United States defence lawyers are appealing against verdicts in two cases because the jurors made comments about the trials on social networking sites. In some cases social networking sites such as Facebook have assisted the legal process. For example, it’s recently been used to serve court orders. But in the two cases, US lawyers argue […]
U.S. law firms, including Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, Shearman & Sterling LLP and WolfBlock LLP, are abandoning tradition as they cut costs in the deepening recession by imposing merit pay, slashing salaries and generally putting an end to decades of associate entitlement. The firms are responding to the plunge in corporate, real estate and
Attorney and staff layoff horror stories are a staple in the blogosphere these days. Anonymous posters swap tales of stingy severance payments, trumped-up negative performance reviews and stealth dismissals. Of course, laid-off workers in any industry are bound to be distressed, bitter and potentially litigious after a job loss — especially given the tight employment
The Obama administration on Friday said it was abandoning the use in court proceedings of the Bush administration’s term “enemy combatant” as it argues for the continued detention of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, symbolically separating itself from Bush detention policies. But in a filing in federal court, the Justice Department argued that the president
As Bernard L. Madoff was led away in handcuffs from the 23rd-floor courtroom this morning, cameras rolled around the corner for the latest episode of “Law and Order.” The irony was just one memorable touch as the moment arrived when we no longer would have to write “alleged” before any mention of the Ponzi schemer’s
Just as I was thinking it was about time to publish a column on the topic of “leverage” at law firms (roughly speaking, the associate to partner ratio, although there’s more than one way to calculate something that people will call “leverage”), here comes a slew of pieces on the topic, including: Prof. Larry Ribstein
A global coalition of law firms representing victims of Bernard Madoff’s alleged Ponzi scheme will today meet to plot their case against the fund manager. Three British firms among 34 that have joined forces to coordinate legal action against the disgraced investment manager, who is accused of perpetrating a $50 billion fraud. The law firms,
Wall Street pariah Bernard Madoff is set to leave his midtown penthouse twice this week, get into a vehicle accompanied by security guards and be driven downtown to federal court. Madoff, 70, who has been under house arrest since December, should enjoy those chauffeured tours while he can. For Madoff, time as a free man,
What’s remarkable about Marc Dreier is that he fooled so many people for such a long time. There was faith in Dreier, who until last December, delivered on his promises. Until he self-destructed. At the end, when his longtime client had found out about the phony promissory notes and the auditor’s lawyer was threatening to
A second major US law firm, this time O’Melveny & Myers, has announced cuts affecting hundreds of lawyers and support staff, the day after Orrick announced major staffing cuts. One round of layoffs hasn’t been enough to stem the tide of falling profits at some major law firms, the National Law Journal reports. The cuts
