ABA Journal

3 Lawyers’ New Gigs: Headmistress, Concrete Worker, Rap Artist

For lawyers unhappy in their current jobs, three recent reports of career changes by successful attorneys might offer some food for thought. Pinney Allen, 54, a top female partner at Alston & Bird, is leaving the firm July 1 to run the Atlanta Girls’ School, according to a Daily Report…

Mar 6, 2008 5:39 PM CST

What’s the Best Hypothetical You’ve Heard or Used?

If you’re arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court and Justice Steven Breyer clears his throat, be prepared for a “bizarre” and mind-bending hypothetical. That’s because hypotheticals, Breyer says, cut to the heart of what’s bothering him about a case. ”The point is to try to focus on a matter that…

Mar 6, 2008 5:24 PM CST

Jenner & Block Demotes or Ousts at Least 10 More Equity Partners

The Chicago-based law firm of Jenner & Block is pushing at least 10 more partners out of the equity partnership ranks and asking some of the lawyers to leave, sources told the Chicago Tribune. The firm’s chairman, Anton Valukas, refused to confirm numbers but said some lawyers have been put…

Mar 6, 2008 4:44 PM CST

McGuireWoods Merges With N.C. Law Firm

McGuireWoods is merging with a 120-lawyer firm in North Carolina, a move that will increase the larger firm’s roster to almost 900 lawyers. Currently McGuireWoods has just one North Carolina office, in Charlotte. The merger gives it additional offices in Raleigh and Wilmington and increases the number of lawyers in…

Mar 6, 2008 11:43 AM CST

Discovery Debacle: How Not to Duplicate Qualcomm’s E-Mail Issues

After some $10 million in court-ordered penalties, attorney sanctions and a switch of both in-house and outside counsel, it is clear that Qualcomm Inc. didn’t handle its discovery obligations in a patent dispute with Broadcom Corp. in an optimal manner. But despite these severe sanctions over 46,000 e-mails that Qualcomm…

Mar 6, 2008 1:32 AM CST

Court: ‘No Way on Earth’ Should Lawyers Get Fee of $46K for $45 Error

An off-duty police officer sought class action status for his lawsuit after he was shorted $45 in pay for crowd control, and following a settlement, his law firm sought $46,000 in attorney fees. That’s not going to happen. “No way on earth,” says a California appeals court, which slashed the…

Mar 5, 2008 3:25 PM CST

Lawyer, Client Sanctioned $29K for Client’s Profanity-Laced Deposition

U.S. District Judge Eduardo Robreno of Philadelphia has tallied the number of times a litigant dropped the F-word or a variant in a deposition—it was 73 times—and calculated the sanction he and his lawyer should pay—it is more than $29,000. The client, Aaron Wider, is CEO of HTFC Corp., a…

Mar 5, 2008 2:39 PM CST

Test to Spot Liars Takes Center Stage in Personal Injury Cases

Expert witnesses are citing a test designed to spot those who are faking their pain in hundreds of court cases, prompting debate about its reliability. The so-called Fake Bad Scale was added to the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory last year, leading to its increasing use by expert witnesses in personal…

Mar 5, 2008 12:20 PM CST

Lawyer Awarded at Least $10M for Secret Videotaping

Lawyer Mark Geragos was awarded at least $10 million—and possibly as much as $18 million—in his invasion of privacy suit against an air charter company for secretly videotaping him while traveling with pop star Michael Jackson. Geragos’ colleague, Pat Harris, will receive between $1.25 million and $2.25 million, the Associated…

Mar 4, 2008 1:43 PM CST

Does Lawyer’s E-Mail Snooping Merit 2-Year Suspension?

Corrected: At first, when attorney Michael Markins accessed his wife’s e-mail account at the law firm at which she worked, he was trying to find out whether she might be having an affair. But then, having figured out the uncomplicated password system there, the Charleston, W.Va., lawyer admittedly began accessing…

Mar 4, 2008 12:23 AM CST

Speeding Lawyer Not Fast Enough on Her Feet With Court Excuse

An Arkansas lawyer is facing a contempt of court charge after reportedly telling a Carroll County judge she couldn’t appear before him the next day because she was in St. Louis, awaiting a federal appeals court hearing. But after Cindy Baker was ticketed for speeding the next morning in northwest…

Mar 3, 2008 11:30 PM CST

Heller’s Associate Bonanza: Bonuses Restored, Training Added at No Charge to Clients

Heller Ehrman has concluded it was wrong to cut some 2007 bonuses to pay for associate salary hikes, and it’s doing something about it. The law firm has announced it will restore 2007 bonuses of $15,000 to $25,000 for 2,000 hours billed, the Recorder reports. The firm had eliminated the…

Mar 3, 2008 12:11 PM CST

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Mar 1, 2008 9:38 PM CST

A Strained Analogy

“Kamehameha’s Children,” January, refers to the ABA’s support for bills in Congress regarding “Native Hawaiian government reorganization” and compares granting “self-determination” to Native Hawaiians to recognizing American Indian tribes and Alaskan natives. However, the history of Indian tribes and U.S. tribal policy is very different from Hawaiian history, and American Indian self-government has its own problems as well as a strong geographic aspect that confines it to Indian reservations, dependent Indian communities and allotment lands.

Mar 1, 2008 7:44 PM CST

How Big Law Firms Can Retain the ‘Lost Generation’ of Unhappy Associates

Associates at large law firms are a “lost generation” who are given mostly drudge work, face unceasing pressure to produce, and are kept in the dark about firm finances and the broader strategies behind the matters they handle. No wonder some firms are losing as many as half their associates,…

Feb 29, 2008 12:36 PM CST