Legal Pad

'Civil Gideon' Proposal Dies — But the Filing Increase to Fund it Stays

Assembly Bill 590, the so-called civil Gideon bill, was gutted late Monday as part of the budget deal hammered out by the governor and lawmakers.

Republicans objected to plans to create a pilot program that would have provided publicly funded lawyers to poor litigants in certain civil cases, legislative sources confirmed.

Under terms of the deal — details of which were still trickling out late Tuesday — the state will still tack on an extra $10 to certain post-judgment fees. But instead of funding the civil Gideon pilot program in 2011, the $11 million generated annually by the fee surcharge will go to the state’s general fund.

“Everyone’s disappointed,” said Julia Wilson, executive director of the Legal Aid Association of California. “It was incredibly significant, both for the legal services agencies and the courts.”

Well, not everyone … after the jump.

AOC: We Did Not Try to Grab More Power Through Budget Bill

As the governor and legislators inch closer to a $26 billion budget-fixing deal, a bit of a mystery has surfaced over draft language that never made it into the court’s budget trailer bill.

It seems that at one point during negotiations among lawmakers, court administrators, union representatives, finance officials and staffers, the unrelated issues of trial courts’ budgeting and presiding judges came into play. And, depending on your point of view, what happened was either inconsequential chatter about technical budget stuff or an attempted power grab by the Administrative Office of the Courts.

You’re hoping it’s a naked power grab, aren’tcha? Read on, after the jump …

Orrick Moves OCI Later, And Tells Current Summers Their Offers Will Be Deferred to '12

Updated: With a link to the memo, below.

Orrick has worked out a way to unclog a logjam of new associates coming through its pipeline: With its fall 2009 class already bumped to join the firm in January or March of 2010 or even 2011, Orrick has decided its current summers who get offers won’t be joining until January 2012.

The firm is also saying it will recruit from campuses starting in November and running through March, instead of the traditional late summer OCI season.

It made both announcements in a memo to law school deans and assistant deans yesterday, which was posted on Above the Law this morning.

“With the fall on-campus recruiting season about to begin, and with many law students needing to make plans and commitments for their future, we knew we had to deal with the issue promptly,” Silicon Valley Orrick partner Stephen Venuto wrote. “Therefore, we decided it was in the best interests of our existing summer associates and fellows, our upcoming new associate classes as well as those students we plan to recruit in the future to make and announce both of these decisions now.”

In a recent story in one of our sister publications, The National Law Journal, it seemed that other firms were advocating this kind of move, too. That all makes you wonder, when will the deferring end?

We’ll have a full story on Orrick’s recruiting change, and reactions to it, tonight on CalLaw.com.

—  Petra Pasternak

State Public Defenders Will Work Through Furloughs

Hit with an executive order to take a third monthly furlough day, the attorneys in the state public defender’s office aren’t exactly plotting more time on the local golf courses.

With court-ordered deadlines approaching in their clients’ death penalty appeals, these attorneys will find themselves working on days they’re not getting paid, said state Public Defender Michael Hersek.

“Those attorneys, regardless of whether we’re opened or closed, must continue working on those cases,” he said.

There's a word for when someone forces you to work but doesn't pay you for it, but it's not used after the jump.

Court Leaders Try To Imagine Budgetless (Immediate) Future

As California crept closer to the 2008-09 fiscal year, lawmakers and the governor appeared no nearer to patching a $24 billion budget hole by midnight Tuesday and eliminating the need for IOUs to go out Thursday. That’s left court leaders and attorneys scrambling to figure out what they’ll do if some of the cash stops flowing later this week.

State Controller John Chiang has said that all court employees will continue to be paid, whether or not lawmakers agree to a budget fix. Less clear is what will happen to the many vendors who provide goods and services to the courts, including contract security screeners and appointed counsel. The controller intends to issue $41 million in IOUs for non-salary judicial branch operations.

Nobody loves a budget crisis, after the jump.

IOU's Still Likely for Courts After Contentious Budget Debate

After a strange, fast-changing day of sometimes fiery, sometimes teary budget debates in the Legislature, the state moved one step closer Thursday to sending trial courts $41 million in IOUs next month.

A large bipartisan majority in the Assembly adopted an emergency package of three bills designed to generate almost $5 billion in cash by delaying payments to schools, universities and other programs.

Assembly leaders said the accounting moves would have left Controller John Chiang with enough money to pay bills for at least several weeks into July, buying legislators enough time to come up with a larger agreement to close a $24 billion deficit.

But the plan was immediately attacked as insufficient by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who threatened to the package. He didn’t need to. Senate Republicans voted down all three bills, arguing that the $24 billion problem had must be solved all at once.

“Stop playing games!” Senate Republican leader Dennis Hollingsworth thundered during a floor speech highly critical of majority Democrats.

“I know you are, but what am I?” — after the jump.

Taking the Lateral Market's Temperature (It's Dead Cold)

BETWEEN JOBS An occasional look at how laid-off legal professionals (and not-laid-off-yet ones) cope with a crisis economy.

If you’ve noticed an eerie stillness on the lateral partner trail, it’s not your imagination.

The job market is especially unpromising for junior partners, according to Southern California recruiter Bill Nason, who says he works with “every firm of consequence” in California that has more than 100 lawyers.

He says junior laterals fell off last fall and have stayed quiet. “There’s no market right now for people with no business,” he said. If you have less than a $1 million book “you better hope your current firm likes you.”

So I’m guessing equity points are totally out of the question? After the jump …

Associate Salary Cuts: The June '09 Edition

AUGUST 5 UPDATE: You've followed an old link. The chart has been updated and moved here.  Follow that link for the latest, or enjoy the June version, below the jump.

Day Casebeer's Suitor Goes Cheap on Associates

With Day Casebeer set to be acquired by Howrey, we wonder what the handful of associates at the little Cupertino firm think about the big changes to Howrey’s associate compensation.

If you didn’t see the news, Howrey announced in a memo (that, like all internal law firm memos, appeared on Above The Law) today that it’s reducing salaries and billable hours for a select group of its young associates, while upping the amount of training they get.

Welcome to Big Law, Day Casebeer associates … after the jump.

Newspaper Targets Remodel of Tiny Courthouse

The publisher of a tiny Northern California newspaper with an unmatched zeal for unearthing public records won a significant legal decision last week that could open new doors to court finance records.

Justice Betty Dawson of the Fifth District Court of Appeal ruled on Thursday that “under the spirit of the California Public Records Act” the Glenn County Superior Court could not withhold documents relating to remodeling work at the Orland courthouse.

The Sacramento Valley Mirror editor and publisher Tim Crews said he’s been trying for months to get information on what he says is remodeling of the tiny courthouse’s 14-feet by 14-feet judge’s chambers. The court, he said, responded with “dribbles and drabbles” of information that led to more questions about the hiring of an interior decorator, the purchase of remote-controlled blinds and other expenses that seemed outlandish for a part-time courtroom in a county that’s home to only 27,000 people.

Great time for vanity projects … after the jump.