Partners

BigLaw Firms Converge on Dubai: Jones Day Launches, CC Amps Up

Adding to an ongoing trend of looking to the Middle East for new legal business, two major international law firms are establishing a bigger foothold in Dubai. Jones Day has just announced that it will be opening an office there with six lawyers, reports Legal Week. They are: project finance…

Mar 24, 2009 1:00 AM CDT

‘Ad Agency’ Law Firm’s Business Booms; $50 Million Campaign Envisioned

Although it’s ubiquitous on the nation’s airwaves, Jim Sokolove’s law firm tries almost no cases. Instead, in a feat of marketing prowess that has earned the firm a feature article in Advertising Age, the Massachusetts attorney makes a living operating his Sokolove Law plaintiffs firm as “almost strictly as an…

Mar 23, 2009 9:59 PM CDT

WolfBlock Partners Vote to Dissolve; Many May Be Headed to Cozen O’Connor

After stunning news this morning that WolfBlock was on the verge of possible dissolution, the firm’s demise is now official. In a vote today, the partners decided to close the approximately 300-atttorney Philadelphia-based regional firm, reports Above the Law. While the firm, for which corporate real estate work has been…

Mar 23, 2009 9:03 PM CDT

Skadden’s Still Thinking Big

Although Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom has taken other cost-cutting measures, the mega-firm hasn’t laid off any associates. And, as the firm’s new executive partner plans to take over the megafirm’s helm next month, Eric Friedman, like his soon-to-be predecessor Robert Sheehan, is still thinking big, reports the Lawyer.…

Mar 23, 2009 5:22 PM CDT

‘Recovering Lawyer’ Teaches Belly Dance, Hires Covington Partner

A belly dancing instructor who calls herself a “recovering lawyer” isn’t the only one of her ilk to take up the sensuous style of dance. “The reality of it is that in D.C. there are a lot of belly-dancing lawyers,” says Rachael Galoob Ortega, aka Saphira in the belly-dancing world,…

Mar 23, 2009 2:24 PM CDT

UK Regulatory Lawyers Ascendant: Hourly Fees Reach $1440

Move over, M&A lawyers. There’s a new lawyer in demand in the United Kingdom, with record-breaking rates to prove it. Regulatory lawyers are now on top, charging fees as high as 1,000 pounds an hour—translating to $1,440, Bloomberg reports. Darren Fox is a regulatory lawyer with Simmons & Simmons who…

Mar 23, 2009 1:08 PM CDT

Partner Pressures Ramped Up in Downturn, Firm Chairman Says

The chairman of Philadelphia law firm Schnader, Harrison, Segal & Lewis says the economic downturn is increasing the pressure on partners to work harder and generate revenue. “There is going to be less acceptance of work not meeting the minimum expectation,” firm chairman Ralph Wellington told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “In…

Mar 23, 2009 12:14 PM CDT

DLA Piper Will Cut Pay for Most Partners by 11.5 Percent

Most partners at DLA Piper will see pay cuts of 11.5 percent this year, but a few of its superstars will earn more. The move comes after Dewey & LeBoeuf announced about a week ago that it had chopped the pay of 66 partners over the past 15 months. Law…

Mar 23, 2009 11:45 AM CDT

Oops. Major NE Law Firm Isn’t Bankrupt

Despite the dismal economy, McCarter & English hasn’t needed to make any attorney layoffs to stay on sound financial footing. In fact, the well-known Northeastern law firm is planning to announce on Monday that it is bringing in a group of intellectual property attorneys. So it was with considerable surprise…

Mar 20, 2009 9:31 PM CDT

Domestic Abuse Victims in Mass. Get Proskauer Rose Lawyers

Domestic abuse victims who initially seek a court protective order not infrequently back away from the effort later on. But one major reason why is the lack of a level legal playing field, a district attorney in Massachusetts says. Already intimidated, the frequently female victim must appear in court, on…

Mar 20, 2009 5:12 PM CDT

Mayer Brown Escapes a Refco Case; No Private Right of Action, Judge Rules

Plaintiffs in a securities fraud case filed over the collapse of Refco Inc. can’t hold an international law firm defendant liable for alleged aiding and abetting, a federal judge in New York City has ruled. Because there is no private right of action under the applicable federal statutory law, Mayer…

Mar 18, 2009 8:35 PM CDT

Economizing by De-equitizing Is Demoralizing, Consultants Say

De-equitization of partners has become so popular at some law firms that the Snark humor columnist has nominated it for BigLaw Word of the Year. The Snark, writing in the Fulton County Daily Report, defined the term this way: “The process by which an equity partner who shares in the…

Mar 18, 2009 1:16 PM CDT

Morgan & Finnegan Files for Bankruptcy, Lists Multiple Partners Owed Capital

Morgan & Finnegan filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday, as news reports emerged that its bank accounts had been frozen and its severance checks were bouncing. The bankruptcy filing for the dissolved intellectual property boutique listed $6.37 million in assets and $10 million in liabilities, the American Lawyer reports. The court…

Mar 18, 2009 12:30 PM CDT

Former AG Mukasey Joins Debevoise

Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey is joining Debevoise & Plimpton, surprising observers who suspected he would rejoin his former law firm, Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler. Mukasey will become a partner in the firm’s litigation department, chaired by Mary Jo White, the former U.S. Attorney in Manhattan, the Am Law…

Mar 17, 2009 6:21 PM CDT

5 L.A. Lawyers Leave Sonnenschein for Seyfarth Shaw

A second group has left the Los Angeles office of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal to practice at Seyfarth Shaw. Headed by Alan Yoshitake, who joins Seyfarth as a partner, the trusts and estates team also includes Mark Hansen and Edward McCaffery, who will be counsel there, and two associates, the…

Mar 16, 2009 9:48 PM CDT