Dewey + LeBoeuf = Mega Merger?

Two major New York-based firms – Dewey Ballantine and LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae – are in advanced merger talks that would create a firm that ranks in the top dozen in terms of number of lawyers and revenue, anonymous sources have told the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. A formal annoucement of the discussions could come as early as today.

The combined firm would have almost 1,300 lawyers in 12 countries and revenue approaching $1 billion, the Times reports. Mergers of this size – particularly involving New York firms – are very rare, the Journal notes.

LeBoeuf has more than 700 lawyers based in 18 offices, according to the Times; Dewey has 550 attorneys in 12 cities. Last year, LeBoeuf reported $513 million in gross revenue and $1.43 million in profits per equity partner; Dewey had $409 million in revenue and $1.45 million in profits …

Aug 26, 2007 7:26 PM CDT

Contempt Trial for Arrested PD

CORRECTED: There’s no word yet about the result of a contempt trial scheduled today in the case of an Ohio assistant public defender briefly jailed last week after he refused to try a case he’d been assigned the previous day. Brian Jones, who is to be represented by a fellow…

Aug 25, 2007 1:12 AM CDT

Law Blogs: Nixon Loses in ‘Winner’ Song Spat

Law blawggers are agog over Nixon Peabody’s claimed response to an unexpected Internet hit—the law firm’s unofficial theme song “Everyone’s a Winner at Nixon Peabody!” Apparently created by law-firm marketers for an internal event celebrating the firm’s inclusion in a Fortune magazine list of the 100 best places to work,…

Aug 24, 2007 10:53 PM CDT

11th Circuit: Return Katrina Docs!

In a blunt opinion filed today, a federal appeals court says two sisters portrayed as whistle-blowers in ongoing litigation over Hurricane Katrina insurance claims must return some 15,000 internal documents concerning State Farm Insurance Co. The unpublished ruling by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is potentially important not…

Aug 24, 2007 9:38 PM CDT

Meckler Raids Megafirm, Marches Into Texas and Arizona

A Chicago-based firm known for its insurance work will soon establish new offices in Dallas and Phoenix. The new Dallas office, which opens Sept. 1, will be staffed by six attorneys, including two partners, that Meckler Bulger & Tilson (which has 90 lawyers counting the new additions) is stealing from…

Aug 24, 2007 9:15 PM CDT

Law Firm Grants Scholarship—and Summer Job

A major international law firm that started out in Florida has endowed a scholarship at one of the state’s law schools that not only pays a second-year student’s tuition but guarantees him or her a summer job. Holland & Knight hopes that its law school scholarship at historically African-American Florida…

Aug 24, 2007 8:09 PM CDT

Alleged Madam Asks to Ditch Attorney

For a second time, alleged D.C. madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey is claiming she can’t get along with her criminal defense attorney. Palfrey told a Washington, D.C., federal judge in court papers that she and attorney Preston Burton have irreconcilable differences, the Washington Post reports. Burton apparently feels the same, having…

Aug 24, 2007 7:01 PM CDT

Seale Gets Life in 1964 Case

A reputed member of the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi was sentenced today to three life terms for his role in abducting, beating and killing two black teenagers in 1964. James Ford Seale, 72, was convicted in June on federal charges of conspiracy and two counts of kidnapping concerning the…

Aug 24, 2007 6:56 PM CDT

Cell Phone Alibi Rings True

A cell phone alibi has helped win freedom for Eric Wright, accused of murdering a longtime rival. A Brooklyn judge dismissed the charges yesterday at the request of prosecutors, the New York Times (reg. req.) reports. Wright told his lawyer he was in New Jersey at the time the victim…

Aug 24, 2007 6:10 PM CDT

FL Condo Fraud Squad Nabs Board Prez

Stealing $50,000 doesn’t put the perpetrator on the FBI’s Most-Wanted list. But an alleged embezzlement of that amount by a condominium board president is big news in South Florida. That’s because such crimes apparently aren’t unusual among the state’s many condominium associations, and fed-up condominium residents are hailing efforts to…

Aug 24, 2007 5:22 PM CDT

Sham Lawyer Scam Cost Clients $6 M

While a Long Island attorney was away from his law office having surgery and recuperating, his part-time paralegal was apparently busy–very busy. Mohammed Rafikian, 41, pretended to be the attorney for whom he worked, and scammed clients out of $6 million by persuading them to fund phony investments, reports the…

Aug 24, 2007 4:11 PM CDT

Criminal Lawyer in Contempt for Defending Client

A Washington state lawyer has been found in contempt of court for his defense of an alleged serial rapist who has already served his 25-year sentence for a single rape conviction. Kevin Coe, 60, is still being held, however, because he is considered likely to re-offend, and Tim Tragesser advised…

Aug 24, 2007 3:25 PM CDT

Prosecutor Apology Ends Iraqi’s ‘Nightmare’

A federal prosecutor has apologized to an Iraqi refugee who was improperly arrested and jailed for failing to register under a special system. U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Sullivan of the Western District of Washington said the arrest was because of a good-faith mistake by Border Patrol Agents, the New York Times…

Aug 24, 2007 2:43 PM CDT

Nicole Richie Serves 82-Minute Sentence

Nicole Richie spent just 82 minutes in jail yesterday for driving under the influence of drugs. Authorities said the short sentence was the norm under guidelines adopted to reduce prison overcrowding, the Los Angeles Times (reg. req.) reports. Richie had told police who pulled her over in December that she…

Aug 24, 2007 1:16 PM CDT

Rabbi Sex Suit Barred

A divided New York appeals court has ruled a state statute barring a cause of action for seduction prohibits a woman’s claims against a rabbi who allegedly counseled her to have sex with him. The woman, who had told her rabbi of problems finding a husband, claimed Rabbi Mordecai Tendler…

Aug 24, 2007 12:39 PM CDT