While teaching, Elizabeth Warren worked on more than 50 legal matters, charging as much as $675 an hour https://t.co/rmnH8wzt1O
— andrew kaczynski (@KFILE) May 23, 2019
He’s passing along someone else’s article. The piece is by @AnnieLinskey https://t.co/l1N9WN7stP
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) May 23, 2019
Annie Linskey has been paid to hate-stalk her since Elizabeth Warren first challenged Scott Brown; she’s got a real shot at being this election cycle’s Amy Chozick. Read anything she produces with that bias firmly in mind.
Stripped of its some people say innuendo, the ‘news’ is that Elizabeth Warren was a very good bankruptcy-law expert, and firms who could afford the best were willing to compensate her accordingly. I guess Trump’s go-to racial slur is no longer working so effectively, so his Media Village defenders are switching to the ‘This woman accepted money from rich people!!!’ kabuki-outrage that worked so effectively against HRClinton. The ‘raises questions’ crap about whether taking money from asbestos manufacturers or Dow Chemical to get the best possible compensation for their victims was extensively pundit-litigated during Warren’s first Senatorial campaign, and it didn’t work then, but no doubt Linskey and her cronies will do their best to make it the new ButHerEmails:
… Warren’s presidential campaign released a list of 56 cases on her website on Wednesday night, revealing a far higher number of cases than Warren (D-Mass.) had previously disclosed and lending detail to an aspect of her career that she rarely discusses in public…
“Elizabeth was one of the nation’s top experts on how to make sure victims hurt by bankrupt companies eventually got paid,” Warren’s website said Wednesday night. “Throughout her career, she worked to help set up trusts and other mechanisms to return $27 billion to victims and their families.”
A nationally recognized expert in bankruptcy law, Warren consulted for more than a dozen committees representing claimants and creditors in these cases, often in partnership with the law firm Caplin & Drysdale, for an hourly rate of $675…
Details about Warren’s compensation were scant in court records. Documents reviewed by The Post showed that Warren made at least $462,321.75 from her work in 13 cases, although the total for those cases might be much higher. Warren has released only her last 10 years of tax returns, and much of her legal consulting work is not reflected in those documents.
The Post found that Warren took on outside legal work in as early as 1991, when she was a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. The work appears to have picked up in 1995, when she joined the faculty at Harvard Law School, and intensified through the early 2000s as she worked on a series of mass tort bankruptcies.
Warren’s roles in these cases varied. At times, she served as an expert witness or filed briefs; at other times, she advised fellow attorneys or represented clients directly. She worked in more than 20 different courts, including the Supreme Court, where she worked on at least eight cases…
Note the new standard, per my emphasis: “only” the last ten years’ tax returns. Sometimes I wish hypocrisy at this level was physically painful.
Honest Question: what is your point by highlighting that a prominent law professor charged the prevailing wage to clients for her do legal work?
— David Rothschild (@DavMicRot) May 23, 2019
I really don’t mean to pile on but would this honestly be a story if it was about a man?
— Neera Tanden (@neeratanden) May 23, 2019
Sorry, I got to “A nationally recognized expert in bankruptcy law” and got sidetracked into a Presidential debate fantasy about a guy who bragged about his clever bankruptcies. Anyway, what were you getting at? https://t.co/RYS8QaJetD
— Schooley (@Rschooley) May 23, 2019
On the Road and In Your Backyard
The Moar You Know
Sorry. $675/hr. is CHEAP for a lawyer with her history and qualifications. Super-cheap. And teachers of any subject have not only the right but the need, both financially and professionally, to take work in their field outside the classroom.
Cheap shot but I expect no less in politics these days.
stinger
Do they think the owner of Mar-a-Lago doesn’t take money from rich people? As much as he can squeeze? Without being a nationally recognized expert on anything?
Nicole
I guess she’s starting to scare some folks.
Insert Grumpy Cat (RIP) photo with “GOOD.”
Major Major Major Major
God I hate our elections.
SFAW
How does she compare to Joan “I never met a strong/accomplished woman I wouldn’t go after” Vennochi? I think I first noticed Vennochi pulling her shit when Shannon O’Brien was running against noted Noted-Politician-with-the-Backbone-of-a-Bed-of-Kelp Mitt Romney, and she has kept it up for 20-plus years.
bemused
Ha, Republicans sneer at competence, so yesterday. Who needs competence when the looting is so easy.
SFAW
@The Moar You Know:
So why didn’t she charge MORE??? Is it because her qualifications are as fake as her Native American “heritage”????
WHAT IS SHE HIDING???????????????????????????????????4???
dr. bloor
Now that Beto has slipped back into the mist from which he emerged, the Eye of Purity Sauron turns its attention to the next most salient threat.
artem1s
@stinger:
this isn’t about Trump, it’s about outing Warren as a neoliberal shill. See, she’s just the same as Biden or Killary. She’s in direct competition with Wilmer for campaign dollars. This must not stand.
Steve in the ATL
FYI this practice is incredibly common with law professors. Yet another nothingburger that the right wing noise machine is trying to make a “thing”. But her emails….
germy
Betty
If the point is that she took work that affected her ability to do her teaching job well, there are many former students who will attest to considering her their favorite professor. One go-to person for that is Congressman Joe Kennedy. Guess that wasn’t an important part of the story. The good news is that this is the best they got.
laura
Burn that witch.
Seriously, misogyny practiced by women chaps my ass. It’s a shame that “Queen of the High School Girl’s Bathroom” pays so well and gets plenty of time and space in our media.
glory b
But her emails!/speaking fees!/billable hours!!!!
SFAW
@artem1s:
I hate how on-target your comment is.
Yutsano
…
They’re counting on the idea that law professors ARE ALSO PRACTISING LAWYERS isn’t common knowledge. EVERY law professor does client work. Why? Because they have to maintain their bar status.
Pardon me while I break all the things.
rp
@The Moar You Know: Agreed. A lawyer with her qualifications at a big firm would charge $1,100-$1,200/hour.
germy
Joe Falco
A candidate who’s bankrupt in every possible way versus a candidate who is also bankruptcy legal expert. It all just adds one more check to the “pro” side of voting for Warren. But do go on, Ms. Linsky, on why I shouldn’t vote for her.
feebog
My dog, the horror. An expert in her field accepting compensation to help ordinary people get their fair share during a bankruptcy. If this is all they can come up with they will be really desperate in a year. Did she cross the street on a red light once?
trollhattan
@laura:
Reminds me of “Heathers, the Documentary.”
@Nicole:
Think this is exactly right. She began her campaign quite a while ago and has been steadily building a presence while actually articulating policy and proposals in a fashion even my tiny brain can repeat. She could be a teacher!
The Moar You Know
@Steve in the ATL: Is this coming from the right or from the Bernistas? I can’t keep track any longer.
Off topic for you: are you licensed to practice in CA? If yes, I could use some offline advice. I’m not sure if you can help but you can probably point me in the right direction.
rikyrah
I remember you telling us that…but, I was looking with a side eye when I just read the headline.
glory b
@Betty: I understand that Katie Porter, of Oreo cookie fame, was a student of hers also.
Porter also worked for Kamala Harris
Gin & Tonic
This is disappointing. Kaczynski (the reporter, not the bomber) is usually better than this.
SFAW
@trollhattan:
So YOU say
germy
Linskey writes for the WaPo. Kaczynski works for CNN.
Liberal media!
(Both their tweets are from the “Just Sayin'” school of ratfuck journalism)
Betty Cracker
Me too. It should hurt at least as much as a hangnail with a side of lemon juice.
germy
Gasp!! The horror!
Thank you Ms. Linskey for bringing this to my attention. I’m now throwing my support to Schultz.
rikyrah
@dr. bloor:
BWA HA HA HA HA HAHA
trollhattan
@SFAW:
Will have you know I totally nailed the final.
dr. bloor
I’m so old I remember when John Adams’s work defending those savage Redcoats blew up his chances at the presidency, and FDR got blown out of the water because he was too wealthy to work for the poor.
No, wait…
Baud
This is nothing. Wait till they leak the amount of credit card points she’s earned.
Percysowner
@artem1s: Plus, since she actually HAS a plan for everything, Wilmer is having to do actual homework and come up with working plans of his own. That has to hurt. He’s so much more comfortable just saying things will happen, without stating HOW they will happen.
rikyrah
And, this is a problem, because?
germy
So Warren’s a hypocrite? Ms. Linskey is Just Sayin’
Betty Cracker
Speaking of Shouty McWaggyfinger, there must be panic at BS HQ because now he’s holding “grassroots fundraiser” events where “donors of all means” are invited. [Politico] Maybe Warren is finally starting to eat his lunch.
Steve in the ATL
@The Moar You Know:
There’s no discernible difference at this point
I am not, but could hopefully point you in the right direction. Adam and Anne Laurie have my email and can give it to you.
Peale
@The Moar You Know: Its a tough call. On the one hand, its a standard right wing “gotcha hypocrisy” about liberals wanting to help poor people while not actually being poor themselves. (Oh the irony). So it could be coming from the right. On the other hand, it reeks of “someone, somewhere earned money from some industry other than marijuana farming and therefore shouldn’t be trusted as pure enough” that I associate with Social!st whiners.
low-tech cyclist
@glory b:
That’s so cool! I absolutely LOVE Katie Porter. She’s wicked smart and knows her stuff. Whenever I watch a clip of her questioning people testifying before her committee, I always say a prayer of thanks that she got elected to Congress last year.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Hahahahahaha.
“Did I say billionaires? I meant trillionaires. They’re the awful ones.”
Steve in the ATL
@germy: @rikyrah: this is exactly what’s needed to fix our economy. Kudos, Senator Professor!
I’m still Team Kamala, though.
germy
@Steve in the ATL: Me, too.
SFAW
@trollhattan:
Are you also a stable genius?
Major Major Major Major
@Betty Cracker:
It is difficult to read the newest Q poll any other way.
Cacti
Lest anyone forget, what originally rankled the press so much about Hillary was that she was the first woman with her own career to be FLOTUS.
Unforgivable.
Juice Box
Well, one thing you can say about Wilmer is that by avoiding any paying jobs prior to entering politics, he remained pure. Sponging off wealthy women does not mar one’s record.
Roger Moore
@Betty:
She did, but not in the way you’re suggesting. I’m sure you’ve heard the old saw about “those who know do; those who don’t teach”. University professors try to avoid that by doing real work in their fields. For scientists, that means doing real scientific research. For MDs, it means maintaining a medical practice. For law professors, that means taking on real cases. I wouldn’t want to learn the law from a professor who had given up arguing cases the same way I wouldn’t want to learn medicine from a physician who had stopped seeing patients.
PST
According to the Paysa site, the average salary of a professor at Harvard Law School is $144,822. Not bad but not remotely close to what top experts could earn in private practice. There is no scandal to the fact that law professors practice law part time, some of it pro bono and some to supplement income as well. It is encouraged. Unlike some side deals, appearing in a case or testifying as an expert is highly public, not something largely under the table. Fifty cases over the course of a career isn’t much if the assignments are limited, like helping with a highly technical brief or appearing as an expert. No one I respect has ever suggested that Warren neglected teaching or scholarship.
Baud
@Major Major Major Major:
What are the numbers? Did the last Q poll have her tied with him, but it was an outlier?
Steve in the ATL
I haven’t fully recovered from last night’s grammar pedant thread, and then I get hit with this shocking news that a lawyer is practicing law and getting paid for it. Thank god there’s a three day weekend coming up!
(On the menu: Caymus, Conundrum, and Dairyman, which is owned by Caymus’ daughter. The son has a vineyard too but his wine isn’t so good)
Steve in the ATL
@Betty: @Roger Moore: this also adds prestige to the law school, so they actively encourage it
trollhattan
@SFAW:
My family’s answer: no and hell no.
If Warren wins out to the nomination we’ll see a doubling-down of our Fabulous Media’s failure to push back on Trump-curious voters who would proclaim, “He’s speaking to me on Policy X and I have no idea where Hillary stands” when in reality her website articulated, in great detail, her positions on pretty much every and any topic. Not once did I hear a reporter say, “You may not heard her position on X, which her website describes thus. Now what do you think of her?”
Yeah, it’s their fucking job if they’re covering politics. Otherwise, do the weather.
Brachiator
WTF? What the ever loving fuck?
Trump has not voluntarily released even a single page of his tax returns, and this fool is complaining that Warren has only released 10 years of her returns?
What standard is this person applying? Oh, yeah, the bullshit standard.
Also, I am so tired of this bullshit that Democrats are supposed to take a vow of poverty in order to prove their authenticity.
At this point, every political reporter and pundit should include his or her salary in the byline to any article they write.
PST
@low-tech cyclist: Further on Katie Porter, check out her Wikipedia entry. She is born on a farm in small town Iowa, goes to Andover, Yale, and Harvard Law, moves on to be a law professor, and eventually runs for Congress in a historically Republican district. She’s only in her forties. Is she a future president?
Gin & Tonic
@PST: Most professors I know (not law) earn something on the side. It’s as common as vanilla ice cream.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
The press is shocked to find out Warren isn’t a strawman Socialist like Sanders. Warrnen is again, being uppity and not doing as the penis says.
trollhattan
@PST:
Have pointed out to more than one detractor that Obama would have arguably been the nation’s top law school recruit coming out of Harvard and instead of going on to enrich himself with a partnership at a top firm, went on to be that community organizer and guy who palled around with terrorists. They can’t comprehend anybody making that informed choice, which makes him instantly suspect.
Dog Mom
@germy: But what are her countertops made of?
PST
@Gin & Tonic:
Indeed it is. The lucky ones with tenure at major colleges and universities deliver lectures and write books. The unluckiest young adjuncts mow lawns and lifeguard. I know some of each.
germy
@Dog Mom:
The finest granite, of course. Only the best for these liberal hypocrites.
Thank you again Mr. Kaczynski and Ms. Linskey.
germy
Meanwhile, in real news:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/05/23/chicago-bank-ceo-accused-bribing-manafort-administration-job/?utm_term=.6c8cc327370b
Anonymous At Work
1. Warren wrote “the book” on bankruptcy law. As in, I have that book on my shelf and it’d be my go-to for her to sign if I could.
2. It’s all about WHITE PENIS with these people. Saying the unspoken part loudly is rude, vulgar and accurate. Beto’s and Buttigieg’s appeal is built on no small part of this.
gwangung
Someone pointed out that law professors are REQUIRED to continue to practice law to maintain their standing.
Huh. Doing work that maintains their license. Imagine that.
Steve in the ATL
@germy: corruption in Chicago? So much shocking news today.
Steve in the ATL
@gwangung: I don’t know that that’s accurate. In Georgia, where I am licensed, one needs only pay his annual dues and take his annual CLEs. One could spend the rest of his time doing nothing but posting about grammar peeves on random internet sites and still be a licensed attorney here.
germy
(wikipedia)
jimmiraybob
This is every bit as devastating as AOC’s college dance video which completely destroyed her political career and drove her into hiding!
Personally, I am now only 110% behind the Professor Senator Warren: a 20% increase that in the conservative regressive reactionary alternative upside-down world of crazy is minus 50 bazzillion %.
Ladyraxterinok
@Cacti: Amen and amen!!
Also, as I remember, the Right went after her nationally before they started nationally after Bill.
PJ
@The Moar You Know: Yeah, I was surprised her fee was so low.
And I am nonplussed by a journalist who thinks a lawyer should not actually work, and make money, as a lawyer. WTF?
The Moar You Know
@Steve in the ATL: I thank you very much for that. I’ll be in touch as soon as they can get that to me.
chopper
675 is a good rate. i deal with lawyers all the time who cough up declarations from experts with far less expertise/name recognition in their field who get paid about that much.
trollhattan
@PJ:
I wonder if they’re shocked when journalists publish books?
The Moar You Know
@Brachiator: I know three reporters. While the vocation is in general reprehensible (I only respect one of the three) there’s no call to humiliate someone like that. Plus, finding out that our national beat reporters make less than a McDonalds manager might undermine the citizenry’s confidence in the press, which would destroy the Republic. //
gwangung
@Steve in the ATL: I was thinking more along the lines of Harvard requiring their professors to remain active, but perhaps it could be expressed more sharply.
Mnemosyne
@The Moar You Know:
The Bernistas specialize in attacks that are technically true but completely misleading, so this attack has a certain characteristic odor of their involvement.
The Moar You Know
@PST: Hope not, because what we need are Senators.
Leto
@germy: Maddow was reporting on this almost a year ago now. Glad the WaPo is catching up and that justice is catching up to the shit bag. All of them need to go down in flames. All of them, Katie.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steve in the ATL: In OH and WI, it is the same.
@PST: Delivering lectures and writing books is part of being a professor the last time I checked. Also, the vast majority of adjunct law professors I know are not trying to make a living as adjuncts. They have day jobs with law firms, public agencies, or corporations and teach a course a couple of times a year – either for fun or because a teaching gig in their area of law looks good on their resume and their Martindale-Hubbell entry.
chopper
@Baud:
well, well. so right as wilmer caves to big money, a wannabe hit job comes out painting warren as money-grubbing. surprise, surprise.
Brachiator
I did not know the degree to which Warren is considered to be an expert in this area. How in the world could the author of this piece think it could be damning Warren?
And as another poster noted, this would be delicious for Warren to allude to during a presidential debate.
FlipYrWhig
@Mnemosyne: @chopper: I thought similar thoughts. Someone on LGM suggested that this had the particular hallmarks of a David Sirota special.
opiejeanne
@trollhattan: Trump’s empty podium on screen while Hillary was giving a speech elsewhere. Unforgivable.
germy
@FlipYrWhig: David does his “best” work behind the scenes.
Gelfling 545
@Steve in the ATL: Necessary, I’d say. Those student loans won’t pay themselves and higher ed salaries being what they are…
Leto
@trollhattan:
I wouldn’t trust them with that either. We’d be getting peed on and they’d talk about localized showers. We need people digging ditches and laying pipe. They’re almost qualified to do that unsupervised.
different-church-lady
Everyone seems to be missing the point of this
articlehatchet-job: “...revealing a far higher number than previously disclosed.”Her making a lot of money is just a value-added thing. The true payload is “She’s shady and trying to hide things.”
It’s gonna be really sad to see the WaPo become the NYT of this cycle.
Baud
@different-church-lady:
Good and important point.
Major Major Major Major
@Baud: newest: https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2622
Compare: https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2611
different-church-lady
@germy: Well yeah, that sounds like a totally objective reporter speaking…
Leto
Here’s an article talking about issues with forced arbitration, sexism, and discrimination in the video game industry. Something that DPS Warren has been discussing for ages, but more importantly HAS A PLAN FOR!
Kotaku published an investigative report last year detailing sexism and discrimination within the company. Currently, the fight against forced arbitration revolves around two women attempting to take action against Riot for gender discrimination. Jocelyn Monahan, one of the walkout organizers, describes time at Riot now measured as “pre-Kotaku and post-Kotaku” report.
“I think that this particular set of actions raised our focus on arbitration just because it’s such a clear, concrete thing that can be changed to increase trust between workers and management here,” she says. It’s a straightforward step that could help women and minorities at Riot feel safer at their workplace.
Riot’s woes are well-documented, but its problems are not unique in the game industry. Sexism, workplace abuse, and general misconduct by executive powers are a reality of gaming or larger tech companies. But employees banding together to protest has become a flashpoint for the industry, a public example of how unified workers can fight for rights. Monahan says that organizers want game developers at large to understand that they too can come together, collectively bargain, and help other workers who might otherwise feel isolated and without options.
J R in WV
@Betty:
One more former student, former law professor and Congresswoman Katy Porter, she who made Ben Carson, former neurosurgeon, nearly cry by showing his incompetence in the area he should be regulating and managing. “Oreo”? he said? NO, R. E. O. Secretary.
Brachiator
@Cacti:
I’m not sure this is entirely correct. Also, was Hillary still practicing law while Bill was governor? Nancy Reagan had an earlier career as an actress, Laura Bush was a teacher, Betty Ford was a model and did other work, etc. I suppose most of these women gave up their careers to help support their husbands’ political campaigns.
But yeah, Hillary Clinton just was not the right kind of woman, mother, wife, etc., for her enemies.
brantl
@stinger: He’s a freaking master-class expert on grifting, doesn’t that count?
Chyron HR
I, for one, am outraged to learn that Senator Warren spent all of her small donors’ campaign contributions on buying copies of her her own book from herself and then bragged that she deserves to be a millionaire.
(frantic whispers come from off-stage)
Oh… Never mind.
Just One More Canuck
@Steve in the ATL: be strong
The Moar You Know
@Mnemosyne: shitty weed and permanent virginity?
rikyrah
???
One of Bernie’s top supporters and surrogates claims that @KamalaHarris is “bought.” In America. In 2019. I have a serious problem with this frame. ? pic.twitter.com/joRH60t2DV
— Tom Watson (@tomwatson) May 23, 2019
Wapiti
@Brachiator: I don’t know about Harvard, but Stanford has a position/goal that they hire professors who are in the top 5, nationwide, of their area of expertise.
So yeah, Senator Professor Warren is almost certainly near the top of the field.
waspuppet
(Warren starts talking about this aspect of her career in public)
Annie Linskey: WHEN will this woman STOP talking about HERSELF?!?
Immanentize
I’m such a dummy that I practice law and work on cases in addition to teaching — but they are all friggin pro bono cases!
Omnes Omnibus
@Wapiti:
So they poach people from other schools and don’t raise their own from baby professors? That seems like a way to ensure that that your school will tend towards mainstream scholarship and will avoid cutting edge theorists, etc.
Princess
@Brachiator: I wish you were right, but you are dead wrong. Hillary Clinton worked for the Rose Hill law firm while her husband was governor, as did Vince Foster. Those names may ring a bell. The GOP took direct aim at her work at the firm in the Whitewater investigation and have never shut up about it.
JustRuss
Really?! Howzabout for context, fairness, and Both Sides!!!, we mention the number of tax returns released by the last two Republican candidates? That would be zero and two, which I’m led to understand is a lot less than ten. Even when you combine them.
tokyokie
@Wapiti: A quick check of her name in the books section of amazon reveals that she authored or co-authored case books and subsequent supplements on commercial transactions and bankruptcy. Publishers tend not to hire nobodies from third-tier law schools to write those sorts of textbooks.
mrmoshpotato
@Betty Cracker: “It’s still a grassroots fundraiser! I’m just inviting millionaires and billionaires! Now I will proceed to wag my finger in your peasant face!”
Immanentize
@Princess: And she kept her original last name, Rodham, all that time.
Mnemosyne
@Leto:
Animators have been telling other CGI artists for YEARS that they need a strong union, too. Every studio knows that the Animators Guild is not to be fucked with.
Sounds like they’re finally waking up.
Steve in the ATL
@Immanentize: you can’t fix stupid!
Brachiator
@Princess:
I asked whether Hillary worked while Bill was governor. I did not say that she had put her career aside at that time.
Thanks for the details.
Mnemosyne
@Princess:
In Al Franken’s book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, his researchers discovered that the “missing documentation” that Republicans kept blathering about was ON THE REVERSE SIDE OF THE PAGE.
They were double-sided forms and some jackass only copied one side, giving Republicans years of “what is Hillary hiding” fodder.
Steve in the ATL
@Mnemosyne: @Leto: there are many industries that cry out for unions. Half a century of right wing demonization of them has decimated (lol) unions and hurt a lot of workers who could have used that protection.
You guys like to libel me as a union-busting management stooge, but I’m a hardcore liberal!
Leto
@Mnemosyne: Totally agree. Shitty labor practices in the video game industry has been standard since the Atari 2600. Maybe they can join the Animators Guild.
@Steve in the ATL: The lie detector determined…
?
Kent
Maybe in today’s dollars. But wasn’t this 15-20 years ago when $675/hr was real money?
Kent
@Brachiator:
Has there ever been a first lady who worked a second paid career while actually serving as first lady and living in the White House? I don’t think so.
There have, however, been Second Ladies doing it starting with Jill Biden and now Karen Pence.
Betty Cracker
@Major Major Major Major: Hadn’t seen that poll, but it may explain the massive bro meltdown on Twitter. Sanders’ faltering campaign is really separating the Bernie 2016 supporters who were in it for big solutions to wealth inequality from the straight-up cultists.
Sure Lurkalot
@germy:
….the largest transfer of wealth from the richest Americans BACK to the middle class FROM WHOM THEY TOOK IT.
The Moar You Know
@Kent: I assume this was around a decade ago, but let’s go with two: $675/hr. for a top-ranked Harvard Law professor would have been cheap even back in 1999-2000. If you’ve never dealt with the legal profession, I get why $675 an hour seems like a lot of money. In that world, it just isn’t.
I hope to never deal with the legal profession again, but if I do, at least this time around I’ll know what it’s going to cost.
Kent
@The Moar You Know:
Yea, I don’t really know either. I’m just pointing out that $675 back then would be over $1k/hr today. Whether that is high or low I really don’t know. I would think it would also depend on whether expenses were also covered and that sort of thing.
burnspbesq
@Kent:
Even a number of years ago, $675 wasn’t top of market. In certain specialties (white-collar defense, cross-border M&A), four-digit hourly rates were pretty common by 2005 or so.
O. Felix Culpa
Women are supposed to work for free. Getting paid for expertise and value offered is a man’s domain. The screeching misogyny makes me want to spit.
Kent
@burnspbesq:
Is bankruptcy law a top-of-the-market specialty compared to something like say mergers and acquisitions? I mean, by definition, your clients are bankrupt or trying to extract resources from bankrupt companies. I really don’t know. I have no idea the answer to any of this. I’m just skeptical of people coming up with spin that she was either overpaid or underpaid or whatever. I have seen no actual evidence that she wasn’t paid ordinary appropriate market wages for work done.
Villago Delenda Est
Annie Linsky, welcome to the tumbrel manifest.
Omnes Omnibus
@Kent: Lawyers’ hourly billing rates do not include expenses. Warren’s hourly rate was entirely reasonable given her status and level of expertise.
Fair Economist
@PJ:
He’s a conservative and Republican. Of course he’s delusional or lying. No other kind at this point.
Fair Economist
@Kent:
If it’s corporate bankruptcy it is. There is a lot of money tied to fairly esoteric decisions about creditor precedence and recovery plan viability. Personal bankruptcy not so much unless the person has a lot of assets, in which case see above.
burnspbesq
@Kent:
Bankruptcy is multiple markets. You can drive down the main drag in any decent sized city and find folks who will do consumer Chapter 13s for not much more than you would pay H&R Block to do your 1040. At the opposite end of the spectrum, when Fortune 500-sized companies with multiple levels of secured and unsecured debt try to use Chapter 11 to selectively fuck only certain of their creditors, four-digit lawyers are commonplace, along with expensive consultants to manage claims processing and stakeholder communications.
Villago Delenda Est
@different-church-lady: Villagers are incapable of doing their jobs in good faith. They are tainted with the disease of Broder, and Republicanism.
Gin & Tonic
@Omnes Omnibus:
Indeed. So, in your experience, are “hookers” and “blow” expensed as separate lines, or are they combined as one?
louc
Frank Luntz of all people defends her rates. That’s honestly pretty cheap for freelance legal work by someone whose authored textbook is still being used in law schools nationwide.
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: I would put them under research and office supplies respectively.
Anne Laurie
@SFAW: Vennochi is paid to have opinions, and her work is labeled as such. Linksey pretends to be an ‘objective’ journalist — although that seems to be the new standard, for her generation of ‘reporters’; too many of them are either stenographers or covert assassins-for-hire.
Anne Laurie
@dr. bloor:
Potent reminder, thanks — Tom Jefferson’s fanbois never got over the ‘indignity’ of the Boston Massacre case!
Lumpy
I support Elizabeth Warren, but I think the pertinent issue is that in some of these cases, she may have been fighting for the wrong side, so to speak. In one instance listed in the article, defending corporate interest was explained as “fighting to save jobs”. Kind of working both sides of the fence.
I don’t care about this – lawyers are paid to defend sometimes odious interests – but lets understand the underlying problem. This kind of stuff runs counter to her “brand” as a defender of the working person.
Brachiator
@Lumpy:
What she did as an attorney is reasonably different from what her constituents should expect of her as a Senator or as a presidential contender.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Desperate, sad hit job by empty suit Wilmer.
Warren should plant an article on Wilmer’s corporatist investments with job out-sourcers on Wall Street
apocalipstick
@PST: Even the tech administrator at the local high school has an IT business on the side.
pinacacci
Postscript to a dead thread: WaPo changed the story and headline. A second reporter’s byline has been added. They took out the line about releasing “only” 10 years of tax returns. They changed the sentence about her pay to reflect that it was at or below normal rates. And they changed the headline to emphasize she didn’t disclose ALL of her casework: instead of trying to get people to scream about her hourly rate (since so many must have pointed out it was not at all exorbitant), they’re trying to get people to scream about her hiding things instead. Somebody is still working very hard to twist her history to paint her in a negative light, but they’re having a hard time because she’s not corrupt. Thought WaPo was better than this but at least they made some corrections. (Yeah I read both the original and the current story and the changes leapt out).
On a positive note, at least WaPo DID make some changes.