Partners

Craps-Style Strategizing Helps Push Boies Schiller into Ranks of Top 100 Firms

A contingency case has helped catapult Boies, Schiller & Flexner into the American Lawyer’s list of the nation’s top 100 law firms. Revenues at Boies Schiller increased by 18 percent in 2008, reaching $295 million, the American Lawyer reports. Profits per partner were $3 million, the third-highest on the Am…

May 5, 2009 2:10 PM CDT

Retired Pennsylvania Chief Justice Dies

The former chief justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has died at the age of 65. Ralph Cappy, who joined Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney after his retirement last year, died of an apparent heart attack, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. Cappy had recently had heart surgery for blocked arteries. Cappy was…

May 4, 2009 6:33 PM CDT

Seyfarth Cuts Pay for Some Partners and Associates, Lays Off 50 People

Yet another law firm is cutting pay for some of its lawyers. Seyfarth Shaw is cutting pay for some segments of its partner and associate teams in amounts ranging from 5 percent to 20 percent, according to Above the Law and the Recorder. Those staffers left behind won’t get the…

May 4, 2009 12:31 PM CDT

Hunton Is Hiring (Really)

Firm won’t let recession retard its growth

May 2, 2009 1:10 AM CDT

Cahill Gordon Nudged from List of 100 Top-Grossing Law Firms

In 1985, New York’s Cahill Gordon & Reindel was No. 35 on American Lawyer’s first list of the nation’s top-grossing law firms. In 2008, an 11.8 percent drop in gross revenues nudged the firm out of the top 100. The co-administrative partner of the 265-lawyer firm, Jonathan Schaffzin, told the…

May 1, 2009 1:13 PM CDT

Lawyer Who Survived Hudson River Plane Landing Changes Careers

A South Carolina lawyer says his decision to change careers had nothing to do with the Hudson River landing of US Airways Flight 1549. Mike Nunn tells SCNow.com that surviving the water landing was a life-changing experience. But it didn’t spur his decision to give up private law practice to…

May 1, 2009 12:43 PM CDT

It’s Official: A&O Axes 450 Today

Implementing a restructuring plan announced earlier this year to deal with the dismal economy, Allen & Overy laid off about 250 lawyers and 200 staff today. Among the lawyers being let go are 47 partners, reports Legal Week. Another 35 partners at the London-based “magic circle” international firm are either…

Apr 30, 2009 9:54 PM CDT

Look at This, ‘Annoying Law Firm’—Our Competing Billboard, Outside Your Office

Ordinarily, Traverse Legal doesn’t advertise locally, says the founding partner of the Michigan law firm. But Enrico Schaefer says he made an exception to this policy in order to get back at an unidentified Traverse City, Mich., competitor he refers to as “annoying law firm” in a post on his…

Apr 30, 2009 7:47 PM CDT

Another Layoffs Downside: Loss of Personal Info on Work Computer

Lawyers, in particular, should know better. But like everybody else, many hardworking attorneys who spend a lot of time at the office probably have personal material on their work computers. And, in a time of stunning layoffs, both in the legal industry and elsewhere, that can result in the loss…

Apr 30, 2009 6:30 PM CDT

Meet Chrysler’s Bankruptcy Lawyer, Corinne Ball

Chrysler is expected to file for bankruptcy after the collapse of negotiations with creditors that were led by the automaker’s lawyer, Corinne Ball. The bankruptcy filing will likely be in New York, according to the New York Times. Those who work with Ball describe her as charismatic, strong, creative and…

Apr 30, 2009 2:47 PM CDT

Women Lawyers Feel Betrayed When Female Bosses Aren’t Nurturing

Experts who study women in the legal profession are noting that the idea of a sisterhood of female lawyers isn’t always the reality in the workplace. Women expect female bosses to be nurturing, and the result can be feelings of betrayal when the reality is different, the Am Law Daily…

Apr 30, 2009 2:16 PM CDT

Profits Drop at 12 of 15 Top Firms

Last year was a tough one for the nation’s 15 most profitable law firms. Twelve saw declines in profits per partner, and some of them were steep. Cravath, Swaine and Moore saw a 13 percent drop in revenue and a 24 percent decline in profits per partner. It was worse…

Apr 30, 2009 12:11 PM CDT

Too Many Lawyers, Too Little Work: More Layoffs Are Likely, Expert Says

Too many lawyers are chasing too little work. And meanwhile a number of law firms are effectively serving as bankers for cash-strapped clients struggling in a difficult economy. After a “disastrous” fourth quarter in 2008, many law firms can expect an even more worrisome 2009, writes Dan DiPietro in the…

Apr 30, 2009 1:30 AM CDT

Morgan Lewis Health Regulatory Practice Lures More Sonnenschein Lawyers

Morgan Lewis & Bockius is adding two health care partners and five associates from the Washington, D.C., office of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal to its attorney roster. They include Scott Memmott, who was formerly a vice-chair of Sonnenschein’s national health care practice group. That brings the total tally of Sonnenschein…

Apr 29, 2009 10:07 PM CDT

FBI is ‘Tearing Apart’ Pa. Lawyer’s Office, His Counsel Says

The FBI raided a Pennsylvania lawyer’s office today, reportedly looking for records related to allegations that John Karoly defrauded an Allentown charity of $500,000. Agents are “tearing apart his office looking for the original records,” attorney Robert Goldman, who represents the South Whitehall Township attorney, tells the Express-Times. Meanwhile, Goldman…

Apr 29, 2009 8:22 PM CDT