Lawyer goes back to BigLaw, via a merger, after forming his own firm

Five years after leaving a BigLaw partnership to form his own firm, Gregory Evans is back. McGuireWoods has announced that it is acquiring Los Angeles litigation boutique Integer Law, reports the Am Law Daily. The move gives McGuireWoods, which already has a Century City office in Los Angeles, a downtown…

Apr 2, 2015 7:40 AM CDT

Receiver appointed for law firm $10M in debt; loans taken out by partner before suicide contested

Rejecting a law firm’s argument that having a third party deal with its $10 million in debt would be “overkill,” an Iowa judge has appointed a receiver to oversee the dissolution of Gallagher Langlas and Gallagher. Veridian Credit Union, whose loans to the Waterloo firm are being contested in litigation,…

Mar 26, 2015 11:00 AM CDT

Federal judge scolds BigLaw lawyers for ‘behemoth pleadings’ and ‘prolixity’

A federal judge in Manhattan is ordering lawyers in a United Parcel Service lawsuit to file new pleadings that are short and plain, in keeping with Rule 8 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. In a March 24 order (PDF), U.S. District Judge William Pauley III labeled the pleadings…

Mar 26, 2015 8:48 AM CDT

8 Pillsbury partners exit for Winston & Strawn; will other departures follow?

Winston & Strawn announced Wednesday the acquisition of an 8-partner group from Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, and news reports say observers expect more Pillsbury lawyers to exit for Winston. Following Winston’s announcement last week that Pillsbury structured finance chief Jeffrey Stern is joining the Chicago-based international firm, another eight partners…

Mar 12, 2015 9:50 AM CDT

Suspended lawyer gets 5 years in money-laundering case; man who gave him the money gets 30 months

A suspended Minnesota attorney was sentenced Monday to five years in federal prison for using his law firm to launder money from a brother-in-law who sold marijuana. Robert Boedigheimer, 52, needed loans to fund his lavish lifestyle. So the personal injury lawyer gave his brother-in-law, Brandon Lusk, a no-show job…

Mar 10, 2015 9:35 AM CDT

Man drives truck with dead neighbor to lawyer’s office, says he killed in self-defense

Florida lawyer Robert Harris says he was confronted with an issue on Wednesday afternoon that he never learned about in law school. A Lee County man put his dead neighbor in the bed of his pickup truck and drove to Harris’ law firm in Fort Myers, report the Fort Myers…

Mar 5, 2015 7:03 AM CST

Many small firms face big payment problems

Mar 1, 2015 2:30 AM CST

Alvin the dead cat is among many travails that led to blown deadline, lawyer says in court filing

A Washington, D.C., solo has an explanation for missing a deadline in a federal court case. It involves gout, pneumonia, pain killers, “certain home remedies that in retrospect were ill-advised,” a dead cat and an unhappy friend. James Fournier’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad month are detailed in a…

Feb 17, 2015 6:15 AM CST

Lawyer suspended for hiring disbarred lawyer who used assumed name in client meetings

A solo practitioner in New York state has been suspended for two years because he hired a disbarred lawyer, an old law school friend, as a paralegal and then gave the friend great autonomy. Dean Gary Weber of Westbury, New York, was suspended for two years for assisting a nonlawyer…

Feb 10, 2015 5:45 AM CST

Losing litigant is charged in attack at Virginia law firm

A losing litigant is accused of storming into a Virginia law firm on Wednesday where he assaulted employees and kicked a dog. Kevin O’Hara, 46, of Amelia County, Virginia, is being held without bond in the incident at Owen & Owens in Midlothian, report WTVR and WRIC. He is charged…

Feb 6, 2015 7:16 AM CST

Once-prominent Philadelphia lawyer disbarred on 10 disciplinary charges

Philadelphia lawyer Willie Lee Nattiel Jr., who had protested the lack of criminal charges against police in two widely publicized local incidents, has been disbarred. Nattiel, 55, was ordered disbarred on 10 disciplinary charges, many of which involved mishandling client funds and neglecting client matters, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. The…

Feb 4, 2015 12:35 PM CST

Small firms are using data tools for analysis, too

You probably think of big data as the province of big firms. Those are the firms more likely to represent the large corporations that amass big data, advising about its retention, management and discovery. Large firms even use big data themselves for internal benchmarking and competitive intelligence. Big, it would…

Feb 1, 2015 6:25 AM CST

Young lawyers take flight after incubator programs

Feb 1, 2015 2:00 AM CST

Four associates join Beck Redden partner on marquee of new Houston litigation boutique

Four lawyers who until very recently were associates at Texas commercial litigation powerhouse Beck Redden are now not only partners but name partners at a new Houston litigation boutique headed by former Beck Redden partner Murray Fogler. “Everybody is a partner, and everybody has a stake. There are no plans…

Jan 21, 2015 3:20 PM CST

Ex-employee gets 4 years in $163K law firm theft

A former office manager was sentenced to four years on Wednesday for stealing a little over $163,000 from a suburban Chicago law firm. Jordan E. Terry, 48, could see that prison term halved for good behavior, the Daily Herald reports. She stole the money during less than a year, in…

Jan 8, 2015 2:25 PM CST