Posts from ‘July, 2009’

Holland & Knight is reducing associate pay by an average of 7 percent. Some individuals will see no pay cuts, but others will see cuts of as much as 10 percent, according to a statement from firm managing partner Steven Sonberg, who said the cuts are due to “changing market conditions.” The base salaries of some senior counsel and other staff also will be reduced by an undisclosed amount. The firm plans to modify its overall associate compensation plan next year, with a formal announcement coming later this year.

Beverly Hills attorney David Karton just wants what he’s owed. But a dispute over fees with a former client, which earned an exasperated published opinion from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal on Thursday, doesn’t seem any closer to a happy ending. “Neither party should be rewarded for allowing this course of events to occur,” wrote Justice H. Walter Croskey.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan blasted the District of Columbia Attorney General’s Office at a hearing earlier this week, calling the city’s mishandling of a high-profile suit alleging false arrest the “civil counterpart” of the Justice Department’s botched prosecution of Ted Stevens. The judge used the phrase “sad commentary” seven times and directed D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles to submit an affidavit addressing a “pattern of shortcomings” and “discovery abuses” in the seven-year litigation.

Two legal research services are in a head-to-head competition to win the loyalty of America’s lawyers: Casemaker and Fastcase. So how do the two compare? To find out, attorney Robert J. Ambrogi tested both and sat through online presentations to see which service has the clear edge.

For about 25 years, Capital Properties Associates had turned to Bingham McCutchen for legal advice on everything from real estate deals to litigation. But that relationship is no more, following a months-long fee dispute that has now found its way into litigation. Bingham in early July filed an arbitration claim against Capital Properties seeking $760,000 in unpaid fees. Such arguments over fees come at a time when clients have been moving aggressively to cut legal costs during the recession.

Near the end of three hours of testimony ranging from matter-of-fact to jocular to nostalgic about his youthful enjoyment of music, defendant Joel Tenenbaum admitted liability for downloading and distributing the 30 copyrighted songs at issue in a federal copyright infringement trial in Boston. The admission prompted the lawyers representing the music industry to ask U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner to issue a directed verdict, which would leave only the damages issue to be settled by a jury.

After 4 1/2 years, Delphi Corp. can see the exit sign. U.S. bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain told a packed Manhattan courtroom Thursday that he had approved Delphi’s plan to hand over control of the company to its debtor-in-possession lenders. The lenders, in turn, have agreed to forgive billions of dollars of debt. The deal is expected to close by late August, pending regulatory approvals, according to Delphi’s lead restructuring lawyer, Skadden’s John Butler.

Unhappiness is the sentiment that stands out in the 6,101 replies to The American Lawyer’s annual survey of midlevel associates. The magazine asked approximately 80 questions, including queries about billable hours and the path to partnership, but the bottom line is that associates are feeling anxious and frustrated in the wake of mass layoffs and cuts in survivors’ salaries, bonuses and basic perks. Associate morale plummeted to the lowest level recorded in the survey’s history.

Patentees concerned with downstream use may want to take a closer look at a recent Federal Circuit ruling that an unconditional covenant not to sue authorizes the sale of a patented article, thereby exhausting patent rights in the article. Although the ruling represents a logical extension of existing patent exhaustion jurisprudence, it should be carefully considered when drafting patent licenses and covenants not to sue, say attorneys Max Grant, Jeremiah Wolsk, Kieran Dickinson and Zachary Kline.