Posts on ‘October 22nd, 2009’

One in three law firm managers expects to be involved in a merger or acquisition during the next year, according to joint research published by accountancy firm BDO and legal consultancy Jomati. The survey, which canvassed the opinions of management at 55 U.K. and international firms, reveals that two-thirds of law firms have been involved in some form of merger or acquisition talks during the past 12 months.

Many incoming first-year associates at large law firms are dealing with months of unexpected free time because their firms have delayed their start dates from the fall of 2009 to January 2010 or later. While some are vacationing or relaxing after taking their bar exam, others have found jobs, either on their own or with the assistance of their firms. Here are five “What I Did on My Deferral” stories from incoming first-year associates at Texas firms.

When former Toyota lawyer Dimitrios Biller hand-delivered four boxes of documents to a federal courthouse in Texas, it was the end of a wild month that started when the news networks discovered Biller’s whistleblower lawsuit accusing the automaker of concealing and destroying evidence. Biller won’t talk about exactly why he decided to blow the lid with his suit against Toyota, but said it’s in the public’s interest. “I want the world to know what happened,” he said. “I’m not afraid to let the world know.”

A Florida appeals court on Wednesday reversed a trial court directive labeling the Ford Explorer a public hazard. In a scathing opinion, Judge Vance Salter wrote for the unanimous three-judge panel that an order issued last November by Miami-Dade Circuit Judge David Miller “departed from the essential requirements of law” and caused “irreparable harm” to Ford Motor Co. The order was sought by the mother of a teenager who died after a 1996 Explorer rollover.

A New York judge has followed a recent appellate precedent requiring him to consider only the average hourly rates in the Eastern District when assessing attorney fees, rather than those of the broader metropolitan area, including Manhattan, where the plaintiffs’ firm is located. But in a lengthy footnote, the judge explained why he shouldn’t have had to make that decision, saying the geographically based lodestar may “someday have as much relevance to the selection of an attorney as dinosaurs have to birds.”

Is Crowell & Moring in merger talks? Early Wednesday, The Recorder reported about the word on the street that the Washington-based firm is in talks with San Francisco’s Folger Levin & Kahn. But in an interview with The National Law Journal later in the day, Crowell & Moring Chairman Kent Gardiner said he wouldn’t confirm or deny the reports. A merger would be in keeping with Crowell’s recent string of acquisitions but would represent a change of heart on the part of Folger Levin.

According to a memo Squire Sanders sent to the Above the Law blog, the law firm is indefinitely deferring half of its incoming 2009 associate class and planning to let go an additional 20 to 25 “timekeepers” firmwide, in what would be the fourth round of cutbacks in the past year. Squire Sanders already had deferred incoming associates until January 2010. The memo also stated that managing partner James Maiwurm recently replaced R. Thomas Stanton as chairman.

The Obama administration has defeated another suit alleging the president isn’t a natural-born citizen and so should be ousted from office. A New Jersey federal judge has ruled that four voters lacked standing to attack Barack Obama’s eligibility or to claim their rights were violated by Congress’ failure to investigate his place of birth. Federal judges in Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania and Georgia have dismissed similar challenges.

President Barack Obama’s nominee for the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals faced some questions Wednesday about her choice of clients in private practice. But the nominee, Jane Branstetter Stranch of Nashville, Tenn., came out of her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee largely unscathed and supported by her state’s two Republican senators. Stranch, a partner in Branstetter, Stranch & Jennings, has represented labor unions in federal employment litigation, and she’s never been a judge.

Russia dropped a $22.5 billion lawsuit Thursday against Bank of New York Mellon after the company agreed to pay $14 million to settle a decade-old money-laundering case involving one of its former executives. The agreement was expected after Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said in September that Russia had reached a settlement with the bank under which it would receive no less than $14 million for court costs — the amount of a non-prosecution fee that the bank paid in the United States.