Contract Attorneys

Jury Acquits Lawyer’s Girlfriend of Murdering Him, Convicts Her of Voluntary Manslaughter

Charged with murder in the 2009 killing of her 36-year-old boyfriend, attorney Michael Porcella, a California woman has been convicted of voluntary manslaughter with an enhancement, because she used a gun. Rennie Pratt, 29, shot Porcella as he was arriving home one night at about 11:30 p.m. in Oakland. She…

Mar 25, 2011 4:32 PM CDT

Tort Firm Owes $158K Employment Tax Bill; Associate Attorneys Were Not Independent Contractors

A Louisiana personal injury lawyer who operated an “attorney incubator” for fledgling practitioners has had his business model shot down by the Internal Revenue Service. The attorneys to whom he provided office space and referred cases that were handled under his law firm name were associates of Donald Cave’s law…

Mar 16, 2011 11:22 PM CDT

Top 10 Ways to Better Manage Legal Spending

As it becomes increasingly apparent that 2011 and beyond won’t bring a “return to normal” for annual double-digit growth in legal budgets, I thought it would be useful to recap the top ways I’ve found to better manage legal spending. None of these are new, but all are rooted in…

Feb 17, 2011 6:39 PM CST

Thomson Reuters Hiring Attorneys for New LPO Outfits in Michigan, Texas

Updated: When we reported Thomson Reuters’ acquisition of Indian legal process outsourcing company Pangea3 in the February issue, the publishing giant hadn’t yet disclosed where it would build document review centers in the U.S., aimed to mirror those overseas. This week, however, we discovered a Thomson-Pangea3 post on job-search website…

Jan 27, 2011 7:53 PM CST

Facing ‘Unrelenting’ Price Pressures, Law Firms Turn to Outsourcing, Innovation

Law firms faced with “unrelenting” pricing pressures from clients are beginning to outsource basic legal work, create new categories of lawyers, and take a “loss leader approach” to pricing. In an article for the Am Law Daily, Dan DiPietro and Gretta Rusanow of Citi Private Bank’s Law Firm Group base…

Dec 13, 2010 11:30 AM CST

BigLaw Partner Cuts Aren’t Over, Survey Finds

There’s bad news for both partners and would-be associates in a new survey of leaders from the nation’s 200 largest law firms. Nearly 70 percent of the 124 respondents said their firms plan to ask partners to leave in 2011, and 31 percent told of plans to de-equitize partners, the…

Nov 30, 2010 1:45 PM CST

17,500 BigLaw Jobs Are at Risk Due to Cost Pressures, Consultant Says

As many as 17,500 associate and staff attorney jobs could be lost or shifted as a result of staffing changes driven by pressures for lower costs, a law firm consultant says. Writing for the blog of law firm consultant Hildebrandt, Lisa Smith makes an argument that outsourcing, efficiencies and increased…

Sep 27, 2010 11:00 AM CDT

Federal Judge Revives Disparate Impact Claim re Covington & Burling’s Staff Attorney Policies

A federal judge has revived a once-dismissed claim by a former staff attorney at Covington & Burling that the law firm’s policies are discriminatory because they have a disparate impact on non-partnership-track lawyers. Relying on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that such alleged discrimination doesn’t have to…

Sep 9, 2010 11:39 PM CDT

A Funny Thing Happened to Alex Barnett’s Legal Career: In a Dismal Job Market, He’s Now a Comedian

Unemployment has had a humorous aspect for attorney Alex Barnett. Laid off by two law firms during 2008, the former class action plaintiffs lawyer now earns a paycheck by doing contract legal work for the city of New York. But his main gig is a new career launch as a…

Jul 21, 2010 12:38 AM CDT

Lawyer Sues Firm for Overtime Pay, Seeks Class Action Status

A New York attorney has sued a well-known plaintiffs’ class action law firm at which he formerly was employed as a temporary worker, contending that he should have been paid time-and-a-half for additional hours after he put in a 40-hour week. In a federal lawsuit filed today in Manhattan, plaintiff…

Jul 7, 2010 11:24 PM CDT

Law Departments Hiring More Contract Lawyers, and the Pickings Are Good

An increasing number of corporate law departments are hiring contract lawyers and sending them more projects, according to two principals with Pennsylvania legal staffing firms. James LaRosa, an owner of JuriStaff in Philadelphia, told the Legal Intelligencer that legal departments are hiring contract lawyers for stints of six months to…

Jul 6, 2010 11:00 AM CDT

Law Firms Express ‘Growing Enthusiasm’ for Contract Lawyers

There isn’t much good news for associates in a new survey of leaders of law firms with more than 50 lawyers. Forty-four percent of the firms laid off associates last year, 53 percent reduced or discontinued hiring first-year associates, and 64 percent shrunk their summer associate programs, according to the…

Jun 22, 2010 2:37 PM CDT

Some Atlanta Law Firms See Business Uptick, and Associates Benefit

Some associates in Atlanta are benefiting as their law firms detect hints of a turnaround and increased business. Some examples, reported in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Labor and employment law firm Fisher & Phillips gave its associates a $10,000 pay raise, citing business from companies seeking advice on labor issues and…

Jun 14, 2010 2:11 PM CDT

Firms’ Layoffs of Part-Timers Is Shortsighted, Orrick Partner Says

The thinning of BigLaw’s ranks and firms’ focus on profits for partner even during these times has been well-documented. And the layoffs particularly impacted the ranks of minorities and women—hitting women in part by firms’ “reducing virtually anyone working on a part-time schedule” in their downsizing, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe…

Mar 1, 2010 6:41 PM CST

Ex-Staff Lawyer Can Proceed With Disparate Impact Claim Against Covington, Judge Says

A former staff attorney of Covington & Burling can proceed with her federal discrimination claim over the law firm’s policy of assigning work, based on a disparate impact theory. However, U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton found that Yolanda Young had waited too long to bring a similar claim that the…

Jan 29, 2010 8:56 PM CST