Practice Management

Firms Represent Bridge Victims Pro Bono

High-profile firms in Minnesota are pooling together, offering to represent victims of the Aug. 1 Minneapolis interstate bridge collapse for free. According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Big Tobacco veteran Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi is among a “who’s who” list of plaintiffs firms signed up to represent victims pro bono.…

Aug 20, 2007 6:45 PM CDT

UK Lawyer Jailed for False Client Alibi

A Scottish lawyer who gave a client accused of abduction and extortion a false alibi has now himself been sentenced to prison. In a hearing before the High Court in Glasgow, Shahid Pervez, 39, a conveyancing solicitor, “claimed he agreed to the false alibi after threats were made,” reports the…

Aug 20, 2007 4:49 PM CDT

Judge Appoints PD, Has Him Arrested

Updated: Criminal law blogs are abuzz over the contempt case of Brian Jones, an assistant public defender in Portage County, Ohio. Seems that Jones was appointed Wednesday by Portage County Municipal Court Judge John Plough to represent Jordan Scott, 20, on a charge of misdemeanor assault. The trial was then…

Aug 20, 2007 3:38 PM CDT

‘Better Mousetrap’ Tallies Billable Hours

A Canadian software company claims to have built a better mousetrap to help American lawyers and others keep track of their billable hours. As the Montreal Gazette explains the concept, PensEra Knowledge Technologies has developed “a time-keeping system that lawyers can easily use to record their progress, either on their…

Aug 17, 2007 4:32 PM CDT

More Sex Issues for WA Prosecutor

Originally accused of having an affair with the mother of a 17-year-old arson defendant and using the relationship to get confidential defense information a Washington state prosecutor is now facing additional professional issues. Liam Michael Golden’s sexual conduct reportedly may have been intermingled with his office’s handling of as many…

Aug 16, 2007 10:16 PM CDT

Shocking Case: Legal Team Tasers Client

Proceedings have been delayed in a California misdemeanor case in which the defense is claiming that police brutalized their client with a stun gun during his arrest at a shopping mall last year. That’s because the defense team is now being criminally investigated for allegedly violating human experimentation laws by…

Aug 16, 2007 9:01 PM CDT

Gov’t Atty to Put ‘White Hat’ on Targets

A soon-to-be-former New York government regulator plans to switch sides and serve as a consultant helping those targeted by such probes to don a “white hat” and work cooperatively with the federal, state and/or local agency involved. David M. Grandeau, a lawyer known as an aggressive state lobbying regulator, will…

Aug 15, 2007 10:28 PM CDT

Secret-Case Strategy: Guess US Argument

In 27 years of practice, Jon Eisenberg has never had a more difficult case than Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation v. George W. Bush. One reason why is the extraordinary secrecy imposed on the litigation process because of terrorism-related national security concerns. When it came time to file one brief in his…

Aug 15, 2007 3:12 PM CDT

MA Building Boom, MA Law Firm Boom

A booming market for commercial real estate in Boston in recent years means that law firms specializing in this practice area are booming, too. The Boston office of DLA Piper, for instance, started up at the beginning of 2003 with 33 mostly real estate lawyers from the now-defunct Hill &…

Aug 14, 2007 10:14 PM CDT

Free Advice to Mattel: Use ‘Iron Triangle’

As Mattel Inc. faces its second toy recall in two weeks over lead-paint issues, a lawyer reportedly is offering some free advice—use the “Iron Triangle Defense.” In plain English, those handling Mattel’s litigation, public-relations and government regulatory work need to put their heads together to figure out how best to…

Aug 14, 2007 8:43 PM CDT

Working Mother Lists Top 50 Law Firms

A new player has just entered the law-firm rankings game. Working Mother magazine, in an issue that arrived on newsstands today, has listed 50 law firms that it considers particularly attuned to the concerns of its readers. “In this, our inaugural Working Mother & Flex-Time Lawyers Best Law Firms for…

Aug 14, 2007 3:30 PM CDT

ABA: End Forced Retirement

The ABA House of Delegates decided Monday that the time has come for law firms to put mandatory age-based retirement policies out to pasture. In addition to recommending that law firms end those policies, the House of Delegates urged that law firms evaluate their older partners on the basis of…

Aug 14, 2007 2:10 AM CDT

Alec Scott, Esq: ‘Why I Escaped the Law’

It isn’t just many American lawyers who feel overworked and dispirited. Their Canadian counterparts increasingly feel the same way, according to an article in next month’s issue of Toronto Life magazine. Author Alec Scott, a lawyer who is now a journalist, says that getting fired from a big Toronto firm…

Aug 13, 2007 11:09 PM CDT

Egads! Will US Law Firms Go Public?

Of course it can’t happen yet. But senior partners at big U.S. law firms are talking about the possibility that they will one day be allowed to be have nonattorney shareholders, as Australia already permits and the United Kingdom is expected to allow within a few years. Otherwise, major American…

Aug 13, 2007 10:25 PM CDT

Spitzer Probe Spotlights NY Ethics Group

The ongoing investigation of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer’s office concerning a reported effort by his aides to discredit the Senate majority leader has put an unaccustomed spotlight on what until now was a low-profile government group–the State Ethics Commission. On the verge of a major reorganization, the commission is…

Aug 13, 2007 8:53 PM CDT