Fall Recruiting Open Thread: Vault 41 - 50 (2010)

Fall Recruiting Open Thread: Vault 41 - 50 (2010)

As we finish off the Vault top 50, we look at some firms went through some tough layoffs.

Here's the list:

41. Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe
42. Baker & McKenzie
43. Goodwin Procter
44. DLA Piper
45. King & Spalding
46. Jenner & Block
47. Dewey & LeBoeuf
48. Proskauer Rose
49. Vinson & Elkins
50. Irell & Manella

It might not look like it, but there is a lot of carnage on this list. Orrick is down four spots. Proskauer is down four spots. King & Spalding is down 3 spots.

And many of the firms here that are marginally up or holding steady still went through significant layoffs.

After the jump, Law Shucks offers some stats.

Law Shucks reports that the firms ranked #25 - #50 by Vault laid off twice as many employees as the firms ranked #1 - #25. So evidently being "prestigious" has a positive effect on hanging onto a job.

The firms in today's batch of the Vault rankings had particularly brutal numbers in terms of layoffs:

That empty column for Irell might have something to do with the firm jumping up ten spots from last year. Vinson & Elkins also made a solid four spot improvement.

Will the firms that had mass layoffs be able to rebound next year? It could depend on whether or not they can keep all of their people through the first quarter of next year.

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Non-Sequiturs: 08.31.09

Non-Sequiturs: 08.31.09

* Corri Fetman is back. But it appears she's keeping her clothes on this time. [Love Lawyer via My Law Life]

* Would you light my candle? [Overlawyered]

* The Great Massachusetts law firm sponsored clerkship solution is in fact as unethical as it sounds. [WSJ Law Blog]

* Yeah, it wasn't going to be long before auto insurance companies used GPS against you. [Blackbook Legal]

* Scalia and Breyer could be coming to a laugh factory near you. [Holy Hullabaloos]

* Count me as a solid believer in the experimental route of life. [Law Dork 2.0]

* Did anybody else realize today how totally dependent they are on Gmail? I feel like the Sun suddenly stopped working, and I'm just about willing to sacrifice a virgin if it will please the Google Gods. [Tech Crunch]

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Taxing Stupid People

Taxing Stupid People

If the power to tax is the power to destroy, then shouldn't we at least try taxing stupidity? They're thinking about doing it in France. From Going Concern:

Our frog eating friends have decided that they will start taxing people for their stupidity:

"The French Foreign Ministry is proposing a very narrow law requiring citizens foolish enough to wander into international danger zones, regardless of public warnings, to pay at least part of the cost of their own rescue."

If you wander up a silly mountain and get stuck, it is civilized to have somebody go and try to find you even it was your own damn fault. But that doesn't mean society should have to foot the entire bill for your weekend warrior shenanigans. Right?

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Don't Major in Criminal Justice If You Want to Go to Law School

Don't Major in Criminal Justice If You Want to Go to Law School

We have some interesting statistics that suggest legal sounding majors -- like Prelaw or Criminal Justice -- have a negative relationship with LSAT performance.

Courtesy of Tax Prof Blog, Professor Michael Nieswiadomy of North Texas, has given us average LSAT scores broken down by 29 differed undergraduate majors.

The bottom of the list is very interesting:

25. Education: LSAT = 149.4
26. Business Administration: LSAT = 149.1
27. Health Professions: LSAT = 148.4
28. Prelaw: LSAT = 148.3
29. Criminal Justice: LSAT = 146

A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing. But is there something going on in criminal justice classes that makes people unable to complete a logic game?

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