Careers

Drinker Biddle Lays Off 22 Associates, Plans to Eliminate Lockstep

Drinker Biddle & Reath has reportedly laid off 22 associates and has scheduled a meeting to announce the elimination of lockstep compensation. Above the Law broke the news, reporting that most of the layoffs are in Chicago, and some are in Philadelphia. A law firm spokesman declined to comment on…

Oct 30, 2009 4:41 PM CDT

Some Kaye Scholer 1st-Years to Earn $60K to Do Firm’s Pro Bono Work

There’s good news and bad news for incoming first-year associates at Kaye Scholer. Some will do the firm’s usual corporate work at what is presumably a six-figure standard starting salary. But the rest of the class will be assigned to do the firm’s pro bono work at an annual salary…

Oct 29, 2009 10:47 PM CDT

International Fashion Faux Pas: Leave the Red Purse at Home

Women lawyers traveling for business in Taiwan may want to leave the red purse at home. The color is considered bad luck. In some African countries, the color has worse connotations: it’s associated with witchcraft or death. The handbag warning was among the fashion advice dished out recently by two…

Oct 29, 2009 6:35 PM CDT

Heller Creditors Seek $150M from Partners of Failed Law Firm

Contending that Heller Ehrman, in effect, fraudulently conveyed $150 million to partners after the law firm had become insolvent, creditors are seeking full reimbursement from the former partners of the now-defunct firm. In a confidential brief prepared for a mediation hearing tomorrow in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District…

Oct 29, 2009 5:08 PM CDT

Prominent Houston Lawyer John O’Quinn Dies in SUV Accident

Updated: Prominent Houston plaintiffs lawyer John O’Quinn died Thursday morning in an SUV accident. O’Quinn was one of two people riding in a black Suburban west of downtown Houston when the vehicle crossed a median, oncoming traffic lanes and another median, then slammed into a tree, the Houston Chronicle reports.…

Oct 29, 2009 4:38 PM CDT

Cost-Cutting Law Firms Are ‘Lean and Mean and Ready to Profit,’ Consultant Says

A survey of South Florida law firms shows a year of retrenchment, but 2010 could be better, according to one legal consultant. Altman Weil principal Bill Brennan told the Daily Business Review that law firms have cut costs and are now looking for ways to increase revenue, a good sign…

Oct 29, 2009 1:08 PM CDT

Law School Says Stats on Jobless Grads Were Wrong; Publication Differs

Updated: An early report about bleak unemployment numbers for the class of 2009 at the University of Colorado Law School has provoked controversy and a debate over whether the statistics are accurate. Law Week Colorado reported last week that about 35 percent of of the school’s students had jobs at…

Oct 29, 2009 12:39 AM CDT

Lawyer’s $900/Hour Arbitration Fee Angers Transit Board Members

After casting the swing vote in an arbitration that upped the ante on New York City transit worker pay by 11.3 percent over three years, a Weil Gotshal & Manges lawyer has added insult to injury as far as Metropolitan Transportation Authority board members are concerned. John Zuccotti charged the…

Oct 28, 2009 9:25 PM CDT

Want to Update Your Avvo Listing? If So, Start Policing Client Comments, Opinion Says

Updated: South Carolina lawyers tempted to update their listings on websites such as LinkedIn and Avvo should consider a new ethics opinion by the state bar’s Ethics Advisory Committee. The advisory opinion says lawyers who “claim” the website listing by clicking on an “update this listing” link or otherwise adopting…

Oct 28, 2009 4:36 PM CDT

Ronald Staudt: Web + Law = A2J

Tying legal aid to technology

Oct 28, 2009 4:15 PM CDT

Lawyer Battled Ovarian Cancer While Working as SEC Commissioner

Lawyer Elisse Walter had complained to her doctor of pressure on her side before her appointment last year as a commissioner on the Securities and Exchange Commission, but there was no immediate diagnosis. It wasn’t until after she went to work in the new post that Walter learned of her…

Oct 28, 2009 3:24 PM CDT

Columnist Laments Unemployed Law Grads and Broken Unspoken Contract

As factories closed and the economy changed, young people were repeatedly told that the way to succeed was to get an education. But that advice hasn’t helped many of today’s law and college graduates, according to columnist Bill McClellan of the St. Louis Post Dispatch. It’s the No. 1 topic…

Oct 28, 2009 12:52 PM CDT

Reed Smith Sidesteps Lockstep, Creates 3 Classes of Associates

It’s a move billed as offering enhanced attorney training. But Reed Smith is also sidestepping traditional lockstep advancement—and annual pay increases—for associates in a new CareeRS program announced today. Associates will now be classified as junior, midlevel or senior. Their status will depend not only how long they’ve worked as…

Oct 28, 2009 12:21 AM CDT

Ex-Anheuser Exec, a Lawyer, Sues Over Alleged Pay Bias, ‘Frat Party’ Atmosphere

A lawyer who formerly served as a top-ranking female executive at Anheuser-Busch InBev NV has sued the brewery giant for gender bias, contending that it paid women less than men and restricted their opportunities for growth while maintaining a “frat party” atmosphere. Francine Katz, who left the company late last…

Oct 27, 2009 11:54 PM CDT

State AG Stunned By Win—an Award for a Nonfiction Book He Wrote About Work

John Kroger is used to being successful in life. But the Oregon attorney general said he was stunned last night to hear a presenter start reading a paragraph from a nonfiction book he’d authored, Convictions: A Prosecutor’s Battle Against Mafia Killers, Drug Kingpins, and Enron Thieves. That was when he…

Oct 27, 2009 7:59 PM CDT