Partners

2 Lawyers Among 17 Charged in $3M Mortgage Rescue Fraud

Two New York lawyers are among 17 defendants charged in a mortgage rescue fraud case announced today by the Queens District Attorney’s Office. Contacted by distressed owners seeking to save their homes from foreclosure, the defendants allegedly responded by stripping $3 million in equity from 26 properties, leaving the owners…

May 13, 2010 9:23 PM CDT

Remember the $60, 8-Word E-Mail? Client Shares Hard-Learned Legal Cost-Control Tips

News of a law firm that charged nearly $6,000, including $60 for an eight-word e-mail, for a review of an office sublease, got a lot of reader response. Now client Jennifer Walzer is providing more details about the matter, as well as her newfound knowledge about how to control legal…

May 13, 2010 5:59 PM CDT

Law Firm Trades Walls & Doors for Roof Deck, Coffee Bar, Comfy Sofas & Flat-Screen TVs

A 20-lawyer Chicago-based firm has traded its traditional offices for new space that eliminates many of the doors and walls that formerly divided many attorneys and staff. But those who work at Childress Duffy Goldblatt are reportedly singing the praises of their new 13,000-square-foot offices at 500 N. Dearborn, which…

May 13, 2010 5:15 PM CDT

Greenberg Traurig and Quarles & Brady Named in Investor Class Action

Investors who claim they lost $900 million in an alleged Ponzi scheme run by a mortgage company have named two law firms as defendants: Greenberg Traurig and Quarles & Brady. The class action lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Arizona federal court, the American Lawyer reports. The plaintiffs claim the law…

May 13, 2010 3:31 PM CDT

Hiring Law Firms Offer ‘Reverse Signing Bonus’ Instead of Guaranteed Minimums

The nation’s most profitable law firms increased their lateral hiring of partners last year, even as they became choosier and stingier. Lateral partner hiring increased by almost 11 percent last year at the nation’s top 200 law firms, the National Law Journal reports, citing figures from its affiliate, the American…

May 13, 2010 11:00 AM CDT

Clinton Adviser Vernon Jordan Makes Cameo Appearance on ‘Good Wife’

Forget Matt Damon and Demi Lovato. As far as viewers of The Good Wife are concerned, it wasn’t mainstream celebrities but a former Bill Clinton adviser who was expected to spark their attention during the critical May television sweep ratings. Vernon Jordan made a cameo appearance as himself about 35…

May 12, 2010 7:59 PM CDT

Orrick Partner Profits Are Now Secret Under 21st Century Redesign, Firm CEO Says

Updated: In a move intended to help Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe reconfigure its model of success for the 21st century, the law firm has announced that it will no longer publicly report its average profit per partner. “We are not going to participate any longer in the BigLaw derby to…

May 12, 2010 7:29 PM CDT

Potential Layoffs Push Ex-BigLaw Colleagues Into Successful Small Practice

As potential layoffs loomed last year, three BigLaw associates in Southern California decided to form their own corporate and investor-side bankruptcy firm, even though they didn’t yet have a book of business. Now William “Chris” Manderson, John Schafer and Lance McKinlay expect to hire two or three associates this year,…

May 12, 2010 6:04 PM CDT

What Downturn? $1M-Plus Partner Profits the Norm, Outpacing 25 Years of Inflation

Those yearning for the good old days of practice in the nation’s top law firms may not feel the same way about yesteryear’s lower paychecks. In 1985, not a single law firm among the top 50 reported partner profits of $1 million or more, the Am Law Daily reports. Average…

May 12, 2010 11:00 AM CDT

Triple Vision for Attorney Dad About to See His 3 Kids, All 26, Earn DePaul JDs

Many a proud parent is watching a child graduate from law school this month after years of hard work and hefty expense. But for attorney Daniel Formeller it will be a scene played out in triplicate. All three of his 26-year-old triplets will earn their juris doctor degrees this weekend…

May 11, 2010 6:07 PM CDT

Suit Claims Clawback in Kutak Rock’s Partnership Agreement Is Anti-Competitive

A lawsuit by a former partner at Kutak Rock claims the firm’s partnership agreement contains an anti-competitive clawback provision that is an attempt to evade an ethical bar on covenants not to compete. Plaintiff Paul Donsbach alleges that, just days after he submitted his resignation letter on April 28, the…

May 11, 2010 1:49 PM CDT

Would-Be Buyers Ogle Ex-Attorney Scott Rothstein’s Forfeited Classic Sports Cars

As the Daily Pulp blog of the Broward-Palm Beach New Times reports a lawyer’s claim that disgraced ex-attorney Scott Rothstein stole $168 million of his $1.4 billion Ponzi scheme proceeds for his own personal use, there isn’t much doubt where some of the money may have gone. At least a…

May 10, 2010 11:28 PM CDT

Onetime Lawyer for Usher Is Now Collecting Food Stamps

Two years ago, Cliff Lovette was doing legal work for Usher. Now the 54-year-old Atlanta entertainment attorney is practicing law out of his basement and collecting food stamps. At the top of his game, he worked for LeFace Records in Atlanta as senior vice president for business and legal affairs,…

May 7, 2010 11:28 PM CDT

Ex-Attorney Antes Up $250 from Garage Sale, Gets 4.5 Years in Client Theft Case

Last month, when a Florida judge delayed sentencing ex-attorney Jessica Miller in a client theft case, he offered a hint about what she might do in the meantime to win a more lenient punishment: Pay back some of the money. Today, when the 32-year-old Miller showed up in court again,…

May 7, 2010 6:23 PM CDT

Ballard Spahr’s New Chairman Won’t Be Multitasking

Ballard Spahr chairman Arthur Makadon will step down next year after nine years on the job, handing over power to a man long thought to be his heir-apparent, despite different management styles. A Legal Intelligencer story on the management change describes Makadon as a “frank, independent-minded leader” who continued his…

May 7, 2010 2:05 PM CDT