Large Firm

Are More Women Torn Between Work, Parenting? Yes, Says Litigator Whose Husband Stays Home with Kids

Weighing in on an ongoing New York Times debate about whether men and women react differently to the conflict between work demands and children, a Manhattan lawyer whose husband is the stay-at-home parent in their household says she believes biology is, to some degree, destiny. Although her husband is an…

Jun 20, 2011 10:42 PM CDT

Sullivan & Cromwell Raids UK Law Firm for New Hong Kong Hires

Following the lead of at least six other New York-based international law firms in less than two years, Sullivan & Cromwell has added to its attorney roster in Hong Kong. It has raided Hong Kong managing partner Ng Kay Ian and counsel Gwen Wong from a major London-based competitor, Freshfields…

Jun 16, 2011 11:46 PM CDT

32 Law Firms Certified for Empowering Women

Thirty-two law firms have received a “Gold Standard Certification” for hiring women equity partners and promoting them to leadership positions. The Women in Law Empowerment Forum certified law firms with more than 100 lawyers that met three of six criteria for percentages of equity partners and leaders, the National Law…

Jun 15, 2011 1:26 PM CDT

Can Law Firms Put Aside Focus on Single-Year Profits? Crowell Chairman Says They Must

Law firms that focus on single-year profits and that employ information-hording lawyers won’t be able to deliver on client demands for greater efficiency, according to Crowell & Moring chairman Kent Gardiner. Law firms competing for business need “a first-class knowledge management program” and well-trained associates, Gardiner says in an article…

Jun 15, 2011 12:19 PM CDT

Altman Weil Survey Says 95% of Law Firms Plan to Up Fees By a Median 4%

After much talk of a paradigm shift in the practice of law and the need to provide clients with more value for their money in recent years, it appears that the legal economy is on the upswing. Almost all of the law firms responding to a survey by consultant Altman…

Jun 14, 2011 10:12 PM CDT

Weil Stuns Clifford Chance With Raid on London HQ; ‘Most Damaging Team Hire Ever’ By US Firm?

Weil Gotshal & Manges has stunned British behemoth Clifford Chance with a raid on the firm’s London headquarters in which the New York-based BigLaw firm has stolen four of CC’s five so-called City funds partners. Described by Legal Week as “most damaging team hire ever inflicted on a leading City…

Jun 14, 2011 12:46 AM CDT

Weil Trumpets ‘Trifecta’ in Vault 2012 Rankings, But Wachtell, Cravath and S&C are 1-2-3 in Prestige

As Vault’s 2012 law firm rankings hit the news today, chest-beating resounded in the BigLaw community. Asked to say which law firms, excluding their own, are most prestigious, some 16,000 associates rounded up the usual suspects, listing the same seven New York-based legal partnerships as last year, in the same…

Jun 13, 2011 11:42 PM CDT

Judge OKs $5M Jury Award re Bryan Cave Arbitration Advice; with Interest, It Could Top $10M

A state-court judge in New York has OK’d a $5 million jury awarded against Bryan Cave and a retired former lawyer in a malpractice case. With pre-verdict interest, which Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Barbara Jaffe also OK’d, the total amount of the judgment could top $10 million, the New York…

Jun 13, 2011 8:56 PM CDT

Tax Practice Leader Exits Holme Roberts for MoFo

The chairman of the tax department at Holme Roberts & Owen is leaving the firm to join Morrison & Foerster. David Strong is the second practice leader to leave the Denver-based firm for MoFo within the past year, reports the Am Law Daily. A MoFo press release provides additional details.…

Jun 10, 2011 1:13 AM CDT

Former Brobeck Chairman Tower Snow Joins Cooley as Securities Litigation Partner

A lawyer known for his stint at the helm of a high-flying San Francisco law firm that subsequently went bankrupt and his leadership role in an unsuccessful effort to establish a West Coast presence for London-based Clifford Chance is now joining Cooley as a partner. Once the chairman of Brobeck…

Jun 9, 2011 7:00 PM CDT

A Lost Generation of Lawyers? Of 30 Laid-Off Lawyers, Two Got Jobs, Law Grad Says

A 2009 law graduate who was laid off from BigLaw says he hasn’t given up his job search, but that’s not the case with his friends. The unidentified grad tells the Careerist that he knows 30 laid-off lawyers in the classes of 2008 and 2009, and only two have found…

Jun 9, 2011 12:54 PM CDT

22 Partners Have Left O’Melveny in 2011; Some Exits Create ‘Growth Opportunities,’ Firm Says

Nine New York partners who announced plans to leave O’Melveny & Myers last month for Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison and Weil Gotshal & Manges aren’t the only ones who exited the firm this year. A total of 22 partners in California, New York, Washington, D.C., and London have…

Jun 8, 2011 7:36 PM CDT

Young Ex-Associate Sues Aussie BigLaw, Says She Was Fired After Involvement with Firm Solicitor

In a case that is making waves in Australia, a former female associate is going head-to-head with one of the country’s major law firms, contending that she was harassed and fired after becoming “romantically involved” with a Clayton Utz solicitor. In an ongoing lawsuit against the firm, Bridgette Styles alleges…

Jun 8, 2011 6:07 PM CDT

PI Lawyer Settles Charges He Traded on Deal Info Gleaned from Unwitting BigLaw Daughter

A San Diego-area personal injury lawyer has settled charges that he traded on deal information he misappropriated from his unwitting daughter, an associate at a large law firm. Dean Goetz allegedly learned about the pending $1.36 billion acquisition of Advanced Medical Optics while his daughter was working on the transaction…

Jun 8, 2011 12:04 PM CDT

Appeals Court: Associate Can’t Seek Punitives from Law Firm That Allegedly Misled Him re Partnership

A former associate can’t seek punitive damages from a law firm that allegedly misstated his partnership potential for years to keep him working on an important case and then terminated him once it successfully concluded. Upholding today the trial court’s ruling on punitives, the New York Appellate Division for the…

Jun 7, 2011 11:40 PM CDT