Contract Attorneys

From One to Many

Regarding “Social Promotion,” December: Online social networking has the advantage of being “one-to-many.” When attending a community, business or social event in the brick-and-mortar world, your exposure is likely to be one-to-one or one-to-a-small-group. Whereas online you can post comments, photos, news about yourself, etc., and it goes out to…

Feb 2, 2009 4:00 AM CST

Squire Sanders and Ice Miller Lay Off Staffers

Squire Sanders & Dempsey has laid off additional staffers, possibly in a move to become a more attractive potential merger partner. Squire Sanders’ Miami office laid off “a couple runners, some staffers and a few people in accounting,” according to the office’s managing partner, Alvin Davis. He told the National…

Jan 21, 2009 2:58 PM CST

Economy Hits Contract Lawyers and the Companies that Find Jobs for Them

Contract lawyers hired to do document review for law firms are feeling the pinch of a bad economy. Fewer contract jobs are available, and law firms are pressuring placement agencies to hold pay below the going rate of $35 an hour in Washington, D.C., and New York, the National Law…

Jan 12, 2009 2:41 PM CST

Down in the Data Mines

A tale of woe from the basement of legal practice

Dec 2, 2008 1:40 AM CST

Howrey Chairman: ‘We Have to Economize for Our Clients’

Washington, D.C., law firms aren’t immune from the economic downturn, and they’re taking steps to keep and bring in more business. Howrey is one of them, the Washington Post reports. Chairman and managing partner Robert Ruyak said the firm took steps to keeps its fees low in response to requests…

Oct 20, 2008 1:39 PM CDT

Heller Ehrman to Vote Today to Dissolve

Although a vote won’t be taken until today, the struggling Heller Ehrman has no choice but to dissolve, the law firm’s chairman reportedly told all hands at a meeting Thursday. The 118-year-old California-based law firm, which survived the San Francisco earthquake and helped arrange the financing to build the Golden…

Sep 25, 2008 11:58 PM CDT

Contract Lawyers, Search Terms Blamed for Late-Disclosed McAfee E-Mails

A Howrey lawyer who headed an internal investigation of backdating at McAfee partly pinned the blame on contract lawyers when he told a judge yesterday why five corporate e-mails weren’t disclosed sooner. The e-mail had been turned over on the eve of trial for the company’s former general counsel, Kent…

Sep 19, 2008 11:08 AM CDT

At Virtual Law Firm, Lawyers Will Work at Home, Earn 85% of Billings

A lawyer-entrepreneur is joining with 14 other lawyers to start a new legal venture called Virtual Law Partners. The firm will employ lawyers who work at home, saving on overhead and costing clients less in legal fees, the Recorder reports. Craig Johnson, the lawyer who formed the Venture Law Group…

Jul 16, 2008 1:19 PM CDT

Counsel on Call Brings More Contract Attorney Options to Boston

For a number of lawyers who want a better balance between their work lives and their personal lives or a more flexible schedule, being a contract attorney can be the answer. While the job admittedly can be a fast track to document review projects, it can also offer a chance…

May 5, 2008 3:19 PM CDT

23 Long Island School Districts Count Private Lawyers as Employees

Nearly two dozen school districts on Long Island improperly reported private attorneys as employees, helping them earn public pensions totaling more than $342,082 a year, Newsday reported today. The paper brought to light the issue of independent contractors being treated as employees who could obtain public benefits when it questioned…

Mar 28, 2008 8:11 PM CDT

BigLaw ‘Ghetto’? Former Staff Attorney Raps Covington’s D.C. Office

A former staff attorney at Covington & Burling’s office in Washington, D.C., contends that the law firm is improving its diversity profile by hiring black lawyers for low-level “ghetto” positions. And, if that’s true, the Wall Street Journal Law Blog suggests, Covington may not be the only BigLaw firm to…

Mar 18, 2008 5:30 PM CDT

No Associates at This Law Firm, Just Consultants

A Canadian law firm says it has never has a problem with associates over billable hours requirements. That’s because it has no associates. Instead, Thackray Burgess has “consultants” who hire desk space from the 34-attorney business firm at a cost of $800 per month, and do as much or as…

Mar 10, 2008 3:14 PM CDT

Fewer Law Firm Options for New Grads?

Some say they couldn’t find law firm jobs. Others say they didn’t want to. But the bottom line for a small fraction of the nation’s newly minted law school graduates is a nontraditional business job that has only a peripheral connection, at best, to practicing law, reports the Recorder (sub.…

Feb 4, 2008 8:25 PM CST

McDermott’s Assoc. Tiers Twist: The B Team

Another major law firm is planning to institute a two-tiered system for associate attorneys. But it is taking a different approach from what some other avant-garde law shops are doing. Instead of giving current partnership-track associates a choice between working more hours for more pay or taking a kinder, gentler…

Nov 1, 2007 6:35 PM CDT

Bingham Offers Associate Buyouts

Bingham McCutchen is paying buyouts to several associates at its San Francisco office,reportedly in response to a slowdown in commercial litigation. Four associates left the firm and three others transferred to part-time, contract attorney status, the Recorder reports. The move comes as the Boston-based firm raised associate pay to $160,000…

Jun 6, 2007 12:32 PM CDT