Career & Practice

Jobless Pace Law Grads Live at Home, Go Back to School, Hang Own Shingle

Kavitha Mukund is a cum laude graduate of Pace University School of Law who speaks three languages. Her classmate, Jennifer Lincoln, was an intern at the Hague’s International Criminal Tribunal. Both 26-year-olds have been unable to find work after graduating. But John McCarron, 35, was luckier—he has been able to…

Oct 6, 2010 10:58 PM CDT

EEOC Sues Port Authority, Alleges Women Lawyers Paid Less, Older Female Attorneys Fired

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed a direct action against the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, alleging that it pays women lawyers in non-supervisory jobs less than men who do substantially the same work and has fired two women lawyers in their fifties in order to…

Oct 6, 2010 9:26 PM CDT

Husch Blackwell Confirms Layoffs of Nearly 20 Lawyers Last Month

Nearly 20 lawyers were laid off last month at Husch Blackwell, the law firm has confirmed to the Am Law Daily. “As is our firm’s practice, we constantly monitor our attorney staffing to match the level of experience, expertise and depth necessary to service our clients’ workload needs,” a firm…

Oct 6, 2010 8:42 PM CDT

NH Lawyer Publicly Censured for Having Sex with Client

Add another lawyer to the list of those recently disciplined for having sex with the wife in a divorce case. In the case of Paul Maggiotto, however, the wife was also his client, and he “had a duty not to engage in a sexual relationship with his divorce client,” says…

Oct 6, 2010 6:07 PM CDT

Summer Associates Report Substantive Work, More Offers and Lots of Karoake

Summer associates are an easygoing bunch. They gave top grades to their law firms in a new survey, reporting there was lots of good work to go around and time for fun too. Many firms hired fewer summers this year, but there was an upside in the numbers, the American…

Oct 6, 2010 4:10 PM CDT

Fla. Law Firm Touts ‘Mortgage Terminator’ Suits for Condo Associations

A Miami law firm says its “mortgage terminator” lawsuits are transferring ownership of abandoned properties to condominium associations when banks delay initiating foreclosure proceedings. The suits filed by the Association Law Group rely on a Florida law that allows condo and homeowner associations to file separate foreclosure actions for unpaid…

Oct 6, 2010 2:33 PM CDT

K&L Gates Ranked No. 1 in New ‘Recession Performance Index’

K&L Gates gets first place in a new ranking of how law firms have fared during the recession. The American Lawyer’s “Recession Performance Index” analyzed the “compound annual growth rate” for the world’s top law firms, according to a press release. The measure is based on growth in revenue, lawyer…

Oct 6, 2010 1:55 PM CDT

Price Tag of New LexisNexis Research Tool for Solos Is $175 a Month

LexisNexis has a released a new legal research tool that will cost solo lawyers a flat fee of only $175 a month. Lexis Advance for Solos was designed specifically for solos and two-person law firms, according to Law.com and a LexisNexis press release. The cost of adding a second lawyer…

Oct 6, 2010 11:00 AM CDT

Ex-Weil Gotshal Lawyer Decided There Was More to Life After ‘Messy’ Case

A former partner at Weil, Gotshal & Manges began to explore volunteer opportunities after working on a complicated case, eventually landing him a new role as general counsel for a music school in Washington, D.C. Stanley Spracker told the Washington Post about his career switch from partner to volunteer to…

Oct 5, 2010 11:00 AM CDT

Law Prof’s ‘Market Solution’ to Laptop Ban: Auction Right to Surf From Back Row of Class

The controversial classroom ban on student laptop use that some law schools have instituted is “a manageable problem with a market solution,” a law professor suggests. Instead of a total ban on laptops, law schools should auction back-row laptop rights to students who most want to use their personal computers…

Oct 4, 2010 9:58 PM CDT

Newspaper: ‘Weak-Kneed’ Discipline Council Stumbled in Probate Judge Matter

In a 2004 will, Josephine Smoron left almost all her considerable assets, which included a dairy farm, to her longtime caretaker. A subsequent estate document in 2006 explained that she had expressly disinherited several churches. But as she lay dying in 2009 her court-appointed conservator transferred her assets to two…

Oct 4, 2010 6:58 PM CDT

Jurors Names Kept Secret from Lawyers in Trial Over Murder of Criminal Defense Attorney

Jury selection began this morning, under extraordinary security measures, for the trial of a man accused of killing an Ohio criminal defense attorney who was his live-in girlfriend and, subsequently, an alleged witness to that crime. Even defense lawyers aren’t being told the names of jurors who are to hear…

Oct 4, 2010 5:52 PM CDT

Law Firm in ‘Deliberate, Willful & Flagrant’ Contempt Fined $49K for Missing Foreclosure Hearings

A judge has found a Florida law firm in “deliberate, willful and flagrant” contempt and fined it $49,000 for setting—and then missing—two foreclosure hearings. The action against Smith Hiatt & Diaz by Manatee County Circuit Judge Janette Dunnigan followed three previous incidents in which the law firm either canceled a…

Oct 4, 2010 4:51 PM CDT

Kilpatrick Stockton Merges with California Law Firm

Kilpatrick Stockton now has its first California office. The law firm is merging with the 10-lawyer construction law firm Bell, Rosenberg & Hughes, located in Oakland, Calif., according to a press release and the Charlotte Business Journal. The combined firm will keep the Kilpatrick Stockton name. Kilpatrick Stockton managing partner…

Oct 4, 2010 4:19 PM CDT

Orrick and Akin Gump Proclaim Mutual Respect, But Call Off Merger Talks

Talk of a new U.S. megafirm has bit the dust. Just last week, Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe confirmed that it was in preliminary merger talks with Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. Now Orrick and Akin Gump have jointly issued a statement saying the firms have decided to call the…

Oct 4, 2010 3:53 PM CDT