Partners

Simpson Thacher Partner Is Plaintiff in Suit Alleging Sex Abuse Cover-up

A partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett has spoken publicly for the first time about a childhood trauma that spurred him to become a plaintiff in an unusual RICO suit against his alma mater, a Brooklyn preparatory school called Poly Prep Country Day. Partner Philip Culhane is one of nine…

Apr 13, 2010 3:54 PM CDT

Partners in Small Firm Split Up Due to Bad Practice Fit

Two longtime friends and law partners have split up their Memphis, Tenn., firm after deciding that their two practice areas–matrimonial law and a business and commercial litigation practice, including mass torts–just weren’t a good fit. Crone & Mason has disbanded, as of April 1, and name partner Alan Crone has…

Apr 12, 2010 9:36 PM CDT

Fed’l Judge Nixes $200K in Recommended Sanctions for 2 Lawyers & Firm

A federal judge in Nevada has nixed the $200,000 or so in sanctions that a magistrate judge had sought to impose on a California law firm and two of its ex-attorneys. Affirming the objections of Liner Grode Stein Yankelevitz Sunshine Regenstreif & Taylor and Los Angeles lawyers Deborah Klar and…

Apr 9, 2010 5:16 PM CDT

Kelley Drye Drops De-Equitization Policy for Older Lawyers, Says EEOC Wanted Change

Kelley Drye & Warren is dropping a policy of removing older partners from equity partnership that had triggered a discrimination lawsuit by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The EEOC had alleged that Kelley Drye undercompensated lawyers who were automatically removed from equity ownership after the age of 70. On Tuesday,…

Apr 9, 2010 11:43 AM CDT

Lawyer Pleads to Law Firm Theft, Resigns Gov’t. Job Citing ‘Combination of Factors’

A Tennessee attorney has pleaded guilty to felony theft from his former law firm and resigned as Knox County Law Director, effective today. Special prosecutor H. Greeley Wells Jr. says William Lockett Jr. pocketed $62,572.99 in client fees intended for Kennerly Montgomery & Finley and still owes the firm about…

Apr 8, 2010 5:05 PM CDT

Now Practicing Law, 2 Ex-NFL Players Have Won Some $100M in Football-Related Worker’s Comp Awards

An unusually liberal worker’s compensation system in California, as far as professional athletes are concerned, made the New York Times this week when the wife of former National Football League player Ralph Wenzel filed an apparently unique test case over early-onset dementia that she contends is related to her 67-year-old…

Apr 8, 2010 12:07 AM CDT

Financial Adviser Reportedly Was Paid $33M While ‘Verifying’ Fictitious Rothstein Settlements

A bankruptcy trustee apparently is seeking a court-ordered asset freeze in an effort to recover up to $33 million that reportedly was paid to a financial adviser who “verified” to investors fictitious legal settlements on which former Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler managing partner Scott Rothstein based his now-admitted Ponzi scheme. The…

Apr 7, 2010 8:37 PM CDT

Another Hogan & Hartson Office Exits Lovells Merger, Will Join Akin Gump

Following the lead of colleagues in two other European offices, the entire seven-lawyer Geneva contingent of Hogan & Hartson is exiting prior to the firm’s planned May 1 merger with Lovells. They will join Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, establishing a third European office for their firm, which already…

Apr 7, 2010 7:52 PM CDT

Ex-Associate Set for Trial in Small-Claims Suit Against Becker & Poliakoff in $2K Pay Dispute

Many an associate has complained about the sudden pay cuts imposed by a number of law firms in recent years as they struggled with a dismal economy. But Richard Valuntas didn’t just talk the talk. In a lawsuit that has already cost both sides far more in legal fees than…

Apr 7, 2010 6:32 PM CDT

Debit Card Linked to Trust Account Led to Lawyer’s Disbarment

Anticipating a fee dispute after his law partners terminated his secretary last August, Garland Clifton “Gary” Hall III began withdrawing funds from a Chenault Hammond & Hall account to cover money to which he would be entitled for his commercial bankruptcy work. But there was one big problem. The firm’s…

Apr 7, 2010 4:48 PM CDT

As Attorney Went on Trust Account-Funded Spending Spree, Client Slept in Car, He Tells Judge

While she was still in practice, attorney Jessica Miller intended to repay the money she stole from clients, a prosecutor told a Florida judge at her sentencing hearing. But what he described as Miller’s plan to start an exotic animal sales business and borrow against her home to replace the…

Apr 6, 2010 11:52 PM CDT

Merchant & Gould IP Boutique Opens NY Office With Darby Lawyers

Merchant & Gould has opened an office in New York City with two lawyers and a patent agent from the now-defunct Darby & Darby firm. A Minneapolis-based intellectual property boutique with more than 100 lawyers on its attorney roster, the Merchant firm saw the collapse of Darby & Darby last…

Apr 6, 2010 11:05 PM CDT

Latham Establishes New Saudi Arabia Office, Affiliating with Ex-Ally of White & Case

Latham & Watkins has established a foothold in Saudi Arabia by associating with a former ally of White & Case now operating the Law Office of Mohammed Al-Sheikh in Riyadh. Its new Riyadh office is the firm’s fourth in the Middle East, after a trifecta opening last year of offices…

Apr 6, 2010 5:15 PM CDT

Special Prosecutor Sought for Road Rage Charge Against Law Firm Founder

A former prosecutor who founded a Miami law firm has been charged in an alleged road rage incident, spurring a request for a special prosecutor. Michael Diaz Jr. is accused of beating a couple outside a Publix parking garage last December, the Daily Business Review reports. A Miami-Dade prosecutor said…

Apr 6, 2010 2:45 PM CDT

Kelley Drye Defends De-Equitization of Older Lawyers in Lawsuit Response

Kelley Drye & Warren contends in response to a lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that a lawyer forced out of equity partnership at the age of 70 wasn’t an employee protected by federal law. Kelley Drye was responding to an EEOC suit challenging the law firm’s policy…

Apr 6, 2010 1:04 PM CDT