Almost half of the top 25 law firms axed dozens of their own partners in last-resort moves to cut costs and shore up profits last year. A snapshot of the UK’s corporate law industry will reveal today that the biggest firms are still struggling to raise revenues in the wake of the slowdown in corporate […]

With the opening of his long-awaited trial just a day away, Michael Jackson yesterday released a video statement rebutting the child molestation charges against him and condemning court transcript leaks outlining the prosecution case. “In the last few weeks, a large amount of ugly, malicious information has been released into the media about me,” the

Both are former federal prosecutors, formidable in their courtrooms. They are also fast friends, contemporaries who rose through the legal ranks in New York City during the gritty 1970’s and the more prosperous 1980’s. And, for the next few months, Denise L. Cote, 58, and Barbara S. Jones, 57, United States District Court judges in

Keker & Van Nest, a 49-lawyer firm based in San Francisco, won The American Lawyer’s first Litigation Boutique of the Year contest. Keker & Van Nest was cited for a series of litigation successes, including major cases in intellectual property, legal malpractice, and white-collar defense. In his report on the firm, senior reporter Paul Braverman

Riggs Bank pleaded guilty to a criminal violation of the Bank Secrecy Act, a U.S. anti-money laundering law, and agreed to pay $16 million for failing to report suspicious activity in accounts held by former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and Equatorial Guinea officials. In federal court on Thursday, Riggs also agreed to a five-year probation

With jury selection set to begin Monday, the judge in Michael Jackson’s child-molestation case is still considering whether the entertainer’s accuser should testify in public and whether jurors should see a British documentary about the pop star. Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville scheduled a pretrial hearing for Friday to address those and other questions related

Bernard Ebbers, the former chief executive of WorldCom, was yesterday accused of telling “lie after lie after lie” about the telecommunication firm’s fragile finances to shore up its share price and protect his personal fortune, US federal prosecutors said yesterday. The remarks were part of opening statements in Mr Ebbers’ trial in New York. He

A federal appeals court on Tuesday revived part of the widely-watched obesity suit against McDonald’s Corp. that accuses the world’s biggest fast-food company of using misleading advertising to lure children into eating fattening, unhealthy foods. The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a trial judge wrongfully threw out certain portions of the complaint

San Francisco-based Pillsbury Winthrop and Washington DC’s Shaw Pittman have entered merger discussions, which – if successful – would gatecrash the top 20 US firms. Shaw Pittman has been hit by a number of partner departures in the US and in London and is specifically looking to increase its size in New York. The Big

The commander of three British servicemen accused of mistreating Iraqi detainees testified Friday that he told soldiers to make their prisoners “work hard” picking up garbage but saw no abuse. A Danish army captain and four military police sergeants, meanwhile, were formally charged with mistreating Iraqi detainees at a military camp near Basra last year.