A New View of Review: Predictive Coding Vows to Cut E-Discovery Drudgery

Oct 1, 2011 8:00 AM CDT

A New View, Part 2: E-Discovery Changes Have Some Seeing a Career in Document Review

Oct 1, 2011 7:50 AM CDT

The Disrupter: David Perla, Pangea3

India, with its booming economy and wealth of young, educated lawyers eager for work, was at the forefront of David Perla’s mind the day he met with his good friend Sanjay Kamlani to hatch a plan that would turn the traditional law firm model inside out. “We wanted to effect…

Sep 12, 2011 1:37 PM CDT

Business Management Strategies Can Be Applied in Law Practice—Document Review, for Instance

Whenever I have written about project management, process management or Lean and Six Sigma, I received considerable criticism from a number of people who feel that such concepts should not be applied to knowledge workers such as lawyers. At the risk of drumming up more consternation, I am putting my…

Aug 22, 2011 2:12 PM CDT

Malpractice Suit Targets Quality of BigLaw’s Temporary Lawyers

A legal malpractice suit filed against McDermott Will & Emery raises questions about outside lawyers hired to help screen documents for clients. An amended malpractice suit filed last week by J-M Manufacturing, also known as JM Eagle, claims McDermott’s outside contract lawyers “negligently performed their duties” while screening documents, the…

Aug 3, 2011 11:59 AM CDT

Freelance Law: Lawyers’ Network Helps These Women Keep a Hand in the Workforce

Aug 1, 2011 6:40 AM CDT

Jury Acquits Lawyer’s Girlfriend of Murdering Him, Convicts Her of Voluntary Manslaughter

Charged with murder in the 2009 killing of her 36-year-old boyfriend, attorney Michael Porcella, a California woman has been convicted of voluntary manslaughter with an enhancement, because she used a gun. Rennie Pratt, 29, shot Porcella as he was arriving home one night at about 11:30 p.m. in Oakland. She…

Mar 25, 2011 4:32 PM CDT

Tort Firm Owes $158K Employment Tax Bill; Associate Attorneys Were Not Independent Contractors

A Louisiana personal injury lawyer who operated an “attorney incubator” for fledgling practitioners has had his business model shot down by the Internal Revenue Service. The attorneys to whom he provided office space and referred cases that were handled under his law firm name were associates of Donald Cave’s law…

Mar 16, 2011 11:22 PM CDT

Top 10 Ways to Better Manage Legal Spending

As it becomes increasingly apparent that 2011 and beyond won’t bring a “return to normal” for annual double-digit growth in legal budgets, I thought it would be useful to recap the top ways I’ve found to better manage legal spending. None of these are new, but all are rooted in…

Feb 17, 2011 6:39 PM CST

Thomson Reuters Hiring Attorneys for New LPO Outfits in Michigan, Texas

Updated: When we reported Thomson Reuters’ acquisition of Indian legal process outsourcing company Pangea3 in the February issue, the publishing giant hadn’t yet disclosed where it would build document review centers in the U.S., aimed to mirror those overseas. This week, however, we discovered a Thomson-Pangea3 post on job-search website…

Jan 27, 2011 7:53 PM CST

Facing ‘Unrelenting’ Price Pressures, Law Firms Turn to Outsourcing, Innovation

Law firms faced with “unrelenting” pricing pressures from clients are beginning to outsource basic legal work, create new categories of lawyers, and take a “loss leader approach” to pricing. In an article for the Am Law Daily, Dan DiPietro and Gretta Rusanow of Citi Private Bank’s Law Firm Group base…

Dec 13, 2010 11:30 AM CST

BigLaw Partner Cuts Aren’t Over, Survey Finds

There’s bad news for both partners and would-be associates in a new survey of leaders from the nation’s 200 largest law firms. Nearly 70 percent of the 124 respondents said their firms plan to ask partners to leave in 2011, and 31 percent told of plans to de-equitize partners, the…

Nov 30, 2010 1:45 PM CST

17,500 BigLaw Jobs Are at Risk Due to Cost Pressures, Consultant Says

As many as 17,500 associate and staff attorney jobs could be lost or shifted as a result of staffing changes driven by pressures for lower costs, a law firm consultant says. Writing for the blog of law firm consultant Hildebrandt, Lisa Smith makes an argument that outsourcing, efficiencies and increased…

Sep 27, 2010 11:00 AM CDT

Federal Judge Revives Disparate Impact Claim re Covington & Burling’s Staff Attorney Policies

A federal judge has revived a once-dismissed claim by a former staff attorney at Covington & Burling that the law firm’s policies are discriminatory because they have a disparate impact on non-partnership-track lawyers. Relying on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that such alleged discrimination doesn’t have to…

Sep 9, 2010 11:39 PM CDT

A Funny Thing Happened to Alex Barnett’s Legal Career: In a Dismal Job Market, He’s Now a Comedian

Unemployment has had a humorous aspect for attorney Alex Barnett. Laid off by two law firms during 2008, the former class action plaintiffs lawyer now earns a paycheck by doing contract legal work for the city of New York. But his main gig is a new career launch as a…

Jul 21, 2010 12:38 AM CDT