Legal News from Around the Nation

• 9th Circuit Blasts U.S. Prosecutor for Withholding Documents
  Roundly denouncing a Las Vegas federal prosecutor for withholding 650 pages of evidence potentially helpful to two lawyers charged in a stock fraud case, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld dismissal of all 64 charges and refused to allow a retrial. "This is prosecutorial misconduct in its highest form; conduct in flagrant disregard of the United States Constitution; and conduct which should be deterred by the strongest sanction available," wrote Judge Kim Wardlaw.
  
  
• Paul Hastings Denies Reports of Layoffs
  An e-mail from a fired Paul Hastings associate has spurred chatter that the firm is laying off attorneys. But the firm says that's not so. Spokeswoman Eileen King says that, while some associates have been let go, they were part of typical performance reviews and the numbers were in line with last year's cuts. Talk of Paul Hastings' head count has arisen in the wake of Shinyung Oh's leaked e-mail to Paul Hastings associates, in which she noted that the firm let her go six days after a miscarriage.
  
  
• For Am Law 100 Firms, the Sky's the Limit
  Corporate law firms of the future will be wealthier, larger and more international than ever, predicts professor Peter Sherer, who reviewed data going back to The American Lawyer's first survey of firm finances in 1985. Of the 47 firms studied, six will gross more than $10 billion in 2025, and only two will have gross revenues of less than $1 billion. Sherer admits that predictions based on the past are risky, but he also notes that large U.S. firms have seen astonishing growth since the '85 survey.
  
  
• How to Manage Your Litigation Costs
  Your company wouldn't stay in business for long if it sold a lesser product at higher prices. So, asks attorney Stewart M. Weltman, why should you accept that state of affairs when it comes to your litigation matters? It's not enough to set flat fees or create litigation budgets, says Weltman. In-house counsel must learn how to proactively manage their outside counsel -- in the trenches, so to speak. He offers this rule to live by in all cases, big or small: Litigation is a dish served lean.
  
  
• Allen & Overy Avoids Associate Raises for 2008
  Allen & Overy has frozen its associate salaries for 2008 -- becoming the first Magic Circle firm to hold back from handing pay raises to its junior lawyers. Newly qualified lawyers at the U.K. giant will again bank 65,000 pounds ($126,900), the same as last year, while associates with one year post-qualification experience will continue to pocket 71,500 pounds ($139,600). Lawyers with two and three years' PQE will again earn 84,000 pounds ($164,000) and 92,500 ($180,600) respectively.
  
  
• Former Qantas Executive Pleads Guilty to DOJ Price-Fixing Charges
  Bruce McCaffrey, the former highest-ranking U.S. executive of Qantas Airways Limited, agreed to a plea deal with federal prosecutors Thursday to serve eight months in prison and pay a $20,000 fine. McCaffrey was charged with violating the Sherman Act by engaging in a conspiracy to fix air cargo rates between 2000 and 2006. If approved, the deal will require McCaffrey to cooperate with an ongoing investigation by the Justice Department's antitrust division into price-fixing within the airline industry.
  
  
• Bork Settles Lawsuit Over Fall at Yale Club
  One-time U.S. Supreme Court nominee Robert H. Bork settled a $1 million lawsuit Friday against the Yale Club after he fell stepping onto a platform to speak. Bork, 81, sued in Manhattan federal court last year, saying he injured himself so badly at a June 2006 event that he needed surgery and was left with a limp. He faulted the club for not having stairs or a handrail leading up to the platform. Bork's lawyer said terms of the deal were confidential.
  
  
• Bush Nominates Va. Judge to Fill Vacancy on 4th Circuit
  A federal judge in Virginia is President Bush's pick to fill one of several vacancies on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, widely viewed as the most conservative federal appellate bench in the country. The White House announced Thursday that Bush had nominated Glen E. Conrad to the Richmond, Va.-based appeals court, which has handled some of the country's biggest terrorism cases. Conrad has been a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia since 2003.
  
  
• Contract Attorney Company Opens Boston Office
  Contract attorney company Counsel on Call opened a Boston office with former Brown Rudnick partner Nancy Reiner as executive director. Counsel on Call attorneys handle cases and other matters on an assignment basis, either at the client's site or remotely. The company touts its business model as offering work-life balance to its lawyers. "This is a perfect opportunity, working with a great company and being in a position to help my fellow attorneys discover a new way to practice law," Reiner says.
  
  
• Clifford Chance Captures New Prague Corporate Partner
  Clifford Chance has beefed up its corporate offering in Prague with the hire of a partner from White & Case. David Kolacek joined Clifford Chance May 5 from the U.S. firm's Prague office, where he focused on M&A, privatizations, joint ventures and private equity. Kolacek spent a total of 16 years at White & Case, including a one-year stint at the firm's New York headquarters. The hire represents the second partner-level appointment made by Clifford Chance in a week.
  
  
• 1st Circuit Gets Its First Woman Chief Judge
  Judge Sandra Lynch will become the first woman chief judge of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals next month and the circuit's ninth chief since Congress created the job in 1948. She was previously an assistant attorney general for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, general counsel of the Massachusetts Department of Education and a partner at Boston's Foley Hoag. Lynch succeeds Michael Boudin, who became chief judge in 2001 and will remain on the court in regular, active service.
  
  
• Big-Firm Lawyers Partner to Open Women-Owned Boutique
  A new women-owned firm in Dallas, Spencer Crain Cubbage Healy & McNamara, formed by five veteran lawyers, opened its doors May 1. The five lawyers -- all were previously partners in big firms in Dallas -- do litigation, labor and employment law, business immigration work and dispute resolution. Founding partner Jennifer Jackson Spencer says the time is right to launch a majority-women-owned firm in Dallas: "It just seems like a lot of the companies ... had committed to diversifying their legal firms."
  
  
• How Not to Change a Potential Lateral Hire Into the One That Got Away
  Few law firms work as hard to develop a system for recruiting lateral talent as they do for recruiting at the law student level. In contrast to the recruiting of inexperienced law students, firms competing for lateral talent face a more educated, and often more skeptical, audience, which makes it even more critical that the process work smoothly and cohesively. Legal recruiter Stacy Humphries has compiled anecdotes drawn from actual incidents as a 10-step how-not-to guide on lateral recruiting.
  
  

Last Update: Tuesday, January 15, 2008