2008 Woodie Awards
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Above the Law Gets Down with the Record
Andrea Saenz
Issue date: 9/13/07 Section: News
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Q&A with David Lat
This summer was full of legal gossip big and small, from rising firm salaries in secondary markets to summer associate misbehavior to the saga of a big firm's leaked publicity song - its really, really bad publicity song. The man behind the blog, David Lat of Above the Law (www.abovethelaw.com), talked to the Record about his role at the helm of a "legal tabloid."
Record: Thanks for talking with us, and congrats on ATL's first birthday! First and foremost: Is another hottie contest coming soon?
Lat: Oh yes - thanks for the reminder! But I need to figure out what group to focus on next. Since the AutoAdmit controversy, I've been having second thoughts about hottie contests involving what I call "civilians" - i.e., people who aren't public figures. Speaking for myself, I love publicity, good or bad. But I suppose not everyone feels the same way. Maybe I'll do a second Superhotties of the Federal Judiciary contest. Now that it's clerkship hiring season, it would be timely. If people have suggestions for future hottie contests, they should drop me a line!
Do you write the blog at home in your PJs, or do you put on a clean shirt and go to an office?
I work from home, and I don't bother dressing up - so I guess I'm the stereotypical blogger in his pajamas. My dry cleaning bills are a fraction of what they once were. But sometimes I forget to brush my teeth.
When I'm in Washington, DC, I work out of a home office in my apartment. But I also travel a lot, which is one of the nice things about my job. I can work anywhere I have a decent internet connection. Have laptop, will travel.
Our beloved school's given you a LOT of material this year: We had 1L SectionNameGate, LLM drama over English-impaired party flyers, heckling of the Attorney General, and leaked Law Review emails showing huge internal catfights. What's our deal? Why does so much drama emerge from HLS?
It's so, so true. HLS has generated more items for ATL than any other law school. It reminds me of that Facebook group entitled "Dear Law School: High School called, and they want their drama back." Some events that might not be that exciting in and of themselves become newsworthy simply because they happened at Harvard. My fellow Yalies might chastise me for saying this, but Harvard is still THE American law school. Think of all the law school stories, from The Paper Chase to Legally Blonde, that have been set there.
This summer was full of legal gossip big and small, from rising firm salaries in secondary markets to summer associate misbehavior to the saga of a big firm's leaked publicity song - its really, really bad publicity song. The man behind the blog, David Lat of Above the Law (www.abovethelaw.com), talked to the Record about his role at the helm of a "legal tabloid."
Record: Thanks for talking with us, and congrats on ATL's first birthday! First and foremost: Is another hottie contest coming soon?
Lat: Oh yes - thanks for the reminder! But I need to figure out what group to focus on next. Since the AutoAdmit controversy, I've been having second thoughts about hottie contests involving what I call "civilians" - i.e., people who aren't public figures. Speaking for myself, I love publicity, good or bad. But I suppose not everyone feels the same way. Maybe I'll do a second Superhotties of the Federal Judiciary contest. Now that it's clerkship hiring season, it would be timely. If people have suggestions for future hottie contests, they should drop me a line!
Do you write the blog at home in your PJs, or do you put on a clean shirt and go to an office?
I work from home, and I don't bother dressing up - so I guess I'm the stereotypical blogger in his pajamas. My dry cleaning bills are a fraction of what they once were. But sometimes I forget to brush my teeth.
When I'm in Washington, DC, I work out of a home office in my apartment. But I also travel a lot, which is one of the nice things about my job. I can work anywhere I have a decent internet connection. Have laptop, will travel.
Our beloved school's given you a LOT of material this year: We had 1L SectionNameGate, LLM drama over English-impaired party flyers, heckling of the Attorney General, and leaked Law Review emails showing huge internal catfights. What's our deal? Why does so much drama emerge from HLS?
It's so, so true. HLS has generated more items for ATL than any other law school. It reminds me of that Facebook group entitled "Dear Law School: High School called, and they want their drama back." Some events that might not be that exciting in and of themselves become newsworthy simply because they happened at Harvard. My fellow Yalies might chastise me for saying this, but Harvard is still THE American law school. Think of all the law school stories, from The Paper Chase to Legally Blonde, that have been set there.
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