Patterico's Pontifications

6/21/2014

Patterico and Prestige

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 12:05 pm



Above the Law has this post about the most “prestigious” law firms, in 1998, 2008, and 2015. (The notion of law firms as “prestigious,” by the way, is an amusing example of lawyers’ blinkered worldview. Outside the legal community, who cares if you are working for a law firm that is considered “prestigious”? Yet countless thousands of lawyers toil away in these billable hour factories, consoling themselves with the idea that, while they have no actual lives to speak of, at least they are sacrificing their life force to a firm that is “prestigious.” Anyway.)

There was one paragraph that captured my attention:

Comparing the 1998 rankings to the 2015 rankings, Cravath and Wachtell swapped places, and there was some minor shuffling among the usual top 7. But the #8 firm in 1998, Shearman & Sterling, is all the way down at #28 in the 2015 rankings. What happened, Shearman?

What happened? Why, they lost Patterico! That’s what.

6 Responses to “Patterico and Prestige”

  1. 🙂

    Patterico (9c670f)

  2. Those big law firms are like pigs at a trough.

    I remember hearing someone once say that it’s okay to be a pig because pigs get fed well, but never be a hog because hogs get slaughtered.

    Which reminds me, does anyone know whatever happened to Wesley Slaughter?

    Athletes get paid way too much money these days.

    Speaking of athletes, did you know American Olympic gold medal gymnast Nastia Lukin is the daughter of a Soviet Olympic gold medal gymnast?

    I named my German Shepherd Nastia after her. Imagine that, a German dog named after the American gold medal winning daughter of a Soviet gold medal winning man.

    But those three aren’t hogs or pigs, so they don’t get paid Law Firm billable hours.

    John Hitchcock (1a2204)

  3. Why, they lost Patterico!

    And just how ‘prestigious’ is the LACo DA’s office?
    Though, I suppose getting to put dirt-bags in jail, instead of having to defend (or even work with) them is a plus.

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  4. And just how ‘prestigious’ is the LACo DA’s office?

    In the world of law firm snobbery? Not very.

    When I was interviewing for the job I have, I had offers from a couple of “prestigious” law firms (O’Melveny & Myers, Arnold and Porter, and Irell and Manella) and I told them all that I was going to the DA if I got hired there. They were all very nice and understanding, but I also think they thought I was crazy. In their minds it was like giving up the chance to be mayor to be a garbage man.

    Luckily I didn’t make choices on the basis of “prestige.”

    As anyone would know if they saw my scratched up car with 150,000 miles on it.

    I’m very happy though.

    Patterico (9e9af6)

  5. there is a lot to be said for having a j*b you like…

    of course, in this day and age of Obamamerica, finding *any* kind of w*rk here in #Failifornia is nigh unto impossible.

    redc1c4 (abd49e)

  6. Yeah, civil service protects a lot of slugs, but it does provide nice job security. Rauhauser/Kimberlin style tactics don’t work as well when you have civil service protection.

    Patterico (c5d14d)


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