"Lifer" Need Not Apply

More Age Discrimination:


******************************************************************************************************************
Urgent and IMMEDIATE need...
Downtown Manhattan law firm seeks 2009 JD/law school graduates who just sat for the NY/NJ BAR for Monday 8/3/09 start for 1 month document review.
Will work on timely litigation. 2009 GRADS ONLY.
$20/hr hours are 10 am to 6pm plus OT
*******************************************************************************************************************


* Compensation: $20/hr plus OT.
* 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.

Admitted Attorney Going Rate - $10 An Hour

Hi Tom,

I worked as a temp for about 4 years and now I have been unemployed
for about 6 months off and on collecting unemployment.

Yesterday, I applied for a job on craigslist for an attorney
position in queens. I will attach the part of the email with out my
name as to save myself embarrassment as I know people who read your
blog. $10 a fucking hour, I could make more working at McDonalds.


"Dear Candidate,

The starting salary is $10 per hour, $15 per hour overtime, but
will increase upon demonstration of capability. If you are interested,
please email us back the dates that you are available for an interview
this week.

Wang Law Firm"

Nostalgic For The Update Legal Girls

Lately, the news around here has been downright depressing. No more Lex-Pollution. No more Sara Kim, Scott Krowitz, Nora Plesent, or Diamond Staffing Agency. It almost makes me nostalgic for the days when the Update Legal girls ruled the roost around here.

Are You Dizzy Yet? Lexpollution Pulls The Exact Same Crap In New York

Lexolution, paired up with Hogan & Hartson, has been stringing us along with a project we were “selected” for. First, on Friday, July 17th, at 4:30 pm, we were sent the following email:


Hi Everyone,
I wanted to let you know that we are a definite go for Monday. Please come to 750 Third Avenue (b/w 46th & 47th) at 9:00 am. Tell the person at the security desk that you are there for the Lexolution/Hogan & Hartson project, and they will direct you to the appropriate floor. Please remember to bring a photo-identification. The dress code for the project is business casual, but please err on the side of business for the first day. Scott Krowitz and I will be there to greet you.
PLEASE REPLY TO THIS EMAIL UPON RECEIPT SO THAT I CAN CONFIRM THAT YOU HAVE RECEIVED THIS INFORMATION. Also, please be sure to check your emails throughout the weekend for any potential updates. Many thanks-see you Monday,
Kim


Despite, the “definite go” at four thirty, at eleven o’clock that same Friday evening, we received another email telling a different story:


Hi Everyone,
The Hogan & Hartson project WILL BEGIN ON TUESDAY, JULY 21 AT 11:00 AM, not Monday. All of the other information is the same, but it’s repeated below. Sorry to ask you to do this again, but PLEASE REPLY TO THIS EMAIL UPON RECEIPT SO THAT I CAN CONFIRM THAT YOU HAVE RECEIVED THIS NEW INFORMATION.
Date: Tuesday, July 21
Time: 11:00 am
Place: 750 Third Avenue (b/w 46th & 47th). Tell the person at the security desk that you are there for the Lexolution/Hogan & Hartson project, and they will direct you to the appropriate floor. Please remember to bring a photo-identification.
Dress Code: Business casual, but please err on the side of business for the first day.
Kim


Needless to say, the project did not start Tuesday. We were then told it would be Wednesday or Thursday. Then Tuesday night, we receive the following email:


Hi Everyone,
I just wanted to let you know that it’s not likely that Hogan will start tomorrow (but check your email before you go to bed tonight and first thing in the morning just in case). If you don’t hear from me tonight or tomorrow morning, I will be in touch at some point tomorrow to give you an update.
Thanks again for your patience.
All the best,
Kim


And, no, it didn’t start Wednesday. Or Thursday either. See below:


Hi Again Everyone,
I just wanted to let you know that I am still waiting for more information from Hogan, but it doesn’t look like it will start tomorrow. They have assured me that the project will start, but the documents are not getting loaded as quickly as they anticipated, hence the delay.
Again, I apologize for this, and appreciate your patience.
Many thanks,
Kim


On Thursday, at eleven at night, we received “reassurances” that the “technical problems” would be resolved soon, though we would not be starting Friday:


Hi Everyone,
I just wanted to touch base again and let you know that we are still waiting on a start date from Hogan. The client has been in touch several times a day and I do believe the project will start. Hogan is using Attenex, a database they have not used before, for this project, and it seems they are having problems coordinating everything to load the documents, but they fully intend to move forward with the project once everything is figured out.
I understand your frustration (I really do), and appreciate your patience. I think we will have a start date soon. Thanks again for hanging in there.
Best regards,
Kim


Late Friday night, Lexolution claimed to have “good news” for us:


Hi Everybody,
Some good news-the project IS going to begin next week. Hogan is going to start people off in staggered groups of 5-10. On Monday I should be able to give you a better idea of exactly when you can expect to start, but please check your email over the weekend in case anything changes.
Thanks again for your patience, and have a great weekend.
Best regards,
Kim


We heard nothing over our “great weekends.” On Monday, we learned that both Lexolution and Hogan are indeed full of shit, and the project would not be starting for another couple of weeks, if ever:


Hi Everybody,
I just got off the phone with the people at Hogan, and they expect that it will take at least 7-10 days for the rest of the documents to finish loading. I know this is quite a bit longer than any of us initially anticipated. At this point, I cannot honestly say when the project will be fully up and running, and I don’t want you to miss out on any other opportunities waiting for this. Obviously, it will be great if this works out, but I will completely and totally understand if you need to take something else.
I know it doesn’t help, but I am truly sorry about the delay. I will continue to keep you posted about this project (and any other projects that come in), but I truly understand if you can’t wait anymore.
Please feel free to call or email me with any questions you may have.
All the best,
Kim


So, in other words, we have been expected to check our email around the clock for weeks on end, for a project that may not even materialize. Some of us tried to stick it out and give Lexolution and Hogan the benefit of the doubt. You feel like an ass for believing them and turning down other work, or even applying for things, because you are being assured every day that any day you will be starting. Obviously, we can not believe a freaking word either has to say at this point. Regardless of the economy, no one has the right to take advantage of and shit on people this way.
P.S. They were paying $32/hr straight for a mandatory 50-60 hr. workweek.

The Lexolution Horror Show Arrives In Los Angeles

Lexolution is AWFUL in LA. They, coupled with disgusting Dickstein, jerked around about 10 contract attorneys for months about the project starting back up. Dickstein in LA is also disgusting and offensive - they sent e-mails to the contract attorneys requesting that they stop the chattering, stay in designated areas (ie., not allowed to use the vending machines) and had set hours to make sure people were there the entire time. They also frequently sent out e-mails stating that if ONE privilege code was missed, it was grounds for IMMEDIATE termination. I will send you a couple more of these disgusting e-mails from Lex.

-----------------------------------------------------

From: "Nathan Khalil"
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2009 22:35:13 -0400
To: Nathan Khalil
Subject: Dickstein - Project/Schedule Update

Hi Everyone,

I hope that this message finds each of you well.

We just learned today that there was some sort of development on the case, and Dickstein will not need you to come in to the office on Monday or Tuesday. I will be in touch with an update early next week, probably Monday.

Please reply to this e-mail to confirm receipt.

As always, thanks for your hard work. Have a good weekend.

Best regards,

Nathan Khalil

-----------------------------------------------------

From: Nathan Khalil
Sent: Monday, April 13, 2009 7:09 PM
To: Nathan Khalil
Subject: RE: Dickstein - Project/Schedule Update

Hi Everyone,

We just got another update on the project.

A development in the litigation has caused a lull in activity, and a potential change in the direction of the case. It now appears that the lull and uncertainty will carry through the week. (I have already spoken with the two of you who will be returning this week to review the documents of a particular custodian previously allocated to you.) Dickstein has informed us that they will monitor developments through the week, and will be in touch with updates, perhaps later this week, or perhaps more likely next week. We’ll be in touch as soon as we know more. I won’t venture a guess in this e-mail as to the likelihood of the project continuing on; I will say only that it is entirely possible that all of you will be asked back for the project. We hope that, if asked back, you will return to the project. That said, we understand if you need to begin to explore other opportunities. Please just keep us in the loop.

Also, I just received additional feedback from Dickstein on the review. They have thus far been very pleased to work with all of you remaining from the Lex team, mentioning and complimenting each and every one of the 7 of you by name.

As a thank you for your great work on the project (which I know may have times been stressful), I was able to get approved a $300 bonus from Lexolution for each of you. It will appear in a paycheck next week.

Please feel free to contact me with any comments, questions, or concerns.

Best regards,

Nathan

-----------------------------------------------------

From: Nathan Khalil
Sent: Monday, April 13, 2009 4:03 PM
To: Nathan Khalil
Subject: RE: Dickstein - Project/Schedule Update

Hello Everyone,

Unfortunately, we still do not have anything specific report. I am, however, still expecting at least partially good news. I expect to know more tomorrow. Thank you for your patience.

Please feel free to contact me with any comments or questions.

-----------------------------------------------------------

From: Nathan Khalil
Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 12:26 PM
To: Nathan Khalil
Subject: RE: Dickstein - Project/Schedule Update

Hello again everyone,

We are told that we may get an update on Friday. As we await word, it is absolutely fine (perhaps in most cases preferable) to leave remaining any things you left at your work station, since it is entirely possible that you will resume work on the project in the near future. But if any of you has left anything that you need urgently, please let me know, and we will make appropriate arrangements. Thanks.

Best regards,

Nathan

-------------------------------------------------------------

From: Nathan Khalil
Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 1:55 PM
To: Nathan Khalil
Subject: RE: Dickstein - Project/Schedule Update

Hi Everyone,

Sorry, it appears that we are still in limbo. We just got an update from Dickstein. They have informed us that, as they await to see how the situation develops (and with at least part of the team over there very busy next week), there will be no need for our team on the project again next week, but the need could re-arise after that.

So we will continue to wait and keep you apprised of any developments.

Thank you for your patience, and apologies for the uncertainty! Alas, it’s the nature of the beast.

As mentioned before, we understand if you need to explore other opportunities. Please just keep us in the loop. Also, please let me know if you would like to pick up any belongings from your workstation. There is no need to do so since we are still in limbo, but please let me know if you would like to make arrangements to pick anything up at this time.

Have a good weekend.

Best regards,

Nathan

---------------------------------------------------------------

From: "Nathan Khalil"
Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2009 19:40:28 -0400
To: Nathan Khalil
Subject: RE: Dickstein - Project/Schedule Update

Hi Everyone,

Unfortunately, we are still in limbo. We were in touch with Dickstein today. They continue to evaluate the situation, and hope and expect to have an update for us next week. It remains the case that a need for the team could re-arise in the near future. Apologies for the continued uncertainty. Ditto to my previous e-mail below: please let me know if you would like to make arrangements to retrieve any personal items at this time. Also ditto to my previous e-mails: we understand if you explore and pursue other opportunities. Please do just let us know if you secure another position and/or if you reach a crossroads.

Also, please remember that the information you have learned about the substance of the case and about its status is extremely sensitive and confidential. Please remember that you are bound by confidentially not to disclose this information to anyone (including friends, family, and potential employers). Thank you.

As always, please feel free to contact me.

Have a good weekend.

Best regards,

Nathan Khalil

--------------------------------------------------------

From: Nathan Khalil
Date: Fri, May 1, 2009 at 3:58 PM
Subject: RE: Dickstein - Project/Schedule Update
To: Nathan Khalil

Hi Everyone,

We just heard from Dickstein. Unfortunately, we remain in limbo. Alas, such is the world of litigation and contract work. They hope to have a better sense next week. I will be sure to get in touch as soon as we know more. Thanks.

Have a good weekend.

Best regards,

Nathan

---------------------------------------------------------

From: Nathan Khalil
Date: Fri, May 8, 2009 at 6:14 PM
Subject: RE: Dickstein - Project/Schedule Update
To: Nathan Khalil

Hi Everyone,

We heard from Dickstein today. Sorry, we remain in limbo. For what it’s worth, the project resuming remains a real possibility. Have a good weekend.

Best regards,

Nathan


This was the last anyone heard of the project. It was staffed by both Lexolution and Providus. I guess the Providus people were told immediately that the project was over. I hope you enjoyed the $300 bonus.

What else is amazing is that earlier that week, there was a "meeting" with the associates, partner and K attorneys and the partner estimated the work would last until or through July.

If you think it is bad now, just way until nasty Nora "Plesent" arrives and sets up her ramshackle chicken coop similar to the one on East 40th Street in New York.

Markup Scam

Hi Tom:

Did you see the article that Professor Lester Brickman wrote in Forbes Magazine that highlighted the enormous markup that plaintiff lawyers are using of about $35 to $40 per hour paid to the contract lawyers which is then billed out at $300 and up per hour as a scam in class action lawsuits.

Check it out at:

http://www.forbes.com/2009/07/23/tort-lawyers-class-action-opinions-contributors-lester-brickman.html

Mayor Scammarano

Hey Tom, the mayor of Hoboken, Peter "Scam-arrano," who was arrested today and charged with 5 counts of accepting bribes is a 2002 Seton Hall grad.

Hilarious! He learned fraud and corruption at the knee of master scammer Pat Hobbs, known as Seton Hall's infamous "Valvoline Dean" for his oleaginous, used car salesman persona and shameless molestation of salary/employment data. Scammarao (the Hoboken mayor) even had a Traffic Court Clerkship under his belt!

Watch a few YouTube videos of Cammarano, and right away you'll all know the type: the "gunners" who raised their hand for every case, who fellated the socially inept dork professors and fed their sick egos, the kind of people you always wanted to punch right in the fucking teeth. Have fun in Federal pound-me-up-the ass prison, Scamaranno! Maybe you can help Bluebook briefs for the other sorry cons trying to litigate their way out of stir.

How much you wanna bet he blames his bribe taking as an attempt to pay off massive law school debt? He'll go down hard, though. Unlike Hobbs, who has the criminal enablers at the ABA and NALP stooges covering his tracks, this doltish dork will be hung out to dry all by himself.

This kid should've just followed the other Seton Hall losers on to the document review floor at Barasso and been happy with the $29 an hour shitrate. Document review would be a good prep course for prison life: inedible food, petty and randomly enforced rules, favoritism, ass kissing, and extreme stretches of soul-crushing boredom. Bet the Valvoline Dean is boiling right now at seeing one of Seton Hall's few "rising stars" crash to earth in a flaming wreck! One less "success story" to add to the glossy admissions brochure!

Here are some choice excerpts from the FBI wiretap of Camarrano:

"Defendant Cammarano then stated “this is the way Mr. Schaffer and I both see the world through the same lens, right. In this election, hopefully, we, we, we, you know, we get to the point where I’m sworn in on July 1st, and we’re breaking down the world into three categories at that point. There’s the people who were with us, and that’s you guys. There’s the people who climbed on board in the runoff. They can get in line. . . And then there are the people who were against us the whole way. They get ground . . . They get ground into powder.”

Wow. In true Seton Hall fashion, Cammarano is not only a shiftless crook but a complete mental retard. The undercover agent (a corrupt rabbi) offering the bribes was already under FBI investigation via a deferred prosecution agreement, as a quick Google search would have revealed. And here is Scamarrano taking envelopes full of cash in a diner parking lot and offering quid pro quo on tape to a man who peddled other people's kidneys for profit! This is bush league even for the rancid, festering sewer that is NJ law and politics. Maybe Scamaraano was too busy Bluebooking toilet law review articles and studying Rule of Perpetuites puzzles to catch a few episodes of the Sopranos. This wanna-be gangsta assclown didn't last 30 days in office. Besides that, he had already lied about an out-of-wedlock child from some chick he knocked up at age 18 and had to lie & cover his ass during the campaign. Typical Hoboken hair-gel moron. He better sing like a canary to the Feds or his backside is gonna be thumping like a bass tube at Bar One!

BTW, I believe one of the partners at the "election law" firm that Camaranno worked at is an adjunct at Seton Hall. There's no doubt these "biglaw wanna-be's" at his former boiler room joke of a "firm" will have some explaining to do as well. This kid won the election under suspicious circumstances that involved "missing boxes" of absentee ballots that mysteriously popped up a few days after the runoff election. Voter fraud, anyone? Hopefully that cesspool of a school will somehow be dragged into this mess and embarrassed/humiliated and exposed for the corrupt diploma-mill dump that they are. We cannot rest until the Valvoline Deans of the world do the perp walk right beside the shiftless satan-children they have spawned. The one bright side is that Scamarrano will make more money pressing license plates in the prison foundry than the typcial 'Hall grad ever will as an insurance defender or doc review coder in NYC!

As If California Didn't Have Enough Problems.....

Now this. I just received an obnoxious email from Lex-Pollution announcing that "Lexolution Co-Founder Nora Plesent is Now the Managing Partner of Lexolution's Los Angeles Office"

It says: "Lexolution is thrilled to announce that Nora Plesent, a leader in the temporary legal staffing industry for more than a decade, has permanently taken up residence in Lexolution's Los Angeles office. Nora helped found Lexolution in 2001 and has been an instrumental force in Lexolution's rise as a leading provider of temporary attorneys and paralegals in the New York, Washington, DC, Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay Area metropolitan regions. Lexolution has extensive experience staffing experienced attorneys in virtually every area of legal practice and managing large electronic discovery projects."

But then the key words come in: "We strategize with law firms and corporations about ways to significantly reduce costs through the use of our temporary attorneys."

Now, note this does not say that Lexolution does anything to present more qualified people, or that it is doing anything in the interests of its temps. No, it says that they "strategize" with the enemy, the law firms and corporations, to squeeze all the juice out of the lemons (lemmings) (both in terms of taking their best years and paying them nothing for their time).

Thanks Lexolution, for bringing your wrecking ball to the Los Angeles legal market after helping to screw up New York.

Philadelphia Market Shriveling Up & Dying

35 people laid off at Dechert's 2 Logan location in relevance two weeks ago.

5 people laid off in privilege, as above

5 more people laid off in privilege last week.

Some people had been there as long as 4.5 years. Some say scores were settled.

Staff attorney hours also seem to have been cut back among many as well.

This is the pharmaceutical litigation site.

Project is believed to be engaged in end-stage activities.

The Axiom Legal Identity Crisis Continues

"After the second round of exposure in 'Bullshit Time' below, Axiom changed their bogus website - for the third time in a month!

After ditching 'The road less lawyered' and 'Lawyers you like', they now change to the more mundane but no less fart-inducing 'The Big idea in law.'

They then say how they are 'inspired by a big idea: to be the first real alternative to the traditional law firm'. They cut out a lot of the other B.S. (but still some in there, like how they help lawyers exercise 'self-determination', because if they cut this it would be a blank orange page like an empty table at McDonalds).

I have actually gone from throwing up at Axiom to being worried about them. Their obsession with their image on this website and ability to change their whole shtick overnight is scary!

Earth to Axiom: you still don't have it right. You are not an alternative to a law firm, except to the extent that checking into a mental hospital is an alternative to working in a law office. By your own admission, you just send temps to in-house jobs, i.e., you're a frigging/temp placement agency like all the others."

The ABA's Fake "Legal Rebels" Campaign

Let the institutional denial and counter-propaganda campaign begin.

As one commentor so aptly put it, "the REAL online rebel movement among lawyers online is the movement to expose the law school scam and how the legal establishment such as the bar associations are enabling the law school industry to lure hundreds of thousands of law students into 6 figure debt when there is a huge oversupply of lawyers already."

For years, the legal elites have benefited from this drastic oversupply and the cheap labor generated by these nasty unsanitary debt repayment mills. But now, however, even a shitty benefitless secretarial wage is too much for them to handle. Hence, this year we have seen the devastation unleashed by the ABA's opening of the floodgates to a massive wave of foreign outsourcing.

http://www.legalrebels.com

Kirkland Drops The Shit Bomb On The Sheep

"On June 28th, an ad appeared on DC's Craigslist for unlicensed JD's for a 1-2 month high hour (10+/7days) document review project. Today they learned that Kirkland will be performing this work "in house." Aside from this obvious ploy to shitrate a large group of recent law grads they obviously thought NOTHING of stringing the 100+ lambs along for 3 weeks before dropping their shitbomb on them. Welcome to the late great world of document review."

P.S.- They probably outsourced a good chunk of the work to India as demonstrated by the Michelle Vega piece.

Peak Legal: "Go Find Your Own Health Insurance"

From: "Frank Barone"
Date: July 17, 2009 11:02:10 AM EDT
Subject: Medical Plan

We regret to inform you that effective September 1, 2009, The Peak Organization will no longer be offering the Empire BC/BS HMO Plan to temporary employees. Our enrollment in this plan no longer meets the minimum participation required by Empire BC/BS as shown below.

Letter from Empire BC/BS:

“This is to advise you (The Peak Organization) that your HMO healthcare plan contract is being terminated effective 09/01/2009.”

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and will make available on our web site information regarding Empire BC/BS NY individual medical plans within the next two weeks.

The dental plan does remain in place.

Thank you very much.

Michelle Vega: Touro's Finest

Michelle Vega spent more than six years as a litigation associate at Kelley Drye & Warren in New York before leaving the firm to care for a sick relative. When Vega started looking for a job a year later, she wanted to take her skills in a new direction.

A friend at a legal staffing company told her about an opening that offered management experience outside the law firm environment, but required a one-year stint in India. Vega was immediately intrigued and asked the friend to submit her résumé. When outsourcing company Mindcrest Inc. offered Vega a senior manager job in May 2008, she accepted and moved her life to Pune, India, by month's end.

"I like to travel and have always been interested in the world outside New York," said the 35-year-old Brooklyn native, who is still living in Pune.

As a senior manager at Mindcrest, Vega oversees the work of about 450 employees through 25 direct reports. Her work ranges from researching briefs in support of motions to drafting discovery requests to responding to subpoenas.

Vega, who graduated from Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center, said she enjoys using her litigation knowledge to guide the young Indian attorneys who do the company's legal research, document review and contract management work. Training Indian employees often means putting things in context for them. For instance, she might have to explain the relative value of a building on Park Avenue in New York by comparing it to an upscale street in Mumbai, Vega said.

http://www.nylj.com/nylawyer/news/09/07/071609a.html

Angry Lady

"Charlotte Gelfand (chaarlottexx@yahoo.com)
Sent: Mon 7/13/09 10:23 PM
To: tomthetemp@hotmail.com

Dear Tomthetemp,
I think your article on David Gelfand is disgusting. Mr. Gelfand is a respectable lawyer in New York, and most likely one of the highest ranked lawyers in New York as well. You have no idea what this man is like, and your sitting on your computer coming up with these nasty, untruthful accusations and putting them up on the internet. Mr. Gelfand is a very kind, intelligent, funny man, who cares about his partners and fellow employees at Milbank. Get your facts strait before you write another FALSE story.
Yours Truly,
Diane"


Dear Diane,
I apologize if you were offended by last year's David Gelfand posting. Your right, I have no idea what this man is like. While I agree with you that what was written was certainly nasty, I disagree with your assertion that it was in anyway untruthful. The posting merely repeated reporting conducted by Above the Law claiming that Milbank and Mr. Gelfand were less than forthcoming in their disbandment of their staff attorney program. While all this was going down, I merely commented on the fact that I found it curious that Milbank was contemporaneously attending conferences and instructing other organizations on how to best outsource legal services to low-cost, foreign labor centers. Certainly, it can't come as a great surprise that such a story would generate a firestorm of nasty comments on a blog populated by former, laid off staff and contract attorneys. Again, I apologize if any of my readers offended your sensibilities.
TTT

http://temporaryattorney.blogspot.com/2008/04/david-gelfand-worst-person-of-week.html

Lady Sara Kim Of Yorkson

Tom,

If you are worried about people committing suicide, I would suggest that you tell them to stay away from Lady Sara Kim of Yorkson. I heard rumors that she was nasty, but I didn't realize how nasty she was until I recently dealt with her myself. Talk about a Jeckyll and Hyde personality. When she needs you for something, she's all sweet and butter. Most of the time, she's extremely condescending, tries to make you feel guilty for not buying into one of her low ball sewer rates, and will literally hang up on you mid-sentence. Either Yorkson has one of the worst techncial telephone service in NYC history, or the Lady of Yorkson is just an extreme B.

Robert "One-Fifth" The Pay

"Dear XXXXX,

We know you are diligently looking for your next job opportunity and we want to be the best resource for you. However, we are all experiencing the effects of the economy. Many clients are unable to afford the rates they’ve paid in the past. In order to meet their new budget restrictions, I am trying to gauge if you would be willing to work at a rate between $10 and $17 an hour.

Our goal is to keep people working and this is one way to do so. These pay rates are a temporary response to the current economic market. As the market improves, we will look to increase our pay rates accordingly.

If you are open to working for this rate on a short or long term basis, please email me and let me know. I look forward to hearing from you.

Best wishes,


~Kelli"

Bullshit Time

Since exposing them below on your website Axiom Legal Temp Agency has changed its website from the oleaginous "The Road Less Lawyered" to "Lawyers you Like".

Get ready to throw up, here it comes!

"We know it's ironic.... but one of the radical things that can be said about Axiom is that our clients and attorneys like us. Axiom is an entirely new kind of firm rooted in the belief that everyone benefits when given the ability to exercise self-determination. An approach so simple it's reshaping the legal profession and so powerful it just may make lawyers likable again."

Then it has these bullshit profiles of its supposedly happy likable temps:

"My son's a talker. He's a negotiator. He'll make a great lawyer... I'd like to think he gets that from his dad."

Marc Field


So in reaction to being complained about on the Temporary Attorney blog, where they are one of the top temp sweatshops, they now try to show how "likable" they are and how "happy" the miserable wretches who work for them are.

The pretension of this nothing temp agency knows no bounds, to the point if you wonder that they have brainwashed their toady slaves so much or whether they are actually starting to believe their own bullshit.

Axiom has these Update types calling clients day and night slutting around their temp services.

Say thank you to your temp agency Strategic and DeNovo that you don't have to deal with this kind of mind control and self-worship of Axiom's nonqualified lawyer owners!

Pope Says Outsourcing Is Immoral

"The pope laments the decline of the social welfare state and praises the 'importance' of labor unions to protect workers. Without stable work, he notes, people lose hope and tend not to get married and have children.

But he also wrote that 'The so-called outsourcing of production can weaken the company’s sense of responsibility towards the stakeholders — namely the workers, the suppliers, the consumers, the natural environment and broader society — in favor of the shareholders.'"

Enter The American TTT Law School At Your Own Risk!

One positive note in all of this horror is that word is finally getting out about the law school scam machine. Let's hope that as the economy recovers these numbers plummet even further.

"Law school applications were up overall this year, but they didn't surge the way many had predicted. Conventional wisdom holds that more people seek out graduate programs during bad economic times to avoid a tough job market. According to the admissions council, law school applications increased nationally by 4.3%.

"We certainly haven't seen the double-digit increases we saw in past recessions," said Yellen, who theorized that the high cost of law school and the news of law firm layoffs might have dissuaded some people from applying." - New York Law Journal, 07/06/09

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tom check out the turd on craigslist.

3-5 years pharma experience for the old $35 shitrate. Unreal.

How many registered nurses, engineers, pilots, dentists, or MD's resort to begging for sub-poverty level shitjobs on craigslist just to eat? Make no mistake, the recent death of doc review was a watershed in this industry. The Seton Halls and Brooklyn Law Schools of the world have no where left to stick the hordes of angry, desperately indebted losers. Just think of the old days of the Hudson Newark ghetto gig, the Paul Weiss cockroach gulag, and the Vioxx petri dish. Those thousands of second-tier and lower grads who once clicked out semi-decent paychecks are now cast into the gutter with no worthwhile experience (and no jobs available even if they did have "experience"). Schools know that the jig is up: Joan King recently exited stage left and now the Valvoline Dean Pat Hobbs of Seton Hall is sucking around for the NJ AG job if his buddy Chris Christie wins the governor's race. No way these charlatans are sticking around for the coming meltdown. Like oil slicks, they'll wash up on some new beach in a few years with new scams and more insincere, fraudulent posturing.

Even better, in three short weeks the next gaggle of hapless lemmings will sweat thru the bar'zam in Albany and the old Javits Center, regurgitating the useless BarBri drivel on houseburning v. arson and 14th century property law like good little JD's. Then come August they'll burn in the summer heat of the worst legal job market (or job market period)in American history. Shit, both Hudson and De Novo are now only registering people with over a year of coding experience. Small firm insurance defense shitlaw "firms" are getting 100+ resumes for sub 40 K shitjobs that we know have no future anyway. As most veteran coders know, the "experience" card is an old shark's trick, designed to sucker newbie JD's into taking illegal-alien level wages with the empty promise of building "experience." Yet as most of us know, "experience" in insurance defense is like getting cooking experience from McDonald's: one may lateral to Burger King or Wendy's, but you sure ain't gonna be head chef at the Waldorf. Pushing bales of fender-bender shitpaper just leads to more crappy jobs pushing fender-bender shitpaper. Almost 5 years out of school, every friend I have in insurance defense has yet to see 75 K.

Maybe they can try the comical "alumni networking" events. Print a fresh batch of resumes off on that rich, creamy 80 lb cotton weave Staples resume paper, and shove them in the face of every gray-haired, drunken loser at the alumni cocktail hour. I went to one of these for Seton Hall back in 2005 and the assistant dean asked if I'd considered moving to the Midwest because "the NY and NJ markets are pretty saturated." I then asked her why Seton Hall operates a $43,000/yr private law school in NJ if the market has no jobs, and she excused herself to get another shrimp cocktail. Typical.

It's over, kids.

Skadden Farts aka Law is 4 Losers

De Novo Legal: Houston

"Let me begin by saying that De Novo's Houston office once had a respectable reputation amongst document review contract attorneys. However, there is a new project manager at the Houston office (A. F.) and she is running the office into the ground. Beware of accepting a document review position at De Novo: Houston because you may be signing up to work in a modern day sweatshop. While working there on a project that averaged between 50 and 100 attorneys (the number of attorneys on the project fluctuated weekly) I experienced and/or observed the following:

1. A complete lack of respect for contractors as individuals;

2. Internet access was removed from each computer workstation;

3. Approx 100 attorneys had to access the internet through only 1 computer;

4. Talking was not allowed and seating arrangements were often shuffled in an effort to discourage conversation between attorneys;

5. The work schedule was sporadic at best. Some days you worked, other days you were laid off, then you would be called back to work, only to be laid off again...and sometimes all this would happen in the course of a week and there was at least one occasion where this happened during the course of one work day.

6. Some days there would be no water to drink and the project manager's response to that would be that it is not De Novo's job to make it's contract attorneys comfortable.

7. Attorneys were told to close the blinds in their room, because the project manager did not want them looking at other attorneys through the window. One contract attorney made an effort to simply waive hello at the other attorneys she could see through her window and the project manager closed the blinds and scolded the attorney for communicating with other attorneys.

8. Some attorneys had to work in small conference rooms with NO AIR CONDITIONING during June in Houston. There were other workstations available for these attorneys working without air conditioning, but because of De Novo's desire to keep talking to a minimum the attorneys had to work without air conditioning for several days...that's right...a modern day sweatshop....contract document review attorneys working without air conditioning in the HOUSTON HEAT !!!"

Lex-Pollution Chicken Coop Is Now Open For Business

The good folks at Lex-Pollution have re-opened the infamous "chicken coop" over here on east 40th st. The new $32 an hour shitrate applies, and hours are capped at 40. Yesterday, the geeky Dechert associate came and took the internet off all the computers. Nice, huh? This pathetic dork is probably terrified of getting axed himself. Restroom is filthy and inadequete, break room has a major mildew problem, and a nasty flu is going around already. Might as well just give up coding for good at these embarrassing rates and abysmal working conditions.

The Bloomberg Bandit

To show how little respect Bloomberg people have for their colleagues, here is the copy of an e-mail sent to everyone today (Tuesday). This guy had no idea who stole from him. It could have been a contractor, someone from the cleaning crew, or even one of his precious fellow Bloomberg buddies. He then proceeds to send this bullshit e-mail to people who are not working on this project out of choice, but out of necessity. People with bills and student loans to pay, and kids to feed. These are admitted attorneys who have already been belittled by accepting $20/hour when "legal assistant" positions are posted on craigslist for $18. These are not lazy or incompetent people. They are attorneys trying to make ends meet like everyone else in this shitty economy and they should not have to be subjected to e-mails like this. It disgusts me.

"This message is for all the Broad St. contractors. At some point today, one of
you appropriated the cup of loose change sitting on my desk. Probably no more
than a few bucks in it - maybe enough for a Starbucks iced coffee (mmmm...iced
coffee). But now you will enjoy that frosty beverage on my nickel. Literally.
Frankly, if you felt that intense a level of need to take the change off my
desk then I do not ask for its return - you clearly should keep it (how much
therapy three bucks will buy, I don't know - but I urge you to investigate).
But seriously - we're stealing now? Come on, people. You're better than that.
And to the perp: you're an interesting one. There was a cup of pennies next
to the cup of other change that you took. But the pennies weren't good enough
for you, so you left them. A scoundrel of discerning taste? The Penniless
Bandit? Oh - I like that. That's my new garage band name. I digress.
Let's not have ANY other items go missing from anyone. Period. -DS"