Gloomy news! Brown Rudnick,Mayer Brown, Squire Sanders today all announced layoffs of staff including paralegals in San Francisco, Chicago and cities other than financially devastated New York. On the "good" side of things, Bryan Cave says no layoffs expected but no raises or bonuses either. Yikes! Mayer Brown lays off 55 staff, 33 attorneys; Squire Sanders asks 20...
Most definitely, e-mail is killing the art of the phone call.
But there is a new trend now that simply amuses me - and that is the sending of an e-mail to book an appointment to make a phone call. It used to be that if you needed to call someone, you would simply pick up the phone and call. If Mr. or Ms. SoandSo were in, they took the call (or not). You leave a voicemail and at some...
Oh, I'm almost ashamed to print this. But then again, it's not like it was my fault. However, when someone from the profession screws up so badly that it hits MSNBC, well, that's not good.
It seems that a juror who vanished during Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens' corruption trial told the judge Monday she lied about her father dying and flew to California to see horse...
The National Law Journal published an article this morning stating that due to the economic crisis, some law firms are deciding to forgo their annual holiday celebrations and donate money instead. When I was with the law firm, I hated those parties. Contrary to what people think is an outgoing personality, I'm really a wallflower. I don't dance too well, would never drink in...
For those of you who thought that the fax machine would never dramatically affect messenger and delivery services; that the Internet was a trend and could not affect old-line traditions such as encyclopedias; and that no one in their right mind would want to carry a portable phone with them so they can be reached every minute of every day; here's another one for you: the ABA has given a thumbs-up...
It's getting crazy out there. Legal Week, (the British top rag) reports that Fried Frank announced yesterday that it's cutting 73 staffers including paralegals in its New York office and DC offices. That's 10% of its 730 staffer headcount in New York and Washington, D.C. including paralegals, librarians and part-time assistants. A spokesperson told Legal Week that the lay-offs have not come...
Outsourcing paralegal work to India is a big, big business in the U.S. Primarily the choice of BigFirms in Legal Land, the idea is to have lower end work performed by competent paralegals for a lot less money and still receive the same quality as you would if a U.S. paralegal completed the task. Now, the U.K. is on the bandwagon. With over 500,000 paralegals (twice the number in the...
For those of you who are not aware of the annual Electronic Discovery Survey, George Socha and Tom Gelbmann have produced this highly valuable ranking of vendors for six years. Now, they have announced that it has become so valuable that clients sometimes choose a vendor based strictly on the survey without regard to doing their due diligence i.e., carefully analyzing the services or products,...
<img src="http://www.blawg.com/claimscript.aspx?userid=estrinlegaled@aol.com&LinksID=2219"> KNOW, The Magazine for Paralegals has published its first issue and names the 9 Most Influential Contributors to the Paralegal Field. This prestigious acknowledgement was based upon contribution over the years to the paralegal community. The receipients are: Tom O'Connor,...
I'm not a smoker and I'm not in favor of people who smoke around me. My lungs don't need it, what with living in L.A. and all. However, this story from law.com raises a couple of legal questions. A paralegal who defied a new policy at work that banned smoking breaks for hourly employees was fired legally, a New York appeals court ruled Thursday. Karen Kridel had worked for a Rochester...