Author: TSA Press

One thing the pandemic can’t stop is the need for high-end legal advice. As such, elite Biglaw firms are doing pretty well, and rather than just divvy up that money amongst the partners, the hot new trend is sharing that largesse with associates in the form of spring special bonuses.

Goodwin Procter is the latest Biglaw firm to jump on the spring bonus bandwagon. They’re making two payments to associates according to the following schedule:

US/HK Class Year		UK/Lux Class Year		July 1 Payment		October 1 Payment
		Trainees		$1,500		$2,500
		NQ		$2,400		$4,000
2020		1 PQE		$4,500		$7,500
2019		2 PQE		$6,000		$10,000
2018		3 PQE		$12,000		$20,000
2017		4 PQE		$16,500		$27,500
2016		5 PQE		$19,500		$32,500
2015		6 PQE		$22,200		$37,000
2014+		7 PQE+		$24,000		$40,000

They went with July and October disbursements, and larded up the later payment, but, those are just the details. The amount of money on the table remains the same as what peer firms are giving out (thank you Davis Polk for raising that bar) — provided you bill enough. The firm also clarified that to be eligible for these payments, associates must meet an annualized hours threshold of 1,850 hours.

But associates aren’t the only ones getting in on the bonus fun! In a separate announcement the firm declared special counsel would get bonuses, payable at 1,750 annualized hours, as follows:

July 1 Payment		October 1 Payment
$24,000		$40,000

And senior attorneys, also at the 1,750 mark, will get bonuses as follows:

July 1 Payment		October 1 Payment
$16,500		$27,500

Department and discovery attorneys as well as science advisors and science law clerks will also get bonuses at the 1,750 annualized threshold:

July 1 Payment		October 1 Payment
$4,500		$7,500

All the announcements available on the next page.

Remember everyone, we depend on your tips to stay on top of important bonus updates, so when your firm matches, please text us (646-820-8477) or email us (subject line: “[Firm Name] Matches”). Please include the memo if available. You can take a photo of the memo and send it via text or email if you don’t want to forward the original PDF or Word file.

And if you’d like to sign up for ATL’s Bonus Alerts (which is the alert list we also use for salary announcements), please scroll down and enter your email address in the box below this post. If you previously signed up for the bonus alerts, you don’t need to do anything. You’ll receive an email notification within minutes of each bonus announcement that we publish. Thanks for all of your help!

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Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

It’s time for a heart-to-heart, fellow lawyers. I wish we didn’t have to do this because trust me, it’s as unpleasant for me as it is for you. But recent events have made it abundantly clear that this Zoom etiquette is a topic that can no longer be ignored.

So, let’s do this. Let’s talk about videoconferencing protocols, since it seems that a few lawyers just can’t seem to figure this out.

Now before we get started, let me just say that I’m thrilled to see all of you using technology, whether it’s social media, video conferencing, or cloud computing. I’ve been yelling from the rooftops about the benefits of technology for lawyers for more than a decade now, so it’s absolutely fantastic to see those of you who have been reticent to accept technological change to — at long last — embrace internet-based tools and reap the many benefits of interacting, engaging, and conducting business online.

Now there’s no doubt that this shift in mindset began well before COVID-19, but one indisputable effect of the pandemic was to dramatically increase technology adoption by lawyers. Seemingly overnight, lawyers began to incorporate technology into their law firms at rates never before seen in order to work remotely. They relied on cloud-based tools to get work done and interacted online more than ever before. As a result, video conferencing quickly became the norm in our newfound socially distanced world.

As far as I’m concerned, these rapid advancements were a welcome change, but with this increased technology use came some very notable hiccups along the way, especially when it came to videoconferencing. It is these technology fails that I’d like to discuss with you today.

First and foremost, please understand that the internet is forever. Whenever you use video conferencing software, behave as if whatever you say or do will be shared with everyone you know and love. Or, in other words, as a wise person once said, dance like no one’s watching, but email (or text or videoconference) as if the end product will one day be read aloud in a deposition.

Know that whenever you interact online you run the risk that people will record videoconferences or take screen shots and then share that content across the internet. And once that information is shared, you can’t take it back. Any and all of your online communications and actions could one day come back to haunt you, resulting in embarrassment at the very least, and a disciplinary action or even a criminal prosecution at the worst.

Now to some of you, this advice might seem like common sense. But for others, recent headlines would suggest otherwise.

Apparently I’m not alone in this conclusion. The failure of a good number of lawyers to abide by any sense of videoconferencing etiquette has become such a problem that two administrative judges in New York went so far as to issue a short memorandum last week that provided guidance for New York lawyers regarding the “appropriate decorum” for virtual court proceedings.

The judges prefaced their cautionary advice by acknowledging that the pandemic impacted court proceedings and as a result, rapid adaptation was necessary in order to ensure continued access to justice:

The COVID-19 pandemic has required all courts across New York State to innovate and adapt in order to continue to provide the effective and efficient administration of justice and Access to Justice for all court users consistent with the highest standards of Chief Judge DiFiore’s Excellence lnitiative. Our courts have uniformly transitioned to Microsoft Teams as a platform to conduct virtual proceedings. Appropriate decorum/etiquette is a necessity during all virtual court proceedings.

Next, the court provided a succinct and very helpful list of recommendations for lawyers who appear in virtual court proceedings in New York. I would respectfully suggest that this guidance should be taken to heart by lawyers who practice outside of New York as well:

• Dress in appropriate attire, as if you were appearing in-person in court
• Display an appropriate and professional background
• No consumption of food or drink during the proceeding
• Remain professional and dignified
• As in in-person proceedings, only one person should be speaking at a time.

So, my fellow lawyers, please take this well-intentioned advice to heart. Simply put: virtual court appearances should be treated no differently than in-person proceedings.

And last but not least, a good rule of thumb whenever you interact online is to treat the online world as an extension of the offline world. Because online actions can have real world implications, both personally and professionally, behave accordingly. Ignore this advice at your own risk, lest your antics might end up being the subject matter of the next #LawyerZoomFail headline of the day.

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Nicole Black is a Rochester, New York attorney and Director of Business and Community Relations at MyCase, web-based law practice management software. She’s been blogging since 2005, has written a weekly column for the Daily Record since 2007, is the author of Cloud Computing for Lawyers, co-authors Social Media for Lawyers: the Next Frontier, and co-authors Criminal Law in New York. She’s easily distracted by the potential of bright and shiny tech gadgets, along with good food and wine. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikiblack and she can be reached at niki.black@mycase.com.

The spring of Biglaw special bonuses continues. This March is not going out like a lamb when it comes to the bonus dollars that are flowing throughout the largest law firms in America.

Willkie got the special bonus ball rolling, but Davis Polk came out on top as the firm is wont to do, and wowed the market with more money — and others have matched that more generous scale, in droves.

Attorneys received a much-appreciated announcement today from the powers-that-be at Paul Hastings, a firm that brought in $1,268,910,000 gross revenue in 2019. The firm announced it would be joining Biglaw’s best in giving out special bonuses. Payable on May 28 and October 29, the firm will give out between $12,000 and $64,000, depending on class year, according to the following schedule in its U.S., Asia, London, Frankfurt, and São Paulo offices (full memo on the next page):

Echoing its peers, the firm noted that these special bonuses will not impact its year-end bonuses. Congratulations to everyone at Paul Hastings!

(Flip to the next page to see the full memo from Paul Hastings.)

Remember everyone, we depend on your tips to stay on top of important bonus updates, so when your firm matches, please text us (646-820-8477) or email us (subject line: “[Firm Name] Matches”). Please include the memo if available. You can take a photo of the memo and send it via text or email if you don’t want to forward the original PDF or Word file.

And if you’d like to sign up for ATL’s Bonus Alerts (which is the alert list we also use for salary announcements), please scroll down and enter your email address in the box below this post. If you previously signed up for the bonus alerts, you don’t need to do anything. You’ll receive an email notification within minutes of each bonus announcement that we publish. Thanks for all of your help!

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Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Everybody feels like they need to respond. There’s a lot of eye-rolling and people are not jumping for joy that a high bar is being set. [Davis Polk’s announcement] likely sets off dominos and, unfortunately, it’s going to be expensive for some firms that probably shouldn’t be answering—but they will anyway.

— Law firm management consultant Kent Zimmermann of the Zeughauser Group, commenting on the special bonus battle that is currently unfolding among Biglaw firms. Click here to see which firms have already committed to offering these bonuses.

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Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

On March 30, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case of NCAA v. Alston, which revolves around whether the Ninth Circuit wrongfully decided that the NCAA’s eligibility rules concerning compensation of college athletes violate federal antitrust law. The parties defending the Ninth Circuit decision filed a very compelling brief and hope that, at a minimum, educational-related benefits for college athletes be upheld.

The highest court could go beyond discussing mere educational-related benefits in an opinion. It bears watching whether the justices will make a determination that bleeds into the area of athlete publicity rights (more commonly referred to as name, image, and likeness or NIL rights) as well. In the meantime, many states are getting involved in the process of determining whether they wish to grant athletes such rights irrespective of what the NCAA or the federal government may do on that front.

As of now, six states have NIL laws in place, with Florida leading the pack, boasting a July 1, 2021, effective date. However, 17 more states have sponsored bills that may be debated and passed during this calendar year, with Arizona, Iowa, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and, the most recent state — Oregon — seeking an effective date that either mirrors or comes close to Florida’s.

Oregon’s legislation (Senate Bill 5) would prohibit post-secondary institutions of education, athletic associations, conferences, or organizations with authority over intercollegiate athletes to prevent college athletes from earning compensation for the use of their names, images, and likenesses. It would also allow college athletes in the state to retain representation for procuring and negotiating such compensation.

The legislation does place a restriction on athletes entering into contracts that would conflict with the athletes’ team rules or with the terms of a contract that was entered into between the athletes’ school and a third party unless the athletes’ deliverables are performed when not engaged in official team activities or are strictly based on the use of social media.

The most interesting part of Oregon’s proposal is the revenue-sharing regime contemplated outside of the pure NIL rights granted to athletes. It states,

A post-secondary institution of education, athletic association, conference or organization with authority over intercollegiate sports that enters into a merchandising agreement that covers an intercollegiate sports team and that results in royalty payments to the postsecondary institution of education, athletic association, conference or organization with authority over intercollegiate sports shall include as terms to the agreement: (a) Royalty payments to each student athlete who is a current member of the team. (b) Royalty payments plus a premium to each student athlete who is a current or former member of the team whose name, image or likeness is used.

This royalty-sharing arrangement is a unique feature not commonly found in other NIL-related proposals. The definition of what constitutes a royalty payment is not explicitly provided in the proposal, and it is not clear whether this language will survive discussions in the legislature when the bill is ultimately debated.

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Darren Heitner is the founder of Heitner Legal. He is the author of How to Play the Game: What Every Sports Attorney Needs to Know, published by the American Bar Association, and is an adjunct professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law. You can reach him by email at heitner@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter at @DarrenHeitner.

Ed. note: This is the latest installment in a series of posts on motherhood in the legal profession, in partnership with our friends at MothersEsquire. Welcome Krista Lynn to our pages. Click here if you’d like to donate to MothersEsquire.

Lawyer moms are fierce advocates. Whether it’s someone picking on our kid at the playground, a superior unfairly projecting on us in the office, or a car salesman trying to charge that absurd “delivery fee” when the vehicle you’re buying is sitting 11 feet away, lawyer moms aren’t afraid to speak up in the face of injustice.

Lawyer moms know how to get a job done. We manage to keep all the plates spinning at home and at work, often with less credit for the wins and more blame for the losses. We have a remarkable ability to multitask and work with little to no sleep. Most of the time with a smile.

Lawyer moms ask all the questions and fight the good fight. Whether the need is a strongly worded letter to the superintendent, a speech at the city council meeting, or defense of a child to the geometry teacher, when a lawyer mom is involved, you can #considerithandled a la Olivia Pope.

Lawyer moms are real life superwomen.

But what happens when that superwoman has superhuman struggles that understandably threaten to topple those spinning plates and send them shattering to the ground?

For most of the past decade of my life, I have been living through what felt like an extended Greek drama/tragedy. While most of the chaos going on in my life was created by or resulted from a very unhealthy marriage to a very unhealthy person, it was chaos nonetheless. One thing that became my superpower during it was figuring out how to keep kicking butt and taking names at work.

Whatever your personal crisis — maybe you’re going through a divorce, suffering from a miscarriage, navigating life with a child with special needs, or recently lost someone close to you — if you take nothing else away from this article, know that you are not alone.

I remember sitting at my law school orientation when then-Mayor Cory Booker told my class to “look left and look right because you just might end up marrying the person sitting next to you.” A few of my law school classmates did go on to get married to each other, but overall the frequency was quite low.

What he didn’t say was a much more likely statistic, though — that 6% of my law school classmates would seriously consider suicide during that first year, and that 18% of them would develop an active addiction under the pressure and stress. He didn’t mention that 1 in 4 of my classmates-turned-colleagues would suffer from clinical depression or anxiety, or that lawyers commit suicide more than all but three other tracked professions. I don’t blame him for that; that’s not exactly a cheery first day of the rest of your life kind of message.

As lawyers, and particularly as lawyer moms, we are more likely to pretend everything is alright and less likely to seek help when needed. We are more likely to stay isolated from communities that can support us and less likely to invite anyone in. We are more likely to “suck it up” and less likely to prioritize our own self-care.

First and foremost, today I am here to tell you that whatever it is you’re facing — you are not alone. If you looked left and right down your office corridor, assuming that one day being in offices is a thing we will again enjoy, you can take comfort in the fact that the devastating isolation that you have been experiencing is not unique. And there’s strength in numbers.

But how to navigate these waters?

I won’t pretend to have all the answers, but I will proffer some suggestions of things that were helpful to me. And like a good lawyer mom, you’ll find these suggestions things that aren’t on our shoulders alone, but things our employers and communities can do for us too. We already do #allthethings. This first one, though — this is for you, lawyer mom.

Invite someone in. Your island is isolating because you are on it alone. And this isn’t the kind of island in the Caribbean with unlimited margaritas, sunshine, and palm trees. This is the kind of island where despair is the substitute for sunshine and shame the currency. Find your safe space and get that burden off your chest. Employers, make and hold space for your employees to be human.

Create accountability. When I was going through the worst of my personal challenges, I worked for a company that took domestic violence extremely seriously. My employer’s response to my disclosure set in progress biweekly and then monthly meetings with corporate security personnel for an extended period of time. I was given a special parking spot in the parking lot with cameras fixated on it. A safety plan for home and the office was created. A compassionate, caring person was assigned to check in with me on a regular basis. Employers, do this. It might have saved my life because I was forced to talk about it.

Normalize struggle. When we feel like we are the only ones dealing with “stuff,” our years of training of being tough, survival of the fittest, and character and fitness leads us to internalize. This only perpetuates the problem. A flashing neon sign isn’t necessary, and you don’t have to be as open about your struggles on professional platforms like I am, but anytime you can help another person feel like there is a little less pressure because you share that you are — gasp! — human, you are doing a great service to the profession and the world at large. Employers, foster this environment.

I’d like to leave you with three quotes and corresponding takeaways that will inspire you as you gather the courage to let someone in:

• You can’t heal what you don’t feel, and you can’t feel what you don’t talk about.
  • Takeaway — You have to talk about what is going on in your life in order to heal from it.
• Truth is the antidote to shame.
  • Takeaway — You may think you are too ashamed to tell your story, but shame actually grows and multiplies when it’s living alone in our minds.
• Shame dies when truth is told in safe spaces.
  • Takeaway — Find your safe space and watch the shame start to melt away.

Whatever is going on in your lives, know that you can and will get through it. Know that there is no shame in being human, in fact — despite what we may have learned in law school, it’s actually a good thing.

Personal crisis or not — go on and boldly live as your most authentic self. The world needs you exactly the way you are.

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Krista Lynn serves as Deputy General Counsel of Airbus OneWeb Satellites and is the Founder of Recovering Superwoman, a company with a mission of normalizing struggle, eliminating stigma, and helping working professionals thrive by getting out of their own way. Krista’s most important work, however, is that of full-time single mom to her three young children- Eico (4), Gabriella (3), and Milana (1). You can email her at legallykristalynn@gmail.com, connect with her on LinkedIn, and follow her company through its website, on Facebook, or Instagram.

2021 marks my seventh year in Nashville, the longest uninterrupted stretch I have lived in any one place since moving away from home to start college … last century. It is fair to say that I have changed since arriving in Music City.  There are the obvious changes, adding a spouse and four children in my first five years at the top of the list, but more subtle behavioral differences as well.  I have become a bit friendlier and more patient, though 98% of car horns that I hear are still my own. Southern slang has made its way into my vernacular to the point that my phone will now autocorrect to “y’all’s,” though I have never started a sentence “Howdy from Nashville, y’all!” because I’m not an absurd poser.

Yet for all my own changes, the transformation that Nashville has undergone during these seven years has been far greater. Not only do construction cranes seemingly blot out the sun downtown, but the building boom stretches through all parts of greater Metro Nashville. Just a few streets over from my home, well away from the downtown core, a block that previously housed a handful of single-story restaurants and businesses is being transformed into the “finest music performance hall on any college campus in the world.”  Near Vanderbilt, there was a massive excavated lot that stretched nearly eight stories below ground and had laid vacant for so long that it was deemed a lake by Google Maps due to it being regularly filled with stagnant rainwater. But in 2021, the “lake” is no more and a half-billion-dollar mixed-used development featuring penthouse condominiums on the market for more than $2 million nears completion — this is a veritable steal in comparison to the $25 million (not a typo) Grand Penthouse at the soon-to-be completed Four Seasons Nashville. Years ago, the neighborhood just outside of downtown known as “the Gulch” was nothing more than abandoned railroad tracks and The Station Inn. Today, the trendy area is home to luxury boutique hotels, the offices of William Morris Endeavor, excellent restaurants, and The Station Inn.

The city is currently home to more than three dozen tower construction cranes, which is more than you will find in cities like Boston, Phoenix, and even my previous home of Washington, D.C. While I would like to say it was my arrival that sparked this construction boom, the unprecedented growth had started well before my relocation. There is no single moment that kickstarted Nashville’s rapid growth. Some point to the 2010 approval of the massive Music City Center, which opened three years later — and looks like a giant guitar from above. Others will cite the 2012 debut of NBC’s Nashville which beamed stunning images of the city to television sets across the world.  But regardless of when one thinks Nashville’s Big Bang took place, it is hard to overlook the importance of January 8, 2013. It was then that the New York Times published a piece by reporter Kim Severson declaring Nashville the “‘it’ city.” Soon thereafter, more than 100 people were moving to Nashville every single day. The influx of new residents became so significant that local clothing merchant Project 615 started selling T-shirts of a unicorn below the phrase “Nashville Native” (our family owns both a full-sized and onesie version).

The appeal of Nashville was not merely limited to those looking for a new home. Five million more people visited Nashville in 2018 than did just six years prior. Somehow, this seemingly innocuous place in the American South became the bachelorette party capital of the world — while this CNN article is nearly 2 years old, a quick drive around town on an average weekend provides ample evidence that the appeal has not dwindled in the slightest, pandemic or no.

This massive influx of residents and visitors would not have been sustainable if there was not a thriving economy to meet them. For decades, Nashville was synonymous with one industry, music. This understanding transcended national boundaries as even Canadian indie rockers sang over a decade ago of “mov[ing] to Nashville to master the guitar.” But no matter how many documentaries Ken Burns makes on the subject, country music is not enough to sustain a growing city.

Thankfully, Nashville is also home to one of the most vibrant healthcare economies not only in the country but likely in the world.  While again, there are numerous reasons how this came to be, any conversation on the topic should start with HCA Healthcare, the largest for-profit health system in the United States and which was founded in Nashville over 50 years ago — the fifth- and seventh-largest systems are based in Nashville suburbs.  The sheer amount of money in Nashville health care is perhaps best illustrated by the fact that two of HCA’s founders, the father/son duo of Thomas F. Frist, Sr. and Jr., have their family surname name plastered on nearly every philanthropic endeavor in the city — not to mention a U.S. Senate seat for a period of time.

While there are a number of additional native industries, Nashville has also become an attractive destination for entities looking to relocate. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic made working from home a reality to many, thus rendering expensive office space a relic primed for a savvy account to cut, a number of companies flocked to Nashville with its lower corporate, and residential, real estate costs. Global Asset management firm AllianceBernstein is in the process of moving its Manhattan headquarters to downtown Nashville. Even the mom-and-pop outfit know as Amazon (I think I’ve spelled that right) decided to place their slightly Orwellian named Operations Center of Excellence in the soon to be completed Nashville Yards.

And yet, despite all of this corporate growth in recent years, the legal industry was surprisingly absent. That’s not to say that Nashville is not home to a number of fantastic law firms. Indeed, without these firms I would not be gainfully employed — though the vast majority of Vanderbilt Law grads end up outside of Nashville, and Tennessee more generally, with Texas and New York serving as the top two destinations for the Class of 2020. But there has not been an AmLaw 50 behemoth which has set up shop in Music City. There have been recent fits and starts in that general direction. Pillsbury houses some of its back office staff in Nashville. In 2015, citing the large health care market, Polsinelli opened a Nashville office with two attorneys, but six years later, the office is still relatively small with only 20 attorneys. This is not to say that Biglaw interest in Nashville expansion does not exist. I once had a conversation with the former office managing partner of an AmLaw 10 firm who was very committed to opening a Nashville outpost, but this partner said the firm did not think the billing rates could be high enough to support attorneys’ salaries. But I had long believed that was a mathematical equation that would eventually be solved. When Biglaw expansion came to Nashville, my thought was it would happen in one of two ways: a) the national firm would merge with (read: buy out) a local firm and be able to take their entire client roster; or b) the Biglaw firm would open their own office in Nashville and grow it gradually. To me, it was strictly a matter of when this expansion would happen, not if.

What I thought was an eventuality came to fruition last month when K&L Gates — for the record the firm I repeatedly predicted, to anyone who would listen, would be the first Biglaw behemoth to stake their claim here, due mostly to their massive geographic footprint — announced the opening of their Nashville office. Of the two scenarios set forth above, the firm struck a middle ground, establishing a new office staffed with more than 25 attorneys brought over from some of Nashville’s most established firms.

While I am keenly interested in the development of K&L Gates Nashville, especially whether they will get to the point of hiring summer associates, I am perhaps more curious as to how this impacts the Nashville legal market.  Again, I can see this playing out one of two ways: a) K&L’s opening is a one-off event that makes a temporary impact, only to fizzle out and not disrupt the established law firm pecking order; or b) much like my own relocation to Nashville, this is part of a much larger Biglaw influx. Perhaps not surprisingly, the latter scenario seems more likely. Nashville today seems quite similar to Dallas in the early part of the 2010s. What had been a legal market which boasted primarily Texas-based firms were in short order overrun with AmLaw powerhouses. McGuireWoods, Winston & Strawn, Kirkland & Ellis, and Sherman & Sterling are just a sample of the firms that have opened Dallas offices since 2014. The same combination of an ample client base and a cost of living that would allow $190,000, to say nothing of BigLaw partner share, to buy a lot more than it does in New York or Los Angeles that helped fuel Dallas’ rise seems present in Nashville today.

If this rapid-growth scenario does come to pass, what does this mean for the future of Nashville? Not surprisingly, it depends on who you ask. Not surprisingly, local real estate agents would be ecstatic, but that is probably of limited import to Above the Law readers. For my Vanderbilt Law students, this would be a tremendous development, providing them with many more options if they want to practice law in Nashville. The arrival of K&L Gates alone was enough to prompt some current 3Ls who are all set to practice in other markets after graduation to reach out and see whether I thought there might be some new opportunities in Nashville before too long. And it is not just advantageous to Vanderbilt students, indeed, any law student or even working attorney who is looking for a great city in which to practice law would cheer a rapid rise in Nashville BigLaw offices. Furthermore, partners and even senior associates currently practicing in Nashville might well find themselves to be the proverbial belle of the ball as newly arriving firms are looking for rainmakers and attorneys who can bill a high number of hours to fill out their new offices.  As for native Nashville firms …

The Dallas Biglaw gold rush set off a massive wave of “mergers” in which local firms were acquired whole by new arrivals. Firms that are not nimble might find themselves under new management this time next year.

Some in Nashville are ready to bury the “It” City moniker.

However, in terms of the city’s legal market, it might be time to bring in a couple more construction cranes.

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Nicholas Alexiou is the Director of LL.M. and Alumni Advising as well as the Associate Director of Career Services at Vanderbilt University Law School. He will, hopefully, respond to your emails at abovethelawcso@gmail.com.

Our annual bracket competition features “Epic Zoom Fails” of the pandemic era and it… was pretty boring last round.

Indeed, the only upset was a 7-10 take down of India’s most embarrassing Zoom fail where a hapless attorney chowed down on camera while the nation’s Solicitor General watched and mocked him. Let’s quickly recap:

So what does the bracket look like now?

All right. Game on!

(1) Lawyer Tells Judge ‘I’m Not A Cat’ In The Best Zoom Court Mishap Yet vs. (8) Shocking Video Of Law School Professors Making Racist Comments Goes Viral: Unsurprisingly, the delightful cat filter disaster trounced the competition. Now we have our first major tonal clash. Was the more epic fail — however you choose to define it — the goofy court appearance or the gross display of racism embedded within the halls of a major law school? On the one hand, the law school story is much more substantively important, but on the other was it really a Zoom fail or just the inevitable application of karma?

(2) Jeffrey Toobin Makes A Great Poi–OH MY GOD, HIS DICK’S OUT!!! vs. (10) Lawyer: Requiring Me To Wear A Tie Is Egregious! Judge: Sir, You’re Wearing Pajamas.: I was a little shocked to see Toobin advance by the slimmest margin of the competition. Granted that was still a 62-38 romp, but the downfall of America’s most recognized legal commentator because he couldn’t be… ahem… “master of his own domain” for a work call seems like a lot bigger deal. But it’s all about matchups and the doctor calling in to court from surgery was a strong 15 seed. In any event, Toobin is now taking on our lone underdog victor from the first round — a benchslap for a tie-hating attorney.

(3) Supreme Court Oral Arguments Include Toilet Flush In World’s Greatest Metaphor vs. (6) Man Attends Zoom Court Hearing From His Victim’s Home, Gets Arrested: Another tonal clash. The Supreme Court kicked off the remote era with someone taking a field trip to the bathroom mid-argument. Contrast that with a frightening incidence of intimidation where an abuser tried to use virtual backgrounds to conceal the fact that he was right next to the victim during her testimony. Thankfully, the prosecutor managed to figure it out and send help. Funny or scary… that’s the question in this matchup.

(4) Yep, That’s A Lawyer Having Sex On Camera During A Hearing! vs. (5) Spicing Up Zoom Client Meeting With Oral Sex: There can be only one! Criminal law coitus or HOA meeting oral advocacy? You have full-on sex during a hearing about a drug gang and someone crawling under the table for what would otherwise have been the world’s most boring homeowners’ meeting.

Polls will stay open until Wednesday, March 31 at 9:00 a.m. Eastern.

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Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

It’s no secret that women’s pay lags behind men’s in the legal profession. This disparity exists even when you compare law firms of the same size and practice area in the same geographic location. There are many factors at play, from the persistent belief that women are less likely to be supporting families, to unconscious biases that lead managers to value their female employees’ work product less favorably – and the pandemic has only exacerbated the problem. Traditional networking arenas such as the golf course or happy hours have been historically gendered male, which means women are walking into salary negotiations without knowing what their male peers are making. This also creates a resource gap: if women are not in the room when their peers are sharing business connections and client leads, they can’t tap into that network for information and resources. 

So if you are a woman attorney feeling underpaid, what can you do? These seven strategies will help you prepare for success in salary negotiations at a new firm or in your current position. 

1. Recognize “second generation” gender bias. We think of gender bias as being external, but it can also play out when women internalize the idea that women are nicer and less aggressive, so they don’t advocate for themselves. Examine your inner narrative – what is holding you back from asking for more?
2. Hack your own goodwill. Studies show that women are more willing to advocate for others than for themselves. Trick your brain – tell yourself that you are asking for a raise on behalf of a friend or loved one. 
3. Ask for more – every time. Studies show that men are more likely to negotiate an initial offer, which means that a male and female attorney in the same firm, who received the same offer, may nonetheless be starting out on unequal footing. When raises are offered, this dynamic repeats, so the disparity gets worse every year. Don’t let a year go by without asking for a raise. 
4. Do a competitive analysis. Identify similar companies, in your area or similar areas, by size, and by practice area. Present this information to your manager objectively, but hold firm for what you deserve. Glassdoor is your friend!
5. Internalize a leadership identity. Law firms want to see you taking charge. Get people together for an informal lunch to discuss issues in your firm. Start a committee to address an issue. Convene a meeting to revive a dormant project. Act purposefully towards an end goal with a clear benefit greater than yourself – and then document your successes to share during negotiations. 
6. Make the business case for yourself. Your manager wants to do the best for the business, which means you need to convince them that what you are asking for will benefit the firm. Identify the actions you have taken that have supported business growth, such as increasing efficiency in workflows or bringing in new clients. Make sure you have an accurate assessment of your achievements – hours billed, sales generated, hours spent on pro bono work, articles published, number of speaking engagements. 
7. Prepare in advance. Marshal all of your information – competitive analysis, your contributions and successes, and what you intend to do in the next year – and put it in writing. You may even want to create a brief memo or slide deck to share with your manager. Putting it in writing will help you feel more confident walking into the room. 

At the end of the day, remember: the worst case scenario is that your request is denied! Although women are socialized to believe that they shouldn’t negotiate too hard for fear of seeming overly aggressive, most companies will not penalize you for advocating for yourself. (And if they do – run.) 

To learn more, check out Leveling The Playing Field: Addressing Gender Equity and Negotiation Strategies. 

This article was originally published on March 10, 2020

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