Large Firm

As law firm office space shrinks, natural light is in and ‘capacious’ corner offices are gone

Law firms moving to new offices are often saving on space, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they will save money, according to a story in the New York Times on the BigLaw office market.

Feb 29, 2024 9:06 AM CST

BigLaw firm gets benchslapped for downplaying university deception in appellate brief’s facts section

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher went too far when it used the facts section of an appellate brief to present “a one-sided narrative" that downplayed adverse findings against its client, according to an appeals court.

Feb 28, 2024 11:31 AM CST

Texas justice complains that ‘brainwashed’ GOP colleagues from BigLaw ‘bow down to the altar of process’

Texas Supreme Court Justice John Devine complained in a September speech to voters that his colleagues from BigLaw worry too much about “standing, timeliness or whatever else,” according to a recording of his remarks obtained by the Texas Tribune.

Feb 28, 2024 9:18 AM CST

Suit accuses Sullivan & Cromwell of employing ‘creative but misleading strategies’ that aided FTX fraud

A proposed class action lawsuit filed by investors in cryptocurrency exchange FTX accuses Sullivan & Cromwell of aiding and abetting fraud by providing legal services that went “well beyond” usual legal work.

Feb 20, 2024 4:00 PM CST

Court scolds Weil partner for brief found to ‘incorporate by reference’ nearly 2,000 words from another document

A partner with Weil, Gotshal & Manges apparently missed an opinion telling his law firm that incorporating an argument by reference can’t be used to exceed word-count limits in briefs, according to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Feb 20, 2024 1:34 PM CST

Baker & McKenzie can be sued in Chicago for work by Russian entity, Illinois appeals court affirms

A judge in Cook County, Illinois, did not abuse his discretion when he ruled that Baker & McKenzie LLP can be sued in Chicago for alleged malpractice by a former Moscow outpost on behalf of overseas clients seeking to reclaim a Siberian coal mine.

Feb 20, 2024 11:19 AM CST

Boosted by spike in negotiated rates, law firms return to profitability, report says

Law firms returned to profitability in 2023 as “worked rates” accelerated throughout the year, according to the Law Firm Financial Index report for the fourth quarter of 2023 by the Thomson Reuters Institute.

Feb 13, 2024 3:16 PM CST

Ex-Greenberg Traurig partner’s defamation suit against blogger is ‘replete with unnecessary commentary,’ judge says

A social media influencer has won dismissal of a defamation lawsuit filed by a former Greenberg Traurig partner over the posting of marital videos said to depict the lawyer as an abusive spouse and father.

Feb 12, 2024 10:48 AM CST

Dechert will pay millions of dollars to settle ‘hack-for-hire’ allegations stemming from ex-partner’s work

Dechert has agreed to pay $3.8 million plus costs to settle claims in the United Kingdom that a former London partner conspired to hack and release the emails of a client’s opponent.

Feb 5, 2024 10:54 AM CST

BigLaw associates ‘have never had it better;’ they are working fewer hours, survey says, and making more money

Lawyer head count is growing, while productivity is declining, according to a year-end survey of more than 130 larger law firms released this week by Wells Fargo’s Legal Specialty Group.

Feb 1, 2024 12:56 PM CST

Quinn Emanuel disclosure order highlights relatively new product: judgment preservation insurance

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan must disclose terms of judgment preservation insurance that it allegedly bought before distributing a $185 million fee award to partners, according to a U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge.

Jan 31, 2024 3:39 PM CST

After sanctions threat, Trump lawyer in $83.3M defamation case drops conflict claim stemming from BigLaw overlap

A lawyer for former President Donald Trump is backing away from a claim that an opposing lawyer and the judge in a defamation case involving writer E. Jean Carroll had an undisclosed conflict of interest.

Jan 31, 2024 10:24 AM CST

3rd Circuit judicial nominee opposed for ties to a group critics say amplifies ‘antisemitic speech’ and ‘terrorist propaganda’

The nomination of a BigLaw partner to serve on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Philadelphia should be withdrawn because of his service as a board member for a group with “a deep history of amplifying antisemitic speech, terrorist propaganda and anti-American rhetoric,” according to a letter to President Joe Biden by a group of Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Jan 31, 2024 9:14 AM CST

Jurors rule for Davis Polk in former associate’s retaliation suit; defense called his claims a ‘conspiracy theory’

Federal jurors ruled for Davis Polk & Wardwell in a suit by a fired Black associate who claimed the law firm retaliated against him after he complained about racial disparities. At trial, he said he was the target of a “secret scheme” to oust him.

Jan 29, 2024 2:50 PM CST

Former Fisher Phillips partner pleads guilty to lesser charge in fatal shooting of his wife

Former Fisher Phillips partner Claud Lee “Tex” McIver III pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter on Friday for fatally shooting his wife while riding in an SUV in September 2016.

Jan 29, 2024 11:15 AM CST