Midsize Firm

Petraeus Retains Robert Barnett, But Isn’t Planning to Write a Book

No book is planned. But former CIA Director David Petraeus has retained a lawyer known for his big book deals to help him navigate his reentry into private life. Partner Robert B. Barnett of Williams & Connolly is also known for helping politicians including former U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and…

Nov 19, 2012 4:27 PM CST

4-Partner Private Client Practice Group Leaps From WilmerHale to Choate

Boston-based Choate Hall & Stewart has raided Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, announcing Tuesday that the BigLaw firm’s entire private client practice group, headed by four partners, will be joining the wealth management group at its midsize competitor. Associates and staff from WilmerHale are also expected to join Choate,…

Nov 13, 2012 7:16 PM CST

A Majority of Surveyed Midsize Firms Plan to Add Lawyers

Managing partners at 26 midsize law firms are in an optimistic mood. A majority of the surveyed partners expect to add lawyers, to increase billing rates, and to post increased profits per partner, the National Law Journal (reg. req.) reports. The NLJ sent the survey to law firms with fewer…

Nov 9, 2012 5:43 PM CST

Altman Weil Survey Says Corporate Legal Budgets Cut As Most CLOs Negotiate for Lower Law Firm Bills

A new Altman Weil survey of corporate legal spending isn’t happy news for law firms. For the first time in three years, more in-house legal departments are reducing, rather than increasing, their spending on law firm services, the Phildelphia Business Journal and Reuters report. Almost 40 percent of those responding…

Nov 5, 2012 11:15 PM CST

Wrong Turn En Route to Lunch with Sis Led Paralegal to 50-Year Career at Crowe & Dunlevy

A wrong turn en route to lunch with her sister led to a 50-year career at an Oklahoma City law firm for Jo Balding. Stepping off the wrong elevator, she found herself at the firm then known as Crowe, Boxley, Dunlevy, Thweatt, Swinford & Johnson, reports the Oklahoman. So, on…

Nov 5, 2012 7:34 PM CST

Some Staff Protest Bay Street Firm’s New Finger Scan ID Plan, Ask Why It Doesn’t Apply to Lawyers

As part of a new security campaign, a Canadian insurance law firm on Toronto’s prime Bay Street is installing a fingerprint-identification program that is expected to be up and running this month. But scanning workers’ prints also admittedly will help McCague Borlack keep track of its employees’ whereabouts. And that…

Nov 1, 2012 7:04 PM CDT

Friend Sues Ex-Partner and Law Firm, Says He Was Defrauded of Over $360K in Fake Mortgage Scheme

A former senior partner of a Buffalo, N.Y., law firm who has recently been working as a part-time town judge has been sued by a longtime friend who contends he was defrauded out of $368,000 he paid into a fraudulent mortgage investment scheme via a law firm client trust account.…

Oct 30, 2012 7:08 PM CDT

Law Firm Seeks 12.5 Percent Share of Ex-Banker Birkenfeld’s $104M IRS Whistleblower Award

A Washington, D.C., law firm retained by Bradley Birkenfeld to help him tell U.S. authorities how a Swiss bank was aiding Americans in evading taxes is now seeking a 12.5 percent of his $104 million whistleblower award from the Internal Revenue Service. The former employee of UBS AG, the biggest…

Oct 17, 2012 4:30 PM CDT

Spokane Diocese Sues Law Firm That Handled Its Bankruptcy, Seeks $12M Legal Fee Clawback and Damages

Updated: The Catholic Diocese of Spokane has filed a malpractice suit against the law firm that handled its $50 million bankruptcy, contending that the church was ill-served by the strategy Paine Hamblen developed to deal with priest sex-abuse issues. The suit, which was spearheaded by Bishop Blase Cupich after he…

Oct 15, 2012 8:15 PM CDT

As 6 Connolly Bove Partners Exit for BigLaw Firms, IP ‘Super-Boutique’ Merger with Novak on Track

Although Connolly Bove Lodge & Hutz has lost at least six partners to major general practice law firms since announcing an expected merger with Novak Druce + Quigg a month ago, that has not affected the two law firms’ plan to merge into an intellectual property “super-boutique” that would be…

Oct 15, 2012 4:00 PM CDT

Despite Brutal Legal Job Market, Some Well-Known Law Firms are Hiring in the Midwest

Although the overall market for legal hiring could hardly be called robust, it is perhaps improving in the Midwest; and in certain high-demand niche practice areas, experienced attorneys are even being sought-after. Tucker Ellis, based in Ohio, added 21 new attorneys lawyers this year, 16 in its downtown Cleveland office.…

Oct 10, 2012 3:30 PM CDT

Florida Trial Lawyer Willie Gary and His Law Firm Must Pay $12.5M to Litigation Funding Company

A Florida trial lawyer known both for the big verdicts he has won and his lavish lifestyle has been hit with a $12.5 million verdict in a case brought by a litigation funding company. Willie Gary, his law firm, Gary, Williams, Lewis & Watson, and another partner are the defendants…

Oct 4, 2012 3:48 PM CDT

Three Regional Law Firms Announce Mergers; Like Most This Year, They Involve Small Law Firms

Three well-known regional law firms have announced mergers this week. And, like most other law firm mergers this year, they involved the acquisitions of smaller shops, according to Reuters. Adams and Reese will add Tallahassee, Fla.-based Igler & Dougherty to its existing roster of 260 attorneys working in offices throughout…

Oct 3, 2012 6:54 PM CDT

Burr & Forman Acquires 23-Attorney Tampa Law Firm, Establishing a Third Office in Florida

A growing Southeast regional firm with a history in Birmingham, Ala., that dates back a century is establishing a new office in Florida with the acquisition of a 23-attorney law firm there. Counting the lawyers from Williams Schifino Mangione & Steady, there will now be more than 275 attorneys on…

Sep 28, 2012 8:00 PM CDT

Criminal Defense Associate Played a Role in Creation of New CBS Legal Drama ‘Made in Jersey’

In all honesty, Creston P. Smith isn’t much of a television watcher, except when the Baltimore Orioles are trying to make the playoffs. But he’s planning to record a new legal drama that premieres Friday on CBS, to watch later and see if any of the scenarios he talked about…

Sep 28, 2012 1:35 PM CDT