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No Plans for Dissolution Vote or Bankruptcy at Dewey; Bienenstock Doesn’t Know Who Contacted DA

Dewey & LeBoeuf is apparently winding down its operations, but it still hasn’t taken a dissolution vote or filed for bankruptcy. Bankruptcy partner Martin Bienenstock, one of four lawyers overseeing Dewey amid the turmoil, doesn’t appear to be in a hurry to take the vote. And he hopes to avoid…

May 14, 2012 11:58 AM CDT

What Are Dewey & LeBoeuf Partner Guarantees Worth Now? Experts Say Maybe 10 Cents on Dollar, or Zip

More than 100 current and former partners of Dewey & LeBoeuf who reportedly had pay guarantees of up to $5 or $6 million annually aren’t doing so well now that the law firm appears to be on the verge of dissolving. Because partners are likely to be treated less favorably…

May 11, 2012 10:21 PM CDT

Dewey’s Bienenstock Is Reportedly Moving to Proskauer; He’s the Third Departing Manager

Dewey & LeBoeuf’s four-person management team was decimated this week. A third member of the four-person team—bankruptcy chief Martin Bienenstock—is reportedly leaving, report the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) and the Wall Street Journal Law Blog. The stories rely on unnamed sources who say Bienenstock, a top rainmaker, is headed…

May 11, 2012 1:09 PM CDT

Dewey Employee Sues over WARN Notice; Pension Plans Seized

A Dewey & LeBoeuf employee has filed a would-be class action suit on behalf of an estimated 450 employees that contends they didn’t get the required layoff notice under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act. Vittoria Conn filed the suit on Thursday, according to Bloomberg News, the Wall Street Journal…

May 11, 2012 11:35 AM CDT

Federal Judge Who Once Helped Thurgood Marshall in School Desegregation Fight Dies at 89

Senior U.S. District Judge Louis Pollak died of heart failure on Tuesday following a long illness. He was 89. Pollak was formerly dean of both Yale and Pennsylvania law schools and was an early pioneer in civil rights cases, report the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News. He was…

May 10, 2012 12:28 PM CDT

A Lawyer First Lady Influences Women Executives to Lose the Power Suit

The new power wardrobe for women no longer consists of a boxy suit or a matched crimson outfit. Power dressing today has become more frilly and colorful, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports. The author recalls days gone by when a supervisor told her that only secretaries wore dresses.…

May 10, 2012 11:21 AM CDT

Nicholas Katzenbach, Adviser to Lyndon Johnson and JFK, Dies at 90; One of ‘Best and Brightest’

Nicholas deB. Katzenbach, a former legal adviser to Lyndon B. Johnson and John F. Kennedy who famously faced off with then-Gov. George C. Wallace in 1963 at the main building of the University of Alabama in a successful attempt to integrate the school, has died. He was 90 years old.…

May 9, 2012 10:01 PM CDT

Longest Serving Federal Appeals Judge Dies at 93

Judge James Browning of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has died at the age of 93. Browning was the nation’s longest serving federal appeals judge, the Associated Press reports. President Kennedy appointed Browning to the court in 1961; he was chief judge from 1976 to 1988.…

May 9, 2012 12:07 PM CDT

Being Happy Is Overrated, New Book Says; Try Being Interested Instead

The pursuit of happiness just doesn’t work for some people, including the author of a new self-help book. Society has a zero tolerance policy for negativity, but sometimes you need to give yourself permission to feel emotion without judgment, Augusten Burroughs writes in the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.). Just…

May 9, 2012 11:00 AM CDT

Help Us Find Our 2012 Legal Rebels

Lawyers as risk-takers and innovators? We know they’re out there. In fact, we’ve profiled 70 since launching the Legal Rebels project in 2009. In our 4th year, we’re scouting for a new crop of Rebels, and we invite your nominations to help us identify those actively remaking the profession. Using…

May 8, 2012 3:45 PM CDT

Ex-Dewey Vice Chair Says Firm Owes Him $61M; Secretaries Told of Layoffs; Departures Pick Up

A half-dozen moving trucks lined up at the loading dock for troubled law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf in New York on Monday, while an artist out front asked employees to write comments on his impressionistic painting of ousted chairman Steven Davis. The Am Law Daily (reg. req.) described the mood…

May 8, 2012 11:49 AM CDT

Former ABA President Zack to Lead Access to Justice Group; ‘Justice Index’ Among Its Projects

Immediate-past ABA President Stephen N. Zack will continue to promote access to justice as the new chairman of a national advocacy group. Zack has been named chairman of the National Center for Access to Justice, a nonpartisan advocacy group based at Cardozo Law School in New York City, according to…

May 7, 2012 3:26 PM CDT

At Dewey, One of the Powerful ‘Steves’ Wasn’t a Practicing Lawyer; Did He Make $2M?

Professional managers are increasingly taking on more powerful roles at law firms, and Exhibit A is Dewey & LeBoeuf. At Dewey, the executive director, Stephen DiCarmine, was a lawyer by training who became a legal administrator working closely with former chairman Steven Davis, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports.…

May 7, 2012 1:48 PM CDT

April Was a Good Month for Legal Hiring

There is some good employment news from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The legal sector added 3,900 jobs in April, the Am Law Daily reports. The gain puts the number of legal sector jobs at 1,120,900, the highest total since June 2009. “While such figures may inspire optimism within…

May 7, 2012 11:24 AM CDT

Small-Town Clerkship Program in Iowa Hampered by Lack of Interest—From Lawyers, Not Law Students

The Iowa State Bar Association is working with three law schools to offer summer clerkships in small towns this year, but it has encountered some difficulties. The bar wrote to 110 small-town lawyers who were nearing or past retirement, with no one to replace them, the National Law Journal reports.…

May 7, 2012 10:30 AM CDT