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The current surge in environmental awareness is affecting the way our nation does business, across a variety of industries. [1] The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Changes has come to the unequivocal conclusion that our planet is getting hotter, and former Vice President Al Gore’s popular documentary on global warming has helped to create awareness about environmental issues. [2] Beyond any altruism towards the environment, law firms are discovering that like any other business, they can ultimately profit by taking steps that benefit the environment. [3] This article explores the legal industry's negative impact on the environment, and examines the nature and origin of the sustainability, or “green,” movement throughout law firms today. [More]

Multidisciplinary practices, or MDPs, have long been the subject of acrimonious debate between two opposing campaigns, each citing passionate reasons for why the organizational structure should be formally established or definitively barred. [1] Multidisciplinary practice refers to a professional entity in which lawyers partner with non-lawyers to provide a mix of legal and non-legal services. Efficiency and innovation by this new structure is dampened with fears of conflicts of interest and dilution of privilege. The crucial question as acerbically couched by one scholar has been “whether client and public interests are best served by ethics rules that preclude innovation in joint service delivery enterprises among lawyers and other professionals.” [2] [More]

In a survey by the American Bar Association (“ABA”), an overwhelming majority of lawyers asserted that legal professionals should do pro bono work. [1] Indeed, the Supreme Court’s majority stated in a 1989 decision that “in a time when the need for legal services among the poor is growing and public funding for such services has not kept pace, lawyers’ ethical obligation to volunteer their time and skills pro bono publico is manifest.” [2] Though 93% of attorneys polled by the ABA agreed with this statement, only 66% of these attorneys backed belief with action to do pro bono work, averaging 39 hours a year per attorney. [3]

In this day and age, almost every major corporate law firms has a large pro bono program. [4] These programs are publicized in news releases and in large, splashy sections of their web sites. [5] But is this pro bono policy a central firm policy or mere self-promotion, and what place does it have in today’s modern corporate practice? [More]

In today’s world where every law firm claims to value diversity throughout their ranks and prioritize it as a top concern in recruiting, it is easy to forget that even in the 1960s, Secretary of Labor Willard Wirtz called the American legal profession “the worst segregated group in the whole economy.” [1] According to a 2003 American Bar Association study, slightly more than 89% of all lawyers in the nation are white. The overall numbers of women and minorities at the associate level are improving substantially, but the odds of making partner stay low. [2] Lawyers of color account for less than 5% of partners in all of the largest American law firms, according to the National Association for Law Placement. [3] White males have five times better odds than women of making partner, and seven times better than Asian-Americans or African-Americans. [4] Minority-owned firms provide a greater likelihood for advancement for many associates towards partnership, and the Clinton administration’s programs worked to create a better environment for such firms. [5] However, in recent years a backslide has occurred; legal and political changes have made it more acceptable for corporations and the government to give short shrift to minority-owned firms. [6] Still, without pressure from the government, market forces are causing diversity in larger firms to become a business imperative. [7] [More]

During the uncertain times of World War II, Harvard University’s president was interviewed concerning the condition of the law school. He stated that it wasn’t bad as he had expected, given the war-time circumstances: “We have 75 students, and we haven’t had to admit any women.” [1]

One would think that the legal industry would have made giant strides towards remedying such primitive opinions. On the contrary, a recent Harvard Law survey of large corporate firms found that some male lawyers still drop pencils under boardroom tables as an excuse to look at women’s legs, and take clients to strip clubs where their female colleagues feel unwelcome. [2] Fortunately, not all firms tolerate such behavior. This article aims to examine the obstacles facing women and mothers in the field of corporate law, and what actions some firms are taking to alleviate their unique burdens. [More]

To attain the office of the Chief Justice of the United States is to reach the culmination of a prestigious legal career in public service. It is a guaranteed opportunity to go down in the history books, to impact the world - some might even call it attaining "legal immortality." [1]

But if this is so, why is Judge Judy making more than 100 times Chief Justice Roberts' salary? Her $25 million annual salary [2] makes Roberts' newly inflated one of $212,000 [3] appear as laughable as some of the more ludicrous plaintiffs that walk into her made-for-TV courtroom. [More]