Posts from ‘February, 2009’

A Long Island, N.Y., surgeon’s bid to seek $1.5 million for the kidney he donated to his estranged wife “not only runs afoul” of public policy, but may expose him to criminal prosecution, a Nassau County, N.Y., court referee ruled Wednesday. The divorce case between vascular surgeon Richard J. Batista Jr. and his wife gained worldwide notoriety when the doctor and his attorney held a press conference announcing their intentions to seek compensation for the organ.

Less than two weeks after laying off 19 associates and counsel in its U.S. offices, Dechert laid off 10 staff attorneys on Wednesday for economic reasons. Staff attorneys are generally nonpartner-track attorneys who earn less than their partner-track counterparts. Whether they are easy targets for layoffs isn’t a black-and-white issue, says one recruiter. Dechert also made cuts in 2008, mostly of staff, with 72 positions cut in the firm’s U.S. offices and another 15 in London.

According to a recent client satisfaction report, in-house counsel felt
neglected by their law firms in favor of more lucrative bank deals. And
now that such work has dried up, many companies may be less than
receptive to firms’ renewed advances. One consultant says that after
firms have “gone off with the bigger and bustier blonde, you’ve got to
expect the redhead to be a bit iffy when you come back with your tail
between your legs.” In-house counsel also complain of too much arrogance
and too little trust.

As most IT professionals know, audio files are fully discoverable. They can paint a complete picture of an information exchange where, for example, a person is having a phone dialogue with a client and, at the same time, sending e-mails to another based on the telephone conversation.

Trowers & Hamlins has made a second round of layoffs this week, with four jobs in the firm’s U.K. offices affected. The cuts are expected to come in the firm’s real estate team, with three jobs likely to go in the Manchester plot sales team, while one job will be cut in Exeter. London is currently unaffected by the cutbacks. The news comes after the firm revealed it was to scale back its headcount in the Middle East, with seven lawyers set to lose their jobs.

The Supreme Court issued two unanimous rulings on Wednesday, solidifying recent trends in both First Amendment and antitrust law. The Court ruled that placement of a memorial on public land is a form of government speech, not the kind of private speech in a public forum that invites First Amendment scrutiny. A second decision weakened the “price squeeze” antitrust doctrine, continuing a line of recent cases that have made it harder for plaintiff companies to succeed in antitrust suits against competitors.

Several leading law schools are retooling their grading policies, with some making major revisions and others merely tweaking their systems. Harvard Law School and Stanford Law School, for example, are switching from the traditional grade and letter policies to pass/fail systems. And New York University School of Law now allows professors to give more A’s. Some institutions, such as Columbia Law School, are reviewing their grading systems to see whether they need updating. What’s prompting the changes?