Law Firms

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a government effort to force tobacco companies to give up $280 billion, leaving the Bush administration with a scaled-back version of its lawsuit. Shares of cigarette makers rose. The high court, without comment, let stand a decision that bars the government from recouping decades of profits it says tobacco companies […]

President Bush nominated Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr., of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, to the Supreme Court today, four days after his previous choice withdrew her nomination. The nomination is likely to please Mr. Bush’s conservative allies, whose sharp attacks on Harriet E. Miers were instrumental in prompting her

The U.S. Senate has confirmed Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court in a largely party-line vote. He is poised to become the 110th justice on the high court, succeeding Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Senator Ted Stevens, an Alaska Republican, announced the vote as he presided over the Senate. STEVENS: “On this vote, the ayes

10.6 percent was the rate of profit growth at Am Law 100 firms in 1999, the last full year of the stock market boom. But the 1.5 percent figure is wrong, too. That was the rate of profit growth at Am Law 100 firms in 1992, the last time the economy languished in the second

Schwarzenegger, 56, made his announcementsurprise announcement–a surprise given that his spin doctors were spinning that he wasn’t going to declare–during a taping of NBC’s Tonight Show with Jay Leno, to air Wednesday night. California voters are scheduled to go to the polls October 7 to decide whether Governor Gray Davis should finish out his second

E-mail has taken over as the primary source of business communication among UK heads of legal, according to a snapshot survey looking at the personal use of technology among general counsel in the UK’s top companies. An overwhelming majority (80%) of the 100 general counsel questioned said that e-mail is the method of communication they

The state-owned Herald paper quoted the president of the umbrella body, Joseph James, as saying: “The said firms and or individuals are therefore not licensed to practise in 2004 and must close their firms immediately until they regularise their position to the satisfaction of the council.” All lawyers or law firms in private practice must

In the American justice system, trial by a jury of one’s peers is a constitutional right having iconic significance. But two recent white-collar criminal trials in New York have cast doubt on the integrity of jury verdicts. Martha Stewart was convicted of lying to the Securities and Exchange Commission about a questionable stock trade and

“Tesco law” came a step closer when Britain’s biggest supermarket chain launched its own online legal service. As well as a cheap service for will writing and storage, already available from other sources, Tesco Legal Store offers Do-It-Yourself divorce kits for £7.49 that can end a marriage without the need for a solicitor. Other services

When Abbott Laboratories planned the recent spinoff of its hospital products division, the company had the daunting task of setting up legal entities in more than 40 countries. To help accomplish the task, Abbott turned to Baker & McKenzie, a law firm based in Chicago that is the world’s largest, with more than 3,200 lawyers