Is this asshole trying to kill our industry?

Short answer -- yes. This story comes to me via The Posse List, but American Lawyer is involved, as is Above the Law, which gives us the complaint. Basically, some New York asshole (but I repeat myself) is suing a law firm, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart and Sullivan, and a temp agency I've never heard of, Providus, because he didn't get overtime for hours worked over 40 hours a week. His argument is that his work is so routine that he is not an exempt employee under the Federal Labor Standards Act. Here is a link to the case pleadings. American Lawyer describes the suit this way:

In his suit, which claims Quinn and Providus functioned as "joint employers" under the FLSA, Henig says he received an hourly wage from the defendants and generally worked 57 to 60 hours each week. Henig alleges he was paid his regular hourly wage for the hours he worked in excess of 40 hours each week, as opposed to the one-and-a-half times that amount required under FLSA overtime rules. (The complaint does not specify how much Henig was paid per hour.) 
Henig's complaint claims that he, and potentially others, are due any unpaid wages with interest along with liquidated damages and attorneys fees. Kirschenbaum says his hope is that lawsuits like Henig's can open the door for more claims to be brought against firms by contract attorneys seeking additional overtime pay. "The law firms bill significantly for this work. And, so, you're charging $250 [or] $300 an hour for a contract attorney's work—it's not such a hit for you to have to be paying him $45 an hour for his overtime instead of $30 an hour," Kirschenbaum says.
The complaint notes "the extremely routine nature" of the work Henig performed during the six weeks he spent doing document review for Quinn as the reason why he is not exempt under FLSA rules, which provide exemptions to overtime rules for a range of employees—including those whose jobs require "advanced knowledge." 

This guy is slitting our throats, and he doesn't even know it. Or he doesn't care. Contract attorneys should want to be exempt from overtime regulations. More and more projects are going flat rate, paying a little more per hour but not paying time and a half for overtime. It is getting to be the only way to get an overtime project, the way the trend is going. Contract attorneys are exempt from overtime requirements because our work requires a professional degree and professional association membership (the bar). If we are not exempt from overtime requirements, it can only be because no professional degree or membership is required. This asshole is pushing that argument, albeit unwittingly.

This stupid fuck is saying an untrained shit could do document review. Unfortunately, he's right. The fact that computerized document review is becoming more popular and prevalent only bolsters that argument. Well, if that is true, we're out of a job. Firms won't have to hire attorneys to do document review, they can either use computer programs or just hire Joe Shits off the streets. Either way, we're fucked. This is a class action suit under FRCP Rule 23 -- it's only the Second Circuit, but it could become an ugly precedent.

We really need this guy to lose, and badly. Unfortunately, I don't think he will. Run, do not walk, to the nearest exit from this occupation.