Contract Attorneys

Ex-Staff Lawyer Discrimination Suit Against Covington Is Revived

A high-profile former staff lawyer at Covington & Burling who accused the law firm of discrimination is back in the ballgame again with a federal lawsuit she filed against the firm earlier this year. Dismissed at the end of May without prejudice for want of prosecution, the suit by attorney,…

Jul 24, 2009 10:57 PM CDT

Eckert Seamans Lays Off 90 Temp Lawyers

Citing low work volumes, one of Pittsburgh’s largest firms has announced it is laying off 90 temporary attorneys. The layoffs come from Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott’s document coding center, the Pittsburgh Tribune reports. Timothy Ryan, the firm’s managing partner, said the layoffs were necessary after client contracts expired at…

Jul 10, 2009 3:40 PM CDT

Orrick Axes Lockstep Pay and Staffing, Amps Up Training in New Practice Model

In a press release posted on its website today, Orrick trumpets a new “talent model” that will, as the law firm puts it, “re-engineer the way the law firm delivers high-value legal service.” Central to the plan is the elimination of a so-called lockstep pay scale that ups the ante…

Jul 1, 2009 10:50 PM CDT

Megafirm DLA Piper Poised to Overhaul ‘Lockstep’ Model

The nation’s largest firm, DLA Piper, is planning to continue scaling back the size of its associate classes and rethink its associate program. DLA has already cut associate salaries and delayed start dates for its ‘09 first-year associate class, which is down to 85 lawyers from 100 the year before.…

Jun 25, 2009 10:35 AM CDT

High-Profile Ex-Staff Attorney’s Lawsuit Against Covington & Burling Is Dismissed

A discrimination suit filed earlier this year by a high-profile former staff attorney against Covington & Burling and five current or former lawyers there has been dismissed. In a order (PDF) filed today, U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton of the District of Columbia dismisses the case without prejudice for want…

May 29, 2009 7:34 PM CDT

Law Firm Business Model Isn’t Changing All That Much, Survey Says

Ward Bower of consulting firm Altman Weil has been predicting some big changes for large law firms that will affect the bottom line for many associates. Bower tells the Legal Intelligencer that law firms will be hiring fewer first-year associates, will be billing clients less for their work, and will…

May 12, 2009 2:35 PM CDT

Eckert Seamans to Cut 119 Temp Lawyers

Like many other practice areas, document review is down right now. So Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott is planning to lay off 119 of the 200 temporary attorneys at its Pittsburgh document coding center as they complete the projects on which they are now working, reports the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.…

May 5, 2009 7:56 PM CDT

Contract Lawyers Get Paid Less, But May See More Job Opportunities

Contract lawyers are seeing a drop in hourly pay as more laid-off colleagues join their ranks, but there may be a silver lining in the economic downturn for those who prefer contract jobs. Gregory Bufithis, who runs The Posse List contract job website, tells the National Law Journal that the…

May 5, 2009 1:37 PM CDT

Lawyer Laid Off at Skadden After Surviving Hudson River Landing

Lawyer Frank Scudere considers himself lucky to be alive, but his luck ran out soon after surviving the Hudson River landing of US Airways Flight 1549. Scudere’s father died less than a week later, and Scudere’s law firm job was gone about two months after the water landing, according to…

Apr 17, 2009 3:01 PM CDT

Covington Returns Yolanda Young Fire, Says Ex-Staff Lawyer Had Lackluster GPA

Sued last month by a former staff attorney who claimed Covington & Burling maintained its staff attorney ranks as a ghetto for minority attorneys, the law firm didn’t hesitate to fire back earlier when Yolanda Young apparently made similar charges in an administrative complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity…

Mar 27, 2009 6:21 PM CDT

125 Laid Off at Dechert; 60 Cut at Edwards Angell

Two more law firms announced layoffs today. Dechert is laying off 125 people, and Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge is laying off about 60 people. Dechert says its layoffs affect offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. Firm chairman Barton Winokur announced the layoffs in a memo provided to…

Mar 26, 2009 2:25 PM CDT

As Laid-Off Lawyers Look for Work, How to Find It Isn’t Clear

Only a year or two ago, when the economy was relatively strong, Aviva Tiegerman had no interest in hearing from the multiple legal recruiters who called her daily at the Manhattan office of Kaye Scholer. But now the 29-year-old Tiegerman, who was laid off in May from her job there…

Mar 7, 2009 2:30 AM CST

Orrick’s New Talent Model: 3 Stages to Partner; More Contract Lawyers

Effective July 1, international law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe will have a new talent model, including a three-stage partner track for associates and an increased presence of contract attorneys. The talent model revelation came about today at Hildebrandt’s annual Law Firm Leaders Forum in San Francisco during a discussion…

Mar 6, 2009 9:53 PM CST

February Free Fall: Major Law Firms Lay Off Another 2,000-Plus Attorneys and Staff

As the dismal economy has continued on a downward spiral this month, so has the legal industry, with February layoffs exceeding January’s by a considerable margin. January’s carnage, in which renowned law firms laid off more than 1,500 attorneys and staff at last count, has been followed by further freefall…

Feb 26, 2009 9:25 PM CST

High-Profile Ex-Staff Lawyer Sues Covington & Burling, Alleges Discrimination

Last year, a onetime staff attorney at Covington & Burling wrote a controversial article for the Huffington Post that accused her former firm of “stockpiling its staff attorney ghetto with blacks and other minorities.” Now Yolanda Young has filed a pro se federal race discrimination and retaliation suit against the…

Feb 25, 2009 9:28 PM CST