How profitable are alternative fee arrangements, in practice?

Alternative fee arrangements have been a reality for lawyers and law firms for several years now. But are they profitable? The answer depends on whom you ask. It turns out that lawyers working in the trenches on actual matters and cases had somewhat different experiences with AFAs compared to lawyers…

Oct 1, 2014 10:38 AM CDT

Consider the Alternatives: How profitable are alternative fee arrangements?

Oct 1, 2014 3:10 AM CDT

Law firm seeks to join line of judgment creditors against ex-attorney Stan Chesley

Once a famed personal injury lawyer, “master of disaster” Stan Chesley lost his Kentucky law license last year and was ordered last month to help pay, along with other disbarred attorneys, about $25 million owed to hundreds of former clients in fen-phen diet drug litigation. Now another would-be judgment creditor…

Sep 26, 2014 4:05 PM CDT

11th Circuit cites Bible, labels lawyer’s action a ‘textbook example of bad faith’

A Georgia lawyer’s plan to split a personal-injury settlement into two checks in an alleged attempt to avoid reimbursing a client’s employer for medical costs has turned out to be costly. The Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the personal injury client, Brenda Elem, must reimburse her employer,…

Sep 25, 2014 8:07 AM CDT

Los Angeles to pay $725K to lawyers in homeless rights case

In the wake of losses in two federal appellate cases concerning policies that discouraged homeless individuals from living on the streets of Los Angeles, the city has decided to drop its U.S. Supreme Court appeal of an attorney’s fees award in one of the cases. In a Wednesday vote, the…

Sep 11, 2014 11:15 AM CDT

Jones Day bill for Detroit bankruptcy has topped $26M

As the first full week of trial begins in the nation’s biggest municipal bankruptcy case ever, the law firm representing Detroit has charged the city more than $26 million, as of March, including $1 million in fees. Among the key issues to be decided in the Chapter 9 case is…

Sep 9, 2014 11:35 AM CDT

Suit targets billing by litigation support companies, names Jacoby & Meyers as a defendant

A would-be class action suit claims Jacoby & Meyers and another law firm are breaching their fiduciary duty to clients by giving support work to companies owned by a current and former partner of the law firms. The suit, filed in federal court in Newark, New Jersey, alleges that Jacoby…

Sep 4, 2014 8:18 AM CDT

‘Satisfaction guaranteed’—it’s never caught on with lawyers

The other night I was listening to Terry O’Reilly’s Under the Influence podcast as I drove home. The episode, titled “Satisfaction Guaranteed,” focused on “companies that offer 100 percent, no questions-asked, no fine print, lifetime guarantees.” Valorem Law Group has always offered our clients the unqualified right to adjust the…

Sep 3, 2014 8:38 AM CDT

Prominent law firm says it knew nothing of claimed sunken treasure fraud, wasn’t counsel of record

A partner at a well-known Delaware law firm says in a court filing that he and Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor knew nothing about an alleged fraud on a federal court in Florida concerning a client’s claimed sunken undersea treasure find. Responding to the court’s show-cause order, Bruce Silverstein says…

Sep 2, 2014 2:55 PM CDT

Lawyer who billed corporate client for his sanctions is reprimanded

An Illinois lawyer has been reprimanded in Iowa as a result of a discovery dispute in which he billed his corporate client for sanctions stemming from his conduct. Cameron Davidson was reprimanded on Aug. 18 in connection with his representation of agricultural equipment maker Deere & Co., report the Quad…

Sep 2, 2014 8:41 AM CDT

A lawyer’s value, hour by hour

Sep 1, 2014 8:10 AM CDT

Matchmaking website connects plaintiffs to litigation funding, but is that ethical?

Sep 1, 2014 8:00 AM CDT

Law firms that sued HP want to represent it as part of settlement; objecting lawyer says deal a joke

A federal judge indicated on Monday that he wouldn’t approve a deal in which plaintiffs lawyers who sued Hewlett-Packard would represent the company in future litigation, earning as much as $48 million for their work. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer of San Francisco rejected the attorney fee plan at a…

Aug 26, 2014 4:10 PM CDT

Judge says BigLaw firm tried to ‘litigate plaintiff to death’

A Georgia judge has ordered Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan to pay $175,000 in attorney fees, saying the firm had a strategy of trying to “litigate [the] plaintiff to death.” Judge Dax Lopez of DeKalb County ordered the payment of attorney fees as a sanction in an amended order last Tuesday,…

Aug 25, 2014 11:15 AM CDT

Government lawyer faces $12K in sanctions, plus possible jail time if he doesn’t pay up

The clock is ticking toward a payment deadline for a Nevada lawyer facing some $12,000 in sanctions for improper court filings. And if Robert Pool doesn’t pay up by Aug. 28, it’s possible he’ll be jailed for civil contempt, reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal. At a July 31 hearing in…

Aug 12, 2014 5:44 PM CDT