Associates

Lateral associates are more likely to leave for performance reasons, study says

Laterally hired associates left their law firms for performance reasons last year more often than entry-level associates, a NALP Foundation study has found. Fifty-one percent of laterally hired associates left their firms because of failure to meet work-quality or productivity standards, compared to only 34 percent of entry-level associates, law…

May 19, 2014 10:45 AM CDT

Dinsmore adds Thompson Coburn team to growing Chicago office; new partner is now chief there

A onetime associate of Dinsmore & Shohl has returned to his former firm as a partner in charge of its new Chicago office. After a nearly 10-year stint at Thompson Coburn, where he became a corporate partner, Robert “Bobby” Lucas led a three other Thompson Coburn lawyers, including two partners,…

May 6, 2014 8:50 PM CDT

Billing rates lag for female lawyers; are ‘backroom assessments’ to blame?

Billing rates for female lawyers lag those of male lawyers, according to a study of $3.4 billion in legal work from more than 3,000 law firms. Among partners, billing rates for female lawyers were about 10 percent lower on average than those of their male counterparts, the Wall Street Journal…

May 5, 2014 12:27 PM CDT

Real estate firm chief and ex-associate charged in $1M ‘short sale’ mortgage-fraud scheme

Two New York lawyers have been charged with bilking owners and lenders of $1 million in a short-sale scheme they allegedly operated while working at the a Long Island real estate firm. However, an attorney representing one of the defendants, Kenneth Schwartz, says his 64-year-old client wasn’t aware of the…

Apr 14, 2014 4:10 PM CDT

Attorney who complained to state AGs about law firm is now herself facing scrutiny

A Kentucky lawyer who wrote the attorney general’s office in 40 states expressing concern about the operations of a Florida law firm for which she formerly worked is now herself facing a legal ethics case over similar allegations. Michele Stephens got a letter (PDF) last week from the disciplinary board…

Apr 9, 2014 10:45 PM CDT

Microsoft GC calls for better training of young lawyers and more diversity in NALP conference speech

IVY PHOTOS / Shutterstock.com The general counsel of Microsoft Corp. called for better training of young lawyers and more diversity in the profession as a keynote speaker Wednesday at the annual National Association for Law Placement conference in Seattle. “Go where you think you’ll get good training in the first…

Apr 9, 2014 8:50 PM CDT

Job outlook for newly minted lawyers still bleak, data shows

The job outlook for newly minted lawyers remains bleak, new figures show. Fifty-seven percent of all 2013 law school graduates were employed in full-time, long-term legal jobs requiring bar passage as of Feb. 15, according to data released Wednesday by the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the…

Apr 9, 2014 2:45 PM CDT

Move a firm from ‘normal’ to ‘better’ by focusing on clients, getting creative with lawyer training

It is time for the legal profession to stop looking at how to survive the “new normal” and concentrate on thriving as the “new better.” Let’s get on with it! All those merger moves, all those lateral moves, all those staff moves. All that internal financial focus. But there is…

Apr 3, 2014 1:30 PM CDT

Who stalked whom? Ex-Schulte associate and his fiancee claim ex-girlfriend harassed them

A former associate at Schulte Roth & Zabel is firing back against a former girlfriend who claimed in a lawsuit that he was emotionally and physically abusive. The ex-girlfriend, Angela Kovalesky, claimed in a lawsuit filed last month that lawyer Samir Tabar threatened her with a kitchen knife and tracked…

Mar 26, 2014 12:19 PM CDT

EEOC ‘listening session’ focuses on possible workplace discrimination via social media posts

A worker on medical leave is seen skydiving in a photograph posted on Facebook, or another social media site. Should he or she be disciplined? What if a fellow employee who saw the photo got access to a password-protected site? Does the answer to that question differ if the photograph…

Mar 18, 2014 9:10 PM CDT

Former Spector Gadon associate admits to $500K client theft, pleads guilty to wire fraud

A former associate of Spector Gadon & Rosen pleaded guilty Monday to one count of wire fraud in federal court in Philadelphia, admitting that he had stolen a total of more than $500,000 from four of the firm’s clients. Gomer Thomas Williams III, 54, resigned from the state bar in…

Mar 17, 2014 9:30 PM CDT

Where are they now? Laid off after 2008 crash, ex-associates rebound into new careers

In retrospect, attorney Nancy Cremins calls her 2008 maternity leave ill-timed. She had been at Robinson & Cole for five years and two leaders of the firm cried in her office when they told her in 2009 that she was among five percent of the firm’s workforce being laid off.…

Mar 6, 2014 5:40 PM CST

13 trial lawyers from Kennedy Childs join Fennemore Craig; 12 others form new firm, Childs McCune

A firm of trial lawyers in Colorado is splitting, with 13 of its attorneys headed to the Denver office of Fennemore Craig and 12 others forming a new firm, Childs McCune, as of March 10. There are currently 19 lawyers listed on the attorney roster at the Kennedy Childs website,…

Mar 3, 2014 11:14 PM CST

BakerHostetler adds 5-lawyer group from Edwards Wildman to its Chicago office

Five lawyers have left Edwards Wildman Palmer to join the Chicago office of BakerHostetler, their new firm announced Tuesday. They are litigators Craig White, a partner, and counsel Matt Caccamo, and intellectual property practitioners John Letchinger, Douglas Rupert and Derek Campbell. Campbell is an associate; the other two IP lawyers…

Feb 25, 2014 10:00 PM CST

Report: Kasowitz made about 30 layoffs, including a number of lawyers, as big cases concluded

In a first for Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman, it is being reported that the firm has made about 30 layoffs, including a number of lawyers. Those let go primarily worked out of the firm’s New York office, the New York Law Journal (sub. req.) reports, relying on information from…

Feb 25, 2014 8:05 PM CST