Posts on ‘December 22nd, 2008’

has named Department of Justice Inspector General Glenn Fine as lawyer of the year. During a year in which the DOJ’s reputation suffered several black eyes, Fine emerged as a beacon of nonpartisanship and independence. Fine’s investigation into the firing of nine U.S. Attorneys may be the “flagship” report of 2008, notes former boss Michael Bromwich, but Fine’s investigations of partisan hirings within the honors and intern programs had a “very deep impact” on the department.

Offshoring has been widely adopted by many companies when it comes to back-office operations. But LPO — legal process outsourcing — is different. Despite the early hype, companies have not been as quick to sign up. Some are worried about the quality of the work, and cite cultural differences and security concerns as reasons for the reticence of some legal departments to send work abroad. What about 2009? Will recessionary pressure to reduce legal costs push more companies to ship work overseas?

Web 2.0 provides new ways for users to communicate and collaborate, such as blogs, wikis, social networks and file-sharing sites, and increasingly, it’s part of the workplace. In addition to the benefits of Web 2.0, law firms and companies are beginning to realize its legal risks.

In this down market, small firm president Gavin Lentz sees an opportunity to generate new clients and to build an upside into his fee agreements. By offering types of flexible fee agreements, he has been able to take on new clients who could not or chose not to agree to other attorneys’ typical fee structures. Lentz provides some basic examples of arrangements that he uses, which he says may actually generate better fees in the long run by rewarding the lawyer for sharing some risk with the client.

President-elect Barack Obama’s transition staff has declined to discuss potential Justice Department nominees, or even reveal who on the transition team is mustering names. But Washington lawyers have been speculating for weeks that Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr’s David Ogden, who is heading the DOJ transition team, is the likely pick for deputy attorney general. One Washington lawyer close to the transition says his nomination is all but assured.

Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal announced late Sunday that 100 lawyers, including 40 partners, from Thacher Proffitt & Wood will be joining the firm’s New York office, effective Jan. 1. The hires increase Sonnenschein’s total headcount to about 800 lawyers, nearly doubling the size of its New York office. The news comes after reports on Friday that King & Spalding is no longer in the running to acquire a substantial portion of Thacher, which it had pursued in recent weeks.

A New York federal bankruptcy judge authorized the appointment of a
trustee for the Dreier LLP Chapter 11 proceeding at an emergency hearing
on Friday, after being warned by receiver Mark F. Pomerantz that there
was “a huge amount of commingling” between the assets of the firm and
its founder, Marc S. Dreier. The judge also authorized the expenditure
of $666,000, including payments for the firm’s malpractice insurance and
for wages for the remaining 17 Dreier employees.

Bank of America has named its new general counsel as it completes its purchase of Merrill Lynch. The bank’s current president of global corporate and investment banking, Brian Moynihan, will become the new legal chief, replacing current general counsel Timothy Mayopoulos, who is leaving the bank. The tie-up of the two banks is set to be formally completed in the new year, after Bank of America agreed to acquire Merrill for $50 billion in September.

An Arab- and Muslim-American man filed a $12 million lawsuit Thursday against a Wal-Mart store that caters to his community — saying employees discriminated against him and fired him because of his background. Louay Kezy accuses Wal-Mart and three employees at its Dearborn, Mich., store of violating his civil rights through threats, harassment and dismissal after he complained about the employees’ conduct. The store opened in March with the area’s large Arab and Muslim population in mind.