Practice Management

Firm Survives 9/11 Attack, But Changes

It takes a lot today to create a crisis at Harris Beach. Its law offices at 2 World Trade Center were obliterated on Sept. 11, 2001, killing three lawyers, two staff members and a contractor supervising an almost-completed $4 million renovation project. Now, many among the more than 100 who…

Sep 5, 2007 6:16 PM CDT

ACLJ is Key Contender in Religious Cases

Most lawyers are probably familiar with the ACLU. Far fewer attorneys may have heard of the ACLJ. However, the two civil rights organizations—sometimes fighting together and sometimes on opposing sides—are both key players in ongoing efforts to protect religious rights. The ACLJ—American Center for Law and Justice—is a leading Christian…

Sep 5, 2007 12:44 AM CDT

FL County Fires Attorney Over Land Deal

A longtime attorney for a county on Florida’s Gulf Coast has lost her job over her involvement as a legal adviser in a controversial land deal between Pinellas County and its property appraiser. Susan Churuti, 52, admitted at a meeting today that she could have better handled the matter—in which…

Sep 5, 2007 12:21 AM CDT

Surfing the Net is Now Work for Lawyers

When a Minnesota doctor recently saw a young patient with an unusual bulging eye, he had no trouble finding multiple experts to consult with him right away about the case. Dozens of physicians offered suggestions via a social networking site exclusively for physicians. Such sites are a growing trend, offering…

Sep 4, 2007 8:55 PM CDT

Ballard in CA, Competitor’s MP at Helm

Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll is opening an office in Los Angeles with the expectation that it will help the 500-lawyer Philadelphia-based law firm strengthen its flagship real estate and resort practice in the Southwest. In charge of the new office will be David C. Sampson, former managing partner of…

Sep 4, 2007 4:53 PM CDT

New Interest in Estate Planning for Pets

Only a select few are able to follow Leona Helmsley’s lead and leave a pet $12 million as part of an estate plan. But news of the massive trust she set up for her dog—to whom the hotel and real estate magnate gave more than any other individual beneficiary—is helping…

Sep 4, 2007 3:41 PM CDT

Rising From The Rubble

In the aftermath of 9/11, lawyers at New York’s Harris Beach don’t practice law the same way they once did

Sep 1, 2007 8:30 AM CDT

“If I Represented Bin Laden ...”

Imagine Osama bin Laden is captured by U.S. forces on the Afghan-Pakistan border. He’s transported to the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan—blocks from the World Trade Center site—where he has been under indictment for the 1993 attacks on U.S. troops in Somalia and the 1998 bombings of U.S.…

Sep 1, 2007 6:15 AM CDT

Alston & Bird Plans: TX, Maybe CA, London

A major Atlanta-based law firm has announced plans to open an office in Dallas and is thinking about expanding into California and London as well. Alston & Bird will start small in Dallas, with an eight-lawyer office, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The Dallas office will be staffed by five attorneys…

Sep 1, 2007 12:27 AM CDT

Column: Legal Secretary Isn’t ‘Furniture’

Many lawyers are frustrated when they deal with their legal assistants (and vice-versa). But a new column by a legal secretary seeks to narrow that gap by telling attorneys what their staff members wish they could tell the boss. Legal assistants aren’t “furniture,” writes the anonymous 15-year-veteran in a New…

Aug 31, 2007 8:57 PM CDT

New Bush Policies Help Homeowners

Updated: Several federal agencies will make major changes in housing-related rules, offering significant help to homeowners struggling with subprime mortgages, President Bush has promised. News reports say his announcement today–and adoption of programs that Democrats say they suggested–signals an expected Congressional reform of Federal Housing Administration programs and perhaps other…

Aug 31, 2007 5:58 PM CDT

Bad Closing Doc Puts Va. Lawyer in Jail

A former president of the Northern Virginia Bankruptcy Bar Association reportedly has been sentenced by a federal judge to a year and a day in jail for conspiracy to commit bank fraud. The sentence yesterday concerned a closing document that Leslie W. Lickstein, 54, of Fairfax, prepared in 2002 for…

Aug 31, 2007 4:22 PM CDT

Disorderly Conduct is Hot Legal Topic

Legal experts are discussing the elements of a disorderly conduct conviction with the zeal one might expect of appellate attorneys conferring over a death penalty case, as the scandal over Sen. Larry Craig’s recent restroom sting arrest exacerbates. The Republican lawmaker from Idaho probably could have beaten the rap, according…

Aug 30, 2007 10:42 PM CDT

CA’s AG: ‘Police’ Badge Banned ... Uh-Oh

Oops. Providing police badges to people who aren’t police officers is illegal. But apparently nobody at the California Attorney General’s office realized that until folks in Riverside County asked for an opinion on the issue. The AG’s office dutifully provided one–and then began collecting from its own attorneys some 1,200…

Aug 30, 2007 9:39 PM CDT

Top Experts Trump Lawyers: $2,000/Hour

A very select group of lawyers reportedly now bills at hourly rates that can exceed $1,000. But they are topped by an even more select group of experts, whose fees can hit $2,000 per hour. Intellectual property knowledge can earn such stratospheric fees for experts—who typically, at four-figure rates, are…

Aug 30, 2007 8:05 PM CDT