Business Development

Around the Blawgosphere: How Firms Boost Their Bills; Blogger Service Breakdown; Tracking Laterals

Bill, Baby, Bill Daniel Fisher writes at the Forbes blog Full Disclosure about ways that law firms inflate their legal bills. A slideshow of nine different methods is provided. Fisher got his answers from David Paige, who spent 18 years litigating legal bills for insurance companies before starting Sterling Analytics.…

May 20, 2011 1:30 PM CDT

After 46 Years, Lawyer Submits His Bill in Desegregation Case: Nearly $10M

It’s been 46 years since lawyer Marion Overton White filed a desegregation suit against the St. Landry Parish School Board, and now he’s submitted his bill. White is seeking nearly $10 million in fees. The U.S. Justice Department settled the case with the school board in March, 2theAdvocate reports. White…

May 12, 2011 12:44 PM CDT

Relentless Reprobates Go All Out to Make a Point

For some folks, living with a minor injustice or a perceived slight is simply not possible. They just don’t have it in them to let it go and move on. They are determined to prevail and emerge the hero (in their own minds, anyway). Neither common sense nor mathematics will…

May 1, 2011 5:09 AM CDT

Appeals Court OKs $20M Legal Malpractice Case; ‘How Could They Have Gotten It So Wrong?’ Says Atty

A class action plaintiff who filed a legal malpractice suit contending that a California law firm improperly took some $20 million from a $134 million settlement is back in the ball game. The trial court erred in granting summary judgment to Girardi Keese, held the California Court of Appeal, Second…

Apr 30, 2011 12:11 AM CDT

DUI Lawyer Sues Strip Club, Says He Was Too Drunk to Agree to Nearly $19K in Charges

A Florida lawyer known for his work on drunken-driving cases has sued a Miami strip club alleging that it charged nearly $19,000 on his credit card in November 2010 when he was too inebriated to enter into a contract. Mark Gold, who is pro se in the Miami Dade County…

Apr 27, 2011 5:18 PM CDT

Lawyer Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Launder Marijuana Profits

A Maryland lawyer who was accused of helping drug traffickers launder their illegal profits and using tens of thousands of dollars in proceeds for real estate investments has taken a plea. Brian Young pleaded guilty today in federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia to conspiring to launder money…

Apr 26, 2011 6:07 PM CDT

King & Spalding to Be Paid Up to $520 an Hour to Defend Marriage Law

King & Spalding will be paid up to $500,000 to defend the federal law banning recognition of same-sex marriages. Leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives hired the law firm after the Justice Department declined to defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court challenges, Politico reports. Former U.S. solicitor…

Apr 20, 2011 5:57 PM CDT

Madoff Trustee’s Tally: $7.6B Recovered, $175.5M Sought in Legal Fees, Including Latest $43.2M Bill

A trustee working to resolve the mess convicted Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff made of his securities firm’s affairs has submitted new numbers to the federal bankruptcy court in Manhattan as he seeks payment of his law firm’s latest $43.2 million bill. Irving Picard says he has recovered a total of…

Apr 20, 2011 12:13 AM CDT

Appeals Court Nixes $650K Legal Fees Award, Says Parties Never Mutually Agreed to Arbitrate

At first, it was former clients of Glaser Weil Fink Jacobs & Shapiro who wanted binding arbitration to settle a dispute over the legal fees they were charged. Then, after the Los Angeles law firm rejected the written offer from art gallery owners George and Esther Goff, it changed its…

Apr 18, 2011 10:29 PM CDT

Law Firm Could Face Big Bill After Sending 1000s of Letters Threatening to Bring File-Sharing Suits

Solicitor Andrew Crossley of ACS:Law apparently saw a potential moneymaking opportunity when he sent out letters to some 10,000 individuals alleging that their Internet Protocol addresses had been linked to illegal file-sharing sites and threatening legal action if they didn’t hand over about $800 each in damages. But that plan…

Apr 18, 2011 5:01 PM CDT

Lawyer in ‘Invidious Personal Vendetta’ Ordered to Pay Prosecutors’ Defense Costs

A federal judge has ordered a Kentucky lawyer to pay the defense costs of two Kenton County prosecutors after suing them for false arrest and malicious prosecution in what U.S. District Judge William Bertelsman called “an invidious personal vendetta” that allowed attorney Eric Deters to make “libelous” statements in court…

Apr 14, 2011 2:58 PM CDT

2 Law Firms Lose Wealthy Client as 1 Sues to Collect $18M Bonus He Says He Never Agreed to Pay

A Texas law firm has sued a former client, contending that it is entitled to a “performance incentive bonus” of at least $18 million for achieving a global settlement of a family trust dispute below a threshold amount. However, Albert G. Hill Jr. says he never agreed to pay Shamoun…

Apr 13, 2011 11:17 AM CDT

How Did Private Prosecutor Spend $300K? County and Individual Citizen Seek Answers

As an Idaho county battles with a former contract prosecutor to collect some $300,000 it says it is owed in unearned payments, a local citizen is asking the state supreme court to award him attorney’s fees in a related public records case. Bob Henry, who owns a local insurance company,…

Apr 12, 2011 10:00 AM CDT

Legal Fee-Sharing Dispute re $400K Wasn’t Covered by Malpractice Insurance, Federal Court Rules

When attorney Adam Clermont left Freedman DeRosa & Rondeau to form his own firm, he took several plaintiff’s personal injury files with him. He and his former firm agreed to split the fees 50-50, but after Clermont got a $686,000 payout on one of them he didn’t ante up, writes…

Apr 11, 2011 4:55 PM CDT

Toward Understanding Value: Clients Set the Standard

The term “value” has taken on special currency in the law in the last few years. Headline after headline reflects that clients are now demanding greater value. Most people view value in monetary terms, as in the idea of getting more with less. But that doesn’t always hold true, because…

Apr 11, 2011 2:11 PM CDT