Careers

The Baby Effect: More Billables for Men, Fewer for Women

A Canadian study suggests that having children leads to fewer billable hours for female lawyers and more for their male counterparts. The study of 670 lawyers at an Alberta law firm found that mothers with school-aged children billed fewer hours than childless women, while fathers with preschool-aged children billed more…

Mar 24, 2008 11:06 AM CDT

From Solo Practice to Tort King: Meet Jere Beasley

Almost broke and looking for work as an Alabama lawyer 30 years ago, Jere Beasley wasn’t having any luck. “I couldn’t get a job, so I opened a one-person law firm,” he tells the Associated Press. Now recognized as one of the nation’s tort kings, the 72-year-old attorney reigns at…

Mar 22, 2008 12:34 AM CDT

Female Associate Unhappy at Mintz Firm, One of the ‘Best Law Firms for Women’

A female associate has filed a state administrative law complaint against her Boston-based law firm, claiming sex discrimination and retaliation. Kamee Verdrager filed a complaint against Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky, and Popeo with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, “alleging that she was demoted because of her gender and treated…

Mar 21, 2008 10:56 PM CDT

6 Partners Leave Frisco’s Howard,Rice But Profits Reportedly are Strong

After staff layoffs last year, six longtime partners have quietly left Howard, Rice, Nemerovski, Canady, Falk & Rabkin. However, the San Francisco firm has been hiring a significant number of associates, even though its attorney roster has dropped from a high of about 140 in 2002 to 113 today, and…

Mar 21, 2008 10:03 PM CDT

Top Lawyers to Consider Diversity Initiatives at Upcoming Summit

More than 100 general counsel and law firm managing partners plan to focus on specifics when they meet next month in Arizona on improving diversity in the profession. The conference, the Call to Action Summit, will be the second major national meeting designed to prod the profession to increase hiring…

Mar 21, 2008 5:12 PM CDT

Ex-Associate Files $75M Suit, Claims She Was Window Dressing at Clifford Chance

A former Haitian associate has filed a $75 million discrimination lawsuit against Clifford Chance that contends the firm gave her boring work and fired her when she complained. The New York Sun reports that the plaintiff, Caroline Memnon, is “claiming that the firm used her only as window dressing because…

Mar 21, 2008 4:07 PM CDT

Zuckerman Spaeder Closes Miami Office After Partner Losses

Zuckerman Spaeder has decided to close its Miami office after four out of five partners there jumped to Carlton Fields. The decision was announced in a press release, the Daily Business Review reports. The lawyers who will be joining Carlton Fields are managing partner Walter Tache; partners Michael Pasano, Stephen…

Mar 20, 2008 4:05 PM CDT

‘Feeding Frenzy’ Over Expected Lawyer Layoffs at Bear Stearns

Updated: Although it’s not yet confirmed, observers expect that a significant number of the 100 or so lawyers in the compliance department of Bear Stearns Cos. will be laid off once the investment bank’s buyout at a fire-sale price by JPMorgan Chase is completed. So legal recruiters are hovering, hoping…

Mar 20, 2008 3:30 PM CDT

Local Ky. Hero Lands D.C. Job

Bowling Green, Ky., lawyer Chris McKinney has received many accolades over the years. He was named Kentucky Outstanding Young Lawyer of the Year in 2007, received a Bronze Star for military service, and was featured on the “Heroes” segment for CNN’s Lou Dobbs Tonight show. Now he is leaving the…

Mar 20, 2008 3:11 PM CDT

Thelen Cuts 26 Associates, 85 Staffers

Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner has confirmed it will lay off 26 associates and 85 members of its support staff. Co-chairman Stephen O’Neal told the Recorder and Above the Law that the associate layoffs are in response to the economic downturn, which has cut into its capital markets practice.…

Mar 20, 2008 11:15 AM CDT

Sonnenschein Partner Pay Policy Examined at Trial

A former partner who claims Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal owes him $8.5 million testified last week that the firm took him off a huge contingency case and didn’t compensate him properly when it resulted in a huge settlement. The case had sought damages from Libya on behalf of victims killed…

Mar 19, 2008 12:06 PM CDT

Law Firm Layoffs: ‘Fewer Than 10’ Let Go at Edwards Angell

Joining an elite group of law firms that have previously announced attorney layoffs in recent months is Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge. Chip DeWitt, who is managing partner of the Boston-based firm, confirmed late last week that “fewer than 10” associates throughout its offices and in a number of departments…

Mar 19, 2008 2:00 AM CDT

How Blackwell Sanders Cut Attrition in Half

Kansas City firm Husch Blackwell Sanders reports it has cut its attrition in half after it cut its lockstep evaluations of associates in 2001. “It doesn’t make a lot of sense to compensate, bill for and advance associates based on how many years they’ve shown up for work,” partner Peter…

Mar 18, 2008 9:18 PM CDT

Bad Hair Day Creates Sleek New Style for McCartney’s Divorce Lawyer

Despite her post-courtroom claims of being pleased with the not quite $50 million divorce settlement she was awarded, Heather Mills doused lawyer Fiona Shackleton, who represents her estranged husband, Paul McCartney, with a glass of water immediately after the ruling was announced yesterday, the London Times reports. Yet the bad…

Mar 18, 2008 6:09 PM CDT

More Law Firms Boost Maternity Leave to 18 Weeks

About a dozen large law firms have boosted maternity leave from 12 to 18 weeks in one of the first significant changes to parental policies in several years. One of the first to change its policy was Sullivan & Cromwell, which made the decision in July, the National Law Journal…

Mar 18, 2008 11:58 AM CDT