from legal watch blog

Lawyer's Disappearance Remains a Mystery

The disappearance last month of lawyer Elizabeth Calvert, 45, and her husband, John, 47, remains a mystery, deepened by the apparent suicide of the man with whom they were last seen, their former business associate Dennis Gerwing. As we first blogged here on March 10, authorities were baffled by the couple's disappearance from Hilton Head, S.C., where they lived part time on their yacht. Just five months earlier, Calvert had become a partner with the Savannah, Ga., firm Hunter Maclean, after 14 years in-house at UPS, where she had achieved the position of vice president. The Calverts were last seen March 3, meeting with Gerwing, and were reported missing the next day. On March 7, police found their 2006 Mercedes six miles from their residence. Four days later, they found Gerwing dead in a Hilton Head villa in an apparent suicide.

Today, there remain many questions but few answers about their disappearance, according to a story in  the Hilton Head newspaper The Island Packet. The county sheriff's office has been "extremely tight-lipped," releasing little information. But the sheriff told the newspaper that his office is actively investigating the case and following leads. One puzzling question is why Gerwing left two suicide notes, one admitting that he stole from the couple and the other written on a bed sheet and said to be illegible. Reports say the Calverts were planning to confront Gerwing over problems Elizabeth Calvert found in their business records.

Soon after Elizabeth Calvert's disappearance, her law partners spoke out about the mystery, with partner John Tatum telling a reporter, "Everyone is hoping and praying for a miraculously happy ending, but that would be a miracle." Perhaps it is a sign that their hope has waned, but a month after Elizabeth Calvert's disappearance, the firm's Web site no longer lists her name.

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Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on April 9, 2008 at 01:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pulitzer Prize for Legal Writing Prof

Winners of The Pulitzer Prize were announced this week, and among them was an associate professor of literature and legal writing at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. John Matteson, a graduate of Harvard Law School, won the Pulitzer in biography for his book, Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father, the first book to chronicle the relationship between the author of Little Women and her father, Bronson Alcott. In addition to his law degree, Matteson has a doctorate in English from Columbia University. He has practiced law in California and North Carolina, according to Associated Press. An announcement on the John Jay Web site says that Matteson, when asked to comment about the prize, recalled the words of John Steinbeck when he won the Nobel that he felt "wrapped and shellacked." The prize includes a cash award of $10,000.

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Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on April 9, 2008 at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

And the Webby Nominees Are ...

Voting is underway for the 12th annual Webby Awards, honoring excellence in Web sites in more than 100 categories -- among them, law. Called by The New York Times the "Oscars of the Internet," the awards are presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a 550-member group that includes Internet innovator Vinton Cerf, Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington, "Simpsons" creator Matt Groening and media mogul Harvey Weinstein. Through its People's Voice Awards, the Webbys also allow voting by the Web community at large.

Which is where you come in. In the law category, five sites are nominated. You can vote for your favorite by filling out the ballot at the People's Voice site. (You will need to register.) The nominees for best law site are:

• Shearman & Sterling recruiting.
• ABA Journal.
• Jurist.
• LawHelp.
• OUT-LAW.COM.

While you're there, check out and vote for your favorite sites in other categories. At least one other law-related site you will find nominated, in the category Charitable Organizations, is the Innocence Project.

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Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on April 9, 2008 at 12:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Legal Careers: Two Views, Both Bad

Two items in the news today combine to make a single point: Law is a jealous mistress but not always a generous one.

By way of the New York Law Journal comes word of a just-published New York State Bar Association report on work-life balance in law. One striking feature of the report is its scope. The NYSBA's Special Committee on Balanced Lives in the Law, chaired by Syracuse lawyer M. Catherine Richardson, spent nearly three years on the report, meeting with lawyers in all corners of the state, in all types of practices, of all ages, genders and ethnicities. Across the board, lawyers said they found it difficult if not impossible to find balance.

"What struck us as we reviewed the results of these forums was that the attorneys' responses -- regardless of their number of years in practice, size of firm, practice setting, etc. -- were consistent on one central point: They all were having a very difficult time achieving a balanced life in the law. ... Most felt that their life was not balanced (work dominates their time and attention, at the expense of their personal life). Most felt that, at the time they decided to go to law school, they didn't fully appreciate the extent of the demands a legal career would place on them (the number of hours required to be worked each week, the extent to which work would intrude on their private life, etc.). The law is indeed a jealous mistress, and they underestimated how jealous she would be."

Yet the report goes on to say that, with few exceptions, if given a second chance, the lawyers would still  choose a career in law.

Well, at least lawyers are paid well, right? Ask Jeanne Wrenn about that. The 36-year-old Chicago prosecutor, a single mother seven years out of law school, moonlights as a bartender to make ends meet on her $59,000 annual salary. Wrenn is among the lawyers profiled in a Chicago Tribune piece (via ABA Journal) with a title that says it all about the income gap in the legal profession: Two lawyers walk into a bar. One orders a round of drinks for the house. The other one puts on an apron and serves it. Yes, the article says, some lawyers make a fortune, "but these days, far more lawyers make far less than is widely assumed." A Northwestern researcher who studied Chicago's legal community found that between 1975 and 1995, the bottom three-fourths of the profession lost ground in income, while the top fourth jetted far ahead -- and that trend has only intensified in the years since.

Like the lawyers in the New York study, Wrenn might also have made the same career choice if given a second chance. While she sometimes wonders what life would be like for her and her daughter had she gone corporate, she tells the Chicago Tribune, she did not go into public service to become a millionaire. "You're more concerned about doing good than doing well." I'll drink to that.

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Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on April 9, 2008 at 12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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