Solos/Small Firms

Ex-Wife Who Killed Prominent Lawyer Seeks Parole 18 Years After High-Profile Conviction

Updated: Depending on which version you believe, Elisabeth Anne “Betty” Broderick was either a woman driven to murder by the relentless litigation tactics of her well-connected ex-husband, a successful California trial attorney, or a self-centered drama queen unable to come to grips with her anger over a divorce that left…

Jan 22, 2010 12:25 AM CST

Uncomfortable About Blowing Own Horn, Lawyer Talks About Electric Car in TV Ad

Uncomfortable about directly seeking clients for his auto accident practice, a South Carolina attorney and admitted car buff urges viewers to promote electric-powered vehicles on a television ad. “I think it’s awful when lawyers go on there begging for someone to have a crash,” Gary Ling tells the Post and…

Jan 20, 2010 12:41 AM CST

Lawyer Is Charged in Practice-Related Case Brought by Opposing Candidate’s Office

Attorney John Andrew Mattingly Jr. has been seeking election to the post of St. Mary’s County state’s attorney. But now it appears that the 40-year-old Leonardtown, Md., lawyer and Democratic candidate could lose not only the race for the prosecutor’s job but his law practice as a result of law…

Jan 13, 2010 6:14 PM CST

Law Firm and Ex-Associate Battle in Court and on Net Over Badmouth Blog

A federal judge says she plans to order unspecified “limited” restrictions of an ex-associate’s badmouth blog criticizing the New Jersey law firm that formerly employed him. But it appears that some of the most telling blows in the battle between Levinson Axelrod and attorney Edward Heyburn over his Levinson Axelrod…

Jan 12, 2010 6:31 PM CST

Office Bargains in Bad Economy Allow Law Firms to Create Exciting Spaces

When Florida bankruptcy attorney Rick Perry logged onto a real estate auction site last summer, he was looking for some art. An appointment had canceled, so he had a few minutes to spare. But then he noticed the meager bids on a pair of historic Queen Anne homes in downtown…

Jan 11, 2010 10:46 PM CST

Latham IP Litigator Jumps to Boutique, one of Four Partners Exiting the Firm

After 20 years of practice at Latham & Watkins, intellectual property litigator Kenneth Fitzgerald says he figured he was at a point in his career where he had two choices: Stay at Latham and eventually retire, or move on to his own law firm. Fitzgerald chose something akin to the…

Jan 8, 2010 5:47 PM CST

The Year Wasn’t So Bad for Law Firms in the Second 100

The law firms in the top 100 got a lot of press last year, with news of declining profits, frozen salaries and staff and lawyer layoffs. The year was considerably better for midsize law firms in the second 100, according to a legal consultant writing in the Connecticut Law Tribune.…

Jan 6, 2010 3:31 PM CST

10 Lawyers Exit Jeffer Mangels to Form New Elkins Kalt Firm

After practicing together for as much as two decades at a Los Angeles firm, 10 lawyers—including six partners—have departed Jeffer Mangels Butler & Marmaro to form their own firm. Their new legal partnership, Elkins Kalt Weintraub Reuben Gartside, opened its doors Jan. 1, reports the National Law Journal in an…

Jan 5, 2010 7:52 PM CST

Lawyer’s Enterprising iPhone App Routes Clients to ‘My Attorney’

A free iPhone application being offered by a Florida lawyer makes it especially easy for would-be clients to reach attorney Jason Turchin, send him photographs related to potential tort claims and download free legal advice and forms. But his My Attorney App has space for users to list additional attorneys…

Jan 5, 2010 5:50 PM CST

Federal Judge Sanctions ‘Obsessed’ Lawyer $110K Over Recusal Claims

A federal judge has imposed nearly $110,000 in sanctions on a Florida lawyer and has suspended him from practice in the Southern District of Florida for 42 months over his efforts to persuade the judge to step down from overseeing three employment cases. “Obsessed” with his desire to win the…

Jan 4, 2010 9:22 PM CST

‘Foreclosure Mills’ Use ‘Assembly-Line’ Litigation Process

Amidst the worst economic downturn in the memory of many practitioners, business is red-hot at Florida law firms that handle multiple mortgage foreclosures for minimal legal fees of perhaps $1,200 a case. Some “foreclosure mills” are filing hundreds of cases monthly, utilizing an “assembly-line” process. It assigns each component of…

Jan 4, 2010 7:54 PM CST

Why Can’t We Be Friends?

Having clients as Facebook friends is full of risks—and rewards

Jan 2, 2010 2:00 AM CST

How Lawyers at One Small Firm Said Goodbye to the Billable Hour

A five-lawyer San Francisco intellectual property law firm has largely abandoned the billable hour. Instead Smithline Jha charges a monthly subscription fee that ranges from $6,000 to about $30,000, the Recorder reports. The firm’s founders told the Recorder that Smithline Jha focuses on IP licensing for software and Internet companies,…

Dec 23, 2009 6:40 PM CST

PI Associate Takes Cousin’s Case and Wins in the Supreme Court

Personal injury associate J. Craig Smith couldn’t turn down his father’s request to take on the case of his cousin Norman, who was fired from his job as a supervisor for a carpet manufacturer after alleging the company was hiring undocumented aliens. “When my father called me from Georgia [in…

Dec 18, 2009 5:30 PM CST

Law Firm Trades Library for Xmas Shop, Employs All Hands on Sales Floor

Once upon a time, Bayless & Stokes needed a law library. But today it is largely duplicated on the Internet, and members of the small Houston firm began to wonder how it could better use the space. The answer, they decided, was to create Christmas shop selling holiday items on…

Dec 17, 2009 6:07 PM CST