Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Excelerate Discovery

Excelerate Discovery, the current nesting place of several former Update Legal recruiter hacks, apparently had a bit of a shake up last week. Alexandra "Lexie" Newman was reportedly shit-canned during her Israeli vacation, and apparently went ballistic on Facebook. Just another day of backstabbing and juvenility in the distguished profession of law.

54 comments:

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Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

Can anyone copy & paste what she went ballistic about on Facebook? Would love to read it.

Nando said...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/05/business/global/05legal.html?hp

At least these dolts finally got around to covering this massacre of working-class attorneys. A full two years after the ABA cockroaches issued ABA "Ethics" Opinion 08-451. Hooray for the New York Times!

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't exactly consider her facebook post as going "ballistic."

Her exact facebook post is:

Alexandra Newman: "Anyone hiring a recruiter or project manager? I just lost my job."

Anonymous said...

Ahhhh, the accuracy of this blog. WTF, Tom? "Ballistic?"

This blog was amusing back in '06. Now it's just stupid.

Anonymous said...

9:49, how do you know that the quoted FB status update is accurate? Maybe she did go ballistic.

Anonymous said...

Wow, 4 years of Tom the Temp, and nothing has changed. In fact, things have gotten worse.

Anonymous said...

She did go ballistic you are not quoting the right parts. This story shows what comes around, goes around.

Update is the most notorious firm for its sorority fakes blacklisting people and firing them from low paid jobs for the slightest perceived peccadillo.

Now it is happening to them as they get fired by the Update bitches while on vacation.

You can take the bitch out of the Update...........

Anonymous said...

Lexie got fired from Execelerate Discovery not update. she got fired while on vacation in isreal. karma is a bicth, just like her!!!she is so unprofesionnal and unethical.

Anonymous said...

I can't speak for the rest of the post, but the part about her going Ballistic is nonsense. The quote the other person posted is accurate. To be even more specific it was posted on "July 26 at 8:37pm via Mobile Web." There are no other posts on her facebook page about losing her job. Just do a simple search for her on facebook under alexandra.newman@exceleratediscovery.com. To check for yourself.

Someone referred to her as unethical on here, but Tom it seems you are unethical for not even looking to see if this was accurate before posting. Come on Tommy boy this is something you could have easily checked if you actually took a second to research this instead of taking some bitter contract attorney's word for it. Take a look at her facebook for yourself.

I agree with the other poster. This site has fallen off since 2006.

Anonymous said...

Why did she get fired?

Anonymous said...

the exact reason for her getting caned is not clear. But I know some elements which contributed to it. The latest project she was managing (Kirkland) was a disaster. Trying to overbill the client by "commanding" reviewers to code as slow as possible your daily quota was 600 docs, if you coded more than that you were out. Now how ethical is that? A guy got fired because he was trying to be a supercoder. I'm sure that someone must have complained to hers higher ups.

Anonymous said...

I was just on that project with Kirkland. No one from Excelerate told me to code slowly or quickly. There were 2 paralegals and an associate who watched everything carefully. We were never told by anyone (agency or firm) to go faster or slower.

She must have been terminated for some other reason. That project had no issues. I'd go back tomorrow if they called.

Anonymous said...

she probably misses her old glasses.

Anonymous said...

There was a craig's list ad for her replacement a couple of weeks ago. Also, it seemed obvious once cristina arrive and was given the same title, that ome of them had to go and it would probably be lexie.

Good luck to Lexie, she was always classy.

Anonymous said...

2:13, the project you described isn't the project that 1:39 is referring to. The project 1:39 refers to is still going on.

Anonymous said...

People here shilling for Exshit-erate are full of B.S.

Of course no one "told you" to code slowly. They never do you pretender. It's a wink wink thing and fast coders are attacked and if they don't stop fired for some other pretext.

The other person who said when someone else came over with the same title one of them had to go, are you stupid, obviously the plan was to fire her the whole time and her replacement was brought on board before. Duh!

Anyway I'm not crying for the b----. Fuck her. The agencies treat the temps much worse than this. Forget about taking a vacation, if they take an hour off for anything, they are replaced by someone "more dedicated."

Anonymous said...

On the Excelerate Kirland project, they require a mandatory 60 hrs per week. They allow you to come in from 7 am - 9 pm during the week, and only 9 am - 3 pm on Saturday (a total of 6 possible hours on Saturday). It's a grueling grind, and they have, indeed, fired people for not hitting 60 hours, as well as for coding too many documents in a day.

Also, the "team leads" are like kapos in a prison labor camp - prisoners (temps) themselves, but under the impression they're "management." They rat out their coworkers and create an uncomfortable atmosphere of mistrust. They've forgotten that they're temps, too.

Matt is the worst example of this behavior. A true asshole.

Anonymous said...

Lexie is the ONLY honest and decent recruiter in NYC. She didn't deserve to get fired and she NEVER went ballistic over it. Always a class act.

Anonymous said...

3:41 PM

Hi Lexie the B !

Anonymous said...

This ought to be a lesson to the c--t not to treat temps like shit, but no doubt she'll treat them even worse instead if that's possible.

Anyway fuck her!

Anonymous said...

Matt is the ONLY honest and decent recruiter in NYC. Always a class act.

Anonymous said...

Who the hell uses the nickname "Lexie" as an adult? I can see if you're a 6 year old girl, but c'mon.

Anonymous said...

The personality type of most who choose law school is terrible. That is why you have assholes like this on every project. I wish I could do this work from home and not see these revolting fuckers.

Anonymous said...

Illegal Alien- 7 bucks an hour. All off the books, of course. 1500x7= $10,000. Pops out anchor baby and/or enters into a marriage of convenience. Collects food stamps, welfare, and Medicaid.
A recent report concluded that in every state in the nation, welfare pays far more than a low-wage job. According to the report, "The value of the total package of benefits [received by AFDC recipients] relative to a job providing the same after-tax income ranges from a high of $36,400 in Hawaii to a low of $11,500 in Mississippi. In eight jurisdictions...welfare pays at least the equivalent of a $25,000 a year job. $10,000 + $25,000=

ILLEGAL ALIEN'S REAL INCOME = $35,000.

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

TTT grad earns $20 bucks hour in some shitlaw factory. $20x1500=$30,000. Shitlaw worker of course has to pay taxes, or he is hounded to the end of the earth by the IRS. $30,000-6,000=$24,000. Shitlaw TTT grad of course gets no health insurance and is "too rich" to be eligible for Medicaid. Food stamps are off the table if he/she was lucky enough to find a job. Sallie Mae of course comes along and gets her huge piece. $24,000-10,000=$14,000

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Anonymous said...

Hmmm...I have to say I'm torn here. I knew Lexie on a personal level for many years and worked on projects with her in her pre-recruiting days. However, with that said, her friends were only her friends as long as they served whatever purpose she had in mind for them. If she felt for one second that she was doing more for you than you were for her, you were out...dumped like yesterday's garbage. God help you if you attempted to befriend or accepted a favor from one of her coveted "contacts" in contract-land. Yes, I was one of the summarily dumped friends.

So, I can't say that I'm sad Excelerate fired her (especially since I made it out of the contract attorney market a year and a half ago and am in a stable job), but I can't support the allegations that she's unethical either. She may have always been out for herself and would never scratch someone else's back before they scratched hers, but I never saw unethical from her.

Anonymous said...

just link the FB page. Just because you don't see the posts where she supposedly "went ballistic" doesnt mean they aren't theyre. They could be locked by her privacy settings.

David said...

I am galled at the lack of professionalism among the people posting on this board! I expected more from attorneys. While I am not an attorney, I thought you would rise above gossip and ridicule. How easy it is for many of you to slam Lexie in such a public forum while hiding behind your "Anonymous" postings. It's amazing how people will kick someone when they are down. I know Lexie as a friend and on a personal level for 14 years and until any of you get to know her on this level, you should not be slamming her in this type of public forum. How unprofessional of you!

Anonymous said...

Hey David F., being packed by Lexie side by side in close quarters, in a poorly ventilated room for 12 hours a day with 30 other people is unprofessional!

Summarily firing people who can't hit 60 hours in a five-day window is unprofessional!

She deserves criticism for these things, as well as for her vile "me first" attitude and backstabbing nature!

As far as hiding behind anonymity goes, it's unfortunate, but necessary. I'm sure most of us would love to own our comments. Since you're not an attorney and thus have never worked in the temp legal business, you know nothing of the ruthlessness of Lexie and all the other agency folks, who just love to play god with people's livelihood and exercise their blacklists, especially in today's economy, where there are probably 7 people for every temp job.

Since most people who were forced into temping must do it to eat and pay bills (since no other jobs are available), we have to bite our tongues and put up with the abuses of the agencies. Blogs like this are our only outlet to sound off about these agency abuses, as well as the other abuses in the legal education-industrial complex.

So have a little empathy and deal with it! If Lexie is such a great person, the issue about her would never have been raised, nor would people have had anything bad to say about her.

Where there's smoke, there's fire!

Anonymous said...

To David F,

You have to realize this board has turned into a bunch of bitter contract attorneys who blame everyone else, but themselves for being fired from a project. It is just the usual "woe is me" nonsense over and over again. It has to be the agency who fired them for no valid reason! It couldn't possibly be that they just can't follow the rules set out by the law firm and it is the law firm who requests them to be let go. Nooooooo....heaven forbid a contract attorney who is fired, be fired for something he or she did!!!!

These sites served a purpose at one point. People like Tom the Temp and L4L were actually using these to expose to the world the dark reality of the doc review world and the lies law schools feed to people about tales of riches and fabulous jobs. Hell L4L put his name and face in the WSJ. That was a long time ago, back when I used to comment/post regularly. Now these sites are no more than a place for shitty doc reviewers who don't do their work to bitch and complain when they get fired. The reason they are fired NEVER has anything to do with them. They always start with blaming the agency for being fired then start rambling on about the "terrible" work conditions and how poorly run the project in. The best is when they start saying something about the project is unethical. As if it is not unethical to sit at your computer billing for 10 hours when you spent 8 of those hours watching videos or playing games.

To All Doc Reviewers,

This is doc review. You know it is long hours, crazy coworkers, shitty working conditions, and that you can be let go at any moment. It's the nature of the business. If you don't want to get canned just follow these 5 simple doc review rules:

1. Do the hours. If the firm wants 60 hours do 60 hours. Don't bitch about it. Just do it. If the firm requires it and you don't do it...guess what? You're ass is going to get fired!

2. Don't be a supercoder. You are not going to get any award for coding 150 docs an hour when the firm is just requesting 60 docs an hour. All you're going to do is code yourself and the rest of the group into the unemployment line. Then the only award you'll be getting is the "douchebag supercoder award" from everyone else you worked with. Come on...don't be THAT guy.

3. If you're doing something at your computer that would get you fired at a firm then it will get you fired from the project as well dumbass!

4. Realize you're a doc reviewer. No one cares that you were a staff attorney at a "prestigious firm" before the project. You're in the doc review room now buddy. Everyone has done something before this too. No one wants to be doing this now, but out of necessity for money have to do it to get by. So get over yoruself. You are not special. You're just annoying! Now shut your ass up and get to coding!!!!

5. We're all in this together. Don't be annoying, weird, crazy, bitchy etc. Everyone in the room just wants to put in their hours then head home. Please don't play with yourself, start randomly crying at your computer, make weird whale sounds, talk about how you molest little boys, or any other nonsense that the rest of us don't want to deal with. If you piss off everyone else in the room then it's only a matter of time before you get the "after hours phone call" about the project ending...for you!!!

Listen doc review sucks. We all know that. Doesn't mean you don't have to still show a little bit of work ethic and actually do your job. If you hate it that much then stop posting on these sites and go look for a job you'll actually like. Then you can go find another web board to bitch on because you got fired.

Sincerely,

Docreviewforlife

Anonymous said...

6:47:

Bravo. That about covers everyone I've ever dealt with in doc review...

Anonymous said...

Fuck Lexie she's a selfish bitch!

What comes around goes around now she wants people to cry for her when she's been doing worse to temps for years.

Anonymous said...

6:47, nice job accepting the status quo with resigned know-it-all-ness.

I think the whole doc review concept is the issue here, not the specifics of which you write. The fact that people graduated from certain schools, like BLS, NYLS, Seton Hall, with no chance of getting any other work than doc review, and not being privy to this essential fact before signing themselves into indebted indentured servitude for life.

For many (obviously not you), life is about more than a mere paycheck. Life is about more than mere paying of bills and survival. Many are looking for fulfilment, since it dawned on them that you only dance on this earth for a finite time, after which it's lights out, goodnight.

All this is compounded by the ruthless, opportunistic temp staffing agencies, who never cease to make a difficult overall situation worse with their behavior and treatment of the doc reviewers who generate their income. That's why people hate them.

Blame the temps all you want, but it's the scamming system that's at fault, and we have the right to protest and be pissed off.

Anonymous said...

David F and Docreviewforlife,

We aren't all in this together. This is especially true when you have fools running projects and favoring their buddies who are bigger fools. These fools are threatened by those who do their work (not supercoders) and don't behave like their on a construction site.

You have certain projects where personality is a factor in deciding who gets on the priv team. Yeah, and race does too. After all, if you're on priv, you last 2-8 weeks longer than those who aren't.

You have agency reps who have no business flipping hamburgers. So, why are they in charge of attorneys?

You have firms without Blacks who treat those Blacks on projects as if they're dirt. At the same time, they treat whites on projects as if they were children of senior partners.

Until the firms and agencies act like they are professionals, why should we not b**ch and moan. I'm not on a hunger strike, my goal is to expose the stupidity of the agencies and firms and their selection of team leads and priv team personnel.

If you don't like this blog, don't visit.

Anonymous said...

Wait a second, 6:42. How are blacks treated like dirt? They make up a majority on every project in NY, especially African and Carribbean women. They get overwhelmingly picked as "team leads" by Hudson and the other agencies. How is that treating them like shit?

How are whites treated like they're 'children of partners' when all the projects are majority black?

No doubt the firms and agencies intentionally select blacks for projects in order to puff up their Diversity numbers, since they aren't represented in firms as associates and partners, but the rest of your assertion that blacks are treated like shit on projects, while whites are treated like gold, is untrue and ridiculous.

Anonymous said...

I didn't know Lexie well, but she seemed pretty cool. I backed out of a project once because a much better project came along, and she was really understanding about it and offered me gigs afterwards. A lot of other agencies would have blacklisted me. She was always really nice to me when I called, too.

Excelerate, though, was at the spearhead of the effort to lower rates, so I don't wish them well, especially since they fired Lexie.

Lexie, if you read this: good luck and god bless!

Anonymous said...

Can't imagine there's more than one Lexie Newman, if this is the same one, I worked with her at a firm in DC, and I thought she was one of the nicest people I was working with, and she was incredibly cute to boot.

ExT@Weil said...

I thought Lexie was as nice as can be expected for a recruiter who works for a firm such as Excelerate (and pretty hot). Their rate was/is significantly lower than everybody else, which made them really competitive with the larger firms who are looking to cut costs/boost profits in this market in places such as project costs. The model seems pretty ripe for profit. She was more proactive than most recruiters I've met--a characteristic that works great in law firms but maybe not in a clubby, startup recruiting firm. I'm guessing either she screwed up a project or her Update pals weren't happy with her on a personal level.

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