Posts on ‘July 30th, 2009’

One of the many typical personalities you encounter as a Cog in Big Law Land is Mr. Big Law Boss Man or Ms. Big Law Boss Lady, notes the Snark. Rather than referring to real bosses, these titles are ones that these Big Law lawyers give themselves in their minds, regardless of their actual status as the “boss” of anyone. The Snark likes to think of this as a personality disorder — Boss Man Syndrome — and warns Cogs to be wary of those who have it. The Snark helps us spot those who are afflicted.

While Big Law leaders and recruiters seem to agree that a closed-compensation model is the best fit for large firms, midsize firm leaders appear to have a very different philosophy. Many midsize firm leaders and experts believe that an open-compensation system is the best way to avoid conflict and maintain positive morale. Consultant Jeff Coburn says more and more firms these days have a “glasnost” philosophy when it comes to firm financials, a trend toward transparency that has existed for the past 20 years.

Jenkens & Gilchrist shut its doors more than two years ago, but the firm just won a jury verdict valued at more than $4 million in a breach of contract suit it filed in July 2007 against a former IP client, Asure Software. Jenkens alleged in a second amended petition filed in June that Asure had agreed in 2004 to pay the firm a certain percentage of fees stemming from a patent licensing program — which netted the company nearly $100 million between 2001 and 2004 — but Asure stopped making payments after the firm closed.

Attorneys for Swiss banking giant UBS and the U.S. Justice Department differed Wednesday on how close they are to settling a dispute over an IRS demand for 52,000 names of American account holders who may have skimped on their taxes. Bank attorney Eugene Stearns, of Stearns Weaver, told Judge Alan S. Gold he felt a settlement between the Swiss and U.S. governments could be “minutes away.” But Stuart Gibson, an Assistant U.S. Attorney representing the IRS, said he wasn’t optimistic a settlement could be reached.

A confirmation vote for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor will be one of the last things the Senate does next week before it adjourns for its August recess, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Wednesday. Reid insisted Republicans will have plenty of time to debate the meaning of speeches Sotomayor has given and her involvement in the reverse-discrimination case Ricci v. DeStefano.

A woman who was arrested after she returned to the house she had shared with her estranged husband to retrieve personal belongings cannot sue for false arrest even though she shared title to the former marital residence, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. Vacating a lower court ruling, the court concluded that a deputy sheriff had probable cause to arrest Geneva Finigan for trespass when he responded to a report of a burglary at the upstate New York home occupied by her husband, who was away on vacation.