JD Journal » employment

January Jobs Report a Positive Step Forward

jim — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:36:49 +0000

The job market took a massive step towards recovery in the month of January but it is still on a very long road to full recovery. Nonfarm payrolls in the United States picked up 243,000 jobs in the month of January, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is an increase from the revised 203,000 jobs in December.

In January, the unemployment rate fell to 8.3 percent, which is a drop from the 8.5 percent in the month of December. Economists estimate that if the number of workers who dropped out of the labor force were included, then the unemployment number could be over 10 percent, which is still a very bad sign.

“This report is encouraging, but it still underscores how far a distance we have to go and how many people are still long-term unemployed and disconnected from the workforce,” said Harvard economist Lawrence Katz. “Even if we were willing to say that the scars of the great recession mean a couple of million people drop out permanently, we still have many years to go before we get back to where we were.”

The early expectations for job growth came in at 155,000 new jobs and an unemployment rate hovering at 8.5 percent. With the new job numbers, the total amount of nonfarm payroll jobs sits at 132.4 million jobs, which is 5.6 million jobs lower than the 138 million at its peak in January of 2008. In layman’s terms, it will take many more months to get job numbers back to where they were four years ago.

Hamilton Place Strategies, a Washington, D.C. consulting firm, released a study on the economy and jobs. The data released estimates that there could be three million long-term unemployed people in the country who are not being included in the count by the Labor Department because those three million people have stopped looking for new work. If these people are pushed back to the workforce because of signs that the job market is improving, then the unemployment rate would increase. In January, the participation rate for the workforce fell to 63.7 percent compared to 64 percent in December. This is the lowest number since January of 1982, which suggests that employees are still leaving the job force in massive numbers.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics labels this group of people as those not in the labor force because they stopped looking for work over a month ago but still would like to have a job. This number has increased by 1.66 million since the start of the recession. The unemployment rate would hit 9.2 percent should those 1.66 million people re-enter the job force.

To compare the new numbers with old numbers, unemployment hit its peak in October of 2009 at 10 percent. A larger measure of unemployment, including workers only marginally attached to the job market fell to 15.1 percent, the lowest it has been since February of 2009.

January saw the private sector add 257,000 jobs as the government sector cut 14,000 jobs. Manufacturing added 50,000 jobs and leisure and hospitality added 44,000 jobs.

Proposed Law School Accreditation Standards to Change Reporting of Graduate Employment

aostler — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 20:20:01 +0000

The American Bar Association has made new drafts to its law school accreditation standards. These proposed changes would change the way that law schools report employment information for their graduates, as well as making the requirements for passing the bar stricter, and allowing distance education students to take more credit hours. Several other major changes have also been proposed.

According to a letter from the consumer information subcommittee of the Standards Review Committee of the ABA, the requirement that exists for law schools to publish “placement rates” and “basic consumer information” leaves a lot open to interpretation.

The subcommittee also wrote the following: “Not surprisingly, with such a vague standard, schools’ practices vary widely. Some schools provide detailed information; others provide a bare minimum.”

According to the new proposal, the employment status of students after nine months would be disclosed by law schools, in addition to the percentage of the students in law school-funded jobs. They would also be required to give information about the percentage of graduates with employment that requires bar passage and those who hold non-legal jobs. Schools will also be required to specify how many students they have in part-time and full-time jobs.

These proposals will be discussed in Chicago by the Standards Review Committee on April 2 and 3. It will have an open forum as part of the meeting so that other parties can give their own comments about the proposals.

Morning Roundup

joshua — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 12:28:51 +0000

Good morning everyone! Today is Tuesday, August 10th. Here’s a quick look back at yesterday’s stories.

Mia Farrow testified in the ‘Blood Diamond’ Trial and contradicted supermodel Naomi Campbell’s testimony…

AmLaw Daily reported 800 legal jobs were cut in July…

Butler Rubin Saltarelli & Boyd LLP hired a new COO…

800 Legal Jobs Go Bye-Bye In July … But Still Reflect An Improvement

eric — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 16:38:52 +0000

While reading through the tea leaves of the latest U.S. Labor Statistics Bureau report, which showed an overall loss of 130,000+ jobs for the month of July, AmLaw Daily reported today that at least 800 of the jobs that went poof were in the legal field. Hold your horses, though. This is, as the piece states, actually an improvement from June, which saw some 3,000 jobs go the way of the dodo.

With the national unemployment average holding steady (not, necessarily, a good thing) what does this mean for the legal industry’s job market? At best, job cuts there seem to be slowing. At worst, the current numbers could reflect an ongoing lack of stability. Let’s wait and see what next month brings.

Morning Roundup

joshua — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 10:36:42 +0000

Good morning everyone! Today is Monday, July 26th. Here’s a look back at Friday’s stories.

New Jersey-based firm Archer & Greiner named a new president…

According to NALP’s Jobs & JD’s report released this week, employment is down but salaries are holding steady for law graduates…

A partner in the Dallas firm of Gruber Hurst Johansen Hail was selected as one of the nation’s “Most Powerful Employment Attorneys…

Dinsmore & Shohl added three new associates to its IP practice…

Employment Down, Salaries Hold for Law Grads

joshua — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 22:01:14 +0000

The employment rate for law school graduates of 2009 was 88.3 percent as of February of this year, a 3.6 percent drop from 2007’s historical high, and the national median salary of $72,000 was unchanged from the Class of 2008, according to NALP’s Jobs & JD’s report released this week.

For those working at law firms, the national median salary was $130,000 as compared with $125,000 the prior year. The national mean was $115,254.

However, NALP offered for the first time an “adjusted mean” that drove the national mean downward. The new measure is designed to account for the fact that fewer than half the salaries for jobs at small law firms are reported while salaries at large law firms are often a matter of public record. With the additional weight given to reported small-firm salaries, the adjusted mean salary for full-time law firm jobs was $102,959.

James Leipold, NALP’s executive director, explained the system in a press release.

“As a matter of consumer information, especially for students who are considering applying to law school, the adjusted mean provides a better benchmark than the unadjusted mean, because it accounts for the larger number of lower salaries that are not reported,” Leipold said. “Nevertheless, the overall mean for starting salaries, whether adjusted or unadjusted, is best used to measure the rise and fall of aggregate salaries over time, and not the likelihood of earning a particular salary when graduating from law school. As the distribution of starting lawyer salaries makes clear, very few new law school graduates earn anything close to the mean. Instead, many graduates will earn much more than the mean salary, and many more will earn much less.”

NALP found the most common employment setting was that of private practice at law firms, which was reported by 55.9% of the members of the Class of 2009 who provided employment information. This figure has fluctuated only between 55% and 58% since 1993.

Over one-quarter (25.8 percent) of Class of 2009 graduates who reported being employed on February 15, 2010, were working in public service positions, including government jobs, the military, judicial clerkships, and public interest positions. This percentage has also remained relatively stable for almost three decades. Employment in business was 13.5 percent, essentially unchanged from 2008, and still within the 13-14% range reported for the last six years.

At 3.5%, the percentage of jobs in academia was the highest ever recorded by NALP, with the number of jobs up by over 400 compared with the Class of 2008. The report speculates that could be the result of schools providing post-graduate job opportunities given the tight job market.

NALP’s Class of 2009 Jobs & JDs report is based on information submitted by 192 ABA-accredited law schools on 96% of the graduates in the Class of 2009.

Dallas Employment Attorney Named ‘Most Powerful’

joshua — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:38:06 +0000

Mark A. Shank, a partner in the Dallas litigation firm of Gruber Hurst Johansen Hail, LLP, was selected as one of the nation’s “Most Powerful Employment Attorneys” by the editors of Human Resources Executive magazine.

Shank is the only Dallas attorney and one of only four from Texas listed among the Top 100. Human Resources Executive is considered the nation’s premier publication focused on strategic issues in HR, with more than 75,000 print subscribers.

The magazine’s Top 100 List, now in its third year, was developed through more than 2,500 nominations submitted by the magazine’s readers in addition to the publication’s own research. The final list was determined after confidential interviews with corporate counsel and other attorneys, and is published in partnership with Lawdragon, an online legal news and networking service.

Shank represents clients in business and litigation matters in employment law including contract claims, potential officer and director liability, employment discrimination, wage and hour disputes, executive compensation and retaliation cases.

Gruber Hurst Johansen & Hail was formed in 2006 and provides legal counsel on complex business litigation, including securities, employment, intellectual property, products liability and other commercial cases.

Kramer Levin Trio Named Most Powerful Employment Attorneys

joshua — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 17:12:40 +0000

Three attorneys from Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel – Kevin Leblang, Michael Nassau and Theodore (Ted) Ruthizer – have been named to Human Resource Executive magazine’s 2010 list of Most Powerful Employment Attorneys.

This is the second consecutive year the trio was named to the Most Powerful List, Kramer Levin said in a press release.

Ruthizer, who was named a top-10 Immigration attorney on the list, is co-chair of Kramer Levin’s business immigration group. He is also a past president and general counsel of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

Nassau, a top-10 ERISA attorney on the list, is co-chair of the firm’s employee benefits and executive compensation group. He is a veteran benefits attorney, advising employers, plan committees and trustees and financial institutions on legal matters involving benefit plans, executive compensation, and investment products and services marketed to plans.

Leblang is chair of the firm’s employment Law group. He counsels employers on matters ranging from the adoption and application of employee relations policies to the evaluation and minimization of litigation risks of employment decisions. He also represents management clients in litigations before federal and state courts, administrative agencies and arbitrators.

Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel is a full-service law firm with offices in New York and Paris.

Morning Roundup

sara — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:32:24 +0000

Good morning everyone! Today is Thursday, March 11, and here’s a quick look back at yesterday’s news…

The Robert Half Legal Hiring Index reports that employment prospects are improving for the legal industry in the second quarter…

Arnold & Porter adds three from Arent Fox…

The National Jurist reports that the number of law school faculty has increased by 40%…

Chief Justice John Roberts touches on the State of the Union during a lecture at the University of Alabama…

Two partners from Orrick join King & Spaulding…

Katten Moves Up Start Dates For Six Incoming Associates

todd — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 16:25:05 +0000

Half a dozen incoming associates to the Katten Muchin Rosenman law firm have reason to celebrate. On Friday, the law firm sent out a statement rescinding their March decision to hold off starting dates for six of their incoming associates. Initially, the associates were to start on February 1, 2010. However, due to what the law firm cited as “an increase in demand for [their] legal services in a number of core practice areas,” six lucky new comers will start their new positions this month.

The hires come in the areas of litigation and intellectual property, but are spread across all of the firm’s offices.

Pugh Jones Partners with McCarter & English

Erik Even — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 17:13:19 +0000

Chicago’s Pugh, Jones, Johnson & Quandt and Newark’s McCarter & English are forming an alliance.

While remaining separate and independent law firms, they will recommend and provide coordinated legal services to their respective clients, including complex litigation, corporate transactions, municipal finance, commercial real estate, employment matters, and property tax appeals.

Pugh, Jones, Johnson & Quandt, one of the largest minority-owned law firms in Chicago, serves Fortune 500, governmental and entrepreneurial clients.

McCarter & English, established more than 160 years ago, represents Fortune 500 and middle-market companies in their national, regional and local litigation. Its 400 attorneys are based in offices in Boston, Hartford, New York, Newark, Philadelphia, Stamford and Wilmington.

Norman Wohlgemuth to Remain on Tulsa City vs. Tulsa County Case

todd — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 23:07:13 +0000

The private firm hired by the city of Tulsa will remain the representative of the city in Oklahoma. The city of Tulsa has sued Tulsa County over a new jail agreement.

The county filed a motion to have the law firm, Norman, Wohlgemuth, Chandler, and Dowdell removed from the case because it is also currently representing the Tulsa Country Retirement Board, potentially creating a conflict of interest.

Two witnesses were called and several exhibits were shown that indicated that the county had paid the firm for a case related to the Retirement Board .

However, Jo Lynn Jeter requested that the motion be dismissed, giving two reasons. Jeter stated that she believed the county had failed to meet legal standards for disqualification because it hadn’t proven that the involvement in the Retirement Board case would harm proceedings in the lawsuit at hand. She also claimed that the county had failed to prove the law firm has possession of any information which would negatively impact the county, or the proceedings.

District Judge Jefferson Sellers said that for him to disqualify the law firm from the case, he would have to be provided evidence of a conflict of interest or an improper possession of confidential information.

“I cannot do that based on the evidence that has been presented to me in this matter,” he said.

Interactive Media & Video Game Law Practices Expand

Erik Even — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 21:18:27 +0000

Lawyers now seek a piece of the multi-billion dollar a year interactive media and video game industry. In a growing trend, intellectual property law firms have begun to expand their expertise to cash in on the growing number of video game developers, publishers, and other interactive media clients.

One innovative example includes Stubbs Alderton & Markiles LLP, a Los Angeles-based law firm traditionally known for its focus in business securities and intellectual property practice areas.

The firm plans to expand their video game and interactive media practice with the re-hire of Steve Goldstein as a member of the Senior Counsel team at the firm.

Goldstein has worked with the Firm in the past and spent the last three years at Flagship Studios as Director of Business Development and General Counsel. Before, joining Flagship, he worked at the Firm and represented various independent video game publishers and developers, firm studios, and technology companies.

For the month of November, sales in the video game market over all – which includes software, hardware and accessories – rose 10% in November as compared with a year ago. In October, the increase was 18 percent.

That said, hardware sales grew 10 percent in November, as compared with 5 percent in October. The big winner driving the industry growth is Nintendo Wii. It sold 2 million units in November. Microsoft sold 836,000 Xbox 360s, while Sony sold 378,000 units of PlayStation 3.

However, the latest numbers from December suggests a slow down in the video game market, which industry executives and analysts had characterized as relatively recession-proof.

High-Profile Los Angeles Lawyers Leave Dreier

todd — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 18:58:07 +0000

Several lawyers from the high-profile firm, Dreier LLP, have recently departed from the firm, finding jobs elsewhere.

Lawyer to high profile basketball player Tony Parker, Stanton “Larry” Stein recently announced that he would be transferring to the Liner Yankelevits firm. Other high profile clients for Stein include X-Files star David Duchovny.

Along with Stein went his former partners: Michael Plonsker, Mark Passin, and Yakub Hazzard. Those three left for the Minneapolis-based firm Robins Kaplan Miller & Ciresi. They will bring three associates from the Minneapolis firm and establish a Los Angeles-based entertainment practice group.

The owner of the Dreier firm, Marc Dreier, is in jail in New York on charges of financial fraud. The case is set to close by the end of this month.

BGR Group Holds Bipartisan Inauguration Party

Erik Even — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 18:17:19 +0000

The transitioning bipartisan firm, BGR Group, with a history of powerful Republican clients, partied into the late hours Tuesday during the Obama inauguration. The BGR Group hosted a Blue Ball for over 200 invited guests at its new Homer Building office in Washington, DC.

The firm patriotically primped its office floor with star lights projected on the dance floor conference area, mega screens airing the balls across town, and a blue glow throughout the space. Refreshments included mini-Reubens, corn souffle and champagne glasses with red, white, and blue sugar rims.

The 18-year-old lobbying firm added a couple of prominent Democrats to its staff in the past year and wanted to throw an intimate gathering in the new office to celebrate its own transition over the past year of becoming a bipartisan firm.

“The Democrats came into the firm and are pleased that Republicans know something about policy, so they work real well together,” said Lanny Griffith, chief executive and the “G” in BGR Group. “When I worked for the White House a long time ago for Bush in 1989, my job was to be bipartisan. This is very similar to that.”

The idea for the Blue Ball stemmed from a company Christmas party. But the idea behind the name does not have Democratic connotations.

“We were sitting in my office, drinking some Johnnie Walker Blue and decided to do the blue party,” Griffith said. “The Blue Ball. That’s what I thought it was about!”

Among the hundreds at the brunch reception were Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., the new chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee; Carol Browner, picked to head Obama’s White House energy and environment council; and a platoon of NBC News personalities, including anchor Brian Williams and former anchor Tom Brokaw.

Founded in 1991, BGR Group is the premier bipartisan government relations, strategic consulting, mergers & acquisitions and investment firm in Washington, D.C. The firm’s reputation in Washington and international capitals means decision makers, journalist and business leaders often refer to them for insight regarding policy development, politics and international issues.

BGR clients include Fortune 500 companies, international governments, trade associations, non-profits, academic institutions, hospitals, coalitions, state and local governments. The firm intends to continue its hiring of new staff during the bipartisan transitioning.

Search for related employment resources online: Law Crossing.

South Korean Blogger Jailed Without Bail

todd — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 03:59:38 +0000

He goes by the username “Minerva,” after the Greek goddess of wisdom. He rose from anonymity in South Korea, for accurately predicting the current economic crisis. He even predicted the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

Now, the 31 year old Park Dae-Sung, is charged with going too far in an online discussion. He stated that the government had banned major financial institutions and trade businesses from purchasing U.S. dollars in an attempt to strengthen the local currency. Prosecutors are calling his information inaccurate and saying that it disrupted the foreign exchange market.

He was arrested last week, which sparked a debate about freedom of speech on the Internet and in South Korea. South Korea is considered to be one of the most technologically savvy nations in the world.

Dae-Sung had regularly denounced the method by which his government handled the economy and made regular, mostly negative, predictions about the future. He is speculated to be an economic expert and his identity was hotly debated in his home country.

He has been denied bail. Dae-Sung’s lawyer said he did not intend to harm the public.

Dae-Sung could spend up to five years in prison or be fined up to 50 million won (US$36,360).

Dorsey & Whitney Out of Danger

todd — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 03:27:59 +0000

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out a decade old case on Thursday, relieving the Dorsey & Whitney law firm from the threat of $4 million in malpractice suits.

In 1999, an investment bank in Minneapolis, called Miller & Schroeder, which is now non-operational, packaged about $12 million in bonds, selling them to over thirty different banks. Those banks turned that money over to become direct lenders to a Mohawk Native American tribe located in New York State. The tribe used that money to invest in a casino.

The illegality comes because Miller & Schroeder hadn’t received the green light from the National Indian Gaming Commission to go ahead on the loan for the casino. It was proven that Dorsey was aware that this could endanger the investment, and ignored it.

The casino went under, and the loans went into default in 2000. The Mohawk tribe claimed they weren’t obligated to repay the loans because of the fact that the gaming commission never gave approval.

Miller & Schroeder sued the casino management as well as the Mohawk tribe in bankruptcy court. Dorsey encouraged Miller & Schroeder to release the tribe from the suit, and in 2007, a federal district court decided that Dorsey only wanted them released from the suit because they wanted to keep their own mistakes from being revealed.

Two federal courts – a bankruptcy court and a federal district court— ruled against Dorsey in judgments that accumulated up to $900,000.

However, on Thursday, a majority of the 8th Circuit decided that Dorsey did not, in fact, commit malpractice. All charges against the firm were dropped.

Fisher & Phillips Elects Honeycutt to Partner

Erik Even — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 17:49:45 +0000

Atlanta-based labor law firm Fisher & Phillips has elected Charlotte attorney James Michael Honeycutt to the partnership.

Honeycutt’s focuses his practice on labor & employment law on behalf of employers, including employment litigation defense, traditional labor law matters, and counseling clients on a wide range of personnel issues.

Honeycutt earned his JD, magna cum laude, from Michigan State University College of Law in 2001 and a BA from the University of North Carolina, Pembroke, in 1988.

Fisher & Phillips LLP represents employers nationally in labor, employment, civil rights, employee benefits and immigration matters. The firm has more than 200 attorneys in 19 offices. Founded in 1943, it was one of the first US law firms to concentrate its practice exclusively upon representation of employers in labor and employment matters. In addition to its Charlotte office, the firm has its headquarters in Atlanta with offices in Chicago, Columbia, Dallas, Denver, Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Irvine, Kansas City, Las Vegas, New Jersey, New Orleans, Orlando, Philadelphia, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, and Tampa.