Partners

Celebrity Client’s Cyberbattle Sparks Alleged Threats Against Counsel

Attorney Joan Lukey helped celebrity author Patricia Cornwell battle a cyber-attacker with some success. The author eventually won not only libel damages but a court order that persuaded a number of Internet service providers to take down offending material. But then the bane of the best-selling crime novelist’s existence turned…

Apr 18, 2009 12:03 AM CDT

Howrey Cuts 25 Staff, Seeks Capital from Equity and Nonequity Partners

As part of a restructuring effort that has been ongoing since mid-2007 and is intended to help the law firm operate more efficiently, Howrey has cut 25 staff positions. It is also asking both equity- and nonequity partners to contribute an unspecified amount of capital to the firm, at least…

Apr 17, 2009 10:49 PM CDT

Treadmill Desks Gain Traction at Chicago Law Office

Last year, in an effort to lose 40 to 50 pounds, Texas lawyer Ross Robinson paired a $700 low-speed treadmill with his stand-up desk. Less than a year later, the Winstead partner is 40 pounds lighter, reports the National Law Journal in an article reprinted in New York Lawyer (reg.…

Apr 17, 2009 9:35 PM CDT

Boston Firm Snags 6-Lawyer Dewey Wealth Team

A 200-attorney Boston-based law firm has further expanded its growing New York office by adding a six-lawyer trusts and estates group from Dewey & LeBoeuf. Economic uncertainty, ironically, is keeping wealth management lawyers at Sullivan & Worcester and other firms busy, as clients reconfigure their remaining assets and anticipate possible…

Apr 17, 2009 8:46 PM CDT

Litigation Co-Chair Is Latest Partner to Defect from Akin Gump

Another high-profile lawyer is leaving Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. Andrew Rossman, the co-chair of the firm’s litigation department, is jumping to Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges, according to the Am Law Daily. Last year, 59 partners left Akin Gump, partly because of a streamlining effort, firm chairman…

Apr 17, 2009 4:04 PM CDT

Reed Smith Lawyer Makes Calif. List of Delinquent Taxpayers

A tax lawyer at Reed Smith in San Francisco has made California’s list of its top 250 delinquent taxpayers. Legal Pad reports that the lawyer, Jim Kleier, shares a spot on the list with singer Dionne Warwick and the comic Sinbad. California claims Kleier owes more than $440,000 in income…

Apr 17, 2009 2:17 PM CDT

Wilmer Cutler Partner Expected to Be Nominated as CIA GC

President Barack Obama is expected to nominate Stephen Preston, a partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, to be the next general counsel of the CIA. Preston, a Harvard Law School graduate, would likely face questions in Senate nomination hearings about his views on waterboarding and other harsh interrogation…

Apr 17, 2009 1:35 PM CDT

Malpractice and Partner Liability at Issue in Heller Bankruptcy

A bankruptcy judge sorting out the issues surrounding the dissolution of Heller Ehrman is refusing to allow a malpractice suit by an identity theft company to proceed against the former law firm. The identity theft company Lifelock Inc. accuses Heller and former partner Mary Azcuenaga of overbilling, the Recorder reports.…

Apr 17, 2009 12:57 PM CDT

Former WolfBlock Chair to Join Cozen

Another lawyer from dissolving WolfBlock is joining Cozen O’Connor. This time it’s former WolfBlock chairman Mark Alderman who’s making the move, his new firm reports in a press release (PDF). He will be a member of Cozen’s government relations practice, splitting his time between the firm’s offices in Philadelphia, New…

Apr 16, 2009 9:55 PM CDT

Fried Frank Of Counsel Lost $1.12M with Madoff, Sees ‘Crink’ in Lifestyle

Lawyer Marc Cherno is trying to help investors who lost money with Bernard Madoff after his own reported loss of almost $1.12 million with the investment manager who pleaded guilty to running a Ponzi scheme. Cherno was a onetime takeover specialist at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson who is…

Apr 16, 2009 1:59 PM CDT

Fulbright Lawyer Pens Letter Offering Source $500K if WSJ Story Is Killed

Updated: The former president of an investment group who claimed in arbitration that the CEO of the company defrauded investors was apparently offered $500,000 if the Wall Street Journal pulled a story about his allegations. Fulbright & Jaworski lawyer Charles Schmerler, who represents the investment group—called Private Equity Management Group…

Apr 16, 2009 1:34 PM CDT

Cozen O’Connor Partner Charged with Taking Fees for Favors

The co-head of the government relations practice at Cozen O’Connor has been charged with accepting more than $800,000 in sham fees for doing political favors for New York’s former comptroller Alan Hevesi. Raymond Harding, the former chairman of the Liberal Party, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment yesterday, the New…

Apr 16, 2009 12:51 PM CDT

Lawyers Retool for Bankruptcy Practice, Due to Dismal Economy

Back when the economy was robust, attorney Brett King worked on mergers and acquisitions in Asia. Now he and other lawyers there bill themselves as “restructuring” experts—sometimes concerneing the same failed deals they helped put together, reports the Wall Street Journal. And they’re far from the only attorneys seeking a…

Apr 15, 2009 6:39 PM CDT

Barnes Firm Grows Again; Ohio Outpost is 2nd New Office in 2 Weeks

Opening a new office for the second time in two weeks, Barnes & Thornburg is setting up shop in Columbus, Ohio, with the help of a longtime labor and employment lawyer there. William Nolan, who was formerly a partner in the Columbus office of Squire Sanders & Dempsey, is now…

Apr 14, 2009 6:18 PM CDT

AG to Sue NY Law Firm, Charges Process Co. Over Alleged ‘Sewer Service’

The New York attorney general says he will sue a Long Island law firm and has already sued a major process-serving company in the state, contending that they were involved in multiple cases of “sewer service” in which parties to litigation were never properly served with court filings. Additionally, Attorney…

Apr 14, 2009 5:32 PM CDT