Large Firm

Appalachian inbreeding comment won’t lead to ethics charges for Crowell lawyers

Four Crowell & Moring lawyers won’t face ethics charges for a suggestion in a client alert that inbreeding could be responsible for Appalachian birth defects chronicled in a study of mountaintop mining. Assistant law professor Jason Huber of the Charlotte School of Law had filed ethics complaints against the lawyers…

Mar 8, 2013 11:30 AM CST

Former Sen. Jon Kyl joins Covington & Burling’s public policy practice

Formerly the second highest-ranking Republican in the U.S. Senate, Jon Kyl will not be taking it easy in his retirement. After 26 years in Congress, he is now a senior advisor in the Washington, D.C., office of Covington & Burling, where he will work to help the firm expand its…

Mar 6, 2013 6:03 PM CST

Paul Hastings, 2 partners to pay $1.6M to settle Dewey unfinished business claim

Two former partners of Dewey & LeBoeuf, along with the law firm at which they now practice, Paul Hastings, have agreed to pay nearly $1.6 million to settle a claim over unfinished Dewey business they took with them to their new jobs. A filing Monday in New York says Paul…

Mar 6, 2013 5:30 PM CST

Former BigLaw partner admits underreporting his income by $2M

A former bankruptcy partner at Kirkland & Ellis pleaded guilty on Tuesday to four counts of tax fraud. In a plea agreement, Theodore Freedman, 65, admitted underreporting his income by more than $2 million between 2001 and 2004, the New York Law Journal reports. He will be required to pay…

Mar 6, 2013 12:27 PM CST

Patton Boggs is reportedly laying off lawyers and staffers

Patton Boggs has reportedly laid off both lawyers and staffers in a move that one partner described as “rightsizing.” Reuters reports on the layoffs based on information from two sources inside the firm and two sources from outside. The number of layoffs is not known, but one source told Reuters…

Mar 1, 2013 3:22 PM CST

Law firms increasingly shun borrowing, relying instead on increased capital contributions

Law firms seeking to avoid bank debt are increasingly tapping their partners for greater capital contributions. The American Lawyer confirmed financing data from 20 law firms and learned that seven of them do not borrow any money at all. They are: Dechert; Weil, Gotshal & Manges; K&L Gates; Day Pitney;…

Feb 28, 2013 4:10 PM CST

Judge OKs liquidation plan in Dewey & LeBoeuf’s bankruptcy case

In the latest milestone in a massive Chapter 11 bankruptcy case that has proceeded with unusual speed, a federal bankruptcy court judge on Wednesday approved a liquidation plan for Dewey & LeBoeuf, reports the Wall Street Journal Law Blog (sub. req.). “The court is very pleased, I want to congratulate…

Feb 27, 2013 8:58 PM CST

New Reed Smith office in Houston now has 17 attorneys and is looking to hire more

Last month Reed Smith announced that the law firm had established an office in the hot Houston market and was looking to hire lawyers for what is eventually expected to be a 50-attorney roster there. And now, a little over a month later, Reed Smith on Tuesday announced that its…

Feb 26, 2013 6:44 PM CST

Mayer Brown revenue slumps to 6-year low of $1.09B, average partner profit down to $1.15M

It’s not exactly chump change. But after a 2011 surge, gross revenue dipped by 3.7 percent in 2012 to a six-year low of $1.09 billion at Mayer Brown. And net income of $304 million was down by over 6 percent, resulting in a 2.5 percent reduction in average profit per…

Feb 25, 2013 11:01 PM CST

Skadden partner announces plans to be a supportive husband in departure memo

The next phase of Skadden partner Garrett Waltzer’s life will be devoted to the career aspirations of his wife. Waltzer told of his plans to “be a supportive husband” in an unusual departure memo that links to the website of his wife, R&B singer TaQuita Thorns, Above the Law and…

Feb 25, 2013 12:00 PM CST

K&L Gates posts 2012 financial results online; will other major law firms follow suit?

Once upon a time, law firms didn’t publicly disclose their financial results and what partners and associates were paid. Then, in recent decades, as legal publications pushed for numbers that readers were eager to see, annual surveys listing revenue, the average profit per partner and associate salaries became commonplace. Now,…

Feb 22, 2013 10:16 PM CST

Man arrested at Pa. courthouse is charged with stealing files from Reed Smith

A visitor to a Pennsylvania courthouse was arrested Wednesday after authorities said he behaved in an unusual manner, falsely claimed to be both a law firm intern and an intern for a local judge and was determined to have stolen civil case files from a major law firm in his…

Feb 22, 2013 5:08 PM CST

Team of 4 Linklaters lawyers joins Pepper Hamilton’s growing white-collar practice group

A former U.S. litigation chief of a major United Kingdom-based law firm is joining Pepper Hamilton, along with three other Linklaters lawyers. The move by Larry Byrne, an ex-federal prosecutor in New York and Washington, D.C. who focuses his practice on white-collar matters, underscores Pepper Hamilton’s growing emphasis on corporate…

Feb 21, 2013 5:02 PM CST

As ‘super firm’ profits soar, others boost revenue by shrinking partner ranks

Some California law firms are seeing profits soar simply by being at the top of their game. But others, trying to compete with “super firms” such as Latham & Watkins and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and Silicon Valley powerhouses such as Cooley, are boosting reported profits by reducing the…

Feb 19, 2013 9:21 PM CST

Cooley recruits co-chair of Sheppard Mullin corporate group for growing LA office

A mergers and acquisitions specialist who co-chairs the corporate practice group of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton is joining Cooley’s growing Los Angeles area office, along with another corporate partner from the firm. Established less than a year ago, the office now has nearly 20 lawyers, including new hires Thomas…

Feb 19, 2013 4:35 PM CST