Midsize Firm

2 veteran partners exit Greenberg Traurig for growing Fox Rothschild outpost in Florida

A former managing partner of the Palm Beach County offices of Greenberg Traurig and another partner have exited the firm to join a growing outpost of Philadelphia-based Fox Rothschild. The arrival of Howard Bregman, a longtime real estate transactional lawyer, and litigation veteran Gary Dunkel at their new firm’s West…

Sep 18, 2013 7:40 PM CDT

Quarles & Brady plans continued growth in Midwest and Florida, new chair says

Quarles & Brady is planning continued expansion in its Chicago and Tampa, Fla., offices, and will open a new office in an undisclosed Midwest location, the new chair of the Milwaukee-based law firm tells the Business Journal. When efforts to find a merger partner in Chicago didn’t work out, Quarles…

Sep 17, 2013 10:40 PM CDT

Insurer sues own lawyer for $43M in Big Dig coverage case, says competing carrier was a client, too

Edwards Wildman Palmer is facing a New York malpractice claim from an insurance company the law firm represented in a Boston coverage matter. At issue in the underlying case was a fatal 2006 accident in which some 26 tons of ceiling tile from the so-called Big Dig highway tunnel project…

Sep 17, 2013 6:39 PM CDT

Midwest firm to acquire Los Angeles legal shop, plans further growth there

A nearly 350-attorney Midwest law firm is planting its flag on the West Coast with the pending acquisition of a 10-attorney Los Angeles legal shop. Thompson Coburn plans to finalize its merger with Freedman Weisz in early October, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. The Thompson firm currently has offices in…

Sep 10, 2013 2:40 PM CDT

Shook Hardy OKs $5M settlement with trustee overseeing bankruptcy of convicted ex-client’s company

Shook Hardy & Bacon has not admitted liability. However, the 500-lawyer, Kansas City, Mo.-based law firm has agreed to settle for $5 million a bankruptcy trustee’s civil complaint contending that it and an associate attorney aided and abetted a former client’s violations of federal securities law. The ex-client, Nevin Shapiro,…

Sep 10, 2013 11:00 AM CDT

Patent leader leaps from Dorsey & Whitney to Brownstein Hyatt

The chief of Dorsey & Whitney’s Denver patent practice group has leapt to Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck. S. Craig Hemenway, who is also an electrical engineer, is the second Dorsey partner with intellectual property expertise to join the Brownstein firm recently, according to the Denver Business Journal and the Denver…

Sep 5, 2013 4:45 PM CDT

Law firm splits, but partners will still share office space

Partners of a Colorado law firm found they had different ideas about how to market their disparate practices. So they decided to split Donelson Ciancio & Grant into three law firms. However, they will still share the same Broomfield offices and continue to work together when cases draw on their…

Sep 4, 2013 4:30 PM CDT

2 lawyers indicted in $1.2B Rothstein swindle; one is accused of impersonating Florida bar official

Two lawyers in South Florida have been federally indicted, accused of playing a role in Scott Rothstein’s $1.2 billion swindle. Rothstein himself, now disbarred and serving a 50-year federal prison term, as well as eight other defendants, cut deals with the government before they were charged. However, Douglas L. Bates,…

Sep 3, 2013 4:15 PM CDT

Gordon & Rees opens new office in Raleigh

A San Francisco-based business and litigation law firm has opened an office in Raleigh, N.C. Longtime Gordon & Rees partner Thomas A. Packer, who also serves as the firm’s general counsel, will head the new office, which will be staffed at least initially with lawyers from the firm’s other offices,…

Aug 27, 2013 3:25 PM CDT

Greenberg ups first-year pay in 2 offices to $145K from $125K; will competitors follow suit?

Working as a first-year associate in the Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., offices of Greenberg Traurig just got more rewarding. The firm has increased starting salaries for new attorneys there to $145,000 annually from $125,000, the Daily Business Review reports. Such announcements of pay raises for fledgling legal eagles at…

Aug 13, 2013 6:57 PM CDT

Day Pitney is laying off 40 attorneys and staff

One of Connecticut’s largest law firms is giving pink slips to nearly 10 attorneys and about 30 staff members. Day Pitney has confirmed the layoffs, explaining in a written statements that “As the legal industry changes, we continue to evaluate and reshape our staff to better align with industry norms…

Aug 9, 2013 11:14 AM CDT

Judge orders EEOC to pay $4.7M in legal fees in Jenner & Block case

In the latest chapter of a litigation saga that has proven expensive for the feds, Jenner & Block has won what could be a record $4.7 million in attorney fees and costs from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. At issue was an employment discrimination case brought by the EEOC against…

Aug 6, 2013 8:31 PM CDT

Blank Rome adds to attorney roster in Houston with acquisition of Bell Ryniker maritime firm

Three years ago, Blank Rome established a foothold in the hot Houston market by hiring Joseph F. Speelman as a partner. He initially worked out of his home, but then the Philadelphia-based law firm acquired Abrams Scott & Bickley, a 10-attorney firm known for its litigation work. Now the attorney…

Aug 6, 2013 1:36 PM CDT

Ex-client sues law firm, says it withheld key info in real estate development project

An Ohio law firm has been sued by a former client, who blames alleged bad advice by Keating Muething & Klekamp for a decision of him and other investors guarantee more than $90 million in financing for a failed retail and office complex known as Kenwood Towne Place. The uncompleted…

Aug 5, 2013 10:10 PM CDT

‘Harry Potter’ author JK Rowling settles suit against lawyer who disclosed she authored new novel

Famous as the author of the Harry Potter children’s book series, J.K. Rowling had hoped to fly under the radar when she wrote a new book, The Cuckoo’s Calling, by doing so under a pseudonym. However, that plan failed when Chris Gossage, a partner at Russells, the London law firm…

Jul 31, 2013 7:15 PM CDT