Large Firm

7 More Lawyers Leap from Epstein Becker, This Time for San Fran Office of Crowell & Moring

After news earlier this week that Epstein Becker & Green is losing its Houston office to Cozen O’Connor comes news today that half the firm’s San Francisco office is exiting for Crowell & Moring. William Helvestine, who served as managing partner of Epstein’s San Francisco office, is heading the seven-attorney…

May 25, 2011 10:55 PM CDT

Pepper Hamilton Hiring Partner: If Interview Hypo Scares You Off, This Isn’t the Place for You

Not everyone does well in Pepper Hamilton’s new interactive interviewing process. The law firm puts job candidates through a three-part interview process that includes hypothetical legal questions. Some people do freeze during the “interactive simulation,” hiring partner Michael Subak tells the Careerist blog. “Yeah, it happens,” Subak told the publication.…

May 25, 2011 10:30 AM CDT

Ex-Ropes & Gray Lawyer Explains How He Snooped for Merger Information

One sign of a pending merger was attorney workload, according to a former Ropes & Gray lawyer who pleaded guilty in an insider trading case. Documents also provided a treasure trove of information. “Merger agreements, loan documents, signature pages—those sort of documents are the sort of things we would pass…

May 24, 2011 12:17 PM CDT

Will Career Associate Programs Cause Resentment? At Orrick, Lawyers Cite the Benefits

David Perry, a 2009 Northwestern law grad, has $150,000 in law school debt and a lower paying career associate job at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. Perry, 37, tells the New York Times he’s satisfied. He landed the job after trying without success to find public service work. Now he says…

May 24, 2011 11:52 AM CDT

Around the Blawgosphere: How Firms Boost Their Bills; Blogger Service Breakdown; Tracking Laterals

Bill, Baby, Bill Daniel Fisher writes at the Forbes blog Full Disclosure about ways that law firms inflate their legal bills. A slideshow of nine different methods is provided. Fisher got his answers from David Paige, who spent 18 years litigating legal bills for insurance companies before starting Sterling Analytics.…

May 20, 2011 1:30 PM CDT

Ex-Ropes & Gray Lawyer Says Pay Jealousy Spurred His Insider Trading Tips

A former Ropes & Gray lawyer said Thursday that he provided tips in an insider trading scheme because he was jealous of Wall Street salaries. The now disbarred lawyer, 34-year-old Brien Santarlas, testified in the trial of Zvi Goffer, a former trader in the Galleon Group hedge fund founded by…

May 20, 2011 11:39 AM CDT

Holland & Hart Expands by 29 Lawyers in Salt Lake City

Holland & Hart is expanding in Salt Lake City while Holme Roberts & Owen is shrinking there. Seven more partners have jumped from Holme Roberts to Holland & Hart, after nine partners made the move in March, the Am Law Daily reports. In all, 29 lawyers have joined Holland &…

May 19, 2011 1:38 PM CDT

Ohio Law Firm Introduces App That Notifies Potential Hires About Available Jobs

Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff, an Ohio law firm, today revealed a free iTunes app that sends out notices when attorney positions open up, the Plain Dealer reports. The 165-lawyer firm, with seven offices, has hired about 24 lawyers over the past year-and-a-half, and according to firm management it has…

May 18, 2011 9:32 PM CDT

Bingham Must Pay Recruiter $1.9 Million for McKee Acquisition, Arbitrator Orders

Bingham McCutchen must pay a legal recruiter nearly $1.9 million for his role in the firm’s 2009 merger with McKee Nelson, a California arbitrator ordered yesterday. Alan Miles arranged a 2008 meeting between both firms, Am Law Daily reported, and the arbitration centered on the validity of a 2007 agreement…

May 18, 2011 8:05 PM CDT

2Ls Have to Argue a Hypothetical in Pepper Hamilton’s ‘Hot Seat’ Interviews

Law students interviewing for summer associate positions at Pepper Hamilton can’t just rely on transcripts or law review experience to prove their legal abilities. Instead students will have to argue a hypothetical fact pattern with law firm lawyers as part of a three-pronged interviewing process, according to U.S. News &…

May 18, 2011 12:52 PM CDT

LinkedIn Expects to Pay Wilson Sonsini $1.5 Million in IPO Legal Fees

LinkedIn is expected to raise more than $405 million in an initial public offering this week, and according to registration papers filed with the SEC, the networking site estimates that the offering’s legal fees and expenses for outside counsel Wilson, Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati will be $1.5 million. According to…

May 17, 2011 9:39 PM CDT

Hogan Lovells Partner Ousted, Accused of Padding Expense Accounts by $1.6M

A litigation partner at Hogan Lovells in London has been ousted after the firm alleged he padded his expense accounts by more than 1 million pounds over a four-year period. Christopher Grierson cooperated in the internal probe and has agreed to repay the full amount in two weeks, a law…

May 17, 2011 12:48 PM CDT

Reed Smith Hires 11 More Lawyers from K&L Gates for New E-Discovery Practice

Reed Smith has hired 11 lawyers and three staffers from K&L Gates for its new e-discovery practice group. The group is joining David Cohen, who was co-chair of the e-discovery practice at K&L Gates before Reed Smith hired him earlier this month, according to a press release. Cohen spent 28…

May 16, 2011 1:36 PM CDT

Akin Gump Raids Chadbourne for 4-Partner Project Finance Team

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld has raided Chadbourne & Parke for a four-partner project finance team in Los Angeles. The new Akin Gump lawyers are Thomas Dupuis, Lloyd MacNeil, Adam Umanoff and Edward Zaelke, the firm announced today in a press release. Zaelke, who formerly served as managing partner…

May 12, 2011 5:15 PM CDT

King & Spalding Partner Makes Modestly Helpful Bid to ‘Man Up’ to DOMA Mess, PR Expert Says

Yet another partner at King & Spalding has stepped forward and issued a mea culpa over the firm’s decision drop its defense of the federal law banning recognition of gay marriages. Managing partner Robert Hays initially took responsibility for any mistakes that occurred after partner Paul Clement left the law…

May 12, 2011 3:39 PM CDT