Law And More

Discrimination Probe re Harvard, Princeton: Will all affirmative action go down

As long as Ivy remains an entity in demand, there will be beefs about who gets in and who doesn't.  This process became much more complex and contested, including legally, with affirmative action.

The latest wrinkle in the race for Ivy is a complaint filed with the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. It concerns Harvard and Princeton.  An Asian-American, who had been turned down by both schools, contends those institutions discriminate against those from his ethnic group, reports BLOOMBERG.

This could be the tipping point for the beginning of the end of affirmative action.  Higher education will have to create an algorithm for admissions decision-making.

Intern Nation Getting Mad as Hell: Former HARPER'S BAZAAR intern sues Hearst

The world of interning, as the book "Intern Nation" documents, is serial unpaid internships with no real job in the future.  A reasonable person wouldn't continue signing up for internships but a whole generation continues to do just that.

Likely a lawsuit won't change things.  But former intern at HARPER'S BAZAAR Xuedan Wang has filed one against Hearst, reports MEDIABISTRO.COM.  For a year she toiled away putting in full time hours but allegedly without pay.  Her lawyers said this could become a class action suit.

Last September, reports THE NEW YORK TIMES, two male interns filed a lawsuit against the producers of the film "The Black Swan."  The one against Hearst might get more media attention because it's filed by a young woman and, who knows what dirt can be dished about what allegedly goes on at HARPER'S BAZAAR.  The hilarious details could match that from the lawsuit of gay law associate Aaron Charney against Sullivan & Cromwell.  NEW YORK Magazine even got into that one.

With Wang, a good time could again be had by all.

Law Schools Sued By Graduates re Jobs Data: Up to 15

Newbie JDs aren't happy about carrying big student loan debt with no job practicing law to show for it.  The toll of lawsuits against their law schools for misrepresenting job data is now up to 15.  The new additions, reports BLOOMERG, are Albany Law School, DePaul Law School, and Chicago-Kent College of Law.

If the 73 JDs filing these suits are shrewd, they will gain public relations experience telling their story, positioning it as a mission to warn others and to reform law schools.  PR, unlike the downsizing legal sector, is growing and pays well.  A little experience at the low end and then the JD can leverage that credential to make it big in public affairs.  Joining a lobbying firm could be in the cards.

Beyond Law Schools: Inflating data common in higher education

Gaming rankings among law schools has received plenty of attention, including from Congress, trade association the American Bar Association, and the media.  But it's coming out that law schools are hardly alone in higher education for inflating data to come across better to the constituencies which seem to matter.

THE NEW YORK TIMES reports on how Iona College, Baylor University, and Claremont McKenna have been those caught manipulating the numbers.  One especially inventive instance is Baylor's paying students, who have already been admitted, to re-take the SAT.

All this bodes ill for the credibility of such rankings institutions such as U.S. News & World Report.  Why should parents, prospective students, and guidance counselors pay attention to those numbers?  The old-fashioned way of describing what seems so pervasive is that the butcher has a finger on the scale.

Susan G. Komen for the Cure Splits with Planned Parenthood

A stunner.  And a blow for both the political positioning of Planned Parenthood and the women its funding had helped.  As AP reports, the influential, well-funded charity Susan G. Komen for the Cure has exited from its partnership with Planned Parenthood.  That means it will cut off hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding.  Last year its grants to Planned Parenthood totaled $680,000.

The charity contends the reason for withdrawing support is that Planned Parenthood is under investigation by Congress.  On the other hand, Planned Parenthood claims the move is a result of Komen's caving to the anti-abortion forces.

Planned Parenthood is headed by the daughter - Cecile Richards - of the late Anne Richards who had been governor of Texas and a force in liberal politics.

Obviously, with the abortion issue so high profile as a result of this development, it will be central to the presidential campaign.  Candidate Obama will have to bring his wife into this one.

 

Rajat Gupta: New allegations about his role in insider trading re Goldman Sachs, P&G

Former McKinsey head Rajat Gupta now has more legal trouble.  BLOOMBERG reports, "In a superseding indictment filed today in federal court in Manhattan, the U.S. broadened its description of the insider-trading scheme, saying it began in March 2007 not in 2008 as alleged in October." 

Those allegations concern his alleged disclosure of developments at Goldman Sachs and Procter & Gamble.  The prosecution contends, for example, that Gupta was present at the Galleon offices when he participated in a phone call with the Goldman Sachs audit committee about quarterly earnings.  Those results would be made public the next day.

Until the new count of securities fraud was made today, Gupta had been charged with five counts of securities fraud and one of conspiracy to commit securities fraud. It will be fascinating to learn of his lawyers's response to this new development. 

New Haven, CT: Manhattan LSAT pays $100 per hour for instructor

This is 4Xs the industry standard for an LSAT instructor.  Here are details and how to apply.

Arlington, VA: Bloomberg has full-time opening for legal editor

The pay range on this is $50,000 to $60,000.  And you would be working for Bloomberg.  An opportunity in communications doesn't get better than that.  I would jump at this myself but I don't want a full-time job. Worked too hard to build my client base.

Here are details and how to apply.

 

Branding: Acritas identifies top ones in law, but what about conversion rate

With so much churn in accounts, the legal sector has to now continually search for ways to attract and keep business.  One proven way is the strength of its brand or identity. 

Branding has been officially around since the 1930s when consumer products company Procter & Gamble figured out that it had to provide its soaps with a way that they would stick in the consumer's mind.  Brand management was born. 

Now there are many ways to measure brand equity.  Research company Acritas is one of those organizations which do that.  In AM LAW DAILY, Aric Press reports that Acritas recently did a study of the strongest brands in the legal sector.  They are Skadden, Jones Day, Kirkland & Ellis, Sidley Austin, and Wachtell.

The danger with focusing on branding is that the organization can take its eye off its coversion rate.  Sure, it's wonderful to have a powerful brand, as measured in various ways.  But unless the asset is being leveraged to get new business it's wasted.  Marketing has to come up with ways to improve the conversion rate and track what's making that happen.

Cyber Security: Competitive weapon for law firms

Law firms which can demonstrate that their systems are secure from hackers have a distinct competitive advantage.  BLOOMBERG observes that law firms "are increasingly threatened with a loss of client business if they can't show improved security as such (hacker) attacks continue to escalate."

BLOOMBERG focuses on the recent example of Chinese hackers  intent on deep-sixing a $40 billion deal in which BHP Billiton was trying to acquire Canadian Potash Corporation.  Access to the kind of information law firms maintain about that transaction could be just what those opposed need.

Since law firms, at least not in the U.S., are not public companies they would not be subject to any new regulations the SEC produces about disclosure to investors of cyber attacks and what the company has done to prevent those in the future.  What they can do to attract new business and retain the clients they already have is to figure out how to make their data not vulnerable to hacking.  Then, they have their marketing front lines tell that story to all appropriate constituencies.