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Layoffs of Perhaps 100 Follow Work Slowdown at Fla. Foreclosure Law Firm

Following news from Bloomberg that a major lender has stopped sending new cases to a South Florida law firm known for its foreclosure work, a lawyer for its chief attorney, David Stern, confirms that it has made layoffs. There were “probably less than 100” workers let go from Stern’s law…

Oct 13, 2010 5:24 PM CDT

Meet Marilyn Church, Courtroom Artist Who Depicted Woody Allen and John Gotti

For over 35 years Marilyn Church has sketched the courtroom personas of celebrities such as Woody Allen and well-known criminal defendants including Dapper Don John J. Gotti. And she still finds the work interesting. “It’s people’s lives on the line,” she tells the New York Times. “The lawyers get intense,…

Oct 12, 2010 10:25 PM CDT

Six Wildman Harrold Partners Unsure When Firm Will Allow Them to Leave

Updated: For 15 days, six partners at Wildman Harrold were hoping that the Chicago law firm would allow them to jump to Barnes & Thornburg sooner rather than later. Wildman Harrold requires partners to give 90 days’ notice before leaving the firm, and it uses the parternership provision to prevent…

Oct 12, 2010 1:51 PM CDT

Conservative Commentator Ann Coulter Hated Law Firm ‘Suck-Uppery’

Before she became well-known as a conservative political commentator, Ann Coulter worked as a lawyer. It wasn’t a happy time, she told the New York Times. After graduating from the University of Michigan law school, Coulter worked at Cahill Gordon & Reindel in New York and then at a public…

Oct 12, 2010 1:02 PM CDT

Labor Report Cites Rise in Nontraditional Jobs for Lawyers, Good Paralegal Prospects

Paralegals, court reporters and lawyers may all find something to love in a report on expected job growth by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The news is best for paralegals and legal assistants, where job growth in the decade ending in 2018 is projected to be 28 percent. One reason…

Oct 12, 2010 10:30 AM CDT

Meet Michelle Paver, Ex-Partner Whose Solo Treks Led to Best-Selling Children’s Series

Michelle Paver is still renowned for her work ethic. But now she produces on her own initiative, as the author of a critically acclaimed, best-selling series of children’s books, more than a decade after she left her job as a partner at a London law firm to try her hand…

Oct 9, 2010 12:19 AM CDT

Feinberg Firm Gets a Reasonable $850K a Month to Oversee $20B Oil Spill Fund, Report Says

A lawyer and his firm are being paid a reasonable $850,000 per month to oversee the administration of a $20 billion fund set up by BP PLC to compensate victims of its Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Kenneth Feinberg of Feinberg Rozen asked former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey of…

Oct 8, 2010 7:07 PM CDT

Jobless Law Grad Is Glad He Went to Law School

A law grad who has “no job to speak of” is glad he went to law school, and the reason has nothing to do with career prospects. A big benefit of law school was con law, University of St. Thomas law grad Ron Walters writes at the Minnesota Lawyer blog…

Oct 8, 2010 12:24 PM CDT

At 81, Entertainment Lawyer Bert Fields Still Bills 3,000 Hours a Year

At 81 years of age, Hollywood lawyer Bert Fields still arrives at the office before 7 a.m. and manages to bill 3,000 hours a year. He has a roster of high-profile clients and is known for his street smarts along with his book smarts. According to a CNN Justice profile,…

Oct 8, 2010 10:30 AM CDT

Another Virtual Law Firm Allows Lawyers to Work Less, Earn More

A virtual law firm that got its start in Atlanta, FSB FisherBroyles, appears to have a business model similar to Virtual Law Partners. Both firms both hire seasoned lawyers and allow them to work at home, the Charlotte Business Journal reports. FSB FisherBroyles allows partners to keep 85 percent of…

Oct 7, 2010 10:30 AM CDT

Jobless Pace Law Grads Live at Home, Go Back to School, Hang Own Shingle

Kavitha Mukund is a cum laude graduate of Pace University School of Law who speaks three languages. Her classmate, Jennifer Lincoln, was an intern at the Hague’s International Criminal Tribunal. Both 26-year-olds have been unable to find work after graduating. But John McCarron, 35, was luckier—he has been able to…

Oct 6, 2010 10:58 PM CDT

Husch Blackwell Confirms Layoffs of Nearly 20 Lawyers Last Month

Nearly 20 lawyers were laid off last month at Husch Blackwell, the law firm has confirmed to the Am Law Daily. “As is our firm’s practice, we constantly monitor our attorney staffing to match the level of experience, expertise and depth necessary to service our clients’ workload needs,” a firm…

Oct 6, 2010 8:42 PM CDT

Israeli Attorney Is 1st Foreign Law School Grad to Become Wis. Lawyer, Under New Rule

An Israeli attorney who earned her law degree from Bar Ilan University Law School in her home country is the first graduate of a foreign law school to win admission to the Wisconsin bar under a new rule that no longer requires graduation from an American Bar Association-accredited institution. Deborah…

Oct 6, 2010 12:00 AM CDT

Some Lawyers Try New Health Trend, the ‘Exercise Commute’

A new health trend offers a double benefit for busy lawyers: By exercising while en route to work, they save time. And they also get where they need to go, because the exercise, in fact, is the commute, explains the MisFits blog of the Washington Post. Among afficionados of the…

Oct 5, 2010 9:01 PM CDT

Law Dean Points to Encouraging Labor Report, But Paralegal Deans Should Be Happier

The dean of a new law school slated to open in Nashville, Tenn., next year is optimistic about the legal job market, providing a stark contrast to the assessment by the chairman of an ABA committee studying the impact of the recession. Belmont University will open Nashville’s third law school,…

Oct 5, 2010 3:53 PM CDT