March 26th (Morning brief): the greatest client memo … ever, lawyers continue to screw up e-discovery, and the job market in India stinks

The greatest client memo … ever

The Am Law Daily encourages you to go to Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft’s client memo Web page right now to see if the single most bizarre memo we’ve ever seen is still up there — because we suspect it may not have a long life span.

The memo (linked below) is attributed to Steven Lofchie, co-chair of the firm’s financial services department, and it is entitled: “The Manny Ramirez Lightbulb: Also (2 Ideas in 1 Memo) Putting Pay in Perspective.” It begins as a rant about former Red Sox outfielder (now with the Dodgers) Manny Ramirez: “I am enraged! and outraged! plus morally reprehensibled (did I say I am outraged!) that Manny Ramirez has inked another huge contract.”

For full article click here.    Note:  if no longer available via the link above, a copy can be found by clicking here.

Electronic discovery shouldn’t be a big deal, but somehow everyone seems to get it catastrophically wrong

A post from January but worth repeating given the recent e-discovery sanction cases :  Ralph Losey discusses a D.C. Appeals Court decision which affirmed an order requiring a non-party to spend $6 Million (9% of its total annual budget) to comply with an e-discovery subpoena.

For full article click here.

The job market for lawyers in India stinks (sob, sob)

It’s not just U.S. and U.K. law students facing a tougher job market. According to a report from Livemint, a Wall Street Journal affiliate, India’s top law firms are also drastically scaling back their on-campus recruiting.

Over the past five years, Amarchand Mangaldas Suresh A. Shroff & Co, India’s leading corporate law firm, hired some 200 graduates from the West Bengal National University of Juridical Science, lecturer and placement adviser Anirban Chakraborty told Livemint. But this year, Amarchand has only hired three. Luthra & Luthra, another major firm that used to heavily recruit at the school has recruited no students this year. So far, only 36 of 64 students applying for jobs have found one.

For full article click here.