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Legal sector adds 2,000 jobs in January

The legal services sector added 2,000 jobs in January, according to figures released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The sector has added 7,000 jobs since January 2013, the Wall Street Journal Law Blog reports. The number of legal jobs is now at its highest level since 2009.…

Feb 7, 2014 5:56 PM CST

Two Vinson partners form litigation boutique, fulfilling a ‘long-standing dream’

Two longtime Vinson & Elkins partners have left the firm to form a litigation boutique. Robert Schick and Morgan Copeland, Jr. joined Vinson & Elkins right after law school and practiced law there for more than 30 years. Their new firm, Schick & Copeland, will be located in Houston, report…

Feb 7, 2014 4:20 PM CST

Associates are happier with more responsibility, firm’s founding partner says

BigLaw firms are taking the wrong tack when they create lower-paid apprenticeship tracks with more training and less responsibility, according to Susman Godfrey’s founding partner, Stephen Susman. New associates need more responsibility, not less, Susman argued in a recent essay for the Careerist. He outlined five ways his firm develops…

Feb 5, 2014 12:20 PM CST

DLA Piper announces new top management team for 2015

International megafirm DLA Piper expects to be making some changes in its top management structure as of 2015. Two new global co-chairs will take the helm, assuming that the change is approved by foreign partners of the 4,200-attorney firm, which is set up as a Swiss verein, the Wall Street…

Feb 5, 2014 12:15 AM CST

7 lawyers exit Downey Brand to form new firm focusing on energy and land-use

Seven lawyers have exited one of the largest law firms in Sacramento, Calif., to form a new boutique. Known as Mitchell Chadwick, the fledgling firm has former Downey Brand partners Patrick Mitchell and G. Braiden Chadwick at the helm. They focus their practice on land use and oil, gas and…

Feb 4, 2014 4:30 PM CST

Lure of volcanoes and killer whales leads frugal BigLaw associate to quit his job

Thanks to a frugal existence and some profitable investments, an associate at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher says he has the means to leave BigLaw to pursue his travel adventures business. Patrick Dykstra left Gibson Dunn’s Dubai office last month, touting his business in a departure memo, Above the Law reports.…

Feb 4, 2014 3:20 PM CST

Trio of labor and employment partners exits Paul Hastings for Proskauer

The co-chair of the employment discrimination practice group at Paul Hastings is leaving the firm, along with two colleagues, for Proskauer Rose. Joining Zach Fasman at Proskauer are Allan Bloom and Erika Collins, reports the Wall Street Journal Law Blog (sub. req.). “We felt as though we had a triple…

Feb 3, 2014 7:30 PM CST

Lawyer’s local Super Bowl ad is described as ‘completely nuts’ and a masterpiece

Advertising Week’s Adfreak blog is giving an A to Georgia personal-injury lawyer Jamie Casino for his local Super Bowl ad, dubbing it “completely nuts and completely entertaining.’ The “insane ad” explaining Casino’s transformation from a criminal-defense to personal-injury lawyer is a “two-minute heavy-metal masterpiece,” Adfreak says. The Wall Street Journal…

Feb 3, 2014 6:24 PM CST

Lawyer’s guide to planning travel adventures (podcast with transcript)

In search of adventure, but feel tied to your desk? Rugger Burke is proof that the practice of law is not incompatible with sailing the high seas, motorcycling across a continent, meditating in a monastery or scouring the Hawaiian islands for the perfect fish tacos. He speaks with the ABA Journal about how he arranges time away from work; how he keeps in touch with the office while in the remotest of locations; and the ingenious ways he has of packing light.

Feb 3, 2014 3:00 PM CST

These lawyers wind down with amped-up vacations

Bob Franco has built a career representing high-profile clients in bet-the-company cases, so it’s no surprise the Chicago litigator likes to maintain his adrenaline level, even on vacation. As a seasoned scuba diver, he’s plunged underwater all over the world, most recently hitting depths of 175 feet to explore the toxic cargo holds of sunken Japanese boats in Micronesia.

Feb 1, 2014 11:39 AM CST

High seas (and very high seas)

Destination: North Pacific Crossing:Hilo, Hawaii to British Columbia After closing their first investment deal, the staff of the newly formed Satori Capital went out to dinner in Dallas to celebrate. Rugger Burke, the general counsel and principal, joined them, but not for long; he had a plane to catch. Soon,…

Feb 1, 2014 11:30 AM CST

Africa campout

Destination: Zimbabwe, Mozambiqueand South Africa For Nora Whitehead, no other place compares to Africa. “I often tell people: It’s like being on the moon. You can’t believe such a gorgeous place exists.” When Whitehead and husband Ted headed there in the summer of 2012, they didn’t just observe life in…

Feb 1, 2014 11:20 AM CST

Family and the Far East

Destination: China, Japan,Thailand and Cambodia Jewel Kolling Basse had been to China before—to her father’s former village in Guangdong province and to the big cities, too, on professional tours related to her complex civil litigation practice as a San Francisco-based senior partner at Gordon & Rees, as well as to…

Feb 1, 2014 11:09 AM CST

Diving into history

Destination: Truk Lagoon,Federated States of Micronesia In the early morning hours of Feb. 17, 1944, American forces launched Operation Hailstone, a three-day air and sea assault on the Imperial Japanese Navy’s South Pacific home base, the tiny island of Truk. When the smoke cleared, Truk Lagoon had become one of…

Feb 1, 2014 10:59 AM CST

Meet the chief judge of the nation’s most divisive, controversial and conservative appeals court

NEW ORLEANS – Carl Stewart has every right to be angry. Growing up, he was forced to attend segregated schools, required to use “colored only” restrooms and water fountains, and made to sit at the back of the bus. At age 3, Stewart watched as white church leaders blocked his…

Feb 1, 2014 10:40 AM CST