Partners

E-Mail Leaks About Layoffs Prompt Law Firms to Set New PR Course

When Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt started informing those affected that it was laying off 19 of its 400 employees and cut associate pay last month, it took less than an hour for the news to leak to the legal media. A mere 41 minutes later, the Portland, Ore.-based law firm…

Jul 20, 2009 4:06 PM CDT

First Amendment Lawyer Uses Free Speech Defense for S&P

Floyd Abrams doesn’t just represent media clients waging battles on behalf of truth and the American Way. He also represents a ratings agency—Standard & Poor’s—that has been targeted for its role in the financial crisis, the New York Times reports in a profile. The ratings agency is among several that…

Jul 20, 2009 1:36 PM CDT

Nev. Lawyer Gets 5 Years for Evading Income Tax

A 47-year-old personal injury attorney in Nevada has been sentenced to a five-year federal prison term for evading millions of dollars in taxes. Although Edmund Botha made millions as a Las Vegas lawyer, he paid rent, office overhead and other costs in cash or with cashier’s checks, in an effort…

Jul 17, 2009 8:10 PM CDT

Trauner Cohen Used $1.3M ‘Filing Fees’ for Firm Expenses, Client Suit Contends

A Georgia law firm used more than $1.3 million that was supposed to have been spent to file over 15,000 debt collection lawsuits for its own expenses, a client lawsuit contends. The suit, which was filed against Trauner Cohen & Thomas in federal court in Atlanta earlier this month, asserts…

Jul 17, 2009 5:27 PM CDT

Former SEC Chair Christopher Cox to Join Bingham McCutchen

Former top securities regulator Christopher Cox is to join Bingham McCutchen as a partner in the firm’s Orange County, Calif., offices and a principal in its Bingham Consulting Group subsidiary. Cox, who left his post as chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in January, is a former Republican…

Jul 17, 2009 4:42 PM CDT

Lathrop & Gage Opens Chicago Office, Plans ‘Aggressive Recruiting’

Lathrop & Gage has hired two lawyers formerly with Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal to staff a new office in Chicago, the firm’s second new office this year. Lathrop is not limiting the Chicago office to two lawyers, however. “Additional aggressive recruiting plans are under way,” according to a press release…

Jul 17, 2009 1:54 PM CDT

Pa. Lawyer Didn’t Pursue Plea Offer, Spent $1M to Cut 5 Months Off Sentence

Offered a suggested deal in a federal corruption case that would, at one point, have required him to plead guilty to one fraud count in exchange for a prison term of no more than five years, Vince Fumo reportedly wound up instead taking the case to trial. That strategy cost…

Jul 16, 2009 8:30 PM CDT

Jack Welch: Women Take Time Off for Kids at Their Peril

Former General Electric CEO Jack Welch thinks women who take time off for family are making a risky career move. Speaking to Human Resource Management at its annual conference on June 28, Welch said women who take time off for family could be passed over for promotions if they are…

Jul 16, 2009 12:54 PM CDT

Cooley Partner’s ‘Long Goodbye’

In an interview earlier this month, a soon-to-be-former Cooley Godward Kronish partner said it had been a difficult decision to jump to Dewey & LeBoeuf’s office in Silicon Valley along with two other high-profile partners. But now it appears that Cooley’s parting with mergers and acquisitions star Richard Climan was…

Jul 14, 2009 8:39 PM CDT

$8.4M Sex, Lies & Texts Settlement Puts Detroit Lawyers on Hot Seat

The first of a series of legal ethics hearings has begun concerning five attorneys involved in a controversial $8.4 million settlement by the city of Detroit over police whistle-blower litigation and steamy text messages sent by the former mayor to his then-top aide. Because the text messages also showed that…

Jul 14, 2009 6:12 PM CDT

Attorney Marc Dreier Gets 20 Years in $400M Fraud

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan had asked for a prison term of 145 years for Marc Dreier. But the once-prominent New York lawyer got a lot less time from U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff today: 20 years for what Dreier himself described in a letter to the court last week as…

Jul 13, 2009 11:29 PM CDT

Prominent Fla. Lawyer Faces Bar Case in Settlement ‘Scheme to Defraud’

A proposed class action settlement characterized by a state appeals court as “a scheme to defraud” has put a prominent Miami lawyer in hot water with the Florida Bar, along with his opposing counsel in the case. In a disciplinary filing, the lawyer regulatory agency contends that founding partner Hank…

Jul 13, 2009 7:18 PM CDT

Mayer Brown Hires 3 UK Partners in Move to Show ‘Bench Strength’

Mayer Brown is adding three partners to its London finance practice. London leveraged finance chief Dominic Griffiths told Legal Week that the additions are not based on predictions that the economy is recovering. Instead, the hires are part of a push to build the firm’s European corporate and finance groups.…

Jul 13, 2009 3:51 PM CDT

Mayer Brown Partner Convicted in Refco Fraud

Mayer Brown partner Joseph Collins was convicted Friday of securities fraud and four other charges for his role in hiding financial problems from investors in the trading firm Refco Inc. Collins, who is on leave from Mayer Brown, closed his eyes and bowed his head as the jury foreman read…

Jul 13, 2009 11:31 AM CDT

Mayer Brown Partner Denied Mistrial Over Juror’s Finger Cut Threat

Mayer Brown partner Joseph Collins, accused of misleading investors in the public offering for Refco Inc., won’t get a mistrial over an unusual juror feud. A juror known as Kevin complained to U.S. District Judge Robert Patterson of Manhattan on Thursday that another juror had threatened to cut off his…

Jul 10, 2009 3:34 PM CDT