Law Firms

Sidley Austin LLP, one of Chicago’s largest law firms, averted federal criminal prosecution over the alleged fraudulent tax-shelter activities of a former partner when it agreed Wednesday to pay a $39.4 million penalty to the Internal Revenue Service. As part of its settlement with the IRS and the Justice Department, the 1,700-attorney firm also issued […]

The Spitzer administration announced the settlement of all insurance claims at ground zero yesterday, ensuring that $4.55 billion will be available for rebuilding the World Trade Center site. The agreement, which the insurers described as the largest single insurance settlement ever undertaken by the industry, ended a protracted legal battle with insurers over payouts related

Law students starting summer jobs at the New York office of a prominent national law firm come largely from the usual places: Harvard, Yale, Columbia, New York University and some local schools. Then there’s Keith Marlowe of the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. Last fall, Mr. Marlowe applied for summer work at 110

Monica Goodling, a former Department of Justice official and aide to U.S. attorney general Alberto Gonzalez, has testified before Congress in the controversy over the firing of eight U.S. prosecutors. Monica Goodling was granted partial immunity in return for her testimony before the House Judiciary Committee after she asserted her constitutional right to avoid self-incrimination.

Federal prosecutors said yesterday that they would not file criminal charges against Sidley Austin, one of the largest law firms in the nation, over its work with questionable tax shelters that helped wealthy investors evade billions of dollars in taxes. The decision not to prosecute the firm suggests that the Justice Department is modifying its

As far as Mark Harris is concerned, the recent round of pay hikes for first-year associates at some of the nation’s biggest law firms is the equivalent of applying a Band-Aid to a head wound. The salary increases to $160,000 for first-year associates may eventually affect compensation for the lawyers who work at the 170-attorney

The seat of the fire that caused major damage to theCutty Sark is being treated as a crime scene, police told the ship’s trustees yesterday. Forensic scientists and fire investigators have cordoned off the area around the rear deck hatch. Their first tasks are to determine what ignited the blaze and whether it was an

An ex-KGB agent is to be charged in connection with the murder of poisoned former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, the Crown Prosecution Service said today. A warrant has been issued for the arrest of Moscow-based Andrei Lugovoy, although there is no extradition treaty with Russia. Director of Public Prosecutions Sir Ken Macdonald said the case

In 1998, Chicago tax lawyer Paul Daugerdas approached a Dallas law firm, Jenkens & Gilchrist, with a proposition. He said he sold tax shelters and advice to wealthy clients, charging them, in part, a percentage of their tax savings. If Jenkens brought him aboard, he said, he could generate as much as $6 million a

How profitable can sticking up for battlers be? Plenty — just ask Slater & Gordon lawyers Peter Gordon, Andrew Grech and Paul Henderson, whose shares in the Melbourne-based firm are now worth more than $40 million. Slater & Gordon yesterday became the first law firm in Australia to float on a stock exchange. Shares, issued