A Chinese Puzzle

Foreign firms jumping into the market find ethics rules unclear

Jun 5, 2007 8:09 AM CDT

Coach Me

Three lawyers team up with three professional coaches to take their practices to the next level in just one month

Jun 5, 2007 7:01 AM CDT

DUI Prosecutor’s Drunk Driving Death a Hard Lesson for Profession

The recent drunk driving death of a renowned Chicago area prosecutor is a hard lesson for the legal profession – and a number of those who could learn from it haven’t necessarily done so. Too often, those in charge of enforcing the law against others don’t apply it to themselves.…

Jun 4, 2007 11:15 PM CDT

Pal Tipped Plaintiff Attorney about ‘Flea’

One question remained unanswered – until today – about “Flea,” the once-anonymous physician whose biting blogging about his ongoing medical malpractice case recently led to a Perry Mason moment at his Boston trial. How did the plaintiff lawyer learn that the defendant doctor might have authored the blog? Another lawyer…

Jun 4, 2007 9:37 PM CDT

Penn. Attorney Disbarred in Delaware

A Pennsylvania attorney has been disbarred in Delaware, even though she was never admitted to practice there and maintains a law office in Pennsylvania. That’s because Valerie J. Glover, who lives in Delaware, “did everything short of appearing in Delaware courts, and engaged Delaware attorneys as co-counsel only if she…

Jun 4, 2007 8:44 PM CDT

Giuliani ‘Stepping Back’ as Practitioner

Rudolph Giuliani’s decision two years ago to become a partner in the Manhattan office of a Houston, Texas, law firm at a point in life when many practitioners are retiring was about more than just a lust to practice law. It was, in all likelihood, at least partially a political…

Jun 4, 2007 7:54 PM CDT

‘Empty-handed’ Plaintiff Can’t Win Fees

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a party that loses a civil rights case on the merits cannot recover attorney fees, even if it wins a preliminary injunction in the case. The unanimous opinion was written by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, SCOTUSblog reports. “A plaintiff who achieves a transient…

Jun 4, 2007 6:40 PM CDT

Exxon Valdez’s Next Stop is High Court

Litigation in the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill case will come to an end if the U.S. Supreme Court declines to hear a punitive-damages appeal. About 22 percent of the $2.5 billion award will go to attorney fees, the Legal Intelligencer reports. Last month the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of…

Jun 4, 2007 2:11 PM CDT

Attorney Tried Cases After TB Diagnosis

The attorney quarantined for tuberculosis tried cases for five months after his initial diagnosis. Andrew Speaker, a personal injury lawyer, says didn’t know he had a particularly virulent form of TB until he arrived in Europe last month for his wedding. After his first diagnosis in January, he tried cases…

Jun 1, 2007 9:03 PM CDT

Ex-GC Tries ‘Career Suicide’ Defense

The former general counsel of Hollinger International, accused of helping direct noncompete payments to other companies owned by company executives, is claiming at trial that he was unfamiliar with securities law and relied on the advice of outside counsel. That strategy could work in the short term for Mark Kipnis,…

Jun 1, 2007 6:17 PM CDT

KPMG Fee Ruling Spurs Dismissal Motion

Ex-employees of KPMG who battled to force the accounting company to pay their legal fees will ask a judge to dismiss the criminal case against them. Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Southern District of New York has scheduled a July 2 hearing on the matter, according to the New York…

Jun 1, 2007 3:48 PM CDT

GE Lawyer Claims Gender Bias

Jun 1, 2007 1:35 PM CDT

Ex-GC Accused of Backdating

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed civil fraud charges claiming the former general counsel of a California-based software maker participated in stock-options backdating. The SEC claims former general counsel Susan Skaer of Mercury Interactive LLC participated in backdating and improper accounting and helped falsify approval of some grants by…

Jun 1, 2007 12:41 PM CDT

Top Lawyers Beat Bushes for New Work

Unlike their corporate counterparts, attorneys in senior positions often have trouble transitioning to another rewarding career role when the time comes to pass the law firm leadership baton. “Although you have experience of running a major professional services firm for eight years, you are not viewed as someone with management…

Jun 1, 2007 12:28 AM CDT

Lawyer in Deep Fryer Over ‘Happy Meal’ Quip

A lawyer who said a bankruptcy judge was “a few french fries short of a Happy Meal” is being ordered to defend his right to practice in her federal court. William P. Smith, a partner with McDermott Will & Emery based in Chicago, made the statement before Judge Laurel Myerson…

May 31, 2007 1:32 PM CDT