After a Month in Prison, Ex-BigLaw Partner Who Lied to Police Wins Release, Due to Wife’s Illness

A former partner of Allen & Overy and Macfarlanes had to serve a month in prison after being convicted of perverting the course of justice for lying to police to avoid a possible drunken-driving case for running his Range Rover off the road. However, Francis Bridgeman has now had his…

Feb 23, 2012 10:44 PM CST

Is Lateral Hiring Frenzy by BigLaw Creating a Bubble?

Lateral hiring at large law firms is expected to continue at a frenetic pace this year, a phenomenon that has created ever larger income gaps between equity partners at the top and bottom. At some firms, the pay spread is as large as 10 to one and even 12 to…

Feb 21, 2012 2:09 PM CST

Chapman and Cutler Raids Orrick for 6-Partner Finance Team to Open DC Office

Chapman and Cutler has announced that it plans to open an office in Washington, D.C., with six structured finance and securitization partners from Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe. The Chapman firm has been looking at D.C. for some time, because many of its clients are regulated there, the Am Law Daily…

Feb 15, 2012 7:14 PM CST

Show Me the Numbers

Our thesis here at the New Normal is that the legal services that corporations buy will come to look more like other activities inside companies, and the legal services small businesses and consumers buy will come to look like other consumer activities. My thinking on this is driven by experience,…

Feb 14, 2012 9:13 PM CST

Entire Thompson & Knight Team Joins DLA Piper for Valentine’s Day Launch in Mexico City

The entire Mexico City office of Thompson & Knight has jumped ship to join DLA Piper, which opened a new office there today. Two of the four partners making the move, Manuel Rajunov, a tax practitioner, and corporate partner Carlos Valencia, a telecom and technology specialist, will head the new…

Feb 14, 2012 5:59 PM CST

Ex-BigLaw Associate Loses Law License for 3 Years Due to Domestic Incident With Girlfriend

Updated: A former associate at Cravath Swaine & Moore yesterday had his law license suspended for three years by a New York appeals court due to his earlier conviction in a domestic assault on his girlfriend. A disciplinary committee had sought a one-year suspension and a hearing panel had determined…

Feb 10, 2012 12:47 PM CST

Fifty-Something Law Grad Found BigLaw Job a Tough Gig But Has No Regrets About Earning a JD

After a career in television production, Barbara Griff decided to go to law school. In her fifties when she graduated in 1996 magna cum laude from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, she has no regrets about earning her juris doctorl degree. However, she found the BigLaw job she got…

Feb 10, 2012 12:06 PM CST

Power Lunches Go on a Diet: Big-Firm Lawyers Are Cutting Back on Such Meetings

The “power lunch” has lost some of its punch for most big-firm lawyers, according to a recent survey. But while the majority of those surveyed said they now engage in less bread-breaking interaction with colleagues and clients than just three years ago, they’re still averaging a couple of business lunches…

Feb 9, 2012 7:30 PM CST

Fulbright & Jaworski Fires Back, Sues to Get $521K Legal Payment from Plaintiff in Texas A&M Case

Firing back at an investor group that named Fulbright & Jaworski as a defendant in a Nevada lawsuit over a land acquisition by Texas A&M University, the law firm has sued the plaintiff over an allegedly unpaid $521,000 legal bill. The law firm filed the Texas suit Monday in Bexar…

Feb 8, 2012 6:21 PM CST

Herbert Smith Is Mulling Possible Megamerger With Australia’s Freehills; Plans NY Launch in 2012

Herbert Smith, a venerable London-based firm with over 1,000 lawyers, is in preliminary talks with Australia’s Freehills concerning a possible megamerger. If the two firms decide to combine, they would not only have an attorney roster of 2,000 lawyers or more but would have a presence on every continent except…

Feb 6, 2012 11:03 AM CST

Investor Sues Greenberg Traurig, Says Law Firm Helped Lender Client Defraud Investors

An investor in a bankrupt California-based real estate lender is suing Greenberg Traurig, contending that the law firm helped the client company, RE Loans LLC, conceal its liquidity issues and alleged violation of securities law from him and other investors, resulting in a $700 million loss. The complaint (PDF), which…

Feb 2, 2012 10:13 PM CST

Fenwick and Simpson Thacher Leading Facebook IPO Charge

With Facebook’s IPO filing Wednesday came news of the law firms behind what could be the creation of the world’s largest Internet company. The filing reveals attorneys from Fenwick & West and from Simpson Thacher and Bartlett are taking the lead as advisers, notes the Wall Street Journal Law Blog…

Feb 2, 2012 2:37 PM CST

Leaning in to Help: Program Helps Nonprofits Better Serve Immigrant Children

Feb 1, 2012 8:30 AM CST

Federal Judge OKs Suit by Ex-Associate and Counterclaim by Mayer Brown

A federal judge has given a green light both to a race discrimination suit filed against Mayer Brown by a fired former associate and a counterclaim in which the law firm accuses her of improperly accessing documents while her termination was pending. Finding that it is a question of fact…

Jan 31, 2012 9:38 PM CST

10 Lawyers Leap to Hughes Hubbard, Leaving 1 Partner in SNR Denton’s Paris Office

Ten lawyers are poised to leap from the Paris office of SNR Denton to Hughes Hubbard & Reed, leaving exactly one partner at the helm in their soon-to-be-former legal shop. Among those exiting this week are Paris banking practice leader Sena Agbayissah, a former managing partner of SNR Denton’s office…

Jan 31, 2012 8:52 PM CST