Career & Practice

Attorney-Owned Title Co. Accused in Civil Case Over Rubber Refi Checks

A title company owned by two lawyers and another individual is accused of leaving multiple homeowners facing potential foreclosure after they refinanced mortgages but their original loans were never paid off. A cease-and-desist order has been issued against the now-closed company, Counselors’ Title, by the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation…

Nov 10, 2009 12:12 AM CST

Feds Seize Rothstein’s Ferrari, Boats in Ponzi Scheme Probe

Holed up in an undisclosed location with his legal counsel, attorney Scott Rothstein has been in an upbeat mood lately after his return from Morocco, despite accusations that he stole hundreds of millions of dollars from investors through his law firm, Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler. But now federal authorities have filed…

Nov 9, 2009 11:27 PM CST

Powell Law Firm Dropped as Defendant in Kids-for-Cash Case

The law firm of Robert J. Powell has been dropped as a defendant in a federal tort claim brought over the so-called kids-for-cash case involving $770,000 in kickbacks admittedly paid by Powell to two former judges in Luzerne County, Pa. In exchange, the two judges, Mark Ciavarella Jr. and Michael…

Nov 9, 2009 7:46 PM CST

Bankruptcy Boutiques Are ‘Quietly Booming’

The declining economy is good news for boutique law firms handling business bankruptcies. “Bankruptcy boutiques across the country have been quietly booming in this economy as bankruptcies and workouts soar,” according to Portfolio.com. “Unlike large law firms which have been pummeled by the recession, forcing them to fire lawyers and…

Nov 9, 2009 7:42 PM CST

Ex-SEC Lawyer Pleads in Dreier Case, Got $100K to Play Role re $44M in Fake Notes

A lawyer who formerly worked in the enforcement division of the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission has pleaded guilty to helping attorney Marc Dreier try to sell $44.7 million of fake notes to sophisticated investors. Robert Miller, 52, said Dreier paid him $100,000 to impersonate individuals at a Canadian pension…

Nov 9, 2009 7:20 PM CST

Day Pitney Axes 29 Staff in 3rd Round of Announced Layoffs This Year

Day Pitney let 29 staff members go last week, in the law firm’s third round of layoffs this year. The 400-attorney Hartford, Conn.-based Northeast regional law firm also laid off 20 lawyers in May and 66 staff members in February, reports the Connecticut Law Tribune. James Sicilian, the firm’s co-managing…

Nov 9, 2009 6:45 PM CST

Miller South Lawyers Back to Work After Going on Lockdown on Friday

Updated: The mood is somber today at the Orlando law firm Miller, South & Milhausen. One Friday, the firm went on lockdown while police sought a man who shot six people in its office building, four floors below. The suspect, Jason Rodriguez, had been fired from the engineering firm located…

Nov 9, 2009 3:42 PM CST

James Holderman: Jury Duties

Judging jury participation as a good thing

Nov 9, 2009 3:37 PM CST

Akerman Senterfitt Won’t Charge Leave Time for Swine Flu Absences

Akerman Senterfitt has a new policy that encourages employees with the swine flu to stay home. The law firm won’t make employees take leave time for absences related to the H1N1 flu, the Washington Post reports. Senior marketing manager Carolyn Cuppernull told the newspaper she used the policy to stay…

Nov 9, 2009 2:05 PM CST

PepsiCo Off Hook for $1.26B as Court Reverses Default Judgment

A default judgment that required PepsiCo to pay $1.26B to two men who claimed the soft-drink giant stole their idea for bottled water was overturned today by a Wisconsin court. PepsiCo, which received material about the lawsuit at an office in the state in which it is incorporated, rather than…

Nov 7, 2009 12:50 AM CST

Exploding Text-Harassment Cases Create Pitfalls for Defense Attorneys

As supervisors increasingly make objectionable comments to employees via text messages, resulting harassment cases over after-hours comments no longer are based simply on “he said, she said” evidence. But this seeming bonanza of proof for plaintiffs lawyers is surrounded by potential pitfalls for defense attorneys, according to a Texas Lawyer…

Nov 6, 2009 11:43 PM CST

Legal Sector Lost 5,800 Jobs Last Month, Labor Bureau Says

As the nation’s unemployment rate topped 10 percent last month, lawyers were not spared. The legal sector lost 5,800 jobs, according to seasonally adjusted statistics in a just-released report (PDF) from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. When not seasonally adjusted, the figures show a gain of 1,500 jobs, but…

Nov 6, 2009 9:05 PM CST

Congressman Wants to Know Why Bank of America Hired GC with Inactive License

A congressman investigating Bank of America’s purchase of Merrill Lynch wants to know why the bank ousted its general counsel last December and hired a replacement with an inactive license. “This is another fact that leads me to believe there could be something rotten in the cotton,” U.S. Rep. Edolphus…

Nov 5, 2009 2:05 PM CST

UK Lawyers Set to Stock Supermarket Shelves for Client, Delaying Case

Lawyers with the British law firm Pinsent Masons will be stocking supermarket shelves at Asda, delaying a trademark dispute involving the U.K. supermarket chain. Asda’s counsel, Hugh Cuddigan, asked the High Court to push back a January trial date because Pinsents lawyers were going to be busy stocking shelves over…

Nov 4, 2009 5:33 PM CST

Pamela Woldow: Point Person

Navigating into the future of the legal profession

Nov 4, 2009 4:40 PM CST