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&lt;p&gt;Above the Law today congratulates Georgetown law student Kaavya Viswanathan (&amp;ldquo;a/k/a the Alleged Harvard Plagiarist&amp;rdquo;) on landing a summer associate position at Sullivan &amp;amp; Cromwell. Viswanathan has already achieved a measure of fame, first as a high school student who landed a lucrative book contract, and later, as a Harvard college student whose novel, &lt;i&gt;How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life&lt;/i&gt;, was widely criticized as a product of plagiarism. While the scandal may have put an end to her movie deal, it doesn&amp;rsquo;t seem to have damaged her career prospects. As David Lat writes:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;That Viswanthan was able to land on her feet &amp;mdash; actually, not just land on her feet, but land a job many law students would (literally) kill for &amp;mdash; is encouraging. It just goes to show that it takes &lt;em&gt;a lot,&lt;/em&gt; far more than most people realize, to sink someone&amp;rsquo;s career or ruin her life. People forgive, and people forget.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;Encouraging&amp;rdquo; is hardly the word I&amp;rsquo;d use. I&amp;rsquo;m not saying that youthful transgressions shouldn&amp;rsquo;t be forgiven or that Viswanathan shouldn&amp;rsquo;t be able to pursue a legal career; but it&amp;rsquo;s hard to believe that, in this incredibly tight job market, one of the best law firms in the country couldn&amp;rsquo;t find another candidate with academic credentials at least as good as Viswanathan&amp;rsquo;s who didn&amp;rsquo;t (allegedly) lie, cheat or steal her way into celebrity. Even if her admitted and extensive borrowings from other writers really were &amp;ldquo;completely unintentional and unconscious,&amp;rdquo; as she has claimed, they suggest a rather pronounced lack of care. Back in 2006, Viswanthan told , &amp;ldquo;I really thought the words were my own. I guess it&amp;rsquo;s just been in my head. I feel as confused as anyone about it, because it happened so many times.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Now that&amp;rsquo;s the kind of lawyer I&amp;rsquo;d like to hire.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;- posted by vera&lt;/p&gt;

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