Posts on ‘February 4th, 2009’

The owner of the Park Avenue tower that houses Dreier LLP says the now-defunct law firm owes more than $2 million in past rent. According to papers filed Tuesday in the Chapter 11 proceeding against the firm, Dreier & Baritz, predecessor-in-interest to Dreier LLP, leased more than 100,000 square feet. In moving to compel the bankruptcy trustee to pay $2.1 million, the building’s landlord noted that the firm continues to occupy the premises.

With President Barack Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner reportedly promising to attach more strings to federal bailout money, Am Law Daily decided to speak to some of the lawyers advising the dozens of financial institutions keen on applying for a chunk of the fresh $350 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program funds Congress released last month. Those lawyers were nearly unanimous in saying that banks of all kinds are becoming more cautious about participating in TARP.

Clifford Chance is set to cut a number of partners, as the firm on Wednesday revealed a wide-ranging review into the size and shape of its partnership. The proposals, which come as Magic Circle rival Linklaters also prepares to axe around 35 of its partners, need to go to the partnership for approval. The firm said the review is likely to lead to salaried and equity partners leaving the firm by the end of the calendar year.

MacPherson, Kwok, Chen & Heid, a 21-lawyer intellectual property law boutique founded in 2002, is merging into Haynes and Boone, a Texas-based corporate firm with more than 500 lawyers. The deal, announced Tuesday, gives Haynes its first offices in California, in San Jose and Orange County. Discussions started last summer, lawyers from both firms say, and stemmed from years of working together on shared clients.

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is a free man, but his legal wranglings are far from over. Kilpatrick emerged from jail Tuesday after spending 99 days behind bars for his role in a text-message scandal that cost him his job, law license and a $1 million fine. The scandal, meanwhile, has more legal twists and turns. Kilpatrick has hired high-profile attorney Willie Gary to investigate the release of his text messages, which got him into trouble in the first place.

A trio of technology companies has filed a breach of contract suit against Foley & Lardner in the Eastern District of Texas for allegedly overbilling and not adequately representing them in a patent lawsuit. The plaintiffs are software companies Datatern, FireStar Software and Amphion Innovations. The Datatern case claims that plaintiffs suffered more than $1 million in economic harm.

A battery of lawyers for Internet businesses, domain registrars, civil liberties groups and others have engaged the state of Kentucky in legal battle over that state’s attempt to halt Internet gambling by seizing 141 domain names whose owners are located primarily out of state or overseas. The core concern is jurisdictional: Does a state court have the authority or power to seize domain names when none of the domain owners is present in the state and all of the names are registered outside of the state?

What constitutes the “right” general counsel? While there is a laundry list of attributes that any effective in-house lawyer will possess, the game changes dramatically when major litigation, government investigations and shareholder disputes loom simultaneously. In challenging times, the qualities that distinguish top trial attorneys — big-picture thinking, judgment and credibility, and effective communication skills — may be the key differentiators for successful GCs, says attorney Robert Abrams.

In a lesson in frugality, a New Jersey appeals court has denied a lawyer’s request to reduce his alimony and child support payments due to his firm’s dwindling performance. The appellate court affirmed the lower court’s decision to reject attorney Gregory Donnelly’s second attempt at a reduction, noting that the court “correctly focused on Gregory’s inequitable attempt to have [his ex-wife] and their children bear the brunt of the luxurious lifestyle Gregory adopted with his new wife.”

Denver firm Fairfield and Woods is on a Rocky Mountain high. Well, maybe not a high, but things are looking relatively rosy for the 42-attorney shop. The law firm is slowly growing at a time when many others are shedding lawyers, and business held steady in 2008, when others saw a falloff. Leaders at Fairfield and Woods acknowledge that geography, size and diversification have helped it avoid some of the competition’s problems. “It’s a pretty good time to be a lawyer in Denver,” said partner John Eckstein.