The Los Angeles County Bar Blog

Bitter Lawyer Webisodes

One of the neat things about living in Los Angeles is recognizing so many locations in movies and TV shows.  This is especially true for lawyers, who frequent popular filming haunts like downtown and Century City.  Well, lawyers at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips can take that deja vu feeling to a new level, by watching webisodes of LIVING the DREAM at www.bitterlawyer.com—a series following the travails of a young lawyer toiling at a big law firm.  So far, five webisodes of about five minutes each are available, and every one uses Manatt's LA office for conference rooms, corridors, kitchens, and, of course, office scenes.  (The use of Manatt's offices was not publicized at the firm; I only found out about it through emails sent by viewers at other firms.)  The episodes are very funny in a bitter, snarky way—sort of Ally McBeal meets The Office.  The writing, acting, and production are excellent.  So if you can spare a .1 from billing, watch an episode.  The topics and themes should resonate with any lawyer practicing at a firm—and with any luck, the horrors confronting the protagonist will not cut too close to home.

The Cravath Model

At the ABA Journal online, the comments add life to the data about the Cravath model's effect on hiring and salaries. The journal cites Empirical Legal Studies, which in turn has a chart showing the bimodal distribution of attorney salaries. What is bimodal distribution? Some entry-level attorneys earn around $125K, while the rest tend to earn about $40 to $60K. The researcher speculates that the Cravath model (hire top grads from top-tier schools for the well-paying big firm jobs) is one of two reasons the salary camel has two humps.

Law Firms Mull the 'Gen Y' Equation

According to Leigh Jones of The National Law Journal, Generation Y associates are getting a bad rap for what some say is a flabby work ethic and an off-putting sense of entitlement.

Attorneys from Generation Y -- those born in 1978 or later -- are plenty smart and generally well educated, say firm leaders and industry experts. But these young attorneys also are lacking in loyalty, initiative, and energy, so the criticism goes.