- Quickdraw McLaw
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It’s a slow news week. If you want to discuss the searches of the home and office of Las Vegas Township Constable John Bonaventura or Clark County’s decision to issue an unlimited of number of medical marijuana growing permits, feel free.
One of our readers recently asked a question about their chances of getting into “Biglaw” as a Boyd grad. That begs another question–is there any legitimate Biglaw in Las Vegas? Do national firms that would be considered Biglaw in New York still count as such here or is the culture so different that you can’t even claim that it is the same beast. What are the chances of a Boyd grad getting into a Biglaw firm? What counts as Biglaw–is it the salary, the work, the size of firm? Enlighten us, please.
BigLaw is defined by firm size and, in some minds, by the Amlaw 200 specifically. There are several of those firms here. Having worked in that world, I can tell you they don't think highly of Boyd.
I partially disagree, as someone who has worked with the recruiting committee at one of those firms. The top 10 or 15 Boyd students are generally excellent. They are recruited and have no problem finding a job at a regional or national firm's Vegas office. However, if you aren't on Law Review or aren't in the top 10%, you'll have a hard getting an offer.
* hard on
In order to count as Biglaw, there are several requirements. First, the firm must have at least 500 associates worldwide. Second, associates must spend at least 11 hours per day at the office and at least 10 total weekend hours working. Third, Biglaw associates and partners must consider themselves to be better and more elite than all other attorneys, even though the Bigs were stupid enough to spend their entire lives working while the other attorneys enjoy leisure time with their friends and family.
You got that right, 8:32 am.
um, 500 associates? That would leave out firms like Cravath and Cadwalader. Biglaw includes elite NY firms that aren't giant national firms.
My view may be skewed by the fact that I want a life outside of work and have a family, but why would a Boyd grad want to work in BigLaw anyway? Money? Prestige? You should really just expect billing 2200 hours or more per year and expect a low-percentage shot at making partner if you don't burn out in your first 5 years. I'd rather make a decent salary working for a mid-level firm that understands the importance of work-life balance.
You obviously need to re-evaluate your priorities. Nothing is more important or more fulfilling than being able to tell people that you work for a prestigious law firm. Nothing.
While there are some BigLaw firms with offices in Vegas, the attorneys don't have the same experience as their colleagues in San Francisco, LA, DC, NYC, Boston, etc. While there may be a few exceptions, the salary is not the same and the demands are not the same. This isn't to knock those attorneys, but it's simply to point out there is a difference. Can a Boyd grad work at a Vegas BigLaw office-of course. Would they get hired at BigLaw firm's NYC office-probably not. That said, there are a lot of better options out there if you value life.
Completely agree. The difference between the experience working in a Vegas Biglaw firm and one in NY, SF, LA etc. is enormous (and "if you value life" working in Vegas is probably easier). That said, getting the NY, SF, LA Biglaw experience has its advantage. For one, the cases you get staffed on are much larger and you learn how they get handled. Working with a team of associates can be painful (especially when the jerk from the 45th floor is on it), but it is good preparation for when you have less than stellar co-counsel. Also, the demand for perfection in Biglaw, while silly sometimes, forces you to set your personal standards that much higher. Vegas, with all of its gunslingers are short on lawyers with an eye for precision. Lastly, Biglaw experience is worth it's weight in gold when you are local counsel for a client whose primary lawyers are the NY, SF, LA Biglaw firms.
8:22 is generally right. Biglaw is defined by a firm's size and earnings (and I'd say to a lesser extent culture). However, there is a difference between working in the NY office of Skadden Arps and working in the Vegas satellite office of Littler Mendelson or Boies. The former have neither the people, nor the revenue to truly be considered Biglaw. The question is whether some of the larger Vegas offices of Biglaw firms (eg. Greenberg, Lewis Brisbois, Holland & Hart) would qualify. This is where I would disagree with 8:22 because I do not think that these offices–while large in Vegas terms– are large enough to be considered Biglaw. Lionel Sawyer is the closest that Las Vegas comes to having a Biglaw firm but it is not close to being an Amlaw 200 firm (and it surpasses the personnel numbers of the satellite offices of the larger firms fairly substantially). As such, it is hard to conclude that Vegas has true "Biglaw."
Further, to the extent that people at the firm's headquarters have any say in the hiring decisions for the Vegas satellite office, getting hired with a Boyd degree is difficult. Boyd has little, if any, cache outside of Las Vegas and if those involved in the hiring process are not impressed by the name, they don't think their clients will be. If someone wants to get into true Biglaw, Boyd is not the right choice of law school. If the choice has already been made, more work needs to be done to get in. Federal clerkships (likely at the circuit level) are almost required if someone with a Boyd degree wants to get a spot in an office with hundreds of lawyers and 9 figure revenue totals.
(meant latter)
If the Boydie counts any office of any Am Law 200 firm in his/her definition of “Biglaw,” then there are plenty of firms in town, and the odds aren’t terrible (more on the odds below). Snell, Lewis and Roca, Brownstein Hyatt, Holland and Hart, Fox Rothschild, Akerman, Ballard Spahr, Fennemore Craig, and Greenberg Traurig are probably all in that category, and they all have hired Boyd grads. The Boydie can just look at bios of the recent Boyd hires at those firms and see the stats that it takes to land there. Generally, you need to be in the top 10% of your class, and even better grades, plus law review, will help the odds even more.
If the Boydie considers in the definition of “Biglaw” the local firms with reputations just as good as (or perhaps better than) the firms mentioned above, then the odds improve some more, because there are more openings and OCI slots. Those additional firms would include Lionel Sawyer, Bailey Kennedy, McDonald Carano, Pisanelli Bice, Morris, Marquis Aurbach, Kolesar Leatham, and probably numerous others. Most of these firms also hire from Boyd, and the stats you need are about the same.
If the Boydie counts any office of any Vault 100 firm in his/her definition of “Biglaw,” then there are less firms in town (probably only Greenberg, Ballard, and Akerman, but I didn’t check to see if they’re all in vault). The hiring criteria is probably the same, but there are less spots to choose from, making the odds tougher.
If the Boydie only counts Vault or Am Law firms in big and/or desirable cities (eg, LA/NYC/DC/SF/San Diego/Chicago/Dallas) the odds shrink considerably. There are some Boyd alums at those types of firms, but they all have legitimate patent law credentials, a federal clerkship, or an LLM from a tip-top school. If this is the Boydie’s goal, they should transfer to a different school, or retake the LSAT and apply to schools again. Probably less than 1 grad every other year can grab these positions.
People want to start at big firms because they pay relatively well, offer a relatively good opportunity to see different practices the grad might be interested in, and offers relatively good exit options because the name is recognized. I’m not saying it’s the right choice for everyone, but if someone is willing to kill themselves to lock in one of the above, I don’t blame them, either.
Here is some interesting news for the week.
Theresa Marie Figliuzzi, who was represented back in the 80's, by Mark Gibbons, (now Chief Justice), appeared before MOSLEY, to get her last name to FIELDS. Later in 1995, Terry Fields, changed her last name to MOSLEY, representing herself as the "wife" of District Court Judge; Donald M. Mosley. June 18, 2014, TERRY MOSLEY was found GUILTY for FELONY THEFT, by a jury in Judge Villani's court, after (3) days of listening to the evidence, this week. (June 16, 17, & 18) The robbery took place in May of 2009 and it took years before the case was heard, to CONVICT her. She was living in a home located in Anthem Country Club, which was completely furnished with the rent of $4,000. a month. After 14 months of non-payment, an eviction was granted with an order NOT TO REMOVE any item NOT BELONGING TO HER. Take a guess, she took things that WAS NOT HERS, therefore a COMPLAINT was filed where she was INDICTED and EVENTUALLY, found GUILTY!
Didn't she have several bad check cases out of Henderson as well?
1:41: Quit yelling and at least download a grammar checker.
WTF does this have to do with anything?
Let me take a wild guess, you WAS her LANDLORD? Sounds like you need to run a BETTER background check before renting out your PLACE.
Did I understand this post correctly? She appeared in front of Judge Mosley for a name change? That would be such an egregious conflict of interest for the judge.
Nonlawyers should not be allowed to post here. Guess what guy, we all deal with scummy opposing parties. Your story is not out of the norm, and is not worth a post on this blog.
I disagree with 9:07am about this blog being strictly for attorney's. Plaintiff's and Defendant's are a huge part of the legal system. There have been MORE than 25 cases filed in District Court AGAINST Terry Mosley. She has been a huge PROBLEM for numerous PLAINTIFFS, where hundred's of thousands of dollars, have been lost in real estate. If you did research on this individual, you will LEARN more of criminal behavior. Fortunately, the plaintiffs filed charges against her verses suing her in civil court, like the other plaintiff's did in the past.
You decide!
Record Count: 25
Last Name: MOSLEY First Name: TERRY Case Status: All Sort By: Filed Date
Case Number Citation Number Style/Defendant Info Filed/Location Type/Status Charge(s)
94A329214
Terry Mosley vs Tamera Hill, Neil Kelley
01/18/1994
Department 17
Negligence – Auto
Closed
98A387705
Allegro Acceptance Corp vs Terry Mosley
04/30/1998
Department 20
Breach of Contract
Closed
99A407255
Dempsey Roberts And Smith Ltd vs Terry Figliuzzi
08/20/1999
Department 29
Civil Conversion Case Type
Closed
99A408639
Mary Crosswhite vs Terry Mosley, General Realty
09/27/1999
Department 6
Other Torts
Closed
00A419206
Terry Mosley vs K Leavitt, Jason Landess
05/19/2000
Department 10
Other Torts
Closed
01A444261
Sean Mahan vs Terry Mosley
12/24/2001
Department 13
Landlord/Tenant
Closed
01A444274
Sean Mahan vs Terry Mosley
12/26/2001
Department 6
Landlord/Tenant
Closed
02A456221
Gaming Ventures Of Las Vegas Inc vs Terry Mosley
09/12/2002
Department 13
Breach of Contract
Closed
03A467196
Ramm Corp vs Roger Dieleman, T And M Land Co LLC, et al
05/05/2003
Department 21
Breach of Contract
Closed
03A467799
Terra Concepts LLC vs T And M Land Company LLC, Terry Mosley, et al
05/16/2003
Department 21
Breach of Contract
Closed
03A467996
Terry Mosley vs James Hogan MD, Donald Taylor, et al
05/22/2003
Department 10
Negligence – Other
Closed
03A470720
Nolan Merritt vs Terry Mosley
07/17/2003
Department 6
Breach of Contract
Closed
03A474758
Kenneth Buck Jr, Karen Buck vs Universal Knowledge Network Inc, Educational Clearing House Inc, et al
10/08/2003
Department 18
Other Torts
Closed
03A478105
S And B Assoc LLC vs Terry Mosley
12/19/2003
Department 23
Breach of Contract
Closed
03A478197
S And B Assoc LLC vs First Integrity Financial Group Inc
12/23/2003
Department 11
Other Civil Filing
Closed
04A487012
Edyth Fitzpatrick vs M D M Trust Revocable Business Trust, Terry Mosley, et al
06/10/2004
Department Unassigned
Other Real Property
Reopened
04A487242
Monica Williams, Benjamin Williams vs Terry Mosley, MDM Trust, et al
06/15/2004
Department 18
Title to Property
Closed
05A511932
Spartan Management Group LLC vs Roger Dieleman, Violet Tracht, et al
10/20/2005
Department 17
Title to Property
Closed
06A515478
Nevada Title Co vs Roger Dieleman, Violet Tracht, et al
01/09/2006
Department 17
Other Civil Filing
Closed
06A518751
Roger Dieleman vs Terry Mosley
03/14/2006
Department 12
Breach of Contract
Closed
06A526270
Roger Dieleman vs Terry Mosley
08/10/2006
Department 17
Breach of Contract
Closed
06A527373
Matthew Q Callister Inc vs Terry Mosley
08/29/2006
Department 20
Breach of Contract
Closed
06A532219
Riccardo Ingrassia vs TMM Trust, Terry Mosley
11/30/2006
Department 29
Title to Property
Closed
07A536175
Riccardo Ingrassia vs Terry Mosley
02/14/2007
Department 29
Transfer from Justice Court
Closed
C-11-275723-1
Mosley, Theresa Marie
08/24/2011
Department 17
Felony/Gross Misdemeanor
Reactivated
THEFT (FELONY)
Another ghost from WWL blog reappears.
1:13: stop randomly capitalizing entire words. It makes your posts even more difficult to read. The point stands: we all deal with scumbags on a regular basis. Your scumbag merits no special attention here.
@11:43 She is the mother of Judge Mosley's son.
Plaintiffs and defendants may be a part of the legal system, but they're definitely not part of the legal community.
TFML aka TK Crabb
~ @ October 4th 2014, Thank Goodness for Google Alert, which notifies me each time my name is being used! Also, I am thankful for law enforcement who has been working with me, the past few years in regards to this particular blog! IP address has been copied and YOU WILL BE NOTIFIED. Sincerely, T. K. Crabb P.S. FOR THE RECORD I WENT TO POST UNDER MY NAME
Don't encourage this troll.
Read WWL's "Ode to Terry Figliuzi Mosely Lady". Then read June 19 @ 1:41, June 20 @ 1:13 and tell me they were not written by October 4 @ 3:23.