Large Firm

BigLaw’s obsession with metrics is cautionary tale for doctors, article says

The legal profession is suffering because of rankings and metrics, providing a cautionary tale for medicine, according to a commentary by a doctor and a lawyer. Writing in the Atlantic, physician Richard Gunderman and lawyer Mark Mutz describe the ills affecting the legal profession: Rates of alcoholism and depression are…

Feb 12, 2014 2:49 PM CST

Cleary Gottlieb seeks $3M for Hurricane Sandy damage in suit filed against law firm’s insurer

Hurricane Sandy’s storm surge shut down electric service, heat and telephone service for several days in 2012, and it resulted in a $3 million loss of business to Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, the New York law firm says in a lawsuit filed against its insurance company. But although the…

Feb 11, 2014 11:20 PM CST

2nd Circuit puts court-appointed monitor back to work in Apple e-book case but limits his duties

A federal appeals court has put a Washington, D.C., lawyer back to work as an $1,100-an-hour court monitor while an appeal of his appointment is pending in a hard-fought New York case in which Apple Inc. was accused of conspiring with publishers to fix e-book prices. However, the role of…

Feb 11, 2014 9:30 PM CST

DLA Piper ends talks with Heenan Blaikie group, will look elsewhere for Canadian merger partner

A potential merger between DLA Piper and a group of lawyers from Heenan Blaikie that would have established a Canadian office for the global megafirm is going nowhere. However, DLA Piper will be looking elsewhere for a possible match to establish a Canadian office for the more than 4,000-attorney firm,…

Feb 10, 2014 6:45 PM CST

‘Anxious season’ for partners as initial law firm earnings reports show modest gains

It’s the “anxious season” for partners awaiting news of how their BigLaw firms did financially last year. And that anxiety hasn’t been helped by recent news reports about struggling partners and firms, according to the Am Law Daily (sub. req.). Such developments include the Chapter 7 bankruptcy of a BigLaw…

Feb 7, 2014 10:10 PM CST

Two Vinson partners form litigation boutique, fulfilling a ‘long-standing dream’

Two longtime Vinson & Elkins partners have left the firm to form a litigation boutique. Robert Schick and Morgan Copeland, Jr. joined Vinson & Elkins right after law school and practiced law there for more than 30 years. Their new firm, Schick & Copeland, will be located in Houston, report…

Feb 7, 2014 4:20 PM CST

DLA Piper may expand to Canada, is in ‘deep negotiations’ with group of Heenan Blaikie lawyers

DLA Piper has 4,200 lawyers in 30 countries. That doesn’t include Canada, but that may soon change. The mega-firm is talking with 60 to 70 lawyers from the Calgary and Toronto offices of Heenan Blaikie, who are forming their own group following a decision Wednesday night by the partners of…

Feb 7, 2014 1:00 PM CST

Was 2013 a good year for law firms? It depends on where you’re sitting

Two important studies of the legal profession’s 2013 performance were released within a day of each other, but just what those figures signify seems to depend on how you read them. The study by Citi Private Bank’s Law Firm Group, detailed American Lawyer (sub. req.) on Thursday, called the 2.5…

Feb 7, 2014 11:55 AM CST

Storied Canadian firm to begin ‘orderly wind-up’ but some offices and practices will stay in place

A major Canadian law firm that has lost dozens of lawyers recently announced Wednesday night after a partner meeting that it will begin an “orderly wind-up.” However, there will be no interruption in client service, and a number of Heenan Blaikie practice groups and offices will continue to operate under…

Feb 6, 2014 12:45 PM CST

Major Canada firm makes staff layoffs, plans restructuring amidst attorney defections

A major Canadian law firm is planning to restructure and may be considering a return to its original roots as a Montreal regional practice after the departure of several of its best-known lawyers in an attorney exodus from its Montreal and Ottawa offices. Meanwhile, Heenan Blaikie laid off employees and…

Feb 5, 2014 7:30 PM CST

Which firms hired the most lateral partners? And is it ‘doing a lick of good’?

BigLaw firms continue to snap up lateral partners, but all that hiring may dilute the partner profit pool, according to an analysis by two professors. Baker & McKenzie hired 68 lateral partners last year, making it the top firm for lateral acquisitions, according to an American Lawyer (sub. req.) survey.…

Feb 5, 2014 1:05 PM CST

DLA Piper announces new top management team for 2015

International megafirm DLA Piper expects to be making some changes in its top management structure as of 2015. Two new global co-chairs will take the helm, assuming that the change is approved by foreign partners of the 4,200-attorney firm, which is set up as a Swiss verein, the Wall Street…

Feb 5, 2014 12:15 AM CST

McCarter & English acquires energy and environmental boutique, now has office in DC

One of New Jersey’s biggest and best-known law firms has planted its flag in the nation’s capital with the acquisition of a Washington, D.C., energy and environmental law boutique. McCarter & English finalized the merger with Miller Balis & O’Neil on Feb. 1, adding another 14 lawyers to the roster…

Feb 3, 2014 8:15 PM CST

Trio of labor and employment partners exits Paul Hastings for Proskauer

The co-chair of the employment discrimination practice group at Paul Hastings is leaving the firm, along with two colleagues, for Proskauer Rose. Joining Zach Fasman at Proskauer are Allan Bloom and Erika Collins, reports the Wall Street Journal Law Blog (sub. req.). “We felt as though we had a triple…

Feb 3, 2014 7:30 PM CST

Judge sanctions Samsung and counsel over release of confidential info in big-bucks Apple patent suit

Saying that a major law firm handled proprietary information covered by a confidentiality order in big-bucks patent litigation over smartphone technology as if it were “a trapeze artist flying high without a net,” a federal magistrate judge in California has imposed sanctions on Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and its…

Jan 31, 2014 5:30 PM CST