Legal News

The Am Law Pro Bono 100: #10, Patterson Belknap

Posted on July 08, 2009
Patterson Belknap partner Lisa Cleary is part of a team of eight lawyers representing a class of 150 disabled New Yorkers in the latest bureaucratic dispute between New York City's Administration for Children's Services and New York State's Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities.

Jenner, Davis Wright on Internet Radio Settlement

Posted on July 08, 2009
Internet radio broadcasters feared they were about to go out business thanks to a major hike in royalty payments scheduled to kick in next year. They're going to survive, for now, thanks in part to efforts from Davis, Wright & Tremaine.

Dreier Letter: "I Just Lost My Mind"

Posted on July 08, 2009
Acts of contrition by the mighty who have fallen are an art form. Now Marc Dreier steps onto the stage to say how very sorry he is for running a fraudulent law firm. In a letter to Manhattan federal judge Jed Rakoff filed Wednesday, Dreier describes the crazy, tortured life he's led...

The Am Law Pro Bono 100: #9, Wilmer Cutler

Posted on July 08, 2009
The arrest of a Washington, D.C., tax official accused of embezzling more than $48 million over a 20-year period led to an independent investigation into the city's Office of Tax and Revenue. Wilmer handled the matter on a pro bono basis.

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DLA Piper, Jones Day on France Telecom $2.5 Billion Offering

Posted on July 08, 2009
France Telecom, one of the world's largest telecommunications companies, closed on a public offering of senior unsecured debt Tuesday, issuing $2.5 billion in senior notes.

The Bankruptcy Files: Up First, Lenny Dykstra's Legal Bills

Posted on July 08, 2009
If The Am Law Daily were so inclined, we could probably dedicate an entire column to the creditors list in Lenny Dykstra's bankruptcy filing. The ex-baseball star turned financial wizard owes nearly $2 million to K&L Gates and O'Melveny & Myers.

DLA Piper Announces More Job Cuts in U.S. Offices

Posted on July 08, 2009
DLA Piper lays off 21 associates and 100 staff members from its U.S. offices, the National Law Journal reports.

The Am Law Pro Bono 100: #8, Morrison & Foerster

Posted on July 08, 2009
The firm filed a suit in February 2008 on behalf of legitimate legal aid organizations in Colorado and Texas against several companies and 15 individuals who were operating phony legal aid organizations. The defendants were charged with false advertisement, unfair competition, racketeering, and trademark infringement.

Dewey Raids Cooley For Three Corporate Bigwigs

Posted on July 07, 2009
Cooley Godward M&A chair Richard Climan, M&A partner Keith Flaum, and technology transactions practice group head Eric Reifschneider will leave the firm for Dewey & LeBoeuf.

GM and Chrysler: The End of Bankruptcy as We Know It?

Posted on July 07, 2009
Just about everyone agrees that something fundamentally new happened in the General Motors and Chrysler bankruptcy cases. But will the super fast sales set precedent, or are the cases so unique as that judges will regard them as a sort of Bush v. Gore of bankruptcy law? 

Cadwalader Offers Sabbaticals Instead of Layoffs

Posted on July 07, 2009
Cadwalader has offered paid sabbaticals instead of layoffs to underutilized lawyers, leaving the door open for them to return to the firm.

Alberto Gonzales Has Finally Found a Job

Posted on July 07, 2009
According to the Austin American-Statesmen, the former U.S. attorney general will teach in the political science department at Texas Tech University this fall semester.

No Time for Blogging When There's Work to be Done?

Posted on July 07, 2009
Two of the Am Law world's most successful bloggers wondered why none of the top ten law firms (as measured by profits per partner) have firm-sponsored blogs. We tried to get some answers.

The Am Law Pro Bono 100: #5, Hughes Hubbard

Posted on July 07, 2009
Hughes Hubbard & Reed litigation partner Sarah Cave has worked on many pro bono matters, but she says that representing Alima Traore was different. Traore is a victim of female genital mutilation who is seeking asylum in the United States to avoid deportation back to Mali...

Five Firms Saddle Up for Lear Bankruptcy Roles

Posted on July 07, 2009
Kirkland & Ellis, Curtis Mallet, Winston & Strawn, Bodman, and Brooks Kushman all have a part in the bankruptcy of the world's second-largest car seat maker. Lear already has paid nearly $10 million in legal fees.

The Am Law Pro Bono 100: #4, Dechert

Posted on July 07, 2009
Dechert attorneys recently won a key victory in a fight to win damages from foreign diplomats who allegedly brought domestic servants into the United States and then abused them.

The Churn: Lateral Moves and Promotions in The Am Law 200

Posted on July 07, 2009
Jones Day steals its eighth attorney in two months from Kirkland & Ellis, Barnes & Thornburg adds five in Chicago, and Seyfarth Shaw adds three. Plus: moves to Nixon Peabody, Alston & Bird, and Arent Fox. The Churn is constant. Send your news to amlawdaily@incisivemedia...

The Am Law Pro Bono 100: #3, Arnold & Porter

Posted on July 07, 2009
In July 2007, officials at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, California, cleared out the women's gymnastics team room, the only space on campus used exclusively by a women's team, to make way for a weight-lifting and fitness room. Months earlier, Arnold & Porter associate Danika Vittitoe took up the cause of the women's gymnastics team at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, California, after school officials revealed plans to get rid of the team room--the only space on campus used exclusively by a women's team--to make way for a weight-lifting and fitness room.

Welcome to the Future: Revolutions and Other Models of Change

Posted on July 06, 2009
July 4th is the great lawyers' holiday but it's not a model for how change is coming to the profession. The latest from Paul Lippe.

Mayer Brown Loses Top Finance Lawyer to Dewey

Posted on July 06, 2009
Marshall Stoddard, who served as co-chair of Mayer Brown's global finance practice and was the relationship partner to Bank of America, will become the U.S. head of bank and institutional finance at Dewey. Stoddard says he was attracted by Dewey's more stable leadership team.

MTV Networks Changes Channel on Outside Counsel

Posted on July 06, 2009
The tangled bankruptcy mess of former boy band impresario Lou Pearlman--currently in prison for running a $300 million Ponzi scheme--has a bankruptcy trustee targeting MTV Networks to recover money for the former talent manager's estate. Last week MTV dumped K&L Gates for Paul Weiss and Holland & Knight to handle an adversary proceeding against the trustee's lawyers from Kasowitz Benson.

Quinn Emanuel's Susan Estrich Redefines Multitasking

Posted on July 06, 2009
Estrich splits her time between three careers: lawyer at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges, professor at the University of Southern California's law school, and political commentator on television and in syndicated newspaper columns. How does she do it?

Davis Polk, Simpson Thacher, S&C Advise on $2 billion Reinsurance Merger

Posted on July 06, 2009
Bermuda-based PartnerRe inched its way towards the top of the global reinsurance leaderboard Sunday with plans to acquire rival Paris Re for $2 billion. 

Breaking: Bondholders Give Up GM Fight, Citing Lack of Resources

Posted on July 06, 2009
The sale of General Motors to a group of buyers led by the U.S. Treasury Department may be finalized by Thursday, as the primary opponents said Monday afternoon they would not appeal.

Does WARN Work?

Posted on July 06, 2009
The Wall Street Journal examines whether a law requiring advance notice before any mass layoff offers enough protection for employees. 

Bemis, Food Americas Wrap $1.2 Billion Deal

Posted on July 06, 2009
Food packager Bemis will pay Rio Tinto $1.2 billion for the Food Americas operations of its Alcan Packaging unit. Baker & McKenzie, Kirkland & Ellis, Sullivan & Cromwell and Faegre & Benson advised.

Who Is the Prominent Plaintiffs Lawyer Helping Sarah Palin?

Posted on July 06, 2009
Soon-to-be-former Alaska governor Sarah Palin has delivered plenty of surprises these past few months. Her resignation over the weekend intrigued us for so many reasons, especially when we learned that noted trial lawyer (and Democratic supporter) John Coale had set up Palin's political action committee.

Linklaters, the World's Largest Law Firm

Posted on July 06, 2009
Based on revenues, that is. The Magic Circle firm has pushed rival Clifford Chance aside as the largest global law firm, based on 2008-09 revenues reported last Friday.

Welcome, New GM?

Posted on July 06, 2009
The new version of General Motors could emerge as early as Thursday--provided one last appeal from Patton Boggs and the dissident bondholders it represents doesn't interfere with the process.

Three Law Firms, Three Civil Suits

Posted on July 02, 2009
Some under-the-radar litigation in the run-up to the July 4th holiday weekend: Squire Sanders, Bryan Cave, and Baltimore's Neuberger, Quinn, Gielen, Rubin & Gibber are caught up in cases over unpaid legal bills, trade secrets, and an imprisoned former general counsel.

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