Large Firm

Black market for office supplies? Suspect charged in $376K theft of copy machine toner from law firm

A former 10-year worker in the copy department of Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson is facing felony charges alleging that he stole $376,000 worth of copy machine toner from the law firm’s offices in New York. Adrian Rodriguez is charged with two counts of grand larceny. Prosecutors say he…

Jan 15, 2013 8:44 PM CST

Top Akin Gump antitrust lawyer leaps to new firm with 2 other partners

The top antitrust lawyer at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld has jumped to Squire Sanders, along with two other antitrust partners. Former Akin Gump antitrust chair Mark Botti started work at the Washington, D.C., office of his new firm today. Joining him there are J. Brady Dugan and Anthony…

Jan 15, 2013 4:39 PM CST

Attorneys who quit law firm jobs during 2009 downturn find success as small corporate boutique

During the fall of 2009, as the legal economy was headed into a tailspin, two attorneys at the Wilmington, Del., office of Pennsylvania-based Riley Riper Hollin & Colagreco did something counterintuitive. Jack Harris and Buddy Berger left the security of their Riley Riper jobs and formed their own small law…

Jan 15, 2013 3:40 PM CST

Indictment: Ex-Mayer Brown CIO helped bilk law firm of $4.8M in vendor billing and kickback scheme

Already accused of teaming up with a vendor to bilk a Chicago-based international law firm of nearly $1 million, the former chief information officer of Mayer Brown is now facing charges that he and the other man stole nearly $5 million from Mayer Brown between 2004 and 2011. The former…

Jan 14, 2013 6:29 PM CST

Dewey to Pay Up to $1.38M to Destroy Unclaimed Client Records

Dewey & LeBoeuf has client records dating back to the 1930s. This is now a problem, as the once-storied law firm unwinds its affairs in bankruptcy court in New York, since Dewey has an ethical obligation to preserve client confidences by destroying unclaimed records before it closes its doors. After…

Jan 10, 2013 4:36 PM CST

Legal Fees Jump 15 Percent over Two Years, Even as Billables Remain Flat, Study Says

Law firms are reaping more in legal fees, likely because of rate increases and clients willing to pay top dollar for the best legal talent, according to a study of legal spending data. Legal fees for 37 companies studied were nearly $950 million for the first two quarters of 2012,…

Jan 10, 2013 2:13 PM CST

Ex-Partners’ Suit Says Citibank Urged Personal Loans as Howrey Overspent Line by ‘Incredible’ $23M

In a case that could resonate with lawyers at other struggling legal shops, two former partners of Howrey are contending in a lawsuit in state court in California that Citibank urged them to take out personal loans to contribute capital after the law firm exceeded its $75 million line of…

Jan 8, 2013 10:28 PM CST

US Trustee Seeks Clawback of $10M in Fees from Kaye Scholer, Financial Adviser in Bankruptcy Case

The U.S. Trustee Program is asking a federal court in Manhattan to strip a well-known law firm and a financial adviser of $10 million in fees they have earned in a major corporate bankruptcy case. Kaye Scholer and the adviser, Capstone, perpetrated a fraud on the bankruptcy court, the U.S.…

Jan 8, 2013 8:40 PM CST

Head of Fla. Foreclosure Mill Firm Agrees to Shut Down Law Practice

The head of one of Florida’s well-known so-called foreclosure mill law firms has agreed to state bar discipline that will require him to close down his law office. Marshall C. Watson has also agreed to a 91-day suspension, which will require approval by the state supreme court before he can…

Jan 7, 2013 8:20 PM CST

SEC Taps Bingham McCutchen’s Geoffrey Aronow as New General Counsel

Geoffrey F. Aronow has been named as the new general counsel of the Securities and Exchange Commission. A partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Bingham McCutchen, he formerly served for nearly four years as director of the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s enforcement division. Both Bloomberg and Reuters have…

Jan 7, 2013 5:50 PM CST

Partner Layoffs Haven’t Ended in BigLaw, Surveys Indicate

The layoffs aren’t over for partners in some large law firms, two surveys show. The planned cuts are a reaction to partner billables that remain “stubbornly low,” the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports. Some partners bill less than 1,300 hours a year, compared to a benchmark of 1,900 hours…

Jan 7, 2013 12:37 PM CST

Top 25 Partners Got $70M in Dewey’s Last Year; Unsecured Creditors May See 15 Cents Per Dollar

In the last 12 months before Dewey & LeBoeuf imploded in a record-breaking bankruptcy last year, the top 25 partners of the BigLaw firm were paid some $70 million in draws and distributions. It isn’t known how much this same select group of partners received from the proceeds of a…

Jan 4, 2013 8:41 PM CST

New DOJ Antitrust Chief Expected to Continue Aggressive Enforcement

The new chief of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division is expected to continue to pursue aggressive enforcement of laws barring anticompetitive behavior. William Baer was confirmed on Sunday, 11 months after his nomination, the New York Times’ Dealbook blog reports. The story describes the Arnold & Porter partner as “a…

Jan 4, 2013 12:15 PM CST

Nixon Peabody to Close 11-Partner Paris Office Created in 2008 By Taylor Wessing Defection

Less than five years after a dozen senior lawyers from the French branch of Taylor Wessing defected to Nixon Peabody and created its Paris office, that Paris office is closing. Nixon Peabody plans to focus on its U.S. operations, and it’s not clear where the 11 partners, seven associates and…

Dec 20, 2012 8:31 PM CST

Video: UBS Smacked in LIBORgate Settlement; $7M Legal Fee Bill Dispute; Mega-Merger in the Works?

Editor’s Note: We’re experimenting with using more video on ABAJournal.com and will be bringing you this short weekly legal news brief from Bloomberg Law. Adding video would not mean eliminating text-based stories. Rather, we’re exploring adding more multimedia options in addition to our text-based posts. Also, in response to the…

Dec 20, 2012 6:45 PM CST