Midsize Firm

Kasowitz bid for $7M success fee in ex-client’s ATM litigation is nixed by top NY court

An effort by a New York law firm to obtain a $7 million success fee from a former client got a final kibosh Tuesday from the state’s top court. In a brief ruling (PDF), the New York Court of Appeals declined to hear a challenge by Kasowitz Benson Torres &…

Mar 26, 2013 5:30 PM CDT

Ex-associate sues 2 law firms, says negative info they shared put him in a lower-paying job

Jeffrey Downs says he was all set to follow partner Mark LeWinter last year when he exited Philadelphia personal injury law firm Anapol Schwartz to take a job with competitor Raynes McCarty. But then his Raynes job offer was rescinded, Downs contends in a lawsuit filed this week in the…

Mar 25, 2013 5:06 PM CDT

Cozen O’Connor to open new Fla. office with 6-lawyer Edwards Wildman team

A six-lawyer group has leaped from Edwards Wildman to Cozen O’Connor, where they will open a West Palm Beach office for their new firm. The group, headed by D. Scott Elliott and Michael Botos, is part of an ongoing expansion plan in South Florida, according to a Cozen O’Connor press…

Mar 18, 2013 9:50 PM CDT

Law firm settles Pfizer case, pays bills and emerges from Chapter 11 bankruptcy

In an unusual move, a Portland, Ore., law firm has been able to pay its bills and emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy after setting a big case. The same prolonged legal battle with Pfizer Inc. that forced Williams Love O’Leary & Powers to file for bankruptcy in 2011 also resulted…

Mar 14, 2013 2:26 PM CDT

Archer & Greiner lays off 14 lawyers, 27 staffers

After mergers during the past several years that brought its attorney roster from 150 to nearly 210 lawyers, a well-known law firm with longtime roots in New Jersey is retrenching. Archer & Greiner gave layoff notices last week to 14 attorneys and 27 staff members, the New Jersey Law Journal…

Mar 12, 2013 9:04 PM CDT

250 lawyers and staffers told to clear desks and go home, as regulators ‘intervene’ at law firm

Some 250 lawyers and staff were told to clear their desks Monday and go home as regulators “intervened” in the operation of a British law firm. The Solicitors Regulation Authority said it acted at Blakemores Solicitors, which has offices in Birmingham and Leamington, to protect the interests of the firm’s…

Mar 12, 2013 4:46 PM CDT

Cozen global securities chief leaps to Schiff in 3-lawyer group

The chief of the global securities practice at Cozen O’Connor has led a three-attorney group to Schiff Hardin. Ralph De Martino and F. Alec Orudjev will practice in the corporate and securities group, working out of Washington, D.C., and Cavas Pavri, practicing in the same group, will work primarily in…

Mar 11, 2013 4:50 PM CDT

Land-use partner exiting Johnson Pope after 30 years to open new office for Hill Ward

After 30 years at a well-known Florida law firm with roots in Pinellas County, a leading land-use lawyer is exiting with another attorney to open a new Clearwater area office for Hill Ward Henderson, a 90-attorney Tampa-based law firm, on May 1. Partner Ed Armstrong, 55, declined to explain why…

Mar 5, 2013 5:22 PM CST

Despite ‘disappointing’ 2012 numbers, Dorsey & Whitney says 2013, 2014 are headed up

Revenue last year at Dorsey & Whitney was the lowest in six years. Yet the new managing partner of the Minneapolis-based law firm says he expects better things in 2013 and 2014, as the firm focuses on a financial turnaround, the Star Tribune reports. “2012 was a disappointing year,” said…

Mar 4, 2013 11:59 PM CST

Patton Boggs axes 30 attorneys and 35 staff, no partners get pink slips

Unlike a number of other major law firms, Patton Boggs didn’t lay off workers during the recession. But it axed 65 attorneys and other employees Thursday, after 2012 revenue and profits slipped, the firm’s managing partner said Friday. Let go were 30 lawyers and 35 staff members, managing partner Edward…

Mar 1, 2013 9:13 PM CST

2013 raises to peak for midlevel associates at midsize firms

Smack dab in the middle may be the best place to be as far as 2013 salary increases are concerned, the Robert Half Legal 2013 Salary Guide reports. “Average starting salaries for legal professionals in the United States are projected to rise 3 percent overall in 2013,” reports the legal…

Mar 1, 2013 8:00 AM CST

Cahill reports record figures for 2012, including $3.555M profit per partner

Cahill Gordon & Reindel has reported all-time record profits for 2012, including gross revenue of $348.5 million, up 6.9 percent from 2011, and average profit per partner of $3.555 million, up 10.7 percent. “It was a record year, and we were quite pleased,” Jonathan Schaffzin, a member of the 300-attorney…

Feb 27, 2013 7:44 PM CST

Midsize firms see culture as a recruiting tool

Midsize law firms believe culture helps them in the hiring process. Seventy percent of midsize law firms said a strong culture is among the top two factors in recruiting new lawyers, according to a survey by the law firm referral network TAGLaw and the Center for the Study of the…

Feb 21, 2013 3:18 PM CST

As ‘super firm’ profits soar, others boost revenue by shrinking partner ranks

Some California law firms are seeing profits soar simply by being at the top of their game. But others, trying to compete with “super firms” such as Latham & Watkins and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and Silicon Valley powerhouses such as Cooley, are boosting reported profits by reducing the…

Feb 19, 2013 9:21 PM CST

Shaken by death of lawyer slain by mediation opponent, colleagues ponder safety concerns

Shaken by the death last month of a highly regarded partner of an Arizona law firm, slain along with his client by a litigation opponent in a relatively minor business matter, colleagues and friends of Mark Hummels, 43, as well as those who never knew him, are pondering what can…

Feb 13, 2013 2:53 PM CST