ABA Journal

Divorce Drama: Kirkland Partner Sues Wife re Alleged Affair & STD

Private equity partner Frederick Tanne of Kirkland & Ellis was already expecting a difficult year because of the market slowdown. But now it’s clearly gotten worse. The 48-year-old New York lawyer has sued his wife, Amy, 46, in Manhattan Supreme Court, contending that she gave him a sexually transmitted disease…

Sep 22, 2008 8:19 PM CDT

42% of Lawyers Surveyed Fear Career Fallout from Lehman Woes

An increasing number of lawyers are worried that problems on Wall Street will hurt their careers. Forty-two percent of practicing lawyers responding to a survey through the blog Above the Law said the recent bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and the sale of Merrill Lynch would harm their careers. Only 27…

Sep 18, 2008 6:06 PM CDT

Heller Partners Reportedly Told Dissolution is Possible

Partners at Heller Ehrman were told in a meeting yesterday that the law firm is considering dissolution, anonymous sources told the Recorder. The firm hasn’t voted on the issue, but industry watchers said it may be the only alternative. Partners were told it was understood they would be looking for…

Sep 18, 2008 10:56 AM CDT

Locke Lord’s Computers Kept Running While Ike Destroyed 65 Offices

Lawyers at Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell finally got a chance to survey the damage first-hand when their offices reopened this morning at JPMorgan Chase Tower in Houston. About 65 offices at the firm were so severely damaged from Hurricane Ike that they can’t be used, managing partner Jerry Clements…

Sep 17, 2008 7:18 PM CDT

Online Chat: Midcareer Malaise

Click the replay button below to check out Wednesday’s online chat featuring career advice expert Hindi Greenberg, founder of the Nevada City, Calif.-based Lawyers in Transition consulting service and author of The Lawyer’s Career Change Handbook. Read the accompanying article, “Midcareer Malaise: Finding a path to your 40s,” in the…

Sep 17, 2008 5:53 PM CDT

Were Heller’s Problems Caused by Term Limits?

As Heller Erhman loses lawyers and potential merger partners, a legal blog is asking whether the law firm’s problems were created by its own self-imposed term limits. The firm’s “wildly successful” former chairman, Barry Levin, stepped down four years ago after serving two three-year terms, Legal Pad reports. He had…

Sep 17, 2008 4:03 PM CDT

Who’s the TV Judge You Love to Hate or Hate to Love?

For us, Judge Wapner is far-and-away the king of daytime television jurisprudence. Who can forget the dun-un-dunt intro to the People’s Court? Judge Judy, Judge Mathis and the new People’s Court jurist, Judge Milian, while entertaining, have yet to reach his level of influence and pop-culture status. Yet we learned…

Sep 17, 2008 3:51 PM CDT

35% of Professionals Would Choose BlackBerry Over Spouse; Take Our Poll

Professionals have a love-hate relationship with their BlackBerrys, and in some cases it’s interfering with their marriages. Thirty-five percent of 6,500 professionals surveyed said they would pick their personal digital assistants over their spouses, if they had to choose, and 87 percent said they take their PDAs into their bedrooms,…

Sep 17, 2008 2:58 PM CDT

Scalia Says U of C Law School Has Lost its Conservative Edge

Updated: The University of Chicago Law School has changed since Justice Antonin Scalia used to teach there, and he is not happy about it. Responding to a question at a Federalist Society event in Chicago, Scalia said the school is no longer the conservative bastion it once was, the Chicago…

Sep 17, 2008 12:29 PM CDT

Unlicensed ‘Lawyer’ Allegedly Practiced for a Decade in 10 States

For the past decade or so, Howard Kieffer has reportedly represented clients in federal cases in 10 states. The problem is, he reportedly wasn’t properly licensed to practice law in any of them—or, apparently, anywhere else. During that time, Kieffer, who is now in his early 50s, represented clients including…

Sep 16, 2008 9:14 PM CDT

Conflict Checks Soar as Worried Clients Call Counsel About Wall Street Woes

A shortage of work is not a problem this week for those in charge of performing client conflict checks at law firms representing major corporations worried about the turmoil on Wall Street. “The number of conflicts searches have skyrocketed” among London law firms since Monday, “even at firms that do…

Sep 16, 2008 8:30 PM CDT

Bar Seeks Suspension for ‘Obstreperous’ Would-Be Judge

The Florida Bar is recommending a suspension for the “obstreperous behavior” of a lawyer accused of failing to listen to the judge presiding over his traffic case. The lawyer, William Abramson, went on to challenge the judge for election. The bar took the rare move of asking the Florida Supreme…

Sep 16, 2008 5:27 PM CDT

Lehman’s Impact Stretches from Corporate Lawyers to Litigators

It’s not just corporate lawyers who fear the ripple effect from the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. Litigators and plaintiffs lawyers are also worried. New York law firms dominate the market because of their work for investment banks. They fear turmoil in the financial markets could lead to more bankruptcies and new…

Sep 16, 2008 11:39 AM CDT

Trailblazing Oregon Judge Fought ‘Shockingly Overt Sexism’—and Won

When Betty Roberts attended her first judicial conference, a male judge groped her breast. And that was just one of a number of instances of what a newspaper reviewing an autobiography of Oregon’s first female supreme court justice describes as the “shockingly overt sexism she faced as recently as the…

Sep 15, 2008 10:39 PM CDT

Lawyer Laments ‘Incredibly Shrinking Market’ as Wall Street Shudders

Turmoil on Wall Street has brought major business to a few well-known law firms, as Lehman Brothers sought bankruptcy protection and Merrill Lynch & Co. agreed to be purchased by Bank of America in developments that hit the news over the weekend. And, for those in the right practice areas,…

Sep 15, 2008 8:55 PM CDT