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3rd Circuit Nixes Lawyer’s $14M Age Suit Despite ‘Younger & Cheaper’ Note

Even though his employment file at Moser Patterson & Sheridan contained a note “older & better paid/younger & cheaper,” attorney John Kelly’s age discrimination suit against the New Jersey law firm was properly dismissed on summary judgment, a federal appeals court has ruled. Kelly was 52 when he was fired…

Oct 15, 2009 9:10 PM CDT

Justices Who Make About $200K Debate Enhanced Fee of $700K

Are good lawyers entitled to more money for exceptional results? Former Solicitor General Paul Clement answered in the affirmative in U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments yesterday. He argued that lawyers for Children’s Rights Inc. and the Atlanta law firm Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore deserve the $4.5 million in extra fees…

Oct 15, 2009 1:06 PM CDT

Foley & Lardner Confirms Layoffs of 39 Lawyers

Foley & Lardner is laying off 39 lawyers throughout the firm’s 21 offices. Foley chief executive Ralf-Reinhard Boer confirmed the cuts in an interview Wednesday with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “We have never seen such a downturn ever in demand in the legal services industry,” Boer said. Tipsters told Above…

Oct 15, 2009 11:29 AM CDT

Deal King & Law Media Mogul Dies; Bruce Wasserstein Once Worked for Cravath

Bruce Wasserstein, a onetime corporate lawyer at Cravath Swaine & Moore who became a deal king and law media mogul has died a few days after being hospitalized for an irregular heartbeat, reports Bloomberg. He was 61 years old. “He made more from investment banking than any man on the…

Oct 14, 2009 10:18 PM CDT

Luz Herrera: ‘Low Bono’ Pioneer

Advocating “low bono” to serve poor clients

Oct 14, 2009 6:55 PM CDT

Top Partner Billing Rate in South Florida Is $765 an Hour

Even the top partners at South Florida law firms don’t bill the $1,000 an hour charged by some lawyers in New York. South Florida partners typically charge $400 to $500 an hour, while hourly rates for associates in the region generally range from $140 to $460, according to the Daily…

Oct 14, 2009 5:33 PM CDT

In-House Pay Hikes Tamped Down in Legal Cost-Cutting Efforts

Corporate legal departments are intent on cutting costs and are using a variety of strategies to get the job done, a new survey finds. Lauren Chung, director of the Hildebrandt survey, told the ABA Journal that the frugal approach extends to compensation for in-house lawyers. “Do I think that lawyers…

Oct 14, 2009 3:52 PM CDT

Law Firm Ponders 29 More Staff Cuts Following 76 Earlier Layoffs

After letting 76 lawyers and staff go earlier this year, a United Kingdom law firm is mulling another round of layoffs. This time Denton Wilde Sapte says it is launching redundancy consultations concerning 20 secretaries and 9 additional support staff, reports Legal Week. Most of the possible layoffs are expected…

Oct 13, 2009 5:43 PM CDT

Leah Cooper: Passage to India

Outsourcing substantive legal work

Oct 13, 2009 3:00 PM CDT

Evan R. Chesler: Billable Buster?

Moving his big firm away from the billable hour

Oct 13, 2009 2:30 PM CDT

See What These Lawyers Did With Their ‘Go Away Money’

Gordon Chin’s wish to become a successful interior designer came true with the help of an audition video he sent to HGTV and a few design-challenged friends. But most of his fellow attorneys probably would say he had already arrived in life—he was on track to make partner at a…

Oct 12, 2009 1:15 PM CDT

Shedding Tiers: Look Out, Harvard: Seton Hall Grad Makes it to Clerk Status

In April, Justice Antonin Scalia did what he does best. To put it bluntly, he put it bluntly: If you want to be a clerk and you’re not from Harvard or Yale, he’s just not interested in hiring you. No shocker, that. But the way Scalia said it was classic…

Oct 12, 2009 12:52 PM CDT

1st Latina Named to Top Texas Court; Other Hispanics May Soon Be Fed’l Judges

Following the historic appointment today of a Latina to a seat on the Texas Supreme Court, more Hispanics may soon be named to the state’s federal bench. A list made public today by the state’s Democratic delegation to Congress includes four, although no official candidates for the federal bench have…

Oct 8, 2009 9:25 PM CDT

After a Year of Looking, Laid-Off Lawyer Finds a Job—and She Likes It!

Looking for another job was harder than running a marathon, Lynne Zagami says. But, after a year of searching, she has succeeded. Laid off last fall from a $170,000-a-year job as a third-year corporate associate in the Boston office of Brown Rudnick, she is now in her first week at…

Oct 8, 2009 8:58 PM CDT

Philly Lawyer Sues Former Law Firm for Alleged Same-Sex Harassment

A lawyer has sued her former Delaware law firm, alleging that the lawyer who supervised her made inappropriate sexual comments, including observations that she was “sexy” and “dirty hot.” Lawyer Jennifer Braude filed the suit against Maron Marvel Bradley & Anderson, the Legal Intelligencer reports. The supervisor, Meredith Sossman, is…

Oct 8, 2009 4:35 PM CDT