In-house Counsel

Jackson Lewis Caps Fees in Exchange for All of Pfizer’s Employment Work

Pfizer Inc. has dubbed its law firm management effort P3, for Pfizer Partnering Program. It’s a bit of a misnomer, however, since the program involves the whittling away of law firm partners. The company now uses only 39 outside firms for U.S. litigation, down from 200 before the company instituted…

Aug 19, 2008 4:28 PM CDT

Ex-Apple GC Settles SEC Case for $2.2M, Wants to Seek Social Justice

Former Apple general counsel Nancy Heinen has agreed to pay $2.2 million in a civil settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve allegations of stock options backdating. The amount includes disgorgement of gains from the sale of backdated stock options, interest on the gains, and a $200,000 fine,…

Aug 15, 2008 11:51 AM CDT

More In-House Counsel Regulation Needed, ABA Says

In-house counsel who advise their employers in a given state, even when they are admitted to practice only in another state, ought to be required to register with the state in which they give that advice, according to a resolution passed by the ABA’s 555-member policy-making House of Delegates this…

Aug 11, 2008 7:50 PM CDT

Female GCs at Fortune 500 Cos. Double in Last Decade

The number of top women lawyers at Fortune 500 companies has risen to 92 from 44 when the Minority Corporate Counsel Association first started counting nearly 10 years ago. The state with the largest number of female GCs is New York, which has 14, followed by 11 in California, eight…

Aug 7, 2008 11:07 AM CDT

Top Lawyer at UBS Resigns

A top lawyer has resigned from UBS AG, a Swiss bank under fire concerning its auction-rate securities practices. David Aufhauser’s resignation has been accepted, the bank announced in a statement posted on an internal website today, reports the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.). He was general counsel of the U.S.…

Aug 4, 2008 7:58 PM CDT

8 Percent of Associates Surveyed Expect to Move In-House

Only about 8 percent of midlevel associates surveyed by the American Lawyer expect to move to in-house positions in the next five years, while 43 percent expect to stay with their current firm. Nearly 16 percent predicted they would be a nonequity partner, while 11.5 percent thought they would become…

Aug 4, 2008 1:21 PM CDT

Lawyer Named in UBS Case; Auction-Rate Probe of Citigroup, Too

A high-level lawyer at UBS AG is reportedly at the center of the New York attorney general’s civil investigation of the Swiss bank’s sale of auction-rate securities. Although David Aufhauser, general counsel for the UBS investment banking unit, isn’t named, he is “Executive A” in a lawsuit filed by Attorney…

Aug 1, 2008 8:36 PM CDT

Internet Lawyer By Day, Law Prof By Night

Adam Palmer’s day job is working as policy counsel for .ORG, a public interest Internet domain registry based in Reston, Va. But his avocation is protecting children from Internet predators, and he travels around the world teaching other attorneys how to prosecute such cases. That’s why he volunteered to teach…

Jul 29, 2008 5:30 PM CDT

Microsoft’s Outside Counsel Can Earn a Bonus for Increasing Diversity

Microsoft will pay its preferred outside counsel a 2 percent bonus if they meet diversity goals. The program allows law firms to earn the annual bonus in two ways, reports The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times. One way is to increase the number of hours that women and minorities…

Jul 25, 2008 12:26 PM CDT

GCs Fear Litigation Strategies Would Be Revealed if Rule Changes

The ABA is among the critics of a proposed accounting rule change that would require public companies to disclose more details about the risks of litigation. In-house lawyers and other critics say the rule change would force companies to reveal details that could provide opponents with a preview of their…

Jul 24, 2008 10:49 AM CDT

Bonuses for Top-Paid GCs Jumped 17%, to an Average of $1.1M

Salaries for the 100 best-paid general counsel at Fortune 500 companies stagnated last year while the average bonus and stock grant jumped about 17 percent, according to a survey by Corporate Counsel magazine. The average salary $567,195 while the average bonus was $1.1 million and the average stock award was…

Jul 23, 2008 11:01 AM CDT

Some In-House Lawyers Find ‘Promised Land’ Lacking, Consider Alternatives

Is there life outside corporate law? Some lawyers who tried alternative career paths will answer the question in the affirmative at an upcoming seminar sponsored by the Association of Corporate Counsel in Southern California. One of them is Pamela Samuels Young, who began writing legal novels when she was an…

Jul 17, 2008 3:12 PM CDT

Wal-Mart Will Use Software to Monitor Diversity of Outside Counsel

Wal-Mart has ditched four law firms for lacking commitment to diversity and will be using technology to keep an eye on the hundreds of other firms that do legal work for the retailer. Miguel Rivera, Wal-Mart’s associate general counsel for outside counsel management, told a Florida Bar diversity symposium last…

Jul 11, 2008 10:35 AM CDT

Insurer GC Agrees to Reprimand for Claim of ‘Paid Off’ Judges

The general counsel for United Automobile Insurance has agreed to a public reprimand for telling a journalist that Miami-area judges are being “paid off” by plaintiffs lawyers. As part of the discipline, general counsel Charles Grimsley agreed to write a letter of apology for his comments to the Daily Business…

Jul 10, 2008 5:08 PM CDT

$50K Payment Ends Indy Law Firm’s $18M Nightmare

After worrying for two years about an $18 million jury verdict, partners of Fillenwarth Dennerline Groth & Towe were presumably delighted to ante up $50,000 to the Indiana Department of Insurance in order to win release from the judgment against the law firm. In return, the Indianapolis-based law firm has…

Jul 8, 2008 9:56 PM CDT