Posts on ‘May 21st, 2009’

In U.S. legal circles, lockstep compensation usually is described as a relic of the profession’s past. Though a handful of elite firms continue to embrace it, most others discarded lockstep and its seniority-based pay scale long ago in favor of performance-based compensation schemes for partners. Many large American law firms are now looking at abolishing lockstep for associates, too. But among emerging leaders of the legal profession in Asia, lockstep is getting a new lease on life.

In a highly unusual move for an Am Law 100 firm, Kilpatrick Stockton has closed its London office. The Atlanta firm has just confirmed the office closing, which occurred in late March, to The Am Law Daily. The decision to do so came after a steady stream of partner departures from the London office over the past five years. Co-managing partner Bill Dorris says the firm is still committed to serving its clients’ international needs through links to U.K. practices and its offices in Stockholm and Dubai.

The U.K.’s Financial Services Authority has brought insider trading charges against two lawyers: Andrew Rimmington, a partner in the London office of Dorsey & Whitney, and Michael McFall, a former partner with McDermott Will & Emery. The criminal prosecution, which carries a maximum prison sentence of seven years, relates to Novartis’ 2006 takeover of Neutec, according to court documents. Peter King, Neutec’s former financial director, has also been charged.

What makes a partner a rock star one day and unemployed the next? How could a sought-after law school recruit who was juggling competing six-figure offers just three short years ago be unable to find employment now? The Snark isn’t sure it’s possible to recognize the peak of your career any more than it is possible to recognize the peak of the stock or housing markets. But it’s clear the insulating Big Law bubble has burst, and The Snark says maybe the best thing you can do is be prepared for the decline.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking sanctions against three Akerman Senterfitt attorneys and a Miami solo, accusing the attorneys of dragging out the discovery process by erroneously arguing that documents sent by U.S. Pension Trust to regional directors and sales agents are outside the Florida-based company’s control when it had a legal right to them. The SEC also accuses the attorneys of refusing for nearly a year to provide access to electronic documents in a usable format.

In a rare, bipartisan defeat for President Barack Obama, the Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to keep the prison at Guantanamo Bay open for the foreseeable future and forbid the transfer of any detainees to facilities in the United States. Democrats lined up with Republicans in the 90-6 vote that came on the heels of a similar move a week ago in the House, underscoring widespread apprehension among Obama’s congressional allies over voters’ strong feelings about bringing detainees to the U.S. from the prison in Cuba.

A federal jury in Tyler, Texas, has ordered Microsoft to pay $200 million to Canadian software company i4i for patent infringement resulting from Microsoft Word’s use of XML, or “extensible markup language.” Douglas Cawley of McKool Smith, who represented i4i at the six-day trial, says the jury found the infringement to be willful, which gives federal Judge Leonard Davis the discretion to treble the damages. That determination is weeks away, according to Cawley.

The former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Wednesday that President Barack Obama had asked him to name some possible successors to Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court. And Arlen Specter, D-Pa., said he has complied, though in speaking with reporters he would only hint at the people he suggested. “I submitted four names — all women, and none who owns a black robe,” Specter said after a speech Wednesday. There are three female non-judges among those reported to be on Obama’s short list.

Five lawyers involved in the text message scandal that put former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick behind bars and cost him his job and law license have been charged with professional misconduct. At the heart of the charges is the allegation that the lawyers knew Kilpatrick had committed perjury in a police whistleblower trial, but didn’t notify the court. The five face possible suspension or revocation of their law licenses.