Careers

No Layoffs at Major Law Firms Last Week, But Are Doldrums Ending?

No news is good news for associates at large law firms. For the first time this year, a week passed without a report of any layoffs at large law firms. Law Shucks reported the news in a blog post that began with just one word: “Hallelujah!” Layoffs slowed in June,…

Aug 17, 2009 1:36 PM CDT

Baker & McKenzie PPP Down 17%, as Global Revenue Drops 3% to $2.11B

Over the past five years, megafirm Baker & McKenzie almost doubled its revenue. But last year didn’t go as well for the Chicago-based international goliath, which earns about two-thirds of its income outside the United States. A disastrous economy and a weak dollar combined to cut the firm’s global revenue…

Aug 14, 2009 10:18 PM CDT

Marathon No Problem for Laid-Off Lawyer, But Finding New Job Is Harder

Lynne Zagami has never been afraid of a challenge. As her resumé notes, she wrestled for four years on her high school’s boys varsity team. Last year, she completed the Boston Marathon. And, after being laid off from a $170,000-a-year job as a corporate associate in the Boston office of…

Aug 14, 2009 8:46 PM CDT

McCarter & English Cancels 2010 Summer Program

One of New Jersey’s biggest law firm names has confirmed that it will be canceling its 2010 summer program. And McCarter & English will also be bumping back the start date for incoming first-year associates to Dec. 1, 2009, Eric Wiechmann tells Above the Law. He is the managing partner…

Aug 14, 2009 7:12 PM CDT

New Lawyer Says Waitress Job Pays More than Small Law Firms

Recent law school graduate Bobbi-Sue Doyle-Hazard has discovered a sad reality as she works as a waitress at a Boston steak restaurant and goes on interviews for jobs at small law firms—her pay will likely drop when she finds legal work. She told the Boston Business Journal about one recent…

Aug 14, 2009 1:20 PM CDT

Two Fired In-House Lawyers Allowed to Pursue SOX Retaliation Claim

Two fired in-house lawyers who claim they were fired for raising questions about possible securities fraud at their employer may pursue their lawsuit as a result of a federal appeals court ruling. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that under the Sarbanes-Oxley law, the two lawyers do not…

Aug 14, 2009 12:51 PM CDT

Judge Resigns Administrative Role After Tire Deflation Incidents

A Maryland judge who admittedly deflated a courthouse worker’s car tire on more than one occasion has resigned from his role as chief administrative judge of the Charles County Circuit Court but plans to remain active on the bench, reports the Washington Post. “I am at a stage of my…

Aug 14, 2009 12:27 AM CDT

Pioneering Civil Rights Lawyer Dies

Pioneering civil rights lawyer Margaret Bush Wilson, the first woman to chair the NAACP’s board of directors, has died at the age of 90. Wilson graduated from Lincoln University School of Law, created as a “separate-but-equal” school for blacks in Missouri, and was the second black woman to pass the…

Aug 13, 2009 11:40 AM CDT

IP Firm Owes Me $92K in ‘Working Capital,’ Ex-Darby Lawyer Says in Suit

A New York-based intellectual property boutique allegedly agreed that Raj Davé would be repaid the $92,000 in “working capital” he gave Darby & Darby while practicing there as a nonequity partner, if he ever moved to another law firm, reports the Blog of Legal Times. But now that Davé is…

Aug 12, 2009 7:28 PM CDT

US Attorney Known for Aggressive Theories to Join Paul Hastings

The U.S. attorney in Los Angeles is stepping down to join Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker. Thomas O’Brien will join the firm in October as a partner in the firm’s litigation department focusing on white-collar crime, the Metropolitan News-Enterprise reports. He told the newspaper he was stepping down because a…

Aug 12, 2009 6:31 PM CDT

Jobless Told to Network, but Some Stay Silent and Keep Up Appearances

Some of the unemployed and underemployed are so embarrassed that they are keeping their situation a secret from friends and neighbors, despite advice from career counselors to use informal networks to find job contacts. The Washington Post reports on several Washington, D.C., area workers who attend a support group for…

Aug 12, 2009 1:23 PM CDT

Troutman Lawyers Leave ‘Aircraft Carrier’ to Form Boutique Firm

Lawyer John Mercer says the new six-lawyer Atlanta boutique firm he is establishing will be more like the old Troutman Sanders he joined 31 years ago. Mercer is forming the firm Mercer Thompson with five other Troutman lawyers, according to the Fulton County Daily Report. The new law firm will…

Aug 12, 2009 12:54 PM CDT

Lawyers Seek Green Acres Life Through Iowa Farming Program

Some lawyers are considering an unusual career move that would take them out of the courthouse and into the farm fields. A special Iowa program links farmers considering retirement with people who want to learn the ropes, and it’s attracting people from all sorts of occupations, including the legal profession,…

Aug 12, 2009 12:18 PM CDT

Lawyers from the Dissolved Firm WolfBlock Leap to Smaller Firms

Several lawyers from the dissolved law firm WolfBlock have moved to small and midsize law firms. The latest lawyer to make such a move is former WolfBlock senior litigation partner Anthony Twardowski, who handles construction and commercial litigation and some surety bond work, the Legal Intelligencer reports. He is moving…

Aug 12, 2009 11:33 AM CDT

‘Lawyers in Love’ Could Be White House Theme Song

The Obamas aren’t the only lawyers in love at the White House. Cass Sunstein, a former University of Chicago law professor, met his wife Samantha Power while the two were working on Obama’s presidential campaign. Now Sunstein is charged with managing government regulations while Power is a senior official at…

Aug 11, 2009 6:24 PM CDT