Law.com

12/07/2023

Plaintiff's Attorney: Family Files Lawsuit Against Deputy's 'Brutal and Unconstitutional Attack' Against Disabled Second-Grader

This suit was surfaced by Law.com Radar, ALM's source for immediate alerting on just filed cases in state and federal courts. Law.com Radar now offers state court coverage nationwide. Sign up today and be first to know about new suits in your region, practice area or client sector.

12/07/2023

'What if the Jury Awarded $1B?': Ga. Appellate Court Weighs Maximum for Nominal Damages

These are fairly uncharted waters,” Judge Stephen Dillard said of a case that explores a jury award in a case where there was no award for pain and suffering or medical costs.

12/07/2023

'Staggering' Jump in Law Firms Planning to Expand Nonequity Partner Ranks

The average annual growth in income partner classes at some of the most profitable firms between 2017 and 2022 was 13.4%, while at other large, two-tier partner firms, it was 4%, according to a report this week.

12/07/2023

Judge Declines to Hold Medical Staffing Agency in Civil Contempt for 'Honest Efforts' to Fix Payroll

Although the [c]ourt finds [p]laintiff arguments for civil contempt compelling, [d]efendants have now come into compliance, thus rendering it unnecessary for the [c]ourt to address sanctions and attorneys' fees, wrote U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson of the Eastern District of Virginia. Furthe...

12/07/2023

It's an exciting time to be a defense attorney during polarizing times. In this week’s episode of Legal Speak, Orrick's Meghan Kelly and Bill Oxley discuss the most surprising findings from their national jury research project. Read the full story here: https://www.law.com/2023/12/01/why-its-exciting-to-be-a-defense-attorney-during-polarizing-times/

12/07/2023

A Circuit Split Over HSIs? / Ohio's Adult-Use Law / Nevada's New Regulator / Democrats' Legalization Plea

Did the 2018 Farm Bill preempt states from regulating hemp-synthesized intoxicants? Federal courts have offered two different answers so far.

12/07/2023

ICYMI. Legal titans Kirkland and Greenberg Traurig are in Salt Lake City. Now, Second Hundred firm Spencer Fane is making the move. Here's what's happening in SLC and how billing rates factor in.

We do not have a business plan or profit formula that requires the four-figure rates that some of the other firms entering that market are probably...

12/07/2023

Lawsuit Over Allegedly Damaged $100K Factory-Ordered Jeep Allowed to Proceed, Federal Judge Rules

Our client spent over $100,000 to purchase a brand-new, custom top-of-the-line Jeep, and received a vehicle that was dirty, damaged and used. We are pleased that the Court rejected the manufacturer's attempt to avoid liability for its deceptive conduct, and look forward to putting our case to the ju...

12/07/2023

The Year Legal Tech Took Center Stage

Tracking Key Shifts in the Legal Ecosystem Each week, the Law.com Barometer newsletter, powered by the ALM Global Newsroom and Legalweek brings…

12/07/2023

Florida Law Firm Leaders Approach 2024 with Guarded Optimism

“I've been doing this a long time, and we're used to cycles in all directions. But this is a very unique time in the world, and I think it's a mistake to forget all of the uncertainty that exists,” said Richard Rosenbaum, executive chairman of Greenberg Traurig.

12/07/2023

ICYMI. “I came to the firm 20 years ago. I’ve never seen the department as busy as it is right now,” says Kevin Orsini, who is co-head of Cravath, Swaine & Moore's litigation department along with Gary Bornstein.

As one of The American Lawyer's Litigation Department of the Year finalists, Cravath's litigation team is at the ready to handle any complex,...

12/07/2023

Your firm can spend all the money in the world on consultants and technology, but if the GC doesn’t like you, you’re out. We all get that, so let’s think about the quality and nature of our engagements with clients. If you can be concise and helpful, the chances are that will translate into likeability. If you badger, bore or bewilder clients, the chances are you’ll be seen as just annoying. That’s one key reason why lean communications matters.

It's time to think about the quality and nature of our engagements with clients. If you can be concise and helpful, the chances are that will translate into likeability. If you badger, bore or bewilder clients, the chances are you’ll be seen as just annoying. That’s one key reason why lean commu...

12/07/2023

ICYMI. From Tracy LaLonde of Joychiever:

The command-and-control style of management is present in many law firms—and while it may arguably have worked in the past, it’s become increasingly ineffective as motivation, expectations and tolerance of associates have evolved.

12/07/2023

Can the Distributed Law Firm Model Still Work?: The Morning Minute

The news and analysis you need to start your day.

12/06/2023

Legal titans Kirkland and Greenberg Traurig are in Salt Lake City. Now, Second Hundred firm Spencer Fane is making the move. Here's what's happening in SLC and how billing rates factor in.

We do not have a business plan or profit formula that requires the four-figure rates that some of the other firms entering that market are probably...

12/06/2023

Uber Judge Punts on Lawyer Barbs, Appoints 11 Lawyers to Steer Sexual Assault Cases

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer's Wednesday order did not address concerns of professional misconduct against Rachel Abrams raised by William Levin, of San Francisco’s Levin Simes, her former firm.

12/06/2023

From Tracy LaLonde of Joychiever:

The command-and-control style of management is present in many law firms—and while it may arguably have worked in the past, it’s become...

12/06/2023

“I came to the firm 20 years ago. I’ve never seen the department as busy as it is right now,” says Kevin Orsini, who is co-head of Cravath, Swaine & Moore's litigation department along with Gary Bornstein.

As one of The American Lawyer's Litigation Department of the Year finalists, Cravath's litigation team is at the ready to handle any complex,...

12/06/2023

Columbia Law School topped the list for the 10th straight year, but it's not the only Go-To Law School.

These law schools sent the highest percentage of 2022 graduates to associate jobs at the largest 100 law firms.

12/06/2023

ICYMI. Boies Schiller Flexner associate bonuses more than doubled the market rate.

The litigation shop’s formula compensation system rewards associates for originating clients and contributing to contingency cases.

12/06/2023

Salt Lake Sees More Big Law Interest, as Spencer Fane Enters Through Merger

We do not have a business plan or profit formula that requires the four-figure rates that some of the other firms entering that market are probably expecting, chair Pat Whalen said.

12/06/2023

ICYMI. Midwest Firms Vote to Combine, Creating Fresh Am Law 200 Contender

Ulmer & Berne LLP and Greensfelder Hemker & Gale will be merging, effective Feb. 1, 2024. The new firm, UB Greensfelder, will have an estimated 275...

12/06/2023

Once you have planned out how you're going to handle a matter (with the client's expectations and goals in mind), it's time to execute. Ex*****on in a lean way means not what work you'll do, but how you'll do it, and is composed of three critical elements.

The ex*****on stage is using your eyes to see what matters, using your hands to do the work, and then using your imagination to review it.

12/06/2023

ICYMI. Jones Day Picks Up 8 More US Supreme Court Clerks

The firm recruited another group of former clerks who worked with Republican-nominated judges on the U.S. Supreme Court.

12/06/2023

Critical Mass With Law.com's Amanda Bronstad: Could SCOTUS Split On Purdue Bankruptcy? As One Roundup Trial Winds Up, Another Begins

This week: The U.S. Supreme Court appeared divided during oral arguments Monday about Purdue Pharma’s closely watched bankruptcy case. Jurors in Philadelphia on Tuesday handed a fifth consecutive verdict for plaintiffs suing over Roundup. Who is representing 23andMe in data breach lawsuits?

12/06/2023

Despite FisherBroyles' Departures, Distributed Firm Model Is Here to Stay, Albeit With Modifications

“I give Kevin Broyles and James Fisher full credit for having this vision when they started in 2002, said Grant Walsh, who left FisherBroyles a decade ago to co-found Culhane Meadows, another distributed firm.

12/06/2023

These Law Firms Are on the Cutting Edge of AI: The Morning Minute

The news and analysis you need to start your day.

12/06/2023

Johnson & Johnson Moves to Disqualify Beasley Allen From Talc Leadership

In a Tuesday motion, Johnson & Johnson said that Beasley Allen principal Andy Birchfield had struck an alliance with one of its former lawyers, James Conlan, at Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath.

12/06/2023

Negligence Suit Can Continue Against County Jail, Appellate Court Holds

Allowing the[c]ounty to forsake its duty because Mr. Batton acted in a manner that the jail was required to protect him from is 'unsupportable from a policy perspective,' the opinion said. Anything short of requiring a jail to protect its inmates from a reasonably foreseeable self-injury would rende...

12/05/2023

Cravath’s trial wins—and its reputation for success—are boosting the whole firm.

As one of The American Lawyer's Litigation Department of the Year finalists, Cravath's litigation team is at the ready to handle any complex,...

12/05/2023

Big Law's Flood Into Boomtown Nashville Tests Client Loyalties

Some clients are super loyal to their firms that they work with, sometimes blindingly so, said Joan MacLeod Heminway, a University of Tennessee law professor.

12/05/2023

South Korean auto parts manufacturer Hyundam Industrial Co. Ltd. failed to avoid Texas jurisdiction in a personal injury lawsuit.

Justice Nora Longoria said there was a serious state interest in adjudicating the dispute, and also noted that because there are two other...

12/05/2023

'It Was a Total Disaster': Ga. Appellate Court Weighs Granting Pandemic Child Care Unemployment Benefits to Contingency Fee Lawyer

His attorney said Wexler tried to work from home, but when he tried to participate in a hearing, “his kids were knocking on the door the entire time. He couldn’t focus.

12/05/2023

Former George Mason Law professor Joshua Wright alleges he was “falsely accused of sexual misconduct in a formal Title IX complaint" and the university mishandled “false misconduct allegations" against him.

Ultimately, Wright claims in the new complaint, he was forced to resign from his employment at the university in June (effective in August) because...

12/05/2023

ICYMI. In this week’s episode of Legal Speak, columnist Ross Todd spoke with Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe's Meghan Rohling Kelly and William Oxley about their recent national jury research project.

In this week’s episode of Legal Speak, Orrick's Meghan Kelly and Bill Oxley discuss the most surprising findings from their national jury research...

12/05/2023

Jones Day Picks Up 8 More US Supreme Court Clerks

The firm recruited another group of former clerks who worked with Republican-nominated judges on the U.S. Supreme Court.

12/05/2023

Midwest Firms Vote to Combine, Creating Fresh Am Law 200 Contender

Ulmer & Berne LLP and Greensfelder Hemker & Gale will be merging, effective Feb. 1, 2024. The new firm, UB Greensfelder, will have an estimated 275 attorneys across nine offices and an annual gross revenue of approximately $150 million, according to leaders.

12/05/2023

Diversity Lab CEO Caren Ulrich Stacey said clients are asking for disabled attorneys to add to diverse teams, but many firms don't know who they are.

One in five U.S. workers identifies as having a disability, but lawyers currently self-identify at a rate of 1.4%, per Diversity Lab.

12/05/2023

Have you ever reached an advanced stage in an assignment and spotted a problem that was there to be detected all along? It can happen to all of us, and it’s one of the most dispiriting feelings. In case it does happen, we need a salvage plan. Some salvage plans work and some don’t, but what is always true is that they can never be as robust as a solid, pre-launch plan with client backing. So, yes, collaborative planning absolutely has to come first.
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Clients appreciate that you first created a plan, then executed it, continually monitoring progress. This is the essential foundation of lean lawyering for your client.

12/05/2023

Joshua Wright Sues GMU for Alleged Title IX Violations, but Has $108M Defamation Suit Against Accusers Tossed

Ultimately, Wright claims in the new complaint, he was forced to resign from his employment at the university in June (effective in August) because “it had been made clear to Mr. Wright through the University’s actions that he was not going to receive any fair process at the University.