LSAT Blog: LSAT Unplugged YouTube / Podcast

Showing posts with label lawyers. Show all posts

Crazy Badass Lawyer: Adam Reposa | Video

If you ever become a criminal defense attorney, I hope you market yourself like Adam Reposa of Austin, Texas.

He recently made the following hilarious video to market his services (HT: Above the Law):

LSAT Blog Cooley Law School Founder Still Paid 6 Figures

Former Michigan Chief Justice and Cooley Law School founder Thomas E. Brennan retired in 2002.

According to Cooley's 3 most recent IRS filings available on GuideStar, he received $370,245 (2009-10 - PDF p35), $368,581 (2008-9 - PDF p50), and $365,008 (2007-8 - PDF p6) in total compensation for each of those years.

These IRS documents suggest that his formal titles are "Professor Emeritus" and "Former President" and that he works just 10 hours/week. Taking the average of his total compensation for these 3 years, and assuming he worked 52 weeks/year (no vacations), he earned $707.58/hour during this 3-year period.

But what has he done to earn such a high hourly rate during his retirement? The only current formal responsibility of which I find mention is that of compiling the widely-derided "Cooley Rankings," aka "Judging the Law Schools." (Cooley places #2 nationwide in his latest ranking, while it's in the bottom tier of the U.S. News rankings.)

It's understandable that law school applicants place so much weight on LSAT scores, given that they're the single most important factor determining law school admissions.

Some people (many of you, I'm sure) have wanted to be lawyers ever since childhood.

Lawyer Diaries is a new semi-regular feature on LSAT Blog where current and former lawyers will share their experiences.

The first is from Kate McGuinness, a lawyer with a long and varied legal career who is now a full-time writer. Please thank her for sharing her story in the comments!

LSAT Blog Pre-Law Students Losing Interest in Political Careers

The percentage of pre-law students considering a career in politics has dropped from 54% in 2009 to 38% today, according to recent survey results.

This decline was preceded by a similar drop in the percentage of lawyers in Congress over the past 4 decades.

I turned to my pre-law audience for answers, and the explanations I received generally fell into two broad categories:

For those of you who haven't been following the Casey Anthony trial, take a moment to catch up on it (NYTimes, Wikipedia, and the Associated Press).

According to Nancy Grace, "The devil is dancing tonight."

Long story short, the judge was only able to sentence Ms. Anthony to the 4-year maximum and fine her $4,000. Due to time already served, she'll be out on the street in less than a week.

What do you think? Has the CSI effect decimated our chances at convicting those who are clearly guilty? Has the burden of proof to convince a jury become too high? What role does a defendant's race play in media coverage and jury convictions/acquittals?

What should be done? What, if anything, can even be done?

Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Photo by myeye

Funny Lawyer Commercials

A recent article in the New York Times (Lawyers Use Humor to Plead Case) covered the recent trend of law firms using (intentionally) funny TV commercials.

I'm including below the commercials the article mentions. Enjoy!

Machete: