Partners

Sheppard Mullin Lures Lawyers Away from Bigger Firms

At a time when legal jobs are difficult to find, Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton is hiring several partners from larger law firms. On Monday, the firm announced it is hiring corporate partner Brian Weimer from Latham & Watkins and real estate partner Pamela Westhoff from DLA Piper, the National…

Apr 21, 2009 1:45 PM CDT

Lawyer Offers to Give $25K to Charity if He Gets 25K Twitter Followers

A blogging lawyer doesn’t think he can top Ashton Kutcher, but he has been inspired by the actor’s agreement to donate 10,000 malaria nets to charity as a result of winning a race with CNN to sign up 1 million Twitter followers. Seattle personal injury lawyer Bill Marler has a…

Apr 21, 2009 1:22 PM CDT

Role-Playing Game Suggests Lower-Paid Future for BigLaw Lawyers

A sort of Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game at a law school last weekend shed light on a possible future for BigLaw that includes lower salaries and more training for associates. The game was led by Indiana University law professor Bill Henderson and Anthony Kearns, the lead risk manager for…

Apr 21, 2009 12:02 PM CDT

Longtime Friend of Slain Pa. Lawyer Mourns—and Seeks Justice

Eric Birnbaum and Terry Goldberg had been pals since the two were about 14 years old, attending both college and law school together. So the still-unsolved slaying of Birnbaum outside the Bucks County, Pa., law office in which both worked as attorneys has hit Goldberg hard. Goldberg has lost weight…

Apr 20, 2009 5:57 PM CDT

Temp. Suspensions Sought for Leaders of Ariz. Consumer Law Firm

Over the last three years, Phillips & Associates has represented more than 30,000 clients. So it isn’t amazing there there have been multiple client complaints during the same period, according to the lawyers in charge of the Arizona consumer law firm. But state bar regulators see the situation differently. In…

Apr 20, 2009 5:15 PM CDT

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