Partners

Milbank Tweed Lures Restructuring Chief From Elite UK Firm

Known for its United States bankruptcy work, Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy is now launching a restructuring practice in London with the hire of the chief of the practice group from an elite United Kingdom-based law firm. Nick Angel will be leaving Ashurst this week to become the 14th partner…

Aug 26, 2009 8:48 PM CDT

4 New York Lawyers Indicted in Alleged $1.4M Equity-Stripping Scam

Four New York lawyers are among eight individuals indicted in an alleged $1.4 million equity-stripping scheme involving four homeowners in the New York City suburbs. They are accused of having defrauded four Westchester County homeowners and two lenders by purchasing homes from owners facing foreclosure at lowball prices, then taking…

Aug 26, 2009 7:49 PM CDT

2 Adorno Partners Defect With Most of Mortgage Default Practice Group

Two partners at Adorno & Yoss have defected along with most of the mortgage default practice group there to form their own firm. The new boutique, Rubin Lublin Suarez Serrano, is based in Norcross, Ga., and represents lenders and title companies, according to a Daily Report article reprinted in New…

Aug 26, 2009 7:25 PM CDT

Masry Estate Disputes Help Drive ‘Erin Brockovich’ Firm Into Chapter 11

A slew of expensive estate litigation following the death of founding partner Ed Masry in 2005 has helped drive the law firm that made its former paralegal, Erin Brockovich, a household name into voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. A dozen lawsuits concerning Masry & Vititoe arose after Masry’s death from…

Aug 26, 2009 6:54 PM CDT

Where Are They Now? Ex-ABA Leaders Grey and Stein Take on New Roles

Two former ABA leaders are taking on leadership roles in organizations promoting a better legal profession and improved laws. Former ABA President Robert J. Grey Jr. has been appointed interim executive director of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, formed in May to promote diversity in the legal profession, according…

Aug 26, 2009 6:33 PM CDT

McDermott Lawyer Is Glad Firms Are Slow to Embrace Twitter

McDermott Will & Emery partner Peter Townshend is glad that law firms are slow to embrace social networking sites like Twitter. Townshend, who focuses his practice on corporate, private equity and emerging companies, relies on Twitter to keep up with clients, the San Jose Business Journal reports. He’s glad he’s…

Aug 26, 2009 5:33 PM CDT

Accused of Acting as ‘De Facto G-Man,’ Lawyer Says Ex-Client Is in Dreamland

Attorney David Blythewood was supposed to be defending Nassau County Legislator Roger Corbin in a criminal tax evasion case. But “Mr. Bythewood’s representation of Roger Corbin throughout the entirety of this case has been so far beneath the standard of effective assistance of counsel as to render Mr. Bythewood a…

Aug 25, 2009 7:14 PM CDT

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon to Portray Morgan Lewis Lawyers

Two partners from Morgan, Lewis & Bockius who managed to win an acquittal on retrial for their death row client racked up another success this month in a related ruling by a federal appeals court. Touchstone Pictures has signed a deal to produce a movie on the case, according to…

Aug 25, 2009 6:11 PM CDT

Nutter, Hanson Bridgett Tops in Associate Rankings for Partners, Disclosures

Four law firms managed to share top honors in two more findings released today from the American Lawyer’s survey of midlevel associates. Midlevel associates gave Nutter McClennen & Fish the best score for how well its partners get along with associates, the Am Law Daily reports. Meanwhile, Hanson Bridgett did…

Aug 24, 2009 4:51 PM CDT

Five-Lawyer Greenberg Group Leaves BigLaw to Join Ariz.-Based Firm

Five lawyers have leapt from the Phoenix office of Greenberg Traurig to a 100-attorney Arizona-based law firm. Those headed to Gallagher and Kennedy include John Clemency, the only Greenberg Traurig partner in Phoenix a bankruptcy practice, reports the National Law Journal in an article reprinted in New York Lawyer (reg.…

Aug 21, 2009 9:20 PM CDT

PI Lawyer Claims ‘Hypocritical’ Personal Spending by Politically Connected Ex-Boss

Miami personal injury lawyer John Leighton has sued the politically connected lawyer who hired him straight out of law school nearly 25 years ago in a battle over law firm finances and management. The dispute “is sure to go down as one of the ugliest law firm breakups in South…

Aug 21, 2009 4:09 PM CDT

K&L Gates Chairman Says Fordham Dean Needs to Join the 21st Century

The chairman of K&L Gates is blasting Fordham’s law dean for his decision to ban Reed Smith from campus interviews for five years. “Someone should welcome the dean of Fordham Law School to the 21st century,” K&L Gates chairman and global managing partner Peter Kalis wrote the Pittsburgh Business Journal…

Aug 21, 2009 2:06 PM CDT

2 Partners Exit Clifford for Dechert; CC Lost 18 N.Y. Partners in 6 Months

Two corporate partners are leaving the New York office of Clifford Chance for Dechert, adding to an exodus of 18 partners who have departed the London-based megafirm’s Big Apple office between March and July. The latest to announce their exit are Richard Horowitz and Stuart Strauss, who are joining the…

Aug 20, 2009 11:18 PM CDT

Federal Judge Boots Law Firm from Case for Hiring the Wrong Associate

Applying what some might consider an unduly strict interpretation of conflict-of-interest standards, a federal magistrate judge in Massachusetts has disqualified Lichten & Liss-Riordan from continuing to represent the plaintiff in a five-year-old Fair Labor Standards Act case. Although associate Sarah Getchell, who was recently hired by the firm, says she…

Aug 20, 2009 9:22 PM CDT

2 Lawyers Convicted in Witness-Tampering Case, Could Face Life in Prison

After nearly a week of deliberation, a federal jury in Brooklyn, N.Y., today convicted two lawyers in a witness-tampering case that reportedly could put them in prison for life. Robert Simels sat back in his chair at the defense table and looked furious as his associate, Arienne Irving, put her…

Aug 20, 2009 5:11 PM CDT