that is the dumbest video I have ever seen!

That was....horrifying.

I was going to criticize because about 90% of the folks in suits were men. But then I saw that they had female cheerleaders -- there were a lot of women in t-shirts cheering on the men in suits -- which I guess is their effort at gender equity.

This is like a car wreck I can't stay away from. I decided to play it again, with frequent pauses, to count the male/female ratio. I may've missed one or two, but I counted 14 men and two women in suits. That excludes the numerous women in t-shirts and the male "coach." I really and truly hope they face a sex discrimination suit -- whether glass ceiling or hostile work environment or discriminatory work assignments -- and have to deal with this video getting admitted into evidence.

Hey, was that Ted Kennedy running in with the other guys?

I thought that looked like Kennedy too! But he hasn't acted like a drunken frat boy for several years, unlike the men of Jenkens & Gilchrist, who apparently think that running a law firm is just like running a kegger.

I worked at J&G's Austin office for two years before I went to law school.

Yes, that was pretty dumb.

The people on the sidelines are support staff. I recognize several people, including "Ted Kennedy" if you mean this guy:

http://jenkens.com/jenkens/attorneybio.asp?attorneyid=82&pgid=212

He's actually quite nice, not at all given to drunkeness or frat-boy behavior. I think if I were a female lawyer in that firm, I would have called in sick on the day they shot that video.

"Where every day is game day." Translation: you will be working 7 days a week here.

That's funny. Yeah, I didn't mean to single out that guy -- I don't know him; I shouldn't assume that everyone portrayed in the video thought "this is a great video" (much less is a drunked frat boy); and he looks a lot less like Ted in his official picture.

I cannot find the video on the J&G website. Is it still there? How do you know it was used for recruiting attorneys?

If you click on the link "Austin office," you'll go to the Austin website. The video is in the middle of the screen labeled "Employer of Choice." The title sort of gives it away, but I was also told by attorneys in Austin that it was a recruiting video.

Talk about white bread! I saw one lawyer who was black. Didn't see any black support staff. Didn't see anybody I could identify as hispanic, either in the support staff or the attorneys. I can tell you Austin has a vast number of hispanics! Isn't this a diverse team?!!!!

That was among the most horrifying videos I've ever seen. Eric.

I'm the PR Manager for Jenkens and just wanted to clarify the purpose of the video. A few weeks ago the Austin office was named "One of the Best Places to Work in Central Texas " by the Austin Business Journal . As a nominee, the office also qualified to compete against other nominees for the "Most Spirited Company" award . Our video was judged against video entries submitted by numerous other nominees. Most of the videos that were finalists showed a sense of humor like ours did. The office won the competition with its production. And yes, we obtained the rights to use the music.

As for diversity, The Austin Chronicle reported last week that Jenkens & Gilchrist received an "A+" in the sixth annual minority-hiring report card compiled by the Austin Black Lawyers Association and the Hispanic Bar Association of Austin for the Austin office's high percentage of minority attorneys and student law clerks.

The point isn't (a) whether it won an award or (b) whether Jenkens employs minorities. The main issue here is the gender problem. And I don't just mean the "numbers," the 1950s image of a 90% male group of lawyers being cheered on by adoring female support staff.

Jenkens is consciously conveying the image that they envision themselves as a football locker room, complete with the firm being run by a gruff-talking male football "coach" and the lawyers preparing for their legal work with a testosterone-addled, grunting "huddle."

The hiring market is heating up, and female law students/junior associates now have options. What is the video saying to women about their odds of fitting in, when this is the culture? What does the "leader as gruff football coach" say about their odds of making it into a leadership role?

I know J&G's answer will be, "that's ridiculous, we give equal opportunity to everyone, and we have women at the firm." And I see that your female associate statistics have increased from extremely poor (33.9%) to mildly close to acceptable (43.7%), though that easily could be a one-year blip; and while partner diversity always lags associate diversity a bit, I'm not convinced that jumping from 13 to 14% female partners is that impressive.

Basically, J&G is alienating a lot of women with an ad that says, "come to J&G -- it's just like a male-dominated football locker room." If you don't care about that, or don't believe me, consider that this likely would be discoverable in any gender discrimination suit the firm faces, and it doesn't look good. There are numerous employment discrimination cases in which this sort male-focused, male-dominated culture buttressed a woman's gender discrimination claim.

scott, you're not going to get laid on a message board, you know.

Damn, if only, before getting married and having my first child, I could have benefitted from the romantic advice of someone with the wisdom and forthrightness to offer unsolicited advice/insults under the name "bigchico".... Say, don't you have another 3000 hours to bill at Jenkins & Gilchrist to make your quota?

The thing that is so worrisome is that, in this day and age, the leaders in this firm could be so clueless about how non-whites, non-males, and non-jocks would view this video. The video is shocking and the lack of sensitivity even more so. Wow!

If J&G has so many minority and female lawyers, why weren't they in the video. Must be because they have better taste than white males & Texans. Very tacky video. One for the Hall of Shame.

I used to practice at a large frim in San Francisco. I now practice criminal law and death pealty habeas law in Central Texas and this remided me of why I made the choices that I made. I still cant stop laughing at these guys.

You must be kidding me Mr. Moss. Apparently the concept of a droll video has no place in the legal profession in your opinion. And that is just that, your opinion. However, when presented by the facts that Jenkens actually is quite impressive in terms of its number of females employed as associates and law clerks within its offices (especially when compared to other "big" firms) you scoff it off and retort by stating that they "consciously convey the image that they envision themselves as a football locker room." Why do you go to football? Why not soccer or basketball or other sport that are no longer male dominated (and a number of women I have talked to about this are more offended by your assumption that women do not relate/cannot be part of a sports environment)? Does that not fit your agenda as well? Oh, maybe it is because players in suits more closely resemble football players, then say basketball or soccer players. Yeah, I bet that's it.

Assuming for a second, however, that this actually was a football scenerio, did it ever occur to you that Austin is in the middle of Texas (a little geography lesson to boot) and that Texans love their football? Yes, Mr. Moss, even Texan women love football. Thus, since this video was made, apparently, as a form of showing office spirit, it would seem that a video like this would have been particularly relevant to its intended audience. After all, it did apparently win. Hmmmm. That is strange.

I've discussed this issue with my wife, who is an employment attorney specializing in employment discrimination defense work, and she has assured me that this video is in know way as damning as you seem to make it out to be. In fact, she stated that, being a teacher at Marquette, you may want to take a look at the 7th circuit case law and then reevaluate your comments.

While I agree with you that discrimination is wrong, I also realize that the law has classically been a male profession and though things are changing, it is not an overnight change. When disregarding the actual gender statistics as "mildly close to acceptable (43.7%)" please remember that this is a law firm you are critiquing and that for a big law firm, these numbers are actually quite good. Especially for a non-west coast based firm. The way things are in the real world vs. the way you would like them to be are two very different things. You'd be wise to remember that.

As a side note, my wife was quite offended that you assume she would not be able to cut it in an environment with a straight talking, "gruff" male leader. She was letterwinner in both volleyball and basketball in college and, I'm positive, is far better equipped to cut it in the real world that you sir.

How does that saying go again? Those who can do, do. Those who can't do, . . .

"How does that saying go again? Those who can do, do. Those who can't do, . . ."

...make stupid videos, apparently.

I actually interviewed there and am really glad I turned down their offer. That video is absurd and disgraceful. Yea, I guess they have spirit... but then, so does the squirrel crossing a crowded lane of traffic.

It amazes me how a bunch of lawyers can get so worked up over nothing. Now, with this video, every village idiot who did not get an offer at this firm can express their indignation with the state of the legal profession. I am not from TX and had not heard about this firm, but looking over its attorneys bios, it looks ok.

Calm down. While it is not a great video, it is funny. Go back to padding your timesheets and surfing the web.

There is at least one female lawyer in the "huddle" and pack of people who run through the halls. She has short hair and is wearing a pantsuit which isn't very flattering, but she's in there. Take a closer look. It's probably just an accurate reflection of who they had in the office that day.

Lighten up, people! I worked at Jenkens for four years and know for a fact that the vast majority of people that work there are very nice. They care about their co-workers and their clients. They don't have to bill "3000 hours". I usually worked from about 7:30 am to 5:30 pm five days a week. Maybe on Saturday four times a year. No problem at all getting in my hours and a hefty bonus on top of that.

I also helped recruit new attorneys and we never cared about color or gender. If you met the academic standards and could do the job well (and were green with six legs), that was really all that mattered. If you're incompetent, I wouldn't want to hire you no matter what that did to the diversity statistics.

I visited the Austin office many times. There were plenty of female attorneys there, and it was my pleasure to work with them. I suspect that those that had the suits wore them, so they could look like a "team" on the video, and that's who they went with on that day. It would have been nice to see the young lady running out in front, but that's really a nit. I mean, this is about being fired up - and winning! Football? C'mon, that's not Rocky's sport! What's with you guys?

This is a pretty funny video. Those who cannot see it is a parody need to get a life. The legal profession needs more light-heartedness. I applaud Jenkens for their creativity.

I am a female employment defense attorney in Texas. I have never worked for J&G. I echo the sentiments of Exodus and his wife. Lawyers are allowed to be funny and make fun of themselves, which it seems to me these lawyers were doing. And I find it offensive that so many of you assume that women would be put off by sports metaphors. In this day and age, many more women have excelled in sports and do not feel alienated by that culture. The kind of feminism that says women need to be protected from locker room behavior and gruff male superiors is more sexist than the humorous video you criticize.

If you are truly offended by that video you are too much of a wuss to be an attorney. What should offend you is that they are trying to get you to move to Texas.

I am a female associate who clerked with (and received an offer from, which I declined for exactly this reason) J&G some years ago. Although I am completely, totally horrified by the video, I'm not at all surprised by it. As the only woman in my section, I felt like that poor woman in the huddle! When I asked the partners why there were no other women in my section, they shrugged their shoulders and said they had never really thought about it. Maybe they should have!

Two points:

First, the video (while fun loving) reinforces a stereotype about law firms - that they are largely white male institutions. J&G can either make a conscious effort to not reinforce that stereotype or haphazardly continue to perpetuate it. They have chosen to perpetuate it.

However, after looking at the Austin office's most recent NALP report, they may have no other option. The report shows a whopping two woman associates, one black and one asian. Wow.

So I guess the video is not only reinforcing a stereotype, its portraying reality.

omg you would have to get me blackout-drunk to do this video. and even that might not be enough.

I'm a female Austin, Texas attorney, and I agree with the minority of posters so far--ya'll are overreacting big time. I thought it was great to see a bunch of attorneys with a sense of humor who could make fun of themselves. I hope they don't read all of the nasty comments and decide not to participate next time in what was, I suspect, a rather productive team building exercise for those involved. And no, I don't work for J&G.

Having clerked at jenkens' dallas office, this seems completely consistent with the polarized, non-diverse, white-shoe patrician environment that it was.

It's interesting to see the split between those who find the video funny and those who find it horrifying. At minimum, this illustrates that humor isn't universal. Accordingly, someone who wants to tell the joke might want to consider the reaction of those who might not find it funny--because those who aren't laughing are getting a message, whether it's the intended message or not. Eric.

For cryin' out loud, people- LIGHTEN UP! These guys were just having a little fun with their recruiting video!
Shhhhhheeeeeeessssshhhhhh!!!!!

I am outraged by this blatant example of hate speech and objectification. I demand that all white males at thid firm undergo diverity / sensitivity training.

There may very well be a sexist message in this video; in fact, I did sense one. But my primary reaction to the video was how unbelievably corny it is.

I can't believe I fell for this one. I expected a real controversial video and all I got was a corny (yet funny) video. This is how Bush got voted into office. We were all snookered into believing that there was something, when there really was nothing.

Wow - more evidence that the switch from Law to Business was a good one.

Yes, the video is mind-bogglingly unprofessional and embarrassing. Should make a film student cringe and an advertising firm shudder.

Yup - it's a video. Yup - it's a bad video. Yup - more women (2) in suits than men, likely proving nothing more than the women at the firm were smart enough to stay far away. Yup - more female "staff", likely proving that there are more women support staff than men (funny, I don't hear people complaining that men aren't fairly represented in the damn word processing department).

Great - we all agree it's an amateur video (at best). But do sports analogies equal sexism? Not likely - it's just a lame analogy. Last time I checked, women played and watched sports. More men than women lawyers? Wow - same as every other damn law firm I worked at (4). More female support staff? Ditto. More white lawyers in Texas? Never worked there, but when I was in Austin in 2005 I did notice a plethora of pasty, white faces.

Much ado about nothing. Next.

I think bigchico was pretty funny

bigchico is the Man ... I laughed for hours (on company time!)

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So, the ones who were lucky enough to join the boys club are now lucky enough to be charity cases at companies like Hunton & Williams. The ones who were passed over because they weren't straight enough, white enough, and man enough are now... well... satisfied that what goes around truly does sometimes come around.

That's great.

I worked as office services support for J&G in the Dallas office for 7 years. I am not an attorney, nor would I have wanted to be at J&G.

Riding the elevators at Fountain Place with them was telling, not a smile, not a laugh, not a smooth brow in the place. Hours, that was what was king at J&G, hours.

If not an attorney, you were treated as a dispensible mule, that should also be part of the scenario of blame, their treatment of support staff was awful.

It was bad enough after 9-11 for hundreds to be laid off, under the guise of the horror of WTC, when in actuality, they got caught in a witless tax fraud scheme and knew the nest was crumbling. It couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch of jerks.