Midsize Firm

LeClairRyan acquires 11-attorney health care boutique, plants flag in two more states

A growing Virginia-based midsized law firm has expanded its footprint with the acquisition of an 11-attorney health care boutique. LeClairRyan has acquired Adelman, Sheff & Smith, which will continue operating in its existing offices, a Tuesday press release announces. Including the Adelman firm’s offices in Annapolis, Md., and Glenwood Springs,…

Oct 16, 2013 4:50 PM CDT

Cooley to add 54 lawyers to DC office, thanks to Dow Lohnes merger

Reputed to be on the lookout for a merger partner, Dow Lohnes has not only found one but will soon tie the knot. In twin press releases Tuesday, Cooley and Dow Lohnes announced that the Silicon Valley powerhouse is adding the D.C.-based regulatory firm’s 54 Washington attorneys to its office…

Oct 15, 2013 7:50 PM CDT

Boies Schiller opens London office, firm’s first outside US

Boies Schiller & Flexner is opening an office in London, its first outside the United States. Partner Natasha Harrison will exit Bingham McCutchen to serve as managing partner of the new office, according to Bloomberg and Legal Week. She focuses her practice on securities and finance litigation, and is expected…

Oct 8, 2013 6:15 PM CDT

Federal judge OKs injunction against AG who nixed law firm’s ‘patent troll’ work

The attorney general of Nebraska violated a Florida-based technology company’s legal rights by issuing a cease-and-desist order that precluded a Texas law firm accused of patent trolling from continuing to represent Activision TV in intellectual property cases, a federal judge in Omaha has ruled. In a Monday decision (PDF), U.S.…

Oct 2, 2013 4:00 PM CDT

Dentons and McKenna Long are discussing a merger

Dentons and McKenna Long & Aldridge have confirmed they are in merger talks. If the merger takes place, the new firm would have about 3,100 lawyers, report the Am Law Daily and the Wall Street Journal Law Blog (sub. req.). The talks are focusing on a Jan. 1, 2014, date…

Oct 1, 2013 12:30 PM CDT

Jury mulls Michael Jackson case, as lawyer for family complains of defense counsel ‘smugness’

Updated: After months at trial, a California jury is now in the initial stages of considering a potential blockbuster wrongful death case over the demise of pop superstar Michael Jackson. The six-man, six-woman panel spent two hours in deliberation Thursday and another five hours Friday, and will resume their consideration…

Sep 30, 2013 6:49 PM CDT

Law firm is losing lawyers and will be winding down, partner says

A California law firm that has been under fire over its claimed billing practices and has reportedly lost a number of attorneys recently will be winding down its operations, a partner said in a letter to a client. Lackie, Dammeier, McGill & Ethir “will be winding down and eventually close,”…

Sep 24, 2013 4:30 PM CDT

2 veteran partners exit Greenberg Traurig for growing Fox Rothschild outpost in Florida

A former managing partner of the Palm Beach County offices of Greenberg Traurig and another partner have exited the firm to join a growing outpost of Philadelphia-based Fox Rothschild. The arrival of Howard Bregman, a longtime real estate transactional lawyer, and litigation veteran Gary Dunkel at their new firm’s West…

Sep 18, 2013 7:40 PM CDT

Quarles & Brady plans continued growth in Midwest and Florida, new chair says

Quarles & Brady is planning continued expansion in its Chicago and Tampa, Fla., offices, and will open a new office in an undisclosed Midwest location, the new chair of the Milwaukee-based law firm tells the Business Journal. When efforts to find a merger partner in Chicago didn’t work out, Quarles…

Sep 17, 2013 10:40 PM CDT

Insurer sues own lawyer for $43M in Big Dig coverage case, says competing carrier was a client, too

Edwards Wildman Palmer is facing a New York malpractice claim from an insurance company the law firm represented in a Boston coverage matter. At issue in the underlying case was a fatal 2006 accident in which some 26 tons of ceiling tile from the so-called Big Dig highway tunnel project…

Sep 17, 2013 6:39 PM CDT

Midwest firm to acquire Los Angeles legal shop, plans further growth there

A nearly 350-attorney Midwest law firm is planting its flag on the West Coast with the pending acquisition of a 10-attorney Los Angeles legal shop. Thompson Coburn plans to finalize its merger with Freedman Weisz in early October, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. The Thompson firm currently has offices in…

Sep 10, 2013 2:40 PM CDT

Shook Hardy OKs $5M settlement with trustee overseeing bankruptcy of convicted ex-client’s company

Shook Hardy & Bacon has not admitted liability. However, the 500-lawyer, Kansas City, Mo.-based law firm has agreed to settle for $5 million a bankruptcy trustee’s civil complaint contending that it and an associate attorney aided and abetted a former client’s violations of federal securities law. The ex-client, Nevin Shapiro,…

Sep 10, 2013 11:00 AM CDT

Patent leader leaps from Dorsey & Whitney to Brownstein Hyatt

The chief of Dorsey & Whitney’s Denver patent practice group has leapt to Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck. S. Craig Hemenway, who is also an electrical engineer, is the second Dorsey partner with intellectual property expertise to join the Brownstein firm recently, according to the Denver Business Journal and the Denver…

Sep 5, 2013 4:45 PM CDT

Law firm splits, but partners will still share office space

Partners of a Colorado law firm found they had different ideas about how to market their disparate practices. So they decided to split Donelson Ciancio & Grant into three law firms. However, they will still share the same Broomfield offices and continue to work together when cases draw on their…

Sep 4, 2013 4:30 PM CDT

2 lawyers indicted in $1.2B Rothstein swindle; one is accused of impersonating Florida bar official

Two lawyers in South Florida have been federally indicted, accused of playing a role in Scott Rothstein’s $1.2 billion swindle. Rothstein himself, now disbarred and serving a 50-year federal prison term, as well as eight other defendants, cut deals with the government before they were charged. However, Douglas L. Bates,…

Sep 3, 2013 4:15 PM CDT