Legal IndustryRSS

  • January 26, 2010

    22 Attys Are Cream Of The Crop For In-House Counsel

    Of the tens of thousands of attorneys nationwide that work with corporate clients, only 22 have been singled out by corporate counsel as having provided superb client services for two or more years in a row.

  • January 26, 2010

    Foley Dominates Corporate Counsel All-Star List

    Twelve firms are home to three or more attorneys singled out by corporate counsel for exceptional client services, and Foley & Lardner LLP leads the pack with five attorneys honored.

  • January 26, 2010

    Wilson Sonsini Offers Associate Bonuses Up To $50K

    On the heels of a decision to cut around 20 staff positions, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC has announced bonuses of up to $49,000 for some associates, as well as revealed its pay scale for 2010.

  • January 25, 2010

    Life Post-Lockstep: Moving To Merit Pay Without A Map

    The new age of merit-based pay will challenge associates to work strategically rather than just rack up billable hours, while forcing firm leadership to dedicate time and energy to evaluate attorneys as objectively as possible, industry experts say.

  • January 22, 2010

    Latham & Watkins Associate Bonuses Up The Ante

    Latham & Watkins LLP has reportedly made some associates very happy as reports of the firm’s 2009 bonuses trickle in.

  • January 22, 2010

    Cooley Godward Unfreezes Salaries For 2010

    Second-year associates at Cooley Godward Kronish LLP will be receiving a pay increase this year, marking the end of a salary freeze announced by the firm last year.

  • January 22, 2010

    House Task Force Recommends Ousting Porteous

    The U.S. House Judiciary Committee will discuss the future of U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Porteous after the committee's impeachment task force voted unanimously to impeach him in light of allegations of bankruptcy fraud and the solicitation of cash from lawyers.

  • January 15, 2010

    Law Firms Open Their Wallets For Haiti

    As the world scrambles to come to Haiti's aid in the wake of Tuesday's devastating earthquake, law firms are stepping up in both traditional and novel ways. Over 80 firms responded to a Law360 query into what they are doing financially and otherwise to respond to the Haitian crisis.

  • January 21, 2010

    High Court Frees Cos., Unions To Fund Attack Ads

    In a groundbreaking opinion that sweeps away decades' worth of campaign finance restrictions, the U.S. Supreme Court found Thursday that there is no distinction between a corporation and an individual when it comes to protected political speech, paving the way for corporations and labor unions to spend freely on advertisements for political candidates.

  • January 21, 2010

    Clifford May Scrap Fired Partner Appeal Rights

    Management at Clifford Chance LLP reportedly has proposed changes to make it easier to fire lackluster partners and has plans to slim down its partnership council.

  • January 21, 2010

    Managing Partners Expect Profit Growth In 2010

    Confident that the recession is in the rearview mirror, managing partners at law firms are predicting revenue and profit growth this year, according to the latest report from Citi Private Bank.

  • January 21, 2010

    Allen & Overy Unveils Part-Time Partner Program

    Partners at Allen & Overy LLP will have the option to work four days a week or take advantage of other flexible schedule arrangements as part of a new initiative designed to retain more women partners, the firm announced Thursday.

  • January 20, 2010

    Goodwin To Shift Gradually From Lockstep Pay

    Goodwin Procter LLP has revealed that it plans to shift away from lockstep compensation, softening the blow to associates by saying they're eligible to be considered for 2009 bonuses if they billed at least 1,850 hours.

  • January 20, 2010

    Wilson Sonsini Says Goodbye To 20 Legal Staffers

    Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC has reportedly issued another round of layoffs, this time cutting about 20 staff positions.

  • January 20, 2010

    Senate Confirms Beverly Martin As 11th Circ. Judge

    The U.S. Senate confirmed the appointment of District Judge Beverly Martin to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday in a 97-0 vote.

  • January 20, 2010

    Morgan Lewis Reveals Details On New Pay System

    Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP on Wednesday offered associates additional insight into how the firm will calculate base salaries and bonuses now that lockstep compensation has fallen by the wayside.

  • January 19, 2010

    Drinker Biddle Lays Out Pay For 1st-Year Associates

    Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP shed light Tuesday on how it will compensate young attorneys under its recently adopted merit-based compensation model.

  • January 19, 2010

    Recruiter's Fee Spat With Paul Hastings To Go Ahead

    A New York state judge has refused to end a tiff between Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker LLP and a legal recruiting company that claims the law firm failed to pay a £300,000 ($491,000) placement fee for finding a corporate partner for its London office.

  • January 19, 2010

    Alternative Fees Generated $7B In 2008: Report

    Fees from alternative billing contributed about $7 billion in revenue in 2008 among the nation's top 100 law firms, and the use of alternative fee structures is likely to increase in coming years, according to a new report from legal consulting firm LegalBizDev.

  • January 19, 2010

    Fenwick Study Charts Paths To Diversity

    Active mentoring, resolute outreach and less doctrinaire approaches to recruitment are among the initiatives that have helped a select group of leading law firms establish some of the most diverse offices in the legal industry, according to a new study commissioned by Fenwick & West LLP.