Associates

Research scientist pleads guilty to using information from wife’s legal work for insider trading

A research scientist pleaded guilty to securities fraud Monday for trading on information about a corporate acquisition that he had learned about through his wife’s legal work at Linklaters. Fei Yan, a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, stressed that his wife, Menglu Wang, had no knowledge he…

Oct 31, 2017 12:59 PM CDT

Law firm settles lawyer’s claim it failed to accommodate her claustrophobia

A law firm has settled a disability claim by a former associate in Philadelphia who alleged the firm failed to accommodate her claustrophobia. Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin confirmed that it had resolved the matter after it was sent to arbitration, the Legal Intelligencer (sub. req.) reports. Neither the…

Oct 31, 2017 7:00 AM CDT

Former Dentons associate who was accused in extortion plot pleads guilty to lesser charge

A former Dentons associate who was accused of trying to extort $210,000 from his law firm has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge. The former Los Angeles associate, Michael Potere, pleaded guilty to accessing a computer without authorization, according to the plea agreement (PDF) and Law.com (sub. req.). The maximum…

Oct 24, 2017 1:12 PM CDT

Women make up a third of recent equity partner classes in BigLaw, survey finds

Corrected: Women lawyers in the nation’s top law firms make up nearly a fifth of equity partners, but the numbers could improve as women make up a greater percentage of new equity partner classes. Women make up 19 percent of all equity partners and 33 percent of lawyers promoted to…

Sep 19, 2017 10:56 AM CDT

Quinn Emanuel creates ‘associate longevity bonus pool’

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan is enticing its associates to stay with the firm with an “associate longevity bonus pool.” Not everyone will qualify for the supplemental bonuses, which are tied to law firm profits, report Above the Law, which was first with the news, and the Am Law Daily…

Aug 30, 2017 12:13 PM CDT

BigLaw associate suspended for inflating billable hours after return from honeymoon

A former associate at Faegre Baker Daniels in Denver has agreed to a nine-month suspension for inflating her billable hours after returning from a two-week honeymoon in December.

Aug 28, 2017 8:00 AM CDT

Husband of BigLaw associate is accused of using wife’s deal information for insider trading

The husband of a Linklaters associate in New York has been charged with insider trading for allegedly profiting from information about a corporate acquisition she had learned about at work. Fei Yan, a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was accused of making about $110,000 by trading in…

Jul 13, 2017 1:26 PM CDT

Pay is up for summer associates, but the future job outlook is less than rosy

Average pay for summer associates working at the nation’s top 200 law firms has jumped more than 11 percent to $3,285 a week. But the news isn’t all good, the Am Law Daily (sub. req.) reports. Summer hires dropped by about 2 percent, according to the 92 law firms responding…

Jul 7, 2017 3:48 PM CDT

Work quality is the No. 1 reason associates leave, law firm survey says

The top reason associates leave their law firms is dissatisfaction with work quality, according to a survey of 128 law firms by the NALP Foundation for Law Career Research and Education.

Jul 7, 2017 7:00 AM CDT

Law firm creates ‘bespoke’ tasks for job applicants (it helps to be a Saul Bellow fan or math whiz)

Lawyers interested in associate positions with the intellectual property boutique Fisch Sigler are asked to go beyond submission of the traditional cover letter and resume.

Jul 6, 2017 7:45 AM CDT

Mayer Brown isn’t liable for $1.5B error that erased security interest in loan, 7th Circuit holds

Mayer Brown isn’t liable for a paralegal’s error that canceled a security interest in a $1.5 billion loan to General Motors because the law firm didn’t represent the lenders, according to a federal appeals court.

Jul 5, 2017 8:00 AM CDT

Shakeup marks top 10 family-friendly law firms for 2017

Updated: Yale Law Women has announced its list of the top 10 family-friendly law firms for 2017, and it looks a lot different than last year’s list. Only three firms appear on both lists, Above the Law reports. The three returning firms are Arnold & Porter (now Arnold & Porter…

Jun 29, 2017 11:47 AM CDT

Former Dentons associate accused in extortion plot involving threat to leak documents to legal blog

A former Dentons litigation associate in Los Angeles has been charged with extortion for allegedly threatening to leak sensitive law firm documents to the blog Above the Law unless his demands were met. Former associate Michael Potere, 32, is accused of demanding that the law firm pay him $210,000 and…

Jun 28, 2017 9:47 AM CDT

Marc Kasowitz’s law firm gets a ‘Trump bump’ in prestige rankings

The law firm founded by President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, has broken into the top 100 in Vault’s prestige rankings. Kasowitz Benson Torres got a “Trump bump” with its No. 99 ranking, the New York Times DealBook blog reports. The rankings are based on a survey of 18,000…

Jun 23, 2017 12:10 PM CDT

Median pay for new associates doesn’t budge from 2015

Median pay for first-year associates is the same as it was two years ago—$135,000—according to a salary survey by the National Association for Law Placement.

Jun 2, 2017 8:00 AM CDT