service of the Best Places to Work in government. /ppThe self-described crew of train geeks and experts in the arcane field of railroad law gave their office high marks for teamwork (85 percent) and pay (81 percent) and their bosses winning scores for leadership (87 percent). They know it sounds trite, but they describe themselves as a family with parents who are demanding but fair and have pride in what they do, since not a lot of other people understand it. /p |
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Eminem label loses court battle over digital royalties
Industry News |
2010/09/04 23:25
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pAn appeals court has ruled against Eminem's label, ordering Universal Music to pay royalties to the rapper's former production company. In a precedent that could be worth billions of pounds to the recording industry, the US 9th circuit court of appeals declared FBT Productions was entitled to 50% of Universal's revenue from digital sales./ppFBT Productions signed Eminem to an exclusive record deal in 1995, before he was famous; when Eminem went to Universal, FBT was entitled to a 12% royalty on records sold. But in the pre-iTunes era, the digital royalty rate wasn't made clear. FBT argued digital sales are not records sold but constitute a licensing of master recordings – entitling them to 50% of net receipts. A court rejected this argument in March 2009, but this decision has now been overruled. According to the appeals court, the contracts were unambiguous. The case has now been sent back to the lower court for further proceedings./ppFBT's case against Universal is worth several million pounds in royalties and damages, but the impact could be even larger. Twenty years ago, lawyers could not have imagined innovations such as the iTunes Music Store, and in certain contracts, it's unclear which royalty rates apply. While Universal Music insists the FBT case sets no legal precedent and concerns the language of one specific recording agreement, these sorts of ambiguities could be present in thousands of legacy contracts. If the courts interpret this language in certain ways, the costs could add up quickly.
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BBK lawyers give firm high marks
Lawyer News |
2010/09/04 23:20
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| pRiverside-based law firm Best Best amp; Krieger apparently has some of the country's happiest lawyers. /ppThe firm ranked fifth out of 137 firms nationwide in the level of job satisfaction that its mid-level associates enjoy, according to a survey in The American Lawyer magazine. /ppLast year the firm came in 90th in the same survey. /ppLawyers who have been with BBamp;K between three and five years were asked about 12 facets of the work environment. /ppThese included relations with partners and other associates, training and guidance, management's openness concerning business strategies, pay and benefits and the firm's attitude toward pro-bono work. /ppBBamp;K has almost 200 lawyers in eight offices. /p!-- vstory end -- |
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