Practice Management

Proposed Laws Target Abusive Bosses

Nobody wants to work for a jerk. But unless abusive bosses violate specific prohibitions, such as discriminating against someone because of race or gender, treating employees badly generally isn’t illegal. That could be changing, however. At least four states are considering legislation that would give workers a right to sue…

Aug 21, 2007 4:37 PM CDT

New Norm: Sending Legal Work Abroad

Once upon a time, U.S.-based corporations routinely hired American law firms to do virtually all of their legal work. But today, using cheap foreign lawyers—or even American lawyers in lower-paid parts of the country—to do routine tasks such as document review and conducting due diligence on merger partners is becoming…

Aug 21, 2007 3:31 PM CDT

80 Law Firms Ask IRS for New Deadline

A coalition of more than 80 law firms is petitioning the Internal Revenue Service to extend by one year a deadline for imposing new regulations on nonqualified deferred compensation under section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code. The effort, led by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, and involving a…

Aug 20, 2007 8:47 PM CDT

Office Tech Must-Haves List for Lawyers

Many lawyers today already have personal laptop computers, scanners, smart phones and software that helps them bill their time and manage cases and documents. For those who don’t, now is the time to gear up and to get up to speed on such modern-day legal technology, according to Randy Kessler,…

Aug 20, 2007 8:13 PM CDT

More Career Choices for Women Lawyers

Women lawyers are moving into a broader range of practice areas as traditional expectations about appropriate legal career choices for female attorneys are erased. It is now commonplace to see women in intellectual property, health care, and financial and investment services practices, reports Crain’s Detroit Business, noting that some 44…

Aug 20, 2007 7:56 PM CDT

Clifford Chance Settles Sexual Pref Case

In a precedent-setting case in the United Kingdom, a London-based megafirm has reportedly reached a settlement with a former partner who claimed he was discriminated against because of his sexual preference. The agreement, between famed “magic circle” firm Clifford Chance and former partner Michael Bryceland, is for an undisclosed amount.…

Aug 20, 2007 7:30 PM CDT

Firms Represent Bridge Victims Pro Bono

High-profile firms in Minnesota are pooling together, offering to represent victims of the Aug. 1 Minneapolis interstate bridge collapse for free. According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Big Tobacco veteran Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi is among a “who’s who” list of plaintiffs firms signed up to represent victims pro bono.…

Aug 20, 2007 6:45 PM CDT

UK Lawyer Jailed for False Client Alibi

A Scottish lawyer who gave a client accused of abduction and extortion a false alibi has now himself been sentenced to prison. In a hearing before the High Court in Glasgow, Shahid Pervez, 39, a conveyancing solicitor, “claimed he agreed to the false alibi after threats were made,” reports the…

Aug 20, 2007 4:49 PM CDT

Judge Appoints PD, Has Him Arrested

Updated: Criminal law blogs are abuzz over the contempt case of Brian Jones, an assistant public defender in Portage County, Ohio. Seems that Jones was appointed Wednesday by Portage County Municipal Court Judge John Plough to represent Jordan Scott, 20, on a charge of misdemeanor assault. The trial was then…

Aug 20, 2007 3:38 PM CDT

‘Better Mousetrap’ Tallies Billable Hours

A Canadian software company claims to have built a better mousetrap to help American lawyers and others keep track of their billable hours. As the Montreal Gazette explains the concept, PensEra Knowledge Technologies has developed “a time-keeping system that lawyers can easily use to record their progress, either on their…

Aug 17, 2007 4:32 PM CDT

More Sex Issues for WA Prosecutor

Originally accused of having an affair with the mother of a 17-year-old arson defendant and using the relationship to get confidential defense information a Washington state prosecutor is now facing additional professional issues. Liam Michael Golden’s sexual conduct reportedly may have been intermingled with his office’s handling of as many…

Aug 16, 2007 10:16 PM CDT

Shocking Case: Legal Team Tasers Client

Proceedings have been delayed in a California misdemeanor case in which the defense is claiming that police brutalized their client with a stun gun during his arrest at a shopping mall last year. That’s because the defense team is now being criminally investigated for allegedly violating human experimentation laws by…

Aug 16, 2007 9:01 PM CDT

Gov’t Atty to Put ‘White Hat’ on Targets

A soon-to-be-former New York government regulator plans to switch sides and serve as a consultant helping those targeted by such probes to don a “white hat” and work cooperatively with the federal, state and/or local agency involved. David M. Grandeau, a lawyer known as an aggressive state lobbying regulator, will…

Aug 15, 2007 10:28 PM CDT

Secret-Case Strategy: Guess US Argument

In 27 years of practice, Jon Eisenberg has never had a more difficult case than Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation v. George W. Bush. One reason why is the extraordinary secrecy imposed on the litigation process because of terrorism-related national security concerns. When it came time to file one brief in his…

Aug 15, 2007 3:12 PM CDT

MA Building Boom, MA Law Firm Boom

A booming market for commercial real estate in Boston in recent years means that law firms specializing in this practice area are booming, too. The Boston office of DLA Piper, for instance, started up at the beginning of 2003 with 33 mostly real estate lawyers from the now-defunct Hill &…

Aug 14, 2007 10:14 PM CDT