Afternoon Briefs: BigLaw firm eases pay cuts; virtual law firm expands into US
Image from Shutterstock.com.
Katten Muchin partly restores pay
Katten Muchin Rosenman has trimmed pay cuts announced in April. The firm had cut pay by up to 20% for lawyers and business professionals who make more than $100,000. Now the law firm is trimming the pay cuts by half. (Law360)
UK-based virtual law firm expands into the US
A virtual law firm based in the United Kingdom, 360 Business Law, is expanding into the United States. Leaders of the firm in the Americas hope to eventually have lawyers in all 50 states. Business 360 targets commercial clients with an option for subscription-based services. (Law.com)
Bucky Askew will chair NCBE’s board of trustees
Hulett H. “Bucky” Askew, a professor at the Georgia State University College of Law who previously was the ABA’s legal education consultant, has been tapped to chair the National Conference of Bar Examiners’ board of trustees. His term starts Aug. 7, the NCBE’s communications’ coordinator told the ABA Journal in an email. Askew was one of two ABA House of Delegates members who spoke against a resolution on Aug. 4 that urged states to postpone in-person bar exams during the COVID-19 pandemic. The resolution was adopted with 256 votes in favor of it, and 146 opposed. (Georgia State University profile)
Multidistrict panel won’t coordinate litigation over COVID-19 loans
The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation on Wednesday turned down requests to coordinate litigation over COVID-19 relief loans. Small businesses allege in the suits that banks gave priority to existing clients and large customers. The judicial panel said individualized factual issues in the cases diminish any potential efficiencies from centralization. (Law.com)
4th Circuit upholds public charge rule
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Richmond, Virginia, on Wednesday upheld the Trump administration’s public charge rule in a decision that is at odds with rulings by two other appeals courts. The rule makes it more difficult for immigrants to get legal residency if they receive or are likely to receive government assistance. The rule’s interpretation of immigration law is reasonable, and to hold otherwise “would be a stark transgression of the judiciary’s proper role,” the court majority said. (The National Law Journal, Courthouse News Service, Reuters Legal, the decision)
