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Cravath announces bonuses that repeat last year’s amounts; other firms follow suit

Year-end bonus season for BigLaw associates began Monday when Cravath, Swaine & Moore announced bonuses of up to $100,000. The bonuses don’t differ from amounts in the last few years, report Law.com and Above the Law, which broke the news. Absent extraordinary circumstances, all associates will get the full bonus,…

Nov 28, 2017 8:36 AM CST

Husch Blackwell cuts about 40 lawyers through layoffs and retirements

Husch Blackwell says it is cutting about 40 partners and of counsel from its ranks through retirements and “year-end transitions.” The percentage of lawyers leaving the firm is around 4 percent, report the American Lawyer (sub. req.) and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “Given our firm’s size and scale, these attorney…

Nov 20, 2017 3:58 PM CST

Lawyer is suspended partly for bringing toothbrushes and red pepper to prison client

A Wisconsin lawyer has been suspended for four months for bringing toothbrushes to an imprisoned client and for failing to adequately communicate with a drunken driving client. The Wisconsin Supreme Court suspended lawyer Steven M. Cohen of Madison in a Nov. 17 opinion, report the Legal Profession Blog and the…

Nov 20, 2017 11:09 AM CST

Law firm associate’s viral #MeAt14 hashtag highlights inability to consent

A law firm associate expressed her outrage on Twitter after former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore was accused of pursuing teen girls while in his 30s, including a 14-year-old girl who said Moore had partly undressed and fondled her.

Nov 20, 2017 7:00 AM CST

Roy Moore’s lawyer threatens website with ‘utterly incoherent’ letter

The lawyer representing former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore is being closely scrutinized as he tries to fend off accusations that the Republican U.S. Senate candidate had pursued inappropriate relationships with multiple teenage girls in the 1970s and 1980s, including a 14-year-old. Trenton Garmon of Garmon & Liddon fired off…

Nov 16, 2017 12:05 PM CST

Why are women lawyers leaving the profession mid-career? ABA initiative takes up issue

An ABA initiative to study why women are leaving the profession mid-career kicked off last week with a summit at Harvard Law School.

Nov 15, 2017 7:00 AM CST

Wisconsin considers law school loan repayment for lawyers willing to represent rural clients

Wisconsin lawmakers are considering a bill that would pay up to $20,000 annually toward attorneys’ school loans, providing they practice in remotely populated areas of the state and take court-appointed cases. The bill proposes that lawyers would need to have a practice in a county with fewer than 25,000 residents,…

Nov 14, 2017 1:48 PM CST

Sex-bias plaintiffs may search personal emails of Chadbourne’s former leaders, judge rules

Updated: Three former partners who sued Chadbourne & Parke for alleged sex discrimination will be allowed to search the personal emails of leaders of the now-defunct firm who are lawsuit defendants. U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Moses allowed the search in a ruling from the bench on Thursday, Law.com (sub. req.)…

Nov 9, 2017 4:42 PM CST

City attorney in Florida fears assassination attempt by police, report indicates

The city attorney in Fort Myers, Florida, has told investigators he believes he could be assassinated by members of the city’s police force because he helped expose problems in the department that led to a criminal investigation. City Attorney Grant Alley spoke with investigators looking into allegations that he was…

Nov 8, 2017 11:20 AM CST

Robert Ambrogi’s blog points lawyers to tech’s opportunities (podcast)

Robert Ambrogi likes to say he took a nontraditional path to becoming a legal journalist. Namely, he went to law school.

Nov 8, 2017 8:30 AM CST

This generational group is the largest in BigLaw

Millennials—people who range in age from 18 to 36—make up the largest generational group in the nation’s top law firms.

Nov 8, 2017 7:00 AM CST

Legal sector lost 1,100 jobs in October

The legal services sector lost 1,100 jobs in October, according to statistics released Friday by the U.S. Department of Labor. The department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported there were 1,126,200 people employed in the legal services sector, Law.com (sub. req.) reports. That’s still a gain of 3,500 jobs from 1,122,700…

Nov 6, 2017 8:00 AM CST

Former chairman of BigLaw firm indulges ‘escape fantasy’ by joining legal recruiter

Keith Wetmore, former chair and chief executive partner of Morrison & Foerster, is leaving the law firm at the end of the year to join Major, Lindsey & Africa’s San Francisco office as a managing director. Wetmore tells Bloomberg Big Law Business that legal recruiting “has actually been something of…

Nov 3, 2017 2:28 PM CDT

Survey chronicles female lawyers’ exodus from equity partnership, belief they can’t have it all

Law firms are taking steps to improve gender equality, but it’s not translating to a better gender balance past the associate level, according to a new study.

Nov 1, 2017 7:00 AM CDT

ABA will study, recommend steps to address issue of too many women leaving profession

The American Bar Association is launching an initiative called “Achieving Long-term Careers for Women in Law.” We hope to provide critical data and solutions on the issue of women leaving the legal profession.

Nov 1, 2017 2:10 AM CDT