Posts on ‘February 13th, 2009’

Video marketing guru Gerry Oginski rounds out his series of tips toward a better attorney video: keep your video short, but not too short, and use interesting headlines. But the key is to get in on the ground floor now and don’t wait for your competitors to learn how to do videos.

California’s booming, half-legitimate marijuana economy brings up all kinds of legal work, and not just to attorneys advising medical co-ops. It’s also meant fees for real estate and tax lawyers who may or may not know their clients’ true revenue source. Because of the tension between state and federal law, these lawyers walk a delicate line between business adviser and criminal conspirator. Still unclear is how prosecutors will treat large-scale commercial growers and the lawyers who work for them.

The past several months have brought an unrelenting flow of bad employment news for lawyers, with no immediate relief in sight. For those seeking a lateral move, things are admittedly tough. Consultant Melissa McClenaghan Martin discusses what she and other consultants are seeing in the current lateral market, concerning associates and partners, as well as attorneys who want to re-enter the field. Martin also provides some tips for attorneys looking to leap, so that they can find a safe landing place.

Wolf Block has instituted a 10 percent reduction in associate pay, while also “significantly” increasing the bonus pool for associates, according to a statement Thursday by a firm spokesperson. Altman Weil consultant Thomas Clay said his guess is that the increased bonus pool is meant to allow the firm to reward those most deserving. Wolf Block, which made attorney and staffing cuts in December, looks to be the only U.S. firm that has moved to reduce salaries, though London firms have considered the idea.

In a case of first impression that commodities lawyers are hailing as
crucial to their clients’ funds, the 4th Circuit on Wednesday ruled in
favor of aggrieved National Gas customers in a messy pricing dispute –
kind of — as a three-judge panel unanimously disagreed with a lower
court’s original decision and remanded it for further reflection. The
ruling could broaden the number of agreements exempt from clawback rules
to include those that are more loosely tied to markets.

Almost 800 associates and legal staff nationwide returned home jobless Thursday after law firms conducted mass layoffs, citing an unprecedented downturn in demand. And the bloodletting is likely to continue. “There will be more,” said consultant Peter Zeughauser. “Materially more. I’m aware of some big ones coming up.” Firms that sent people packing include Goodwin Procter; DLA Piper; Holland & Knight; Dechert; Bryan Cave; Epstein Becker & Green; and Cozen O’Connor.

A class action waiver provision in a contract between American Express and merchants is unenforceable under the Federal Arbitration Act, the 2nd Circuit has ruled for the first time. The circuit, reinstating a lawsuit brought by the merchants under the Sherman Act, said it was unwilling to grant “de facto immunity from antitrust liability by removing the plaintiffs’ only reasonably feasible means of recovery.”