17 Jan 2014 at 2:53 PM

Attorney Misconduct, Crime, Drinking, Paralegals, Quote of the Day, Real Estate, Sex, Sex Scandals

Lawyer Makes Millions After Sleeping With His Paralegal. What Happened Next Is… Totally Believable.

By Staci Zaretsky

[T]he defendant’s practice basically consisted of him showing up at the office every now and again to do a closing and then leaving to go drinking or sleep with his paralegal. You can’t do $33 million in business in real estate closings if that’s what your practice consists of.

– Rhode Island Assistant Attorney General Ron Gendron, commenting on former state Sen. Patrick Timothy McDonald’s conviction for conspiring with his paralegal and sometimes mistress, Kimberly Porter, to embezzle more than $160,000 from his real estate clients.

Paralegal Found Naked, Dead in Her Boss and Boyfriend’s Bathtub

Deaths, Murder, Paralegals, Small Law Firms

Paralegal Found Naked, Dead in Her Boss and Boyfriend’s Bathtub

By Staci Zaretsky

Julia Papazian Law

We’ve got some sad news today out of Philadelphia, where Julia Law, a young paralegal, was found dead in her employer’s bathtub. That may seem odd, but as it turns out, Law had been dating her boss, well-known defense attorney A. Charles Peruto Jr., for a month or two, and she had a key to his condo.
Law was supposed to be celebrating her 27th birthday today, but instead, we’re awaiting her autopsy results. Law was reportedly texting with coworkers until 1 a.m. on the day of her death, lamenting the lack of “scented bubble bath” at Peruto’s home. That was apparently enough to invoke police suspicion.
At this time, the cause of Law’s death is unknown, but some observers wonder if the beautiful young woman may have been murdered….

The CBS News Crimesider blog has some of the details on the investigation into Law’s untimely death:

Homicide investigators have questioned Charles Peruto Jr., a high-profile Philadelphia attorney, after his 26-year-old girlfriend, Julia Law, was found dead inside his Center City home Saturday morning, CBS Philly reports.
Peruto is reportedly said to be a witness and not a suspect as of now. Detectives are still investigating the cause of death and have not officially ruled the case a homicide.

Peruto, who has been practicing law for more than 25 years, was described as “crying, hysterical,” upon hearing the news of his much younger girlfriend’s death. Here’s more from the Philadelphia Daily News:

[W]hen Peruto was on the scene and police cleared out, the prominent lawyer made a decision out of respect for his girlfriend: Peruto scrubbed down and cleaned the bathroom, [Richard] DeSipio, [an associate in Peruto's practice,] said.
“He wanted to personally clean the bathroom,” DeSipio said of Peruto. “He didn’t want some stranger doing that. He wanted to give her that dignity.”

Peruto was involved with the defense of some particularly violent alleged mobsters, including Joey Merlino and Nicodemo Scarfo. When you keep company with men like this, trouble is sure to follow. It is possible that someone from Peruto’s notorious client base caught up with his paralegal turned paramour.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the results of Law’s autopsy may be released this afternoon. We at Above the Law offer condolences to both Chuck Peruto and Julia Law’s family during this time of grief.
“Moonstruck” paralegal was lovestruck with her boss, famed defense lawyer Chuck Peruto
[Philadelphia Daily News]Autopsy results possible Tuesday for Peruto’s girlfriend [Philadelphia Inquirer]Julia Law, 26, girlfriend and paralegal of high-profile Phila. attorney, found dead in his home [CBS News]Paralegal is found dead in lawyer’s bathtub [ABA Journal]

Paralegal is found dead in lawyer’s bathtub

Posted May 28, 2013 7:08 AM CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss

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A paralegal who was dating her lawyer boss was found dead in his bathtub on Saturday morning.
An autopsy is being conducted to determine the cause of death for the paralegal, 26-year-old Julia Law, report the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News. She would have turned 27 on Tuesday.
A maintenance worker found Law’s body in the condo of Philadelphia criminal defense lawyer A. Charles Peruto Jr. Richard DeSipio, a friend and lawyer in Peruto’s law firm, told the Daily News that Peruto was staying with friends in New Jersey while overseeing construction of a new home there, and he was “crying, hysterical” on learning of his girlfriend’s death. The couple had been dating fewer than two months.
Peruto is a high-profile lawyer who obtained not-guilty verdicts in more than 200 jury trials, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported in a previous story. He told the Inquirer in a text message that "Julia was a beautiful, caring free spirit hippy, who I was blessed to have known." He also said that, "Words can't express how sad I am to finally have met someone who I believed truly loved me."
DeSipio told the Daily News that Law had a key to Peruto’s condo and she had been texting co-workers up until 1 a.m. the day of her death, complaining that the condo was a real “bachelor pad” because it didn’t have any scented bubble bath.

8 Mar 2013 at 1:40 PM

Biglaw, Job Searches, Paralegals

Unhappiest Job in America? Take a Guess

By Joe Patrice

Workplace satisfaction isn’t quite the hot topic it used to be. In the 90s, everyone got all touchy-feely because an unhappy employee could pick up stakes and move at a moment’s notice. Today, the primary axis of worker satisfaction is, “Am I working?”
But satisfaction surveys still fascinate, and Jacquelyn Smith of Forbes recently posted a new survey from a firm known as CareerBliss that used a multi-factor survey to determine the happiest and unhappiest jobs in America.
Wonder what came in the top spot? Well, OK obviously it was an associate. I’m not going to hide the ball here. If it was anyone else, we wouldn’t be writing about it. But what’s more interesting is who came in the rest of the top 10, because that really puts in terrifying perspective how terrible a job in Biglaw really is….

According to Smith’s article, CareerBliss conducted their research by asking over 65,000 employees to use a 5-point scale:

to evaluate ten factors that affect workplace happiness. Those include one’s relationship with the boss and co-workers, work environment, job resources, compensation, growth opportunities, company culture, company reputation, daily tasks, and control over the work one does on a daily basis.

Right off the bat, recognize how terrible an associate must rate the other 9 factors when compensation is so relatively good — the other jobs in this survey include public school teachers.
So the number 1 worst job overall was “Associate Attorney,” with a 2.89 Bliss score. The picture selection is magnificent, really capturing the soul-crushing ennui of Biglaw.
In second place with a 3.16 is “Customer Service Associate.” Consider for a moment that someone making near minimum wage whose entire job consists of being yelled at by irate people over the phone came in SECOND.
The third least happy camper is a generic “Clerk.” While not exclusively legal, many clerks are in this industry, and it’s those legal clerks surely bringing down the score. Also note the third place job boasts a score of 3.18. The gap between 2 and 3 is .02. The gap between 1 and 2 was .27. It’s more than 10 times worse to be an associate than the gap between Customer Service Rep and Clerk.
Number 7, with a score of 3.38 (5 slots down from second place is still not as large as the gap between 1 and 2), are legal assistants. I’m surprised, because I think of legal assistants as being associates without any of the fun tasks or money. I guess having a buffer between the clients and screamer partners makes all the difference in the survey.
If you’re interested in being happier, it’s worth noting that in some jurisdictions, your admission to the bar allows you to seamlessly transfer to the happiest position in the survey: “Real Estate Agent.” So get out there and start selling lawyerly lairs instead of trying to live in them.
The Happiest And Unhappiest Jobs In America [Forbes]

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• Tags: Biglaw, CareerBliss, Depressing stuff, Depressing Things, Forbes, happiness, Happy lawyers?, Job Satisfaction, Job Searches, Paralegals

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