Posts on ‘February 19th, 2010’

Ashurst has asked a number of partners to leave by the end of the current financial year, despite already seeing nearly 30 partner exits since May 2009. The top 10 U.K. firm asked fewer than 10 partners to leave shortly before Christmas, with most set to depart by the end of April. The total does not include retirees, such as London corporate partners David Kershaw and Alan Kitchin, and most come on top of the 27 partners who have left Ashurst’s limited liability partnership since May 1.

Whether you’re looking for work as a lawyer or interested in client development, LinkedIn can be a useful tool, says consultant Debra L. Bruce. One reason why: the ability, essentially, to present your resume on steroids. Bruce also offers some warnings to keep in mind.

Florida-based Colson Hicks Eidson has opened a Washington, D.C., office and snagged the head of Greenberg Traurig’s Washington office to run it. Ron Kleinman, former managing shareholder of Greenberg’s Washington office, became the head of the second office for Colson. After 15 years at a large law firm, Kleinman wanted “to try the small-firm thing.” He said, “This is a very friendly and amicable parting.” The new office is starting out with two lawyers, but there are plans for growth.

A court in the medieval town of Carcassonne in southwest France has convicted a dozen people in a scheme in which local wine exported to the United States was passed off as more expensive Pinot Noir, duping the California wine-making empire of E.&J. Gallo. The scheme hit every level of the chain that takes the wine from the vine and gets it to U.S. consumers.

The Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general took another swipe this week at scams that target unemployed people, jointly or separately filing nine new lawsuits against alleged “con artists” who charge victims for bogus job leads. The FTC announced that it has filed seven more lawsuits, bringing its total to 11 since spring in what it’s calling Operation Bottom Dollar. The agency said it has partnered with online job search companies, including Monster.com and Craigslist, to help job-seekers spot scams.

Prosecutors for the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct argue in
objections filed Wednesday that Court of Criminal Appeals Presiding
Judge Sharon Keller’s “willful and/or persistent conduct” in the case of
Michael Richard authorizes the commission to sanction her. They were
responding to the findings of fact the special master in Keller’s case
submitted to the commission last month, finding that Keller should not
be removed from office or be publicly reprimanded for her conduct in
connection with Richard’s case.

Infomercial star Kevin Trudeau, author of “The Weight Loss Cure ‘They’ Don’t Want You to Know About,” tried to get off the hook in a civil contempt proceeding by exhorting supporters to e-mail the court and explain “how I have changed your life for the better.” His backers complied by sending more than 300 messages, clogging the inbox and crashing the computer of Chicago federal Judge Robert Gettleman. On Wednesday, Gettleman held Trudeau in criminal contempt and slapped him with a $5,000 fine.

For the second year in a row, O’Melveny & Myers reported a decline in
both revenue and profits as the firm struggled with the continuing
economic downturn and client pressure on rates. The firm reported 2009
gross revenue of $826.6 million, a decline of 8.9 percent. Profits per
equity partner were $1.47 million, a decline of 4.2 percent. There were
some bright spots, notably in the firm’s private equity finance practice
and its sports and entertainment practice.

Morrison & Foerster has raised first-year salaries back to $160,000 after a few months of experimenting with the market. The firm had lowered starting salaries outside of New York and Asia to $145,000 in October. Chairman Keith Wetmore said at the time that the market for first-year salaries among national firms was “undetermined.” Big-firm starting associate salaries have scattered across the board since the recession ended a salary war that had raised starting pay to $160,000 nearly everywhere.

Airgas says its former law firm broke at least one of two Pennsylvania professional responsibility rules when it dropped Airgas as a client to represent Air Products & Chemicals in its attempted acquisition of Airgas. Airgas wants Cravath enjoined from representing Air Products in its acquisition bid and in litigation between the companies in Delaware. Cravath argues that Pennsylvania’s entertaining of the case would be “sharply inconsistent” with principles of judicial comity. The two sides face off in federal court today.