Practice Management

S.S.R.N. Rankings Temporarily Boost Instapundit Law Prof Above Cass Sunstein

The Social Science Research Network allows just about anybody to post a paper that can be downloaded by curious readers. The network, created in 1994, posts about 45,000 articles a year in the areas of economic and legal scholarship, its top two subjects, the New York Times reports. The Times…

Jun 9, 2008 1:45 PM CDT

Labor Stats Show Loss of 9,700 Legal Jobs in One Year’s Time

The legal sector has lost 9,700 jobs in just one year, including 1,100 positions in May and 1,900 in April, according to seasonally adjusted statistics from the U.S. Labor Department. The sector has seen losses for three consecutive months, the American Lawyer reports. The legal services sector includes lawyers, paralegals,…

Jun 9, 2008 11:45 AM CDT

‘Convergence’ Can Benefit Law Firms as Well as Corporate Clients

After the apparent success of Tyco International’s grand experiment in legal cost-cutting in Europe, which is now in its second year, further innovation is expected both from Tyco and other major corporations. The “convergence” model applied by Tyco, which DuPont is credited with initially adopting more than a decade ago,…

Jun 6, 2008 10:36 PM CDT

WilmerHale Didn’t Pay Bills, Marked Some Up 25 Percent, Consultant Says

A prominent BigLaw firm didn’t pay a number of bills from a longtime consultant and marked up some by 25 percent before passing them on to clients, a vendor contends in a Washington, D.C., lawsuit seeking $530,000. But a Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr partner says the markup claim…

Jun 6, 2008 9:33 PM CDT

Ex-Kasowitz Partner Files $90M Suit Over Claim of ‘Extremely Inappropriate’ Conduct

The former chairman of the intellectual property group at Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman has filed a $90 million defamation suit against the firm for issuing a press release that said he was fired for “extremely inappropriate personal conduct.” Jeremy Pitcock contends in his suit that the conduct was nothing…

Jun 6, 2008 12:07 PM CDT

Law Firm Sues Unhappy Fen-Phen Client for Defamation

The class action law firm Napoli Bern Ripka & Associates has sued a former fen-phen client for defamation. The East Coast law firm claims ex-client Scott Spielberg defamed the firm for speaking with a New York Times reporter and asking prosecutors to investigate the law firm’s handling of the fen-phen…

Jun 6, 2008 11:12 AM CDT

Ballpark Protest of Lesbian Kiss Sparks Discussion of Discrimination Issue

Accounts differ about exactly what happened. But a woman says she was asked by an usher to stop kissing her female date at a recent Seattle Mariners baseball game after another fan complained the public display of affection wasn’t suitable for children, even though similar behavior by opposite-sex couples apparently…

Jun 5, 2008 9:41 PM CDT

Law Firm Fights Fla. Teen’s 30-Year Sentence for Deadly Driving

William Thornton IV was reportedly driving without a valid license when he skidded through a stop sign on a poorly lit road in Citrus County, Fla., in 2004. Both occupants of the vehicle he hit, who weren’t wearing their seatbelts, were thrown from their SUV and died. But Thornton, who…

Jun 5, 2008 3:23 PM CDT

Layoff Watch: Ballard Spahr, Blank Rome, Reed Smith Shed Lawyers, Staff

Three more law firms have fired or laid off employees, but only one attributed the reason to the economic downturn. According to the Legal Intelligencer, the law firms are: • Blank Rome, which cut nine associates after their annual reviews. Six were from Philadelphia, two were from New York and…

Jun 5, 2008 11:15 AM CDT

The Dress Code Debate: Pantyhose and Flip-Flops

Worried about discussing dress codes with the employees who work for you? The Association of Corporate Counsel has an option in the form of a free phone message entitled: Flip-Flops at Work? Not for Everyone. The message will help educate employees about dress code guidelines, according to the Fulton County…

Jun 5, 2008 10:46 AM CDT

Venture Capitalist Slams Lawyers in Blog Harangue

A lawyer and venture capitalist rails against rising lawyer salaries and the big legal bills they produce in a 1,120-word blog harangue. Jason Mendelson, a lawyer and venture capitalist with the Foundry Group and Mobius Venture Capital, compares his starting lawyer salary of $71,000 in 1998 with today’s paychecks and…

Jun 4, 2008 12:02 PM CDT

Firms Get Creative With Summer Associate Activities, While Fears of Downturn Persist

At first glance, things don’t appear so bad for summer associates. Some at the biggest law firms will be earning $3,000 a week. And record numbers were hired this year by law firms that did their recruiting months ago, before the economic downturn hit hardest. And the law firms are…

Jun 4, 2008 11:42 AM CDT

E-Discovery Disclosure Goof Waived Attorney-Client Privilege, Judge Rules

A federal magistrate in Baltimore has ruled a company sued for infringement has no attorney-client privilege in 165 documents mistakenly turned over to its opponent in e-discovery. The documents included several communications between the company Creative Pipe Inc. and its lawyers. U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge Paul Grimm ruled Creative Pipe…

Jun 4, 2008 11:12 AM CDT

Law Firms Waking Up to PR Issues Posed by Law Gossip Blogs

Once upon a time, a law firm only had to worry about office gossip circulating among its own troops and their friends in the local legal community. Today, leaked information can potentially reach huge numbers of strangers throughout the world in record time, thanks to electronic communications and legal gossip…

Jun 3, 2008 5:51 PM CDT

Freshfields to Open in Abu Dhabi

U.K. law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer will open in Abu Dhabi now that its application has been fast-tracked. The law firm already has offices in Dubai and Bahrain, Legal Week reports. Freshfields is interested in Dubai because of its political stability and rapidly diversifying economy, said Freshfields joint senior partner…

Jun 3, 2008 5:07 PM CDT