How Top Legal Rates Are Reshaping the Legal Market in 2025 Ben Thomson, LawFuel contributing editor The legal profession recently witnessed a historic milestone that raised eyebrows through the industry. Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan recently broke the $3,000-per-hour barrier, with partners like Alex Spiro commanding unprecedented rates that would make even seasoned attorneys do […]
A Hedge Fund Lifeline – With Strings Attached Ben Thomson, LawFuel contributing editor Pogust Goodhead, the claimant firm spearheading the £36 billion Mariana dam class action against BHP, has drawn another £65 million from hedge-fund backer Gramercy, taking its overall debt north of $1.7 billion, once interest is factored in. The chief Executive and co-founder
£65m Lifeline or Financial Casket? Pogust Goodhead’s Hedge-Driven Drama Unfolds Read More »
Dhillon DOJ: A Purge or a Reset? Ben Thomson, LawFuel contributing editor The appointment of Harmeet Dhillon as the top government lawyer for civil rights law is the kind of reshuffle that resets enforcement priorities, unsettles BigLaw practice groups, and sets the stage for an increase in DEI litigation. Most DOJ appointments don’t trend outside
Burford Capital the litigation finance behemoth wants not just to bankroll lawsuits but to buy stakes in actual U.S. law firms. The move isn’t your garden-variety PE play; it’s a direct challenge to the profession’s no-capital-external-to-the-firm orthodoxy.
Burford, under the ever-quotable Jonathan Molot, (pictured above) told the Financial Times he is floating a structure ripped from healthcare and accounting playbooks: split a law firm into two entities, a lawyer-owned practice handling client work, and a Managed Service Organization (MSO) holding assets and providing back‑office muscle in exchange for a cut. It’s a classic “external capital without violating ethics rules.”
Burford Capital Isn’t Just Financing Suits Anymore; It’s Trying to Own the Firm Too Read More »
Following months of market uncertainty, the summer bonus season at BigLaw has exceeded expectations with Milbank’s announcing special bonuses ranging from $6,000 to $25,000 for associates, a cascade of firms has followed suit. But a new trend is also emerging in the way compensation is being handed to associates.
While partners enjoy increased PEP rates with premium work, the competitive world of associate recruitment is seeing some major changes in the way law firms handle the compensation for their top performers at associate level.
The summer bonus season is seeing that trend play out.
Jeanine Pirro Moves From Fox Firebrand to the DC District Bench Ben Thomson, LawFuel contributing editor There are career arcs, and then there’s Jeanine Pirro’s: a former assistant DA turned DA turned judge turned cable news flamethrower—and now DC District Court Judge. But beneath the peroxide headlines and Fox News rants lies a formidable legal
Jeanine Pirro’s Wild Legal Ride – From Prosecutor to Primetime to the DC Bench Read More »
Pogust Goodhead Accuses BHP & Vale of Underhanded Tactics Ben Thomson, LawFuel contributing editor The fight that has roiled the mining and legal worlds isn’t only about environmental responsibility as it now opens a new front with a major legal action allegeding that the firm has been cheated out of massive legal fees. Pogust Goodhead,
Pogust Goodhead Fires Back at BHP and Vale in £1.3 Billion Legal Fee Showdown Read More »
AI disruption forces Big Law to rethink billing: “Firms will give more for free” Ben Thomson, LawFuel contributing editor A mounting chorus of industry voices—from Artificial Lawyer to Thomson Reuters and Business Insider—argue that AI is rapidly eroding the economics of the traditional billable hour. The irony is that as firms strive for efficiency, they
Free Legal Fees from Big Law? Could This Really Happen with Legal AI? Read More »
BHP’s Staggering Legal Bills Updated 17 July 2025 Ben Thomson, LawFuel contibuting editor BHP is facing one of the largest environmental lawsuits in legal history following the 2015 Fundão dam collapse in Brazil, with legal costs projected to reach extraordinary levels across multiple jurisdictions. We have reported previously about entepreneurial London-based law firm Pogust Goodhead, co-founded
BHP’s Massive Legal Battle Over Brazil Dam Disaster Read More »
Sports Law Stars Score $515 Million Fee Award Ben Thomson, LawFuel contributing editor The lawyers who took on the NCAA just hit the jackpot with an award that may be the legal equivalent of hitting a grand slam in the World Series. A federal judge approved $515 million in legal fees for the attorneys who
