Practice Management

FL Small Firm Managers Create Network

When Florida lawyer Joseph H. Serota tried to network with fellow managing partners, he felt the sting of rejection. His firm at the time only had 25 members, too few to join the group from which he sought guidance. So Serota struck out on his own, forming the Florida Association…

Oct 30, 2007 7:28 PM CDT

1,700 CT Attys Suspended Over $110 Bill

In a payment enforcement mechanism that some see as draconian, the Client Security Fund in the state of Connecticut has slapped 1,700 lawyers with an administrative suspension for failing to pay a $110 annual fee. The “striking” number of suspensions includes all lawyers who haven’t paid the fee during any…

Oct 29, 2007 7:11 PM CDT

Black Counsel Scarce at US Supreme Court

For the first time in more than a year, an African-American lawyer should be arguing before the U.S Supreme Court today. Even more unusual, Drew Days III is representing a corporate client. The argument will be his 24th before the nation’s highest court, reports the Associated Press, solidly establishing Days…

Oct 29, 2007 6:16 PM CDT

Divorce Fair: From DNA to Dating Service

Camera-shy individuals apparently were daunted by a swarm of journalists on day one of what was billed as the world’s first-ever divorce fair on Saturday. But despite a dearth of participants the Vienna, Austria, event was nonetheless an eye-opening example of how vendors, including lawyers, could be brought face-to-face with…

Oct 29, 2007 5:04 PM CDT

Traffic Cameras Mean More Rear-Enders

Just as authorities thought they would, traffic cameras encourage motorists to put on the brakes rather than speed through intersections on red lights. But, in an unintended consequence, they also significantly increase the number of rear-end accidents, reports the Miami Herald. As some motorists slam on the brakes, fearful of…

Oct 29, 2007 4:33 PM CDT

Watching Turtles is FL Litigator’s ‘Zen Thing’

By all accounts, Stuart Rosenfeldt isn’t a stereotypical angry litigator. The easygoing Florida employment attorney believes in karma, and looks to the rare New Guinea sea turtles he keeps in tanks in his office to provide what the Miami Herald refers to as his “Zen thing”—a spoken mantra, habit, or…

Oct 29, 2007 4:09 PM CDT

Was Hicks’ Gitmo Plea a ‘Political Fix’?

The conviction of Australian David Hicks in a U.S. terrorism case after years of imprisonment at an American military prison at Guantanamo Bay has been a hot political issue in his home country. And the controversy is nowhere near dying down even months after he accepted a plea bargain that…

Oct 26, 2007 9:19 PM CDT

Taxi Gig Drives Cabbie, 59, to Law School

Driving a taxi is what put a 59-year-old Hawaii man on the road to law school. John Parker often picked up fares at the police station, and drove people home who had just bailed out of jail, reports the Honolulu Advertiser. Along the way, many told him their problems, and…

Oct 26, 2007 8:48 PM CDT

Witness: Mob Considered Giuliani Hit

Heads of organized crime families in the New York City area discussed whether to kill then-U.S. Attorney Rudy Giuliani in 1986, according to a witness in an ongoing murder trial in Brooklyn, N.Y., against a former FBI supervisor. But at the same time that ABC News and the Associated Press,…

Oct 26, 2007 7:49 PM CDT

Divorce Fair Offers Legal Services and More

Billed as the world’s first divorce fair, a two-day event in Austria this weekend will offer participants one-stop shopping for a vast array of services targeted to spouses in an unhappy marriage. In addition to retaining a matrimonial lawyer, attendees can hire a private detective to spy on an erring…

Oct 26, 2007 4:50 PM CDT

Panel: $680K Bill Inaccurate, Unreasonable

A legal bill of nearly $680,000 allegedly owed by Nassau County in New York to a Washington, D.C., law firm for work performed in 2002 doesn’t have to be paid, an arbitration panel says. That’s because the bill was “not accurate, not reasonable and not credible.” Zorc & Chase billed…

Oct 26, 2007 12:30 AM CDT

Indicted Baker & McKenzie Partner Resigns

A now-former corporate partner of Baker & McKenzie has resigned following his indictment last week in a federal securities fraud case involving alleged corporate kickbacks. The megafirm says in a written statement today that Martin Weisberg, 57, has resigned effective immediately, reports the New York Times in its DealBook column.…

Oct 25, 2007 11:36 PM CDT

It’s Official: UK Law Firms Soon For Sale

Long-anticipated legislation allowing nonattorneys to own United Kingdom law firms passed its final hurdle in the British Parliament today. The Legal Services Bill will soon be signed by Queen Elizabeth II, in the first step toward a legal market for buying and selling UK law firms that should be operational…

Oct 25, 2007 8:49 PM CDT

Merger Mania: From Small to BigLaw, Then Goodbye Job

When Berg & Parker, a 13-lawyer California boutique with a significant real estate practice, merged into 400-attorney Preston Gates & Ellis about three years ago, its attorneys had high hopes for their future with the Seattle-based national firm. But after Preston Gates merged with Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham roughly…

Oct 25, 2007 6:47 PM CDT

Wetzel Law Firm: Retract ‘Weasel’ or Else

Threatened with a potential defamation suit, two individuals have apparently retracted their claimed characterization of a Spokane, Wash.-area law firm formerly known as “Wetzel & Wetzel” as “Weasel & Weasel.” After one of the two allegedly used the term at a Chamber of Commerce meeting in Bayview, Idaho, and another…

Oct 25, 2007 5:24 PM CDT