Contract Lawyers Get Paid Less, But May See More Job Opportunities

Contract lawyers are seeing a drop in hourly pay as more laid-off colleagues join their ranks, but there may be a silver lining in the economic downturn for those who prefer contract jobs. Gregory Bufithis, who runs The Posse List contract job website, tells the National Law Journal that the…

May 5, 2009 1:37 PM CDT

Lawyer Laid Off at Skadden After Surviving Hudson River Landing

Lawyer Frank Scudere considers himself lucky to be alive, but his luck ran out soon after surviving the Hudson River landing of US Airways Flight 1549. Scudere’s father died less than a week later, and Scudere’s law firm job was gone about two months after the water landing, according to…

Apr 17, 2009 3:01 PM CDT

Covington Returns Yolanda Young Fire, Says Ex-Staff Lawyer Had Lackluster GPA

Sued last month by a former staff attorney who claimed Covington & Burling maintained its staff attorney ranks as a ghetto for minority attorneys, the law firm didn’t hesitate to fire back earlier when Yolanda Young apparently made similar charges in an administrative complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity…

Mar 27, 2009 6:21 PM CDT

125 Laid Off at Dechert; 60 Cut at Edwards Angell

Two more law firms announced layoffs today. Dechert is laying off 125 people, and Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge is laying off about 60 people. Dechert says its layoffs affect offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. Firm chairman Barton Winokur announced the layoffs in a memo provided to…

Mar 26, 2009 2:25 PM CDT

As Laid-Off Lawyers Look for Work, How to Find It Isn’t Clear

Only a year or two ago, when the economy was relatively strong, Aviva Tiegerman had no interest in hearing from the multiple legal recruiters who called her daily at the Manhattan office of Kaye Scholer. But now the 29-year-old Tiegerman, who was laid off in May from her job there…

Mar 7, 2009 2:30 AM CST

Orrick’s New Talent Model: 3 Stages to Partner; More Contract Lawyers

Effective July 1, international law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe will have a new talent model, including a three-stage partner track for associates and an increased presence of contract attorneys. The talent model revelation came about today at Hildebrandt’s annual Law Firm Leaders Forum in San Francisco during a discussion…

Mar 6, 2009 9:53 PM CST

February Free Fall: Major Law Firms Lay Off Another 2,000-Plus Attorneys and Staff

As the dismal economy has continued on a downward spiral this month, so has the legal industry, with February layoffs exceeding January’s by a considerable margin. January’s carnage, in which renowned law firms laid off more than 1,500 attorneys and staff at last count, has been followed by further freefall…

Feb 26, 2009 9:25 PM CST

High-Profile Ex-Staff Lawyer Sues Covington & Burling, Alleges Discrimination

Last year, a onetime staff attorney at Covington & Burling wrote a controversial article for the Huffington Post that accused her former firm of “stockpiling its staff attorney ghetto with blacks and other minorities.” Now Yolanda Young has filed a pro se federal race discrimination and retaliation suit against the…

Feb 25, 2009 9:28 PM CST

From One to Many

Feb 2, 2009 4:00 AM CST

Squire Sanders and Ice Miller Lay Off Staffers

Squire Sanders & Dempsey has laid off additional staffers, possibly in a move to become a more attractive potential merger partner. Squire Sanders’ Miami office laid off “a couple runners, some staffers and a few people in accounting,” according to the office’s managing partner, Alvin Davis. He told the National…

Jan 21, 2009 2:58 PM CST

Economy Hits Contract Lawyers and the Companies that Find Jobs for Them

Contract lawyers hired to do document review for law firms are feeling the pinch of a bad economy. Fewer contract jobs are available, and law firms are pressuring placement agencies to hold pay below the going rate of $35 an hour in Washington, D.C., and New York, the National Law…

Jan 12, 2009 2:41 PM CST

Down in the Data Mines

A tale of woe from the basement of legal practice

Dec 2, 2008 1:40 AM CST

Howrey Chairman: ‘We Have to Economize for Our Clients’

Washington, D.C., law firms aren’t immune from the economic downturn, and they’re taking steps to keep and bring in more business. Howrey is one of them, the Washington Post reports. Chairman and managing partner Robert Ruyak said the firm took steps to keeps its fees low in response to requests…

Oct 20, 2008 1:39 PM CDT

Heller Ehrman to Vote Today to Dissolve

Although a vote won’t be taken until today, the struggling Heller Ehrman has no choice but to dissolve, the law firm’s chairman reportedly told all hands at a meeting Thursday. The 118-year-old California-based law firm, which survived the San Francisco earthquake and helped arrange the financing to build the Golden…

Sep 25, 2008 11:58 PM CDT

Contract Lawyers, Search Terms Blamed for Late-Disclosed McAfee E-Mails

A Howrey lawyer who headed an internal investigation of backdating at McAfee partly pinned the blame on contract lawyers when he told a judge yesterday why five corporate e-mails weren’t disclosed sooner. The e-mail had been turned over on the eve of trial for the company’s former general counsel, Kent…

Sep 19, 2008 11:08 AM CDT