Partners

Fast-Growing Parker Poe Ponders Possible Expansion Outside Carolinas

Over the past five years, Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein has grown from 150 attorneys to 227. Now the 120-year-old Charlotte-based Carolinas powerhouse is pondering possible expansion elsewhere, according to an interview of managing partner Bill Farthing by the Charlotte Observer. At the firm’s helm since 2002, he considers successful…

Mar 24, 2008 4:06 PM CDT

From Solo Practice to Tort King: Meet Jere Beasley

Almost broke and looking for work as an Alabama lawyer 30 years ago, Jere Beasley wasn’t having any luck. “I couldn’t get a job, so I opened a one-person law firm,” he tells the Associated Press. Now recognized as one of the nation’s tort kings, the 72-year-old attorney reigns at…

Mar 22, 2008 12:34 AM CDT

6 Partners Leave Frisco’s Howard,Rice But Profits Reportedly are Strong

After staff layoffs last year, six longtime partners have quietly left Howard, Rice, Nemerovski, Canady, Falk & Rabkin. However, the San Francisco firm has been hiring a significant number of associates, even though its attorney roster has dropped from a high of about 140 in 2002 to 113 today, and…

Mar 21, 2008 10:03 PM CDT

Scruggs’ Son Pleads in Judicial Bribe Case

Zach Scruggs, the son and law partner of famed Mississippi plaintiffs attorney Richard “Dickie” Scruggs, has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in a judicial bribery case that also brought down his father. The junior Scruggs pleaded guilty in federal court today to misprision of a felony because he was…

Mar 21, 2008 5:30 PM CDT

Zuckerman Spaeder Closes Miami Office After Partner Losses

Zuckerman Spaeder has decided to close its Miami office after four out of five partners there jumped to Carlton Fields. The decision was announced in a press release, the Daily Business Review reports. The lawyers who will be joining Carlton Fields are managing partner Walter Tache; partners Michael Pasano, Stephen…

Mar 20, 2008 4:05 PM CDT

Melvyn Weiss to Plead Guilty; His Ex-Firm Changes Its Name

Updated: Pioneering securities class-action lawyer Melvyn Weiss has agreed to pay $10 million in fines and penalties and to serve up to 33 months in prison to resolve charges that he paid kickbacks to lead plaintiffs. Weiss’ lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, announced details of the agreement today in a press release.…

Mar 20, 2008 10:39 AM CDT

Sonnenschein Partner Pay Policy Examined at Trial

A former partner who claims Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal owes him $8.5 million testified last week that the firm took him off a huge contingency case and didn’t compensate him properly when it resulted in a huge settlement. The case had sought damages from Libya on behalf of victims killed…

Mar 19, 2008 12:06 PM CDT

What, Me Worry? Not These Law Firm Leaders

Associates appear to be more worried about the economy’s effects than the leaders of law firms interviewed by American Lawyer. “It’s a strange phenomenon: The level of fear that lawyers expressed was in inverse proportion to their level of seniority,” the magazine says. So far the evidence indicates the new…

Mar 14, 2008 11:09 AM CDT

Officials Say Killer May Have Known Murdered Florida Lawyer

Although authorities earlier said that a Florida lawyer found dead in a canal near her home last week might have been a random robbery and abduction target, they now believe she may have known her killer. However, there appears to have been no connection between the death of Melissa Lewis,…

Mar 13, 2008 11:52 PM CDT

McDermott Denies Slow Payouts to Departing Partners, With Two Exceptions

McDermott Will & Emery, hit with a wave of defections at its London office, is now responding to claims that it has been late in repaying capital contributions to outgoing partners. McDermott acknowledges a dispute with one former partner over the repayment of capital and says it was late in…

Mar 13, 2008 4:54 PM CDT

Retire at 50? Many Firms Offer Early Option, But Few Match O’Melveny’s

Corrected: Many law firms offer early retirements to boost profits per partner, but few are setting the floor at age 50, as O’Melveny & Myers recently did. The law firm made a temporary buyout offer to partners over age 50, and Masood Sohaili is taking advantage of it to jump…

Mar 13, 2008 11:10 AM CDT

Meet Spitzer’s Lead Lawyer, Michele Hirshman of Paul Weiss

Updated: A former top aide to embattled New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, back in the day when he was state attorney general, now reportedly has a new job as Spitzer’s legal counsel. Litigation partner Michele Hirshman of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison got a call from her old boss…

Mar 11, 2008 4:39 PM CDT

Sonnenschein Defends Ex-Partner’s Pay in Trial Beginning This Week

A former partner’s $8.5 million lawsuit against Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal gets under way this week. Douglas Rosenthal claims Sonnenschein forced him to retire and underpaid him for work on two cases. Superior Court Judge Melvin Wright threw out the retirement claim but allowed trial on the pay dispute, reports…

Mar 11, 2008 3:57 PM CDT

Boston Bar Prez Decries Law’s Focus on Money

Too many lawyers judge their success on the basis of money, to the detriment of the profession and their own happiness. That’s the conclusion of Boston Bar Association President Anthony Doniger, who sees contentment as a better measure of success. The focus on money is causing law firms to make…

Mar 11, 2008 3:32 PM CDT

Dead Fla. Lawyer Apparently Robbed, Abducted

A Florida attorney whose body reportedly was found in a canal near her home last week may have been abducted from her own garage as she pulled in one night after a trip to a local supermarket. There were signs of a struggle in the garage of the Plantation home,…

Mar 10, 2008 5:50 PM CDT