Law Firm Partner Recruitment and Turnover
Last month’s American Lawyer magazine ran an interesting in-depth article on partner mobility and retention. It discusses the difficulties some firms retaining lateral partners, including Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis, which turned over an incredible 68% of the partners it…
Law Firm Compensation and Culture
Article on different law firm compensation schemes and their consequences on firm culture (registration required).
Stealing Lawyer Gets 14 Years in Prison
Lawyer gets 14 year prison sentence for stealing $2M from clients, including low-income tenants suing a landlord over substandard living conditions and disabled infants whose parents filed medical malpractice suits.
In-House Lawyers in Cubicles
New York Law Journal (registration required) reports on in-house lawyers sitting in cubicles rather than offices, reporting on a survey finding that “7 percent of law departments use cubicles exclusively, another 16 percent have a mix of cubicles and offices…
From Academia to Practice
Relatively rare event: law professor wants to return to practice after 15 years of full-time teaching. Some career advice for him/her (registration required).
Punitive Billing
Taco Bell employee double-swipes the credit cards of irritating customers. It is a poorly-kept and dirty secret that some lawyers engage in “punitive billing,” where a lawyer grosses up his or her hours to penalize annoying/disrespectful clients. The Taco Bell…
Sheppard Mullin Settles Overbilling Suit
Sheppard, Mullin, Richter and Hampton bills the city of South Gate $1M+ for criminal defense of a city official, and the firm helps procure a defense verdict. Then, the judge says the bill should have been $150,000, calling the firm’s…
Poor Diligencing of Defendants
Real estate closing costs are a tangled mess, so I’m generally happy to see some consumer protection litigation over them. One case involved a $60 “fax fee” charged by title companies. The lawyers try to form a class action against…
Curbing Ambulance-Chasing
A major accident occurs. People are injured. How does the government respond? Police squads arrive. Paramedics arrive. The State Bar arrives to discourage lawyers from chasing the ambulances. (Thanks to the Legal Ethics blog for the tip).
Generation Y Attorneys
Law.com article on Generation Y attorneys. It remains to be seen how strongly Gen Y attorneys affect large law firms. Based on my interactions with my Gen Y students, I do sense a small revolt against certain norms associated with…