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McDermott Axes 25 Lawyers, 47 Staff

McDermott Will & Emery has just announced that it is cutting 25 lawyers and 47 staff members from its roster. In an internal memo today to all law firm personnel, chairman Harvey Freishtat says the layoffs were made after reviewing current and projected client needs, reports the Am Law Daily.…

Jun 4, 2009 4:50 PM CDT

2 Calif. Lawyers Scale Everest in Possible Record-Setting Climbs

When Bill Burke won a lifetime achievement award from the American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers, the retired attorney wasn’t able to accept it in person, the would-be presenter tells the ABA Journal. That’s because Burke was climbing Mount Everest. Although he had to stop short of the fabled mountain’s…

Jun 4, 2009 1:27 AM CDT

Tips for Laid-Off Lawyers Seeking Work: Focus, Network, Stay Positive

Laid-off lawyers now looking for work are facing the biggest career challenge many will experience in their lifetimes. But with the right attitude and the right approach, jobs can still be found even in the current dismal economy, experts told attendees at a recent program arranged by the Georgia chaper…

Jun 3, 2009 7:50 PM CDT

N.Y. Appeals Court Orders Pay Raise for Judges

A New York appeals court has ordered state legislators to give judges a pay increase of about 30 percent to reflect the increased cost of living since their last raise in 1998. The Appellate Division, 1st Department, said the legislature violated separation of powers by linking judicial raises to the…

Jun 3, 2009 6:08 PM CDT

Dorsey & Whitney Cuts Pay for All Associates By 10 Percent

Dorsey & Whitney hasn’t laid off any attorneys. But the law firm did impose a 10 percent across-the-board pay cut on all associates. And bonuses were also reduced by an undisclosed amount, reports the Star Tribune. News of the salary cut follows word yesterday that Dorsey & Whitney, which is…

Jun 3, 2009 5:40 PM CDT

Littler Mendelson Tops Ranking for Female Lawyers

Littler Mendelson is ranked No. 1 in a new study for having the greatest percentage of female lawyers and partners. Women make up 43.9 percent of the firm’s lawyers and 29 percent of its partners, according to the results. Overall, women made up 34 percent of the lawyers at the…

Jun 3, 2009 1:21 PM CDT

Activist Lawyer Dies in Utah Plane Crash

An activist lawyer who pioneered the battered spouse defense died last Friday in a Utah plane crash. Lawyer Susan Jordan, 67, was a passenger in a two-seater plane flown by long-time friend John Austin, a health care executive, when it hit a power line and crashed, according to stories by…

Jun 3, 2009 11:26 AM CDT

‘No Layoffs’ at WilmerHale, But Firm Asks Some Lawyers to Find New Jobs

They’re not layoffs, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr insists. But some firm lawyers are being urged to look for work elsewhere, based in part to a drop-off in legal work because of the dismal economy. Under a new career advancement program implemented last year, an unspecified number of associates…

Jun 3, 2009 12:29 AM CDT

Sotomayor’s Nomination: Today’s News

ABAJournal.com: “Goldstein of SCOTUSblog Is ‘Attorney, Blogger, Walking Sound-Bite Machine’” Associated Press: “Sotomayor counters GOP critics over bias claims” Associated Press: “Singlehandedly Raising a Supreme Court Nominee” Blog of Legal Times: “7th Circuit Ruling Agrees With Sotomayor on Second Amendment” Bloomberg: “Sotomayor May Have Some Unlikely Allies to Answer Gun…

Jun 2, 2009 10:31 PM CDT

MoFo’s NYC Office Tells Troops: Be Here By 9:30 a.m., Jumping Jacks Optional

Just in case associates might be thinking of rolling into work a bit belatedly over the summer, the managing partner of the New York City office of Morrison & Foerster has made clear that the firm’s standard 9:30 a.m. in-person starting time is not discretionary. And, if his own preference…

Jun 2, 2009 7:53 PM CDT

Dorsey & Whitney Cuts 55 Staff Members

In what is apparently the first round of layoffs at Dorsey & Whitney over the dismal economy, the law firm has let 55 staff members go. Seven offices are affected, an unidentified law firm spokesperson told Above the Law. The Minneapolis office is hardest-hit, according to the spokesperson. Earlier related…

Jun 2, 2009 6:25 PM CDT

Goldstein of SCOTUSblog Is ‘Attorney, Blogger, Walking Sound-Bite Machine’

The lawyer who founded SCOTUSblog was in big demand after the announcement that Sonia Sotomayor had been tapped as the next nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court. Tom Goldstein—“attorney, blogger, walking sound-bite machine”—spoke to three television networks and numerous print and wire reporters, the Washington Post reports. “What makes the…

Jun 2, 2009 5:03 PM CDT

Boston Police Reopen 20-Year-Old Case of Slain Lawyer

Boston police are reopening the 20-year-old case of a Florida lawyer who was killed after checking into the city’s Lenox Hotel. Karen Edwards, 34, was stabbed in the chest and neck and robbed of $200, the Boston Globe reports. She was in the city for a New England vacation. Police…

Jun 2, 2009 3:52 PM CDT

Would-Be Public Interest Lawyers See Deferred Associates as Competitors

Some would-be public interest lawyers are worried that deferred associates are taking positions that could have been theirs. Some large law firms are paying new associates stipends ranging from $60,000 to $85,000 to spend a year working for public interest organizations—a pay cut for a new associate but more than…

Jun 2, 2009 3:13 PM CDT

Legal Aid Lawyer Wins New Yorker Caption Contest for Third Time

A Chicago legal aid lawyer has won the New Yorker cartoon caption contest for the third time—likely a record, according to a blog that keeps track. Larry Wood, a lawyer with the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago, told the Chicago Tribune he writes his captions on Monday mornings when…

Jun 2, 2009 1:36 PM CDT