JD Journal » law review

Law Review Circulation in Decline

sara — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:54:32 +0000

A new study finds that over the last three decades law review circulation has dipped significantly with some especially steep declines occurring in recent years. Professor Ross E. Davis at George Mason University School of Law conducted a study on information collected by the U.S. Postal Service tracking the paid circulation of 21 law reviews from prestigious law schools between 1979 and 2009. The publications submit the information to the Postal Service to qualify for bulk mailing rates. The Harvard Law Review had a paid circulation of 8,760 in 1979 but only 2,029 in 2009, representing a decline of almost 77%. The paid circulation of The Yale Law Journal declined from 4,051 in 1980 to 1,725 in 2009, a 57% decrease.

Davis theorizes that readers are now able to access the contents of a law review using online legal services like Westlaw and LexisNexis. Law review articles also can be found for free on the internet. Both The Yale Law Journal and The Harvard Law Review have official websites providing free content. Davis also believes that the target audience for law reviews has declined. He doesn’t see this decline hurting reviews much financially since they are cheap to produce. Davis does have a major concern, “The worry is on the influence end. The question is now, ‘How useful are we?’”.

Divorce Attorneys Found Firm in Atlanta

Erik Even — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:51:34 +0000

Four Atlanta, Georgia attorneys have formed a domestic relations and family law firm, Boyd Collar Nolen & Tuggle.

Robert D. Boyd has exclusively practiced family law for 20 years. He is trained as a collaborative lawyer in family law, and is a fellow in the Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. Boyd practiced with King & Spalding, and served as an assistant United States attorney in the criminal division for the Northern District of Georgia. His JD is from the West Virginia University College of Law in 1983, where he served as editor-in-chief of the Law Review.

John L. Collar, Jr., currently serves as the legislative liaison for the Family Law Section, State Bar of Georgia. He is a graduate of the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University, and was a partner at Cauthorn & Phillips and Warner, Mayoue, Bates, Nolen & Collar.

Richard M. Nolen was a partner at Warner Mayoue, and president of the Trial Lawyers Association. His JD is from the University of Alabama Law School.

Jonathan J. Tuggle previously served as a managing partner at Warner Mayoue. He currently serves as a member-at-large on the executive committee of the State Bar of Georgia, Family Law Section. He is a graduate of the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University.

Seyfarth Shaw Hires for Atlanta Office

Erik Even — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:45:03 +0000

Seyfarth Shaw, which last week brought on a new team of corporate and technology partners from Alston & Bird, is expanding its Atlanta office with lawyers poached from Troutman Sanders.

Robert C. Stevens joins as a partner in Seyfarth Shaw’s Labor & Employment Department. He concentrates his practice on litigation and counseling matters involving employment discrimination, restrictive covenant, trade secret, and wage & hour issues. Stevens earned his JD magna cum laude from the University of Alabama, where he wrote for the Alabama Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif.

Benjamin D. Briggs also joins the labor group as partner. He focuses on a wide-variety of labor and employment matters arising under state and federal law. Briggs received JD with honors from Georgia State University, where he was a member of the Georgia State Law Review.

Seyfarth Shaw’s Labor & Employment Department consists of 350 employment attorneys nationally at all levels of experience.

Chicago’s Seyfarth Shaw LLP is a full-service law firm founded in 1945. It has nine offices in the US and one in Belgium.

Seyfarth Shaw Brings on Team from Alston & Bird

Erik Even — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:14:20 +0000

Chicago-based Seyfarth Shaw, which in May laid off 50 people and reduced salaries, has brought on a new team of corporate and technology partners from Alston & Bird.

Robert C. Reynolds, Jr. is an outsourcing lawyer who co-founded Alston & Bird’s energy infrastructure team. He received his JD from the Vanderbilt University Law School, where he was an editor of the Vanderbilt Law Review and elected to the Order of the Coif. He is admitted to practice law in Georgia, Maryland and the District of Columbia. He will work from both Atlanta and Seyfarth’s Washington DC office.

Shawn K. Baldwin, who joins in Atlanta, focuses on strategic corporate transactions. He got his JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He is admitted to the Georgia Bar.

S. Joel Cartee, who also joins in Atlanta, handles complex global transactions and matters relayed to the Kyoto Protocol. He is a Special Assistant Attorney General for the State of Georgia. He received his JD from the University of Alabama School of Law. He is admitted to practice law in Georgia.

Chicago’s Seyfarth Shaw LLP is a full-service law firm founded in 1945. It has ten offices.

BuckleySandler Adds More Lawyers

Erik Even — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:56:38 +0000

BuckleySandler, founded in March when two Skadden partners left the firm’s Washington DC office, has grown to 55 lawyers with the addition of two lawyers.

Stephen Ambrose Jr. joins from GE Capital, where he was general counsel of the consumer finance unit. He will be managing partner of the firm’s new New York office. He earned his JD at Fordham University Law School, where he served as Editor of the Fordham Law Review.

Robert Cook joins as of counsel from Countrywide Financial, where he was deputy general counsel. He was previously special counsel at the Federal Reserve Board.

BuckleySandler is headquartered in Washington DC, with offices in New York and Los Angeles. It represents clients in the financial services industry, such as banks, mortgage lenders, and credit card companies.

BC Law Offers Aid to Deferred and Unemployed Grads

Erik Even — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 21:44:36 +0000

The Boston College Law School has joined other prominent law schools in offering assistance to graduates who have been deferred at law firms, or who have not received offers.

According to Eagleionline, the assistance includes:

Law School Fellows Program: “as many as twelve positions” will be available, paid at “a modest hourly rate” in places like the Legal Assistance Bureau and the Law Library.

Career Services Partnership Program: working with some firms and companies, the Law School will coordinate jobs for graduates from September 1 of this year to March 1 of the next, to help out those who are waiting out deferrals or bar exam results. While stipends vary, past participants have “averaged $800 to $1000 per week.”

Audit Courses: Class of 2009 graduates will be able to enroll in “a number of courses” in the fall semester, without tuition but without the opportunity to receive a grade…

Eagle Scholars Program: while auditing courses, graduates can participate in a weekly seminar intended to help students produce “a law review article of publishable quality.”

Research Assistantships: in a measure bound to raise the ire of some continuing students, graduates are being welcomed to apply for assistantships with professors. Some faculty members have been given the green light to hire an extra assistant for the summer and fall.

Public Service Jobs: for graduates waiting out deferrals, the Law School is extending access to PS Lawnet in an effort to connect graduates with public service opportunities.

Boston College Law School is situated on a 40-acre wooded campus in Newton, Massachusetts. With approximately 800 students and 125 faculty members, the Law School is the largest of Boston College’s seven graduate and professional schools.

Admission to BC Law is among the most selective in the United States, with approximately 7,000 applicants for the 275 places in the first year class in 2005.

Hahn & Hessen Announces New Partners

Erik Even — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 23:14:29 +0000

New York’s Hahn & Hessen LLP has announced that Daniel M. Ford and Edward L. Schnitzer have been made partners in the firm. Both men were formerly senior associates.

Ford represents financial institutions and borrowers in structuring, negotiating and closing a wide variety of domestic and cross-border financing transactions. He came to the firm from White & Case in 2004. A magna cum laude graduate of Case Western Reserve University School of Law, Dan was a member of the Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif.

Schnitzer represents creditors, unsecured creditor committees, debtors and trustees, with a concentrated expertise in all levels of bankruptcy-related litigation. He was an Assistant District Attorney in Bronx County, and served as a Staff Attorney with the Division of Enforcement of the Securities and Exchange Commission. A 1997 graduate of Columbia University School of Law, and a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, he has been with the Firm since 2001.

Founded in 1931, Hahn & Hessen LLP is a full service commercial firm serving primarily financial institutions and creditors holding distressed debt.

Ward & Smith Welcomes New Attorney [Video]

Erik Even — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 23:38:49 +0000

From LawCrossing:

North Carolina firm Ward & Smith has added litigation attorney Joseph A. Schouten to its group of attorneys.

Schouten represents clients in all phases of litigation, including trial. According to a firm press release, he also counsels clients in cases involving claims of patent infringement, tortious interference with contract, telecommunications, trade secret misappropriation, and breach of contract.

Schouten earned his law degree from the College of William & Mary Law School in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he was Notes Editor of the William & Mary Law Review.

– Jillian Manning