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NJ lawyer admits involvement in $30 million mortgage scam

A New Jersey lawyer faces up to 30 years in prison for his admitted role in an elaborate $30 million mortgage fraud. Toms River attorney Michael Rumore, 55, pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to one count of conspiring to commit bank fraud, the Newark Star-Ledger reports. Rumore and another…

Dec 17, 2013 9:45 PM CST

Lawsuit challenges DC federal court bar’s reciprocity rules

A national organization devoted to streamlining the process for multijurisdictional admission for attorneys has filed suit against the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, challenging its reciprocity requirements for lawyers seeking membership in the D.C. bar. In a complaint (PDF) filed in Washington, D.C., federal district court last…

Dec 17, 2013 5:38 PM CST

Law school enrollment down 11 percent this year over last year, 24 percent over 3 years, data shows

Law school enrollments nationwide are down 11 percent this year from last year and 24 percent from 2010, new figures show. The nation’s 202 ABA-accredited schools reported that 39,675 full- and part-time students were enrolled in a first-year J.D. program this fall, according to figures released Tuesday by the ABA…

Dec 17, 2013 2:30 PM CST

Mall shooting victim was a lawyer

The man who was shot and killed in a carjacking outside an upscale New Jersey mall has been identified as a 30-year-old lawyer from Hoboken. Dustin Friedland was shot and killed on Sunday as he and his wife, who is also a lawyer, were returning to their 2012 Range Rover…

Dec 17, 2013 1:01 PM CST

Does creativity wither with age? Not in the legal field, cognition prof says

In the fields of math, science and lyric poetry, large creative breakthroughs are more likely to occur in younger individuals, according to Harvard cognition and education professor Howard Gardner. But in fields like like law and psychoanalysis, “you need a much longer lead time, and so your best work is…

Dec 17, 2013 12:10 PM CST

Plagued by prosopagnosia, corporate lawyer can’t recognize his employees

Lawyer Mark Herrmann supervises about 150 employees in his role as vice president and chief compliance officer at Aon, but he rarely recognizes them—in the visual sense of the word. Herrmann suffers from prosopagnosia, the term for an inability to recognize faces. He does recognize his own face, as well…

Dec 16, 2013 12:40 PM CST

Is the law firm pyramid collapsing? BigLaw is aging with more partners than associates

1988 was a peak year for associates in BigLaw. The percentage of associates in the nation’s top 250 law firms was at its highest point that year, comprising more than 60 percent of the lawyers, Indiana University law professor William Henderson has found. Beginning in 2008, there have been fewer…

Dec 16, 2013 11:45 AM CST

Jilted husband blames attorney-owned website in alienation-of-affection suit

An attorney-owned website that helps married individuals seek out possible affair partners is one of the defendants in a North Carolina alienation-of-affection suit. Plaintiff Robert Schindler says his wife of 13 years left him for another man she met on the Ashley Madison website. Schindler seeks damages from the man,…

Dec 13, 2013 7:02 PM CST

‘Fungineering’ at work may not have the desired effect

Some companies try to boost employee morale by hiring happiness consultants and finding ways to inject fun into the workplace. But the so-called “fungineering” may backfire, according to a New York Times column by Oliver Burkeman, author of The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking. Image from…

Dec 13, 2013 11:45 AM CST

Kaye Scholer ups ante, will pay bonuses of $10K to $80K in its two-tier plan

Kaye Scholer announced Thursday that it will not only be matching but, for some high-billing associates, exceeding the end-of-year bonus schedule announced by a bellwether BigLaw firm. Like Cravath, Swaine & Moore and other firms, Kaye Scholer will pay bonuses of $10,000 to $60,000 for associates in good standing, depending…

Dec 12, 2013 9:55 PM CST

BigLaw firm is accused of dragging its feet in return of capital contribution

A former partner at Chadbourne & Parke who left the firm on Sept. 27 to jump to Andrews Kurth is seeking the return of her capital contribution in a lawsuit filed about a month later. The suit was filed in London Mercantile Court by Melanie Willems, an international arbitration lawyer…

Dec 12, 2013 3:34 PM CST

Akerman partner’s death is ruled a suicide

The death of Akerman Senterfitt partner Richard Sharpstein has been ruled a suicide. Sharpstein’s housekeeper found him dead in the bathtub, submerged in about a foot of water, at his Miami Beach condo on Tuesday. The medical examiner and investigators determined the 63-year-old criminal defense lawyer died as a result…

Dec 12, 2013 1:03 PM CST

Big-bucks bonuses for Boies associates top out at $300K; average is $85K

It may not be the long-established BigLaw firms that are handing out the biggest bucks to associates in the form of year-end bonuses this year. Boies, Schiller & Flexner, known for its high-end litigation work, has announced that it will be paying as much as $300,000 to its 133 associates…

Dec 11, 2013 7:00 PM CST

Prominent Akerman partner is found dead; death investigation is under way

Colleagues were shocked on Tuesday to learn of the death of criminal defense lawyer Richard Sharpstein, a partner at Akerman Senterfitt who was recognized last week as one of the Miami area’s most effective lawyers. The death is being investigated as a possible suicide, according to the Miami Herald and…

Dec 11, 2013 5:05 PM CST

Closeted BigLaw househusbands? Some ambivalence about changing gender roles

What’s all the fuss about househusbands? The number of women in finance with stay-at-home spouses has increased almost tenfold since 1980, the New York Times reported on Sunday. But the arrangement isn’t really new, according to the American Lawyer’s Careerist blogger, who also wrote an article in Time. “I’ve been…

Dec 11, 2013 3:02 PM CST