I finally got to touch base today with Mike Snider of Snider & Associates, the firm that sponsored a “Ciao to Chao” party thrown by Department of Labor staffers earlier this month in celebration of disliked Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao’s departure.

Snider said his firm represents the union to which the staffers belong in a Fair Labor Standards Act case. The union approached the firm about spending the $6,000 for the party, and Snider saw it as a marketing opportunity.

“Although I am apolitical, I do understand that the union had a difficult time with Secretary Chao and that they’re looking forward to having a much better relationship with the new secretary of labor,” Snider said.

He said that, after the soirée and the media attention surrounding it, his firm received calls from a couple of other federal employee union heads inquiring about representation.

He said his firm recently won a $7.6 million FLSA settlement with the Small Business Administration on behalf of its employees, and a $24 million FLSA settlement with the Department of Housing and Economic Development.

For the record, Snider, an observant Jew, did not attend the party himself; it was held on the Sabbath and did not offer kosher food.

CARYN TAMBER, Legal Affairs Writer

Good morning! If you’re stuck at work today, here are a few links to help you not do your job:

• I missed this when it was first posted, but it deserves a mention. The EvidenceProf Blog criticizes a “horribly misguided” Court of Special Appeals opinion (PDF) dealing with a legally blind eyewitness.

•  How will Obama’s con law background influence the direction of his presidency?

• The Howard County clerk of courts brings her Yorkie to work with her most every day, writes the Howard County Times . HT: ABA Journal.

•  Also from the ABA Journal, a law prof says the inauguration committee could be sued if it doesn’t achieve “potty parity” tomorrow, designating twice the number of toilets for women as for men. His theory is that women deserve more bathroom space because they need longer than men do to accomplish the same task. I actually had a (male) classmate in college make the same argument in a paper on androcentrism. I liked the idea then and I like it now. Amen, professor, amen.

•  Neal Katyal, who represented Guantànamo detainee Salim Ahmed Hamdan before the Supreme Court in 2006, will have a high-up position in Obama’s DOJ, says the Blog of Legal Times.

• “Judge, if you are going to engage in inappropriate conduct with a stripper” pleads Ron Miller, “could you please make it a little more exciting for the home viewer?”

CARYN TAMBER, Legal Affairs Writer