Business Development

Donald Trump’s ‘Cash Cow’ Claim Against NYC Firm Moves Forward

In a legal malpractice case, real estate developer Donald Trump claims his Manhattan law firm overcharged him and treated him like a “cash cow.” Trump’s suit against New York’s Morrison Cohen claims the firm did unnecessary work to generate higher bills. Westchester County Supreme Court Justice Kenneth W. Rudolph allowed…

Apr 9, 2008 11:16 AM CDT

Calif. Bar Prez Says Billable Hour System ‘Corrupting’ to the Profession

A common lawyer lament concerns the problem of billable hours. Lawyers at large law firms often complain of the toll exacted by heavy workloads driven by the pressure to bill more hours. Now the president of the State Bar of California is citing another reason to put an end to…

Apr 4, 2008 3:07 PM CDT

Judge Allows Lawyer to Collect $1M Fee Despite Law License Snafu

A Florida judge has ruled that a solo practitioner should be able to collect a $1 million fee for helping a wealthy widow obtain a probate settlement of more than $31 million, even though the lawyer wasn’t authorized to practice in the state. Despite the favorable ruling, solo William West…

Apr 2, 2008 4:31 PM CDT

Minority Leader Boehner Awarded $1M in Fees in Phone-Taping Suit

Lawyers for House Minority Leader John Boehner have been awarded more than $1 million in attorney fees in his lawsuit over a leaked phone call. U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan awarded the fees to Boehner’s lawyers in his successful suit for violation of his privacy rights, reports Politico’s blog The…

Apr 1, 2008 5:21 PM CDT

Judge Questions Multitude of Law Firms Seeking Fees in Credit Card Settlement

A federal judge yesterday questioned why so many law firms are seeking attorney fees in a $336 million settlement of a lawsuit against Mastercard and Visa. U.S. District Judge William Pauley seemed concerned about the number of law firms seeking fees, rather than the amount of the fee request—which is…

Apr 1, 2008 2:20 PM CDT

3rd-Party Investors are Funding Canadian Litigation, Too

It isn’t just Australia and the United Kingdom where investors are making inroads into litigation-funding practices that once were the exclusive province of lawyers and, in individual cases, their clients. Third-party investors are paying for litigation, including commercial cases, in Canada, too, as at least one bar group takes a…

Mar 27, 2008 10:27 PM CDT

Judge Approves $24M Walgreens Bias Settlement

A federal judge has approved a $24.4 million settlement by Walgreen Co. that resolves two race discrimination lawsuits, including one filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The suits claimed Walgreens failed to promote black employees into management positions and that minorities were paid less than similarly situated whites, the…

Mar 26, 2008 2:13 PM CDT

Who’s Paying Dan Webb’s BigLaw Bill in Detroit Mayor Case?

Hiring the chairman of Chicago’s Winston & Strawn as one’s criminal defense lawyer in a municipal corruption case obviously doesn’t come cheap. So observers are wondering who is paying Dan Webb to defend Detroit’s embattled mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick. The answer to that question isn’t entirely clear, but Webb says it’s…

Mar 26, 2008 12:17 AM CDT

Defense Cries Foul in Miami Attorney’s Money-Laundering Legal Fees Case

In a repeat of abuses that led Congress to enact a special legislative exemption for defense lawyers a decade ago, over-aggressive federal prosecutors are pursuing a respected Miami attorney for, essentially, representing a criminal client, his counsel contends. Attorney Ben Kuehne concluded in good faith that the $5.3 million he…

Mar 25, 2008 6:46 PM CDT

Appeals Court Upholds Attorney Fees for Plaintiffs Who Obtained Injunction

A federal appeals court has ruled that civil rights plaintiffs who obtained a preliminary injunction were prevailing parties entitled to attorney fees. The Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in a March 17 opinion (PDF) that the three plaintiffs attained their goals even though they never took the…

Mar 25, 2008 12:44 PM CDT

Scruggs’ Son Pleads in Judicial Bribe Case

Zach Scruggs, the son and law partner of famed Mississippi plaintiffs attorney Richard “Dickie” Scruggs, has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in a judicial bribery case that also brought down his father. The junior Scruggs pleaded guilty in federal court today to misprision of a felony because he was…

Mar 21, 2008 5:30 PM CDT

Cruise Line’s Suit Says Lawyer Should Give Up $1M in Fees

Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines claims in a lawsuit that Miami lawyer Jay Wingate should give up about $1 million in attorney fees earned in worker-injury settlements based on confidential company information. The cruise line claims investigators for Wingate’s firm paid a claims adjuster to disclose the amount of money Royal…

Mar 19, 2008 2:05 PM CDT

$4.4M Legal Fees Sought in Texas Case that Brought Down DA

A lawyer who won a $1.7 million settlement for two brothers in a high-profile Texas civil rights case that brought down the local DA is now seeking $4.4 million in attorney fees. Lloyd Kelley says in his fee application that the county tried to defend an “indefensible” case concerning two…

Mar 19, 2008 12:41 AM CDT

Fee Disputes Dog Scruggs, But Only One Results in Indictment

Updated: Richard Scruggs, the high-profile plaintiffs lawyer, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to bribe a Mississippi judge to rule for him in a fee dispute. The plea came as a surprise, but the fact that Scruggs had been embroiled in litigation over fees was not at all surprising. An early…

Mar 14, 2008 3:38 PM CDT

Greenberg Traurig Indicted in Guam

Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the firm for which he formerly worked have been indicted in Guam for allegedly making improper billings to the U.S. territory’s superior court. At issue in the case against Greenberg Traurig and other defendants is “a multitude of nonjudicial related activities the superior court paid…

Mar 12, 2008 8:41 PM CDT