Law Firms

So who are the best firms in America? The American Lawyer has 20 firms excelling due to revenue, pro bono, associate satisfaction, diversity. But money alone doesn’t make you one of the new elite.

The American Lawyer’s A-List is a carefully weighted ranking based on AL’s surveys of The Am Law 200, the highest-grossing U.S.- headquartered firms. The top 20 firms — the top 10 percent — made The A-List, a ranking we called the new elite, or the top tier. Many of the firms that made the list […]

So who are the best firms in America? The American Lawyer has 20 firms excelling due to revenue, pro bono, associate satisfaction, diversity. But money alone doesn’t make you one of the new elite. Read More »

They’re worried about an ocean of profits being generated by British lawyers who, in the face of over-charging and other scandals, are seeing lawyers putting profits before ethics.

The vast profits being made by Britain’s top lawyers will be laid bare in a report to be published tomorrow which shows the leading 100 firms sharing revenues of £9.11bn and profits of £2.7bn. In response to mounting concern that lawyers are putting profits before ethics, the Law Society is planning to impose tough new

They’re worried about an ocean of profits being generated by British lawyers who, in the face of over-charging and other scandals, are seeing lawyers putting profits before ethics. Read More »

Some don’t like it, some think it’s unethical, but hiring jurors to consult on trials is becoming more popular in the US.

Some cried “foul,” but hiring used jurors is an ever more common practice, although it hasn’t been talked about much. And while in most states hiring a juror is not a crime or unethical under professional conduct rules, some in the legal community think it’s just not right. Lawyers hiring former jurors goes back at

Some don’t like it, some think it’s unethical, but hiring jurors to consult on trials is becoming more popular in the US. Read More »

He’s a lawyer whose friends and clients have been called a “Who’s Who of the world’s most notorious figures”. Take Saddam Hussein, for instance. So what’s happening now with Giovanni Di Stefano?

Along with Saddam, Giovanni Di Stefano boasts clients such as Nicholas van Hoogstraten, the controversial property developer who was recently acquitted of manslaughter, timeshare fraudster John “Goldfinger” Palmer and “road rage” killer Kenneth Noye. He was interviewed in March on BBC World’sHardtalk programme, which said the lawyer’s “friends and clients read like a Who’s Who

He’s a lawyer whose friends and clients have been called a “Who’s Who of the world’s most notorious figures”. Take Saddam Hussein, for instance. So what’s happening now with Giovanni Di Stefano? Read More »

A former Clifford Chance lawyer who set up the Iraq Special Tribunal to try Saddam Hussein for war crimes has been accused of involvement in the murder of an Iraqi official.

Salem Chalabi, a US-qualified finance and capital markets lawyer, has been accused by Zuhair al-Maliky, Iraq’s chief investigating judge, of involvement in the murder in May of Haitham Fadhil, an official in the finance ministry. According to reports, Chalabi is vigorously denying the claims. After spending three years at Morgan Lewis & Bockius, Chalabi moved

A former Clifford Chance lawyer who set up the Iraq Special Tribunal to try Saddam Hussein for war crimes has been accused of involvement in the murder of an Iraqi official. Read More »

Top Hollywood lawyer Barry Hirsch, who abruptly left his law firm this past weekend in a bitter split after 24 years, is suing over the firm’s plans to restructure.

Jackoway Tyerman Wertheimer Austen Mandelbaum & Morris plans to dissolve its current professional corporation to form a limited liability partnership, a structure commonly used by professionals such as accountants and lawyers to protect individual partner assets. In a suit filed Friday, Hirsch and three lawyers who joined him to set up a new practice alleged

Top Hollywood lawyer Barry Hirsch, who abruptly left his law firm this past weekend in a bitter split after 24 years, is suing over the firm’s plans to restructure. Read More »

It may be the largest law firm in the world, but in terms of profits per partner, Baker + McKenzie is a lowly 75th in the US alone. So what’s wrong? And what is the world’s most successful law franchise doing?

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

It may be the largest law firm in the world, but in terms of profits per partner, Baker + McKenzie is a lowly 75th in the US alone. So what’s wrong? And what is the world’s most successful law franchise doing? Read More »

By now Linklaters should be more than a little concerned by the seemingly endless onslaught from US firms. Over the past couple of years, a startling number of highly rated partners from the magic circle firm have migrated to US practices, with two more joining the exodus this week.

Linklaters has been hit by another wave of partner defections to US firms after losing highly rated structured finance expert Richard Hughes to Sidley Austin Brown & Wood. At the same time, Latham & Watkins’ Paris office has taken a second capital markets partner from Linklaters in little over a year with the hire of

By now Linklaters should be more than a little concerned by the seemingly endless onslaught from US firms. Over the past couple of years, a startling number of highly rated partners from the magic circle firm have migrated to US practices, with two more joining the exodus this week. Read More »

Barry Scheck, the lawyer who became a national name with his work on OJ SImpson’s DNA defense, is set to take on Louisiana’s poorly funded public defenders system.

Famed defense lawyer Barry Scheck, whose Project Innocence has worked to free dozens of prisoners here and elsewhere, will ask federal courts to reform Louisiana’s system of providing the poor with legal counsel. Scheck, who gained international fame as O.J. Simpson’s DNA defense lawyer, has accepted Shreveport Sen. Lydia Jackson’s invitation to address the gubernatorial

Barry Scheck, the lawyer who became a national name with his work on OJ SImpson’s DNA defense, is set to take on Louisiana’s poorly funded public defenders system. Read More »

Law firms of China need to become strong and think big in the face of increasing foreign competition, said Chinese lawyers in Beijing on Thursday.

There has been a trend among Chinese law firms in the past few years of growing big quickly by acquisition and merger. The trend has been, in part, spurred by China’s accession into the World Trade Organization three years ago, which will allow foreign law firms more opportunities to practise in China. A number of

Law firms of China need to become strong and think big in the face of increasing foreign competition, said Chinese lawyers in Beijing on Thursday. Read More »

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