- law dawg
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January is an interesting month in the legal profession. After the holidays where few firms hire or fire, things start back up again and movement happens. So typically at this time of year we like to discuss the state of the legal market in Nevada. What do you think about how things are going? Is there enough work to go around or not enough work? Is the market crowded with lawyers? Is any practice area dying? What practice areas do you think are going to take off? Is working from home still acceptable or is face time in the office more important? Any trends you think are going to dominate the market in the coming year?
January is also one of the times for deciding to get into the judiciary. Here’s your friendly reminder that Thursday at noon is the deadline to apply for the vacancy in Department 27. If you want to view the list of candidates who filed for state judicial offices, you can see today’s list here. Meanwhile, here are the Clark County candidates who have filed.
As a somewhat related point to today’s query and relate it to yesterdays thread about GEICO. It seems that soon, Insurance companies will catch up and develop a procedure for cutting policy limit demand (PLD) checks much quicker.
Then the table will swing the other way and they will be cutting too many PLD checks on non PLD cases and will miss some more deadlines.
The practice of PI is alive and well. I can promise you that if I knew then (20+) what I know now, I would be doing alot more PI trial work than I do.
FIRST!
Interested to hear if BK practitioners have seen an uptick in filings and if they think those are going to increase?
I wish I could find it now, but I read an article about an uptick in small business corporate bk filings. The author/reporter attributed this to prolonged higher interest rates. I’m not an economist, but the current state of the economy (high interest rates, job growth, etc) seems like it must be short term. Something has to give.
BK practitioner – Debtor and Creditor as well (25% of my practice). Without regard to the overall number of filings, I can tell you that the practice is consistent. I am pulling the same size and number of cases pretty consistently. The BK colleagues I talk to regularly indicate about the same.
But, damn I miss the BK Hottie.
Isn’t she still practicing?
Here comes the DA charging (overcharging?) Redden: https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/courts/man-faces-attempted-murder-charge-after-viral-video-of-judge-attack-2977977
Criminal practitioners, overcharged? What’s the ultimate resolution in this second case in terms of sentencing?
Hard to say overcharged when Redden allegedly told the officers that his intent was to kill her.
Just an ugly situation. Felt myself getting angry as I read the relatives’ comments deflecting fault.
Deflecting fault? They were explaining his severe mental health history, including untreated schizophrenia. He was comped in Mary Kay’s case, found incompetent, and sent to Lakes Crossing mere months ago. He clearly has serious issues.
In the 10-minute period immediately preceding his violent mauling of the judge, he attempted to persuade her that he is now well and competent and should be set free on probation.
Now he blames the whole thing on mental illness? Fuck him; he can’t have it both ways. Violent garbage like that needs to be kept away from the law abiding public.
It’s obvious to me he was not being truthful at sentencing (re management), he has diagnosed conditions, and he clearly needs mental health treatment (and a prison sentence, I’m not discounting that).
WTF does that even mean?
It means that we all know that you went to Boyd.
Which cultures are you talking about?
At least its equal opportunity.
But its less racist and more stereotyping. So I am choosing to disagree wit you 336.
Thanks for dumbing it down for the Boyd Grads. They applied for and were awarded “extra time” to take the bar.
3:36 here. You could cite hundreds, if not thousands, of country songs about being a poor white rural person getting recklessly drunk and make the same argument.
1:30 PM is absolutely a racist comment.
Seriously. His speech about why he should get out was one of the most well-rehearsed, intelligible statements from a criminal defendant. But you can’t be capable of putting something like that together while simultaneously claiming you’re not competent or culpable by reason of mental illness.
His inability to control his emotions/actions – however well meaning he is? – still makes him a danger to society. The family’s argument ‘he cannot control himself” is not helping his case.
Is there enough work to go around? On the insurance defense side probably yes and it seems to me most firms are in a constant scramble for associates and even competent partners. I think the tide will start to turn on some of these insurance companies doubling down on taking hard stances as a couple more plaintiff counsels are calling their bluffs and going to trial. I could certainly be wrong but it feels like there is a saturation point on the plaintiff side and i wonder as more ‘national’ type Pltf firms come in (e.g. Morgan and Morgan) if the small pltf firms may start getting squeezed out as has started happening with the local mid size defense types.
Working from home. I think it is still acceptable when a candidate asks if work from home is acceptable but i think most places are trying to get into at least a three day a week in person situation. I imagine more firms will go to a ‘hotelling’ style office situation though over the next couple years.
There has been a shift in quality of associates in the last 3 years. It’s not that the current crop of new associates are bad people, but they have entered the profession at a time when labor is in high demand. The result is piss poor work product, because what are you going to do, fire them?
Those of us who came into the profession in the wake of the Great Recession have a different attitude. We remember what it was like to scramble for a job and to fight to originate work. When the tide goes out again, and it always eventually does, some of you recent arrivals are going to be quite shocked by what happens to you.
I wouldn’t even call newly licensed attorneys “new talent.” They are awful. There are on a select few that have any work ethic or accountability. Many are so unprofessional it is shocking, tantrums, violent outbursts, sabotage, and dipping their pens in the company ink like no tomorrow. It’s appalling. I beg of the rest of us, please please don’t ever lower our standards to meet these clowns at their level. We are the Alamo, if law and order fails, society fails.
I remember getting out of clerkship during the great recession and i remember some of the firms offering $60-$70K for early associate spots and getting overloaded with applicants. I don’t want to begrudge my current batch of associates for coming out with much better timing but it blows my mind the opening salaries that are needed to try to keep up.
60% of new lawyers are awful. Always have been, always will be. This isn’t new.
It is not constant. There has been a shift in the last few years driven by the fact that you can’t afford to fire even an associate that is shit. Ten years ago, you could fire a lazy associate and hire a new one easily, not so today.
In my day we went to the law library (either in-house or downtown) and cracked open the West reporters. The decennial digests, and Shepard’s citators, with maybe a few Am Jur articles if you were too lazy to do your own work. Now it is Google and cut and paste. Rots the brain. Everyone should have to spend a couple of years in the library with books and a yellow pad.
My favorite series in the ol’ law library was the “Causes of Action”. Loved those books.
and it was SEVERAL yellow pads for me.
Similarly, 60% of veteran lawyers are awful.
Some newer attorneys may have some of the poor-work-ethic characteristics associated with Gen Z but I would note two things: seasoned attorneys have always thought younger attorneys had it easier and weren’t willing to work as hard as their generation; also, most of these kids went to law school during covid – we need to cut them a break. It’s the experienced attorney’s responsibility to teach directly, by example, and by incentives. Lawyers that consistently underperform will eventually feel the consequences. I like working with young attorneys so I can find out if their pronouns have changed recently. What a generation!
Eff that. I would prefer to kick their asses in court. A shitty attorney is the best reward to a great attorney. That is an example that I can set.
Dog eat dog bitch!
A Law School, at which I worked, did not even make them use proper grammar or spell correctly. I fear for them.
Grammar is a tool of the privileged to hold down the BIPOCs
Blog is useful for so many reasons, but invaluable for revealing how cranky my colleagues are.
The courthouse line is a joke. It took me 20 minutes to get through security this morning.
Why you so shady?
Why don’t you go through the side attorney entrance?
THHHHHHHHWWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKK!
Doesn’t anyone want to be a judge anymore? These judicial races are looking very sparse!
No one is challenging the incumbents? No EmergeNevada candidates looking to knock all of those horrible men clean off of the bench?
If I decide to grace the bench with my magic sauce, my law clerk will be big and tough and ready to back up the bailiff protecting my magical self. Forget the writing sample, I want reference letters from your muay thai and BJJ teachers, and the interview will be at the gym where you can wow me with your bench press, deadlift, and overhead press. No sissies!
Elizabeth Halverson?
They need to increase the pay. They haven’t raised the pay in nearly 20 years. A lot of experienced attorneys don’t want to take a pay cut to take the job.
They just raised it in the last legislative session.
I implore someone-anyone-to challenge for Dept N!