Career & Practice

Law Firms Hire Physicians to Help Defend Medical Billing Cases

It isn’t just plaintiffs lawyers who are looking to hire professionals with medical expertise to help point the way toward high-value tort claims. A number of well-known law firms have recently hired nonlawyer physicians to bolster their defense practices, the On the Docket blog of Forbes magazine reports. Among them…

May 11, 2010 5:09 PM CDT

Ethics Officials Seeing More Cases from Lawyers’ Online Foibles

Lawyers who are more circumspect in person are making online mistakes that are landing them in trouble with ethics officials. James Grogan, chief counsel of the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, recalls an early case that got the attention of bar counsel in more than one state, the National…

May 11, 2010 2:57 PM CDT

Unlucky 13: None of the Managing Partners in this Group Have iPads

An unscientific survey of 13 managing partners gathered for a meeting in California revealed the iPad faces a marketing challenge among law firm leaders. The Legal Pad blog threw out a question about iPad ownership at a meeting hosted by Justin Miller, director of a legal specialty group for Union…

May 11, 2010 2:16 PM CDT

Suit Claims Clawback in Kutak Rock’s Partnership Agreement Is Anti-Competitive

A lawsuit by a former partner at Kutak Rock claims the firm’s partnership agreement contains an anti-competitive clawback provision that is an attempt to evade an ethical bar on covenants not to compete. Plaintiff Paul Donsbach alleges that, just days after he submitted his resignation letter on April 28, the…

May 11, 2010 1:49 PM CDT

Who Registered the Domain Name Kilpatricktownsend.com?

Someone has plunked down $10.69 to register the domain name www.kilpatricktownsend.com for a one-year term. The Legal Pad blog wonders if the development is a hint of an upcoming merger announcement or the work of “an eagle-eyed, legal-blog-reading, merger-rumor-spotting domain name entrepreneur.” Last week, Above the Law investigated a tip…

May 11, 2010 1:18 PM CDT

Law Firms Shop for Deep Office Space Discounts, Possible Shark Tank, in Buyer’s Market

Two well-known law firms are reportedly shopping for bargain office space in a buyer’s market: In New York City, Proskauer Rose is expected to ink a deal this week for about 40 percent of an office tower being developed at 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue, reports the New York Times.…

May 10, 2010 10:46 PM CDT

Airline, Law Firm on Hot Seat in Discovery Debacle & Collapse of Big Price-Fixing Trial

A well-known law firm is on the hot seat along with its client airline over a belatedly produced 2005 e-mail that reportedly undermined a high-profile criminal cartel trial against four present and former British Airways executives. The four were exonerated today after the United Kingdom’s Office of Fair Trading said…

May 10, 2010 9:51 PM CDT

Law Firm Adds Muslim Imam to Roster as Adviser on Shariah Law

In a move that is being billed as the first of its kind in Australia, a Melbourne law firm is putting a Muslim imam on its roster as a consultant on shariah law. This will allow Logie-Smith Lanyon to draft documents and resolve issues in matters ranging from commercial contracts…

May 10, 2010 4:47 PM CDT

SJ Berwin Said to Be Eyeing Proskauer Rose as Possible Merger Partner

The British law firm SJ Berwin has held exploratory merger discussions with a handful of U.S. law firms, but is now reportedly shifting its focus to just one firm: Proskauer Rose. Previous stories identified Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe as the leading candidate for a possible merger with SJ Berwin. Orrick…

May 10, 2010 4:18 PM CDT

Five Ways to Incorporate Holistic Lawyering Into Your Law Practice

J. Kim Wright says it took 10 years to learn the things she needed to know for her new book on holistic lawyering, and a long weekend to write the first draft. Wright’s new book, published by the American Bar Association, is Lawyers as Peacemakers: Practicing Holistic, Problem-Solving Law. Wright’s…

May 10, 2010 10:30 AM CDT

Onetime Lawyer for Usher Is Now Collecting Food Stamps

Two years ago, Cliff Lovette was doing legal work for Usher. Now the 54-year-old Atlanta entertainment attorney is practicing law out of his basement and collecting food stamps. At the top of his game, he worked for LeFace Records in Atlanta as senior vice president for business and legal affairs,…

May 7, 2010 11:28 PM CDT

Twitter Debate: Virtual Law Offices—Game Changer or Business as Usual? (w/Transcript)

Updated: The modern law practice is evolving. Technology continues to erase physical borders as innovative lawyers seek out new ways to serve their clients with increased flexibility, greater access and lower cost structures. For many, the practice of the future involves virtual law offices, which allow lawyers to offer a…

May 7, 2010 9:29 PM CDT

Ex-Attorney Antes Up $250 from Garage Sale, Gets 4.5 Years in Client Theft Case

Last month, when a Florida judge delayed sentencing ex-attorney Jessica Miller in a client theft case, he offered a hint about what she might do in the meantime to win a more lenient punishment: Pay back some of the money. Today, when the 32-year-old Miller showed up in court again,…

May 7, 2010 6:23 PM CDT

Legal Sector Loses 2,100 Jobs in March and April

Overall unemployment rose to 9.9 percent this month, and 2,200 legal jobs were lost in the past two months. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest figures report the loss of approximately 1,000 law jobs in March and 1,100 jobs in April. There was a rebound in law jobs in Feburary;…

May 7, 2010 5:52 PM CDT

Ballard Spahr’s New Chairman Won’t Be Multitasking

Ballard Spahr chairman Arthur Makadon will step down next year after nine years on the job, handing over power to a man long thought to be his heir-apparent, despite different management styles. A Legal Intelligencer story on the management change describes Makadon as a “frank, independent-minded leader” who continued his…

May 7, 2010 2:05 PM CDT