Corporate Law

Flip Side of Law Firm Merger Mania: Clients Wonder, What About Our Rates?

For years, it has been the accepted wisdom that major corporations want to use fewer law firms in order to control legal costs, and many BigLaw firms have taken that message to heart, adding to their attorney rosters and expanding their geographic range by merging with other legal partnerships. But…

Nov 18, 2008 9:14 PM CST

‘Recession-Proof Practice’: Advising Employers on Layoffs

With news of new layoffs being announced by major companies seemingly on almost a daily basis, attorneys who advise clients in this arena are not short of work. In fact, many say, they’ve never been busier. Marc Mandelman, who heads the practice group at Proskauer Rose, has been in the…

Nov 17, 2008 10:01 PM CST

SEC Sues Billionaire Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban, Alleges Insider Trading

Mark Cuban, a billionaire Internet entrepreneur who owns the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, has been charged by the SEC in a civil case with insider trading. The federal Securities and Exchange Commission contends that Cuban acted almost immediately to sell his entire position in Mamma.com Inc.in 2004, after the online…

Nov 17, 2008 5:27 PM CST

Fed Could Be Sole Regulator for Financial Institutions, Says Sullivan Chair

Speaking at a conference today in New York on the outlook for mergers and acquisitions, a famed attorney dealmaker predicted that one result of the current economic crisis will be streamlined regulation for financial institutions. H. Rodgin Cohen, the chairman of Sullivan & Cromwell, “said the crisis was likely to…

Nov 13, 2008 12:03 AM CST

UBS Exec Charged in Federal Tax Fraud Conspiracy Case

A senior private banking executive with UBS AG has been indicted in a federal tax fraud conspiracy case after months of investigation of how some U.S. residents allegedly dodged their taxes by hiding some $20 billion in assets in secret accounts. However, a lawyer for Raoul Weil says the case…

Nov 12, 2008 9:28 PM CST

Wachtell to Clients: Lessons Learned from Lehman Brothers Bankruptcy

A memo to clients yesterday from Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz discusses lessons that some major investors learned the hard way from the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. For example, hedge funds and other counterparties who put up collateral, as a condition of making trades through Lehman’s prime brokerage unit, discovered that…

Nov 12, 2008 5:50 PM CST

‘Green’ Alternative to Gift Cards May Protect Against Bankruptcy Loss

It isn’t just in an environmental context that going “green” can be considered the best option. People who have been giving gift cards to those on their holiday shopping lists may want to consider giving greenbacks instead, especially if the cards come from struggling retailers facing potential bankruptcy cases, reports…

Nov 10, 2008 9:49 PM CST

No Practice, No Problem: Embattled Mich. Lawyer Gets Job as COO

Only a few months ago, the future seemingly wasn’t looking rosy for Carl Oosterhouse, a former partner of Dickinson Wright. The Michigan Attorney Discipline Board found that he should have his law license revoked for admittedly misappropriating client and law firm funds at another partnership for which he previously worked,…

Nov 6, 2008 8:36 PM CST

Company Tax Techniques Could Be Costly in Closely Watched Mass. Cases

Three closely watched Massachusetts cases over aggressive corporate tax avoidance techniques are likely to be decided soon. And if they come down in favor of the state, as some observers say they may, other companies both there and elsewhere are likely to ante up much-needed additional revenue, reports the Boston…

Nov 5, 2008 8:54 PM CST

2nd Circuit OKs Suit Over Alleged Union Carbide Water Pollution in Bhopal, India

Nearly 25 years after a catastrophic accident in Bhopal, India, killed thousands of people, a federal appeals court in the U.S. has reinstated a 2004 lawsuit concerning those allegedly exposed to toxic drinking water and contaminated soil after the 1984 gas leak at a Union Carbide Corp. pesticide plant there.…

Nov 4, 2008 8:00 PM CST

Some Lawyers are Reducing Fees as Corporations Seek Discounts

When attorney Mark Peroff moved to the Manhattan office of Hiscock & Barclay, a 200-lawyer firm headquartered in upstate New York, he persuaded clients to follow him by offering a 20 percent fee discount from what they had been paying for his work at his former partnership. Competing for corporate…

Nov 4, 2008 5:57 PM CST

Memo to Prosecutors: Time to Back Off

DOJ curbs pressure tactics in corporate probes, but critics want Congress to act

Nov 2, 2008 2:45 AM CST

2 Ga. BigLaw Partners Join No-Frills Firm

As a partner at Hunton & Williams, James Meadows billed his time at $650 per hour. Since moving on Oct. 1 to the no-frills law firm of FSB Legal Counsel, he charges half that amount. But the rate reduction is worth it, because of the flexibility the job offers, he…

Oct 29, 2008 9:59 PM CDT

Lessons Learned From Enron: Zip, Zero, Nada, Wall Street Journal Says

What a difference more than six months of financial crisis can create. After the fall of the once-fabled Enron energy company and the federal conviction of 22 of its former employees, officials crowed a few years ago that its failure had helped strengthen regulatory protections. Maybe so, as evidenced by…

Oct 29, 2008 7:58 PM CDT

Wachtell Founder Says Rebound Could Take Up to Five Years

One of the lawyers who founded Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is predicting a long road to the nation’s economic recovery. Martin Lipton, a mergers and acquisitions lawyer, told students at New York University law school last week that the nation won’t see a recovery until the mortgage and housing…

Oct 27, 2008 12:40 PM CDT