Careers

‘Staycation’ Offers Respite for Frugal Lawyer

Want to save money on a vacation? Consider a “staycation”—a vacation in your own city or backyard. Manhattan media lawyer Townsend Davis took a staycation earlier this year with his wife Bridget Elias, chief financial officer of the Whitney Museum, the Wall Street Journal reports (sub. req.). The couple “walked…

May 23, 2008 2:24 PM CDT

How Lawyers Caught the ‘Entrepreneur Bug’

Lawyers who left legal careers to start their own businesses tell the National Law Journal they realized their interests lay elsewhere. David Galbenski left legal practice after just four months to create a legal staffing company now called Lumen Legal. “I didn’t dislike practicing law; it was just that I…

May 23, 2008 12:57 PM CDT

Humor Columnist Takes Aim at Stealth Layoffs

A humor columnist notes that law firms are reluctant to admit they are suffering from the economic downturn. As a result, they use a number of strategies to lay off unlucky associates in a surreptitious manner. One strategy is the stealth layoff, the columnist known as “The Snark” writes for…

May 23, 2008 11:29 AM CDT

UK Survey Finds Male Lawyers Earn $38K More than Females

Male lawyers in the United Kingdom make about $38,000 more a year on average than female lawyers. The median annual pay for male solicitors in private practice is 60,000 pounds (about $119,000) while median pay for females is 41,000 pounds (about $81,000), a 32 percent difference, Bloomberg reports. When hours,…

May 23, 2008 11:11 AM CDT

Should Female Lawyers Put Fashion Foot Forward in Court?

Women clearly have come a long way in the legal profession in recent decades. But perhaps nowhere is the professional difference between the sexes more pronounced than in issues of courtroom attire. Should women wear heels or comfortable shoes they can stand up in all day? Skirted suits or pantsuits?…

May 22, 2008 9:35 PM CDT

Single Mom at 14, Law Grad at 24

Rasheedah Phillips was a single mom at 14. She dropped out of school for six months, and her grades plummeted. But, unlike nearly 70 percent of the teens who become mothers within four years of starting high school, she went back, even as she worked part-time to support her daughter,…

May 22, 2008 3:25 PM CDT

Last Brown v. Board of Ed Plaintiff, Zelma Henderson, Dies

Zelma Henderson, the sole surviving plaintiff in the landmark desegregation case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, died of pancreatic cancer Tuesday. She was 88. In a news obituary featuring Henderson, the New York Times notes that the lifelong Topeka, Kan., resident was one of the “et al.” named…

May 22, 2008 3:08 PM CDT

Bingham Lays Off 17 Bay Area Staffers

Bingham McCutchen has laid off 17 San Francisco area support staffers. San Francisco managing partner Geoffrey Howard said the layoffs in his office amounted to 5 percent to 10 percent of the staff, the Recorder reports. Twelve staffers were laid off in San Francisco and five in the Silicon Valley.…

May 22, 2008 10:32 AM CDT

Former BigLaw Attorney and Author to Publish 2nd Book

Once he graduated from law school and started work, Ben Fountain found he didn’t much like being a lawyer. So, 20 years ago, after his wife made partner at Thompson & Knight, he left his job at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld in Dallas to pursue his interest in…

May 21, 2008 10:01 PM CDT

2 Female Firsts: 1st Circuit Chief Judge and SW Gas Gen’l Counsel

Two female firsts have been announced in top judicial and corporate positions: Judge Sandra Lynch is to become the first female chief judge of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on June 16, according to Boston Business Journal and a 1st Circuit press release. She succeeds Chief Judge Michael…

May 21, 2008 9:16 PM CDT

RIP: Recanter Who ‘Opened the Floodgates’ to DNA Exonerations

A woman who falsely accused an Illinois man of rape and later recanted after the man spent eight years in jail died of breast cancer May 15 in New Hampshire. She was 46. Cathleen Crowell Webb’s decision to recant led to the DNA exoneration of Gary Dotson and opened the…

May 21, 2008 8:09 PM CDT

Holland & Knight Lays Off 70 Legal Secretaries

Holland & Knight is laying off 70 legal secretaries, about 5 percent of its support staff. The move comes after a small decline in the firm’s gross revenue last year, the Daily Business Review reports. Firm spokeswoman Susan Bass told the publication the layoffs were a result of a review…

May 21, 2008 10:51 AM CDT

Dickstein Contingent-Fee Payout Could Be $600K Per Partner

It’s a good time to be a partner at Dickstein Shapiro, an article in this month’s Washingtonian magazine notes. Under a partial contingent-fee arrangement in a patent case, each of the firm’s 150 partners can expect an average payout of $600,000, if a $501 million Texas federal jury award (apparently…

May 20, 2008 11:08 PM CDT

U of C Law Grad Accused of Submitting Phony Grades to Sidley Austin

Updated: A lawyer who attended the University of Chicago Law School has been accused in an ethics complaint of lying about his grades when he applied for a summer position at Sidley Austin. Loren Elliotte Friedman is accused in a complaint filed May 6 by the Illinois Attorney Registration and…

May 20, 2008 8:30 PM CDT

University Says Privilege Limits Ex-GC’s Right to Sue for Discrimination

The former general counsel of Florida Gulf Coast University sued her former client in federal court in April, alleging systemic employment discrimination and violation of Title IX. However, in a responding counterclaim, the university says Wendy Morris is barred by attorney-client privilege from pursuing at least some of her claims…

May 20, 2008 7:21 PM CDT