Career & Practice

Misconduct By 3 Sekhon Firm Lawyers Puts Up to 700 Clients in Peril

Sekhon & Sekhon claimed a 95 percent success rate concerning more than 1,000 immigrants that the law firm helped to win political asylum in the United States. But now up to 700 could be deported because they lied to immigration judges and asylum officers after the law firm and interpreters…

Nov 16, 2009 6:10 PM CST

Tom Goldstein: Star of SCOTUS

Mastering all things SCOTUS

Nov 16, 2009 4:30 PM CST

Reed Smith Will Ask Nonequity Partners to Pony Up Possibly 15% of Pay

Reed Smith will give its nonequity partners a choice: Pony up a percentage of your salary or lose your partnership status. The firm will likely ask for a contribution of 15 percent of base pay, the American Lawyer reports. The firm has about 300 nonequity partners who can opt to…

Nov 16, 2009 1:50 PM CST

Baker Botts Associate & Spouse Die in Fire Trying to Save Their Son, 4

When a fire broke out in their Dallas home early yesterday, Romina Lorena Mulloy and Michael Levine rushed upstairs to save their 4-year-old son. But the couple was trapped by smoke and flames and all three died together in the fire, reports the Dallas Morning News. Mulloy, 35, had been…

Nov 13, 2009 11:12 PM CST

Law Firms Review Compliance Measures After Attorney Arrests in Insider Cases

Recent charges by federal authorities that three current or former BigLaw attorneys illegally made securities trades—two of them allegedly using inside information gleaned from the law firms that employed them—have sparked renewed vigilance at many legal partnerships. Law firms are reviewing the security measures and training they use to keep…

Nov 13, 2009 10:36 PM CST

Lawyer Called ‘Financial Serial Killer’ By Partner is Now Option 3 on FBI Hotline

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is asking those with information about a South Florida attorney described by a partner of his law firm as a “financial serial killer” to select option three on a hotline set up for tips about major crimes. Option one concerns a photograph of an unknown…

Nov 13, 2009 8:03 PM CST

5 Jones Day Partners in London Have Been Demoted to Counsel

Jones Day demoted five partners to counsel in its London office during 2009. The law firm has not commented about why the demotions were made, according to Legal Week. Jones Day presently has 48 partners in its London office. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, the law firm has more than 2,300…

Nov 13, 2009 6:55 PM CST

O’Melveny Lawyer Sounds Wistful After Settlement Scuttles Big Case Against Intel

The lead lawyer in what was supposed to have been a huge antitrust case against Intel has mixed feelings about the $1.25 billion settlement that will end the suit. O’Melveny & Myers partner Chuck Diamond sounded a little wistful in an interview, according to Wall Street Journal Digits blog. “The…

Nov 13, 2009 6:17 PM CST

Law Firm Loyalty Is Sometimes Overrated, Consultant Says

Loyalty to a law firm is laudable—to a point, a consultant says. Lawyers also need to consider loyalty to clients, their families and themselves, according to Frank D’Amore, founder of the legal recruiting firm Attorney Career Catalysts. These allegiances are more important than loyalties to a law firm that is…

Nov 13, 2009 4:46 PM CST

Law Firm Informant Points Finger at Lawyer for Other Lawyers in Pension Cases

A lawyer representing other lawyers in an ongoing probe of New York pensions being paid to attorneys who alleged did government legal work as private practitioners while being reported as state employees may himself have a dubious claim to his more than $120,000-a-year pension. Citing claims by an unidentified confidential…

Nov 13, 2009 12:56 AM CST

FBI: Rothstein Scheme Could Top $1B; Filing: Firm Spent $1.4M in Escrow Funds

In an apparent death blow for Rothstein Rosenfeld Adler’s reported plan to reconfigure its law practice without co-founding partner and accused Ponzi scheme operator Scott Rothstein, a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition filed by several investors claims that the law firm improperly transferred $1.4 million of client funds from an escrow…

Nov 12, 2009 10:49 PM CST

Latest Baker Hostetler Growth Spurt Starts With New Office in Chicago

In the latest move in an ongoing growth strategy, Baker Hostetler has announced today the opening of a new office in Chicago. The more than 600-attorney Ohio-based firm now lists on its website a four-lawyer office in the Windy City on the 31st floor of 191 N. Wacker Drive. A…

Nov 12, 2009 6:11 PM CST

Did Reporter Drop Hints of Rothstein Suspicions in ‘Puff Piece’ Article?

A columnist for the Sun-Sentinel says he had had heard “speculation and whispers” last year about Scott Rothstein, the South Florida lawyer suspected of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars in a Ponzi scheme involving the sale of phony legal settlements. Critics say any suspicions were nowhere evident in Michael…

Nov 12, 2009 4:47 PM CST

Bias Complaint Against Williams Mullen Alleges Cucumber Prank

A former case manager for the Richmond, Va.-based Williams Mullen law firm has filed a sexual harassment and discrimination complaint that claims she was subjected to derogatory remarks and a prank involving a cucumber. The 18-year employee, Hanh Nguyen Allgood, seeks $950,000 in the federal suit filed in Norfolk, Va.,…

Nov 12, 2009 3:30 PM CST

Law Offices Opt for Smaller Spaces and ‘More Basic’ Appointments

Law firms are shrinking in more ways than one. Law firms are shedding employees, and their office spaces are getting smaller, causing a glut of space for rent. A report by real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle found that more than 6 million square feet of built-out law firm…

Nov 12, 2009 2:06 PM CST