How Heller’s Merger Talks Pushed the LA Managing Partner out the Door

The Los Angeles managing partner at Heller Ehrman began looking for jobs at other law firms this summer because of merger talks that would have ended her career at the…

Oct 9, 2008 11:53 AM CDT

Some Firms Still Seek Laterals—Including Orrick, Set to Hire 27 Heller Partners

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft may have laid off 131 lawyers earlier this year, but it is still hiring some lawyers away from other law firms in practice areas such as…

Oct 9, 2008 11:15 AM CDT

Some Law Firms Tell Nervous Lawyers Jobs are Safe

Some law firms are holding meetings and dispatching e-mails to reassure lawyers who are nervous about the economic downturn.

The National Law Journal chronicles some of…

Oct 8, 2008 4:11 PM CDT

Baker, Winston Withdraw Proposals to Take on Heller Lawyers and Leases

Two large law firms that were once merger candidates for Heller Ehrman have withdrawn proposals to take on large groups of the dissolving firm’s lawyers and leases on offices that…

Oct 8, 2008 10:59 AM CDT

Lawyers Want More Time, Less Stress, Not More Money

Asked what one aspect of their law practice they would change, if they could, 31 percent of the 300 large law firm and corporate attorneys recently surveyed by Robert Half…

Oct 7, 2008 5:03 PM CDT

Longtime Federal Judge Says Money Motivated Move to Pepper Hamilton

A longtime federal judge in Pennsylvania says he is returning to practice because of the significant difference between judicial and law firm pay.

James Giles has left his job as…

Oct 7, 2008 4:34 PM CDT

Court Suspends Lawyer Who Ignored Discovery, Cited Billable Pressures

The Georgia Supreme Court has reprimanded and imposed a one-month suspension on a lawyer who said he ignored discovery requests in a 2006 case in part because he was dealing…

Oct 7, 2008 3:43 PM CDT

Judge, Two Law Profs Decide Mental Illness Should not Be a Secret

Two law professors and a judge whose lives have been touched by mental illness are joining to fight the stigma surrounding psychiatric diagnoses.

One of the law professors, Elyn Saks…

Oct 7, 2008 12:40 PM CDT

US Appeals Judge William Wilkins Won’t ‘Coast’ in New Law Firm Job

The former chief judge of the Richmond, Va.-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will join the Carolinas-based law firm Nexsen Pruet.

Judge William Wilkins will lead the firm’s white-collar…

Oct 6, 2008 4:55 PM CDT

What Michelle Obama Didn’t Like About Working at Sidley Austin

A new biography about Michelle Obama discusses in detail what she didn’t like about her job, early in her career, as an associate attorney at Sidley Austin.

Oct 6, 2008 4:45 PM CDT

Legal Employment Down 15,600 Jobs Since ‘07

Legal services sector employment has dropped 1.3 percent, shedding 15,600 jobs, since its all-time high in May 2007, according to data released by the U.S. Department of Labor on Friday. There were 1,165,100 jobs in the legal sector in September, down from 1,180,700 jobs in May 2007.

Nonfarm payroll employment in all sectors declined by 159,000 in September, compared to August. That was the largest drop since 2002, and more than the 105,000 that economists were expecting, according to CNN Money.

Oct 3, 2008 1:12 PM CDT

Laid Off After Many Years in Court Job, Georgia Lawyer Makes Lemonade

As budget cuts resulted in layoffs this week for four lawyers who have each worked at the Georgia Court of Appeals for well over a decade, at least one member…

Oct 2, 2008 7:02 PM CDT

New Law Firm Perk: Work Shorter Week Until Gas Shortage Ends

At least one law firm is responding to a temporary gasoline shortage in the southeastern United States by creating a new perk for staffers.

Until the situation is back to…

Oct 2, 2008 6:10 PM CDT

Rick Eid: How I Quit the Law to Write for ‘Law & Order’

Becoming an associate at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom was initially a dream job for Rick Eid.

And much of that dream came true, Eid writes in a Oct 2, 2008 3:28 PM CDT

Savvy Associates Disdain E-Mail, Probe Firm’s Economic Underpinnings

Associates should learn about their law firm’s economic underpinnings, according to a lawyer who helped create professional development and training programs at his prior firm.

Writing in Oct 2, 2008 12:33 PM CDT