Law Firms

A close confidante of the Blairs has appointed the Queen’s solicitors to defend herself from being “hounded” over her private life. Martha Greene, 48, who was revealed by The Sunday Times last week to have helped with the purchase of the Blairs’ £3.6m London house, has been pestered with false allegations that she once had […]

Faced with seemingly endless turmoil in the United States, Clifford Chance is attempting to right its ship with some worldwide deck swabbing. Since its 2000 merger with New York’s Rogers & Wells, the London-based firm has lost more than 30 partners in the U.S., including such standouts as Kevin Arquit, Kenneth Gallo and, most recently,

A senior banker who claimed she was victimised by her bosses has won her legal action for unfair dismissal against the American investment bank Merrill Lynch. An employment tribunal in London ruled that Stephanie Villalba, 42, who earned £1m a year, was unfairly treated. It criticised the bank for trying to grind her down in

Who says class distinctions are dead? This year’s Who’s Who welcomed 135 lawyers to its pages, 115 of whom were silks and just three of whom were solicitors in private practice. In this year’s The Lawyer Hot 100, we’ve tried to be a bit more representative. Of course, we’re slightly hampered by our raw material.

Marsh & McLennan, America’s largest insurance brokerage company, agreed today to pay $850 million to settle charges by the New York State attorney general that it took payoffs from insurance companies to send them clients. Under the agreement, Marsh & McLennan will set up an $850 million fund to provide restitution to nationwide policyholders over

For almost a century, members of the Gambino crime family maintained a violent grip over New York as ruthless practitioners of murder, drug pushing, racketeering and extortion. Now six men, at least two of whom have been linked to what was once one of America’s premier Mafioso gangs, have been told they face lengthy prison

A federal judge in Manhattan has cut in half a request for attorney fees in a securities class action that resulted in a $300 million settlement. “[I]t is not thirty times more difficult to settle a thirty million dollar case as it is to settle a one million dollar case,” Southern District Judge Loretta A.

Merrill Lynch & Co. agreed to pay $23.5 million to the New York Stock Exchange and the state of New Jersey, promising reforms to resolve allegations it failed to supervise employees who made improper mutual fund trades. New Jersey’s attorney general said Merrill Lynch will pay the state a $10 million civil penalty and separately,

Michael Jackson’s lawyers will be allowed to question witnesses about an alleged incident in which the boy now accusing the singer of molestation claimed that comedian George Lopez took $300 from his wallet. Defense attorneys have tried to raise the matter during cross-examination of the boy and other witnesses but have been blocked by objections

It was a moment that defense attorney M. Gerald Schwartzbach had been working toward for months. As he began closing arguments in the Robert Blake murder trial, the judge asked the 60-year-old attorney to speak up so she and the court audience could hear. “I will try to keep my voice up,” the bifocaled, bow-tied