Judicial Notice (06.10.23): Get Outta Here

A noisy withdrawal from Biglaw, a familiar face on the Trump case, Cravath's uncertain future, and other legal news from the week that was.

Judge Aileen Mercedes Cannon (photo by Rmesanic via Wikimedia Commons).

Welcome to Original Jurisdiction, the latest legal publication by me, David Lat. You can learn more about Original Jurisdiction by reading its About page, and you can email me at davidlat@substack.com. This is a reader-supported publication; you can subscribe by clicking on the button below. Thanks!

Hello from our place in the Berkshires, where we’re having a family reunion with relatives from Canada. No, they have nothing to do with the terrible wildfires that have been doing a number on our air quality; it’s not exactly a picnic for them either.

Podcasting kept me busy this week. I once again had the pleasure of serving as a guest host on Advisory Opinions, this time filling in for Sarah Isgur and speaking with David French about the uncontroversial topics of God, guns, and Trump. Then on Movers, Shakers & Rainmakers, Zach Sandberg and I interviewed Charles “Chuck” Curtis, a legal industry veteran turned consultant, about lateral partner hiring, including how the process has evolved and the current state of the market.

I made two appearances in the New York Times. First, I was quoted by Ben Weiser in his article about a “cringe-inducing court hearing” before Judge Kevin Castel (S.D.N.Y.) featuring the “ChatGPT lawyers,” who filed a brief full of non-existent cases courtesy of that AI tool; I previously suggested that Judge Castel go easy on them, but that was before I learned about the lying to the court. Second, my demographic analysis of the current class of Supreme Court clerks was cited by former judge Shira Scheindlin (S.D.N.Y.) in a Times guest essay about what women should do to preserve and promote gender diversity if the Court rules against affirmative action.

Now, on to all the other news—including, yes, The Indictment….

Lawyer of the Week: Eli Albrecht.

Meet Eli Albrecht, until recently an M&A associate in the D.C. office of a Biglaw firm. As he explained in an Above the Law interview with Staci Zaretsky, he achieved what he once thought was his dream, after years of billing 2,500 to 3,000 annually: Biglaw partnership. But he turned it down. Why? As he explained in a now-viral LinkedIn post, which has racked up more than 12,000 reactions and 1,000 likes, he was moving up in Biglaw, but missing out on life—such as his son taking his first steps, his daughter saying her first words, and his wife building a successful business.

“Every breathless step I took toward that next title was a step that took me away from those I loved,” Albrecht wrote. “I was losing touch with all life outside of that office, and they were losing touch with me.” So he “stepp[ed] off the hamster wheel” and took “a leap of faith.”

What did he do next? Become a travel photographer (like fellow Gibson Dunn alum Patrick Dykstra), an artisanal ice cream maker, or a legal blogger?

No, nothing that radical. As Albrecht explained in a follow-up post, he loves his work; he just doesn’t want to do it 24/7. So he joined SMB Law, a boutique that’s building “a new model of a law firm” and “puts family first,” according to Albrecht. Will SMB Law succeed? Time will tell, but I’m willing to give Albrecht and SMB the benefit of the doubt. Brilliantly leveraging social media for a routine job move reflects a talent for marketing—which is, for better or worse, a huge factor in law firm success today.

In other happy news, congratulations to Law360’s Top Attorneys Under 40, “176 attorneys under 40 whose legal accomplishments belie their age.” I see a number of names I know, and based on them at least, the list strikes me as legit.

Judge of the Week: Judge Aileen Cannon.

She’s baaack….