Wednesday, March 04, 2009

No Work In NYC? The Russian Mafia Is Hiring



As the ABA opens the floodgates to the outsourcing of a major chunk of legitimate entry-level legal work, expect to see a lot more fraud and corruption as starving newbie lawyers try to feed themselves in this dying, cannibalistic profession.

"Back to my original point, how the fuck do you think rinky-dink solos and tiny firms pick up enough cases to scrape by? They use 'runners.' A runner might be a low-level hospital orderly or a homeless-looking guy who loiters around the ER waiting area (in NYC the ER is the 'primary care physician' for most poor people).

They chat up injured people and pass them the lawyer's card, telling them that if they call the number they will get $50 cash that afternoon and much more when the case settles. This is how the typical joe shmoe loser gets cases in today's PI. The runner gets paid in cash by the lawyer for the number of cases he brings in, as well as the quality (value) of the cases.

The few injury 'victims' who escape this ER gauntlet (there are often half a dozen runners working each ER in each hospital) are referred to the firm via scores of sleazy medical mills in the outer boroughs that are affiliated with No-Fault auto benefits fraud. The 'plaintiffs' are paid cash by the medical mills to stage phony accidents. The accident 'victims' call 911 and get a police report, then they 'treat' for months at these bogus clinics, which is kosher under the bizarro world of NY No Fault. Sheer volume makes it almost impossible to track down the vast number of plaintiffs (most of whom are Hispanic and have 18 different names). The accident stagers of course get paid in cash by the medical mills.

The sham clinics then submit bills for this sham "treatment" (plus bills for medical equipment like canes and neck braces etc) that are never even provided. Clinics (often run by russian mobsters) often make millions in only months, then when the heat turns up they split and re-appear elsewhere like smoke w/in months.

Then the medical mill 'sells' the plaintiff to a dirt-bag PI firm for a portion of the eventual legal fee (kickback). It's a huge moneymaker for fake medical clinics- they screw no-fault out of medical treatment money, then get kickbacks from the lawyers for the plaintiff's lawsuit.

That is your primer on NYC personal injury law. Thus, do not delude yourself into thinking you'll 'bring in cases.' The 'firms' know damn well you ain't brining in shit. They are looking for slave labor and use this carrot as a way to justify the ultra-low salaries offered (like 35 K!)

Turnover at these shithole firms occurs on a weekly, even hourly, basis once the newbies realize how this game works and the odds of success.

If you want to put your license on the line and commit outright fraud, there is plenty of money out there to be made."


-JDUnderground

77 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Nigerian mafia (a term I learned from Nigerians on doc review projects) has much of the little doc review there is going around.

Anonymous said...

The Nigerian mafia is always concocting schemes from work when they should be reviewing documents.

Anonymous said...

From the last thread it sounds like what we really need is a primer on is how to bribe recruiters. Which ones should we approach and what is the going rate to be included in the few who are getting projects.

Anonymous said...

America is quickly turning into a failed state. Aside from sucking off the government, the only way to survive anymore is to involve oneself in some kind of scheme or racket.

Anonymous said...

Yes, Tom, can you put up a list of recruiters? I need to know how many $100 bills to slide across the table during my registration interview.

Anonymous said...

You wonder why so many depended upon doc review, there are just no decent entry level jobs. Who on earth wants to get involved with gutter PI work?

A sham of a profession. Why is nobody discussing the "law school bubble". It it just one more bubble, going pop pop pop.

Anonymous said...

NYC ain't got nothin' on LA for sham medical mills and phony car accidents. And it never did. LA is ground zero for that shit...

Anonymous said...

From the last thread
Anonymous said...

pffft. There is work, just find a good recruiter and hound them until the give you work. The squeaky wheel gets the oil.

Be nice to the recruiters, very nice.

8:42 PM
______________________________
What did you have in mind 8:42?

Anonymous said...

I think you are reading into it way too much. I meant keep in touch, good cordial relations. No kickbacks payoffs or other favors.

Nothing cryptic intended.

Anonymous said...

Attorneys (Litigation/Review) -- Prominent Boutiwue (NYC)
Reply to: job-wvseg-1060875648@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
Date: 2009-03-04, 9:18PM EST


Prominent boutique seeks an experienced litigator for a long-term discovery/document review assignment. The assignment may involve research and writing. Concordance/Summation experience is required, as is NY state admission.

The rate is in the range of 35-45 dollars per hour, depending on experience.

Interviews begin immediately, so please email your resume ASAP to lmustion@thedinegroup.com and refer in the subject line to the "Long-term review" assignment.

We never forward your resume without your express, specific authorization.

Anonymous said...

So now we have to be experienced litigators to get a doc review project?

Anonymous said...

11:24

You have to be an experienced litigator who has no JD.

You have to be a US citizen of Indian heritage born in Europe and living on Park Avenue.

You have to have an IQ higher than Jesus but lower than God.

You have to be barred in Malaysia and fluent in Danish.

You have to be old enough to remember the 80s but young enough not to care.

You have to be a qualified rocket surgeon but naive enough to drink the Kool-Aid.

Anonymous said...

You have to be anything other than an attorney admitted in NY with a years of experience in doc review.

Anonymous said...

You have to be anything other than an attorney admitted in NY with years of experience in doc review.

Anonymous said...

im glad no one is really paying much attention to the actual blog posts...seriously

Anonymous said...

You have to have a background in science or be a paralegal or be a non-admitted JD or be an experienced litigator. If you are a NY admitted attorney with a couple of years of experience in doc review, don't bother applying for doc review projects in NYC.

Anonymous said...

HireCounsel is requiring experience in toxic tort litigation for one of their projects.

Anonymous said...

11:19 No bribing recruiters? That was the most promising idea I'd heard In months.

Anonymous said...

Does hirecounsel have any projects or does it just like placing ads?

Anonymous said...

HireCousnel is run by uber-scumbag Andrew Rider. Avoid their project like the plague. Their dumpy off-site space on 33rd st has no coffee, no paper towels, no bottles for the water cooler and, i'm embarassed to admit, no toilet paper.

We were reduced to bringing our own. Sad. 7 years in school to bring your own shitwipes to work with you.

Anonymous said...

I am not a doc reviewer anymore but I still get plenty of emails from Hudson about projects, however I have to agree that the bulk of doc review projects hare dying because of this bad economy. The last 2 emails I received (one last week, and the other in January) were for Foreign Language gigs (Japanese and some other European language). I also got one which required a mechanical engineering background and/or Patent bar license.

I feel bad for those of you who are still stuck in temp land trying to get out. I only temped for 3 months between getting fired from shit-law, and wanted out so took another shitlaw job. Now I'm doing a little better financially (not as good as those $35/hr gigs with OT) but still only earning
$75K at my firm. I hope to just get out of law altogether but not until my spouse and I pool enough resources to launch our own business together.

Good luck to all of you.

Anonymous said...

I got an email from Hudson wanting an experienced patent litigator with a graduate degree in petroleum engineering from a top school, and fluency in Yakutsk (a Siberian language), to work a three-day project.

Anonymous said...

I'm admitted and actually got a call after responding to an ad for paralegals for a doc review project in Queens. It pays $13 an hour.

Anonymous said...

hahaha. Are you going to take it?

Anonymous said...

They are going to submit me. It would preserve some of my ue and end the gap on my resume. This is a depression and the legal market just keeps getting worse. I want to work. That's the reality.

Anonymous said...

Also I am not the only attorney who is willing to take it at this point.

Anonymous said...

I'm not saying PI is a decent field- I'd rather work at the Gap than 'litigate' those babies- but this blog post is a little much. I think the post-er is on the way to becoming a full blown schizo.

Anonymous said...

I am not a doc reviewer anymore but I still get plenty of emails from Hudson about projects
---------------------
they aren't emailing you personally. that stuff comes from their list-serve. it is as personal as seeing an ad on cl

Anonymous said...

HireCousnel is run by uber-scumbag Andrew Rider. Avoid their project like the plague. Their dumpy off-site space on 33rd st has no coffee, no paper towels, no bottles for the water cooler and, i'm embarassed to admit, no toilet paper.

We were reduced to bringing our own. Sad. 7 years in school to bring your own shitwipes to work with you.

12:54 AM
______________________________
was this recently?

Anonymous said...

Speaking of Hirecounsel today they put up ads on monster for reviews in Turkish, Portuguese and Spanish. Are we supposed to believe they just happened to pop up at the same time and this isn't just for signing up new reviewers?

Anonymous said...

I did a Hire Counsel gig and it was sweet. I miss it. And I can't believe people are complaining about lack of coffee WHEN THERE ARE NO PROJECTS TO BEGIN WITH!

Anonymous said...

exactly 12:40. I'd happily bring my own toilet paper if they would only offer me a project!

Anonymous said...

Toilet Paper? In India, our doc reviewers use their left hand to wipe their bums. They use their other hand to eat.

We don't drink coffee either, yet another reason to use an LPO!

Anonymous said...

Has anyone been to those agencies that have one person running the place? How the hell do they still have jobs when they don't bring in any friggin' projects??? I went to one temp agency two years ago (non-legal), and her answer to my e-mails was always- 'it's been quiet.' Well, how the hell do you eat if it's so goddamn quiet????

Anonymous said...

They probably staff other kinds of positions also instead of limiting themselves to doc review.

Anonymous said...

They probably just meant it was quiet for what you were looking for.

Anonymous said...

1:17 & 1:18-

No- I'd told them I was open to anything, even filing. They told me they had absolutely nothing. I wanted to call them on it and tell them they're full of shit, but I figured, then they REALLY wouldn't call me.

Anonymous said...

1:09

You have to learn to read between the lines. I call them recruiterisms.

"Its been quiet" means that the recruiter does not think she can get you staffed on a project.

"I will keep my eyes open" means that the recruiter does not think she can get you staffed on a project. Also, it means that she will absolutely NOT keep her eyes open on your behalf.

"We don't have a start date yet" means that the recruiter is merely collecting resumes for a project that might or might not get funded or awarded to her company.

"The client wants this done as quickly as possible" means that the client could care less about the accuracy of your coding. They want what should be a 4 week project finished in 7 days. If you are not willing to code at least 350 documents per day, don't bother working on this project.

"I will $%^& your $%^&" means you are at a happy hour with a hooker..er I mean recruiter.. and your unique skill set has caught her eye. If you hook up with her, you will have your pick of the projects that still exist. The downside is that she will consider you her new boyfriend. That, and she will cheat on you with other unique prospects. Basically, no downsides - its like free sex with the benefit of getting prime assignments. Recruiters tend to be pretty hot, you should definitely tap that ass.

"Could I see you for a moment" means you are about to get shit canned from the project mid day for some minor infraction that the project enforcer noticed. It could be for drinking coffee in the coding area without a lid on your cup, or it could be because you just coded 1000 documents from attorneys to attorneys as responsive, not privileged.

There are many more recruiterisms, but these are a few of the most common.

Anonymous said...

Just responded to an ad for doc review attorneys (including non-barred JDs) with very specific scientific background, in DC. The ad made it seem like they needed people right away. But when I phoned the agency, they said the project was "very tentative at this point".

Huh???

Anonymous said...

"The downside is that she will consider you her new boyfriend."

I'm (1:09) a girl.

Anonymous said...

the thing is- who the frick do recruiters prefer to staff? How do they pick? One recruiter, one of the nice ones, told me it's literally by lottery.

That true? I went to a second tier school, was on journal, had good work experience before I got laid off- so what the hell do they want?

Anonymous said...

oh and to continue my 3:36 comment, I'm not a white male, in case anyone brings the whole race bs up again.

Anonymous said...

3:36 I've heard it is very helpful to be a guy the recruiters think is really cute and who flirts with them. I don't know if any actually take bribes. It seems mainly if they take a particular liking to you for probably very superficial reasons that you can't change you will get work. There is just very little work now so you either have to have a real connection with a recruiter or you probably won't get anything until business picks up. If the economy turned around today we would both probably have no problem getting projects very soon.

Anonymous said...

4:04-

Just my luck that all my recruiters are female. Can't use my womanly wiles.

Anonymous said...

Exactly.

Anonymous said...

Why would you want a recruiter to pick you for one of the jobs, anyway?

You say they are sweatshops that don't serve you coffee or have an appropriate water cooler.

Shouldn't you be HAPPY not to hear from them?

Anonymous said...

6:26-

I'm not the one who was complaining about coffee and that other shit- I guess this is the problem with anonymous postings- every post jumbles together at some point.

I was the one who said I liked the Hire Counsel gig.

Anonymous said...

Sign me up!!!

Anonymous said...

I'm working on a project for Lower Counsel.

They pay $6.25 an hour and you have to be able to be fluent in reverse Pig Latin.

The project is located in an abandoned warehouse in Paramus, New Jersey. We work 14 hour days with 10 minutes off for lunch. 106 lawyers are crammed into a 1000 square foot space with no heating, no coffee breaks, and four Bangladeshi guys with cattle prods zapping the coders whenever they slow down.

The head of Lower Counsel is a guy named Vinnie Boombatz. If you show up for work more than 3 minutes late, or fail to meet your quota for that day, you are declared "permanently incapacitated", and Vinnie calls in his private "paramedics", Nicky and Rocco, in advance, for the "medical treatment" you will receive later that day in a back room Vinnie calls the "Shed".

Lots of coders have been seen entering the Shed, but none have ever been seen leaving it.

Anonymous said...

14 hour days with 10 minutes off? You're talking about Westfield, right?

Anonymous said...

Don't listen to anything you hear on jdunderground. those guys are spoiled no nothing a holes. I worked for one of the worst pi firms in the city and they did not have any runners.

Anonymous said...

6:26-

I'm not the one who was complaining about coffee and that other shit- I guess this is the problem with anonymous postings- every post jumbles together at some point.

I was the one who said I liked the Hire Counsel gig.

9:05 PM
____________________________
6:26 is just a troll senselessly lashing out. He is really just using your comment as an excuse for a post aimed at insulting all of us. The troll isn't interested in actual discussion. The trolls are quite pathetic.

Anonymous said...

11:04 I'd gladly take the Westfield project no matter how bad it is.

Anonymous said...

The original post smacks of anti-Semitism. The man in the photograph has no apparent connection to the story or even to law. It seems to be a photograph of a random Russian immigrant included simply because he is a Russian immigrant. It is a post that has nothing to do with temp attorneys, the topic of this board as stated in its name. The post seems to have been picked up from JDU simply to stoke anti-Semitism.

Has a photo of a random Nigerian who isn't even doing anything demonstrating an involvement in law been featured in a story here about Nigerians? Of course not, that would be racist. There haven't even been any items about Nigerians in doc review although there are many more Nigerians in doc review than Russians. In all of the items on doc review in this blog about doc review, there have been none singling out Nigerians. The original post here goes totally afield just to attack Russian (mainly Jewish) immigrants. That is why it is no more than anti-Semitic garbage. It is truly unfortunate to see this happen here.

Anonymous said...

Good post 2:26, but I think now "its been quiet" means "its been quiet" since there's no fucking work in NYC anymore.

Anonymous said...

5:25

How the f#ck do you take the original post to be "anti-Semitic"?

Methinks thou doth protest too much... Lighten up a bit, please, and don't go around looking for Nazis under every bed!

Did the word "Jew" or "Jewish" appear anywhere in the post?

If anything, it was anti-Russian. Not all Russians are Jewish, in fact the vast majority of 'em ain't.

If I were Russian, I'd worry about the post being anti-Russian or anti-Slav.

I'm Italian. Do you see Italians go around calling every article or TV show about the Mafia "anti-Catholic"?

Anonymous said...

The vast majority of Russian immigrants in NYC are Jewish. There is a huge Russian Jewish population in NYC. That is the reason that so-called liberals such as those found at JDU attack them while welcoming other immigrants. So-called liberals think anti-Semitism is just swell. It's their kind of bigotry. Just look at JDU (where the post came from) and you will see plenty of it. Anti-Russian attacks like these are nothing but poorly disguised anti-Semitism. The imagery of bigotry against Italians is not the same as that used against Russians immigrants in NYC. Italians are defamed for being Italians. Russian immigrants here are defamed for being Jews.

If you'll notice, the man in the photograph is simply playing cards. Putting him in the story was pure bigotry. He should be able to sue over this disgraceful, defamatory act of prejudice.

Anonymous said...

um...thats kgb from movie rounders...anyone thinking of switching careers to pro poker?

Anonymous said...

um that's a photograph of a Russian man who has apparently has nothing to do with the topic of the post. It is included for purposes of bigotry only. It's like taking a photograph of a random black person and using it for a story about crime without any indication that the person was involved in a crime. Or like taking a picture of Oprah and using it for a story about crimes without any reason to think she is involved in them. The whole story is there simply to evoke anti-Russian (which in NYC translates into anti-Semitic) prejudice. It is far off of the topic of the blog. And there have been no stories singling out Nigerians to incite animosity toward them although there are far more Nigerians in doc review than Russians and doc review is the topic of this blog about temps.

It is a disgraceful act of bigotry.

Anonymous said...

um that's a photograph of a Russian man apparently has nothing to do with the topic of the post. It is included for purposes of bigotry only. It's like taking a photograph of a random black person and using it for a story about crime without any indication that the person was involved in a crime. Or like taking a picture of Oprah and using it for a story about crimes without any reason to think she is involved in them. The whole story is there simply to evoke anti-Russian (which in NYC translates into anti-Semitic) prejudice. It is far off of the topic of the blog. And there have been no stories singling out Nigerians to incite animosity toward them although there are far more Nigerians in doc review than Russians and doc review is the topic of this blog about temps.

It is a disgraceful act of bigotry.

Anonymous said...

5:25-

You're the dude in the picture, aren't you?

Anonymous said...

Tom should apologize for the post and remove the photo. It is included for bigotry and nothing else.

Anonymous said...

Hey! That picture looks like my uncle Moishe Shlerbitsky!

Wait a minute!! It IS Moishe Sherblitsky!!!

Hey, Tom!!! Where'd you get that picture from??? Moishe has been dead for 8 years, ever since he whacked that family of 6 in Bed-Stuy over that lost heroin shipment, and the victims' friends called in Big Rufus to stick it to him!!!

Anonymous said...

Tom should apologize for the post and remove the photo. It is included for bigotry and nothing else.

Anonymous said...

Tom should apologize. I have not seen him putting up a post attacking any other minority group. He chose to attack a minority that has few participants in doc review. Where are the funny, funny posts from him about the many Nigerians in doc review? Oh wait, there aren't any. That would be offensive.

The post is a nauseating example of bigotry. It is totally sickeningly offensive.

Anonymous said...

11:46

Do you have a sense of humor?

Anonymous said...

Where are the funny, funny posts from Tom about the many Nigerians in doc review? Oh wait, there aren't any. That would be offensive.

Anonymous said...

Wouldn't it be a laugh riot if Tom put up posts deriding blacks? Oh no, that would be offensive.

Anonymous said...

12:01, 12:06

So you're making sarcastic remarks, back-handedly encouraging Tom to deride Africans?

Why are the biggest racist, anti-black bozos from the Northeast ALWAYS members of a specific group which shall remain unnamed?

It's funny, this same groups parents and grandparents marched with Rev. King and were the biggest liberals around, but their offspring who grew up in pampered, upper-class white suburbs in Westchester County, etc. seem to have morphed into Nazis.

NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE!!!

Anonymous said...

Knock off the crap. You are not funny. You are not displaying intelligence or cunning. The post is a disgusting act of bigotry and Tom should apologize. As was stated in the posts you referenced, Tom has not attacked blacks because as any moron knows, that would be offensive. It is equally offensive to attack Russian immigrants.

Anonymous said...

The photo is NOT like using a pic of Oprah to illustrate crimes.

Oprah is a middle-aged, fat, female, self-made millionaire TV personality, and doesn't look like someone who'd be involved in crimes.

The guy in the pic on this post is wearing a warm-up suit and is gambling.

You're saying he doesn't look like a stereotypical hoodlum of any race or ethnicity?

Italians have been derided for decades with an unending flood of Mafia films and TV shows like the Sopranos.

How many times have you posted on websites that have tarnished Italians with Mafia stereotypes, decrying them as offensive and disgusting?

Anonymous said...

And, I forgot to mention.

WHO ARE THE PEOPLE in the TV networks and movie studios who have written and produced these scripts that denigrate Italians?

I repeat, WHO ARE THE PEOPLE?????

Anonymous said...

If the post defamed Italians it would be equally offensive. It has nothing to do with Italians.

The story is not about playing cards. In case you haven't caught the world poker tour on TV, you might be interested to know that it is not illegal. Even old ladies play cards. Your description of the man in the photo as looking like a "hoodlum" shows that you are a total bigot yourself.

In the post, Tom takes a photograph of a man who appears to be simply concentrating on game of cards and uses him for a story about activity that has nothing to do with him. It implies that he is involved in wrongdoing for no reason other than the fact that he appears to be a Russian immigrant (which in NYC usually means being Jewish).

It is just like using a photo of Oprah to imply that because she is black she is involved in criminal activity with no indication that she is involved in any such activity.

It is no less offensive to use a picture of a random Russian immigrant in such a manner than it is to use a picture of a random black in such a manner.

This is out and out bigotry and Tom should apologize.

Anonymous said...

12:53 you have just outed yourself as an anti-Semite and proved my point.

Anonymous said...

1:00 am-

People like you are the reason everyone has to walk on eggshells around each other nowadays. I don't know if you actually are a Russian immigrant- if you are, it's understandable that the words "freedom of speech & press" don't mean much to you yet.

Freedom of speech means people say whatever the hell they want without answering to anyone. You may not like it, but they have a right to say it.

I'm a woman of color, and if I heard a fat white frat guy degrading women and minorities, hell, yeah, I'd be pissed off and give him a piece of my mind. But would I insist on a public apology or report him to the PC police? Hell, no.

I can just imagine the kind of world people like you want for Americans- Orwell's 1984, where people don't use real words anymore, but government-sanctioned phrases. Sadly, we're almost there already.

Anonymous said...

I still do not get how someone could stretch one pic to include anti-Semitism!

This is New York, for Christ's sake, everyone here is Jewish anyway! Probably Tom as well.

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