Partners

Partner: New LeClairRyan Office is ‘Like Tyler Cooper on Steroids’

The venerable Connecticut law firm of Tyler Cooper & Alcorn is reportedly winding down its affairs, after separate factions earlier this month joined competing law firms looking to establish offices in the state. But practicing under another firm’s flag is like “Tyler Cooper on steroids,” one former partner tells the…

Sep 23, 2008 4:34 PM CDT

Illinois Law Firm Fights Ticket for ‘Justice’ Biblical Verse Sign

A lawyer and Illinois state representative has filed new court papers in McHenry County, on the outskirts of the Chicago suburbs, for citing his law firm over a sign that quotes a Biblical verse. The sign over the front doors at Franks Gerkin & McKenna, in Marengo, says “Justice, Justice,…

Sep 22, 2008 10:50 PM CDT

Divorce Drama: Kirkland Partner Sues Wife re Alleged Affair & STD

Private equity partner Frederick Tanne of Kirkland & Ellis was already expecting a difficult year because of the market slowdown. But now it’s clearly gotten worse. The 48-year-old New York lawyer has sued his wife, Amy, 46, in Manhattan Supreme Court, contending that she gave him a sexually transmitted disease…

Sep 22, 2008 8:19 PM CDT

Dry Cleaner Job Put Law Student on Path to Law Firm Position

Always do a good job, because you never know who may be watching you. That tried-and-true advice helped one law student springboard from his job as an assistant manager at a dry cleaner in Roslyn Heights, N.Y., to an internship at a Manhattan-based personal injury firm, reports Newsday. Today, John…

Sep 22, 2008 4:29 PM CDT

Quitting Dechert Put Bill Lamb on Path to Fame and Fortune

As a young associate at the law firm now known as Dechert, William Lamb soon found himself feeling restless. Only a year or so out of law school, he marched into the chairman’s office and said he was going to quit. Little did he know then that the risky career…

Sep 22, 2008 3:34 PM CDT

Thelen Down 200 Lawyers; How Many to Go?

Thelen is down nearly 200 lawyers since the merger that created the law firm in 2006, but plenty of high-profile rainmakers remain. Thelen is currently in merger discussions with Nixon Peabody. If talks fail, other large law firms may hope to pick up some high-profile partners, recruiters told the Recorder.…

Sep 19, 2008 12:03 PM CDT

Heller Partners Reportedly Told Dissolution is Possible

Partners at Heller Ehrman were told in a meeting yesterday that the law firm is considering dissolution, anonymous sources told the Recorder. The firm hasn’t voted on the issue, but industry watchers said it may be the only alternative. Partners were told it was understood they would be looking for…

Sep 18, 2008 10:56 AM CDT

V&E Sustains Less Hurricane Damage than Associate’s House

Ara Ayles Hardig, an eighth-year appellate associate at Vinson & Elkins, had a tree fall through her Houston home during Hurricane Ike, but she counts herself among the lucky ones. Hardig and her family were staying with relatives when a tree fell through the roof of her home and into…

Sep 17, 2008 5:44 PM CDT

Akin Gump Appoints Female Litigator as First Managing Partner

Kim Koopersmith will join the meager ranks of female managing partners at America’s largest law firms when she takes on the job for Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld on Oct. 1. The move comes as the law firm deals with partner defections and increasing discontent, the American Lawyer reports.…

Sep 17, 2008 2:00 PM CDT

More Work for Weil as AIG Mulls a Possible Bankruptcy

Although insurance giant American International Group Inc. may be saved, with federal help, from having to file for bankruptcy, its troubled financial situation has made an already busy law firm known for its work in this area even busier. “The company has hired the law firm Weil Gotshal & Manges—which…

Sep 16, 2008 10:39 PM CDT

Harvey Miller Moves, and a Law Firm Benefits

Weil, Gotshal & Manges had a stroke of good fortune when its premier bankruptcy partner, Harvey Miller, returned last year after a five-year hiatus with the firm. The 75-year-old Miller had helped build Weil’s bankruptcy practice “into arguably the most prominent debtor-side practice in the country” before he left the…

Sep 16, 2008 2:37 PM CDT

Heller Suffers Another Blow with Reported Loss of up to 40 IP Lawyers

Heller Ehrman has already endured the loss of more than 30 partners this year and failed merger talks with several big law firms. Now comes word from the Daily Journal that the firm will lose up to 40 lawyers in its intellectual property group, including two key partners. The news…

Sep 16, 2008 12:21 PM CDT

Lawyer Laments ‘Incredibly Shrinking Market’ as Wall Street Shudders

Turmoil on Wall Street has brought major business to a few well-known law firms, as Lehman Brothers sought bankruptcy protection and Merrill Lynch & Co. agreed to be purchased by Bank of America in developments that hit the news over the weekend. And, for those in the right practice areas,…

Sep 15, 2008 8:55 PM CDT

6-Lawyer Pillsbury Team Launches New Public Policy Practice at Crowell

After moving in 2006 from Patton Boggs to Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, a six-lawyer public policy group has now shifted its operations to Crowell & Mooring. They are establishing a new public policy and political law practice at the Washington, D.C., law firm, which is also bringing C&M Capitolink, its…

Sep 15, 2008 5:21 PM CDT

New Merger Model? Irish Firms Do 3-Way

Three law firms in Dublin, Ireland, have announced a simultaneous merger into a midsize law partnership incorporating all three names. Sherwin O’Riordan (SOR), Mullany Solicitors and Brendan Walsh & Partners will now be known as SOR Mullany Walsh Solicitors, reports the Irish Times. The firm will handle business and litigation…

Sep 15, 2008 5:00 PM CDT