401(k) Plans

When planning for retirement, you have to consider the long game.

Will you be able to retire from your Small Law firm?

* More about Judge Posner’s unusual questioning in a Seventh Circuit case on sexual orientation discrimination. [Rewire]

* And more from Harvard Law professor Larry Lessig about the Electoral College — this time, a Fourteenth Amendment argument against how it operates, not against the institution itself. [Medium]<

* An analysis of the Death Star as a war crime. [The Legal Geeks]

* Sleep tips for working moms. [Corporette]

* I know you’re dying for more info on Biglaw 401(k) plans. [LinkedIn]

* Post-election, is the Supreme Court back to business as usual? [Empirical SCOTUS]

* New dean for Saint Louis University School of Law. [The Faculty Lounge]

* Tips to stop annoying people this holiday season. [Law and More]

One firm -- guess which one -- has a plan with an average account balance of $2.1 million.

* “You’d think the least attractive school would charge the lowest price. What they’re doing is admitting students with relatively low LSAT scores, and charging them a high price for gambling on them.” According to this higher-ed market analyst, 10 to 15 law schools may close if student enrollment continues to shrink and tuition continues to rise. [ABA Journal]

* Attorneys working at the nation’s highest-grossing Biglaw firms are not only making money hand over fist right now, but they’re going to be quite well off come retirement time, too. The top 10 largest 401(k) plans in Biglaw each have more than $700 million in assets. Which firm came out on top? We may have more on this later. [Big Law Business]

* President-elect Trump’s campaign has filed an objection to Jill Stein’s “lawless, insulting request” for a recount in Michigan, commenting on her “tiny vote total” and noting “voters should not risk having the Electoral College door knocked off its hinges all because a 1% candidate is dissatisfied with the election’s outcome.” [USA Today]

* Just because women make up nearly half of all law school classes, it doesn’t mean they have the same job opportunities as their male classmates — and that’s likely because women are “clustered” at lower-ranked schools, meaning they “start at a disadvantage” when it comes to lifetime professional employment. [DealBook / New York Times]

* Come fall 2017, Seton Hall Law will be one of the only schools in the country and the only school in the New York metropolitan area to offer a part-time weekend program for working professionals. The degree is meant to be completed in four years. How much could eight weekends of class cost per semester? About $39,000… [Daily Record]

* For the first time, a federal appeals court extended First Amendment protections reserved for trained journalists at traditional news entities to bloggers. Yippee, thanks Ninth Circuit! [L.A. Now / Los Angeles Times]

* If you want a Biglaw firm with a really generous 401(k) plan, look no further than Sullivan & Cromwell. It’s the most generous law firm plan in the country, with O’Melveny & Myers in second place. [BenefitsPro]

* A brain-dead patient in Texas is being used as an incubator because a state law requires hospitals to continue life support for pregnant women. Calling this the “cruelest pregnancy” is much too kind. [New York Times]

* Here are some depressing facts: not only are lawyers 3.6 times more likely to be depressed than non-lawyers, but they also rank in fourth place in terms of suicides per profession. Call someone if you need help. [CNN]

* Florida A&M must be absolutely thrilled that the ABA canceled the school’s show-cause hearing. It appears that the law school will be able to keep its accreditation, for now. [Tallahassee Democrat]

* If you’re a parent considering going to law school with a young child at home, congrats, because you must be rich to be toying with an idea like that. [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News & World Report]

* Playboy is suing Harper’s Bazaar for using its pictures of Kate Moss without permission. The men’s mag wants $150K per picture posted on the luxury mag’s website — that’s one lavish lapin. [Independent]

* The rocky relationship between McKenna Long & Aldridge and Dentons is being doubted by everyone, and it looks like Dentons may be on the verge of receiving the “it’s not you, it’s me” speech. [Daily Report]

* Stephen DiCarmine, Dewey & LeBoeuf’s former executive director and resident fashionista, just hired a criminal defense attorney. We trust this man — jailhouse stripes must be so hot right now! [Am Law Daily]

* Skadden cares about its people. The firm is trying to prevent a man who allegedly killed one of its legal secretaries, got high, and then ate six waffles from collecting funds from her 401(k). [New York Daily News]

* Just imagine if this article were written in true BuzzFeed listicle style. It’d probably be called something like “3,742 Words on Why Mary Bonauto Is the Most Awesome Marriage Equality Lawyer Ever.” [BuzzFeed]

* “I think it’s fair to say the hiring plan is kaput.” As we previously reported, the Law Clerk Hiring Plan is dead, and the heat is on to figure out a way to lure federal judges back to OSCAR. [National Law Journal]

Additional thoughts on in-house counsel compensation, from columnist David Mowry.

Lawyers often think that leaving a law firm to go in-house involves a pay cut. Think again....

Is your firm's 401k plan among the best in the industry? No? Take to the barricades, my comrades!

The latest Dewey developments: partner reactions to the proposed settlement plan, how to handle or dispose of thousands of boxes of client files, and pension problems for ex-employees.