Posts on ‘November 15th, 2008’

Alston & Bird is making an early retirement offer to senior staff. Alston’s memo detailing the voluntary offer was posted on the Above the Law blog last week, accompanied by outraged comments that the firm was giving its older employees the ax. Alston’s managing partner, Richard R. Hays, told the that the firm is moving toward leaner staffing ratios in line with industry norms, while responding to senior staff requests for medical coverage after retirement.

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to take up a West Virginia case that could trigger the Court’s first major review of the impact of increasingly costly judicial elections on the appearance and reality of justice at the state level. After several weeks of unexplained delay in acting on the case, the Court announced it was granting review in a case that asks when a campaign donation by a party in a case is large enough that the judge receiving the donation must recuse to avoid violating due process rights.

Citigroup’s board is apparently fighting over which Am Law 100 firm it should retain as counsel. With Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Sullivan & Cromwell possibly conflicted out of the running, Cravath, Swaine & Moore may now be under consideration for the plum assignment of representing Citi’s 15-member board. Beyond what’s going on at the board level, sources say there appears to be a legal shakeout occurring in the M&A ranks as well.

With new tools that easily transform a physical computer into virtual machines with minimal human involvement, virtualization is becoming a reality. As the technology becomes further entrenched in IT infrastructures, it warrants close scrutiny by the computer security community.

One of Philadelphia’s bellwether cases in litigation over whether the maker of the drug Paxil failed to warn about an increased risk of suicide from its drug has been dismissed following a Common Pleas Court judge’s decision to grant summary judgment on statute of limitations grounds. The family of Bobby R. Collins alleged that the Paxil prescribed to him for depression did not adequately warn of possible suicidality from taking the drug. Collins committed suicide in February 2002.

A slow economy has at least one upside for law firms: The pool of potential lateral partners has deepened. The lateral market is flooded with good attorneys in need of employment, and some firms are taking advantage of the down economy to bolster their partner ranks — at bargain rates in some cases. At the same time, firm leaders say they are being choosier than ever about whom they bring on board because they have more options, and because the slow economy demands that they be cautious in their decisions.

Dozens of former Clinton administration officials are experiencing renewed popularity as President-elect Barack Obama assembles the legal arm of his administration. Four of the five members announced Friday as part of Obama’s Justice Department transition team are Clinton administration veterans. And all of the top candidates mentioned regularly by D.C. insiders as potential AGs have Clinton administration ties. At this point in the transition, however, names for key DOJ legal slots have yet to emerge.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce blasted the Federal Trade Commission in a letter Thursday for what it calls unfair proposed changes to regulations in its Rules of Practice regarding merger cases. R. Bruce Johnson, executive vice president for government affairs, writes in the letter to FTC Chairman William Kovacic that there “is no justification” for shortening the time period of administrative proceedings, and that the changes will put businesses at a significant disadvantage when litigating against the FTC.