"I can also tell you the five elements of a tort if you'd like ..."
More bad news for ‘09 law grads still looking for work — the Strib, which itself announced today that it was shedding another 100 jobs, reports that there will be fierce competition for a smaller-than-usual pool of seasonal jobs as belt-tightening continues through the holidays. These are the types of jobs that in the past might have helped a recent grad stay afloat as he/she searched for post-graduation employment.
Any kind of an advanced degree — particularly a law degree — can be more of a hindrance than a help in getting low-level retail and other types of positions that job seekers sometimes take to pay the bills while they look for employment in their field. Employers assume — and probably rightfully so — that the job candidate will only take the position until something comes along in his or her field. With seasonal jobs, a JD or other advance degree has less of a “stigma” on the application because the employer does not expect the employee to stay beyond the short term. The reduction in those kind of holiday jobs could not have come at a worse time for unemployed JDs whose funds to pay their living expenses during their job search may be becoming depleted. (In better years, law grads without jobs might find temp work doing something at least law-related, such as document review. However, there are many more applicants than jobs for that kind of work right now.)
The whole thing does bring up an interesting point. Law grads are at a real disadvantage in getting subsistence jobs when they need them to tide them over during a job search. The idea of hiring a new lawyer to stock shelves or ring up purchases is too much for potential employers to fathom, even though law grads have to eat and pay rent like everybody else does.
The Minnesota Supreme Court Historical Society will have its first ever membership reception on Tuesday, Nov. 17, at the Minneapolis Club. The event, which is scheduled from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., will include remarks by Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Eric Magnuson.
Members of the society are invited free charge. (Annual membership dues are $50, with a 50 percent discount for public and public-interest employees. You can join at the group’s website, http://www.mncourthistory.org/, or at the event.)
Society Members can bring a guest for $25. Guests who join the Society can attend the event for free. Parking at the Minneapolis Club, 729 Second Ave. South, is free.
For more information about the event, go to the group’s website or call Susan Torkelson at (612) 373-8389.
Part of the claims emanating from the collapse of the 35W bridge have been settled with payment of an amount greater than the insurance limits by PCI, the contractors who were working on the bridge when it collapsed on Aug. 1, 2007.
Other claims are still pending against URS and Jacobs, both engineering companies. Further details of the settlement were not immediately available.
The settlement was approved today by Hennepin County District Court Judge Deborah Hedlund. One million dollars will be paid to the state of Minnesota and the balance, which was not disclosed, will be divided among the other claimants.
If receiving recognition from the White House is an indication that a program is a success, then last week’s pro bono celebration was a hit.
Nearly 600 events took place across the country during the American Bar Association’s first National Pro Bono Celebration week, Oct. 25–31. In a letter dated Oct. 30, President Barack Obama expressed his “deep appreciation” to all who participated in the celebration.
“Pro bono lawyers work tirelessly to break down barriers to opportunity and justice, volunteering countless hours to provide critical legal services to our most vulnerable citizens,” the president wrote.
According to Mark Schickman, chair of the National Pro Bono Celebration Week, law firms around the country hosted events to recruit more pro bono lawyers, state and local bar associations offered legal clinics and law schools presented discussions on such topics as domestic violence and bankruptcy. Here in Minnesota, a variety of similar events were held throughout the week.
While certainly a lot of local lawyers do a lot of pro bono work already, hopefully the events, seminars and receptions held last week inspired even more to begin pitching in.
The Minnesota Supreme Court has increased the annual lawyer registration fee by $100.
In an order issued yesterday, a sharply divided high court determined that a large portion of the increase, $75, will go to support the state’s public defense system, with the remainder going towards the funding of legal services for low-income Minnesotans. The increase is temporary, beginning with fees due Oct. 1, 2009, and expiring with fees due July 1, 2011.
Chief Judge Eric Magnuson, writing for the majority, said that the court was making the temporary fee increase “reluctantly” in response to the exceptional financial circumstances currently facing the courts and the state. The chief justice wrote that the fee increase falls within the court’s “inherent power to regulate the practice of law.”
Justice Paul Anderson concurred with the decision, but wrote separately to express his reluctance to fund the public defense system in this manner and express his disappointment that Gov. Pawlenty and the Legislature have failed to adequately fund a constitutional mandate by “appropriate means.”
Justice Alan Page dissented, contending that the court does not have the power to impose what is essentially a “tax” on lawyers to fund the public defense system. He also wrote that the decision to do so is “bad judicial policy.”
Justices Helen Meyer and Lorie Gildea also dissented.
Lawcast takes a look at the latest legal news and previews stories that we will be covering in our upcoming issue of Minnesota Lawyer. Brittany Storoz reporting.
Senator Amy Klobuchar has recommended to President Obama that he nominate U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan Richard Nelson to an open seat on the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. The seat was formerly occupied by U.S. District Court Judge James Rosenbaum, who is now on senior status.
The Hennepin County Board of Commissioners is scheduled to vote today to rename the law library after Anne W. Grande, who, as local lawyers know, is the library. Grande, who is now on medical leave, has served as the law librarian since 1975, meaning that she was there when the library moved into its current digs in 1976.
Grande earned a B.S. from Iowa State University, a M.L.I.S. from Simmons College and an M.B.A. from the University of Minnesota. She has served as president of the Minnesota Association of Law Libraries and has been active in the American Association of Law Libraries. Minnesota Lawyer recognized her as an unsung legal hero in 2008. She has been of immeasurable assistance to countless lawyers.
We recently ran a story about a defendant whose misconduct in defending a railroad death case was found to be so bad that state District Court Judge Ellen Maas assessed more than $4 million in sanctions against the company. The underlying litigation had involved four young adults killed at an Anoka railroad crossing when a train slammed into their vehicle. Despite the railroad’s tactics in obstructing the plaintiffs’ case and in losing or destroying evidence pertaining to an allegedly faulty signal, the families prevailed, obtaining a $25 million verdict against the railroad.
The defendant in that litigation was Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp., which, it was just announced, is being procured by Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffet’s company) for a cool $34 billion. (Yes. that’s billion with a “b,” as in “Buffet’s got big bucks.”) One hopes that the Oracle of Omaha will take a hard line against the kind of shenanigans that happened in the BNSF litigation and, pardon the expression, help get the company back on track.
If receiving recognition from the White House is an indication that a program is a success, then last week’s pro bono celebration was a hit.
