SBM Blog

6th Circuit Top Of Most-Reversed Heap

The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals has passed the 9th Circuit as the most reversed federal appellate court, says the ABA Journal.

Whether you view this distinction as a blot or an honor, if you're interested in such rankings you'll also want to see this SCOTUSblog post about reversals from the 2005-2011. Employing a "fuller" methodology of reversals moves the 6th circuit a few slots down on the reversal charts.

Just How Tough Is It Out There For New Law Grads?

Sometimes a story's worth a thousand data points. From the New York Law Journal:

I graduated from a Tier One law school (in the 35-40 range), albeit not in Massachusetts. I was in the Top 10% of my class, graduating magna cum laude and receiving Order of the Coif honors. I was a Managing Editor on my law review and received a Top Oralist award in Moot Court. I interned at the US Attorney's Office my 2L summer and currently clerk on the Massachusetts Appeals Court. Why can't I get an interview with any firms?

The NYLJ''s advice boils down to using your law school career services office, networking, and broadening the search.  And also includes this downer:

The law schools in the 35-40 range are not always categorized as Tier One in the minds of all of the BigLaw firms (don't kill the messenger here – I'm not the one who makes up these rules). The further down the scale you go, the tougher the requirements are that are set up in the BigLaw firms. So, even though you graduated in the top 10% of your class, your specific law school might be categorized at the BigLaw firms as requiring top 5% graduates only.

Why Not Just Auction Off Federal Clerkships?

The federal government is chronically cash-strapped. The salaries of federal judges have been stagnating for decades. The market for highly-prized federal clerkships is saturated with ridiculously-talented and exquisitely-educated overachievers who have already paid a king's ransom for their gold-plated undergraduate and legal education and are poised to sacrifice further for the next plum on the path to legal super-stardom. Obvious solution: auction off the judgeships to the highest qualified bidder.

By raising necessary funding for the judiciary, this proposal is an improvement on the precedent-setting plan of a federal district judge to "hire" a third clerk, who will be unpaid. ("Which one of you is unpaid, again?  Oh yeah, okay. Please empty the wastebaskets before you leave today. Thanks.") University of Colorado law prof and controversial Scamblogger Paul Campos (MLaw '89) tells Salon that thinks the scheme may violate FLSA.

Justice Scalia's Pet Peeve

According to the WSJ Law Blog, Justice Antonin Scalia told the Annual Meeting of the Federalist Society last week, among other more constitutionally-relevant nuggets, that is regularly irked by this boilerplate pronouncement on airplanes: "it is required that your luggage is under the seat in front of you." "Is" should be "be," says the Justice. Indeed. The recurring offense sits in the brain like an itch that cannot be scratched.

Such is the case, for me, with this never-can-be-forgotten standard pronouncement of a former Michigan Speaker pro tem who year after year announced prior to the closing of the Board for voting on every vote: "Have all members wishing to vote having voted."

Suit Against Law School For Failing Grades Tossed Out

The summary judgment entered by federal district judge Lee against two law students who took their complaints about their failing Contracts II grades and subsequent dismissal from Texas Southern University Law School to court says everything you would expect it to say. Read it here. The students sought reinstatement and $7K in damages for intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

Labelling Judges By Party - Why And Why Not

A NYT Sidebar column by Adam Liptak, "‘Politicians in Robes’? Not Exactly, but . . ." examines the question of the extent to which a judges' partisan origins affect their judgments, and uses the 6th circuit's recent MIchigan affirmative action decision as the linchpin of the piece.  The piece is, at least, a useful compilation of research on the obvious, which is that partisan labels misrepresent the function of a judge but that knowing which party nominated a judge can be a good predictor of the judges' votes on certain issues. The piece also references this interesting note from SCOTUSblog's Lyle Denniston, reporting on the Michigan decision:

Readers will find, in some news accounts about this decision, references to the political party affiliation of the presidents who named the judges to the bench, referring to them as Republican or Democratic appointees. The author of this blog [SCOTUSBLog] will provide that information only when it is clearly demonstrated that the political source of a judge’s selection had a direct bearing upon how that judge voted — admittedly, a very difficult thing to prove. Otherwise, the use of such references invites the reader to draw such a conclusion about partisan influence, without proof.

This blog is also so inclined, for reasons stated here.

The Pedant's Guide To Proper Supreme Court Pronunciation

The folks at the always-amusing Green Bag have published The Pronouncing Dictionary of the Supreme Court of the United States, because:

There is no way to prevent entirely the mangling of proper names in case names, but it is time to do something to improve the chances of getting them right. That is the purpose of this Pronouncing Dictionary.

Now, you have no excuse for anything less than perfection in your Supreme Court oral argument.

How Not to Explain Your Cost Over-run

Andrew Steele at Legal Ethics Blog labels this harvested-from-Facebook statement by a general counsel of a tech firm "The worst explanation ever by outside counsel for running over budget:"

While I fully appreciate the need to work with budgets, our lack of alertness on timely budget warning may have been supported by our discussion in the forefront of our estimate where we sensed a joint understanding that the estimate would be a rough guidance due to the numerous uncertainties ahead.

Keep this up and lawyers will soon fall below politicians in public opinion polls.  In plain language: "This was a complicated case and we had no idea what the cost would be so we just guessed.  We didn't really mean it."

Trust Bust Law Schools?

University of Missouri law professor Thom Lambert at Truth on the Market invites the Department of Justice to prosecute law schools for their lateral recruiting practices, on the same basis as a recent agreement on eBay recruitment and hiring of Intuit employees:

Pursuant to a Statement of Good Practices to which AALS members scrupulously adhere, each law school has agreed to limit competition with its rivals by refraining from making lateral offers of employment after March 1 each year. Unlike the eBay/Intuit arrangement, the competing law schools’ trade restraint is applicable for only part of the year–from March 1 until the fall hiring season–but it has the same basic effect as the eBay arrangement. And, despite the law schools’ claims to the contrary, it isn’t justified on efficiency grounds.

 

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