Posts on ‘February 5th, 2009’

Although Atlanta’s biggest law firms have not seen the wide-scale layoffs taking place in New York, California and other U.S. cities, four of the seven large Atlanta-based firms — Alston & Bird, Sutherland, Kilpatrick Stockton and Arnall Golden Gregory — recently confirmed layoffs of attorneys or staff. Recruiters also report seeing resumes from lawyers at all the large Atlanta firms. Said one, “We’re seeing firms very quietly trying to trim the fat … at all levels from equity partner on down.”

While the legal industry has been stymied as a result of the economic slowdown, the lateral merry-go-round continues to turn. One of the latest examples is James Asperger, the Los Angeles-based head of the white-collar practice at O’Melveny & Myers, who is joining Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges as a partner. Asperger, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney, adds to the firm’s roster of former government attorneys, including 14 former federal prosecutors.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has delivered a setback to R&HW in its ongoing patent litigation against BlackBerry maker Research In Motion, in an opinion that hinders R&HW’s push for documents. R&HW? Not a new firm. But that’s how the appeals court identified Bert Rein — a founding partner of Wiley Rein — and Hunton & Williams in a recent opinion about the consolidated effort to squeeze documents out of the Patent and Trademark Office and the Commerce Department.

A New Jersey judge has turned back an attempt to dismiss a toxic-tort suit against General Electric over a mercury-contaminated building, rejecting defense arguments that the plaintiff’s expert proofs of emotional distress were inadmissible net opinions. The plaintiffs in the case are seeking damages from GE, a previous owner of the building, claiming physical injury and emotional distress allegedly caused by contamination so severe that authorities ordered them to evacuate the building.

LegalTech attendees should revel in the number of vendor initiatives aimed at reducing costs associated with e-discovery’s phases, from acquisition to review and production, says Law.com’s technology editor, Sean Doherty. But they should also take note of legal tech providers outside of EDD.

Federal contractors can expect to face more scrutiny from the federal government this year — and stiffer fines for discriminatory practices. So predict corporate defense counsel, responding to recent statistics that show that the Department of Labor won a record $67.5 million in settlements in 2008 for an unprecedented 24,500 workers who were discriminated against by federal contractors. The figure reflects a 133 percent increase over financial remedies obtained in 2001 by the DOL.

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