Partners

Coast Guard Suspends Search for Missing Irell & Manella Partner

Updated: The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended its search for an Irell & Manella partner whose sailboat ran aground Sunday at Venice Beach in California. The lawyer, Tom Kirschbaum, was sailing Sunday from Santa Catalina Island after a sailboat race at a time of high winds and surf, the Los…

May 25, 2010 11:47 AM CDT

Law Partner’s Success Secret: ‘Having a Plan and Being Very Dedicated to That Plan’

Unlike some attorneys, Jack Garson grew up without having a lot. But that helped him develop the drive to succeed in life, he tells the Washington Post. At age 5, he was earning 25 cents weekly polishing his dad’s shoes, taking pride both in the quality of his work and…

May 24, 2010 4:45 PM CDT

Bryan Cave Partner Picked for Deputy AG

Bryan Cave partner James Cole is President Obama’s nominee for deputy attorney general, the No. 2 job in the U.S. Department of Justice. Cole has previous Justice Department experience, according to the Washington Post and The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times. He was deputy chief of the department’s public…

May 24, 2010 12:10 PM CDT

Prosecutor and Lawyer Charged with Attempted $6M Extortion via Indictment Misconduct

A lawyer and a prosecutor in Alabama were reportedly arrested at a law office Wednesday as they were accepting a check for $1 million allegedly obtained in a civil case through a threat to pursue or withhold prosecution. Coosa County Assistant District Attorney Frank Selman Teel, 59, and attorney Frank…

May 21, 2010 6:58 PM CDT

Lawyer Suspended Over DUI Arrests and Secret Sex Tapes

An Illinois attorney has had his law license suspended for two years over a combination of admitted misconduct, including two drunken-driving arrests and videotaping five women in sexual activities at his home without their consent, according to the State Journal-Register. Nick Burgrabe, 52, formerly worked as a Lincoln city attorney…

May 19, 2010 7:41 PM CDT

Hunton & Williams Secures Five Energy Partners from Paul Hastings

Hunton & Williams lured five prominent global energy project finance partners this week from Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, where they were also partners. Two of the new laterals, John Hawkins and Jeff Schroeder, will serve as co-heads of the firm’s global Energy Project Finance team in New York and…

May 18, 2010 10:01 PM CDT

‘Trust But Verify,’ Court Tells 2 Lawyers Suspended Over Partner’s $17M Fraud

Two lawyers who themselves were victims of a former partner’s $17 million fraud have been suspended for failing to do enough to catch Anthony Bellettieri in wrongdoing as he stole from client trust accounts. Although Bellettieri, who is now disbarred and serving a prison sentence, oversaw the Bellettieri Fonte and…

May 18, 2010 7:25 PM CDT

Forget Work/Life Balance: All Work Is Great Fun for Some, Says Consultant

Once a litigator, Yolanda Cash Jackson is now a more than full-time lobbyist and she loves it. The 51-year-old partner of Becker & Poliakoff in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., intertwines her work and social life, “relationship building” with a signature smile throughout a jam-packed schedule that could begin with a breakfast…

May 18, 2010 5:55 PM CDT

Ex-Law Partner Secreted Assets from Tennis Star Jimmy Connors, Suit Contends

A high-profile client has proven problematic for a small Illinois law firm. Two former partners are now embroiled in litigation over whether one manipulated the firm’s representation of tennis star Jimmy Connors for his own personal benefit, reports the Madison Record. In compensation for work performed for him by Brennan…

May 18, 2010 5:04 PM CDT

$9M Malpractice Suit Sparks Finger-Pointing Among Multiple BigLaw Firms

A former accounting and financial client says Morgan Lewis & Bockius committed malpractice and is suing for a return of $9 million in fees. Morgan Lewis not only says that it did not commit malpractice, but it is seeking sanctions against plaintiff BDO Seidman and its counsel, DLA Piper, for…

May 17, 2010 11:37 PM CDT

Reed Smith Raids Pepper Hamilton for 7-Lawyer Real Estate Group

A former co-chair of the real estate practice group at Pepper Hamilton has led a seven-lawyer group to rival Reed Smith, starting work today at the Pittsburgh-based international firm’s headquarters office. Besides Dusty Elias Kirk, who was also a member of Pepper Hamilton’s executive committee, the group includes partners Sharon…

May 17, 2010 7:18 PM CDT

Trial Begins for Arent Fox Ex-Partner Accused in Cover-Up in Lawyer’s Murder at His Home

No one has ever been charged in the apparent sexual assault and murder of attorney Robert Wone, a former attorney for Covington & Burling who worked as general counsel for Radio Free Asia at the time of his death. But a bench trial begins today in Washington, D.C., Superior Court…

May 17, 2010 5:03 PM CDT

Law Firm Partner Accused of Putting Camera Under Employee’s Desk

A partner at an Atlanta law firm has been charged with putting a surveillance camera under the desk of a woman who worked there. James Frederick Tenney, 57, was charged with three counts of unlawful surveillance for allegedly recording the woman on three occasions, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 11alive.com…

May 17, 2010 11:42 AM CDT

Law Firm Loses Unemployment Appeal Claiming Attorney Was a Partner

A New York law firm has lost an appeal seeking to avoid paying unemployment benefits to a former attorney there. Although Bolan Jahnsen Salter & Sachs contended that Paul Friman was a partner, he was in fact an employee, held a three-judge panel of the Appellate Division of New York…

May 14, 2010 4:04 PM CDT

Sued By Chevron for $4M, Lawyer Scores Interim SLAPP Suit Victory in Malicious Prosecution Case

A plaintiff’s lawyer sued for $4 million in damages by Chevron has scored a significant interim victory in the malicious prosecution case, winning a court ruling eliminating a large portion of the company’s complaint on the grounds that it amounts to a strategic lawsuit against public participation under California law.…

May 14, 2010 3:29 AM CDT