Practice Management

New Standard Lets Weil Sue Mayer

A private equity firm’s selection of New York City bankruptcy powerhouse Weil Gotshal & Manges to handle a $245 million claim against Chicago-based Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw probably wouldn’t have been possible in the not-so-distant past. That’s because Weil likely would have been conflicted out of representing Thomas H.…

Aug 1, 2007 4:53 PM CDT

The Ultimate Question

A courthouse conversation brings a lawyer’s purpose into sharper focus

Aug 1, 2007 12:50 PM CDT

Green Is Good

During construction of Nixon Peabody’s new office space in San Francisco’s Embarcadero Center, corner office placement was the least of the firm’s concerns.

Aug 1, 2007 12:49 PM CDT

Who’s Using Legal OnRamp?

A partial list of law firms participating in LegalOnRamp. Firms are based in the United States unless otherwise noted.

Aug 1, 2007 9:36 AM CDT

Punching the Clock

Firms crack down on start times, but is it a “generational” thing?

Aug 1, 2007 8:48 AM CDT

Discovery Is the Trial

Use depositions as if they’re the only chance you’ll have to try the case

Aug 1, 2007 8:27 AM CDT

Virtual Offices in Real Space

Many solos opt for companies that offer all the trimmings

Aug 1, 2007 8:22 AM CDT

Attorney Pay Slays Inflation

The last decade has been a very good one for the average U.S. lawyer’s wallet. Median attorney pay has outpaced inflation by 17 percent, compared to just a 5 percent rise in the prior decade, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Aug 1, 2007 7:39 AM CDT

Court: Big Firm Goofed, No Arb Clause

When lawyers from megafirm Sidley Austin agreed to write an opinion letter on the lawfulness of a tax shelter for a corporate executive who was a client of a Big Four accounting firm, they presumably weren’t expecting problems. But after Staples Inc. Vice Chairman Joseph Vassalluzzo had to pay $7…

Jul 31, 2007 9:31 PM CDT

Potential Profit for ‘Second Life’ Lawyers

Second Life is a fantasy cyberworld where people are represented by “avatars” with unusual names. Lawyers who join the online community can write constitutions, establish court systems and debate legal issues. But the virtual world also holds some profit potential. Washington, D.C., lawyer Stevan Lieberman is learning that lesson, Legal…

Jul 31, 2007 7:01 PM CDT

Career Coach Aids Anxious Associates

Hey, law firm associates: Are you unhappy with your job? Looking for an in-house gig? Worried about making partner? Just trying to find a way to have a home life as well as a work life? No problem–if you work at Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker. The 1,200-lawyer firm has…

Jul 30, 2007 11:59 PM CDT

Dear Son: I Stole From Firm Clients

When attorney Christopher Hoyt began reading the letter from his father earlier this month, it was clear he wasn’t going to be having a good day. “I have embezzled funds from my clients,” his father, Clinton, Conn., attorney Jonathan Hoyt, wrote in the July 7 missive. It includes advice on…

Jul 30, 2007 11:06 PM CDT

1st Native American Lawyer in SD Dies

Corrected: Ramon Roubideaux, a well-known American Indian lawyer who represented activists involved in the 71-day standoff at Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota in 1973, has died. He was 82. Reportedly the first Native American to go into private practice in the state, Roubideaux worked…

Jul 30, 2007 7:40 PM CDT

NJ Firm Bows Head re Unadmitted Atty

In a rare sanction of a law firm that names no individual partner names, the New Jersey Supreme Court has reprimanded Newark-based Sills Cummis Epstein & Gross for allowing an associate not admitted to the state bar to work on transactional matters for seven years. There are conflicting accounts of…

Jul 27, 2007 12:03 AM CDT

LA Trend: More Confidentiality Contracts

Hollywood’s entertainment and business elite are, of course, perennially concerned about privacy. But ever-more-stringent efforts are now being made to safeguard from public scrutiny the personal lives of Los Angeles residents at all levels of society. Among the latest innovations, reports the Los Angeles Times, are standard rules requiring relatively…

Jul 26, 2007 6:52 PM CDT