Lower enrollment at Boyd School of Law (110 students instead of 150) means a $3 million budget shortfall. That means the school was counting on $75,000 per student. It also means they’re asking the state for more money and looking to create an LLM in gaming law and regulation to compensate for that shortfall. [RJ]
Curious about the status of the proposed Federal Justice Tower? Here’s an article explaining what’s going on and what’s taking so long. [RJ]
The Clark County Commissioners are looking into banning glass bottles on the Strip. [Fox5Vegas]
With Labor Day behind us and summer unofficially over, you can officially brace yourself for the campaign ads. The fall general election is 9 weeks from today.
Nevada does not need its own law school. The market is more than met by regional law schools from California, Utah and Arizona. But, every school wants the prestige of a law school and every college administrator wants to be a kingdom builder to their own legacy, but that is ultimately to the detriment of tax payers and students.
You're probably correct that the market is more than met by surrounding regional schools. That said, I’m happy UNLV has a law school. I had a solid job that I couldn’t leave and no appetite for debt when I received my scholarship to UNLV’s evening program. For me, it was either UNLV evening program or no law degree at all. I suppose I could have paid more, quit my job, took on debt, and gone to a better school, but I doubt the outcome (i.e. my current employment situation) would have been much better for the trouble.
What sickens me is that Boyd elected to become just another ivory tower full of left-wing nobodies. It could have been a great alternative, reflecting the generally conservative nature of the state; but it chose to be a nobody. If you want the best avant-garde critcial deconstructionist feminist lesbian immigrant transgender polar bear hugging legal doctrine, there are far better institutions that produce tons more quality and quantity than the lazy faculty at Boyd. The place could have been a contender as a rational alternative to all the doozy pinko palaces of law. Then again, I guess I could say the same thing about all of UNLV and "higher education" everywhere. Bla bla, polar bear; bla, bla, social justice; bla, bla, equality; bla, bla, ***-ism (pick your trendy "ism" of the moment); and all we need is more government, more laws, more centralization of power and more higher education funding for bums who can't teach more than a class or two, if at all. Winning.
Awesome. Some professors could at least buckle down and just teach the material without interjecting their views. At least two were incapable of masking their biases.
Guest
Anonymous
September 2, 2014 4:09 pm
Not to pile on Boyd's problems, but the school has managed to instill in its grads a sense of elitism which kind of makes me laugh at times. Yes, they did graduate from the only Nevada law school, but they're a long way from being the "Harvard of the West". You wouldn't know it from some of these kids…
I haven’t seen this yet. However, Boyd has put out roughly 100 grads for the last 15 years. I am certain that large pool includes people of all types, including several poor and arrogant attorneys. I’d bet that the same is true for every law school in existence.
I have worked around plenty of Boyd grads and this is the first time I have ever heard anyone assert that Boyd grads have a "sense of elitism."
Guest
Anonymous
September 2, 2014 4:10 pm
Re: the Boyd article
Why not thin that sizable herd of money-slurping administrators and underling "teachers" at Boyd and actually make the tenured faculty teach a few courses? By trimming the fat just a little, that shortfall could be erased pretty quickly.
Law schools everywhere have been fat and happy for several decades. Now that people are finally starting to realize what a ripoff law school is for most, the schools should do what's necessary to operate according to market conditions. Boyd, even as a state-run institution, should not be exempt from the realities of market forces. Is that too much to ask?
Perhaps the national trend of declining applications will actually bring law school tuition back to realistic levels. Maybe, just maybe, if sanity returns to the universe of legal education, 50 or so superfluous law schools might even close their doors. What a great thing that would be for our profession and for the many unwitting future suckers who would otherwise borrow $140,000 or more to attend the many schools that offer a perfunctory JD, but little in the way of legitimate career opportunities.
For decades, these lesser law schools have been nothing but cash cows for their universities. These JD mills have flooded the legal employment market and saddle thousands of lawyers with unreasonable debt burdens. Although it's probably 20 years past due, the fact that folks are finally realizing that law school is not typically a great value is encouraging.
I cringe for the many lawyers five and even ten years out of school who have not yet even made a dent in the principal balance of their six-figure student loan debt.
This! I graduated within the last 10 years, and the thing that amazed me is the number of people who were attending because they could not figure out what else to do with their lives. Now they are thousands of dollars in debt with no way to dig out. Pro Tip: If you do not want to be a lawyer, don't go to law school.
Where did you go to law school?
How long ago did you graduate?
What % of your law school expenses did you borrow?
How much did you owe at graduation?
How much do you owe now?
Do you believe it was worth it?
Kansas
16 years ago
75-80%
$94k after interest was capitalized
$0
It's close. There was a ton of sacrifice to pay off the loans in under 10 years (no vacations, no eating in restaurants, modest home, suits from Men's Warehouse, older car, kids in public schools). Also, the three years spent in law school were three years I spent not working; I estimate that cost an additional $275k-$300k in lost opportunity. And after 16+ years in practice, I like what I do, but I can think of lots of things that are easier, pay comparable money, and don't require 3 years of law school.
LOL. I just started being able to afford to buy suits at Mens Warehouse after 8 years of practice and thought I was finally moving up. Your post makes me feel that Mens Warehouse may not be the pinnacle I thought I had reached.
For the poll:
University of Utah
8 years ago.
100%
$125,000
$54,000
I kind of feel like 8:44. Wish I was doing something where I got move about more. But being tied to a desk all day so that I can constantly bill is super lame. I feel like a cow in one of those milking pens (except no one is pulling on my utter).
Pac NW
20 years ago
all of the tuition but a state school and tuition was a helluva lot cheaper back then
$12K
$0
Yes, because of the cheap tuition and then landed a government job I love. I do try to talk people out of law school right now, though, unless they rabidly want to litigate or Daddy's firm is guaranteeing them a job. It is too expensive now for too little potential return. As part of my job, I screen applicants, and it is scary the number of lawyers several years out of law school that have nothing meaningful on their resumes. They all seem miserable when we interview them.
Boyd
4 years ago
80%, 100% after the first year and a half.
Too damn much. Probably around 100k, including a private loan.
Around 95k, and growing by the month since I switched to a Pay-as-you-earn plan that has me falling more and more behind. The dent I made was by successfully negotiating the private lender to accept about 40 cents on the dollar for settlement of the loan. Needless to say, my credit's shit, and will be shit for the foreseeable future.
Was it worth it? Worth chaining myself to a desk as a fungible billing unit so that I can never buy a house, never feel relaxed at work, doing work that makes me want to claw my eyes out? Ask me again in 10 years. Yes, I'm getting paid substantially more than my employment before law school. But there's a good chance I'd be making that now anyway if I'd stayed at my old job. The silver lining is the possibility of breaking the chain and hanging my shingle, which is looking more and more attractive by the day.
Southwestern
18 years ago.
Close to 100%
$125k, just for law school (undergrad was already paid off)
$61k – chipping away at it month by month
No way! I'm a good lawyer and have had some success in the profession, but I feel like law school was hugely overpriced in relation to the expected financial success it typically provides. Seems that in this town in order to have any success you need to become one of those carnival barkers with billboards on every corner. I could never bring myself to do that; it's unseemly.
Where did you go to law school? Boyd
How long ago did you graduate? 6 years ago
What % of your law school expenses did you borrow? 100%
How much did you owe at graduation? ~$90k
How much do you owe now? ~$70k
Do you believe it was worth it? Yes.
Boyd
2006
100%
$59,000
$26,000 (will be paid off in three years)
Hell yes. I'm not sure my lawyer skills translate to doing anything else. I'm self employed and take as much time off as I can afford. That said, I went to Boyd when it was $7k / year. That's a hell of a great deal. Sorry to the new kids.
Guest
NewlyMintedAttorney
September 2, 2014 4:25 pm
It's not $75k per student. That would be insane. It's $25k per student, spread out mostly between 2Ls and 3Ls, with scholarshipless 1Ls making up the rest. Which is only slightly less insane when you're talking about Boyd.
Guest
Anonymous
September 2, 2014 5:06 pm
The demonstrated poor quality of work from hired Boyd law grads has convinced me that this law school is a waste of taxpayers' funds. Let scholars go earn their legal skills at another school with qualified leadership and legitimacy.
or 10:06 AM is getting what he/she pays for… you don't get effort/quality for $50K per year.
Guest
Anonymous
September 2, 2014 6:30 pm
I am a judge and have hired quite a few Boyd grads as law clerks and had others extern. They are like any other group — some outstanding and others not so much. But I think Boyd is a real asset to the state, not only as the writer above suggests — in attracting grown ups who can't afford to pull up roots and become a student for three years out of state — but also in the service they provide the community, both in pro bono and clinical programs and also in criticizing Nevada law and suggesting ways for positive change.
Nevada did not need a law school. It was not too long ago that the State had the WICHIE program which provided a stipend/scholarship for Nevada students to attend law school in Sacramento (McGeorge for Northern Nevadans) and Cal Western & University of San Diego (for Southern Nevadans). Where did all this endowment money and pledges go? UNLV/Boyd was supposed to have all this money that was promised? The University did a good job of getting the law school during boom times when the budget process was not so difficult. But you could predict this would happen.
The law school should be phased out. It has cost taxpayers too much money. Nevada's last law school folded (Old College of Law). The population and the market can not support the law school. The only thing the law school accomplished is that it has flooded the market with lawyers. They had to institute a special bar preparation program at the school so they could pass the bar meanwhile the faculty is exempted and they don't have to take the test. If the law school closed, a private law school would step in its place. There was a private institution that was interested in opening here but the University preempted them. Now we have the bar twice a year and a lawyer billboard on every corner.
Yes, the state bar really f–d its members by allowing the test twice per year and flooding a small market. Thanks so much, and keep us in mind while you paint your civility posters on vacation in California. … useless!
I'm in favor of moving back to once a year. Wouldn't that save the bar money?
Guest
Anonymous
September 2, 2014 7:10 pm
A friend of mine transferred into UNLV when they moved here. She was attending John Marshall. She said everybody at John Marshall was a "C" and "B" and "A" grades were rare. Why is everyone at Boyd a "B" student? They can't all be that smart. By the way, to show their appreciation, the faculty at Boyd teach we are all idiots here in Nevada and the legal system is a joke.
Ever heard of a curve? Boyd has a B curve. Very common for law schools. And a B doesn't mean you did well or that you're smart, just that you're average and passed the class. And, regarding your friends John Marshall comment, according to John Marshall's 2014-2015 policies, John Marshall has a B- curve and requires that no less than 55% (but no more than 75%) of the students receive grades in the A to B range. I can't imagine their curve requirements changed all that much over the years, so I guess most of her class were A and B students.
I agree with 1:07. 12:10 is a bizarre comment. What matters is your ranking, not your grade. That's why the Boyd transcripts have the class ranking written on them. When you're interviewing student #28 out of 100, you know it by looking at the ranking.
That is interesting about the Boyd transcript having the ranking on them. Can't tell you how many Boyd graduates I have interviewed who say Boyd doesn't rank after top ten. Hint to Boyd grads: own your performance–it looks better than a blatant lie.
Can anyone mention a school where 100% of your opposing counsel from that school have been competent lawyers and decent people? My last four wacko opposing counsel were from Georgetown, Cal Western, Boyd, and BYU. I've also gone against very good attorneys (and people) from those schools.
Guest
Anonymous
September 2, 2014 8:37 pm
All Thomas M. Cooley grads that I have run into are competent.
weird, huh? Our company has worked successfully with several Cooley interns. Their school reaches out to us and aggressively finds intern slots for them. We, on the other hand, have reached out to Boyd for interns, and have been told they are too busy, they have other programs running right now, blah blah blah. Really???
Off topic… I just saw a job posting for Eglet for an associate (2-7 years experience). Anyone have any personal experience (or reliable second-hand knowledge) about working for him? How's the hours? What's the compensation schedule? For example, did his associates get a piece of that big Teva settlement?
I have a friend who worked for Eglet for quite a while. It seemed like he was always at work, even on weekends and holidays. I think the pay was pretty decent, but it did not appear like he was making a killing (especially for the hours required). I know the associates got some of the Teva money, but it was pretty small (I think less than $70,000) compared to what the partners got (which is not surprising).
Overall, it sounds like a mill to me. For a place that has made millions upon millions of dollars I would expect the associates to stay and get paid really well, but I think the entire firm revolves around one man (and woman), which becomes generally unbearable for most folks. In the end, I view Mainor Eglet (or whatever the new name for the day is) as being the PI equivalent of Alverson Taylor.
If I were you, I would find a boutique PI firm that takes on good cases, has a good settlement rate, but doesn't require you to devote your life to the firm and does not have the killer overhead that Eglet's firm has got to have with its new monument to humanity.
Eglet did cut his teeth on the insurance defense side. It makes sense that he treats the associates like a revolving door. He is the trial attorney. Who cares who is providing the support. Interchangeable parts.
You worthless associates need to take a lesson from Fight Club: “
You are not special. You're not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else. We're all part of the same compost heap. We're all singing, all dancing crap of the world.
And also remember:
You are not your job, you're not how much money you have in the bank. You are not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You are not your fucking khakis. You are all singing, all dancing crap of the world.
@ 4:53 PM – I'd be interested to hear what "boutique PI firm that takes on good cases" there are out there in LV. I'm in commercial lit so it's not really my area, but it seems that Eglet is one of the few places that is not a settlement mill.
4:53 here. There are tons of good, small PI firms in this town. The attorneys at Henness & Haight are good, know when to settle, and know when to push and litigate a case. Benson, Bertoldo, Baker & Carter is really good. Benson & Bingham. Sean Claggett. Bill Gamage. Cal Potter (and his son CJ). Sam Swartz (sp?) Sam Benham (at Steve Burris' office). Larry Springberg.
These are just a few of the names that came to mind immediately. I am sure not everyone will agree with my assessment, but based upon my experience litigating against the above-firms I have respect for them, and even though they might settle cases, they all know how to, and will, try a case.
Justice Tower? How about Tower of Injustice?
OH NO YOU DIDUNT!
Nevada does not need its own law school. The market is more than met by regional law schools from California, Utah and Arizona. But, every school wants the prestige of a law school and every college administrator wants to be a kingdom builder to their own legacy, but that is ultimately to the detriment of tax payers and students.
This
You're probably correct that the market is more than met by surrounding regional schools. That said, I’m happy UNLV has a law school. I had a solid job that I couldn’t leave and no appetite for debt when I received my scholarship to UNLV’s evening program. For me, it was either UNLV evening program or no law degree at all. I suppose I could have paid more, quit my job, took on debt, and gone to a better school, but I doubt the outcome (i.e. my current employment situation) would have been much better for the trouble.
What sickens me is that Boyd elected to become just another ivory tower full of left-wing nobodies. It could have been a great alternative, reflecting the generally conservative nature of the state; but it chose to be a nobody. If you want the best avant-garde critcial deconstructionist feminist lesbian immigrant transgender polar bear hugging legal doctrine, there are far better institutions that produce tons more quality and quantity than the lazy faculty at Boyd. The place could have been a contender as a rational alternative to all the doozy pinko palaces of law. Then again, I guess I could say the same thing about all of UNLV and "higher education" everywhere. Bla bla, polar bear; bla, bla, social justice; bla, bla, equality; bla, bla, ***-ism (pick your trendy "ism" of the moment); and all we need is more government, more laws, more centralization of power and more higher education funding for bums who can't teach more than a class or two, if at all. Winning.
@ 12:33. I don't know you, but I think I like you.
12:33 AM = Best Post Ever On This Blog
Signed,
Another hard-working taxpayer who is sick and tired of being coerced by the gub'ment into supporting people who don't work as hard as I do.
As someone who went to Boyd, I couldn't agree more. I don't need lessons from my Con law professor about how "sexuality is a spectrum."
Awesome. Some professors could at least buckle down and just teach the material without interjecting their views. At least two were incapable of masking their biases.
Not to pile on Boyd's problems, but the school has managed to instill in its grads a sense of elitism which kind of makes me laugh at times. Yes, they did graduate from the only Nevada law school, but they're a long way from being the "Harvard of the West". You wouldn't know it from some of these kids…
New motto: "Boyd School of Law – We're Marginally Better than Cal Western and Thomas Cooley!"
I haven’t seen this yet. However, Boyd has put out roughly 100 grads for the last 15 years. I am certain that large pool includes people of all types, including several poor and arrogant attorneys. I’d bet that the same is true for every law school in existence.
I have worked around plenty of Boyd grads and this is the first time I have ever heard anyone assert that Boyd grads have a "sense of elitism."
Re: the Boyd article
Why not thin that sizable herd of money-slurping administrators and underling "teachers" at Boyd and actually make the tenured faculty teach a few courses? By trimming the fat just a little, that shortfall could be erased pretty quickly.
Law schools everywhere have been fat and happy for several decades. Now that people are finally starting to realize what a ripoff law school is for most, the schools should do what's necessary to operate according to market conditions. Boyd, even as a state-run institution, should not be exempt from the realities of market forces. Is that too much to ask?
Perhaps the national trend of declining applications will actually bring law school tuition back to realistic levels. Maybe, just maybe, if sanity returns to the universe of legal education, 50 or so superfluous law schools might even close their doors. What a great thing that would be for our profession and for the many unwitting future suckers who would otherwise borrow $140,000 or more to attend the many schools that offer a perfunctory JD, but little in the way of legitimate career opportunities.
For decades, these lesser law schools have been nothing but cash cows for their universities. These JD mills have flooded the legal employment market and saddle thousands of lawyers with unreasonable debt burdens. Although it's probably 20 years past due, the fact that folks are finally realizing that law school is not typically a great value is encouraging.
I cringe for the many lawyers five and even ten years out of school who have not yet even made a dent in the principal balance of their six-figure student loan debt.
This! I graduated within the last 10 years, and the thing that amazed me is the number of people who were attending because they could not figure out what else to do with their lives. Now they are thousands of dollars in debt with no way to dig out. Pro Tip: If you do not want to be a lawyer, don't go to law school.
New survey for this blog:
Where did you go to law school?
How long ago did you graduate?
What % of your law school expenses did you borrow?
How much did you owe at graduation?
How much do you owe now?
Do you believe it was worth it?
Boyd
Not long ago
0%
$0
$0
Sure.
Ditto.
Kansas
16 years ago
75-80%
$94k after interest was capitalized
$0
It's close. There was a ton of sacrifice to pay off the loans in under 10 years (no vacations, no eating in restaurants, modest home, suits from Men's Warehouse, older car, kids in public schools). Also, the three years spent in law school were three years I spent not working; I estimate that cost an additional $275k-$300k in lost opportunity. And after 16+ years in practice, I like what I do, but I can think of lots of things that are easier, pay comparable money, and don't require 3 years of law school.
LOL. I just started being able to afford to buy suits at Mens Warehouse after 8 years of practice and thought I was finally moving up. Your post makes me feel that Mens Warehouse may not be the pinnacle I thought I had reached.
For the poll:
University of Utah
8 years ago.
100%
$125,000
$54,000
I kind of feel like 8:44. Wish I was doing something where I got move about more. But being tied to a desk all day so that I can constantly bill is super lame. I feel like a cow in one of those milking pens (except no one is pulling on my utter).
Pac NW
20 years ago
all of the tuition but a state school and tuition was a helluva lot cheaper back then
$12K
$0
Yes, because of the cheap tuition and then landed a government job I love. I do try to talk people out of law school right now, though, unless they rabidly want to litigate or Daddy's firm is guaranteeing them a job. It is too expensive now for too little potential return. As part of my job, I screen applicants, and it is scary the number of lawyers several years out of law school that have nothing meaningful on their resumes. They all seem miserable when we interview them.
Boyd
4 years ago
80%, 100% after the first year and a half.
Too damn much. Probably around 100k, including a private loan.
Around 95k, and growing by the month since I switched to a Pay-as-you-earn plan that has me falling more and more behind. The dent I made was by successfully negotiating the private lender to accept about 40 cents on the dollar for settlement of the loan. Needless to say, my credit's shit, and will be shit for the foreseeable future.
Was it worth it? Worth chaining myself to a desk as a fungible billing unit so that I can never buy a house, never feel relaxed at work, doing work that makes me want to claw my eyes out? Ask me again in 10 years. Yes, I'm getting paid substantially more than my employment before law school. But there's a good chance I'd be making that now anyway if I'd stayed at my old job. The silver lining is the possibility of breaking the chain and hanging my shingle, which is looking more and more attractive by the day.
This poll is an eye-opener.
Southwestern
18 years ago.
Close to 100%
$125k, just for law school (undergrad was already paid off)
$61k – chipping away at it month by month
No way! I'm a good lawyer and have had some success in the profession, but I feel like law school was hugely overpriced in relation to the expected financial success it typically provides. Seems that in this town in order to have any success you need to become one of those carnival barkers with billboards on every corner. I could never bring myself to do that; it's unseemly.
Where did you go to law school? Boyd
How long ago did you graduate? 6 years ago
What % of your law school expenses did you borrow? 100%
How much did you owe at graduation? ~$90k
How much do you owe now? ~$70k
Do you believe it was worth it? Yes.
Boyd
5 years ago
75%
$55,000
$15,000
Yes (I'm too old to valet or bartend at a nightclub)
Boyd
2006
100%
$59,000
$26,000 (will be paid off in three years)
Hell yes. I'm not sure my lawyer skills translate to doing anything else. I'm self employed and take as much time off as I can afford. That said, I went to Boyd when it was $7k / year. That's a hell of a great deal. Sorry to the new kids.
It's not $75k per student. That would be insane. It's $25k per student, spread out mostly between 2Ls and 3Ls, with scholarshipless 1Ls making up the rest. Which is only slightly less insane when you're talking about Boyd.
The demonstrated poor quality of work from hired Boyd law grads has convinced me that this law school is a waste of taxpayers' funds. Let scholars go earn their legal skills at another school with qualified leadership and legitimacy.
You're hiring the wrong Boyd grads.
or 10:06 AM is getting what he/she pays for… you don't get effort/quality for $50K per year.
I am a judge and have hired quite a few Boyd grads as law clerks and had others extern. They are like any other group — some outstanding and others not so much. But I think Boyd is a real asset to the state, not only as the writer above suggests — in attracting grown ups who can't afford to pull up roots and become a student for three years out of state — but also in the service they provide the community, both in pro bono and clinical programs and also in criticizing Nevada law and suggesting ways for positive change.
Wait. Judges post here too?
Nevada did not need a law school. It was not too long ago that the State had the WICHIE program which provided a stipend/scholarship for Nevada students to attend law school in Sacramento (McGeorge for Northern Nevadans) and Cal Western & University of San Diego (for Southern Nevadans). Where did all this endowment money and pledges go? UNLV/Boyd was supposed to have all this money that was promised? The University did a good job of getting the law school during boom times when the budget process was not so difficult. But you could predict this would happen.
The law school should be phased out. It has cost taxpayers too much money. Nevada's last law school folded (Old College of Law). The population and the market can not support the law school. The only thing the law school accomplished is that it has flooded the market with lawyers. They had to institute a special bar preparation program at the school so they could pass the bar meanwhile the faculty is exempted and they don't have to take the test. If the law school closed, a private law school would step in its place. There was a private institution that was interested in opening here but the University preempted them. Now we have the bar twice a year and a lawyer billboard on every corner.
Yes, the state bar really f–d its members by allowing the test twice per year and flooding a small market. Thanks so much, and keep us in mind while you paint your civility posters on vacation in California. … useless!
I'm in favor of moving back to once a year. Wouldn't that save the bar money?
A friend of mine transferred into UNLV when they moved here. She was attending John Marshall. She said everybody at John Marshall was a "C" and "B" and "A" grades were rare. Why is everyone at Boyd a "B" student? They can't all be that smart. By the way, to show their appreciation, the faculty at Boyd teach we are all idiots here in Nevada and the legal system is a joke.
Ever heard of a curve? Boyd has a B curve. Very common for law schools. And a B doesn't mean you did well or that you're smart, just that you're average and passed the class. And, regarding your friends John Marshall comment, according to John Marshall's 2014-2015 policies, John Marshall has a B- curve and requires that no less than 55% (but no more than 75%) of the students receive grades in the A to B range. I can't imagine their curve requirements changed all that much over the years, so I guess most of her class were A and B students.
I agree with 1:07. 12:10 is a bizarre comment. What matters is your ranking, not your grade. That's why the Boyd transcripts have the class ranking written on them. When you're interviewing student #28 out of 100, you know it by looking at the ranking.
Exactly. Grades mean nothing. Class rank means everything.
That is interesting about the Boyd transcript having the ranking on them. Can't tell you how many Boyd graduates I have interviewed who say Boyd doesn't rank after top ten. Hint to Boyd grads: own your performance–it looks better than a blatant lie.
Boyd ranks top third, not top ten.
Can anyone mention a school where 100% of your opposing counsel from that school have been competent lawyers and decent people? My last four wacko opposing counsel were from Georgetown, Cal Western, Boyd, and BYU. I've also gone against very good attorneys (and people) from those schools.
All Thomas M. Cooley grads that I have run into are competent.
Funny enough, same here, although I've only gone against one of them. Solid person and attorney.
weird, huh? Our company has worked successfully with several Cooley interns. Their school reaches out to us and aggressively finds intern slots for them. We, on the other hand, have reached out to Boyd for interns, and have been told they are too busy, they have other programs running right now, blah blah blah. Really???
Barry Levinson….Cooley grad.
Off topic… I just saw a job posting for Eglet for an associate (2-7 years experience). Anyone have any personal experience (or reliable second-hand knowledge) about working for him? How's the hours? What's the compensation schedule? For example, did his associates get a piece of that big Teva settlement?
@2:20 – You must be in a lot of pain and getting relief from the demon weed.
I have a friend who worked for Eglet for quite a while. It seemed like he was always at work, even on weekends and holidays. I think the pay was pretty decent, but it did not appear like he was making a killing (especially for the hours required). I know the associates got some of the Teva money, but it was pretty small (I think less than $70,000) compared to what the partners got (which is not surprising).
Overall, it sounds like a mill to me. For a place that has made millions upon millions of dollars I would expect the associates to stay and get paid really well, but I think the entire firm revolves around one man (and woman), which becomes generally unbearable for most folks. In the end, I view Mainor Eglet (or whatever the new name for the day is) as being the PI equivalent of Alverson Taylor.
If I were you, I would find a boutique PI firm that takes on good cases, has a good settlement rate, but doesn't require you to devote your life to the firm and does not have the killer overhead that Eglet's firm has got to have with its new monument to humanity.
Eglet did cut his teeth on the insurance defense side. It makes sense that he treats the associates like a revolving door. He is the trial attorney. Who cares who is providing the support. Interchangeable parts.
You worthless associates need to take a lesson from Fight Club: “
You are not special. You're not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else. We're all part of the same compost heap. We're all singing, all dancing crap of the world.
And also remember:
You are not your job, you're not how much money you have in the bank. You are not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You are not your fucking khakis. You are all singing, all dancing crap of the world.
@ 4:53 PM – I'd be interested to hear what "boutique PI firm that takes on good cases" there are out there in LV. I'm in commercial lit so it's not really my area, but it seems that Eglet is one of the few places that is not a settlement mill.
4:53 here. There are tons of good, small PI firms in this town. The attorneys at Henness & Haight are good, know when to settle, and know when to push and litigate a case. Benson, Bertoldo, Baker & Carter is really good. Benson & Bingham. Sean Claggett. Bill Gamage. Cal Potter (and his son CJ). Sam Swartz (sp?) Sam Benham (at Steve Burris' office). Larry Springberg.
These are just a few of the names that came to mind immediately. I am sure not everyone will agree with my assessment, but based upon my experience litigating against the above-firms I have respect for them, and even though they might settle cases, they all know how to, and will, try a case.
CPK
Claggett is a joke!