Wednesday, June 10, 2009

SkaTTTen Strikes Again

"Tom,

Remember the article you had about SkaTTTen? Well, Kelly is staffing a project at Skadden, and not only is the pay rate the "new reality" (33/hr) but the work has been irregular. I am on the project and was told on Monday not to come in on Tuesday. Then on Tuesday night, I was told not to come in Wednesday. And finally, tonight/Wednesday night, I was told not come in on Thursday. Each of the last two nights we had to wait to find out whether or not come in the following day.

This is especially frustrating not only because we don't get paid (obviously) for our days off, but because we have also had to work weekends at times. We may still have to work weekends in the future. I know that this is a temp job, but I've never been on one where it was so on-and-off. I think if there were more opptys out there many of us would leave...."

279 comments:

1 – 200 of 279   Newer›   Newest»
Anonymous said...

De Novo says the days of 35 an hour are a thing of the past. Welcome to the new reality.

Anonymous said...

They are jerking you off at your expense.

Recruiter said...

Kelly is a fine agency. One summer as an undergrad I even moonlighted for two weeks as a Kelly girl. I am a little disappointed in my sister agency, however. Cleary, they are not doing enough screening to weed out the bad apples with the negative attitudes. All of my job candidates are more than eager to provide flexibility for my clients in these difficult economic times.

Anonymous said...

They aren't jerking us off, they are just utterly disorganized. What a complete and utter disaster. If you haven't noticed, the permanent staff doesn't exactly get along well together.

Anonymous said...

Why should the doc reviewer set aside his time and not get paid for it? You are chained to the phone waiting to pounce on their command becaused they are unorganized and too fucking stupid to load documents. If you have to lose money because of their conduct, they are "jerking you off at your expense."

Even a taxi driver lets the meter run while he waits.

Anonymous said...

In case you didn't already know, an attorney can only bill for hours WORKED, not hours waiting. If you don't like the rules, take it up with the ABA. Not Skadden, not an agency. Or you could always try to get a medallion.

Anonymous said...

get your "rules" out of here 1201. we are entitled to every minute we are waiting for work, or thinking about waiting for work. We also are entitled to reimbursement of meals we eat while we are waiting. It is owed to us because we went to law school!

Anonymous said...

Oh, shut up. No one is complaining because they want to get paid while they're not working. They're complaining because they WANT to work and aren't being given the opportunity. Yes it's temp work and people have to be somewhat flexible, but this is also people's livelihoods. Jerking them around by telling them not to come in and thus not being able to earn money affects people's ability to pay rent and put food on the table.

Anonymous said...

Read again, Sir:


"Why should the doc reviewer set aside his time and not get paid for it? "

Methinks that means said "attorney" wants to get paid for sitting on his fat ass.

Anonymous said...

This is veeeeery easy. When the agency starts BS'ing around, dragging their ass, just leave and find another! Think of it like dating a girl that won't put out....what do you do? Stick around and wait? Hell no! Go and find one that will give up the goods...in this case the MONEY!

Anonymous said...

Really? So which firm's client do you think will pay for you to sit home and jerk off while you wait for the phone to ring for that temp job (that probably won't come)?? Who should get that itemized bill?

highschoolteacher said...

That recruiter is an asshole! Do you blame her?

Anonymous said...

Wow, kelly is getting skadden gigs now? Did clutch finally piss off enough people to lose skadden as a client? they have always been notorious for this stop/start/delay shit at skadden. rumor has it the firm is really on the decline anyway. the biglaw business model is not long for this earth.

Anonymous said...

Anyone see this turd from JurisStaff? i got it via posse list. $26 an hour is a new low for NYC of late.
____________________________

JuriStaff is currently working on a due diligence project in mid-town Manhattan to start the first week of July. This project involves reviewing contracts and identifying key terms. Contract review experience highly preferred. Attorneys, paralegals or contract administrators are welcome to apply. Must have 1+ years of experience.
* duration is 6-8 weeks
* limited to a 40 hour work week
* $26/hour

If you are interested in the project, please send your resume to Leigh Novack at Lnovack@juristaff.com and please reference #LNKrevNYPO
*Due to the lower hourly rate, I understand if you are not available for this particular project. If so, feel free to pass this along to others who might be interested.
Thanks,
Leigh

Anonymous said...

well- I can not say I am surprised. The situation will only become worse because contract attorneys do not act like consultants, and they are willing to accept so much b.s.

Anonymous said...

Some of you seem to be missing to point. The Skadden temps began a project and were sold a bill of goods. The project started and is delayed endlessly. If they jump ship they are blacklisted by Kelly. They are losing potential gigs at other agencies. They are not sitting home waiting for a fresh call.

They received a call and began a project. They shouldn't be on a pogo stick waiting for the fuckheads at Skadden to figure out what to do. Its not about being paid to wait and do nothing. The are unable to do anything waiting for the firm's whim to restart the project.

Being told to stay home in the middle of a project and not receive any compensation equals Jerkoff. Under some theories here, you should sit home endlessly until you get called back. Why should the temp lose money because they can't put the project together as promised?

Anonymous said...

Who's running the docreviews over at Skad now that they fired all the staffers? Are some still there?

Anonymous said...

Ver is Big Mamma... has she died of no mo temp grub..... man she must have been teamless for years

Anonymous said...

Hey Recruiter,

There's still no Neiman Marcus store in NYC.

Anonymous said...

just out of curiosity--how many of you guys are from BigLaw.

Most of the BigLaw associates I know have either found jobs in TinyLaw or are just coasting on severance.

I applied with a temp agency but I'm the only one I know of.

laidoffdiary.wordpress.com

Anonymous said...

124

Thanks for posting, but several posters are deliberately pretending not to understand the point. One of the sad parts of life is that some people like kicking others while they are down. In this case, pretending not to understand the situation allows them to once again say "you are losers." That's their whole point.

Anonymous said...

2:44, you are right.

Anonymous said...

Recruiter girl needs a dick in her mouth.

Recruiter said...

Silly me! I meant Bergdorf Goodman. I always confuse the names of the two.

At my agency, we take candidate screening to another level. Our candidates are classy enough that they would never compare themselves to cab drivers and garbage men. They certainly would also never smear their elite employer on a trashy blog.

Anonymous said...

Poster forgot to mention that the same thing happened 2-3 weeks ago. Half the group was called in to start on Monday and kept getting jerked around until the weekend. I don't think the agency can help it. It's either the law firm partner, or the client who is being an inflexible prick. I mean temps should be somewhat flexible, it's the nature of the work, but this is just downright rude and ridiculous.

Anonymous said...

2 weeks of being jerked off !! Thats worse than the original post.

Anonymous said...

Instead of complaining about lousy jobs/declining rates, why not look for a permanent job. Try a different field if you have to. So many doc reviewers have such a sense of entitlement, are incredibly lazy, and are envious of successful people. I think that explains why you view yourselves to be at the mercy of the temp agencies and their crappy projects.

Here's a clue people: You get what you settle for in life.

Anonymous said...

Skadden is a TTT firm on the decline. They have no work and what little they do have can be drastically low balled. Another agency should come in and bid $22 an hour.

Anonymous said...

You meant Bergdorf Goodman--uh huh, sure you did. Such an obvios flame. Please stop now.

Anonymous said...

I don't think many recruiters shop at Bergdoff Goodman. The ones I have seen wear polyester and two different color socks.

Anonymous said...

I notice the dc rants have faded, what happened ? Was that old coot at the museum a doc review temp?

Anonymous said...

10:09

Agreed.

Since temp and Biglaw suck at the moment, now is the time to settle for an entry level salary position where you can gain substanative experience.

The temp stuff is a lot of smoke and mirrors at the moment. High pay rates on projects that are only 1 week, off and on projects, and projects with terrible work conditions.

Do what the layoffees from Biglaw are doing and find a job in a smaller firm or solo. If you're good you'll get a raise or you can lateral in a year.

Don't let anyone fool you, temping sucks at the moment. It's connected to biglaw and biglaw is a complete mess at the moment.

Anonymous said...

Last summer Diamond Personnel dicked me around. They did the same thing, called on Friday and said project will start Monday. Called Sunday and said project will start Tuesday. Called Tuesday and said Wednesday, and on Wednesday said Thursday.

I lost two other great projects.

When I finally confronted them, they said it wasn't their problem.

We know the scum they are.

I agree that people should be paid some sort of fee for being on standby. At least half of the pay.

I should have accepted each project. Showed up on each, calling in sick on others that day, and then stayed with the one that did pan out.

That's the way it is in this game. Hopefully most of us are in it for the short-term - otherwise these people will sap you.

Anonymous said...

"I don't think many recruiters shop at Bergdoff Goodman. The ones I have seen wear polyester and two different color socks."

Ha, ha, ha, ha--that is classic!!

Recruiter is right. I did see her at Bergdorf - I remember tipping her $1 in the bathroom.

I bet she is really ugly ho in real life. We admit we are currently down and out - what the hell is someone who "shops at Bergdorf" and is a "successful" recruiter doing with losers like us.

She must be a loser too.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I was dicked around like 10:57by another agency recently. I finally wrote in to the lawyer at the firm and asked whether it was a genuine project and if I should wait or if the agency was just fucking with me.

I explained the loss of other projects and how bad the market was - and that I had a family to support.

The lawyer atually replied, apologized and said the project was very uncertain, and they were not sure when it would start - maybe in the next few weeks - and they had made that clear to the agency.

Anonymous said...

Agree with you 10:57.

On Monday, the crazy lady at Skadden came into our room and informed us that we would be working until the 28th. A mere two hours later, she told us to go home. Ever since then, they have been playing this come in tomorrow NOT game of cat and mouse. Anyone who demonstrates the least bit of loyalty and does the professional thing by trying to finish out a project gets screwed. The only people who are going to be getting a paycheck this week from the Kelly project are those who were smart enough to jump ship last week.

Anonymous said...

10:09 is right. If this weak doc review market doesn't motivate you to do something else with your life, I don't know what will.

Anonymous said...

haha..this recruiter is delusional to think she shops at Goodmans..i heard she's ghetto & built like a Mac truck!! Strawberry/Payhalf watch out!! A sanitation worker has more class than this chick..wishful abortion!

wisdomseeker said...

Does anybody know what happened to JDunderground, it says the link is broken?

Anonymous said...

What happened to JDUnderground:

http://www.jdrefuge.ipbfree.com/

Anonymous said...

I was on a project at a major firm in February. It was being run by an anemic little Asian chick, who just graduated from college, and was always checking herself out in the bathroom.

The first week I helped this stupid bitch because she did not know anything.

Then she asked me if I could come in next week. I said yes -- if she was sure that it would go on. She said, yes, yes, it most definitely will. A few hours later Update called and wanted me for a project. I declined and told them I had committed to someone else.

An hour later that Asian chick walked back and said the project had ended, we had only been there three hours - and I had hauled my ass in on a snowy day and turned down another project.

I wanted to strangle the bitch. I had asked her so many times. I called Update but they had found someone else.

I remained professional but I did let her know that I gave up another project - and I felt that before they asked us to commit for more time they should have been sure of their project. I guess my anger showed.

I do not know what this 21 year old unaccomplished cunt said to the agency - next thing I know I never heard from them again despite having previously billed 6 months of excellent work.

Maybe it's the economy or maybe she said something. I never heard from the agency again.

I have done so much in life - and been a good person and studied hard - and just find myself in this temp world due to the economy -- and now I have baby cunts lording it over me and fucking my chance to feed my family?? It's time to swallow a few pills...

Anonymous said...

Not sure what happened to JD Underground, but maybe the person who had set up the website could no longer pay for its hosting.

I had a website hosted by Yahoo, and when they contiuned to jack up their rates, I cancelled it. I acnnot afford it these days.

After cancelling I get the same page that JD Underground gets - basically that Internet Explorer cannot find the page.

Anonymous said...

Thanks. I couldn't find it.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know what happens when your 26 weeks of Unemployment run out?

Do you have to wait a long time to get the next 13 weeks?

Anonymous said...

11:25... don't let the bastards get you down.

Friend said...

It is a sad thing to me, but of course the "reason" is that they have the power and it is a buyer's market with this many people out of work. If enough capable people have no choice and will take minimum wage, that will be the pay scale.

I think there are companies that treat their regular employees well, but this would not be in the nature of the temp business. Not all. About a week ago, a lawyer I know who had a full time in-house job was pulled out of a meeting, brought to a room with his boss (who had come in from Europe) and HR, and told to be gone in one hour. That's today's reality in the full time market.

Anonymous said...

Kelly is like a fat ugly girlfriend that you can't get rid of. Instead of waiting around for her ugly ass to come back while she is out screwing around with other guys, you should have just dumped her ugly ass on Monday and moved on. Sure, you might have to risk being single for awhile, but you will be way better off in the long run.

Anonymous said...

Jdunderground was hacked into by someone that wants to silence us.

Probably an LPO. They hack into your account and cancel it.

Its cencorship. Bye bye free speech.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

The legal profession purports to uphold the American ideals of democracy and free speech.

Anonymous said...

12:19

You're not treated well in the temp industry becaue you have not substanative skills. It's way easier to find someone who will click docs than someone who will competently make apperances. Similarly, it's easier to find someone who will make run of the mill apperances than it is to find someone who has an in-depth understanding of the field.

As you move along the scale, you become much more difficult to replace and much more valuable.

Recruiter said...

"Yes, I was dicked around like 10:57by another agency recently. I finally wrote in to the lawyer at the firm and asked whether it was a genuine project and if I should wait or if the agency was just fucking with me."

My goodness! Communicating with a client behind the agency's back is very unbecoming of a professional. If one of my job candidates did that they would definitely find themselves on the inactive non-preferred candidate list.

Anonymous said...

Recruiter - not at all, it's greatly encouraged to have an open line of communication with "elite" law firm clients w/o the agency's knowledge..most agency's know diddly squat anyways and are meager inept sales girls..furthermore, most of these "elite" law firms loathe the agencies, ive heard many times the clients mocking these ghetto, incompetent middlemen-the agencies, alas you are at a loss again..hey did you hear Update folded? guess what youre next!!

Anonymous said...

this "recruiter" voice is gay.
gay gay gay gay g.d. Gay

And you dumbass are responding to it. Gay gay gay.
do you talk to the touchtone prompts at the gay gay gay.

Anonymous said...

The funny thing is that most partners I interview with hire me immediately. But I don't have that success with recruiters or paralegal managers. I don't know why that is.

Maybe I give off a vibe that only certain people can relate to.

I temp because I do human rights work -- not because I am total loser.

The partners have often encouraged me to leave out the recruiter if they want me to come back to meet other people or discuss other things. In the end we have to go through them, but they prefer to negotiate several things without them. They have often shown great exasperation at agencies - and one even laughed at their small-talk.

Unlike the low-level sales girls, these people appreciate straighforwardness.

Anonymous said...

Relly?

I thought that you were contractual bound to use the agency if they've introduced you to the client for 6 months or so.

I find it hard to beleive that they would cut the agency out of the loop.

Anonymous said...

Let the hate flow freely, it shall devour us all.

Recruiter said...

Contacting the client directly is tantamount to insubordination. The candidate's contractual relationship flows directly through the agency. Clearly, I would never place someone on a project that has demonstrated such stubborness and poor character.

Anonymous said...

Recruiter - it's so sad but you are wrong again..first day on the job?? its all good..no sir, oh no sir, we deal with clients directly all the time, in fact we enjoy happy hour with them as well as frequent romps in the hay!!!

Anonymous said...

I'm not so sure those of us that were on this assignment haven't just been replaced by new contract attorneys. Thats what happened to most of the attorney who started over 2 weeks ago and only worked one day

Anonymous said...

a friend of mine worked on this project for one day, was then put on "hold", meanwhile a new group of attorneys was hired (including myself). But I dont buy the it take 2+ days to load docs onto documatrix there is no work. I think they got some cheaper reviewers in

Anonymous said...

The West has fallen.

Anonymous said...

Who are all these people on this site constantly putting down temps??

People temp for a variety of reasons -- not just because they are stupid, inept and unprofessional.

I am 42, mother of two. I worked for a very long-time and finally needed flexibility and wanted to spend more time with my kids -- and pursue my interests in art and set up my own business.

I lived a rich and varied life, I worked hard, got great jobs at law firms - and not I want to do my own thing.

I temp because I WANT to - not because I HAVE to.

And I have met many people who do the same. Who are smart, hard-working people who want to do some good in the world, but do not want to get caught up in the coporate machine. I laud them - because I was becoming a nasty cunt when I was working those crazy hours. I hated myself. I hated people. The stress was killing me and I had started drinking a lot. BigLaw can be a nasty mean world - and I just didn't want to be a mean cunt anymore - esp. when I had my kids.

I met temps doing human rights work or just temporarily out of a job or artists and writers. True, there were some slacker nut jobs, but most kids were good, decent people with motivation. Some were depressed simply because they were treated like shit. I would be too.

I follow this site to get an idea of the market.

Temping can also be great way to see various companies up close and decide which one you like and would fit your lifestyle.

I cannot believe people are so myopic as to think that temping is just for people who can't get jobs. I don't know what one-dimensional world these people live in -- but most people go through vasrious stages in their lives and careers.

Anonymous said...

Stop with the conspiracy theories. You haven't been replaced, they just don't give a shit. The first pass deadline was earlier this week. They may or may not have more docs in the pipeline. Even if they do, it's not a top priority for them to get them in. They will get around to it when they can. They may be rude in the way they are conducting themselves, but in this economy it is no skin off their backs. If you haven't noticed, their document review center is practically empty. They aren't exactly hurting for space for the next incoming project. There is simply no rush.

The fact of the matter is that you morons should have seen the writing on the wall. They were very blunt in telling us that the deadline would be at the beginning of this week. Instead of bitching about the lack of overtime, I tried my best to line up something for this week. In this economy we don't have the luxury to sit around and get too comfortable and engage in wishful thinking.

Anonymous said...

Stockholm syndrome

Anonymous said...

Is jdunderground shut down for good? anyone have any info?

skinny phoenix girl said...

here is the JDU replacement:

http://jdrefuge.ipbfree.com

Anonymous said...

Who is the staff attorney they fired at S&C???

Anonymous said...

Was it Alex? Oh I pray yes yes yes I pray that they finally got his crooked ass

Anonymous said...

It is widely accepted that Colin Powell’s ascent up the ladder of success was very much a matter of ability. But luck—or something—also played a role. Powell’s commanding officer at Fort Carson, Maj. Gen. John Hudachek, wrote a very critical evaluation of Powell, claiming he was a poor leader, which would have been a dead end for most military officers. However, salvation appeared in the form of Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, who arrived just in time. Powell was reassigned to Washington, and, as the story line goes, the rest is history. In less than a decade, he had gone from colonel to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

One is tempted to think that this began Colin Powell’s obsession with "affirmative action:" reliance on “merit” resulted in Hudachek’s nearly denying him his destiny. So he would find the other Colin Powells who must be hiding in the shadows.

I found that, omnipresent in the interviews I was supposed to be conducting with potential FSO candidates—which were only of 30 minute duration, and totally scripted—was an emphasis on making sure that all minority candidate, male and female, were fully considered for all their attributes.

It would be naïve to believe that these candidates did not already know this. Furthermore, the Secretary was watching: the morning after the examination day in Washington, a former chargé (one who is in charge of an embassy when there is no ambassador) would come around to tabulate not only the number of candidates who had passed the oral examination, but also the percentage of minority winners. That, it appeared, was his only task!

Two interviews are indelibly etched in my mind: both took place in Chicago, and two involved black candidates, male and female.

The young man showed up in Levi dungarees and a polo shirt. I refused to interview him. My reason: if he didn’t have the respect for the position to dress appropriately for an interview, then he was unsuited for the job. The caterwauling about my callousness was deafening. Why, his luggage might have been lost, I was told. (I later found out that the candidate lived in Chicago.) I have no idea if the young man passed or failed, but I had nothing to do with it.

When a candidate, white or black (I recall very few Hispanics), did not pass, an examiner was required to explain why. One young black woman, a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School was considered deficient; it was my job to tell her.

It was apparent to me that this woman, with her law degree, was not pleased: her looks could kill. After going over the results, I asked if she wanted to comment. I will never forget her staring at me with not the friendliest of faces and informing me: "I want you to know that I’ve never failed anything in my life."

Anonymous said...

Neither, I suspect, did Sonia Sotomayor!

I was not asked to stay on. But I was not unhappy about the severing of ties. The Secretary’s ukase had been proclaimed, and I had followed neither the spirit nor the letter of its intent.

Colin Powell left after the first Bush administration, supposedly for indiscreet remarks about US involvement in Iraq to a BBC commentator. He should have known better, but perhaps he felt that he was irreplaceable…except, of course, that he was not.

I have no regrets that fourteen years ago, I refused to support a man whose views on the role of government, the abortion license and affirmative action do not coincide with the principles of conservatism, or, for that matter, the US Constitution.

People may question if there is life after death. But certainly there is life after leaving government service. Colin Powell succeeded in ways unheard of by any former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, or Secretary of State. After all, how many have had a street (in Germany) named after him? Or been given a family coat of arms by Britain? (Powell’s father was a British subject.) Or been given the Horatio Alger Distinguished American award? Or the Presidential Medal of Freedom?

All of that is true…but changes nothing.

Powell’s role in corrupting the Constitution by pushing "affirmative action" to favor one racial group at the expense of another proves that my judgment about not supporting him for President was right.

One final personal anecdote: in all my years as a Foreign Service Officer, I never met one colleague—in any overseas or domestic assignment—who admitted that he or she was a product of "affirmative action" hiring.

Perhaps they knew—or sensed—more about the meaning of "equal protection under the law" than did Colin Powell.

Anonymous said...

Wipro's executive chairman Azim Premji has warned that a proposal to restrict hiring holders of H-1B visas for skilled workers will
choke America of talent coming in and could generate a trade war with countries such as India.

"In my opinion it's a very drastic initiative," he said in an interview with BusinessWeek, referring to a bill in the US Senate basically preventing firms from hiring H-1Bs in the US or bringing in holders of L1 visas for semi-skilled workers.

"It will choke the United States of talent coming in. You will not be able to substitute the absence of this talent with local hires because it's not easily available," Premji said.

"Also, you'll generate a trade war with countries such as India," he said, calling it as a freedom-of-trade issue. "It's precisely what President (Barack) Obama said in the G20 meeting: The United States will not get into a spate of protectionism."

Premji suggested the US must realize that today 60 to 70% of the growth of the revenues of large American companies comes from India and China.

"These are the growth markets. It's a simple thing for our government to raise tariffs. It's a simple thing for our government to say no American corporation will get central or state government contracts, or defence contracts," he warned.

Noting that the software and BPO industries for India represent 24% of its exports, Premji said: "These are critical industries for emerging countries... There's no way our government can take it lightly."

Asked what would happen if the bill passes, the Wipro chief said Obama "is too sensible to pass it. He's too mature".

Describing global trade in IT as vital "because the economies of all countries are getting more and more the dominance of services, versus manufacturing and agriculture", Premji said: "To risk a cycle of protectionism, it's not worth it."

"What's the total of visas issued in a year? 20,000 to India. What will you achieve? The 20,000 will come down to 12,000. You'll create 8,000 more jobs, theoretically, with the rules. "What's that compared to 9% unemployment on a total labour force of 100 million?" he asked, calling it "a very short term approach".

Asked why IBM and Accenture were employing so many people in India, Premji said: "They like the low labour rates... the quality of the people, the willingness to work hard. They're not getting the people they need in the United States. That's the bottom line."

Anonymous said...

Alex Gayllard is so greasy, nothing sticks to him. I hope he was discharged. It would be the just thing to do.

Anonymous said...

I don't think it was Gaylard. It was someone else - I think it was the guy that hit on Jenny Fatbuns - and Gary was pissed!!

Anonymous said...

Gayllard was not discharged. But he certainly is a discharge of the anal kind. The nastiest, most yellowbrown, smelliest kind you can imagine.

Anonymous said...

Who cares about a "trade war" with India. Without Uncle Sam they have nothing.

One quarter of their so called exports are jobs stolen from Americans and services sent back, performed at pennies on the dollar. They offer nothing but a race to to the gutter.

So much for this so called Asian Tiger. Give me a break!

Let's see what happens when we cut off tax breaks and reduce H1Bs. Of course the only impact will be that Americans get joibs that stolen by ridiculous labor laws. Its just about paying less money to a foreigner than an American. How disgusting.

Anonymous said...

I just got another email from Kelly about them getting back to us about tomorrow later tonight. I have come to the conclusion that this is all just a huge joke.

Anonymous said...

H-1Bs are nothing but modern slavery - bonded labor.
My friend was on one and despite laws she was paid less than others.
It was terrible. Plus she could only suck that employer's dick. She had to go through the immigration process all over again if she wanted another employer.
She told me she came from France because she had heard such wonderful things about the US but really she was in a modern sweatshop -- just with better marketing.
She said she should have just gone straight to Honduras on a bananna boat.

Recruiter said...

Our agency never employs people through the use H-1B visas. If however, our elite law firm clients request the use of cheap foreign labor we happily refer them to our sister satellite office in hyderabad.

Anonymous said...

If H1Bs are so terrible, let's just cancel the entire program, except for those that fill an area of need. We don't cheap labor undercutting Americans and allowing American tech companies to collude by agreeing not to steal talent from one another.

No bidding wars, just cheap foreigners.

Anonymous said...

Recruiter - Shame on you!

"Cheap foreign labor" should read, "Cost-conscious overseas rightsourcing solutions".

Anonymous said...

Does Big Mama still work (haha) at S&C? What about Clovester and Markie Mark? Is Gaylard still mowing Butta Face? I miss 38!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Mesa jar jar binks...oh yes master...chron the docs..de-dupe the docs..lick your ass..oh yes'sum...click..click..click...end of days nears..

Anonymous said...

I miss getting paid mega dough to do next to nothing but bullshit with tards, and listen to my music. I need an assignment. I will even get the fat big ugly mean MAMMA food from the cafeteria. Big Mamma, take me back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I didn't mean to forget your brownie that last night. FORGIVE ME. It will never happen again. I will feed your enormous elephant tank of an ass, anything...... just hook me up as you used to do.

Anonymous said...

S&C is the LOVE SHACK. It's the place where we can get together with the likes of 45 Yr Old Virgin, The King of the Hill - the one and only, Mr GayLLARD, Big Mamma, Mega Boobs - Melvina, Markie Mark, Mark WannaWhatTheFuck, Fat Faced Fat bodied Tracy Whoredan, Albanian wannaBE associate - but so is NOT, oh, man, I can go on all night - the LOVE SHACK :-D

Anonymous said...

you temps who write all these mean things about Sullivan Analyst are loser assholes. Get a life!

Anonymous said...

Lying in bed, the clock ticks, I think of you...



Client's cry "oh, why? is my bill so high?"
Well let me, clarify:
If you come to my office or call my phone, I'm billing time.
If you stop me at parties to whine and moan, I'm billing time.
If I think of you when I am all alone, I'm billing time.
If you're late for appointments, I will be way-ting... and billing time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TkuZ5oI9uY


I miss the old McCarter project where we were all "on call." We had to be "on the floor" and prepared for docs to roll in, but that almost never happened. And we got paid for being on call. O the memories.

Anonymous said...

The Sullivan pukes deserve rotten comments. They brought it on themselves. No one is making this shit up. Unfortunately, its real.

Anonymous said...

Having lost the Congress in 2006 and the White House in 2008, Republicans are looking to redefine themselves for a nation that still leans conservative but is less Republican that it has been in decades.
The nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court presents just such an opportunity. For, even if the party loses the battle and Sotomayor sits on the court, it can win the war, as Ronald Reagan won the Panama Canal debate, even as Senate Republicans committed collective suicide by voting to give away the canal.
What are the grounds for rejecting Sonia Sotomayor?
No one has brought forth the slightest evidence she has the intellectual candlepower to sit on the Roberts court. By her own admission, Sotomayor is an "affirmative action baby."
Though the Obama media have been ballyhooing her brilliance—No. 1 in high school, No. 1 at Princeton, editor of Yale Law Review—her academic career appears to have been a fraud from beginning to end, a testament to Ivy League corruption.
Two weeks ago, The New York Times reported that, to get up to speed on her English skills at Princeton, Sotomayor was advised to read children's classics and study basic grammar books during her summers. How do you graduate first in your class at Princeton if your summer reading consists of "Chicken Little" and "The Troll Under the Bridge"?
In video clips dating back 25 years, and now provided to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sotomayor, according to the Times, even calls herself an "affirmative action product."
"The clips include lengthy remarks about her experiences as an 'affirmative action baby,' whose lower test scores were overlooked by admissions committees at Princeton University and Yale Law School because, she said, she is Hispanic and had grown up in poor circumstance."
"If we had gone through the traditional numbers route of those institutions," says Sotomayor, "it would have been highly questionable if I would have been accepted. ... My test scores were not comparable to that of my classmates." [Videos Shed New Light on Sotomayor’s Positions, By Charlie Savage, June 10, 2009]
Thus, Sotomayor got into Princeton, got her No. 1 ranking, was whisked into Yale Law School and made editor of the Yale Law Review—all because she was a Hispanic woman. And those two Ivy League institutions cheated more deserving students of what they had worked a lifetime to achieve, for reasons of race, gender or ethnicity.
This is bigotry pure and simple. To salve their consciences for past societal sins, the Ivy League is deep into discrimination again, this time with white males as victims rather than as beneficiaries.
One prefers the old bigotry. At least it was honest, and not, as Abraham Lincoln observed, adulterated with "the base alloy of hypocrisy."

Anonymous said...

As the Times reports, on the tapes, Sotomayor rejects "the proposition that minorities must become advocates of 'selection by merit alone.' She said diversity improved the legal system."

"'Since I have difficultly defining merit and what merit alone means, and ... whether it's judicial or otherwise, I accept that different experiences, in and of itself, bring merit to the system,' she said, adding, 'I think it brings to the system more of a sense of fairness when these litigants see people like myself on the bench."

What does the latest Times revelation tell us?

That were it not for Ivy League dishonesty, Sotomayor would not have gotten into Princeton, would never have been ranked first in her class, would not have gotten into Yale Law, nor been named editor of Yale Law Review, and thus would not be a U.S. appellate court judge today or a nominee to the Supreme Court.

Indeed, the White House itself leaked that the final four court candidates were all women and Sotomayor was picked because she was a Latina. One wonders how many superior students and judges have been passed over to advance Sonia Sotomayor's career?

From college days to court days, that career reflects, in word and deed, a determination to use any power she achieves to create a society where the demands of diversity triumph over the ideal of equal justice under law. For Sotomayor, the advancement of people of color over white males is justice.

Republican senators should use this Sotomayor nomination to put affirmative action in the dock for what it is—race-based bigotry against white males so that persons of color can receive the rewards of society that they could not win in free and fair competition.

Lay out the Sotomayor record—SAT scores, LSAT scores, bar exam score, law review articles and her opinions—so that we can see up close what those who eviscerated Robert Bork regard as academic and judicial excellence.

No need for name-calling.

Just lay out the lady's opinions and record, so that, if she is elevated, Americans can say: Barack Obama voted against Chief Justice Roberts because Roberts could not measure up to Sonia Sotomayor, his ideal of what a justice ought to be.

Anonymous said...

"Contacting the client directly is tantamount to insubordination. The candidate's contractual relationship flows directly through the agency. Clearly, I would never place someone on a project that has demonstrated such stubborness and poor character."

The temp attorney communicated with the client daily. The work is controlled by the law firm. Would a retard recruiter be the person to report an ethical violation or a problem to? Noooooooooooo. The duty is to the client - it transcends the agency/slave relationship.

Anonymous said...

Whisky Tango Foxtrot?

"WEED OUT THE BAD APPLES WITH THE NEGATIVE ATTITUDES"?

God help America. I'm glad I left the country before it sunk into the Soviet-style bureaucratic cesspool that "Recruiter" self-parodyingly represents.

Anonymous said...

The posts on this are so long and boring.

Please tomtemp, edit this gar-baj.

0% of temps are quality people who just want to do it.
You want to be a human rights lawyer...so why are you temping at a big firm.
Just further proof how retarded these temps are.

Ending Indian visas and outsourcing is ONLY a plus.

Or else the U.S. will be like Britain with those stupid accent smelly people all around.

Anonymous said...

tomthetemp, to prevent cut and pastes and intellectual masturb'n suggest you limit words in comment box.

Anonymous said...

you guys all sound like entitled losers. you have to work hard to make money, and making $30/hr is more money than the vast majority of people make

Anonymous said...

Mesa jar jar binks...yes'sum i chron the docs, de-dupe the docs, eat your hole...click..click...click...Life is temporary, enjoy the ride while you can..Suckers!!! I heard the Recruiter passed away last night right before staffing a huge project..sadness..

Anonymous said...

These comments really need to be moderated.

There are oftentimes some interesting tidbits on here, but it is frustrating trying to locate them through the thicket of all the long winded political drivel and Big Mama rants.

Anonymous said...

We all need some humor in these dreary times - leave the Big Mama rants, I say, but please do something with the Sotomayor crap. If we want to read that we can go to many other sources.

Anonymous said...

How bad is is out there these days. I feel like a total loser. I got laid from a pretty big law firm four months ago and have found nothing yet. I am sick of sending out resumes -- if there is ever an opening!
Is is bad for everyone? I never used to have a problem before and now I am completely depressed.
I guess I'll be heading out of NYC pretty soon.

Anonymous said...

Personally, I like the big mama rants, long-winded political opinions, baseless rants about how terrible the legal profession is, and insults directed at teh S&C jailers.

Anonymous said...

For all my friends on this site I bring news of another project: by Hudson

Start date: ASAP

Location: ****Melville, Long Island****


Rate: Rate commensurate with experience

Duration: Ongoing assignment

Requirements: Attorneys licensed in any US jurisdiction. Prior bankruptcy experience is a must. Must live within commutable distance to Melville, Long Island.


If interested, please email your most current resume to LEGALJOBS@HUDSON.COM immediately.


In the Subject Line, please reference BANKRUPTCY REVIEW.

Anonymous said...

I agree with 11:50. I like to have a laugh or two -- but I do good work too. I post useful info and job tips like the one I just pasted above. -

Anonymous said...

i don't blame Kelly for this clusterfuck of an assignment. they don't get paid if their contract attorneys don't work, so they're getting screwed as well.

it is either the client or Skadden who is to blame for all of this. i've been on assignments before where there were no documents -- we were almost never sent home early, we stayed on until the docs were loaded (and sometimes that took several weeks). the firms and the agencies knew that if they pulled the kind of stunt that Skadden is pulling now, that the contract attorneys would walk & that they would have to get new people in and retrain them. of course, that was all before Lehman Bros. went belly-up. they (Skadden and/or the client) are clearly counting on people NOT walking off the project b/c of the shitty economy. it would be great if at least one attorney on this project just upped and left, but that may be asking too much (given the state of the economy as well as people's financial situations).

Anonymous said...

I went to Howard.
I am sick of all the workplace discrimination.

Recruiter said...

The customer is always right!

We as contract attorneys and legal placement professionals must always remember that expression. An elite firm like Skadden deserves are loyalty, respect, and upmost flexibility during these difficult economic times.

Melody Kramer said...

Just a humble suggestion amidst the negativity - we teach people how to treat us, in the work setting and everywhere else.

This is basic contract law that every attorney learns in law school. If you agree to do X in exchange for Y compensating you on agreed terms (I'm simplifying - bear with me), you have an enforceable contract. The other side can decide that they do not want you to do X anymore, but you are entitled to damages for breach of contract.

What is being described in this, and many related posts, is a situation where you, the temp attorney, commit to do X (you are locked into your side of the contract) while the agency can be wishy washy about whether they follow through on their commitment. Not a contract arrangement you would recommend to a client; why are you accepting it?

It is likely that the same dynamic is at play between the agency and law firm, but that is their problem to deal with.

Stop working for employers/agencies that do not meet your requirements of a respectful and sound business working relationship.

Anonymous said...

Recruiter - its a shame you know so little about your clients...Skadden ranks tops in dysfunction & corruption.."legal placement professionals" ha your delusion knows no bounds..the customer is never right..now get back behind the counter at Payhalf on Broad..Yips is just around the corner..mesa jar jar binks..end of days nears..

Anonymous said...

Interesting ... I guess that some firms realize that Dothead Patel and Currymuncher Gandhi aren't even worth the bowls of curry that they're being paid:

Fluent Punjabi and Hindi Attorney (New York, NY)
Reply to: job-w2eka-1217009328@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
Date: 2009-06-11, 5:38PM EDT


Midtown law firm seeks an admitted attorney for a temporary document review assigment. Attorney MUST be fluent in both Punjabi and Hindi. Assigment is for 2-3 weeks. Payrate is $50/hr flat (40 hours a week). Attorney must have document review experience (i.e. privilege experience).
There will be an English review following the foreign language review. The English review will run 2-8 weeks (participation in this review is not mandatory; the payrate for this review is $40/hr (40 hours a week)).

Attorneys must be available to interview at firm on Friday, June 12th and to start immediately thereafter.

Please send resume immediately.






* Location: New York, NY
* Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
* Please, no phone calls about this job!
* Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

Anonymous said...

Melody,

You must have never set foot in the oversaturated wild west rough and tumble market of NYC contract lawyering. The jobs are scarce, the blacklists are strictly enforced, and the bs that gets shoved down your throat on a daily basis is never ending. It begs the question as to why many of us are still living in this hellhole, but that is another issue.

NORA said...

Melody Kramer, New York State is a strict employment at will jurisdiction. Case dismissed. Sorry, sweetheart.

Melody Kramer said...

"At will" is the point I am trying to make. Don't continue in a job situation that is untenable. Slavery was abolished in this country a long time ago. Life is too short to be miserable.

Complaining may provide the psychological benefit of being able to vent, but doesn't provide any long-term benefit or change. I am recommending going past the complaining, and working to make a real change in the system.

Anonymous said...

When you get put into getting jerked around mode, it is not easy to just make a change. No other agency will place you on a project if they know you are currently staffed on another project. Also, when the "delay" commenced on Monday, it was made out to be some kind of short term thing. Most people won't risk jumping ship and risk being put on the Kelly blacklist for a one or two day delay. It is now Friday and now a whole week of being unable to work or hunt down other projects has come and gone. I feel like a fool for acting like a professional.

Anonymous said...

The haters on this blog will slam you either way. You are truly damned if you do and damned if you don't. If you jump ship, you are portrayed as being some kind of unprofessional loser who can't be counted upon. If you don't jump ship, you are painted as a moron.

Anonymous said...

Life sucks..end of days nears.

Recruiter said...

Tss... Tss..... Such a negative attitude. I would never place a job candidate who demonstrated such negativity.

You are on standby for one of the most prestigious firms in America. I am sure you can locate some temporary funds to get through this hiatus. Have you considered asking your parents for money, or taking a cash advance on a credit card. Just some suggestions.

Anonymous said...

Recruiter - oh no sir..oh no sir..no siree...haha cash advance on a credit card..inconceivable! so now you work for the cc companies...ugh..so treacherous..ha "prestigious" honey big business & firms in this country have never had any prestige..they're just out to get theirs and rape/pillage/plunder whoever is in their way...now peaches isnt your lunch break over at Payhalf on Broad..you only get 20 minutes now...Yips is just around the corner..mesa jar jar binks..

Anonymous said...

Thank god I wasn't selected for that Skadden project. There seemed to be a window about two to three weeks ago where there seemed to be more projects opening up. Apparently, that window has closed. I am glad I secured my current gig.

Anonymous said...

Skadden is a garbage can operation. I'm sure the agency isn't enjoying the lack of billing either. The firm is at fault. They jerked everyone off, and they know with the economy, they can do it.

Anonymous said...

It's not the firm. It's the client. Blame "Amy" has her "Foote" so far up your ass that you can't even pay your rent.

Better Coder said...

To Whom It May Concern:

I agree with Recruiter.

I upon graduating from law school, I was able to secure a contract attorney position at a prominent New York City law firm where I have been firmly planted for the past two years.

Of course, there were multiple cuts during that time frame. Since those cuts, I have been assured by the associates that I was NEVER even considered.

It's really very simple as to why.

I was, and still am, a better coder.

Very Truly Yours,
Better Coder
bettercoderthanyou.wordpress.com

Benny Lava said...

I am enjoying very much the lots of complaining from my American friends. Please be noting that all of this is being very closely watched by both Skadden and us Bangalore document reviewers. We are always saying that Americans are lazy and do not appreciate many good things such as beneficence of Skadden Arps. We are, of course, much better treated over in Bangalore -- when we are sent home early because of lack of documents, they give us extra bowl of curry and still pay for goat on which we ride back to our homes.

Anonymous said...

That sounds lovely Benny Lava..can you pls pass the tikka masala??? mesa jar jar binks

Benny Lava said...

It is most opportune that you ask about my tikka masala, mesa jar jar. I am most famous among Bangalore contract attorneys for my cooking abilities. I am thinking that my cooking is better than my English. Although I passed English test by agency with colors flying (I am not understanding why that test had so many questions about "slurpee" and "Big Gulp" however). I was told anyway that I was being considered most highly for job at Sullivan & Cromwell cafeteria -- at least until a visiting American attorney ate too much of my goat vindaloo and was on toilet for the rest of the p.m. I raise goat myself since i was a little Benny Lava, so I was most sad that I had to kill it and my efforts were not appreciated. But we know that you Americans are not appreciating good things in life like sweet tender goat meat or being paid in vindaloo.

Anonymous said...

Oh my!!! Mesa want some lamb biryani & mango lassi..pls master may i have some??? you will enjoy being a "chef" in the S&C cafe..the nut butter is free...free i tell you! & the best part is the columbo frozen yogurt...hmmm maybe they have a sweet goat flavor...ahhh stetson the essence of man..watch out its Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom!!

Better Coder said...

Benny Lava could, quite possibly, be a better coder than most of his American counterparts.

The only true exception is, of course, your truly.


Very Truly Yours,
Better Coder
bettercoderthanyou.wordpress.com

Benny Lava said...

I am thanking you for your kind words, Jar Jar. However, I am now thinking that when I come to America that I find Better Coder's employer and make such person offer he cannot refuse. That is, my offer to do Better Coder's job for the price of bowl of curry. My previous dream was to buy convenience store or bodega and sell my famous goat vindaloo and tikka masala. But I am not thinking that Americans are appreciating my cooking after my friendly American friend and her sad accident in our toilet.

Anonymous said...

oh no!!! i love coding & toilets & vindaloo..pls come here kind sir and open your bodega...i will wash your windows and dust off your stock of Peter Pan nut butter...temp life or bust!!! life is temporary! no job is safe!!! welcome to Government Motors!!

Better Coder said...

Benny Lava,

Unfortunately for you, my coding is worth the $125 I am billed out at. I will therefore never lose any project (I don't even know what that means, at this point) to the likes of you.

Very Truly Yours,
Better Coder (And most certainly better than any Poonjab Coder)

bettercoderthanyou.wordpress.com

Benny Lava said...

Oh Shri Better Coder, but I am thinking that you are most silly. I am thinking that but when your employer would consider my most gracious honour that he will be dancing as joyous as i am in my video-resume here ... http://www.thetubevideo.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/bennylava.jpg

He will have no choice but to do the needful and let you go, my berry good friend. But I am gracious too, I let you eat my goat vindaloo for free when you unemployed.

Also, please but remember that I am not "Poonjab" but I am speaking Kannada natively. You may get doc review job to translate Kannada into English, but you must pass very rigorous exam from the most prestigious Indian university. All I had to know was what "slurpee" and "Big Gulp" was and I was hired so haha.

Anonymous said...

I am, perhaps, the latest casualty of Sughrue. It is my belief and understanding [that]:

1.) almost weekly, several people are fired, attorneys and/or staff, which I believe [is] more related to internal issues than economic [ones];

2.) there is a hiring freeze in place;

3.) staff overtime has been slashed, and partners have agreed they will not receive an increase this year due to economic issues.

And I have observed frequent erratic emotional explosions [from] an unnamed senior partner, and that many people are walking on eggshells wondering who, or whether they, will be next to be given their walking papers.

Benny Lava said...

Oh, but I am most stupid today -- here is my video-resume with me and other attorney in Bangalore. We celebrate in this video our very generous and tasty curry ration.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA1NoOOoaNw

Recruiter said...

Joking about outsourcing is no laughing matter. Several of my elite law firm clients have inquired into the viability of 3rd world document review outsourcing, ever since the recent ABA ethics opinion. Our Hyderabad satellite office is just buzzing with activity and we have just broke ground on a Manila office.

Benny Lava said...

Hello, Ms. Recruiter: I must be saying that you are looking very much like the very pretty American attorney who ate of my goat vindaloo and had unfortunate accident in our Bangalore water-closet. All of us were quite impressed with her beauty, but we were changing minds after we saw dark brown stain on her dress after she left the loo.

Benny Lava said...

Also, all Indian contract attorneys from all over country and of all religions pray to but one God: the great and almighty Doc Revishnu. I am thinking, Recruiter, that you are most beneficial agent of Doc Revishnu and bring very much prosperity to all over India yes? Even if your dress was stained dark brown after rolling round in your own sick in our Bangalore water-closet.

Anonymous said...

No idiot, outsorucing american legal work IS a joke. You are more likely breaking wind than breaking ground anywhere, unless of course its in your parents backyard.

Anonymous said...

What's up with all the schticks?

Joanne G. said...

I am really sorry about the prolonged work delay. The appointment with my psychiatrist didn't go so well. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHAHAHAHA!

Recruiter said...

Look, I am really tired of all the vitriol that is being directed against Skadden.

You don't think times are tough for everyone? Net profits at Skadden are down a whopping 6% this year. One of my elite law firm partners only pulled in $1,900,000 in '08 after averaging $2,000,000 the year before. I think this is a travesty and I for one will be offering him all the flexibility he needs.

Anonymous said...

The funny part is, they don't even outsource native Indian langauge reviews to the LPO dumps. Really hilarious stuff...

Document Review - Hindi and Punjabi Language Fluency (New York, NY)

-----------------------------------
Reply to: job-wdyzc-1218891692@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
Date: 2009-06-12, 8:19PM EDT


Custom Legal Solutions is recruiting for an attorney that is fluent in both written and spoken Punjabi and Hindi languages for a document review project to start on Tuesday morning. Interviews will be conducted on Monday.

The project will involve review and translation of audio tapes and electronic document review and production. Ideally, applicants are admitted to practice in NYS and in good standing, or have passed their Bar Exam, and are pending admission. Applicants MUST be able to translate documents from Punjabi and Hindi into English.

Please submit resumes as Word documents ASAP to kroth@customlegalsolutions.com

Anonymous said...

Recruiter - pls stop posting you're a wretched cunt..which agency do you represent? they will be notified immediately...oops my bad youre unemployed..this just in..recruiting positions are being outsourced to India..haha the jokes on you...mesa jar jar binks...camel toe, dingleberry, turtle head..baking bread giving gravy..Skadden is a shit fun get wit the program you aint no fly hoe..so sad..dont you get tired of bowing down and sucking head?

Anonymous said...

This is Han Solo....we're sending a couple droids to silence Jar Jar Binks.

Great, thanks for getting rid of that idiot.

Anonymous said...

if anyone here thinks that recruiter is real, I am glad you are unemployed...

Anonymous said...

9:37, you make a good point.

Anonymous said...

Recruiter girl is entertaining.

beerguzzlingtemp said...

What the fuck ! How low can these rates go ! I predicted $25.00 an hour 6 months ago and everyone said I was wrong. It is headed there.

Anonymous said...

Unemployment generally lags behind the stock market by three months or so. So the rates will pick up when unemployent decreases.

Rumor is that they're already short of canidates for a particular foreign language.

Anonymous said...

Recruiter is Big mamma lookin' for a brownie

Anonymous said...

Recruiter is no recruiter. She (or maybe he) is a troll.

Anonymous said...

I heard Big Momma was let go from her last project - she gobbled down another white boy!

Anonymous said...

Well, I for one am happy to be here in the United States. It's the land of opportunity! Here we get paid over $40 to do Punjabi document review and translation. We get free coffee, meals and car service home! What a country!

In my home country of India, they pay us only $5 per hour and rarely provide free bowls of curry or goat milk. They do let take breaks to filter and drink our own urine, however.

I agree the LPOs should be shut down. These are very slipshod operations run by greedy slavemasters. I understand why they are now doing the Indian language work here in the good old USA.

Better Coder said...

Hey all,

Thought I'd let everybody know that I am working today. I will have 10 very glorious overtime hours in by the end of the day.

Also, Benny Lava, since it's safe to say that you are a better coder than most the coders that comment on this site, maybe we should collaborate. I am not adverse to changing my blog title to "We are better coders than you."

Drop me a note at
bettercoderthanyou@gmail.com

Very Truly Yours,
Better Coder
bettercoderthanyou.wordpress.com

Anonymous said...

These trolls (Benny Lava, recruiter and Better coder) are really dismal.

So boring and unimaginative. You must be trying to right some lame tv show like the office.

You're putting us to sleep.........zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Better Coder said...

Safe to say anon 8:59 is not working today. And very bitter, as a result.

Probably a Nigerian, too.

Very Truly Yours,
Better Coder
bettercoderthanyou.wordpress.com

Anonymous said...

10;39: I agree with YOU. "if anyone here thinks that recruiter is real, I am glad you are unemployed...

Ignore this bullshit. Let's get one with our own info or Big Mama sessions.

They are way better than these other schticks--at least they are real.

Anonymous said...

Vive la Big Mamma!!

Anonymous said...

The Nigerians should go back to Nigeria!

How did we end up with these people here doing temp work?

Send the Indians back, too!

Anonymous said...

Don't take this in the wrong way (as an insult), but the truth is, if you are reading or posting on this blog, you are most likely a redundant cipher, a person who has misinvested in a law degree and cannot compete adequately in this -- or possibly any -- economy.

The truth of the matter is that unless you graduated from a top, nationally-known "big name" school, and graduated high up in your class with a "cum laude", "summa cum laude" or "magna cum laude" next to your name, you will probably be either coding documents or meandering from one relatively low-paid, unfulfilling, doomed job to another for the foreseeable future and the better part of your "career".

Let's face it, the problem is not just with "TTT" schools, it's with about 90% of law schools nationally. Just as recent reports have suggested the government massively under-reports the national unemployment rate, and the true rate of unemployment in the US is something approaching Spain's (where they report it HONESTLY) -- meaning about 20%, so too are we, almost all of us, even graduates of "better" law schools, victims of a systematically-coordinated pack of lies of scandalous proportions.

I graduated from a Top Tier school, a respectable school but not a "big name" nationally-renowned school. But I graduated in the bottom half of my class, despite stellar undergraduate academic records, and I am finding that the competition out there in the bigger East Coast markets like DC is maddeningly fierce. I am "competing" for shit jobs, at shit pay, and a legal labor market which is orchestrated to be despicably exploitative.

I know that whenever anyone on here makes a post in which they are totally honest or admit to being at any disadvantage or having any kind of problems, that person is bagged on with a chorus of snarky and sarcastic answers, taking advantage of the poster's honesty and turning it back on him, trying to make the poster look like a fool.

I am also aware of the fact that anyone who posts here is likely to have the exact same, or very similar problems, in this job market, and wouldn't even be wasting time here if they didn't, so the clever, snarky-ass retorts made by these poseurs are simply not credible. We all know that already, so stop pretending you're something you're not.

Let's face it, we are pretty much all losers here in this 2009 legal job market, whether we graduated from TTT schools, or Top Tier schools (unless we're "cum laude" kids)... we are expendable, exploitable, exploited, pseudo-lawyers. We are 21st century white collar trailer trash, losers in the global economy, and we should never have wasted a penny of our cash, or an hour of our time, on law school.

Melody Kramer said...

Just one more comment, and then I will leave you to your sniping back and forth.

Recruiter, have you noticed how in every post you use the words "elite," "prestige," or "prominent"? You use these adjectives as though they excuse inexcusable behavior, as though working with a company having that label conveys the right to treat those who work for your company (assuming you really are a recruiter)with no respect. You are eager to give a law partner whose year-end bonus dipped from $2.0M to $1.9M "all the flexibility he needs" yet never say one word in defense of temp attorneys working for minute wages (in view of how much their services are being marked up to the underlying client). Whose side are you on? Don't you see the inherent advantage in respecting those who work for you? Is it any wonder that temp attorneys bash legal staffing agencies at every opportunity? If you are representative of the legal staffing agency mentality, I don't blame the temp attorneys.

As to the rest of you, just say "no." I know the market is tough and your student loan bills are high; life is not a picnic. But summon up the smarts you have cultivated in law school and find a solution to the untenable situation you find yourself in. You owe it to yourself. You owe it to your profession.

Anonymous said...

I agree these flames are terrible and racist too. Leave our Nigerian friends along, you pig.

Better Coder said...

Ms. Kramer,

You organization may benefit by having me be a part of it. I would assume that top notch freelancers such as myself would be allowed to join for free.

Also, please understand, I am the epitome of someone who needn't say 'no'. He need only say, "Yes, I understand you [the law firm] cherish my services, therefore I will continue to work on this project."

And for those of you who want to know - which is probably all of you - I am on hour 4 of 10 today. A nice $600 gross added to my 60 hour week this week. I should be at 70 by end of today. Just in time for a leisure Sunday catching up on my Priv updates and E-Discovery case law.

Very Truly Yours,
Better Coder
www.bettercoderthanyou.wordpress.com

Anonymous said...

DearBetterCoder,

You are a stinky douchbag and are nothing but a third rate cartoon character.

We despise you and the rest of your poorly conceived flame.

Please burn in hell!

Anonymous said...

11:32 - Good job. Very true

"I know that whenever anyone on here makes a post in which they are totally honest or admit to being at any disadvantage or having any kind of problems, that person is bagged on with a chorus of snarky and sarcastic answers"

I agree - we are all here to find some help, explanation/experiences in this bloodbath economy.

I am a newcomer - But I have noticed an increasing meaness on this site against each other. It's one thing to make fun of Big Mamma Sullivan and Clovester and the agencies, because they abuse us, and quite another to drag each other down.

We are all in the same boat -- I don't know about anyone else but I always try and post useful info. because I have received some pretty good tips from here as well.

Let's carry on the humor - but not attack each other b/c I think many of are suffering and at a loss -- we have families to feed and mortgages to pay.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, yeah - this better coder, benny law or whatever -- all this bullshit is booooooooring.
Let's talk about real stuff--if this was my blog I would edit the fake posts....
by the way has anyone here ever worked with a staff attorney Jens at Constantine? How is he to work with?

Anonymous said...

BetterCoder has BodyOdor. Don't sit next to him.

Nigerian on Priv Team said...

I am workings today. Me make much money.

Anonymous said...

Anyone hear the rate on Juristaff project has plummtted to $22/hour??

Anonymous said...

Hey nigerian, do you know Big Mamma and what do you think of her?

Anonymous said...

Did you just buy that watch? Good for you!!

Anonymous said...

Big Momma loves Nigerians.........mmmmmmmmm Delish!

Anonymous said...

As much as she loves food???

Anonymous said...

Where is my friend -- the inventor of demeaning but clever names?

His posts are usually very funny!!

Anonymous said...

You guys aren't just unemployable losers in your profession, you are the ultimate losers in the game of life. Just like a convicted child molester for example, you have made a poor choice in life with a bad outcome and now you deserve to suffer the consequences.

Don't delude yourself in thinking that your piece of paper from your diploma mill makes you more entitled than any other person who made a dumb choice in life. If anything, it is proof that your value as a human is below almost anybody else in society (except for rapists, pedophiles and murderers maybe). You are less worth than your esteemed, successful and privileged top tier, law-practicing peers or any honest hard-working Americans of all social classes, etc. Personally,I would classify you as overpaid subhumans who are a drain to society.

Thankfully, the Indians are working hard to adjust the job availability and pay rates to a more reasonable level and thankfully, your elite peers made sure you never had that shot at professional success that you never deserved in a million years to begin with.

You really can't claim to be intelligent and accomplished when you were scammed into a game without knowing the rules and the dynamics of it. Even if you had good intentions going into this, in the end you made a selfish, wrong choice that negatively affects people around you every day, such as your spouse and your children.

Clearly, you had no prior exposure and social connections to the real legal world or you're not attractive enough. Yes, I said you're probably ugly. Let's not beat around the bush, it matters in society and greatly affects your probability to succeed. Sucks for you. But with all the info you needed to prevent your ultimate demise being out on the internet and in numerous publications, even your hideous face is no justification for your continuous misjudgment and failure.

The best overall solution to this whole conflict would be either a quick Darwinian flush to accelerate human progress or, even better, to reassign you to new labor camps to get some actual productivity out of you. Or to pawn you folks off to China to repay our debt in the form of human labor capital.

And finally, you should be thankful for people like Recruiter who are instrumental in keeping dignity and professionalism in your field. Without honest, hard-working professionals like her, the premium firms wouldn't reach their partner per profit goals in such an efficient manner and thus wouldn't be willing to pay the overbloated, generous rates that they pay you. Instead of bearing the consequences of your actions like any adult, you are showing utter disrespect by biting the hand that feeds you. It's quite childish. And trust me, no one would volutarily pay or feed such nasty people like you temp lifers in a dignified manner, unless it successfully served a good purpose for somebody.

Anonymous said...

To people writing these looooooooooooooooooooooong posts, can you please make your simple point in one sentence.

Example in my case: Go to hell Nigerians, we don't go to your great country and steal jobs off other people's plates, and commit crimes.

Anonymous said...

1:53 Yaaaaaaaaaaaawn. Next.....

Anonymous said...

1:53 - if you are so successful, attractive why are you here on Saturday afternnon with us losers???? Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha

Even if it to lecture us...don't you have anything better to do ????

Anonymous said...

1:53 - Obviously you are not very attractive. What's the matter can't find a date on this lovely afternoon - I am a loser and at work so it's OK for me to be here -- but you????

Anonymous said...

Yeah really dude...why are you wasting a Saturday lecturing losers like us...like we care...

Anonymous said...

1:53 is an idiotic troll and his post is meant to incite, comparing temporary attorneys to pedophiles, etc., but I think most of us need to take a calm look at where we're at in this economy, where the legal "profession" is headed, and reconsider our goals.

The truth of the matter is that having a law degree is FAAAAAR from a guarantee of success any way you cut it, unless -- as I mentioned in my earlier post -- you were on the Law Review or have some some other such academic qualification which, despite being wholly arbitrary and randomly bestowed to those who are lucky enough to get the best grades on a series of rigged, forced-curve subjectively-graded ESSAY exams in your first year of that silly, wasted sojourn called "Law School".

The fact is that in the global scheme of things, in the increasingly interconnected and interwoven global economy, a law diploma from a U.S. law school -- unless you have stellar academics from a nationally and internationally renowned school like Harvard or Columbia or even Georgetown -- is pretty much a worthless piece of toilet paper, a Handy Wipe that you can use to polish your car or wipe your ass with as you read the Help Wanted ads in the bathroom.

The truth of the matter is there are far too many law schools, pumping out far too many lawyers, in this country. Even if you whittled these ridiculous numbers down to 1/8 of what they are currently, we'd still be making more new lawyers every year than we really need as a country.

In this global economy, an education in the hard sciences (physics, environmental engineering, nuclear science, materials science, chemistry) or technical subjects (MIS, health care information systems, civil engineering, supply chain management) is INFINITELY more valuable, and will make you far more competitive in the job market, than a piece-of-shit law degree.

Even if you get some kind of nondescript undergraduate degree like public administration or accounting, and then go into government procurement/contracting, by 2-3 years out of graduate school, you'll be making middle six-figures, which is much better than the typical prospects for a law school grad, except for the elite few, who constitute 5-10% of American law school grads.

Anonymous said...

"Just like a convicted child molester for example"

So Perla, now you're accusing doc reviewers of being child molestors? I think this is just another attempt by the wretched LPO industry to insult and kick attorneys when they are down.

It is you Perla and Ross that the perpetrators and traitors. You should be ashamed of yourseleves.

American doc reviewers are disproportianately minority (many African Americans). I think this abuse of the hard working attorneys has to stop.

Not to mention, that many of the attorneys now working doc review are ivy league law grads (e.g. harvard, yale, columbia).

We are not going away and we will take back all of our work from these illegal slumdogs.

Anonymous said...

My Blacklist:
No date Update
De Novo Ho
EP Slime
Robert Quarter
Un-wise Counsel
Hudson

Preferred agencies:
Strategic
Clutch
Tower

Better Coder said...

All,

Thought I'd check in and remind everybody that I am hour 6 for my day. Although I have had some tough docs today (see e.g. at 10:00AM, I had one in particular that was not only "Hot", but was "Attorney Client", and, pursuant to our coding instructions, had 14 categories that it fit under), I only have fours left.

Tomorrow, Puerto Rican-permitting, I may hit Nordstrom's tomorrow and pick up some Lucky Brand jeans and maybe a new Tag.

Life is good!

Best,
Better Coder
www.bettercoderthanyou.wordpress.com

Anonymous said...

Bettercoder = retard.

Boycott Clutch, they are the leaders in outsourcing. They just use the American attorneys as a Trojan Horse to get into law firms like Skadden. Just look what happened to Skadden!

Stay away from Clutch, they are soul sucking phonies.

Anonymous said...

Aaaaaaah! I'm taking a break from clicking here in Bangalore. I'm sitting on my yoga mat sipping my delicious, filtered urine. I like to warm it in a hotpot before I drink it down. It is so cleansing!

Later, after nibbling on the delightful goat vindaloo, carefully prepared by our LPO's private chef, I will take a rickshaw down to the river where i will ritualistically bathe.
Too bad my cousins upriver also defecate into the same river. Oh well, hygene is not all that important in India, as it is for you vain Americans.

I love outsourcing!

Anonymous said...

Urine has many many enzymes. delish.
Also I wash my ass with water everyday after number 2-- not like you stinky American crakaahs who leave dry number 2 on bottom for 24hours, and sit on smell and filth coding away. No wonder people pass out in coding room.
My bum is always fresh.
I welcome nasty comments because none so nasty as american unwashed bum.

Anonymous said...

Yes, yes...you american create so much fuss about curry and garlic and turban but don't wash bum--we wash our bum. Which is more evil smelling???

Law School Hack said...

After hearing your negative comments about the value of a JD, I must disagree.

A law degree is on the contrary quite vaulable if used correctly. Moreover, it's pretty damn easy to find a job. The longest I've been completely unemployed when I was actively looking for a job was three months -- From Jan to Mid-march in the worst part of the financial crisis.

A law degree makes it A) easy to find a job, B) the salaries for entry level aren't bad (50Kish), C) the salary continues to increase throughout your career, and D) it's easy to open a profitable service industry buisness that has very low overhead -- a law firm.

So please, quit bitching about having a JD an get busy trying to find a job that leads to a career (not temping).

Law School Hack said...

After hearing your negative comments about the value of a JD, I must disagree.

A law degree is on the contrary quite vaulable if used correctly. Moreover, it's pretty damn easy to find a job. The longest I've been completely unemployed when I was actively looking for a job was three months -- From Jan to Mid-march in the worst part of the financial crisis.

A law degree makes it A) easy to find a job, B) the salaries for entry level aren't bad (50Kish), C) the salary continues to increase throughout your career, and D) it's easy to open a profitable service industry buisness that has very low overhead -- a law firm.

So please, quit bitching about having a JD an get busy trying to find a job that leads to a career (not temping).

Anonymous said...

Temping is fine. There are now many laid off associates that been dumped into the temp pool.

You assholes need to get off this lame "find a real job" shit. No one is interested in some gutter chimp filled paper pushing, makework shitlaw job, nobody.

Temping is far less stresful, pays better and has far more flexibility.

Take your measley shitlaw jobs and shove them up your ass.

Anonymous said...

It's nice to know that when the Indian LPO workers are ass-raped by their American supervisors, that their bums are clean.

It makes sense, actually. We American temps would rather have a stinky dirty bum when we're ass raped by the agencies and law firms. We sure don't want to make it easy for them!

Do you shave provide lubricant for them too?

Happy small firm attorney said...

"Temping is far less stresful, pays better and has far more flexibility."

Stressful -- working till 9PM and weekends, having a psyco boss, doing dull work, and not knowing when a project will end or start is "Stressful." Going to court is "fun" not stressful.

Pays better -- The average temp probably makes 65K a year at most when it's all said and done. Only 10% or so are actually working all the time on good projects. I easily clear 65K and work 20-30 hours per week. I also get a percentage of clients I bring in and ones that I refer. I get a raise every 6 months or so. I also can lateral to a big or midsize firm if I want to when the economy improves, or can open an office and solo since I know what I'm doing in court.

Flexibility -- I know what days I have off and can plan to take a vacation. I also know when I have to be in court during the work week. I don't have suddenly be at a job and start working 10 hours on the weekend.

So, I'll take "shitlaw" as you call it anyday of the week. It's a lot nicer than sitting in the S&C dungeon or waiting for a skadden project to start.

Anonymous said...

"I get a raise every 6 months or so. I also can lateral to a big or midsize firm if I want to when the economy improves, or can open an office and solo since I know what I'm doing in court."

You are not an actual shitlaw practitioner. Actual shitlaw requires over 2000 billables per year for $55 or $60k (after 5+ years experience). Frequent weekend work, long hours, lack of mentoring, hellish working conditions, frequent trips to Queens Supreme or other chaotic courthouse.

No shitlawyer is eligible for midlaw or biglaw. You are nothing but a flame. Stop spouting your baseless, misinformed lies.

Anonymous said...

I don't know why a number of you temp, but I got into it after a few years of actually working. I went to a good school, learned a lot, got out and immediately found a job. What I wasn't prepared for however was the day-to-day grind and the nastiness of the profession.

I guess I saw too many Hollywood movies and went into it for higher ideals - truth, justice, some noble element to it.

Instead, at least in New York, it wasn't like that at all. I was treated quite poorly even though I am an intelligent, attractive female. I'm sure the crusty old partners etc. would have been a lot nicer had a flirted a bit more - but they grossed me out.

I finally got depressed and found out about temping. It was filled with many nice people and many lamos. But it was easy money -- and after my experience in the real world, it just became easy to tune out the other fools and just sit and click.

Yes, perhaps I was not strong enough to take the abuse and racism at law firms -- and temping has not been great, but it has allowed me to make money without too much effort while I think about my next step.

Plus overall even though many of the temps and staffers are beasts -at least they are who they are. Unlike the partners and associates I previously worked with they don't coat their nastiness with a thin veneer of civilization.

I hate Big Mama Sullivan, and Clovester, but you know immediately what you are up against.

I am kind of glad the party is over and forced me to get out of temping. It was easy money - but maybe too easy. I am turning now to human rights work and hope my life can get back some dignity.

Anonymous said...

" I am turning now to human rights work and hope my life can get back some dignity."

ROFLMOA - human rights lawyer? hah ahahahahahah!

Perla, this one is really lame. Getting of out of temping to practie human rights law, heh heh heh. How utterly ridiculous.

I love how every post by the LPO slobs has to make some reference to Americans abandoning their jobs. It is just such transparent, hateful garbage.

You scum have no right to do American legal work. It is you that needs to look for a new line of work. Your shabby LPO house of cards is crashing down, hard.

I would suggest you go into insurance or used car sales.

Maybe you can work for TATA.

Anonymous said...

4:20 PM

You said:

"A law degree makes it A) easy to find a job"

It is relatively easy to find a job with a law degree, but it's far from easy to find a good job you really want to do. Again, unless you graduated from a top 10 school and/or were "cum laude" or Order of the Coif, you're gonna have to settle for either some dead-end, mind-numbing pointless job in which you are essentially a cipher, a legal peon or a shitlaw wage-slave to aggrandize someone else's, or you'll work as a temp doc reviewer.

Actually, all other things being equal, the position of temp doc reviewer is BETTER and PAYS BETTER than most entry-level shitlaw and legal peon wage-slave jobs.

"B) the salaries for entry level aren't bad (50Kish)"

You're right about the entry level salaries in that they are around 50Kish, but since when is that good?

I and my ex-girlfriend, who was a green immigrant from Eastern Europe, both graduated from a private university in southern California during the dot-com boom. I graduated from the law school, and the same year she graduated as an undergrad with a BA in business.

Less than one year out, I was making in the mid-40s and she was making in the high 40s.

OK, so her internet company folded in 2001 and then she ended up getting suckered into the real estate bubble as a commercial property appraiser, and then her career was vaporized when the property bubble burst, but I fared not much better: My JD landed me naught but a series of relatively dead-end, soul-sapping jobs in which I was egregiously exploited by overbearing pricks to aggrandize their private empires.

"C) the salary continues to increase throughout your career"

My salary has crept upwards only in fits and starts, and I am only making in the mid-60s now, 9 years out of law school, in an unprestigious, low-glam transactional midlaw job I want out of.

The worst thing about this is that this is probably a "typical" career trajectory for MOST American law school graduates.

So much for the vaunted JD degree.

"D) it's easy to open a profitable service industry business that has very low overhead -- a law firm."

In other words, save your money up and live like a monk until you can afford to hang out your shingle and open up your very own... Shitlaw firm.... Doing personal injury, consumer bankruptcy, and other oh-so-glamorous world-class work.

Anonymous said...

I am happy that most of you are my competition.

Anonymous said...

Really jerkoff, explain how we are competitors?

Anonymous said...

Well, at least Snuffy, Skeeter, Lil' Kim, Deeva, and DJ Special Ed and Ruffles over at Cravvie had a good Freakin' Friday yesterday. Only 3 people had to be sent to the hospital.

Anonymous said...

This site needs to be closed down...where's Waldo?? Fuck the lot of you...y'all pathetic!

Anonymous said...

Has anyone heard anything regarding the Skadden project? I have never been held in limbo this long. Do I file an unemployment claim tomorrow? This project is really messing up my finances and my psyche. Skadden is the new Paul Weiss. What a garbage law firm. Worst of all, thanx to this blog, every agency knows about this situation and I will never get placed. Can the firm just fire us and put us out of our misery.

Anonymous said...

The agencies should offer a private unemployment insurance plan, say for $100-150/week. If a project is cut short without advance warning, the insurance pays 3/4 of a full time temp attorney's wage, until the next project starts.

«Oldest ‹Older   1 – 200 of 279   Newer› Newest»