Legal Jobs Websites

Highlighting an uptick in advertising litigation, New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo last week ordered nearly 40 auto dealers to stop running allegedly deceptive ads about the federal "Cash for Clunkers" program. Consumer lawyers say that companies, trapped between the Internet undermining traditional ad venues and the bad economy undercutting sales, are resorting to questionable advertising practices. Defense lawyers say the plaintiffs' bar has painted a target on advertising.

For years, corporate counsel have been saying that they want to tear up the old model of doing business with their law firms. This year, they may finally start to make good on their threats. The recession is forcing corporate legal departments to rethink the concept of legal services in general. Although most of the same marquee names predominate the top of this year's Who Represents America's Biggest Companies survey, what is changing is the "how," rather than the "who."

The general counsel of LoJack Corp. has beaten a contempt judgment, but he still must kick in additional alimony to his ex-wife for money he made in company stock. In a matter of first impression, the Appeals Court of Massachusetts found on Tuesday that Thomas A. Wooters, top in-house counsel for the anti-auto theft company, ran afoul of a divorce judgment when he failed to pay his ex-wife's portion of the $1.2 million that he made from exercising his stock options.

In these troubled economic times, fixed fees for particular legal matters have appeal for law firms and their corporate clients. Ben W. Heineman Jr., former GC for General Electric, and William F. Lee, co-managing partner for WilmerHale, strongly believe that this is an idea whose time has come. Fixed fees provide reduced billing hassles, more predictable cost to the client and more predictable payments to the firm. Heineman and Lee address how to set price with quality and achieve cost and value alignment.

Hard times bring opportunities, and the network of small and midsize law firms called Meritas hopes that more general counsel come knocking as their companies look for ways to cut costs. Cost savings isn't the only reason to use one of Meritas' 170 firms, which are based in more than 60 countries (and 49 states). The firms and their clients also tout personal service, geographic reach and quality control.

Jenner and Block's Michael K. Lowman and Andrew F. Merrick examine SEC v. Founding Partners Capital Mgmt., a recent federal court ruling that significantly curtails the power of the Securities and Exchange Commission to pursue ill-gotten gains from relief defendants in an SEC enforcement action. The ruling is significant for practicing securities lawyers because it confirms that there are important boundaries that circumscribe the SEC's authority to pursue claims against relief defendants.

When it comes to negotiating compensation as part of an employment offer, it's important to put off discussing the issue as long as possible, say consultants Valerie Fontaine and Roberta Kass. They explain why, as well as some possible ways to sidestep the issue if it comes up too early.

Mary Jane Frisby, a former IP partner in Barnes & Thornburg's Indianapolis office, was found dead in her home on Thursday, hours after her estranged husband went on a shooting spree and committed suicide across the street from her old firm, according to reports. The incident led the firm and the neighboring state court to temporarily close their offices. In a message posted on Facebook, David Frisby condemned the law firm his wife recently left for an in-house job at engine manufacturer Cummins, according to reports.

A New Jersey appeals court has found sufficient evidence that accounting giant KPMG was negligent in its audits of the books of a ceramic collectibles company but inadequate proof to support a $38 million damages award to another company that acquired it. The panel said KPMG's spotty audit amounted to malpractice on a non-client, but found that the acquiring company and its president failed to prove that the combined company at the time of the merger was worth its purported value and to justify the jury's award.

McDermott Will & Emery is countersuing medical device maker Nomir Medical Technologies in Boston federal court for breach of contract and nearly $491,000 in damages following the company's $143 million claim against the firm for missing patent deadlines. Nomir filed suit against McDermott on July 1, claiming the firm missed four crucial patent deadlines when it represented the company. McDermott says its legal work and costs for Nomir between 2004 and 2008 added up to more than $1.3 million.