Large Firm

Some corporate clients are making ‘unpalatable’ demands in outside counsel guidelines, partner says

Corporate clients are increasingly making broad demands in outside counsel guidelines that restrict the type of work law firms can do for other clients, observers say.

May 18, 2018 7:00 AM CDT

Did Reed Smith partner hang up on prosecutor for special counsel? Tensions erupt at hearing

A Reed Smith partner representing a Russian company in special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe took offense in a court hearing on Wednesday when a prosecutor said he hung up about nine minutes into what was supposed to be an hour-long meet-and-confer phone call. Partner Eric Dubelier said the claim by…

May 17, 2018 7:05 AM CDT

Nixon Peabody seeks to benefit the poor with its solar panels

Nixon Peabody lawyers Jeff Lesk and Herb Stevens are taking the lead on a project that sends energy credits from solar panels on the firm’s Washington, D.C., office to lower-income city residents. The program involves the energy company Pepco, the Washington Post reports. “We just produce the energy here,” Stevens…

May 11, 2018 2:16 PM CDT

Michael Cohen brought top client to BigLaw firm; other consulting clients have regrets

Michael Cohen reportedly referred five possible clients to Squire Patton Boggs during his strategic alliance with the firm, including one that appears to be a top lobbying client. But some of the companies that separately hired Cohen, including a telecom heavyweight and a European-based drugmaker, aren’t as satisfied with their…

May 11, 2018 9:59 AM CDT

Former managing clerk at Simpson Thacher gets sentence reduced in insider trading scheme

A former managing clerk at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett had nine months shaved off his sentence for insider trading. The former clerk, 44-year-old Steven Metro, was resentenced Wednesday to 37 months in prison for stealing information from his law firm’s computers and passing it to a former law school classmate,…

May 10, 2018 1:44 PM CDT

Greenspoon Marder partner intervenes after seeing cop kick driver who had hands in the air

A Greenspoon Marder partner intervened Wednesday after she saw a police officer forcefully kick a driver who had his hands in the air while standing outside his car. Deborah Baker-Egozi tells the Daily Business Review she was leaving the courthouse in downtown Miami when she saw an officer screaming obscenities…

May 10, 2018 10:33 AM CDT

Frugal Cleary Gottlieb secretary who invested in stocks leaves $8.2M to charities

Longtime Cleary Gottlieb secretary Sylvia Bloom, who died soon after her retirement at age 96, made some smart stock picks during her lifetime.

May 8, 2018 7:30 AM CDT

10 Questions: Lawyer’s memoir recalls growing up Jewish in Japan during WWII

Isaac Shapiro detailed his unique experience during World War II. His parents, Jewish emigres from Russia, were living in Berlin when Adolf Hitler began his rise to power. Sensing danger, they fled, eventually settling where they thought their young family would be safe: Japan.

May 1, 2018 1:55 AM CDT

‘Mommy track is a dead end’ at Morrison & Foerster, associates allege in $100M suit

Three associates at Morrison & Foerster have filed a would-be $100 million class-action suit that claims the firm maintains a “family-friendly façade” even as it discriminates against lawyer moms.

Apr 30, 2018 12:59 PM CDT

$11M a year for a lateral hire? Star partners are valued ‘like Hollywood celebrities’

At Cravath, Swaine & Moore, partners earn a hefty $4 million a year, on average. But that pales in comparison to reported compensation for some former Cravath partners hired away by competing law firms, the New York Times reports. “The money involved is so big,” the newspaper reports, “that star…

Apr 30, 2018 10:21 AM CDT

Which lawyers spend the most time on pro bono? ABA surveyed 47,000 for the answer

Eighty-one percent of lawyers surveyed said they provided pro bono services at some point in their careers, while just over half said they provided such services in 2016, according to a survey by the ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono & Public Service.

Apr 26, 2018 3:59 PM CDT

Amended complaint naming plaintiff filed in Proskauer gender discrimination case

Update: Retaliation claims have been added in an amended complaint to a gender discrimination and Equal Pay Act suit filed against Proskauer Rose. Although the suit was initially filed by a Jane Doe plaintiff, in the amended complaint filed Wednesday, the plaintiff revealed herself to be Connie N. Bertram, a…

Apr 26, 2018 2:35 PM CDT

Greg Craig, former White House counsel and lead lawyer on Ukraine report, leaves Skadden

Greg Craig has retired from Skadden and his name has been scrubbed from the law firm’s website. Craig, a former White House counsel during the Obama administration, was lead lawyer on a controversial Skadden report assessing the fairness of a trial of a Ukrainian prime minister. He worked on the…

Apr 24, 2018 4:33 PM CDT

Partner percentages continue to decline in BigLaw; is in-house lure part of the reason?

The percentage of partners at the nation’s largest law firms is slowly but steadily declining.

The percentage of partners at the largest U.S. firms dropped from 42.2 percent of the lawyer headcount in 2013 to 40.8 percent at the end of 2017, Law360 reports.

Apr 24, 2018 7:00 AM CDT

Top 10 female-friendly and family-friendly law firms named

Yale Law Women has expanded its take on the most family-friendly law firms. This year, two lists are being produced: the top 10 family-friendly law firms, and the top 10 female-friendly law firms, the American Lawyer and Above the Law report. The lists, with a full report, are here. Yale…

Apr 23, 2018 10:29 AM CDT