Partners

Meet Michael Smyth, ‘Social Conscience of the City Law Firms’

Michael Smyth’s practice focus isn’t what most lawyers would expect of a partner at a London-based mega-firm. But the 51-year-old Clifford Chance litigator is described by the London Times as “the social conscience of the city law firms” in a lengthy profile of Smyth and his entrepreneurial views about melding…

Jun 19, 2008 3:35 PM CDT

Counsel Explains Why Milberg Settled: Law Firm Survival

In the aftermath of the official announcement of a $75 million settlement in the never-before-seen criminal indictment of a major U.S. law firm, a lawyer representing Milberg explains why the firm entered into the plea agreement. The answer to that question, attorney William Taylor III tells American Lawyer, is simple:…

Jun 18, 2008 7:07 PM CDT

Convicted Milberg Partners Accused in Lawsuit of Draining Firm’s Assets

Two former partners at Milberg contend in a lawsuit that partners who pleaded guilty to paying kickbacks to lead plaintiffs harmed the law firm and drained its assets. The suit could be just the beginning of litigation against founder Melvyn Weiss and former partners William Lerach, Douglas Bershad and Steven…

Jun 18, 2008 11:31 AM CDT

Mass Defection Shutters Buckingham’s Columbus Office, for Now

After 27 of 28 lawyers in its Columbus office jumped ship for a competing Ohio law firm, Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs has temporarily shuttered its shop there. But the president of the 140-attorney firm says it “probably” will reopen its Columbus office, reports the National Law Journal. It appears that…

Jun 17, 2008 4:11 PM CDT

Bear Stearns Ace Joins K&L Gates

The former managing director of the Bear Stearns legal arm in New York has joined Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis as a partner. Phillip Cedar, who was in private practice with Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom before he joined the now-struggling investment bank, is expected to focus his…

Jun 16, 2008 9:34 PM CDT

Major UK Law Firms Plan to Help Partners Launch Post-Retirement Careers

At least two major London-based law firms are pursuing programs to help partners launch new careers after they retire from legal practice. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has already started a pilot program, in which partners nearing retirement sit down with consultants to discuss ” their strengths and possible career paths,” reports…

Jun 12, 2008 5:30 PM CDT

Law Firm Sues Over Yellow Pages Ad

The partners of a prominent Charleston, W.Va., law firm have sued the company that produces Verizon phone directories, saying that a mistake in its Yellow Pages ad is costing Neely & Callaghan legal business. Idearc Media Corp. allegedly ran the wrong copy for the firm’s ad in the Charleston edition…

Jun 12, 2008 4:31 PM CDT

Bankruptcy Expert Skips From Nixon Peabody to Dechert

After spending just two months at Nixon Peabody, bankruptcy expert Shmuel Vasser has joined Dechert. Vasser told the New York Law Journal he left so soon because he has always wanted to work with his old friend H. Jeffrey Schwartz, co-chair of the bankruptcy practice at Dechert. Schwartz gave him…

Jun 12, 2008 2:07 PM CDT

$75M Milberg Plea Deal Could Conclude This Week

A plea deal reportedly in the works between Milberg and federal prosecutors in Los Angeles over an alleged scheme by the law firm to pay some $11.3 million in secret kickbacks to lead plaintiffs in securities class actions could be concluded this week. The firm is to pay a $75…

Jun 11, 2008 8:57 PM CDT

More than 30 Thacher Lawyers Quit in Last 6 Months

Ten U.S. partners and about 24 associates of Thacher Proffitt & Wood have voluntarily left the New York-based firm during the past six months, in advance of an expected drop in 2008 profits. Meanwhile, 60 associates have been laid off by the 220-attorney financial services boutique, whose structured finance practice…

Jun 11, 2008 8:25 PM CDT

Akin Gump Will Close at Least One Office Due to Loss of IP Rainmaker

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld has closed its Taiwan office and is re-evaluating its Silicon Valley office after the loss of rainmaker Yitai Hu. Akin Gump chairman R. Bruce McLean told the Recorder that Hu kept both offices busy with patent work since he opened them in 2005. Among…

Jun 11, 2008 2:51 PM CDT

Heller Ehrman Sends Chairman to New York, in Something of a Trend

The last big San Francisco law firm to have its chairman full-time in the city has decided to send its leader packing to New York. Matthew Larrabee, chairman of Heller Ehrman, will move to the firm’s New York office this month, the Recorder reports. Larrabee told the publication the change…

Jun 11, 2008 2:12 PM CDT

More Revenue, Less Pay at Philadelphia’s Fox Rothschild

Despite an increase of nearly 50 percent in gross revenue between 2005 and 2007, lawyer pay at Philadelphia-based Fox Rothschild has remained flat. After rising a bit, from $510,000 in 2005 to $515,000 in 2006, average profit per equity partner at the Am Law 200 firm fell in 2007 to…

Jun 10, 2008 10:00 PM CDT

Latin Launch for DLA Piper? Firm Mulls Possible Brazil, Miami Offices

Although it already has an active Latin American practice, DLA Piper doesn’t have any offices in South America. That may soon change, predicts the Lawyer, now that the firm has added former McDermott Will & Emery tax partner Stuart Berkson to its attorney roster. With 28 years of experience in…

Jun 10, 2008 5:21 PM CDT

Employee Stole $685K From Law Firm & Partner’s Mom

A former paralegal and bookkeeper for a small Connecticut law firm proved to be a one-woman theft machine after she developed a gambling problem in 1998. Karen Davis-Jennings, 44, was sentenced yesterday by a federal judge to 16 months in prison for stealing more than $685,000 from the firm and…

Jun 10, 2008 3:31 PM CDT