Legal
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Here's a Legal Profession That Doesn't Require Law School
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TV legal dramas have enticed more than a few people to consider becoming lawyers, only to discover that it's a long slog from classroom to courtroom. If spending 3 years studying your way through law school, then several more grinding away until you get your first trial isn't for you, there is an alternative: Become a paralegal.It's a profession that US News says is "a great ...
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How Support Staffs Can Survive As Law Firms Retrench
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With BigLaw firms now playing follow the leader to up starting salary for first year lawyers, legal assistants, paralegals and other support staff are worrying they'll be laid off to balance the budget.
It's a not unreasonable fear. Law firms have begun offering severance packages and some have simply fired support staff, though so far, the largest layoff has been in the United Kingdom.
If you are one ... -
Paralegals Taking On Work Of First Year Associates
With law firms under the gun over hourly billings paralegals are being asked to take on more responsibilities, including tasks once assigned to new associates.Read the rest of this entry »
Citing a survey about law firm staffing, The Legal Intelligencer says 38% of firms are shifting work from lawyers to their paraprofessionals; among larger firms, those with more than 250 attorneys, the percentage is even higher -- 42%.
One of the consequences of the trend is ... -
The Challenges of E-Discovery
E-discovery may have made the tedious pre-trial review of documents simpler, but the technology that powers it hasn't come without a price.Read the rest of this entry »
Attorneys in big cases have long yearned for a solution that enables them to quickly see connections among the different pieces of evidence they collect in depositions and pre-trial discovery. Technology has delivered. With a few keystrokes, attorneys can find inconsistent statements, reorganize documents and filter for ... -
Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys. Or Lawyers
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When Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson told mammas not to let their babies grow up to be cowboys, it was mostly good advice.
In 2014, there were about 930,000 jobs for farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers, which is about as detailed as the government gets for this profession. Most of them are self-employed, working their own land. The numbers will decline, but only a little.
That advice about ... -
America's 100 Richest Law Firms
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America's 100 biggest firms billed $81 billion last year, an increase of 4.6% and a new record.
In the latest release of the annual American Lawyer rankings (Am Law 100), Latham & Watkins emerged as the number one firm by revenue. Only the fourth law firm to reach the top of the 30 year-old list, Latham displaced DLA Piper by increasing revenue 14.3% to a record $2 ... -
Law Firms Have Slow First Quarter
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Law firms saw a slow first quarter as expenses grew faster than revenue, and revenue growth was little better than half the increase last year.
Citi Private Bank's Law Firm Group survey of 173 firms, reported in American Lawyer found that on average, first quarter revenue was up 2.3% versus 4.3% last year. Expenses, however, rose 3.9%, more than twice last year's 1.6% increase ... -
Activist Funds: "Winning the War"
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"Activist hedge funds are winning the war," laments Martin Lipton, defender of CEOs and the name partner in a law firm renowned for defending corporations from the demands of activist funds and their managers.
In a lengthy, yet engaging article in American Lawyer, the story of the increasingly shrill fight between the activists and some of the nation's largest corporations and their defenders is told. Lipton, founder of 50 ... -
Big Law Becoming More Cautious About Lateral Hires
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Big law is becoming more cautious when bringing on partners from other firms.
The Am Law 200 largest firms recorded 2,736 lateral moves during the 12 month period ending Sept. 30, 2014, according to American Lawyer's annual Lateral Partners Survey. It's a 7% increase over the year before, and just under the record high of 2,775 for the 12 months ending Sept. 30, 2009.
Hiring in ... -
A Future Where Robots Are the Lawyers
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As if the legal profession hasn't taken enough blows since the recession began in late 2007. Now comes a report from the legal consultancy Jomati Consultants that predicts most of the routine work now handled by paralegals and associates will be taken over by technology.
“Law firms will see nearly all their process work undertaken by AI bots, completely upending the traditional associate leverage model," says Tony Williams, founder ...
