ABA Journal

Nearly 30% of Lawyers Surveyed Fear Firing

Updated: The fear factor is spreading throughout major law firms, as lawyers who are unable to meet their billable hour goals are wondering if their jobs are secure. That’s the implication of two June surveys by the legal recruitment firm Lateral Link. They found that nearly 30 percent of lawyers…

Jun 26, 2008 11:42 AM CDT

IP Partner Hired By MoFo Was Asked to Leave, Sonnenschein Says

Updated: An intellectual property lawyer newly hired as a partner at Morrison & Foerster was asked to leave his former law firm, the former firm says in response to an ABAJournal.com post yesterday. “This was entirely expected. Earlier this year, Alex Hadjis was moved out of the practice group leader…

Jun 25, 2008 5:34 PM CDT

The Cost of WilmerHale’s Gitmo Victory: $17M Worth of Pro Bono Hours

WilmerHale achieved a significant but costly victory when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled June 12 that Guantanamo Bay detainees have habeas rights. Since 2004 a team of up to 30 lawyers from WilmerHale has represented six Algerian terrorist suspects whose case resulted in the Supreme Court decision, the Boston Globe…

Jun 25, 2008 12:18 PM CDT

How Large Law Firms Motivate: A Better Chance to Advance, Flexible Schedules

Large law firms are re-evaluating how they hire and retain top performers. A white paper by Robert Half Legal says law firm managers are realizing they need to do more to retain lawyers in an increasingly competitive environment. Lawyers responding to a survey by the legal consulting firm said the…

Jun 25, 2008 11:29 AM CDT

Ex-Prosecutor: DOJ Destroyed My Career

Ryan Rainey admittedly broke a rule when he was a star federal prosecutor, and paid a high price for doing so. In 2005, he resigned, later pleading guilty to criminal charges. They related to failing to inform his bosses at the Department of Justice about applying for work as a…

Jun 24, 2008 6:37 PM CDT

Judge Who Had Sensitivity Training Is Accused Again of Rudeness

A Seattle-area judge has been accused of routinely interrupting litigants and lawyers and addressing them in a manner that is “angry, disdainful, condescending and/or demeaning.” The state Commission on Judicial Conduct claims in a statement of charges (PDF) that Judge Judith Eiler treated lawyers and self-represented litigants in a way…

Jun 24, 2008 4:07 PM CDT

Life After BigLaw: ‘No Job, No Baby and 10 Pounds of Leftover Fat’

Shinyung Oh, the ousted Paul Hastings associate who sent a scathing mass e-mail denouncing the firm’s layoff tactics, is airing her feelings once again, this time on her own blog, Because You Never Know … . The blog contains posts on Oh’s sadness over her miscarriage and her post-law firm…

Jun 24, 2008 2:21 PM CDT

Lawyer Chastised for ‘Heartless Attack’ on Counsel for Pin Honoring Slain Son

A Georgia judge has condemned a lawyer for remarks he made at a deposition about a pin worn by opposing counsel honoring his son killed in Iraq. Judge David Sweat said in a June 11 order (PDF posted by the Fulton County Daily Report) that the remarks by Athens lawyer…

Jun 24, 2008 12:16 PM CDT

Why Don’t Unhappy Lawyers Leave?

Many lawyers reportedly are unhappy with their jobs. Only a small percentage actually decide to do something else. About 3 to 5 percent, in fact, in Monica Parker’s experience, writes the Wall Street Journal Law Blog. A Harvard Law School graduate who is now a career counselor for unhappy attorneys,…

Jun 23, 2008 10:34 PM CDT

What’s The Biggest Threat to The U.S. Economy?

BigLaw firm DLA Piper recently surveyed more than 100 corporate clients (PDF) about their priorities for the second half of 2008 and to gauge their predictions for the business climate. More than half of the survey respondents (53 percent) had a negative outlook on the economy. And when asked what…

Jun 19, 2008 2:22 PM CDT

$20K For Associates Who Find Success on Jobs Site

The Internet job placement site Lateral Link has some competition from a new venture called Legal Recruiting Authority. Lateral Link pays up to $10,000 to associates who find a job though its website, while Legal Recruiting Authority pays $20,000, the American Lawyer reports. Both recruitment sites allow associates at top…

Jun 19, 2008 1:32 PM CDT

These Associates Say It’s Never Too Early to Start Rainmaking

Their techniques may differ, but these associates are focused on the same goal: Working on rainmaking early in their careers. The Recorder interviewed several California associates about their business development efforts and found they actively sought out networking opportunities and sought to develop ties to potential clients. Connie Merriett said…

Jun 19, 2008 12:32 PM CDT

9th Circuit to Employers: Don’t Look at Workers’ Text Messages

Venturing into what a federal appeals court panel described as a new frontier of electronic communications law, the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decided today that employers have no right to read their employees’ text messages without their consent. Plus, even if employers pay for the service,…

Jun 18, 2008 10:03 PM CDT

Legal Blogger Auditions for ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?’

Legal blogger and lawyer Howard Bashman traveled to New York yesterday to audition for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Bashman writes on his How Appealing blog that he passed the written test for trivia knowledge and then met with a producer who evaluated his personality. He’ll learn whether he…

Jun 18, 2008 1:49 PM CDT

Baker & McKenzie in Court Fight Over 11-Year-Old’s Birthday Present?

Legal powerhouse Baker & McKenzie may have met its match: A threatened lawsuit over a domain name has pitted the Chicago-based international megafirm against an 11-year-old in Scotland who received it as a birthday present and his parents. “Gillian Ferguson and Richard Saville-Smith bought the narnia.mobi e-mail domain name in…

Jun 17, 2008 10:35 PM CDT