You know what – change is a funny thing. For me, I can’t wait untill I can watch all my movies and TV shows on…

NEW YORK — The city of Los Angeles is putting banks it does business with on the spot.

The unanimous directive coming from the city council is that banks need to help Los Angeles slow the pace of foreclosures ravaging its neighborhoods …

The Sunday New York Times had great news for students who want to work with the financial services industry. Not a lot of love for the lawyers, but the market for young i-bankers is picking up:

With banks climbing out of the recession, more business students across the country are finding banking jobs and internships, enrolling in finance clubs and going on class trips to Wall Street, universities say.

Unemployment is plaguing millions of families, and the public may still be seething about bank bailouts and eight-figure bonuses. But business students and career advisers see a job market that is quickly stabilizing.

Well, that’s nice. Not only did business school kids choose a professional school that nets them significantly more money when the economy is good, apparently they also chose a career that recovers more quickly after a recession.

Is it too early for law students to begin drinking on a Monday?

For law students, NALP director James Leipold sums it up for the Sacramento Bee (gavel bang: Business Insider):

James Leipold, executive director of the National Association for Law Placement, had two words to describe the market for law school grads:

“It tanked,” he said. “The pipeline is clogged up.”

Granted, the Sacramento Bee tells us that things are similarly tough for both JDs and MBAs in California. So maybe the MBA recovery the Times sees is particularly focused on the east coast big banking market?

But most likely, the Times is just picking up on the subtle signs of recovery that will soon spread through the entire industry:

“There’s reason for students to be optimistic,” said Tracy Handler, a spokeswoman for the M.B.A. Career Services Council, an association of business school career advisers. “Any signs of recovery are modest. But business schools are looking ahead and seeing a light at the end of what is now a pretty short tunnel.” …

“Ironically, this can be a superb time to enter banking,” said Jeff Fischer, the director of career management at the business school at the University of North Carolina, where the number of investment bankers visiting campus has risen 67 percent since last year. “The M.B.A. population is like the end of a whip. When cycles swing up and down, students are the ones who swing up and down the most in terms of employment.”

Hey, speaking of getting whiplash, any chance that clients can start hiring outside counsel and making the legal market swing up again? Let’s hope so.

Job Market Stabilizes for Business Students [New York Times]
Job offers dwindle for MBA and law school grads [Sacramento Bee]
Law Schools Try To Help Graduates Get Work [Business Insider]

Law – Education – Sacramento Bee – Employment – Colleges and Universities

Recent news of mammoth icebergs the size of small U.S. states breaking off Antarctica may sound dire. But those events mostly represent business as usual at the world’s southernmost continent, scientists say.

More on Climate Chan…

* Who would take tax advice offered by one of the sorriest teams in professional sports? [Going Concern]

* Kash opines: “Nowadays, if you’re not on Facebook, it’s possible you don’t actually exist.” Good point. But I don’t think Descartes needed a business card. [True/Slant]

* Digital court makes me cry. [Lawyerist]

* “Do you have any questions for me?” Yeah, “how the hell am I supposed to answer that stupid interview question?” [Law.com]

* The lawyer for the Oscars. [THR, Esq. and WSJ Law Blog]

* Karen H. Rothenberg, the former Maryland law dean embroiled in controversy, will be speaking at Fordham. [Fordham Unversity]

Law – Legal Information – Facebook – Business and Corporate Law – Personal Injury

Court Order Could Halt Destruction of Incriminating Contracting Data On March 12, 2010, the Obama Administration intends to move forward with a plan that could…

You know Sen. Dodd, right? The one who isn’t running again because he’s been involved in too many slimy financial deals for the voters of Connecticut to stomach? The one who pretends to champion the little guy and reform but who always – repeat always – reverses course and backs the banksters.
Now he’s saying that [...]

Jennifer Aniston has entered the perfume business. Aniston has decided to box and scent her brand (insert your own joke here) and sell to the masses who still pity her after the evil Angelina Jolie stole away her husband. Hey, don’t laugh — she definitely still has a demographic.

more Jennifer Aniston after the hop…
While the [...]

Texas attorney Adam Reposa is not shy about singing his own praises. The man registered with the State Bar as “Bulletproof,” after all. He’s not jailproof, though. He was slapped with contempt of court charges for making the “jerk-off gesture” within sight of the judge, and sentenced to 90 days in prison.

After we posted our call for lawyerly business cards, someone sent Reposa’s along:

I’ve attached a copy of Texas attorney Adam Reposa’s business card — a friend of mine got it at a bar last year. I’m not sure if it’s clever — it probably violates 4 or 5 Texas Rules of Professional Conduct — but it is hilarious.

Check out the flip side of the card, which is just as egregious….

We can’t vouch for Reposa’s history of success in client matters. But we must point out that he did manage to get his own 90-day jail sentence shaved down to less than two weeks. He went to jail on February 2 and was released on February 12 (to serve the rest of his sentence at home).

His winning strategy? Knocking up his girlfriend.

If you’re aware of another clever lawyer business card, feel free to email it to us (subject line: “Clever Business Card”).

Earlier: A Very Clever Business Card

Business – Adam Reposa – Law – Texas – Advertising

By CarlFinally, some rational thought from the Federal Reserve:”I think the disagreeable but sound thing to do regarding institutions that are TBTF [ed. note. Too Big To Fail] is to dismantle them over time into institutions that can be prudently manag…

These investigators are doing the Lord’s work. Let’s support them and all continue in our own ways to drive a stake through the heart of the vampire squid.
Goldman Sachs is essentially a parasite that has attached itself to the US government. It gives nothing, takes everything. Now it’s saying that investigative reporters are badly damaging [...]

On its face, this looks like a rather straightforward business card for one James A.W. Mahon, a Canadian divorce lawyer up in the Yukon:

But perhaps there’s a catch, eh?

You saw the “before” picture; check out the “after”:

As one fan of the card explains:

James Mahon’s business card is one card that can also be broken into two equal pieces but preserves all the contact info for both parties in the divorce. I guess he doesn’t want the clients to fight over the card too.

How did the designer come up with the idea?

[W]hen the space you have to work with is 3.5 x 2 inches, simplicity is of the essence. After that, we started exploring different visual solutions for the concept of divorce. We wanted it to have universal quality, so it wasn’t long before the idea of splitting and dividing started working its way into the card. Before long we were searching the city to find a suitable printer to perforate the card to provide its unique interactive quality.

Seeing as we’ve recently received a request for more cards from our client, we can only assume that they’ve been a nice addition to an otherwise not-so-nice profession.

Or perhaps more Canadians are getting divorces?

(Then again, how many people are available to be divorced up in the Yukon? Can you get a divorce from a moose?)

If you’re aware of another clever lawyer business card, feel free to email it to us (subject line: “Clever Business Card”).

James Mahon’s Two-Piece Business Card [Business Card Design Ideas]
John St. Toronto. James A.W. Mahon Divorce Lawyer. [How Did You Come Up With It?]

Divorce – Law – Family law – Relationships – Shopping

Ever feel like you were playing checkers and the other guy was playing chess? That’s the sort of feeling I get often when I watch…

L.A. City Councilman Richard Alarcon is hopping mad about the way his city and his people are being treated by the banking and finance industry and he’s building a template for how to respond to it.