Partners

Law Firm Secretary Who Stole $625K Says Partners Were Like Family, Gets 4 to 13 Years

A trusted law firm secretary who stole at least $625,000 from a small New York firm said its partners were like brothers to her at a sentencing hearing yesterday. In a statement punctuated by sobs, Mary Merten, 44, apologized for putting Richard Riseley and Michael Moriello through hell, but also…

Jun 16, 2010 5:24 PM CDT

Fried Frank Partner Tapped to Overhaul Oil Agency

A partner at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson has been tapped to overhaul the federal agency that regulates oil companies. Fried Frank litigation partner Michael Bromwich still doesn’t have a title for his job at the Minerals Management Service, which has been dissolved and split into three agencies, Greenwire…

Jun 16, 2010 4:37 PM CDT

Bryan Cave Partner Grilled on Terrorism Article at Deputy AG Confirmation Hearing

Bryan Cave partner James Cole defended a terrorism article he wrote for Legal Times in 2002 during a hearing yesterday on his confirmation to become deputy attorney general. The article had criticized the Bush administration’s war on terrorism, report the Washington Post and Reuters. “The attorney general is not a…

Jun 16, 2010 3:25 PM CDT

Despite 4,262-Mile Bike Ride, Vacationing Lawyer Still Works 2 Hours a Day

Since May 21, attorney Jim Carney has been biking with his wife and children on a transcontinental trip from Astoria, Ore., to Yorktown, Va., taking a long-held dream vacation that he began working toward after completing the Boston Marathon in 2005. As of yesterday, the group was nearing an 11,500-foot…

Jun 15, 2010 9:39 PM CDT

3 Faegre Partners in Colo. Join Holme Firm, Less Than a Month After 3 Others Left for Perkins Coie

Updated: Three partners from the Colorado offices of Faegre & Benson have departed for Holme Roberts & Owen, less than a month after three other Faegre & Benson partners joined the Denver office of Perkins Coie. The new Holme Roberts partners are corporate attorney Chris Hazlitt, who formerly served as…

Jun 15, 2010 7:19 PM CDT

4 Law Schools Named in Suit By Blind Advocacy Group Over LSAC’s Online Law School Applications

Four law schools have been added as defendants in a California lawsuit filed last year by a blind advocacy group against the Law School Admissions Council. The amended complaint filed last week contends that the University of California Hastings College of the Law, Chapman University School of Law, Thomas Jefferson…

Jun 15, 2010 12:51 PM CDT

Opposing Counsel’s Warning Comes Too Late; Lawyer, 54, Is Stabbed 12 Times in Her Office

Updated: In a new incident among a spate of case-related violent attacks on lawyers in recent weeks, a Minnesota man has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly stabbing his ex-wife’s attorney a dozen times in her law office Friday. Terri Ann Melcher, 54, was alone in her Fridley, Minn.,…

Jun 14, 2010 10:46 PM CDT

Law Firm Destroyed by Fire Has Hard Drive, Will Practice in Unknown New Location

Where Roebothan McKay Marshall stood on Friday is now a pile of rubble with a lovely view of the waterfront. But the destruction of its offices in St. John’s, Newfoundland, over the weekend is an inconvenience rather than a tragedy, partner Steve Marshall tells the St. John’s Telegram in a…

Jun 14, 2010 8:26 PM CDT

McDermott Tax Partner Was Young Chess Champion

A tax partner at McDermott Will & Emery had achieved fame before he even entered law school. Michael Wilder, 47, was U.S. chess champion in 1988 and a 1L at the University of Michigan in 1989, the New York Times reports. “I just didn’t have the energy or the motivation…

Jun 14, 2010 1:47 PM CDT

Prominent Houston PI Lawyer Is Shocked to Learn of Alleged Plot to Kill His Wife

Someone has obviously been trying to kill the wife of prominent Houston personal injury lawyer Jeffrey Stern, but Stern isn’t behind the plot, according to his attorney. Yvonne Marie Stern was shot in the abdomen May 5 in what was at least the third shooting attempt, the Houston Chronicle reports.…

Jun 14, 2010 12:59 PM CDT

Ex-COO for Rothstein Firm Takes Plea, Explains Why She Helped With $1.4B Scheme

The former chief operating officer for the now-shuttered Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler law firm has pleaded guilty to a federal money-laundering conspiracy charge and said she helped her ex-boss, now-disbarred attorney Scott Rothstein, because she feared potential Mafia repercussions if she didn’t. Initially, Debra Villegas told U.S. District Judge William Zloch,…

Jun 12, 2010 12:23 AM CDT

Partner’s Affair With Client’s Wife Isn’t a Breach of Fiduciary Duty, Court Rules

It is undisputed that a partner of Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz had an affair with the wife of a client and longtime friend while representing the fired bank executive in a wrongful termination suit. But without a showing that the affair adversely affected the representation the situation doesn’t…

Jun 11, 2010 8:33 PM CDT

Lawyer Shoots Himself in the Foot—Literally

An Ohio lawyer shot himself in the foot Monday as he was retrieving his gun from a locker at the courthouse. Toledo lawyer Paul Redrup had placed his 40-caliber Smith & Wesson in a storage locker before entering the Wood County courthouse, the Bowling Green Sentinel Tribune reports. As he…

Jun 11, 2010 12:14 PM CDT

Widow of Kramer Levin Co-Founder Claims His Life Insurance Deal Violated Law

New York lawyer Arthur Kramer, the co-founder of Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel, set up an insurance deal before he died designed to raise immediate cash for family members and even more money for investors in the long-term. Now that deal is the subject of “sprawling litigation” that involved three…

Jun 11, 2010 11:49 AM CDT

Law Firms Beware: Unpaid Internships May Violate Labor Law, Practitioners Say

In a labor market glutted with would-be legal eagles, hiring a recent law graduate to work for free can be a tempting idea. But law firms should beware of doing so, practitioners advise. If the intern is displacing a regular paid employee, chances are the arrangement is illegal, reports Lawyers…

Jun 10, 2010 11:59 PM CDT