Business Development

Ken Starr’s $910 Hourly Fee Will be Paid, Ariz. Spokesman Says

The Arizona legislature is scrambling for a way to pay Kenneth Starr’s $910 an hour fee to defend the state’s spending on students who speak another language. Starr was hired to seek a U.S. Supreme Court appeal after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held the state’s funding formula…

Jul 21, 2008 3:23 PM CDT

Nice Work: California City Hires Law Firm for $50K Per Month

A small practitioner in Claremont, Calif., will reportedly be bringing in $50,000 per month for the next five years, under a five-year contract approved Tuesday by the Rialto city council. It is with the Law Offices of Jimmy Gutierrez. “The retainer could exceed $600,000 per year when factoring in billable…

Jul 18, 2008 3:36 PM CDT

Deaf Woman Says McDonald’s Denied Her Drive-Thru Service

A hearing-impaired Nebraska woman who can’t hear what is being said through a speaker has filed a discrimination suit against a McDonald’s in Lincoln, contending that the fast-food restaurant wouldn’t let her order at the drive-thru food delivery window. At least three times within the past year, Karen Tumeh of…

Jul 17, 2008 6:21 PM CDT

Holland & Knight Tries Success Fees, Considers Ousting Unproductive Partners

The new managing partner of Holland & Knight is making some changes. Some clients may be pleased but unproductive partners may not. The firm’s new managing partner, Steven Sonberg, says his primary goal is keeping the law firm on sound financial footing, the National Law Journal reports. Toward that end,…

Jul 16, 2008 3:44 PM CDT

Milberg Law Firm Defends Fee Payments to Convicted Partner

Following a court hearing yesterday, a Milberg partner defended the law firm’s agreement to pay former firm leader Melvyn Weiss possibly tens of millions of dollars in unpaid fees. A Wall Street Journal editorial had criticized the agreement, saying the payments could more than make up for the $9.75 million…

Jul 16, 2008 12:31 PM CDT

Judge to Hear Claim of ‘Lawyer Driven’ Morgan Stanley Deal

A federal judge has agreed to hold a hearing into a contention that a proposed $16 million Morgan Stanley racial discrimination settlement was “lawyer driven.” Senior U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson praised the lawyers’ 10 percent fee request in the case for being well below the benchmark, but granted the…

Jul 10, 2008 4:28 PM CDT

Lawyers Targeted for Junk Faxes Win $1.8M Settlement

A class made up mostly of Massachusetts lawyers has negotiated a $1.8 million settlement with an auctioneer that sent them unsolicited faxes. Boston solo practitioner Evan Fray-Witzer was lead plaintiff in the suit against Metropolitan Antiques, a New Jersey company, Legal Blog Watch reports. Metropolitan had purchased the lawyers’ fax…

Jul 10, 2008 2:49 PM CDT

Appeals Court Judge Questions Fee Boost for Exceptional Work

A federal appeals court judge has questioned fee enhancements for exceptional legal work in what the blog How Appealing calls “a must-read decision” for many in the class-action bar. Although Judge Edward Carnes of the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Court of Appeals questioned the fee award, he nonetheless said precedent required…

Jul 9, 2008 1:35 PM CDT

Pay Dispute Prompts Defenders to Withdraw From Fatal Arson Case

The appointed lawyers for a man accused of setting a fire that killed his wife and son are withdrawing from a case in which costs continue to mount. The lawyers—Zaki Ali and Joseph Cleary—say Madison County, Ind., officials have refused to pay the $95,000 needed to defend Rex David Delph,…

Jul 8, 2008 11:46 AM CDT

The Skinny on Flat Fees

‘Value pricing’ requires managing a new way

Jul 1, 2008 1:25 PM CDT

Attorney Fees Drop 80% Along With Exxon Award

Attorney fees were slashed by about 80 percent when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled yesterday that Exxon Mobil Corp. should pay no more than $507.5 million in punitive damages for the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Potential fees in the class action now stand at about $188 million based on the…

Jun 26, 2008 12:22 PM CDT

Chesley Hits Lack of Trust Accounts in Trial of Fen-Phen Lawyers

Well-known Cincinnati plaintiffs lawyer Stan Chesley criticized three fen-phen lawyers in trial testimony today for failing to set up escrow accounts to hold settlement money. Chesley testified under a grant of immunity from prosecution in the trial of three lawyers accused of diverting $65 million in settlement money from their…

Jun 17, 2008 6:43 PM CDT

UK Clients Rap ‘Unsustainable’ Plan to Raise Billable Rates

Apparent plans by many London law firms to increase the billable rates they charge corporate clients this year by an amount exceeding inflation, in order to fund pay raises for lawyers, have hit a nerve. Clients say their attorneys are living in a dream world if they think corporations are…

Jun 13, 2008 4:06 PM CDT

Jury Gives Lawyer Extra $1.6 M Slice of $103 M Legal-Fees Pie

A Minneapolis attorney has won $1.6 million from his former law firm, in a Hennepin County jury verdict over the division of $103 million in legal fees in a federal securities class action concerning AOL Time Warner. But the money, which is coming to former partner Brian Williams in addition…

Jun 13, 2008 3:25 PM CDT

$75M Milberg Plea Deal Could Conclude This Week

A plea deal reportedly in the works between Milberg and federal prosecutors in Los Angeles over an alleged scheme by the law firm to pay some $11.3 million in secret kickbacks to lead plaintiffs in securities class actions could be concluded this week. The firm is to pay a $75…

Jun 11, 2008 8:57 PM CDT