February Bar Results Are Out

Congratulations/condolences to all of you February bar-takers who passed/failed. The pass rate was 56%, which is lower than July's 69% pass rate, but on par with February 2008's 57% pass rate. 

No word yet on what our local lawyer factory's passage rate was, but we'll let you know when we find out. Feel free to use the comments of this post to express exuberation/blow off steam. 

Who's on Top?

Las Vegas Business Press released its picks for the "Top 10 Lawyers of Southern Nevada's business community." According to LVBP, its "choices were made through a vigorous culling of sources both inside and outside the area's close-knit legal community." However, for some reason, those who won last year were ineligible for this year's "honor." Whatever ... here's the list:

• In-House Counsel: Paul Ades, MGM Mirage
• Securities: Michael Bonner, KKBRF (Rumored to be moving to GT)
• Gaming: Mark Clayton, Lionel Sawyer
• Labor: Kathleen England, England Law Office
• Real Estate: Barry Goold, Goold Patterson Ales & Day
• Bankruptcy: Gerald Gordon, Gordon Silver
• Construction: Dennis Haney, Santoro Driggs
• Intellectual Property: Lauri Thompson, Greenberg Traurig
• White Collar Criminal Defense: Richard Wright, Wright Standish & Winckler
• Elder Statesman: Joseph Brown, Jones Vargas

Congratulations to all!

(LVBP)

Mazzeo Article

http://www.fox5vegas.com/news/19301271/detail.html

LVBP Economy Article

http://www.lvbusinesspress.com/articles/2009/04/27/news/iq_28250832.txt

Movin' On Up!

Our local lawyer factory has received some good news.

Last week, U.S. News and World Reports (a.k.a the BCS of the law school world) released their 2009 rankings of the top law schools in the country, and Boyd moved up (3) (13) places to (75) on the list, now sitting comfortably in second-tier territory. 

Boyd issued a press release touting the achievement that contained some curious language:

We are delighted that the good work we are doing at the Boyd School of Law is recognized by this survey, however imperfect the survey is.

The release went on to explain what exactly Boyd plans to do to continue their upward movement in the rankings. We're no experts on USN&WR optimization techniques, but we're pretty sure that slamming the methodology of the survey in a press release is one way to ensure that your upward movement won't continue. 

Still, a hearty congratulations is due to Boyd's students and staff ... good work. Looks like that $339,560.00 might be paying off after all.

(Boyd Press Release; USN&WR Rankings)

Valley Layoff Watch, Part 5

This week we offer you a potpourri of layoff & salary-cut rumors from firms in the Valley.

First, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck gave associates (in Denver) a choice between deeper job cuts and higher salaries, or deeper salary cuts and fewer job losses. The associates opted for the salary cuts, and reportedly saved eight jobs. (Yeah, right.) The firm still cut 15 associates and 22 staff members. Rumor has it that their Las Vegas office only lost one attorney.

Next, Greenberg Traurig decided to cut salaries for summer associates and first year attorneys by 10%. Yet another sign that the rumored merger with KKBRF is likely toast.

Speaking of our friends at Kummer Kaempfer, recent comments in this post point to more bad news for the firm. It all started with this:

KKBRF is at it again! A large amount of the firms top lawyers are bailing and leaving the rest of the firm to fend for themselves. Top dog Michael Bonner along with several others will be going to Greenberg Traurig after all. There will only be like 12 attorneys left in the whole "mega firm" and who will suffer...the support staff who will be let go.

That was followed up by a commenter who said that Tom Kummer may be leaving the firm as well. Good luck to all of you KKBRF associates if this is true.

Finally, we got a random comment yesterday on a very old post that simply said: "The bloom is off the rose ... attorneys are leaving [Holland & Hart] not by their own choice." We're not the gardening type, so we don't really get the euphemism ... but it sure doesn't sound good.

(Denver Business Journal; ATL)

Moving On To Greener Pastures, Or Fleeing A Sinking Ship?

It looks like our own Boyd School of Law will be losing at least three professors this year to other schools. Professors Raquel Aldana, Tuan Samahon, and Michael Higdon have all given Boyd notice of their departure.

More alarming, however, is Samahon's revelation that he knows of an additional six professors who are interviewing elsewhere. Boyd only has approximately 40 faculty members, so losing nearly a quarter of them would not be good news.

One explanation for the departures comes from the current dean of the law school, who incredibly makes more himself than the three departing professors, combined ($339,560.00 vs. $324,823.00). From the LV Sun:

Boyd School of Law Dean John Valery White acknowledged the challenging environment. He said with so many talented young faculty, some turnover is inevitable. He said the law school is committed to attracting and retaining top talent.

“One of the components of my job is to build a strong faculty, but not under the assumption that we wouldn’t have any turnover,” White said.

Another component of Mr. White's job is, apparently, counting his money while cackling and smoking a cigar with his feet on the desk.

So, our question today is for all you Boyd students (or faculty ... we know you're reading): What's going on with your school? Is Boyd just experiencing "inevitable" turnover, or is there something bigger underlying this exodus? Please, enlighten us with your comments.

(LV Sun; Boyd Employee Salaries)

Give What Back?

Who among us hasn't had a brief lapse of memory and walked out of a store with something we didn't pay for? Who hasn't had our kid snag something off the shelf of the Kwik-E-Mart, only to discover it later while loading him/her into the car? Who hasn't walked into a store at the Sundance Resort, snagged a necklace off a mannequin, put it in your murse, signed your name to a few postcards, and left without paying? Oh, you guys haven't done that last one? Guess it's just us and Gary Guymon then.

You may remember Guymon as the rock-star District Attorney who put away Black Widow murderess Margaret Rudin. Or, more likely, you may remember him as one of the attorneys involved in the infamous G-Sting debacle of 2003.

Guymon's been busy since then, he moved over to the Public Defender's office (where they are, by nature, a little more tolerable of alleged criminal-types), and apparently he has been doing a bit of petty larceny on the side. From LVNow:

On the afternoon of March 24, 2009, just as a clerk walks away from the counter and into a backroom, a man is seen entering the front door. He quickly focuses his attention on a mannequin by the door.

With almost no hesitation, the man on the tape plucks a necklace from the mannequin. He checks around to see if anyone saw him. He then moves across the store toward the counter and as he walks he appears to slip the necklace into a bag he was carrying.

The man then proceeds to fill out three postcards at the counter, which is how the store was later able to get an idea of who he was. He filled out the postcards, sent one to his wife and one to his office secretary and signed his name -- Gary.

We still have a hard time believing this ... it just doesn't seem right. Guymon has to be at the top of the County's pay-scale by now, and his wife is the Guymon in Goldsmith and Guymon. It just doesn't seem possible that he is that hard up for cash.

This one pretty much speaks for itself, we won't rob you of the pleasure of watching George Knapp tell the story himself, complete with the actual surveillance video.

(Las Vegas Now; Thanks to everyone who sent this in!)

See, It's Not All Bad ...

We have a bit of good news today (although not for Boyd students). It looks like local firm Lionel Sawyer & Collins is actually adding attorneys. Wait! Don't all jump into your leased Beemer's and race to their office just yet ... the positions have been filled. LSC brought on five new associates recently:

Jing Zaho from Michigan;

Abigayle Dang from Washington University;

Greg Carlson from UC Hastings;

Brin Gibson from BYU; and

Elizabeth High, former D.C. Associate and Federal District Court Clerk.

If your name is not listed above, you may return to your job search ... sorry if we got your hopes up.

But seriously, it is good to see that LSC (for the time being, anyway) has shown an ability to manage itself in a financially responsible manner. When asked if there were changes taking place at LSC due to the current economic climate, our helpful tipster responded that there were "no real changes except for a smaller incoming class and smaller summer associate class." What? You mean to say that it isn't necessary to freeze salaries and nuke summer programs to stay profitable ... the hell you say!

When asked about the lack of Boyd hires, he responded:

While I'm not part of the hiring process, I think a large part of the Boyd thing is that there is a lot of competition among firms for the top of the class and not a lot for everyone else. So if we interview the top 10 - 15 students, probably 5 - 10 of them are a good fit, and those 5 - 10 probably have multiple offers. So it's not unreasonable to think that we might not end up with any Boyd students. And why dip lower in to the Boyd class when there are other well qualified
candidates out there (like the ones mentioned above)?

Ouch! That stings a little.

Come on, LSC ... let's show a little local love. Is there really that big of a difference between #15 and #30 at Boyd? Maybe you guys should drop the "law school grades = ability to practice" garbage and dig a little deeper for some local talent. You did, after all, hire their former dean.

(Thanks, VD)

Valley Layoff Watch, Part 4 - The Big Freeze

It looks like local sweatshop Alverson Taylor Mortensen & Sanders has made the prospect of working there even more appealing. As if conditions weren't bad enough for associates, ATMS sent out two emails last week that made things even worse. The first email tried to soften the blow for a couple paragraphs, right before kicking associates in their collective nuts:

From: [Secretary]

Subject: Message From Bruce Alverson

As most of you already know, as a result of our country’s current economic times, virtually all of our clients have refused our requests for hourly rate increases. At least one client has filed bankruptcy and several more are rumored to be on that economic path. In short, our revenues are capped at least for the foreseeable future. Basic math tells us that if revenues are capped, we must make every effort to hold the line on expenses.

Salaries are the single largest expenditure in a law firm. Historically, we have given raises every six months. To our knowledge, we are the only firm in Las Vegas to review salaries and give raises that frequently. In an effort to control costs, we have considered various options that other law firms are using—ranging from layoffs to salary cuts to reduced work hours with a proportional salary reduction.

The partners have decided on a far less drastic measure. We are not giving salary increases at this time. We will re-examine this decision in six months.

Bruce

So, they have considered "reduced work hours with a proportional salary reduction?" How exactly would that work under an hourly system?

We realize that pay freezes aren't on the same level as layoffs, but ATMS associates have it pretty rough already. Up until now, ATMS has given "guaranteed" raises of $6000 every 6 months to associates, a fact often cited by ATMS associates when they are asked about working at one of the lowest-paying firms in town and used by ATMS recruiters when bringing in "fresh meat."

According to our tipsters, because ATMS raises their base salary each year for incoming associates, if things stay the way they are, first-year associates who start after the July bar (if they start at all) will be making more than the second year associates who just had their April raises eliminated. This is because ATMS raises are given twice a year, in October and April, and new associates don't get the benefit of the October raise because bar results come out in mid October, thus they aren't attorneys yet (another classy move). ATMS second-years must be feeling awesome about that.

But the fun didn't end there for ATMS associates. A second email was sent days after the first, only there was no "softening the blow" this time:

From: [Same Secretary]

Subject: MESSAGE FROM BRUCE ALVERSON

Effective 30 days from today, ATM&S is suspending the matching fund provision in our 401k plan. That is, the firm will not match future contributions. The 401k plan remains in effect–you can make personal contributions, but the firm will not contribute a matching amount. If you wish to stop contributing, contact [redacted] immediately and she will explain the process.

We will reconsider this issue in six months.

Bruce

Losing your raise and your 401K matching all in the same week ... ouch! We're pretty sure that ATMS is running out of "benefits" to cut. Perhaps they are just doing this so associates will leave on their own and ATMS can avoid using the "L" word.

By the way, what's with Bruce Alverson having his secretary send these emails? We guess he can't be bothered to address his associates directly ... must be too busy scanning the parking lot for pennies to pick up.

(Thanks tipsters)

Judge Bybee Lawyers Up

It look like things are getting pretty serious for 9th Circuit Judge, part time Boyd School of Law Professor, "Torture Judge," and (as we prefer to think of him) "Protector of the Homeland" Jay Bybee. Bybee is among the former Bush administration lawyers under review for war crimes by Baltasar Garzon , the same Spanish judge who once ordered Augusto Pinochet's arrest.

So, what prominent Nevada attorney has Bybee retained to protect his interests? Yeah, right. Bybee went big for this one, hiring Maureen Mahoney (pictured) from Vault 10 firm Latham & Watkins to negotiate the European inquiry and other probes into his role at the Justice Department, where he signed off on the so-called torture memos in 2002.

We were surprised that a Spanish judge was able to open an inquiry into the actions of a sitting appellate judge in the United States, especially one that the Judge would have to defend. Then again we skipped International Law in school, choosing instead to take Legal Blogging our last semester. You're welcome.

(Cal Law (free registration required) via CityLife Blog; Thanks, asdf)

UPDATE

Here's the article via How Appealing (no registration required). Thanks anon!

Al Marquis v. L.V. Taxi Drivers

Local attorney Al Marquis (of Marquis & Aurbach) has taken it upon himself to fight the good fight on behalf of taxi-less women. Apparently, Marquis has conducted some research on his own in the form of an undercover investigation, and found that if given the choice between picking up men or women, Las Vegas taxi drivers are now choosing men almost exclusively.

Why, you ask? It's because of the bounties offered by local strip clubs, which are now up to $100 a head. The bounties are paid to local taxi drivers for every person they drop off at the doorstep of participating clubs. From LV Now:

Given a choice between a potential female passenger and a couple of guys who might be strip club bound, drivers bypass the woman every single time. True, they only ran their experiment eight times, a small sample, but the results were pretty clear.

Al has taken up the fight to remedy this injustice, forming an organization called Fairness in Transportation to push for harder legislation against this type of conduct. Does anyone else find it odd that Al has picked this particular cause to take up? Just wondering.

(LV Now)

Number One at Something

While Boyd School of Law may be fledgeling in the law school rankings, a new list has our local lawyer factory coming in at numero uno. That's right, Boyd has been named the number one school in ... attracting Mormons.

More specifically, Boyd is number one out of the 2009 Top Ten Most Mormon Friendly Law Schools (outside of Utah). The criteria used for the list took into account multiple factors, including the number of Mormons attending the schools (80 at Boyd), and distance to the nearest Mormon temple (that's the really bright building perched up on Sunrise Mountain, 13 miles from Boyd).

Who knew that Boyd was such a Mormon-magnet? From what we've heard, faculty politics are closer to Berkeley than BYU. Above The Law also picked up the story, and the comments over there are a hilarious read. Our favorite:

Firms looking to save money should hire more Mormon summer associates because they do not drink.

There you go local firms, your way out of this economic mess. Green Jello is way less expensive than booze, right?

(MormonLawyers via ATL)

The Name Game

There is some weirdness going on in the race for Ward 6. Apparently, Councilman Steve Ross sent out a mailer accusing his opponent, Jennifer L. Taylor, of making her living "defending special interests like developers, big subcontractors, and insurance companies." Or, as attorneys like to call it, "making a living."

The specific allegation focused on a case wherein Taylor supposedly defended an insurance company against a claim from a small business owner. (How dare she!) Turns out, however, that Ross accused the wrong Jennifer Taylor. The case in question had two Jennifer Taylors listed as counsel, a Jennifer L. Taylor and a Jennifer N. Taylor.

A letter from a partner at Lewis Brisbois vindicated Jennifer L., stating that she never represented that nasty insurance company. We're not quite sure how you accidently get listed as "Lead Attorney" on a case, but whatever. A note on Ross' smear site half-heartedly apologized for the mistake.

(Thanks, Anon)

Where to be?